SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13202, 13 June 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

SPECIAL INTERVIEWS.

THE TEACHER AND THE CHILD. EDUCATIONAL REFORM. Mr.. H. Mason", schoolmaster at Piriaka, who has had considerable experience of the mental capacities of children of both town and country, holds strong views on the methods 01 teaching. In the course of an interview with a -representative of the H i:i:\i.i) Mr. Mason observed that no doubt the' public took an interest in the education of children and they liked to hear cuducation discussed, but he thought that, the majority of people did not take the subject with that serious attention which it demanded.

"Om national education," Mr. Mason contended, should be kept strictly apart from-party politics, and it should not be made a stalking-horse for vain display. The first fundamental point to estimate is the value of the child. Are we agreed on that? When parents see that children are worth the best, training that can be obtained, and that this lies, more in their own influence and example than in those of any delegate, the teacher's task will be lightened, and his office held in'-- honour. But. when children are reckoned a burden and encumberance, when they are used selfishly for what parents can get out, of them, 110 wonder if such people are disappointed in the results as the children grow up. " " Of the mental powers that the school does (or should) traiu, one is supreme: Reasoning (or right, thinking), and the processes subsidiary to it. are the one thing needful. All else is but- as the fly on the chariot-wheel in the classic fable."

NEW LAMPS FOR OLD ONES. Asked what he thought of the new syllabus after a fair test, Mr. Mason observed : "Whatever may be the faults of the new syllabus, it is incomparably better than the old one. Mr. Seddou was right when he said of the old system that it was so bad that it could not be mended. Much of what is called the ' formal' aspect of the subjects has been eliminated, though more needs to be. done in this direction. Grammar, for instance, is utterly repulsive to most children, and it is gone, except the practical part. Spelling should follow it, except so far as needed Write sentences. Spelling books have gone, vet children spell better, without them. But the rule of the syllabus that in the lowest classes, ' every word should be used in a sentence," is not. observed by inspectors. English spelling is an irrational business at best, and it is ridden to death. If a person is interested in books, lie will spell well, as a matter of course, but yotj may so sicken a child at school with spelling lessons that he will never afterwards willingly open a book. What, then, have you gained? Writing (and penholding) have an exaggerated value attached to.them. It is not considered sufficient that writing should be legible. If the formal style is departed from, owing to the attention being fixed more upon the thoughts . expressed than upon the uniformity of the lines that record them, the reputation of the teacher is impugned." THE VALUE OF READING.

" You attach much importance to the subject of reading, perhaps, as most masters appear to do to-day?" All'. Mason was asked. "Well," he replied. "reading is chiefly instrumentary; it is thought-grasping, and thought-giving. . -Its excellence does not consist in mentally counting 'one-' tit a comma, 'two' at a semicolon, and 'three' at a full stop. Expressive reading does notconsist 111 imitating, with, ape-like fidelity, the dulcet, falsetto, or the ore rotundo {as the case may be), of the selfadmiring teacher. It consists solely in showing in one's own way that the sense of the'passage is assimilated. ' Composition and - drawing' ai'e valuable,' chiefly' aft means j of ' expression, They have also a great 1 formative effect upon the observing powers. The great value now attached to. the draw- | ing of things (beautiful tilings by prefer ence) is thoroughly sound. For educational purposes the true test of the value of drawing is not lovely lines, without meaning, protected from the slightest pollution .by interleaved tissue p:q*i\ '.L'ha test is: Docs the drawing show brains, ;i i sure touch, keen eyes, ami perception of | the principle of a tiling? As regaids comj position, one quite indefensible rule of judgj ing it j'x that of requiring for passing each | standard a minimum of length. For ex- ! ample, Milton's '-Ode to Shakesnerc' would pass- the third standard,' but tail /or the fifth or sixth (it docs net show enough fluency)." FORMATIVE SUBJECTS. "Educational subjects' of quite the highest value are those or a formative, kind, such as physical exercises, handwork in all its branches, experimental science, and natuie study, with , the correlated drawing involved. Singing, too, i? formative, and must not be omitted from notice. These are the new subjects, and about them I would make one or two remarks. First, children are full of spontaneous activity. From the moment then' eyes peep out at the dawn till the sleepy dustman comes, they are in perpetual motion. Second, this activity is confined to what interests them, and it is health-giving. Brain activity is healthy, it" it is on natural lines. Over-pressure is partly due to wrong methods of teaching, ami for these teachers and makers' of the syllabus are responsible, bat it is due still more to wrong '.methods', of valuing the teacher's work, and of paying him for it. For these, the leaders; of the public (and none other) are primarily responsible."