THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL GOVERNORS AND PRIMARY EDUCATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6750, 6 July 1883, Page 6

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL GOVERNORS AND PRIMARY EDUCATION.

The following is the report of a committee of the Board of Governors on the subject of scholarships :—

The cjmmitteo appointed to confer with the headmister upon the subject of free scholarships beg to report as follows : Bightly to understand what the governors are doing towards free secondary education it is necessary that the expenditure on this account shonld bo clearly stated, for it is supposed by many that tho £8 or £10 tuition fee covers the actual cost of cachjpupil. The estimated expenditure for the current year for matters and ordinary contingencies, and not inclnding any charges for rent or interest, repairs and additions to the buildings, is £4319, which would make the average cost of each of the 2*o boys now attending the school to bo £17 lie, or £144 for the 28 free scholars and holders of certificates ol proficiency; but the cost of tuition in the upper school, where higher salaries are paid to the masters, and where there are fewer boys In tho classes, is very much higher than in the lower, and as all the boys rec jiving freo tuition are in the former division, a more exact calculation thows that tbo amount chargeable on their account is £681, ie., the governor? are expending more than one-fifth of the gross amount yielded by the endowments in free secondary education. Last year, when ;he endowments yielded much less, and there were fewer students and more free scholars, the expenditure per head was larger, and the free tuition absorbed fully one third of the proceeds of tho endowments, ScHOLAitsim-s —Up to the present time the governors have not established any scholarships of their own. They have contributed to free secondary education only by receiving the scholars and holders of certificates of proficiency nominated by tho Board of Education, and tho value of the tuition afforded to all theso students has already been shown to have been as high as one-third the income dtirivod from tho endowments. Open Scuoubships.—Thcro are six boys now in tho school holding open scholarships, which are tenable till ths studont reaches the age of 18. One of theso scholars gained a district scholarship when not qulc 13 years of ago. and an open one when under 15. Three arc held by boys who entered tho Grammar School at nine years of age. and a fifth by a boy who, before gaining the scholarship, was educated at the Church of Eugland Grammar School These scholars are all in the sth, or highest form. The sixth open scholar was never at any public school, but was educated at the Rev. P. Mason's Academy, and gained an open scholarship in January, lfaS3, when 14J years old, and ho is now in the upper 4th form. It will thus bo seen that the only district scholar now in tho highest form was but 13 years old when ho entorod tho Grammar School. PisTiiiCT ScuOLAßSHirs.—Tho other seventeen free students aro all from tho district schools, and vary in ago from 17 to 14, and they aro distributed in forms as follows :—

1 in Upper IV. and A, or Ist Mathematics. 1 10 „ „ ~ U, or 2nd „ , 1 „ „ „ Y, or 3rd „ i 7 „ 111. „ Y, „ ' Those who ontered in the beginning of ISSI left at i tho end ot 18S2, only ono having gnlneil a place in Ihe 1 liijjlujit form, und 100 old to compete for an opun ] scholarship. All tboso who entered in ]SS2areaLio too old for further competition, and of thoso who were successful this ye»r three were over 16, and two were over IS years of age, and cnnnot reach tho highest form during their two jears tenuro of scholarships. These boys of 1U who have just entcrod arc of tho averago of tho boys now in Iho highest form, and'though equal to them in arithmetic, urebarely so ia English, and have no knowledge at all of Latin, French, euclid, alfjebra, or chemistry. In fact tho district scholarships given, as they ato, at tho age of 15 and upwards, lead to nothing further. The boys as a rule leave the school at tho end of their second year, without having reached tho highest form, mid arc not propared to go on to the higher University course. Thcro is little or no chance now of aby caning a scholarship at au ago early enough to suable him to complete his secondary cour-o, unless he remains at the school after the ago of IS. A few ycurs ago the competition for these prizes wis not so keen, ami the younger boys of good abilities wore frequently successful, but now boys of 13 or 14 aro too heavily handicapped, for the older and duller boys by plodding on ships, though too 01.l to reap much advantaßO from them. Should tho governors Ue able to carry out their wish to form a modern side in the school, it would be of some advantage to these district scholars, but under tho existing regulations of the Board of Kducatioa, ho encouragement is given to clever boys to proceed to tho higher education, aud they aro deprived of the benefits which the endowments of this school were intended to secure to them. CeuTii'iaiTEa of Pkoficiknoy.—Tho governors offor free tuition to ho ders o[ certificates of proonly two boys out of five this year, and throo out of fourteen last year have availed themselves of this privilege. The others, it may be presumed, preferring to remain at the district schools, in tho hope of gaining tho scholarships of next year. With tho same object, some boys, whoso , parents can well afford to send them early to the that they may compete for the scholarships, and tho recent determination' of the Board of Education to abolish tho open schlarships, will increase tho number. From these statements, it is plain that the Hoard of Education, by their present regulations, are not sending on to secondary education the class of boys to whom tree tuition should be granted, and for whom it was intonded. By abolishing tho open scholarships, they aro dcpriv:ng boys from other than tho district schools of an advantage that the Education A.ct of 1877 provided they should have; for, section Dl of that Act, provides for thu establishment of scholarships, open to all children of school age. as well as for scholarships for pupils attending the public schools. In thus ignoring tho Act, thoy are following ihe oxampla of somo of the smaller provincial districte, such as Marlborongh, Nelson, South Canterbury srnd which, having but a few scholarships to givo, confine thorn to pupils from tho district schools, whereas in Wellington, North Canterbury, Otago, Southland and Wanganui, tho whole of the scholarships are open to all comers. Out of 122 schlarships hold last year, throughout tho colony, SB were open to all comers. The committee, howoyer, do not recommend that the governors should withdraw from their promise to grant freo tuition to all scholars appointed by iho Board of Education. The governors should continue to do their duty, by offering every encouragement within their means to all those boys who show a capacity and disposition to proceed to a higher education than they can obtain at tho district schools, leaving the onus of ill-advised regulations on those who havo tho power of making an d insisting on them. Nor would thoy abolish the privilege of freo tuition to holders of certificates of proticiency, thought it is not generally taken advantage of, and is likely to become a dead letter. They would, further, promote tho admission of young boys to tho school, by establishing six foundation scholaiships, open to all comers under the ago of thirteen, to bo competed for in such way, and buforo such examiners as tho governors shall appoint, and, if the examinations ara properly conducted, there will bo no room for "cram," and no fear of overstraining the intellects of tho boys. The committee also recommond that tho governors shall establish three scholarships of the value of £40 each, besides free tuition, to be open to all comem between the ag-s of fomtoen an sixteen, and to he tenable until the holder reaches tho age of eighteen. Tho number of these scholarships to be increased when the state of the funds permits it. These arrangements will raise tho amount expended on free tuition , to nearly one-third of the income derived from the r endowments. T. M. Haultain.

Auckland, June 22, 1883. Since this report was written the committoe have teen the Attoraey-General'a opinion, that the granting or f>BO tuition to district scholars ts not authorised by tho trust, which alters tho whole- aspect of the question. They, however, submit this result of their inquiries, as it may bo of use in determining what further steps should now bo taken