GOOD FOR CHILDREN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1912, Page 11

GOOD FOR CHILDREN

SCHOOL LIBRARY SCHEME SUCCESS AT CLYDE-QUAY PUPILS AND TEACHERS PLEASED. (By "Eareye.") Now and then a paragraph in the press has reminded the public of Wellington that a small portion of the library rate goes for the profit and healthy pleasure of boys and girls at the Clyde-quay School. By favour of the City Council those lucky children are the cheerful subjects of an experiment in libiary extension. For six months they have enjoyed books which have exercised their minds pleasantly, beneficially, and they will be grateful to the corporation for a .continuance of this much-liked regime. By any test which a critic cares to apply, the act of municipal kindness and "commonsense must be described as a success. The young folk are learning to read in- j telligently books that stimulate and im- j prove the mind. Proof? The teachers say that during the past six months they have gladly noted a better quality of English composition. The writers are more fluent, more bright, more correct in style than they or their predecessors were in days gone by. They have, too, a tender cai'e of the books, which show no signs of vandal usage. As the headmaster (Mr. Grundy) reported recently to the City Council, the children seem to have more consideration than adults for a book's feelings. Volumes which have been through over twenty homes during the half-year are still neat and clean. Tf Clyde-quay pupils can behave so well and show such admirable results, why cannot other schools be similarly trusted with suitable books? What is the limit to the council's 1 enterprise? Is Clyde- I quay to be the beginning and tho end of this much-prized book venture? A POSSIBLE PROBLEM. . One has to assume that the council, heartily encouraged by the obvious good use of the books at Clyde-quay, must be> of a mind to say, "Yes, certainly," to applications from the committees of other schools. .Several committees are said to be eager for such a boon as the muniei pality has granted to Clyde-quay, and the council, if it Resolves to maintain that pioneer scheme, cannot logically refuse an extension of 'it to other schools of Greater Wellington. The Ratepayers' Associations, the School Committees, and the burgesses generally will assuredly call j for an equal distribution of the largesse of helpful literature. That is the posi- I tion into which the corporation must be pushed, and the authorities therefore aru faced with a question of ways and meahs. Is it not possible to have a partnership of State and local bodies? For years the Education Department has been urged to increase its interest in school libraries, but has found excuses for not doing more than it has done— -which is not much. The time and the opportunity have come for the Department to .make amends, and there is no cold nor cruel factor of finance to make a difficulty. Not long ago it was announced that the' system of free text-books was to cease, and it was understood that the authorities were to supply books suitable for a school library. Hence in the Wellington City district the Departmental task should be easy. Here is machinery, with competent, enthusiastic engineers, for the establishment of a satisfactory school library system. The Chief Librarian (Mr. Baillie) is known to be a zealous worker for this ideal, and, his assistants' have proved their willingness to help heartily. It is a chance for the Education Department to co-operate with the City Council in an experiment, for the guidance and advantage of every school district. It is reasonable to suppose that sufficient householders will be found with energy and ability enough to raise some funds, by entertainment, canvass, or otherwise, to help the State and the local body in this valuable work. LESSONS OF CLYDE-QUAY. Everything at echool depends on the teacher. If he lacke vitality the class will be dull. If he is slack, the class will be lackadaisical. His manner, good, bad, or indifferent, is reflected in the pupils. A right use of a ecKool library is impossible without the teacher's thoughtful aid and supervision. There is no doubt about this interest at Clyde-quay, and there is no reason to imagine why other staffs should not be equally eager for a live library. Mr. | Grundy ( does not claim a monopoly of broad-minded, largo-souled teachers. His j system is that each class-room, from Standard 111. to VI., has a book-case, provided by the school committee, and the stock of books is not loaded with fees. Each teacher is a librarian, and if he needs aid he does not have to look long for a conscientious assistant among the pupile. The book* are in* dexed, .and their movements are cavefully recorded. The teachers themselves have had scope for their own judgment in the selection of books, and naturally their observation of the temperaments and j the good or bad traits of their pupils j has fitted them to make a wise choice/ They are able thus to well direct the rising generation's reading. WHAT DO THEY LIKE BEST? The boys and girls of Clyde-quay are happily human. They like stories of Jife and colour, but they have no trash thrust upon them. The girls are, of. course, very fond of "bo>s' books," which are all clean and well written. There 16 no book without something brightly solid for the eager readers. Brisk narratives of school life are alwajs \ in request. j The children do not rush any biography which is a- straight-out historical sequence of events, but they have a strong appetite for biography hi breezy story. Nelson, done very seriously, is rather a drug, but Nelson, done vividly, is Well liked, though not co much in demand an Napoleon, who has been out twenty times to Nelson's fifteen in the half-year. " Modern Engineering " has had five runs, and somo other technical books ha\o also appealed to some of the boys. However, the teachers do not fctrive to press technical matter on the children. They see no good in making the library j a drudgery. They cio ha'so books, geo- | graphical and historical, which fit in j with the syllabus, but these \olumca aie i not " dry." ' , The girls of Standard VI. run moic than the boys to Shakespeare. /The " Gateway to Sha.kcepeare " has bceti out twelve times in the six months, and each time the pap^e has been made by a girl. Not one b.>y in that dftzen of the dramatist's admircas ' 'Lamb's "Tales from Phakespearo " hss made fifteen triyw from f-rhonl io homed, and only four boy 6 figure in the list.