The Star. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1920. BACKWARD CHILDREN.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 14 February 1921, Page 4

The Star.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1920. BACKWARD CHILDREN.

Oelivered every evening by 6 o'oiocl. v. ktMweim, Manaia, ' Normanby, - Ofcai&wa, Aiihiuii, Mangatott, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opuiinae, Gtaktsbo, Manutabl, Alton, Hurleytuie. Petea, Waverley.

If the statistics of backward children given by tne Miiasoer oi ii,ciucauon at tne coniereuce of inspectors in ysieumgton a tew days ago represent a fair statement of the. position, then there is «fVery reason for a thorough investigation of the causes to wJiich such conditions may be attributed. vOf course backwardness in education is dependent upon many circumstances, and such factors as malnutrition, want of | sufficient rest, environment, and discipline in the home have to be taken into account along- with the methods of teaching/the school sjilabus, the Bize of classes, and the personality ox teachers. If th§ factors which have to do with the home could be definitely known, it would .be easier to apportion the blame, but as it is the task of finding out definitely ihe chief causes of the high percentage of backward children is a very difficult *one. W« think we are not far wrong in assuming that the great majority of children, all things being equal, have a desire to acquire knowledge. One has only to note the unlimited supply of questions which i a child just before it goes ,to school asks its parents to findva ioundation for this assumption. Anything which, appears to a child of three or four years of age to be out of the ordinary immediately calls forth7 a question from the child, while it also wants to know everything about those things • with which it comes into daily cdntact. Moreover, the Minister's statement showed that the lowest percentage of backward children, was to Jbe found & the primary classes. What is it Wen ■that causes so marked an increase W the standards? Should, the blame be attributed to the parents, or the teachers or the methods and conditions of teaching? We believe that one of the greatest.causes is lack of sufficient, sleep and rest. One can see in any town in New Zealand dozens of young

children out late, at night time when they ought to be asleep resting their young brains. Nature has ordained that, young life must have plenty of sleep and. rest in order, to develop body and brain properly, and it is the serious duty of parents to obey Nature and . make whatever sacrifice may be necessary for tho welfare of the children. Years ago children were given home work which took perhaps an hour or an hour and a half to doy and it was because of the loss of. rest at night /time that home work was eliminated from the primary schools. The children now. are free when they leave school in the afternoons, but we do not think that they go to bed nearly as early as children did twenty years ago. The lack of sufficient sleep may be one sound explanation of the large number of backward children' - in our schools. Malnutrition is • likely to be a contributory cause in our big cities, but we do not think that there is a very large percentage of ill-nourished children in the Dominion. Environment and want of discipline in the homes no doubt add to the trouble. In the schools there is, we think, room for much improvement, especially in the matter of the size of classes and methods of teaching. Teachers cannot possibly secure satisfactory results with -classes of unwieldy size, and now ifcat the salaries have been made much more attractive it is to be hoped that an adequate supply of teachers will soon be available. Methods of teaching are likely to remain a matter for dispute among leading educationists. There is room to ask whether the best results are being obtained from the modern methods by which it seems as if the idea of making the child work has given place to the plan of the teacher doing the work and the child looking on. That may be a rough and ready attempt to explain what we mean, but if we analyse the present methods that is the impression they leave. However, „,U„t„— IL. oAft 1 ' . i

iruiirevci umrouscs oi T>ne oacKwara state of such a large number of children they should be sought out as thoroughly as possible, and we are very glad to find that Mr Parr is making such great efforts to place our education .system*on a better bafis, not only for teachers, but for the children upon whose education will depend so much in the. futur**