EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OTAGO.

Evening Star, Issue 7246, 24 June 1887, Page 1

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OTAGO.

At yesterday afternoon's meeting Mr Peattie presided.

SBSQUIPEDAUTY. Mr Tyndall (Tuapeka) read the following' paper on " Sesquipedality ":—" ' SesquipedaJities' were foot-and-a-half words—long-legged, undulating, syllabic sinuosities of words,- or mouth-filling, tongue-wrenching, teeth-drawing words—jawbreakers, vulgarly termed.- Now, he had a great objection to the unnecessary usjb of these linguistic luxuries, and thought iWey were often unnecessarily used in the work of' education. It waß his purpose to refer to the use aud abuse of long words, and also generally ' to the imperfections in the use of language ~ar an instrument to express and explain thoughts' He wished to show that in education it waa often clumsily and inefficiently used. The treatises put into school children's hands bjfd too many hard words in them, and inspeotojg used too many hard words in their examination papers, while teachers also used too many in their business of instruction. Now, by bard words he did not necessaiily mean Jong words, for many short words easy to the teacher were hard to a child, on account of their expressing some idea which he was unable to comprehend. Naturally, the Bohoo) being a little distinct world in itself, the dialect used in it took upon itself in the child's mind a

specialised meaning and became technical. One lfttle instance of that occurred to him. They knew that in imitation of the inspectorial method booksellers issued for tho use of teachers cards with questions on them. In school it had, he noticed, became customary to call arithmetical questions put on these cards 'proWems.' Now, this word wai not one which a child in common life had much chance of getting hold of the connotation of. He heard it only in connection with these cards. Consequently, as he (the speaker) had ob served in schools, an arithmetical question on acai'lwas technically called a 'problem,'but when put on the board it became a 'sum.'— (Laughter.) That was only one instance of what occurred very often. Tiachers should take care that no word or turn of expression should be launched at the pupil until he had mastered the idea c jnveyed by the word or turn of expression. Let his ideas grow in number gradually, and his vocabulary would follow suit. By overloading his memory with words endlefs mental confusion was caused, and also a vague and incorrect mode of expression. Whenco came the mass of ' irresponsible chatter' floating in the political ether ? Whence but in our word-info3ted, thought - deserted educational establishments?—(Laughter.) They often preferred the unfamiliar to tlie familiar word because the latter sounded vulgar. They forgot that it was vulgar little boys whom they were addressing.—(Laughter.) Scientific lectures and text-books were full of technicalities aHd Besquipedalities which to thoroughly master and associate with phenomena took a long time and much practice in using these hard terms. The easier and shorter method of passing the examination was by means of learning tho examination parts or even the whole of the text-book by heart. And so long as examiners persisted in treating scientific knowledge by means of examination papers, so long would this easier and shorter method be adopted by the majority of the students. Anl so long as this parrot learning was practised, so long would examiners be disgusted and amused by answers to their queries. In their text-books and examination papers they would find sesquipedality running rampant. Here waß an instance, from a geographical text-book intended for the use of children: an explanation of the origin of the trade winds: 'As the winds advance towards the Equator their initial rotational velocity makes them lag behind the regions over which they are moving, and gives them a relative westerly direction.' The chief reason why history had not been a success in our schools was because of thenumber of hard words used in text-books. Gardiner's history was the only history he knew that in style was at all suited to the comprehension of children, but even in it there were hundreds of words and turns of expression which might with advantage be cut out. Just at his last examination his pupils were asked something about 'aqueous vapor' and the ' configuration' of some country. He supposed such vulgar plebeian terms as ' steam ' and ' shape' would be flaws in the aristocratic incomprehensibility of an examination paper.—(Laughter and applause.) Teachers were often vexed after an examination in arithmetic at finding failures in rules which had been drummed in with the utmost pertinacity and assiduity for months beforehand. The secret of the failures was often the classical language affected by examiners. Here was a typical arithmetical examination question: 'lf a juvenile speculator invests 3s 7Jd of his paternal ancestor's wealth in the purchase of confectionery to tho amount of 61b soz 15dr, and through a cavity in the receptacle of his biped apparel is deprived of one-third his merchandise, at what price per pound must he vend the remainder so as to recuperate the defrauded creditor and have 3d left to subscribe to the Burns Statue Fund*' (Great laughtsr, and cries of 'Repeat!' and 'Encore!') They all knew that the teacher to be successful must not talk at his pupils from the top of a pedestal. He must come down to their level and help them with their d fficulties, carefully giving them a hand at every step of the great pyramid of knowledge. The perfect teacher was he who to the full knowledge and ability of a man added the heart and tongue of a child. And, if simplicity was so much to be desired in a teacher, was it not also to be desired in a schoolbook ? He would recommend any person who took upon himself the task of writing a textbook for children to go out into the playground, learn thoroughly their language, and rigorously eschew any word which he had not heard from the lips of a child at some time or other. He believed that if every person concerned in the business of instruction would, in his dealings with little children, only strive to speak and write in the words of a little child, the help given to the cause of true education would be enormous, and there would not be much occasion for the common cry against our school system. It was only words, words, words, and cram, cram, cram."—(Loud a;nlause.) On the motion of Mr Piper, seconded by Mr Reid (Milton), a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Tyndall.

