NEWS OF THE DAY „

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 146, 17 December 1937, Page 8

NEWS OF THE DAY „

New Zealand's Three It's. A variation of the three educational R's which formed the basis of the original English system was suggested by Mrs. S. Unwin in an address which she delivered at the annual prize-giving ceremony of the Timaru Technical College on Wednesday night, says an exchange. The original R's were reading, writing, and arithmetic, Mrs. Unwin explained, but New Zealand's three R's were Rugby, racing, and wrestling, "They are excellent things as long as you do them yourselves and do not spend too much time just watching other people do them," she added. City Milk Sales. Excluding the milk supplied to the Schools, city milk sales for the month of November averaged 5898 gallons daily, such being 392 gallons (or 7.11 per cent.) in excess of the sales for the corresponding month of the previous year, it was reported to the City Council last night. By the same comparison, cream sales show an increase of 19.18 per cent. Milk sales to nearby farmers averaged 36 gallons daily, as compared with nine gallons for the corresponding month of the previous year. Milk supplied to the schools during the month totalled 29,140 gallons. Highway Lighting:. A letter was received from the Town Clerk at Lower Hutt (Mr. B. S. Knox) at the meeting of the Hutt Valley Electric Power Board yesterday afternoon in reply to a request by the board that the Lower Hutt Borough Council might desire to take over the demonstration lights erected on the Hutt Road and Railway Avenue. The works committee could not recommend the council to take the step suggested by the board, wrote Mr. Knox. The committee and the council were much interested in the demonstration, but the opinion had been expressed that the lighting of main highways was not a function of local authorities. Inquiry into Parking Problems. A number of suggestions have been received by the bylaws committee of the City Council from business firms regarding the control of car parking, and it was decided last night that the whole question should be referred to the special committee appointed recently to consider traffic control and sites for parking stations. It was also decided that the personnel of the committee should be amended to include the Town Clerk, Mr. E. P. Norman, as chairman, the City Solicitor, Mr. J. O'Shea, the City Engineer,. Mr. K. E. Luke, and the General Manager of the tramways department, Mr. M. Cable. The council last night also decided to request the Hutt County Council to prohibit parking near .the entrance to the wharf at Day's Bay. Functions of a School. "There is a tendency in some quarters to think that the chief function of a school is to amuse the pupils," remarks the principal of the Hutt Valley High School in his annual report. "I hope this will not be overdone. One of the reasons why children come to school is to learn how to work. If a child is to develop any stability of character he must be able to tackle unpleasant tasks cheerfuly, and he must learn how to take the disappointment of failure as well as the joy of success. Another tendency is to regard all examinations as bad; particularly so is this the case with teachers whose work finds great difficulty in passing by ordinary tests. I think it would be unwise to discard all examinations. Unfortunately, there has been a tendency lately to increase them, and the position has been made much worse this year by the reintroduction of the Public Service Entrance, and some of out pupils who have entered for this examination as well as the University Entrance have just completed about three weeks of examinations." . "Legalised Butchery." The discontinuance of the specialised artillery and machine-gun training of the Rongotai College • Cadet Corps was not regretted by the headmaster, Mr. F. M. Renner. At last night's break-ing-up ceremony he had this to say:— "In these days when military training has waned in popularity, I find it necessary to emphasise that the cadet unit it a very valuable factor in the boys' education. Amongst other things, it fosters the corporate life of the school outside the classroom, it inculcates pride in neatness and cleanliness, it teaches control of movement, cheerful and prompt obedience, and encourages physical fitness. From now on our coast defence artillery squad, our machine-gun and Lewis gun squads will be- discontinued. I am not altogether sorry to see them go. To my mind, their existence has always given too much prominence to the training for legalised butchery, and I welcome a wider and a broader syllabus, including not only additional physical training, but first-aid, restoration of the apparently drowned, signalling, map reading, and elementary engineering." Importance of Esperanto.

