TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3212, 15 October 1881, Page 2

TOWN EDITION. The Daily Telegraph SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1881.

The impression that we are paying dear for our whistle in the matter of education is very widespread, and has been deepened by the reports of the School Inspectors recently submitted to the General Assembly. The New Zealand Times, in a recent issue, refers to the question as follow? : — " Leaving out of consideration the circumstance that a no inconsiderable section of the community is debarred by religious scruples from accepting the existing system of State education for their offspring, and that it will be scarcely possible during the coming elections to entirely disassociate party politics from the influence of the " Catholic vote," which for years past has been directed towards securing concessions in our educational system, demanded for conscience' sake, there remains, as of even more pressing importance, the question whether the system of our public schools approaches in any material degree the ideal ot perfection which its cost should certainly ensure." The writer then goes on to say that the reports of the School Inspectors will naturally place the educational affairs of the colony in as favorable a light as possible, but even these reports appear to confirm the impression that the perfection of the Standard system is becoming more doubtful year by year. The following quotations from the reports of several Inspectors are then given :—The Auckland Inspector approves of the system, if worked judiciously. He says the demands made by the Standards should be rigorously exacted; they should be taken as representing the minimum of attainment of which evidence is exI pected, and should be passed in such a way as to indicate that the candidate could, without much difficulty, do better work than is demanded. The percentage of parses he gives for what it is worth, admitting that the test of results is often fallacious, and, inferentially, that such results may be due to cramming. The Taranaki Inspector reports having adapted his examination as closely as possible to the requirements of the Government standards, with the result that the idiosync r acies of teachers, the consequence of irregularity of attendance, and the want of interest in educaiion on the part of parents, stood singularly revealed. The WaDganui Inspector reports having gone more literally by the requirements of the Standards than he bad on previous oacasions felt warranted in doing. He shows a high percentage of passes, but expresses no opinion as to the success of the system. The Wellington Inspector describes the general results of the Standard classification as fairly satisfactory, but he shows that such numerical results are not everything; that the Standard schedule must not be taken as a full picture of the educational work of the year. He says, " There is really nothing in a system of standards which need cramp the efforts of an artist, and nothing which need binder him in his teaching fromtakinganoriginal and broad view of the work before him." Except, we may add, the responsibility resting on the teacher to produce, no matter how, certain given results within a given time_, or else incur the risk of being declared inefficient, or lacking iv industry. Several other quotations of considerable interest are given, and the conclusion which the Times comes to is that the system requires the best attention of educationists in the direction of modifications and the elimination of errors which experience has made manifest.