MOST NEGLECTED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 20, 24 January 1912, Page 2

MOST NEGLECTED.

STUDY OF HISTORY. A GENERAL IGNORANCE ON NATIONAL TRADITIONS. REPORT OF THE RECESS COMMITTEE. "We have thus a vicious circle. The children in the primary schools do not learn History properly ; considering it either unimportant or distasteful, they drop it as a subject in their subsequent education whenever they can. The teachers, as a body, have up to the present, never learned History, and therefore are unable to teach it adequately, Hence the people of this Dominion are growing up in ignorance, not only- of the history of the world in general, but even of the traditions of the nation of which they form a part : an ignorance of that knowledge and culture which is at the y?ry foundation of citizenship and patriotism." This is the strong indictment against our education system for its neglect to have History 'taught seriously — an indictment embodied in the very important and lengthy report of tbe Recess Committee on the study of History, and submitted to the University Senate today. AUTHORITIES CONSULTED. The Senate of 1911 set up this Recess Committee,' which consisted of the Chancellor (Sir Robert Stout), Professor J. Macmillan Brown, and Messrs. Tibbs and Yon Haast (convener). The committee was empowered to consider the best i means of encouraging the study of History, with power ta confer with the teachers of the subject in the University colleges and (Secondary schools. In response to invitations for opinions, replies were received from the Professorial Boards of the University Colleges, from Professor Hight, of Canterbury College, and Mr. Grossmann, of Auckland University N College, from principala of Christ's College, Boys' High School (Christchurch), Nelson College, Wellington Girls' College, Christchurch Girls' High School, Southland Girls' High. School, and the History masters at . Christ's College. /The .committee also had before it the Parliamentary papers on education, etc., 1910 and 1911, containing, inter alia, the reports of . the Inspectors of the Primary Schools in 1909 and 1910, tables showing the University and also the Training College work Undertaken by Training College students in 1910, and the report for 1910 of the principal of the Wellington Training College. MARKED DOWN AND PENALISED. . All thejie authorities are unanimous (reported the committee) in their view that History, which should be one of the leading papers in our educational system, is the most' neglected. 'It is generally agreed that the study is practically a dead subject in the primary schools. Of the Training College students, i who are , to be the , teachers in tfie primary schools, in 191Q, not one, either in hia Training College or his University' work, took English or Modem History. In the secondary schools the effect of the Department's regulations- (it wa* noted) is such as to discourage the inclusion of History 4 in the courses taken by the brightest pupils preparing for the legal examinations. In the Junior Scholarship examination it is .penalised out of. existence, only 425 m,arka' being allotted for ,thl? subjeot, aa 1 against 600 for each- Sfeience, 850 ,for French, and 1000 each for English and German. , In. Matriculation ib 15 an optional subject. "Raise the maximum marks for History in the Junior Scholarship (examination," advises the report, "and the interest in History at tlie secondary schools would soon revive." NO ENCOURAGEMENT AT THE I UNIVERSITY., I "But assuming that an enthusiast in history enters the portals of the university, what encouragement has he to pursue the study of the subject there? He finds that it is not considered of sufficient importance to rank aa a full subject by itself, but counts aa only half a subject, which he " must take with either Constitutional History or Jurisprudence. If he omits English History and takes Constitutional History and Jurisprudence, he thereby gets a 'leg-in' lor the Bachelor of Law* degree, a consideration that influences not a> few when so many teachers convert themselves into lawyers." History counts ac half a subject for the B.A. degree, and must be taken with' either Jurisprudence or Constitutional History. For "repeat" and senior scholarships history w only a third of a subject, and must be taken together with 'both Jurisprudence and Constitutional History, the Bonourß papers being taken for the last two subjects. In the M. A. ■ and Honours examination, History again ia only . a third of a subject, and must be taken together with Economics and either Jurisprudence or Constitutional History. At the teaching colleges little provision is made for a student's historical education. At the Otago University there is not even a lecturer in English History. HEAVILY HANDICAPPED. "It is therefore, evident," saya the committee, " that from the bottom to the top of our educational system history is heavily handicapped compared with other subjects. The children at the bottom are not taught it properly; the teachers at the top have in the past been practically not taught at all. . . . Your committee considers that the position of History at the university is largely due to the neglect of History throughout the educational system as a whole, and therefore, before considering the remedies suggested, desires to point out the disabilities that handicap History at present." . TEACHERS' CERTIFICATES. The committee proceeded to point out the disabilities under which the subject labours from the primary schools to the universities. • This includes the following: — "At present History is not a compulsory subject for the D. and C. certificates fpr teachers, • Hence, no doubt,' its neglect by Training College students in the Training Colleg and University work, and the apathy displayed by so many teachers with reference to the subject. We, however, understand that, in the proposed regulations for the examination and classification of teachere which are likely shortly to come into force, ' History and' Civics ' is •to be made a compulsory subject in group 11. This change," comments the report, "will no doubt give a great impetus to the Btudy of History, and materially improve the .teaching of that subject." SUGGESTED REMEDIES. The committee made the following suggestions to operate in the way of remedies. It states :— "While this committee's province. is mainly to make recommendations as to the place of history at the University, it deems it advisable to place on record its view as to the means by which history may be given its proper place in, our education system as a whole. Reforms with regard to the subject at the University will be of little avail if it continued to be ne* glected in the primary and eecondttry

PRIMARY SCHOOLS. History should be a compulsory pass subject for all the higher standards, for free place, and certificate of proficiency examinations, and for all school-leaving certificate examinations. . . In place of the present vague and optional programme, that ensures neither continuity of treatment nor chronological sequence, there should be a reversion to a definite programme, with definite courses of lessons in British history, arranged in successive periods, on a scale that would require at least two lessons per week to cover each year's work. There should be such a co-ordination between the historical work of the primary and secondary schools, as to ensure that each pupil, on the completion of his secondary school course, should have been thoroughly grounded both in the history of the British race and also in the main facts of the history of the world. SECONDARY WORK. Secondary Schools. — Every pupil in the secondary schools should learn history; English history and civics should be a compulsory subject in the scheme of instruction for both junior and senior free places, and for all examinations connected with these schemes. In both primary and secondary schools a knowledge of the actual course of events, including both'names and important dates, should be insisted on in order that the pupils may have "some coherent knowledge of the order of events and the sequence of the various ' phases of social and political development." Civil Service. — If history is to be continued as an optional subject, in the Junior Civil Service examination, the maximum marks sh&uld be at least 300. UNIVERSITY REQUIREMENTS. The University. — Junior Scholarship : The maximum marks obtainable should be 600. B.A. Degree, Repeat and Sen- • ior Scholarship : History (including constitutional History) should be a single full subject with an extended curriculum worthy of the increased importance of the subject; jurisprudence and constitutional history together should also be a separate subject for the B.A. Degree, but not for repeat or senior scholarship. M. A. ( Degree and Honours in Arts : History should form, a separate group with an enlarged curriculum. Economics should' form a separate group and in elude history treated from the economic side. Languages for Arts Degrees: The prescription for a language either ancient or modern for the Arts Degrees should require from the student some general knowledge of the history of at least the period to which the set Dooks belong. The committee also recommended that a copy of the report should be sent to the Minister of Education, and that his attention be specially directed to those parts relating to the primary and secondary schools.