"The Rejected Ones"

Press, Volume C, Issue 29704, 23 December 1961, Page 19

"The Rejected Ones"

[Specially written for “The Press" by GERTRUDE CREE]

"Off with their heads!” says the Queen in “Alice in Wonderland,’’ with casual cruelty. Similar sentiments have been expressed in end-of-year reports from secondary school platforms, in reference to slow and reluctant learners. Suddenly, it would appear to be a matter of great urgency that these children should have their education terminated. Outside the school walls is toe labour market where, presumably, they will be welcome, and where they can earn money and have long hours of leisure, neither of which they have been educated to use wisely. The secondary school, it would seem, disclaims all responsibility for them, has nothing to offer them. Had these children been bom with a slightly lower LQ.. they could have remained at school until toe age of 18, in special schools with specially-chosen teachers and special equipment, a carefully selected syllabus of instruction, and a class so small as to ensure individual attention. Had they been born with a slightly higher I.Q. they would be retained at secondary schools as possible fourth-year school certificate material. As it is, they are not so high mentally, nor so low mentally, as to earn a place for themselves within our educational system. Problem Admitted None will deny that the children in this intelligence group can become a problem. They can also become a challenge. It is up to toe teacher to decide which—problem or challenge. A teacher who takes up toe challenge and wins even a small victory begins to know the real thrill of teaching. The most outstanding advances in modern educational methods were made as a result of working with backward children; and many a teacher, looking askance at a low-stream class at the beginning of a school year, has admitted at toe end to a most rewarding year. Success lies in teaching to toe limit of the pupil’s capacity. The syllabus must be suited to the child’s needs. A rigid syllabus planned for higher intellects will engender in the minds of slow learners only hopelessness and rehellion. Even children of high intelligence will present behaviour problems if stretched beyond their mental capacity. The answer for the slow and the reluctant learner is not less education, but more education; not a shorter time at school, but a longer time. Until this is recognised and provided for by our education authorities, these rejected children will drift or be drawn into dubious or delinquent groups and instead of paying for their education in schools the Welfare State will be paying for their rehabilitation in Borstals. Challenge Faced Not all secondary schools are by-passing this problem. One of our Christchurch schools has faced toe challenge of the slow learner by arranging, as far as toe facilities of toe school allow, for a programme of work suited to the mental capacity of toe pupil On the physical, cultural and social sides this group participates fully in school activities. Curious to know how toe scheme was working, I asked a fifthformer how their behaviour compared with that of boys in higher streams. “Just like everybody else, no better and no worse,” was his judgment. If such boys can be happily absorbed into toe life of the school, we can be reasonably sure they will be absorbed just as successfully into the adult community Surely this is the end test of our secondary school system—that toe teen-ager can make a smooth and successful transition from school to toe particular niche he is to fill in toe adult world. Alms and Result* As long as there have been schools, teachers have tended to assess toe end test in terms of scholastic attainment A century ago, on toe eve of his son Tom’s departure for Rugby, Squire Brown pondered: “Shall I tell him to mind his work, and say he's sent to school to make himself a good scholar? Well, be isn’t sent to school for tost—at any rate, not mainly. I don’t care a straw for Greek particles, or the digamma, no

more does his mother. ... If only he’ll turn out a brave, helpful, truth-telling Englishman, and a gentleman and a Christian, that’s all we want.” The conflict between schoarship and education has still to be resolved; and the increasingly complex world into which our pupils emerge makes it imperative that it should be resolved. For the highly-intelligent child whose ultimate goal is a profession, scholarship is of the utmost importance, for only high scholastic attainment will win him the place he aspires to. The slow learner will probably take an unskilled or factory job. For this he needs no algebraic formulae or geometry theorems. He needs a basic education in the things that will fit him for the sort of life he is to lead. He needs to learn the value of money in a practical way. He needs to learn about such things as time payment, its pitfalls and its advantages. When he leaves school he should be knowledgeable about methods of saving money, having studied such things as money clubs, insurance, post office savings. The slow learner who leaves school with an appreciation of the meaning and value of a pay envelope has been given a practical education in mathematics. Backward Children A short time ago, I was privileged to visit a school where backward children are being prepared for life. Not only are they being trained in standards of behaviour and hygiene, and taught rudimentary skills in the three R’s, but they are also being pre-

pared, by working in a small factory that has been established on the premises, to adjust themselves more easily to toe only kind of work for which they would qualify on the labour market. But the most amazing sight of all in this quite amazing little school was to see a group of boys take up their musical instruments, mainly percussion, and give a programme of South American rhumbas and sambas. Their enjoyment was so obvious that there could be no doubt that music will fill many leisure hours for them when they leave school. If work like this can be done with retarded children, surely a great deal more can be done with slow and reluctant learners. Present Crisis The present crisis, caused by the population explosion reaching secondary school level, is setting up strains and stresses within our educational establishments. The situation is indeed desperate and must give concern to every parent with children of high school age. But the remedy is not in the exclusion and branding of one section of the school population. Such action could add nothing to the reputation of a country that has justly taken pride in the liberalism of its education system. We still give generously to U.N.E.5.C.0.; still loudly proclaim our belief that to toe over-popu-lated countries of the world education is as important as food What mote prevents us from seeing a minority group, educable yet barely educated, in our own country?