EXAMINATIONS AND SCHOLARSHIPS.

Evening Star, Issue 10395, 17 August 1897, Page 1

EXAMINATIONS AND SCHOLARSHIPS.

At the meeting of the Dunedin branch of the Otago Educational Institute on the 7th inst.the Hon. John MacGregor read a paper in which ho' dealt very forcibly with the above subjects. At the outset the honorable gentleman let it be known that he is one of those—a very large section bf the community,; by the way—who do not think that our education system has reached a state of perfection. One of its weak spots, Mr MacGregor contended, was the want of organic connection between the primary. And the secondary schools. Though ,tho State contributes largely to the maintenance of secondary schools, po is exercised over these institutions by the central department or by the' boards. The number of scholarships won by these schools is no proof of skilfulj; efficient, or scientific: teaching, though generally accepted as such. The same results might be attained by cramming the few clever boys and girls for examination, while the others were allowed to drift. These are facts that cannot be rightly disputed. In dealing with the standard examination in the primary schools, Mr MacGregor was particularly strong in his denunciation of what he termed an “ antiquated and injurious system.” He declared that 11 the employment of an army “of highly-paid inspectors . for such “ mechanical, routine work as that of our “standard examinations was worthy of “ the* Dark Ages.” How, while agreeing with Mr MacGregor that the standard pass system is bad in principle, and has done a great deal to. discourage up-to-date, progressive, and. scientific methods of teaching, and to foster mechanical grind and cram, we think that the fault lies not in the examinations, but rather in the false estimate set upon the results of these examinations by the school committees and by parents. For instance, a hard, unsympathetic, mechanical teacher crams all the year round, and at the annual; parade succeeds in passing every child presented for examination. The lives of the dullards have been made miserable, but that is of no consequence. The whole district comes to know that this teacher has made one hundred per cent.:of passes, and he is rated by the parents os a first-class man. The school in the adjoining district is taught by a man of strong sympathies—a man who makes a study of the art of teaching, one who practises the most intelligent, progressive, and scientific methods.' But he acts on the principle that “ the school was made for the child, and not the child for the school.” Ho may pass 85 per cent, of the children whom ne presents, but—let our readers mark this—everyone of his passes is a really good pass. None of his children just manage “to scrape over the fence.” And in both class and additional subjects his pupils do excellently; in a word, his is a model school. What is his reward 1 The probability is , that if his mechanical cramming is within a reasonable distance of him, as generally happens, the average attendance at the 100 per cent, school will be increased at the expense of the student of scientific yet sympathetic teaching. This is no fanciful picture; wo have known cases that could bo cited to support our argument. Until some method is devised whereby the general public can be shown the superiority of the results obtained by intelligent teaching, as compared with those derived from the method of cram, teachers can hardly be blamed for adopting the plan that pays them best. The fault, however, does not lie in the examiner, or in the method of examination, but in the false estimate of results, as shown by the number of standard passes. Examination there must be, and were the teachers to have perfect freedom _of _ classification to - morrow the examination of subjects would be conducted on pretty much the same lines as to-day. Reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, composition, geography, and drawing are now the so-called “ pass ” subjects. Inspectors are free, or pretty well free, to adopt their own methods of examining these subjects, and there is no reason why the examining should not he as scientific as the most scientific teaching. The same may be said of the “ class ” subjects (mental arithmetic, grammar, history, and science) and of the “ additional ” subjects (comprehension of thn language of the reading lessons, recitation, singing, needlework, and drill). While we agree with Mr MacGregor in his condemnation of the standard “pass” system, we are unable to see why, even under such a system, the duty of an examiner should be either “ mechanical ” or “routine” work.

In dealing with the question of scholarships Mr MacGregor puts his finger readily on most of the weak spots. First he pointed out the object of a State scholarship system, and then showed the class of children whom such a system was intended to benefit. “ So far as the money “went towards providing professional “ training for pupils who did not require “assistance, it was simply wasted.” Children of that class have undoubtedly an advantage in the competition, inasmuch as their parents can bear (and, as a matter of fact, do) the expense of haying them “coached.” And, so fares this education district is concerned, many of the scholarships given by the Otago Board have gone to a class of children for whom they were never intended, if we have rightly understood the purpose for which scholarships were founded. • Again, we think that Mr MacGregor spoko only the simple truth when he said : “ Another “ drawback to a system of State scholar- “ ships is _ that it induces pupils of “ no special capacity to avail themselves of it.” It is averred that that a goodly number of the Board’s scholarship (especially junior scholarships) winners are crammed and specially prepared for these examinations, and, after spending a couple of years at a high school, have no intention of carrying their studies further. Such children would be spending their time much more profitably in a school like what Mi’MacGregor proposed a little more than two years ago. To such a school all the pupils now in the so-called.Seventh Standard should be sent.. At present no provision for their tuition is made, arid experienced teachers have told us that many of these pupils are now simply wasting their time, while helping at the same time to impair the efficiency of the schools. Wo trust that Mr MacGregor will not abandon his scheme of establishing a central school for pupils who have passed the Sixth Standard, but whoffiave no intention to enter upon an academic or , professional, career. If parents wish children of this type to i remain -in tho. ordinary primary schools after passing the Sixth Standard let them

recapitulate the woi’k of that standard. We have no hesitation in affirming that “ repetition” of this sort will do them real good, whilst, under existing conditions, are only wasting their time in acquiring what at most is only a smattering of Latin, French, or mathematics. On the whole, Mr MacGregor’s paper is a most interesting one, and will well repay careful perusal by all who take an interest in the two important subjects which constitute its groundwork.