LOCAL MATRICULATION RESULTS.

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 30 January 1933, Page 5

LOCAL MATRICULATION RESULTS.

To the Editor. Sir,—l do not wish to harm our school in writing as I have done. -My-wish. is to assist the school, but desperate diseases require desperate' remedies. I would like to see our local school among the best in' New Zealand. :It ishigh time that the smug placency of our teachers .received' a rude awakening. A school-o-f the size of Hawera does not depend alone on the personality of its headmaster, though-I admit such is predominant'; the assistants naturally play their part. A matriculation student who passed lasfyear. in Latin well into the fifties, a student who had previously attended another school, but who evidently failed in a subject or subjects, and therefore failed in the whole examination, said that she felt' she was going backwards' in Latinsince coming to Hawera. -A nice state of affairs! Another student who obtained nearly 100 per cent, in .mathematics (he must have -been among the top- for the Dominion in thi's subject), failed in French and therefore.faile.d .in!, the whole examination. French flit .our local school is taught nearly a's badly - as -Latin. The next year he again scored well in mathematics, but this time he passed in French and failed in English. Therefore he left—no doubt in disgust. Had he stayed on until he wa's an old mam, the result would probably be the same. Why does noit the school utilise the services of Mr H. G. Whitehead, M.A., in the teaching of French, particularly in the higher classes? My boys tell mo he is a most effective French teacher. As I said in a previous letter the teaching of Mr Whitehead in: agriculture is very good indeed under very adverse conditions. Other schools with an agricultural .-bias have a farm; or f armlet attached to their schools; ini which practical teaching can be imparted. He has none of these very necessary aids. But not every one wishes to be s. farmer. Some wish to go into the professions. For these, usually some language is essential, in- many cascSLatiu compulsorily. What chance haye they of entering a profession while in Hawera. Those parents who can afford it usually send their children outside Hawera. But these times even the mo'st substantial of us find this hard to do. Hence the’ necessity for a good school in Hawera. I mentioned in my last letter that one candidate in a recent examination secured 2 per .cent, in Latin. This candidate was the daughter of a teacher. I can vouch for. this. But since my last letter appeared I have been told of a pupil who scored 0 per cent. This pupil was a son of another of our teachers. I should think this is easily a record for New Zealand. As I say, I cannot vouch for this, but, <c Ex-,' pupil,” who seems to be a particularly well informed ex-pupil (in- fact, I have never known an ex-pupil wfho took such, an interest in -the marks obtamed at his school) can no doubt inform us. I was particularly interested in the marks given %s to-night by "Ex-Pupil” with regard to- the scholarship examinations, but I noticed lie carefully abstained from giving us’ the matneulntidn figures. Well. I. should say that last year was probably Hawcra.’s best year. Every*' school lias its lean years, and the- year which Qie quotes may have been New*. Plymouth’s lean year. The best answer is the figures published in to-night’s late edition of the “Star” in giving .the result of the Taranaki Bursaries.. Toi compare New Plymouth Girls’ High School with Hawera High School is very much like comparing the sublime with the ridiculous. Thanking you for the space so generously allotted me.— I am, etc., PARENT. Hawera, January 29.