OUR PRIMARY SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 123, 25 May 1908, Page 8

OUR PRIMARY SYSTEM OF EDUCATION.

TO TIIB EDITOB. Sir, — Mr. Tibbs'a indictment of our primary system of education is opportune, and although ono docs not necessarily agre\ with all his deductions a great deal of what ho says will bo welcomed by the saner and more practical section of educators. There is a disposition on tho part of the thick-an-thin advocates of tho new syllabus to bpeak of the older teachers as out-of-date, alleging that they have no sympathy with the new order of things. That is false in so far as it is good. But it may be confidently asserted that its weaknesses would have been sooner apparent but for these same older teachers. They have acted as a drag upon the perfervid advocates of the new syllabus, because they recognised that such a revolution in our system of education needed watching. They were not prepared to swallow bolus bolus all the new ideas without thoroughly examining their tendency Further, they Eaid that if our primary and secondary systems were to co-ordinate, as they assuredly should if the greatest amount of good were to be derived from them, the new 6yllabus was not an adequate instrument. Out o£ loyalty to the powers uhat bo they were willing to give the syllabus a fair trial. They have done so, and I venture to say that there is not an experienced teacher from tho North Cape to the Bluff who, to-day, is not longing to return to, at any rate, some of the fleshpots of Egypt. Some of our inspectors have already 6poken out about the futility of the present syllabus for the teaching of English. Everybody of experience in primary work concedes that a good deal of the fiddle-faddle of the formal grammar taught under the old syllabus could be jettisoned with advantage, but to attempt to teach English without a foundation — and a solid foundation at that — was a huge mistake. So much has been realised by head teachora that many of them are retracing their steps in order to lay the fovindation afresh. Try to imagine the dismay of a teacher endeavouring to make clear to a class why. such and such a mode of expression iB incorrect, at finding that, so far as the children are concerned, ho has no standard to which he can appeal. He has been advised to avoid grammatical terms even. The framers of the syllabus, in their fears that terms would bo terms nnd nothing more, rushed to the other extreme and decided to dispense with formal grammar altogether. But, surely, that was paying a poor compliment to tho intelligence of the teachers, who, whatever else they may or may not be, are practical people, who are in the habit of taking a comprehensive view of education and of I weighing its tendency. Although much has been done, some of it good, some of it indifferent — in the cause of education a great deal remains to be done — not so much by way of pulling down as of adapting tho old to present needs. Especially is change necessary in the matter of tho ec-ordination of the primary and secondary systems. If tho primary system is right the secondary is altogether wrong. If the secondary is right then the primary must be wrong, for, especially in English, they do not dovetail at all. One would have imagined that our present Inspector-General, who is generally looked upon as the father of the present syllabuß, or at any rate as having adopted or adapted it, would, as an ex-seoondary school teacher, have seen to it that the primary school syllabus led up to the secondary school syllabus, especially when it is remembered that in future we were to bo able to boast that it would be in the power of the lowliestborn to proceed, without let or hindrance, from tho primary school, via the secondary, to the university. The understaffiiiff of the schools and the underpaying of the teachers aro old, old stories — quite hoary, in fact. Bad as tho latter is tho former is immensely more prejudicial to tho advance of eduoation. Tho two questions of course, in one sense, hang together, but the enormous classes due to understating are enough to break the hearb of the toughest teacher, and constitute a scandal. The strain, as Mr. Tibb3 points out, is terrible. Is it any wonder that males shy at it, or that having adopted tho teaching profession they got out of it at tho first opportunity. One does not desire to discount tho intentions of the Government in the matter of education. It has attempted much, doubtless with the very best intentions, but it should not now, through a .fake notion of dignity, refuse to> retrace its stepa when such a movement is nooessary, nor to modify its scheme so as to clip it where it has grown out of bounds, or to completely lop off somo of its useless branches. — I am, otc., EDUCATOR. Wellington, 22nd May, 1903.

A deputation from the New Zealand Ironmasters' Association waited on Sir James Mills, managing director of the Union Steam Ship Company, to-day, with roferenee to the prices charged for the supply of labour to the company. Tho deputation consisted of Messrs. Cook (Port Chalmers), D. Robertson, W. Cable, C. M, Luke, J. P. Luke, C. M'Keegaii, and H. F. Allen (secretary). The deputation asked' for an increase in the rates charged for the supply of labour, pointing out that at present contracts are based on prices fixed twenty years ago, and that during that period the price of labour has considerably increased. Sir James Mills promised that the representations of the deputation should receive careful consideration. An open air meeting in connection with the no-license movement was held in Jackson-street, Petone, on Saturday night. The speakers were Messrs. J. Delahunty, A. J. Daniel, and T. Townsend. On the whole they were accorded a good hearing, but several young fellows who themselves furnished a powerful argument in favour of the speaker's contentions were a little noisy, and some amusement was created by one man mounting the box to speak for the "other side." The next meeting is to be held in Lower Hutt. Mr. Cuddie, Dairy Commissioner, was at last mail reports, on the Continent. He had gone fully into all matters connected with butter and cheese, and had full information concerning the different New Zealand broods regarding which complaints had been made and faults found. He will make an exhaustive report to the Agricultural Department. The valuations of properties in the Ormondviiie Riding of Dannevirke County are now out, and almost without exception show a rise of 100 to 200 per cent, in unimproved value. Of course there is a dismal wail, says the Hawkes Bay Herald, but those who raise tho loudest laments aro in most cases those who, with a rise of £3 to £8 per acre on the unimproved value, and whoso sole improvements are a seven wired fence, would not sell for less than £20 an acre the properties on which they pay rates on a valuation of £8. Last week about 10,000 fish were treated at the Salvation Army's freezing works at Tauranga. "My Name's Mtid" sends us a humorous sketch of his experiences along the Hutt-road — canal he calls it — on Saturday night. He had the misfortune to miss the last suburban train, and decided to walk to Petone. He describes his journey as a remarkable feat of endurance, extending over three and a half hours. A Waikato paper records another instance of the danger of tho use of celluloid. A girl employed in a ln-Tge boardinghouse in Hamilton fancied she could smell something 1 burning. Investigation was made, andi it was found that a toothbrush mode of celluToid had been ignited by the sun's rays shining through a glass decanter full of water. Mr. A. B, I'ownall, a candidate for tTio Mirumur Boroujrh Council, will addros 1 ) th* fllentors at Miraoiur at 8 o'olcok this i avsminß-