The Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1903. THE SOHOLARSHIP SYSTEM.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 12379, 24 February 1903, Page 2

The Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1903. THE SOHOLARSHIP SYSTEM.

Excellent as have been the recent results gained by our High School, we believe that there is still considerable improvement necessary in secondary education in our district. The test of secondary education is the junior university scholarship. The university offers to high school pupils fifteen scholarships annually, each of the value of £l5O. No Hawke’s Bay school has ever gained one. Centres like Timaru and Oamaru have often had the honor, but Hawke’s Bay never. Up to the matriculation, and even to the medical preliminary standard, our high schools are as successful as any; but at this point their pupils are so old that they leave school and take situations. The nearest approach to a university scholarship which Napier has had was in the case of a lad who received his earlier education at our High School and then went to A uckland Grammar School to be successfully trained for the university scholarship.

We have carefully considered this humiliating situation and have reached the conclusion that its principal cause is our inferior scholarship system. We have studied the scholarship regulations of the principal districts in which university scholarships are gained, and believe it is easy to discover the chief defects in our system, Just now our system is being revised. A few months ago, amended regulations were published. These, it is understood, are still under consideration- We are convinced that if these be issued in anything like their present form, Hawke’s Bay secondary education will remain in the mire for another generation, Our first suggestion is that the age for district school scholarships he reduced from 15 to 14 for standard YI subjects. This, or its equivalent, holds in Auckland, Canterbury North and South, Otago, and Southland. This year eight of our scholarship winners are over fourteen. There is no hope of these evertakinguniversity scholarships. They are too late in life in beginning the secondary, subjects. At least four years in a high school are needed, and the age limit is 19. The Government recognise that 15 is too late to get proper advantage from a high School, It has made 14 the age

limit for its free places at tie high schools.

Our second suggestion is, that scholarships he awarded ra the principle of merit alone, am not of geographical situation. AtWsent so much of the hoard's money goes to Gisborne, so much of the Commissioners' money go;a to those within 15 miles of 1 apier, and so forth. The result ii that this year the Gisborne whners occupy the 33rd, 35th, and 40th places on the examination lis';, and Napier secures winners as fardown as the 62nd place on the list. The pupils who were 14th, 16thjl8th, 20th to 26th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 32nd. and so on, get no scholarships! The result is that the high schools are robbed of promising pupils for the sake of those who are almost failures. The system stifles talent and cultivates mediocrity. Let the scholarships he given only to those at the top of the list, and in oiler of merit. Let the winners chouse which of the throe high schools they will attend. Let the boarding or travelling allowance he male where it is needed.

Our next suggestion is that there should be two classes of scholarships, junior and senior, as in all the provinces mentioned above The ideal system is that of Auckland. This board offers junior scholarships of three years’ tenure on a sixth standard examination. The smart boy picks one up at 13, and studies at the Auckland Grammar School till he is 15. He then sits for a three years' senior scholarship on a medical preliminary standard paper. He continues his studies for these three years at Auckland Grammar School, until at 18, if not before it, he takes a junior university scholarship. If our board he not rich enough for this, it can at least do what Southland does. Southland gives junior scholarships of two years’ tenure to sixth standard pupils under 14 and senior scholarships to those under 16 who can pass matriculation. Now, our Napier High Schools regularly prepare the brighter of our present scholarship pupils for matriculation at end of two years. It is acknowledged that they can equally well prepare their best pupils for the medical preliminary at end of two years, and that, as in the case of Auckland, before the pupils are 16. Let the hoard, therefore, make this last the standard for its senior scholarships.

We are convinced that if the Education Board of Napier will set itself to foster secondary education in this manner, as thoroughly as do the boards at Timaru or Invercargill, not to speak of those at Christchurch or Dunedin, the honor of this province will be redeemed. They will be able to place in the hands of the principals of the high schools a sufficient number of clever children, who before they are sixteen, and in some cases before they are 15, can sit for the medical preliminary. The best of these will then be ininduced, by senior scholarships, to attend the high schools for two or three years more, and at last to raise Hawke’s Bay to the level of the university scholarship. A little consideration will show that there is room for improvement in our secondary system at the other end. When it is recognised that the high schools are just as much public schools as the primary schools are, some attempt will, we hope, be made to co-ordinate the two. There is no reason why secondary schools should he set to do primary work, as they so often are. If it was made a necessary qualification for admission to a high school that the boy or girl had passed the sixth standard, or an examination of equal value, the high schools would be relieved of a number of pupils who should not be there and would have more room for those who have qualified under the department’s new regulations. It is this want of coordination which is the great weakness of our system. The aim of the system should be to enable a youth to carry his education right through from the start in the primary school to the finish at the university. We have attempted to point out certain respects in which we come short of this ideal, and have shown how we waste much of our best material by the clumsiness of our methods,