PAST AND PRESENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 13 January 1925, Page 5

PAST AND PRESENT

TEACHING OF HISTORY. MODERN PRINCIPLES. REPORT BY COMMITTEE. (.BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.; WELLINGTON, Jan. 12. The departmental committee appointed to inquire into the teaching of history in schools has compiled two reports, dealing with primary and secondary schools. The very latest dicta on the subject have been collated; including the reports of commissions both in Great Britain and America, and the committee has sought to make the modern principles outlined by the authorities abroad applicable to New Zealand. The committee has clone more than enunciate [general; prdjiciples, for it has gone into practical details, and has devised new programmes and courses for all types of schools. The sub-committee which dealt with the work in secondary schools passed two resolutions, asking the University Senate to make, history compulsory for the matriculation examination, and to allot a greater proportion of marks for the subject. The Minister for Education (Sir James Parr) proposes to circulate tlie reports after they have been printed, with-the object of inviting helpful suggestions and enabling teachers to become thoroughly acquainted with the principles laid down in the document and with the new programme suggested. He hoped the staffs would be in a position.,to undertake teaching on new lines as from the beginning of next year. After a fujl discussion of the proposal by the. Teachers’ Union and the inspectors, and with the aid of the Educational Institute and the National Journal of Education, teachers should be able to start next year with a full knowledge of the new requirements. Incidentally, it would be necessary to apply the principles laid down in the reports to the instruction of young teachers at training colleges

Sir James thinks a great deal could be accomplished by placing the su.b’ject in the largest schools under history specialists. The rank, and file of teachers could greatly improve their equipment. One thing was quite clear. The present school time-table, which gave about one hour per week to instruction in history, must be revised without delay. When the scheme was explained to teachers, he hoped they would be able .to kindle some enthusiasm for the subject, the undoubted claims of which demanded additional interest on the part of teachers themselves.

Tlie Minister gives great credit to the members of the committee for their excellent work. They had gone very exhaustively and patiently into the inquiry, and as a result he hoped a big 1 improvement would soon bo effected in the teaching of history in schools. HEADMASTER’S VIEWS. FAULTS OF THE PAST. Interviewed by a Hawera Star reporter this morning on the contentious subject of the teaching of history in the schools, Mr Gray, headmaster of the Hawera Technical High School, stated that in his opinion the old style of teaching history was to force the student to memorise long lists of dates and events. There came a swing of the pendulum, and • memorial work was almost abolished, and an attempt was made to popularise tlie subject by means of simple stories. “Neither of these methods was satisfactory,” continued Mr Gray. “I do not know what the report referred to actually contains, but my own idea in regard to teaching of history is that teachers should utlise present-day events and work backwards in order to show the evolution which has made these events possible. “It appears to me that every event of to-day is linked with the past in some way or other. Also, I think more attention should be paid to constitutional history and to industrial history. The history of engineering, for instance, must of necessity give the engineering student a new viewpoint from which to scan his subject. By the use of the Official Year Book teachers would provide most interesting present-day facts from which to work. It appears to .me that we shall have to return to a slight extent to the old method of solid memory work, because there must he some foundation of fact in the student’s mind before he can associate the modern event with the' previous one. • . “I am also of opinion that history, English and geography should he more closely allied. The history of some of our words is the history of the nation at certain periods. Also, I think that a great deal more attention should be paid to New Zealand history, which is most fascinating, and which, if more attention were paid to it by presentday pupils, the electors of the future would take more interest in the progress of their country. “I have recently been re-reading Seffern’6 “History of Taranaki,” and found it wonderfully interesting. To sum up, there must he a connection between the present and the past for the subject of history to be, which I might term, alive. “Students should study history in order to see whether an event is an effect or a cause. In many cases it will be found to he an effect of a previous cause, e and it may he the cause of a future effect.”

Mr Gray added that the subject was a very wide one. and required very careful consideration.