JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 88, 15 April 1931, Page 9

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

SATISFACTORY PROGRESS. advantages of system. COMMENT BY INSPECTOR. ; Reference to the development of district and junior high schools was continued in the annual report of the senior inspector of schools (Mr. J. Robertson), which was presented to the Auckland Education Board this morning. Mr. Robertson said tliat the secondary departments of district high schools were developing along highly satisfactory lines. Most of tile head teachers took a broad view of their responsibilities, and j Were giving their pupils much more, than j a mere scholastic training. It was perhaps true that' external examinations ] dominated the policy and teaching in these institutions, but, in spite of the demands of tlie examinations, the pupils were obtaining a grounding in social service and in elementary civic responsibility. Several of the secondary departments possessed good choirs, but the refinements of art and music too often occupied a subordinate place in the curriculum ito the so-called' "bread ahd butter" subjects necessary to meet the demands of. public examinations. A further year's experience of the junior high school, he-stated, served but to conform with the previously expressed .belief in its efficacy. The classification of pupils in accordance with native ability and acquired knowledge made possible by -aggregation, the employment of full-time specialised teachers, and superior equipment of the larger schools were advantages more immediately apparent. In addition to these, however, was the enhanced social and intellectual environment with which the pupil was brought into contact. Consideration of the report was deferred.