EDUCATION NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14701, 19 June 1911, Page 9

EDUCATION NOTES

117 DOMINIE. Tun local Board of Education has certainty not erred on the side of generosity in tho matter of .school holidays to celebrate th« Coronation. In England, in New South Wales, and in Canada an extra week lias been granted, as against the two days for Auckland schools. To make mailers worse it has been decreed that all scholars are to parade at nine o'clock on the morning of Coronation Day to salute, the flag, and that the registers are to be marked before the children are dismissed. As the attendance will thus have to be counted in the quarterly returns the teachers will ho kept busy most, of the morning with registration work, and so there will be little in the nature of holiday for them. The ceremony might just as veil have keen performed, in the small buck block schools at any rate, on the Wednesday preceding, and .so set free the .teachers to get away to their homes. When it, takes a, conplo of days each way to go to one's school from Auckland there is not much left out of a week for holiday purposes. The difficulty of catching boats, etc., makes an extra day very often invaluable. Now that all young teachers are required by the Board to serve some years in tie country, it is the avoidance of pin-pricks like the one mentioned that will help to smooth' over the opposition to this necessary regulation, and remove some, of the irksomeness of service iii remote schools. The teachers' confidence in the officials, upon whose advice, presumably, the regulation was made, has been rudelv shaken.

A ease which has been before the Court recently, in which a teacher sued the chairman of his School Committee for libel, has aroused much interest in education circles. It came out in evidence that School Committees occasionally write to the Board of Education, and make charges against (ho teachers under their jurisdiction. It, was not at all clear that these charges arc first of all submitted by the Hoard to the teachers concerned, so that they might at any rate know what is being said about them. Reading a charge without hearing the other side of the case leaves, by the law of suggestion, a sort of taint attached to the one charged, so that those whose duty it is to receive such can hardly help being prejudiced, even if the matter is allowed subsequently to drop. There is something distinctly un-English about. this, for the Englishman's accredited characteristic in the eyes of the world is, at any rate, to hit above the belt. I know nothing of the rights and wrongs of the particular case cited, but if the result tends to make members of School Committees more careful of their ground when making charges against teachers, and if such charges arc, as a matter of course, immediately referred to the one most concerned, then it will have done much good to the cause of primary education locally.

If. is not generally known that Dr. Coward, who is coming to conduct the famous Sheffield Choir, was at one time a boardschool teacher in Sheffield. • J mention the fact because of the important part that singing takes in the curricula of most of the schools in other countries. 'In New Zealand singing is a compulsory part of the syllabus of our schools, but it shares with sewing the reputation of being the worst taught of the primary school subjects. It is urged on the onehand that only specialists can teach it properly, and to singing more than any other subject, I think this applies. A teacher with a. bad ear for music, who cannot tell when the class is sharp or flat would probably do more harm than good. Hence, in quite a number of country sole-teacher schools, this has been recognised, and the teaching of music is honoured more in the breach than in the observance. This is, nevertheless, a great pity, because (lie ' enjoyment of good music, which should be begun in our schools, is thus put out of the reach of many country children, the very ones who can least afford to lose it. It is a significant fact that in the inspectors' report for 1910. there is no mention whatever of the teaching of music in our schools.

In Germany, I believe that every village schoolmaster is required to play the violin, so that he can accompany the children's singing. This means the possession of a good ear for music, so that it is tantamount to cutting the non-musical out of the profession. This would not apply presumably to schools with several teachers at work, as there the rearrangement of classes allows the most musically-in-clined of the staff to take all the singing lessons—a. plan with much to recommend it. Luther laid it down that all schoolmasters should be able to sing, so that the German method probably owes its inception in the first place to the fiery reformer. The difficulty of getting teachers at all for our back-block schools would render such a rule impracticable here?—as the present applicants would thereby probably he reduced by half. • The only suggestion that seems to be feasible is to appoint as the next inspector, a, man who, in addition to his knowledge of schools, has specialised to some extent in" musical work. It is freely rumoured that the next election will see one of the present members of the inspectorial stall as a candidate for the House, and in any case the growth of the district will demand shortly that one, if not two, additional inspectors be required. Were a specialist appointed, he could give lectures and demonstrations to the teachers, who only need a stimulating influence, such as, that to raise their work to the higher plane demanded in other countries, ami in addition he would serve as a guarantee that the subjects of voice production and correct breathing would receive the attention they undoubtedly deserve, but do not get at present.

At the opening meeting of the. Auckland Institute and Museum for the usual winter session of lectures, an address on "Libraries" was given by the president. At the close of the address some discussion took place as to the possibility of getting help from the City Council towards equipping the Museum more efficiently. It was pointed out that the present rate levied of a halfpenny, in the £, was barely adequate for the upkeep of the library alone, so that it would be futile to expect help for museum purposes. The Museum is an excellent institution, and deserves every encouragement to extend its sphere of work. and the Auckland public should be aroused to its responsibiltics in the matter.

A community that can spend so much money on ephemeral pleasures should surely be able to raise a rate of Id in the £ at least. Many of the towns at Home, though overburdened with rates, paylet us hope, willingly much as 2d in the £ for similar purposes. With a fixed definite income the council of the institute could embark on eoiuo progressive scheme of extension, and so increase the good work that is already being done. The museum is open to the public, and exists for the public good, so that the least that the public at large can do is to arrange for its upkeep, instead of enjoying all the benefits without bearing any of the liabilities.

According to a circular received there ia to bo an exhibition of models, diagrams', experiments, etc., in connection with school teaching, held at the Training College during the mid-winter holiday week. The. Minister for Education, the Hon. Geo. Fowlds, is to open it on the evening of Monday, the 26th inst., and all members of School Committees are cordially invited to be present. There are to bo three lectures delivered during the week, full particulars of which will be advertised in the daily papers. As the exhibition ie to be open daily to the general. public, there should be a good opportunity of seeing what a change has come over the method of presenting lessons nowadays, with what. -was the custom in our voting days, and so a visit should be well worth paying.