NOTES ON EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 496, 1 May 1909, Page 10

NOTES ON EDUCATION

(By Socrates.) the schools in wellinctom. REPORT OF SCHOOL INSPECTORS. 111. . Subjoined is the concluding part of th annual report of'the Wellington Educatioi tfonrd s inspectors, on the progress and con aition of primary and district high schoc education in this' district. The particula reference to district high school work make interesting and instructive reading: . Physical Instruction. .'.'ln all our schools above Grade 0, phy .sical instruction receives due attention, am in most of them deep-breathing exercises ar given daily. : That great interest is take) in this branch of the school work was evi uenced_ by the presence at Mr. Garlick's lec tures in Wellington, Masterton, and Pahia tua, of a large'number of teachers, many o w at considerable inconvenience, tra veiled long distances every week. The pub Mention by the Department of Mr. Dovey' Alanuol Physical Exercises' will be welcome! . i , drill we consider th work doneto be generally 'good,' and thi estimate is confirmed by the Commandini Unicer„ whose report for 'drill generally' i very satisfactory. Of the thirty-five com panies and detachments ' in; the district, hi marks vary from 'good' to 'very good,' on company_ is marked 'excellent,' while onJ; one receives as low a mark as 'fair.' Th amount, of physical drill does not seem t be sufficient, as only about one-third of th companies give due attention to this branc! 0 ' ic e - • Colonel Robin, who paid a] unofficial visit to the third battalion cade camp at the Hutt, wrote: 'The compan; work was well understood, not only; in clos formation, but-in skirmishing. .It was pleas rng to see it, carried out so well. . . . You board is to be congratulated on having s many teachers doing such "good work in thi battalion.'.: Battalion Drill and Cadet Camps. ' .V. '"-I'be of battalion drill and th holding of camps have been ■ agitating th Apartment, board, committees and teachers for some time, .and. as long'a no definite settlement with, regard to th control of the cadets is arrived at, the fric !? n .. caused must considerably impair th olnciency, of the work now. done in th schools. With regard to these questions, i We'that the present chaotic stat or _• aifairs : should come to .an ■ cud, and : definite..course of action. resolved on. W r °fe™d to' this in our report last year, bu of..the; recommendation made by tho boan during- the year nothing further has bee! heard, the issue of a manual in infantr training <by tho ■Department will be helpfu to all who have to, take part in tie instruc tion .of the cadets. Manual and Technical. ''During the year 121 schools earned capitation under tho manual and technical regufa tions. . In addition to the usual school sub jqcts for classes below.: Standard V,.grant: were earned : for' agriculture, dairying, pliy fi i. oa l measurements, chemistry, botany, physi ology and . first aid,' woodwork, ■ cookery dressmaking, swimming, > and - life-saving, ii woodwork fourteen classes wore held at thi South and . Thorndon centres under tho instruction of Mr. Howe.' Th< average attendance for each class was 28, ant the .boys took a, • keen interest in their: work As it will be necessary, to extend tho opera tion. tf these classes, the Services of an as sistant will bo required; - •'The usual schoo classes in odokery were'carried on in .W6l Jrngton and theAVairarapa, and classes wer< established at Levm and, Otaki. Provisior will have to be made for instruction in cook ery and . woodwork at the Hutt and Peton< during tho coming year. In nono of th< grant-earning classes visited by the technica: inspector was the quality of the instructor marked as less than-f good,' and some wen asverv' good' ; and . ' excellent. Saturday classes for in slnpdiip sical: instniction, .;woodworks cookery, drawing and handwork wore held at Wellington and for- singing, ; physical instruction, anc cookery at Masterton/ and at the request ol country _teaohers, Mr. Garlick gave some lessons m breathing exercises at Pahiatua." District High Schools. "In the district high schools in the rauntry .the toU number in- December was fh , { tho Previous year, and i 6 ln m r ge , for 1908 F®*- 27 & D 3 against "3lJ Iw+Ln, 5 eas ? °| Siis'is coincident the decrease m Standard VI noted elsl d " 9 same cause, ™ c .establishment of night- Classes' at >omoof tho technical schools may also be a contributing . cause.. We have noted several -ases of. boys, who, after obtaining their xsrtificates of proficiency in oountrv schools: T worl i>,.t«wn for tho double pppose:. ; of; earning; a livelihood and attending light classes at tho technical school. From 904 onwards,, we .have,dwelt at some lengt-h m. the course of study to bo pursued in the ° la f ses of our distriot Wgb schools, TV " P" r F SO repeating our remarks ;twi Du ™e : the year the Department pub'shed, regulations prescribing courses of inmTinhw V s . cllol F s . holding free places, rhe bo chosen aro placed in five vo°rk P wr a t»f ' v programmes' of York, certain limitations are placed on the •tHrf'h? r i • hea ? limitations do not rc+W T? 'iM, 1 " 1^ f or tho exccp/lcra that English and arithmetic and one stt£ i " 6 , cl } os£ » 1 from a scienco group are n,v i f ' M a frce choic « as far as subjects are concerned. -It will not be'diffi,ult- to draw, up suitable schemes of work in iccordance with these regulations, for our ■econdary. teachers are gradually adopting -oursea °f study more suited than formcrlf 1 6 natoe of the child and to the requirenents of . the-community. As judged by the auinbor of successful candidates in the Civil iemco matriculation examinations, oui secondary teachers are doing satisfactory S'tw°+iF a £^ arl l'- when is remenibered that the scholarship Candidates are all ' - e schools, but the pre3aration required for such an examination as he matriculation lays undue restrictions on cboice of subjcct-s, and so. long as this examination is lookod upon as a public test jUub l l ° schools, teachers cannoi mil-themselves oven of that freedom which the KWent rearrangement of subjects for th« Dml Serv lce examination allows. For those lo^l' W n - onter . tho teacHin e ] medical, or I0 o al profession, classes must be formed tr ffi, f amination,' but as the majority of the scholars do not require to cc t SUC ) a course. it,then bLmei nl , U P, a'ternative schemes of t 1?* hl - gh 60110018 to fulfil their proper function in our educational svsem. In a secondary school with a competent staff it may not be difficult to draw .up class cal and modern courses, but in secondary jlasses which aro merely adjuncts to a prim°?l' or - possibly only one teacher, the problem becomes much more dif- ' tl ? n ; or6 °y er ' limitation in tho choice of teachers for certain subjects raises another difficulty, for where the teachIfml tl,o -f ub i? ct3 of both -the classics; ana modern sides is confined to ono or twe KaChers, tho same results cannot be expected, as in a secondary .school, whero sub|octs may be allotted to teachers of special abilities. _For examination purposes, our district-high schools cannot be expected to be uV2?- sal , no lovcl as the secondary schools, but this does not mean that they may nof be domg good work, for they meet a want m the. - community which the secondary schools cannot at present fill, and are a de:idcd boon, to the child whoso school life will ixtend only ono or two yeara beyond Standard iMx,-Mid whose parents cannot afford to send lum away from home. , , ' "The provision recently made by the Department for admission to senior free place' up to tho age of nineteen, -without a special tost, now leaves no excuse to tho country teacher to oxclude from his yearly scheme subjects which hayo some bearing -on the fluid s future life, and at the same time are able to givo liun a sound training educational Mid moral, a training, too, from which lie tvill derive a more lasting benefit than from Jie mere smattering of grammar school subjects, which his limited school life will onable nm to obtain. Thus for boys, a oourso of jcionoe, -more osntmially elementary an'rioul. juo aid kindred subiects, aid for ode, a

