Reading Lessons Given To Third Form Pupils

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30389, 13 March 1964, Page 15

Reading Lessons Given To Third Form Pupils

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, March 12. Dunedin secondary school principals have declared themselves baffled at the number of third form pupils whose reading ability was almost nil. An inquiry sparked off by a Press Association message from Hamilton, where a special course has been instituted to teach adults to reed, revealed that many children entering secondary schools can absorb nothing heavier than a comic book. Several principals said that each new intake of pupils contained a few whose reading ability was in the eight to 10 years age group, in spite of the fact that they had passed through primary and intermediate schools. Unable To Do Work Secondary schools are forced to hold special remedial courses because these

children are unable to cope with secondary school work. Heads of secondary schools were agreed that the home was where the problem should be first noticed and attacked, but parents either did not appreciate that their children were so affected or did not realise the serious implications of the problem. The head of the English department at the King Edward Technical College (Miss M. L. Henaghan) said between 40 to 50 of the intake of 400 third form pupils were unable to cope with secondary school work because of this inability to read. Special books suited to the 12 to 16 age but written in large print in a vocabulary suited to the eight to 10 age were issued to the affected children, she said. A special class had also been arranged so that the pupils received individual attention.