EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11680, 15 June 1901, Page 3

EDUCATIONA L I NSTITUTE.

AUCKLAND DISTRICT. The annual meeting of ilm Auckland Dis- | trict Educational Institute was hold on '• Thursday in the Welles ley-st reel school. [ There was a very fair attencunco of mem- ' bers and the chair was occupied by Mr. ! T. U. Well*. M.A.. president.' The animal | report of the Managing Comnittee was ! read hv the =ecre my and :,.!«>;, ■.!.' ]',>. ' connection with tne question of "fiat dates." it was decided to again rwuio-t the Board to adopt the "date it-;" submitted by tiie Managing Committee. Tfcj treasurer reported that there u-.i- a b.> uil ee ~i £41 16s staucdng to the credit of 'ho in- ' stitute.

Messrs. Lippiatt and Collin- having been appointed scrutineer?, tho election <il olii-i rand committee was proceeded with, a:.' resulted as follows:—President, Mr. U. W. Murray; vice-presidents, Mesr-rs. Weil-. U K , ; Heriot; secretary. Mr. (I. ii. l'lammo-; • treastuer. Mr. K. X. Orniiston ; oommittei. | Alices Shrewsbury and Meliijone ant , Messrs. Stewart, Armstrong, Dickinson, I Ohl-ou. Mcintosh. Metgc, Newton and C™ ) .-ii.-: atui'lors, Messrs. Christie and Walker, j

Mr. T. C. WelLs. M.A., the retiring ;.;■ -i (lent, mi vacating the chair, .-poke at some length on tliO past am! future work of the institute air! the brightening prospects cvgrthmhuk»: the teaching profes.-ion. Mr. {'■. \V. .Mi.rrav, the new presidenr, then took the chair and addies-ed the members cm "Tlii- Aims of the Intitule." in said:—"With your permU?ioi) i would like to restate very -li< rtly two of the aims of the institute. Tht-a are (1) material. l2j etliieal. Willi regard, to the lirst. it is a pari of the business, of the institute to keep a watch over the pecuniary and cither such mtet'c-i - of the teachers so that these may not suffer in any way. Some may sav thai this is a low aim. i do not think so. It is only when a person is well paid and htmind cleared of 'earking care' that that pei>on ran work to the best advantage. 1 do not say that a {rood salary will make a bad teacher into a good one, but 1 do say unhesilaiiiifdy that a [rood salary will make a trooti teacher a belter one, and make a good man into a better. / mean a more useful man. Much ha- been already done by the New Zealand Educational Institute with tt.-peci to salaries, as Sir. Weils iiaa well slioivn, but something still remains to be done, and that i* to advocate in season and out of season the establishment of a superuniutafioi) fund, a fund that shall assist tho frugal and relieve the older men and women in the profession from the grim spectre of destitution, i belies thai it will be the aim of the oflii ers and members of this branch to do all that lies in their powei to impress upon the proper authorities the urgent need of such a measure. A- to the second, or ethical, aim of the in tit me. 1 must say thai this part of the work of the branch appeals to me very strongly indeed. Dr. Arnold, that piiuce anion:.; good men, lias said, 'that the school is. firs; a place foi the formation of character.' So on these lines, and having such a high aim ever in view, the institute, by having papers on ethical subjects read and di; cussed, v.asupposed to fulfil i- second function, aim so promote the ethical training of the children. As be/ore, something has been done, but you will allow tint! in this respect much more might still be done. Who can lull us how to achieve this ethical training in our schools? If you will bear with me 1 might, with diffidence, indicate merely Iwo quite simple methods. The first is to attain this training by the influence of pictures, 1 mean by pictures, reprints or large photographs of the works of the great art master?-. The second method is to saturate the minds of the children with the sayings ot wise men and worthy women, and between the two methods to give the child some control over a roving and untrained fancy. In support of the first method 1 suggest thai to reach the mmd we must act through the senses. Pictures appeal to the sight, they attract the eye, they .stimulate the imagination; once capture and train the tuny ami you sot in motion a purifying inrhienee in the child's mind: you store the imagination with visions of things pleasant, gi\ic.g food for thought. Could we. a-: teachers, only •'iciaiii to anything approaching this high ideal, the children might live to call th blessed. But the more important of the two methods is certainly the habit of memorising wise sayings, quotations from the writings of good men. or verse's from the Bible; in fact, Hie whole world of literature lies open to the teacher as a field to cub from. But this must be done in such a way as to arrest attention, as to fix indelibly in the mind of the child the motive aimed at. You have seen an attempt made to accomplish something of this sort by charts of manners, by little hooks of precepts. These fail to some extent, because these rules ami those maxims are too general, too indefinite, are not driven home, nailed down, or placed so in a child s mind that no thoughts of meaner nature can usurp their place. Life, has no finer thing to offer than pure and pleasant thoughts, and to encourage such a state of mind is the highest aim a teacher can have. Let us try, then, to give to the children this priceless heritage, and so bring our schools tip to Arnold's high standard, ' A place for the formation of character.' " Two men looked out from orison bars. The one saw mud, the other stars. May our children see stars, and may this institute in its proceedings help towards that groat end. The recommendations of the scholarship subcommittee, tec tip in April last, were then discussed at considerable length and the following agreed to:—1. That the scholarship examination be confined to Standard VI. subjects. 2. That the "Southern Cross" history book be recommended, as the text book for history. 3. That a separate test in writing, by means of transcription, be. set. Votes of thanks having been passed to the re..ring president, the Managing Committee, the secretary, the treasurer and the scrutineers, the meeting closed.