SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 128, 24 February 1938, Page 8

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Academic Emphasis • Criticised PROPOSED CHANGES AT RONGOTAI COLLEGE Expressing his dissatisfaction with die examination system, the principal of Bongotai College, Mr. F, Martyn Renner, informed the board ot governors of the Wellington colleges in his report yesterday that lie proposed to begin drastic changes. He stated his intention of appealing to parents to drop ‘‘this stupid worship of the golden calf.” Mr. Renner furthei stated his opinion that the system of setting difficult papers for the university entrance examination and the sealiiig up of marks was wrong. Mr. Renner brought to the board’s notice that in the university entrance examination Rongotai’s percentage of passes was 6G per cent., and in the school certificate examination 70 per cent. ‘‘When it is considered,” he continued, ‘‘that the satisfactory percentage is usually 40 per cent, to 42 percent., I am perhaps justified in saying that 66 per cent, and 70 per cent, is alarmingly high—so high in fact that I cannot regard either examination as correctly reflecting the quality of our fifth form work, except in too flattering a manner. X say this without in any way wishing to detract from the excellent work done by the masters and the fine spirit of work shown by the boys.

Scaling Down Preferred.

‘'As is the case with other headmasters, I received the marks gained by pupils of this school in the university entrance examination, and J 1 am more than ever convinced that the s./s--tem of setting -difficult papers atid scaling the marks up, is tvholly wrong. It is much fairer to the candidates and produces a better general perspective if papers of only average difficulty are set and the resujtant marks are scaled down. I ran. through the Latin marks, and I was perplexed and astonished to find marks of 35 and 40 gained by boys who should never have come near the 20’s. What guide are results of this kind to promotion in the school? One extraordinary anomaly presents itself —the case of a boy of this school who came fifty-ninth in New Zealand for the Public Service entrance examination, gained his school certificate examination, and. yet failed in the university entrance examination. . . . “To me this whole question of examinations is so unsatisfactory that in the autumn of my career as a headmaster I propose! to begin drastic changes and try to educate rather than to teach. I am going to appeal to parents to drop this stupid worship of the golden calf and to think more of the ideals of education, than of its materialistic aspects; that is, to think of the child as a potential asset of the Dominion instead of as a mere cog in the business machine—that there, is something better in life than merely cramming a boy like a goose to be fattened, to pass examinations and to get a good job. Cultural Aspect. “Hence with the freedom given to me by the new regulations I propose this year in the third and fourth forms, to drop the academic treatment of the school subjects and to try to get my staff to handle them from the humanising and the more cultural aspect. To take an example, French. What have we aimed at in the past? (1) Ability to read the language; (2) knowledge of grammar; (3) exactness and correctness of translation from English into French. What I propose is to extend No. 1, reduce 2 and 3 to a bare minimum, and widen and expand the child’s knowledge of the history, customs, people, etc. So with Latin. In science, to get away from the deadening influence of dry facts unrelated to life, mere meaningless chemical and physical calculations. I feel that if this wider and broader treatment is continued in our third and fourth forms, a better foundation will be laid for the work in our fifth and sixth forms, where the academic treatment will be begun and continued. “I hope to get the-parents’ co-opera-tion in this orientation of the work. My aim is, frankly, that, in general, pupils should aim at a four years’ course as a preparation for entrance to the university, not as heretofore a three years’ course. I believe that the system I- have outlined will turn out a better educated type of lad from our schools and will do something to make the so-called academic subjects interesting to teach and interesting to learn.”