EDUCATION COMMISSION

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14406, 13 July 1912, Page 12

EDUCATION COMMISSION

THE WELLINGTON SITTINGS.

(FBESS ASSOCIATION , TZLEGBAIt.) WELLINGTON, July 12. Before the Education Commission to day, Miss Lorimer, principal of the Nelson Girls' College, said that she considered the primary school syllabus was on good and up-to-date lines, but needed tor its interpretation higher teaching ability than formerly. The training now given should produce, a more self-reliant type of character. It would be desirable to eliminate some of the arithmetic, especially in the case of gills- The staff was always fighting against the colonial accent, and these was sometimes a good deal of affectation in pronunciation in private schools.

Mr H. L. Fowler, principal of tho Nelson Boys' College, said that he regretted tho tendency of parents to licep. children at secondary schools for two years only. Something should be done to get pupils from the primary to secondary schools a year earlier than they did on an average now. .

The Rev* J. H. Mackenzie, ex-chair-man of the Kelson School Committee, advocated the abolition of boards and committees, and tho substitution for them of a system under which tho teaching staff, equipment, and inspectors would be controlled by a central authority, leaving to the local bodies the provision of school sites, buildings, and upkeep.

Mr G. Crawshaw, secretary of the Hawke's Bay Education Board, stated that the grants made by the Department for the provision of new schools were insufficient. The" cost of conveying children to school, should be provided to avoid the' multiplication of small schools. He advocated the demilitarising of the present Junior Cadet organisation up to a certain point. The battalion system should be abolished, but squad drill and company organisation should be retained. Instruction in the use of the rifle should also be retained.

A physical training instructor, Sir J. A. Duffy, of Wellington, said his experience had convinced him that physical training as sometimes carried out, was unsatisfactory. The training' of children for spectacular displays predominated. He condemned the Junior Cadet system, which catered for tho boys ot a certain ago only. The system of military drill was overlapping into the Senior Cadet and Territorial tiaining. ■ Under the present system children were instructed by military instructors, who had neither knowledge nor experience in handling children. Greater prominence should be given the subject in the school syllabus. There should be a director of. physical training for the Dominion, with one trained instructor in each district to instruct tho. teachers.

The President of the Wellington branch of the British Medical Association, Dr. H. J. McLean, said schoolhouses should be situated vhere there was a free circulation of air, no obstruction of light, and , away from noises and dust. Every schoolroom should provide each pupil with 15 square feet of floor space, and 200 cubic feet of air space. Lighting and ventilation should receive careful attention. Children should not receive formal teaching till seven years of age. The kindergarten period should, be extended. Physical culture was necessary for brain growth as much as mental exercise wag for brain development. "As regards sex physiology," said Dr. McLean, "no, one outside the medical profession knows how much is included under this. Certain facts have to be learned, and they should be learned at the proper time and in the proper ■way:"'-' ■•■■ :« ■•■;.. ■*~; «- •■• -V

The Rev. W. J. Comrie, chairman of the Terrace School Committee, who claimed thirty years' experience in local administration of the Education Act, said ho fully approved the proposed enlargement of Education. Board districts, and considered the division of districts into wards should be abolished. Better provision ought to bo made for the transfer of teachers from one school or district to another, and steps should be taken to prevent teachers in small country schools being buried there. The syllabus ought to be simplified, and promotion should be decided by the teacher. The age limit for free places should bo abolished.

Professor "W. T. Mills discussed schools as the training ground for good citizens. The test of a school, he said, was not the number of its pupils who could pass examinations, but its power to render real service to the com munity. A school should interest itself directly in the question of motherhood; it should relate itself immediately to the new born child. The care of a child before it went to school determined so largely what it would do when at school that it presented a great scope for the activity of educational authorities. At least one meal per day, scientifically prepared, should bo provided by the school and served to its pupils. Exercise should be out of doors, and should have some motive other than mere exercise. Education ought to bo along industrial lines, and the child at school should be taught to do things similar to the things he or she would have to do in after life. Courses in economics and politics should be provided 'for on a much larger scale than at present. The whole system of education ought to bo' controlled by a National Council or Board, who should be so constituted as to represent such great group interests as the Labour Unions, Commercial Associations, Agricultural Associations; and so on. By such means they would directly relate the life of the community to the schools. v : . * Statements covering aspects of* tho education system traversed by previous witnesses were received, from Mr W. Kerr (mathematical and scientific master at Napier Boys' High School)), Miss E. Chaplin (representing the North Canterbury District Educational Institute). Mr R. Thomas (Taranaki). Mr H 1 rimole (chairman of the Taranaki Education Board), Miss C. Mackay (Stratford, Taranaki), Mr A. G. Thompson woodwork (instructor. Nelson), and Mrs J. H. Probyn, an ex-teacher resident in Wellington. In camera, Dr. Truby King, medical siipenntendent of Seacliff Mental Hospital, gave evidence in which he discussed the teaching of sex physiology and kindred matters from the medical point of view.