THE SCHOOL JOURNAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 43, 14 November 1907, Page 8

THE SCHOOL JOURNAL.

DEFECTS POINTED OUT. (BY TELEGKAMI—MESS ASSOCIATION.) Christchurch, November 13. Tho School Journal was tho subject of a discussion at tho mooting of tbo North Canterbury Education Boara to-day,'the matter being introduced by tho following report sent to the Board by a sub-committeo: —" As the sub-committee appointed by the Board to consider tho advisability or otherwise of issuing' instructions to teachers concerning the uso of tho School Journal, wo have the honour to submit tho; following report:— After careful, consideration of tho wo do not think tho Board should-issue instructions to teachers, but should leave tho method of uso of the School Journal -entirely to their individual discretion. Our reason for coming to this decision is that in our opinion the School Journal in its present form is of very little use either as a purely literary, or as a geographical, historical, and scientific reader. Wo note tho following as being its chief faults and defects: —-(1) Lack of illustrations. Those are' of tho utmost value in

the education of young children, helping them to form just ideas and quickening their interest in their work. (2) The scrappy nature of the contents. There seems to he. no co-ordin-ation of material cither between consecutive issues of the different classes or in the same issue. Thero is thus nothing whatever to assist the teacher in planning his year's work. (3) The selection of literary material, especially poetry, hns so far been distinctly inferior. The poetry chosen has boon singularly devoid of poetic qualities. There has also been-a conspicuous absence of picturesque and imaginative prose. (4) .Numerous errors. One particularly gross error with regard to the circumstances in which Ripling's Recessional was written was corrected in tho next issue. Many less gross can bo pointed out. (0) The character of its contents is such as tend strongly to accentuate the already too strong tendency to insularity and parochialism of thought and feeling fostered t;i such a degree by , our isolated geographical position. (6) Lack of spelling lists and explanations of words. These, with language lessons generally, and explanations of allusions are of great value, especially to teachers of small isolated country schools. (7) The type of Part 111 certainly should bo larger, while that of Part 11. might be so with advantage. This defect, of course, can easily bo remedied. It does not affect the character of the Journal. "We have.confined our remarks to the School Journal in its present form, but oven if the grave defects, which, in our opinion, so seriously lessen' the possibilities of usefulness were removed, we do not think this periodical could ever bo more than a supplementary reading; book. It would certainly be utterly impossible tor it to replace the excellent text-books in history, geography, grammar, composition, and soienco now available for the use of, scholars. Wo were also instructed to report upon the question of dropping the January issuo. Wo see no reason why tliis issue, coining in holiday timo, should not bo dropped." Members of tlio sub-committee explaZicd at greater length the reasons for their conclusions, and tlio roport was unanimously adopted by the Board.