SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 138, 12 June 1936, Page 11

SECONDARY SCHOOLS

REPLY TO CRITICISM

BIG STRIDES MADE

Ia the course of his report to his Board of Governors, Mr. J. N. Millard, principal of the Hutt Valley High School, refers to the criticism that teachers are opposed to any deviation from the old type of academic teaching.

"Critics of secondary schools," says Mr. Millard, "are very fond of saying that the teaching in these schools is very out of date, and that the teachers themselves are strongly opposed to any deviation from the old type of academic teaching. Both these statements are very wide of the mark. It is very apparent to those of us who have had a fairly long experience in these schools that big strides have been made in modernising both teaching methods and subject matter. Old pupils of twenty years ago would scarcely recognise subjects like English, history, and geography, because they have changed so much both in subject content and in method of presentation. Practically every secondary school is endeavouring to find more room in the curriculum for music and art, and all such schools now have facilities for giving their pupils a certain amount of manual training. No schools are as keen as their critics maintain on forcing their pupils to take Latin and French. In this school only 25 per cent, of the pupils take " Latin, and 20 per cent take neither ' Latin nor Trench. At present the syl- - labua of the schools is governed largely by the University Entrance Exam--1 inatioo.

Neither the Department nor the University is to blame for this, the fault lies with the general public and the business people who demand matriculation as the 'hall mark* of a rea-

sonable secondary education.

"At this year's conference there was a unanimous demand that the present type of matriculation examination be discarded and that schools be allowed - . to build up their curriculum round a cultural core of English, social sciences, art, arithmetic, general science, health, and handwork. All teachers were keen on modernising the school curriculum and there was no sign of opposition on account of 'vested interests in teaching,' a phrase that has been used by one of the present members of the Cabinet. "Another very encouraging sign of the conference was the good feeling that existed between the technical , school and the secondary school 1 branches, and it was apparent that the two bodies of teachers are ready to unite in some way so that they can work together in the general cause of education." ,