CHINESE PUPILS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 114, 15 May 1924, Page 7

CHINESE PUPILS.

MORE ALERT THAN OTHERS. A MATTER OF CONCENTRATION. ARE NEW ZEALAND BRAINS BEST 2 j Auckland teachers hold widely different opinions in regard to the capacity and attainment of New Zealand children as compared to the capacity and attainment of children in the Old Country and in America and Canada. There appears ' to be, however, general agreemnt that ' the Chinese children who attend the i schools of the Dominion are heads and 'shoulders above the other pupils so far 'as their progress is concerned. < In one school a test in mental arith'me tic. was given, when it was found that the Chinese in the Fourth Standard were equal to the majority of the pupils in the Sixth Standard. In other directions also it is reported that the Chinese ! obtain better results than New Zealand children. ■ "The Chinese have not a better mentality than our children possess; their capacity is not greater; the explanation is that they are using the capacity that .they have, and thus achieve a higher attainment." This was the view expressed by a well-known education authority who has been studying the ' subject for some years. He agreed with pther educationists that one of the outstanding weaknesses of our education system was the lack of concentration on • the part of the pupils. The foreigners, however, realised that they had to concentrate and saw that if they were to do any good in this country they must ■ "go one better" than the New Zealand . (Children. These Chinese boys and girls little cliques, all having the one • i'obiect, namely, to learn as much as possible.