EVENING SITTING

At the evening sitting Mr Dunbar presided. THE PLACE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE TEACHER. The Kev. J. Ci-ark, of Palmerston, read a paper on "The Place and Importance of the Teacher." The chief work of the educationist, he pointed out, was not to gain high per centages of passes, but that the boys and girls who went through thfcir classes should carry with them as rational, moral, and social beings the great principles which they had to carry out in ,»fter-life. He referred to the power which the teacher could exercise in principles of truth, honesty, and self-control in his pupils. Then the playground should not be lost sight of as a means in training the children. There they were not subject to the f choolroom restraint, and it was there their good and bad qualities were most likely to appear. The teacher should realise that the children were not made for him, but that he was made for the children so fai- as he was concerned like what their parents expected them to be. He set that high aim before the teacher, but it was not a higher aim than the importance of his work demanded. He also referred to the system of flogging by the head-masters of our schools as not being conducive to raise the moral tone of the school.

On the motion of Mr Reiu (Forbury) a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Clark.

THE SYLLABUS. The Rev. D. Macgbegor, of Oamaru, gave an address on " The Syllabus." He said the Education Board had done all they could to ascertain what competent authorities thought of the syllabus, and it appeared that in the opinion of those whose opinion was conclusive the existing state of things was extremely bad, and far from being fitted to serve the purposes of our educ&tional system. The Board had no legislative power, and could not do more than they had done. The rest must be left with the manly men and womanly women of the Colony. It was now just for tho public to move. Yesterday he travelled with a member of Parliament, and he hoped he gave him a good deal of useful instruction.—(Laughter.) Tbi3 member bad informed him that it would be useless to make a political question out of the matter, as members of Parliament were not up in it; any move would have to come by way of the Minister of Education. Teachers should seriously converse about it. The ascertainment was this—that far too many things were prescribed, and there was too little freedom both for teachers and taught. The BpoUed child was the one who had been sat upon by the great big fat woman.—(Great lasghter.) Now it appeared very much as if the syllabus was the great big fat woman and Otago was the spoiled child.—(Kenewed laughter.) The system tended to bo teo systematic, as if the system were the end of the education. He did not want their boys to be sent from school crammed with learning; he wanted them to go away ignorant and thirsting for knowledge. "It is, he concluded, " a man I want in the future, and I don't want alittlo wretch crammed with ologies."— (Laughter and applause.) Mr M'llrea thought their syllabus was not so bad as had been made out, but that it was worthy of commendation, though he did not say that it might not be improved on. Mr White thought the recommendations of the New Zealand Institute should be adopted. After some further discussion Dr Bkown asked permission to Bay a few words on the matter. He thought they should give a practical turn to what was evidently the unanimous opinion of the teachers present by taking opportunity of the dissolution of Parliament to exact pledges from those who were candidates for a position in the next Parliament not to look upon the present Education Act as a sacred fetish that must not be touched.—(Applause.) A hearty vote of thanks was passed to Dr Macgregor for his address.