training in the principal branches of domestic science should figure largely in tho optional part or the programmo of our country schools, asd suitablo provision should bo mado for worl-' 6XPOrimental and practical P art of the "As in tho primary school tho most-im-portant subject on tho programmo ol the district high - school is English, and in our conferences with tho teachers special attention has been directed to tho methods of teaching, and to tho time allotted to it. It is generally recognised that in all Englishspeaking communities - tho teaching of the mother tongue is weak, and that continental nations are m advanoe of us in this respect, ttna jt has been urged, .with somo justification, against our educational system, that boys and girls leave our public schools without lovo of literature which will induce them to carry on their education after they begin their work in life.' Tho removal of this reproach lies with the secondary classes of our district high schools. More" timo should be allotted to English than to any other subject,'and in tho teaching or it two points must bo kept constantly in view, namely,- tho study of literature, mid the training in the expression of thought. During the year thero. was a decidedimprovement in this subject.'moro cspcciaUy in tho treatment of the authors read. Writings of Shakespeare, Tennyson. Scott, George Eliot, Ruskin, Macaulay, lvamb, Coleridge, and others were read with some appreciation of their literary value, ana the old philological treatment was kont entirely m the background. Moro concrete ! au ,be done in tho treatment of mathematics, moro especially geometry, but the latter subject'has undergone so much change during recent years that teachere cannot be expected to adopt , tho newmethods all at once. Owing to the teaching "experience which lies behind each being 'very limited, much of tho educational, valuo of some subjects on the modern side is at first lost, and progress must be 6low, but the experimental work in the laboratory and the practical work in tho garden both show a custwct advance on that of previous years. We have drawn • attention to the fact that in subjects such" as these, -where note books are kept, these books should bo fit for inspection if recommendations are to be made ior the granting of- senior, free places without a special examination,'for the purpose. We had to call attention to tho want of neatness in the written work of some of tho classes, and wo are pleased.to note that our' remarks havo had; soma effect." School Music. _ The report presented by Mr'. Robert .m arker, on the subject of school singing, has' already been published in The Dominion.