NORMAL SCHOOL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 5177, 22 September 1877, Page 1 (Supplement)

NORMAL SCHOOL.

PUBLIC LECTURES ON EDUCATION.

Geography was the subject discussed on Saturday last—what to teach, and how to teach it. Mr Howard oommeneed with a rigorous protest against the treatment the science too frequently received in elementary schools, and warned his hearers against being led astray by what he called “spurious imitations." Some amusement was created by the lecturer’s remarks on pulverised geography ~ to be taken, like snuff, in little pinches—ossified geography very wonderful, but very bony; mummified geography—dry, tough, and uninteresting j nebulous geography—foggy and depressing | and real geography—animated and loveable. Guizot’s “Earth and Man," and Charles Kingsley’s “ Madame How and Lady Why ’’ were recommended ae good guides to the right sort of geographical teaching. The primary endeavour must be to teach what was most useful, and then to make that as interesting as possible. In the lecturer’s opinion there would have been leas need of compulsory clauses and penal enact* ments to. influence parents to pay due attention to the education of their children, if the teaching they had themselves received had been more real and useful. A great deal they had learned had been only so much super, fluous luggage—an incumbrance rather than a help in the battle'of life—and hence they were less anxious their children should bo educated. And great as the improvement undoubtedly bad been'of late years, there was still much to be done j and as school time was so short and the competition of life so severe, it was more than ever necessary that the time should be turned to the best account, and the children’s minds stored with something a good deal more useful than the Provinces of China and the names and heights of all the mountains of Otago, or the exact lengths of the European rivers. Mr Howard quoted from approved books for school use, in one of which most minute information was given about towns in Mongolia and Mont* ohouria, but the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, was not so much as mentioned. On a page of another there were no less than 82 peaks and heights given in reference to the Province of Otago alone. Another laid emphasis on the facts that there was a difference of ten miles in the lengths of the Thames and Severn, and that the Seine was 15 miles .longer than the Oder. Such precise in* formation might once in a lifetime help a child to win a wager, but it was of far more consequence to him to know the principles of geography. For the rest it would be sufficient to know’ where he could obtain that very precise knowledge at the tremendous crisis when it should be required. He did net wish to be misunderstood on this. Names of mountains and rivers must be taught. They were necessary to . give definiteness to the teaching, but ho deprecated making geography consist of these matters. General approximations to heights of ranges and lengths of rivers wouid bo sufficient for all practical purposes. On ! this principle of utility children ehould first bo thoroughly grounded la the geography of their own district and country. The knowledge they gained of the phenomena in the limited area of their own observation would be of incalculable help to them in understanding the geography of other distriote. Generally speaking the New Zealand children were better acquainted with the details of the ’geography of their own country than the children were at home, and this was easily accounted for. ' People were greater travellers in the Colony than at Home, and bad a more intimate personal acquaintance with the various districts. There if people (ravelled they travelled by rail, and very quickly ; here they were obliged to avail themselves very generally of the more primitive modes of locomotion, or if they travelled by rail they did it very leisurely, so that it was almost as good as walking. When the Home geography had been mastered, the* British Islands and Australia should follow, then Europe and British America, and such parte of Asia and Africa as were really Important. In all oases physical geography as the groundwork of the political geography should receive most attenriony and the children should be trained to latter from the former. No doubt per**#*!

exploration was the best way to acquire geographical knowledge, and the children should thoroughly explore their own districts under the teachers direction and occasional pessonal guidance. Hext to that, good pictures, geographical models and relief maps, aided by vivid oral teaching, would be found most conduoive to progress. A good deal of geography might be learned in the play ground ; many countries might be modelled there, and (he lecturer could speak ffom his own experience of the interest children took in a subject thus practically taught. Book work might be done at home, but more could be learned from a good atlas or map in 10 minutes, than from a book in twenty. A preliminary notion of tbe geography should always be obtained from a map, and (hen its details could be filled in from a book. It was very important (0 get good maps. Stanford’s new Orographioal Maps were strongly recommended. In conclusion, Mr Howard said that he had hoped to have had a number of useful geographical appliances to illustrate his lecture, bat they had not arrived. He would, however, endeavour (0 arrange for their exhibition when they came to hand. They have, however, been duly received eiooe, and will, we understand, be arranged in one of the rooms of the Hotmal school, together with much other valuable apparatus of the most modern kind. They will be exhibited to the attendants at the lecture on Saturday next, when the subject will be English. History, a theme on which the lecturer is known to be very enthusiastic.