EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13768, 5 June 1908, Page 7

EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONS.

VIEWS OF Mil. J- W. TIBBS.

TEE PRODUCT OF PRIMARY

SCHOOLS.

INTERPRETATION OF THE SYLLABUS

On being asked by » Hnu» representative yesterday as to whether there were any matters' discussed at the' recent secondary schools conference at CUristcburcli to which further reference might be mad?, Mr. j J. W. Tibbs, headmaster of the Auckland j Grammar School."said. there were two reso- j lutions- to which he would like to refer. j One of these, from which he strongly dvs- , rented, was a recommendation to the Uni- ; versity Senate, giving candidates for junior University scholarship*' the option of taking four 'subjects, instead of the present' number of five, at the same total of marks us those candidates who take the full programme. This resolution, lift said,, was strongly supported by ail the smaller schools; which had come into prominence lately under the free place system, and which might be looked upon as ma state of transition from inefficiency to efficiency. Owing to their incomplete staffs they Had never vet been able to work up to the junior scholarship standard, and now wanted it lowered to the level of their present capabilities. The representatives of the ..-iris' schools, too, supported It on the ground that girls feel the pressure of competition with hoys with the programme a its present complete form: and they accepted this resolution as meeting their wising. It was thought by some of [ the headmistresses, said Mr. Tibbs, that the programme of studies set for these scholarships » too masculine: and then; was a good deal tote laid for this view of it. He would much have preferred that Miss Marehant * resolution had been earned, and that no.attempt had been made to curtaillt hoys course of studies, and he Imped tint he Senate would hesitate long before making 'my change in the way of reduction or ot specialisation. The present P">g»"»»« favoured a braid basis of liberal education, but boys had won schc.urslnps in recent years by taking languages only, thus alumInn that when a boy has no mathematical or scientific ability he need not necee*wily he excluded from winning a sciokrelup. He wanted the matter deferred till the next meeting of the conference two years hence, for he hoped that, in the interval the entailer schools would have grown to see that the present programme could not be unproved ; but he had been outvoted.

THK RHODES SCHOLARSHIP. The other matter rciated to the Rhode* scholarship. The headmaster id Christ s College moved a resolution, "That, as Air. Cecil Rhodes had intended that his scholarships should lie awarded to boys on leaving school, they should be so awarded. Hie resolution had the strong support of -. the headmaster of Wellington College and of the representative of the Wanganm Colle<nate School, and was passed with one dissentient voice. There was a general feeling among, the members of the' conference that the New Zealand scholars had been, as a rule, far too old to profit by residence at Oxford; and that.it was unreasonable to ask a man who had completed his course in one university to start afresh in another; and that Oxford was no place for research. He had from the first felt that we should send much younger men; the last Rhodes scholar was certainly,much nearer the right, age than any of his predecessors, and it would, have been better still if he could have been sent a year earlier. Mr. Rhodes had divided the qualifications into four headings— (1) Literary and scholastic attainments; (2) /fondness for and success in outdoor sports; (3) the qualities of manhood, truth, courage, etc.; (4) the exhibition, during school, days of moral force of character. It seemed to him that the least invidious way to elect a scholar under these conditions was to entertain the candidature of all who could satisfy the requirements of the last three headings, and to ,let Hie scholarship go to the one who then, after sortie examination test, showed himself the most worthy under the first heading. It was a fact that all through the directions under his will Mr. Rhodes had indicated schools and boys. He would like, therefore, to see the scholarship given annual] to the highest boy on the junior scholarship list, who had previously satisfied the electors on the three last headings, with the option of spending a year at one of the university .■■college*! of the Dominion before proceeding to Oxford. OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

On being questioned as to the reception bv the conference of his .paper on the relations of the different stages of education, Mr. Tibb's replied that the conference had spent a considerable part of a morning witting in discussing his paper. He found that his own experience of the product of the primary course was endorsed; by speakers from all parts of the country. . There was' a unanimous opinion that, as an introduction to higher education, not enough was being done in the primary school. He had been unfortunate enough to use the* word "syllabus" in his paper; and that word had attracted a good.deal of/attention to what was perhaps the least important part of his remarks. He did not. blame the syllabus so much as the fact that there seemed to be no uniform interpretation of it ; and in replying to the Inspector-Gene-ral he had expressed the opinion. that the inspectors should be officers of the Education Department, and not of the Education Board**, and that their reports should be made to the, central Department. After all that had been said be still adhered to his opinion that the boys of to-day were not so thoroughly grounded as- they were some years ago in the essentials of elementary education; they did riot read or write or spell or cipher as we!! as they used to do; they might know a little about citizenship but they knew nothing whatever about English history: they had had lessons- on glacier motion and other outlandish features of physiography, but they gave no evidence of having heard of well-known places of the highest commercial importance. It was not ihe fault- of the syllabus; but because fundamentals had been neglected in order to make room for studies that would be more profitably undertaken in a higher course, and for distractions whose educational value was on a par with that'of the "natatory exercises in a green paddock," formerly practised by pupils of RemUera school. y

MORE MONEY REQUIRED. ' "In my opinion," continued Mr. Tibbs, "it would pay the country to put more money into primary education, and then it would be reasonable to expect more from it. The schools should be more commodious and better 'equipped, and, above all things, more efficiently staffed. Instead of the present manual 'centres, each school should have its own workshop, if manual training must be given at this stage, and of the advisability of this I have great doubt. The outlay on tools might be considerable: but the saving of the pupils' time and the gain to discipline by havimr all their lessons at their own school would justify it. I make these remarks, not hi any captious spirit, for I recognise how much has- been done during the last few years for education and for teachers, but from an earnest desire to see all branches of the system working together at the highest pitch of educational efficiency, and the youth of the country getting the greatest possible advantage from the opportunities offered with such unprecedented liberality."

UNCERTIFICATED TEACHERS. STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER. " Statements as to the increase in the number of uncertificated teachers in the Dominion are often made," said the Minister for Education (the Hon. Geo. Fowlds) to" a Her.U/1> representative yesterday. "Whilst, however, this is quite true, the bald statement is calculated to give a totally false impression m' regard to the status and qualifications of teachers at the present time." The Minister explained his remark by pointing out that many of-the teachers who were formerly certificated held E certificates. Some two years ago this certificate was abolished, arid those who had only reached this grade were now no longer certificated. A great many of the present teachers, he said, although holding only a license to teach, had really attained a higher grade than that of the aid E certificate.