PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8980, 18 February 1888, Page 3

PRIMARY SCHOOLS AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIPS.

AN INSPECTOR'S PROTEST.

At the meeting of the Board of Education

yesterday, tho chairman (Mr. Luke) intimated that Mr. Fidler, School Inspector, was desirous of interviewing the Board. Mr. Fidt.er was received, and having taken his seat, he said that an examination had been held by Mr. Bourne, headmaster of the Grammar School, for the selection of ten boys under the age of 14 years who had passed tho 6th Standard examination in the primary schools. Mr. Bourne had sent to the Board of Governors of the Grammar School the result of his examination, and it went to show that the class of work, more especially the writing, was defective. This reflected on the work of the primary schools. He (Mr. Fidler) now submitted to the Board the arithmetic

paper placed before boys of thirteen years of age, which they had to do in two hours, and lie quoted ono or two of the questions, which he said would puzzle most men, much less boys of thirteen years of age, who had to do them in a strange place under a strange examiner, in two hours. Hence the diversity complained of arose. The boys were in a strange room under a strange examiner. It was no wonder that the English was better than the arithmetic, for if the paper had been set on purpose to bring: discredit on the primary schools ib could not have been more effective. The boys had to write in a hurry to got down as much as possible in the time. He (Mr. Fidler) submitted to the Board the examination papers of boys in the sixth standard who had passed, and thoso who did not pass, and if the members did not consider the writing satisfactory he was willing to resign his appointment as inspector. (The papers were handed round, and the writing was pronounced to be very neat and satisfactory.) The Chairman (Mr. Luke) said the wonder was that in a strange room, with a strange examiner and in the limited time, tho examination was so satisfactory. One boy answered eight out of tho ten questions in arithmetic.

Mr. Coates wrote a letter to the same effect as the remarks of Mr. Fidler in regard to Mr. Bourne's examination. Mr. Lennox said that as an old chairman of School Committees he had now examined some of the papers, and here they had samples of the writing of boys who had passed tho sixth standard examination, and those who had not, and this writing, ho considered, would be no disgrace to the boys in any primary school, or any secondary school for that mattor. He knew boys who were attending secondary schools who could not write like it; and when Mr. Fidler drew their attention to tho largo quantity of writing which had to be done within the compressed time of two hours allowed for the examination, the writing on these examination papers could not bo taken as a fair criterion. Those he had looked through were, he considered, highly favourable to tho primary schools.

Mr. Upton said it was not Mr. Bourne who had condemned tho writing ; it was he himself who had drawn attention to it; and had Mr. Fidlor known this he probably would not have referred to Mr. Bourne. When the question was before the Board of Governors they only had those papers before them. When the Board of Governors determined to givo valuable scholarships worth £20 a-year, it was to boys who by competitive examination would show that they deserved them by passing a certain criterion. Tho Board saw that there was a

great diversity of merit. It was true that all the boys had passed tho sixth standard examination under the age of fourteen, but the diversity was remarkable. He regretted that the resolution of the Board of "Governors did not state that candidates would be required to obtain a certain proportion of marks, for some of thoso who were selected did not pass half marks. As to the ' writing, when he saw the papers, he was intensely disappointed. Complaints had been made of the writing of tho Grammar School boys, but it compared favourably with the writing on those examination papers. As explained by Mr. Fidler the hurry may account for the poor quality of the writing. The papers now before them were exceedingly good, and if in the opinion of the Board tlio explanation of Mr. I idler was sufficient excuse for the unsatisfactory character of the writing on the examination papers, and he believed it was, the Board would be satisfied. With respect to Mr. Coates's letter, nothing could be further from his mind, or the minds of any member of the Board of Governors, than to find fault with the writing of the primary schools. He should like to say that the discussion occupied a long time, and more was said than appeared in the newspaper report, but a general feeling of disappointment was experienced in regard to the writing. Now, as regarded the examination papers, the question was whether they were not too much for two hours ; and Mr. Fidler said they would puzzle men, but a boy of thirteen or fourteen years of age who had passed the sixth standard in the primary schools, should be very expert at arithmetic. Nothing, however, could bo further from his mind, or he believed the mind of any member of the Board, than to condemn the work of tho primary schools, but there was a definite criterion of merit for these scholarships. Mi*. Fidler was then thanked by the

chairman and retired. _ . ' The Chairman said he was quite satisfied with the result of the examination, and was surprised at the success of the resolution, as shown by the fact that on such short notice 15 boys had presented themselves for examination, and he believed that the best thing that could happen was the admission of those boys to the Grammar School. If members would note the names of those boys, he believed they would find that they would do credit to the Grammar School.