"In the third term a new subject was introduced experimentally into the curriculum, namely, the international auxiliary language Esperanto, which is being taught for half an hour weekly to the 34 boys in Forms I and II," said Mr. J. R. Sutcliffe, principal of Scots College, in his report, delivered last evening. s "There were two reasons for its introduction. The first and immediate one is that leading educationists declare that Esperanto, because of its strictly logical construction, forms the ideal basis for the study of all foreign languages; in fact, Professor 'J. J. Findlay asserts that the quickest way to learn French or any other foreign language is to learn Esperanto for a year first. Secondly, while not overlooking the claims of lesser international languages such as basic English, I feel that in view of the present most serious world situation, we must explore every avenue which may possibly lead to better international understanding. While it is still too early to judge of the success of the experiment, I can state that the classes have undoubtedly taken up the new subject with enthusiasm." Bonuses for Teachers. Conditions prevailing in the teaching profession in "the good old days" were contrasted with those at the present when Mr. R. Cole, head teacher at the Petone Central School, was farewelled at a N.Z.E.I. function yesterday afternoon. Looking back'over.a period of 50 years, Mr. Cole said that a very remarkable change had taken place. There was a wholly different relationship between parents and children and between children and teachers. In those days the relationship between the teachers and the children was marred by the bad system then in force; the teachers were told to do certain work under certain conditions, and they had to accomplish it. The system considered neither the child nor the teacher, except from the point of view of results. Teachers could not afford to be too meroiful to pupils who could not absorb and reproduce what they were taught. He quoted an instance where the headmaster of a school received a bonus of £30, and his first assistant £20, and so on, conditional on the number of passes obtained. They could not afford to take any risk oi losing their bonus. He had known children whom the masters believed incapable of passing being advised to stay at home until the examinations were over. Such a system did no good, and it was well that it had gone out of existence.

The Matriculation Bugbear. ''I want to remind you, as I have done so often, that the University Entrance examination is laid down as 'the reasonable result of lour years' work in a secondary school.' Pressure from employers and parents, and the incidence of the basic wage legislation, all tend to force us to complete the course in three years, but my staff and I have resolutely set ourselves against turning out half-fledged matriculation passers," said Mr. J. R. Sutclifl'e, principal of Scots College, at the annual break-up ceremony last night. "At the same time, where a third-year secondary boy shows any promise of attaining the desired status in. three years we encourage him to go ahead." Hobbies are Important. . "I realise only too well, as all thinking people must, that it is in his con-i nection with hobbies that a boy develops more rapidly than in the class room," commented Mr. F. M. Renner, headmaster of Rongotai College, at the breaking-up ceremony last night. "At the adolescent stage it is important for the boy to have his spare time occupied in a way that will interest him. It is in these clubs (whose activities in the college Mr. Renner had reviewed) that a boy learns to understand his master and the master learns to understand the boy. So valuable indeed to my mind is the work done in our clubs and activity groups, in our sports and recreations, that I would view with equanimity their displacement of half of the present school timetable." Examination System. Reference to the examination system in schools was made by the principal (Miss V. M. Greig) at the breaking-up ceremony of the Wellington Girls' College last night. "We are seeking to emphasise a standard of attainment rather than a competitive mark, and we look forward to extending the system so that prizes may be awarded not on a competitive basis but on a certain standard of work or for progress maintained," she said. "In issuing reports to parents in some subjects we have estimated the pupil's progress in merit terms, and not in percentages, and we hope to apply this system more generally next year." "First Among Equals," "Rongotai College is, I think, different from most other schools in at least this one respect—the relation of the individual masters to me, their head," said Mr. F. M. Renner, headmaster of Rongotai College, at the breaking-up ceremony last night. ."Each one is 'primus inter pares'—first among equals. Autocratic control is to me abhorrent. I have seen it wreck too many schools and too many organisations; and so while the spirit of comradeship, the more or less absence of distinction between the head and his colleagues, has its danger,, I would not change my system even at the price of an easier job and a more carefree existence. And the reason is, that no master has ever abused my trust in him, no master has taken advantage of the conditions under which he works; no master has ever required to be watched for fear that he might not be doing his job. Mr. Chairman, this is a great tribute which I pay them, and a well-deserved tribute." Increase in Maoris. The relative net increase of those recorded as of pure Maori descent is more than double the rale of growth of the European population, although the former section can only lose by external migration, while the latter gained considerably from this source, states the Abstract of Statistics for November, referring to the 1936 Census. Most striking, however, is the wide discrepancy between Maori and part 'Maori (mainly, of course, European-Maori). It would seem fairly definite that the most rapidly-growing section of the population is that of part-European and part-Maori origin. Conclusions, however, should not be drawn too finely, as there is reason to believe that the proportion of pure Maori is somewhat overstated in Census returns, and the higher growth of "part Maoris" may be partly due to more correct statements in the latter Census. In the race-alien division there has been a fairly substantial decrease in the number of Chinese, but increases in most other cases, notably negroes, Syrians, Indians, and Polynesians (mainly Samoans). Of the total population in 1936 Europeans comprised 1,484,528 (94 33 per cent.), Maoris 82,326 (5.23 per cent) and race aliens 695G (0.44 per cent)' The relative rate of increase between 1926 and 1936 was Europeans, 10.9 per cent.; Maoris, 29.3 per cent.; and race aliens, 10.4 pier cent.