THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1901.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11565, 31 January 1901, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1901.

«» Technicalities are always difficult of comprehension to the lay mind, but the subject of common school education is of such supreme importance to both State and citizen' that we would urge upon our readers the duty of following closely the proceedings of the School Inspectors' Conference now sitting. It must be confessed that our educational methods, with their Turanian devotion to Examinations and their often amazing lack of sense of proportion, have seriously affected the calibre of the educational staff. This is more or less true of every part of the British world. But we refer to it not in condemnation of teachers and inspectors, but in wonderment that, the men who have grown up under the system are the averagely good men they are. We have seen examination-papers which excite the suspicion that a practical joker has exerted himself to bewilder and upset the juvenile mind. And our best educationalists will confirm our statement that a number are employed in the work of instruction who have a lamentably small capacity for instilling a desire for knowledge into their charges. On the other hand, there is no calling in which greater earnestness is shown, and in which a greater percentage of those engaged rise superior, to the petrifying influences of iron-bound regulations. .The imperative need for cautious reform in our educational methods is generally appreciated throughout the rank and file of the Department, and generally sympathised with by the inspectors upon whom the unity of our State school system really rests. It is particularly cheering to notice 1 the courage with which a large number of the inspectors, in their annual report, criticise unsatisfactory matters and notice approvingly efforts to effect such minor reforms as lie in the hands of individual teachers. For these and other reasons we are satisfied that a more enlightened system will gradually be j obtained if the executive authorities j of the Department determinedly endeavour to take advantage of the; experience of the educational staff. We do not say that every recommendation made by inspectors' conferences should be forthwith agreed to. But we unhesitatingly assert that they should be strenuously encouraged to lay their collective opinion before the actual heads of the De-

! n.irtmenb, and that no recoiinienda- 8 {lion should be lightly considered or I carelessly ignored. This t& are | ! aware is the intention of thi De-J ipartment, but these vague an} in-1 | definite State Departments ■■ reverl ] work intelligently unless continually! ] influenced to activity by a watcdul J i public opinion. ' ] The immediate and most presshg I I difficulty """ in connection - with ■ t\e 1 J common school curriculum is tie 1 I fact that it is so overloaded as til ] have become practically unmanage>| | able. It necessitates constant; high! ; pressure. It allows ; little 01 no max-1 j gin. It affords no room for. the in-, I Production of exceedingly important technical items. This would Be bad enough if the syllabus were altogether practical and reasonable, if j the system, were wholly employed in pouring, the" golden grain of knowledge into the receptive brains of children, if it had not' the time and if they had not the capacity to avoid spilling. But the curriculum is weighed down, not so much with golden grain as with a strange mixj ture of grain and chaff. For we I must remember that education is al-' i ways comparative, that knowledge j which is essential to one man is worthless to anothei, and that the j purpose of common school education! !is to instil into every child in the ] State that elemental knowledge; which, is ordinarily requisite in our j civilised life. We have often re- ; ferred to the question and urged the propriety "of submitting the syllabus Ito a winnowing process. But the inI spectors' conference recommends a winnowing which no layman or lay I journal would venture to propose. S Educational reform has never had stauneher advocacy among us. The j imperative need for it may be estii mated by the proposals that come ] from a class which has been trained | to respect the present regime, which j passes its life in close and continu- | ous contact with the system, and which must have become stereotyped into acquiescence were the necessity for alteration less evident or pressing. >-..--' Wo will not weary our readers with a dissertation upon the various items of the inspectors' recommendations. These we give in another column. Roughly, they propose that a sweeping reduction shall be made j in the nominal standard of common j school education with a view to making an actual standard which can be effectively' worked to. Geography is to.be summarised. History made a reading lesson. Arithmetic stripped of its complexities. Grammar confined to what will give "rational comprehension of ■ the principle of composition." It almost seems as though our educational experts would really like to have fallen back on " the three It's" and concentrated the attention of the common school upon that royal key to all knowledge and all learning. The proposal will surprise many who have not realised the educational quandary into which we have drifted and from which we must in some way or other escape. As we have said, it is one which is entitled to the most serious consideration of the Department, although we can well understand and sympathise with a very natural reluctance to adopt it. Which reluctance, by the way, is due altogether to our having accustomed ourselves to regard an impossible syllabus as the proof of an advanced civilisation. It is to be hoped that whatever decision is reached, it will be one capable ■of some degree of finality. For with all respect to our Education Department it is sadly lacking in consideration for the pockets of parents in the matter of books and material.} The constant changes which are made are an undue tax upon the always limited resources oi those who have large families and whose school expenses are quite heavy in spite of "free education."