PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 7 September 1926, Page 5

PRIMARY SCHOOLS

DEFECTS IN SYLLABUS. “ARITHMETIC IS OVERDONE* * CHIEF INSPKO'jXrIFS CRITICISM. (By Telegraph.—Special to The Star.) AVELLINGTON, Sept. 6. i‘For mauv reasons revision of the syllabus appears jgiirablq,” 'states Mr ;f. B. Strong,. Of-Prim-ary Schools, in his annual report on primary education presented to the House "of Representatives this after--noon. “The syllabus, could' be enriched, not only in the direction of utilising more freely training in handwork, but also by- giving a stronger bias towards study of the English literature anil towards the more practical side of elementary luathcinetics, ” he stated. “Facility in English composition, both orally and written, has greatly increased in recent years, and teachers now secure as well written compositions in standard two as was in former years thought possible only in standard four. There was-a time when the syllabus specified six sentences in composition in the higher infants’ classes, but they far. .exceed this allowance. At the same’ time there is. no doubt that too much attention is being paid to the uleehanical aspects of the teaching of English. Grammar has far more than its rightful share of attention, and much time is still being wasted on the spelling of difficult words that are not in the least likely to enter the child’s vocabulary for several years. More attention should be paid to good English literature in order .that the pupils, before they leave the primaryschools, may be imbued with an appreciation of and a love for some of the finer work of our best authors. - “Time for this broader study of-Eng-lish can also be secured by reducing tho amount of time usually allotted to arithmetic. This subject has been overdone in the past and is still being overdone. It is not too much to say that with many teachers it is the principal subject in the curriculum. • pAVo have already jettisoned a great deal' of useless w’ork in arithmetic, and I think there is still some lumber to bp got rid of. The Arithmetic taught .in the primary .schools is not' a disciplinary subject, nor does it enable a child to develop a faculty for overcoming any financial difficulties he may meet with in after life. ■ Its content should, however, be closely related- to life’s needs., Real life situations provide abundant material for even the most, ardent arithmetician, and I think that in this direction the scope of the subject should \ be widened to include those, simple and practical problems in geometry that most men and w’omen incct with in some shape or form. : C'tP “If the primary syllabus were modified along these lines of utilising-more fully the handwork and. manual training subjects, in the direction of .making the arithmetic more practical and. more suited to everyday needs, and-in-the direction of widening the study, of English, 1 think the primary schools would themselves advane'e a long way/towards gaining some of the advantages which the junior high school is intended to provide. ” ; . . ._J. .