"THE CINDERELLA."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 3000, 19 December 1935, Page 10

"THE CINDERELLA."

NEGLECTED SUBJECT. GEOGRAPHY IN SCHOOLS. COMMENT BY 3>R. B. P. NEALE, "I am surprised at the widespread condemnation of the question on electricity generation which was set in the recent matriculation paper. It may be that to some extent the wording of the question could have been different with advantage but, to my mind, it is not unreasonable to expect substantial answers to the question from students who have had three or four years' teaching of geography in the secondary schools," said Dr. E. P. Neale, secretary of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, this morning in commenting on the controversy over the nature of questions put to students in recent examinations. Dr. Neale is well qualified to enter into the discussion, as lie has had experience in teaching geography, both in the secondary schools' and the university, and has also been an examiner in the subject. "In my opinion geography is the Cinderella of the subjects as taught in the secondary schools, mainly bccause there are no facilities available for university students, to specialise in this subject and the task of teaching geography in ,the secondary schools is largely relegated to people who have never studied the subject beyond the university entrance stage. The Sydney University has for many years had a fully equipped school of geography and its first professor, Professor T. Griffiths Taylor, has attained world renown. There is 110 specially appointed lecturer in geography in any of the colleges affiliated to the University of New Zealand." added Dr. Neale.

"In each case where there is provision for students to take the subject it is only of an elementary stage and the teaching of the subject is relegated as a side line to a member of the staff of the geology or economics department, and there is no special inducement to make a special study of the subject. As geography is a subject which should play a very important part in the education of any community this is by no means to the credit of the New Zealand education authorities and the university, and I suggest that one of the first tasks of the new Minister of Education might well be .to consider , the question of giving some encouragement tc# the INew Zealand University to have a 'proper chair of geography established _in at least one of the four main university colleges. "I venture to Suggest that if geography had been given the pl.ace in out education system that it deserves, we as a community in New Zealand would have been more geography-minded and there would not have been such wide condemnation of the questions set in the university entrance examinations this year."