EDUCATION NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15004, 28 May 1912, Page 4

EDUCATION NOTES.

KY MESTOR Jpdcixg from the published reports of the last meeting of the. Auckland University College Council, that" body had neveral very important matters before it last week. Highly gratifying reports were submitted by the lecturers on accountancy and law, for they told of wonderfully increased attendances— of students running into hundreds in number, of regular attendance, and of keen interest in the work. Truly, a satisfactory state of things, for it wpuld seem that many, at least, of our young men are awaking to an appreciation of the value of higher education, and to a realisation of the fact that if they are to win their way to the ladder-top in these days of keen competition, they must equip themselves mentally in the very best possible wav. It is gratifying, too, to know from the report of the lecturer on accountancy that the value of this higher training is already being recognised by our business men, inasmuch as they are showing their appreciation of it by applying to the School of Commerce for the trained assistants they require. Probably nothing will do more to help forward the School of Commerce than the knowledge on the part of the students that good work done within the college walls will open the, door to lucrative appointments in business. In America the kings of commerce have long since discovered that college trained men make the most efficient captains of industry, and it is to be- hoped that this fact will soon be understood and appreciated in our own Dominion. The lecturer in accountancy made several very valuable suggestions in his report with regard to tho establishment of an industrial and commercial museum, and also of a special industrial, commercial and economic library, for the use of students attending the School of Commerce lectures. Tho importance of both museum and library must be apparent to all, and it, is to be hoped that the College Council, will be able to help forward both, suggestions. Together witn the reports telling ol largely increased attendances at the School of Commerce courses came the report ot the Professorial Board, tolling of the desperately bad conditions under whicli university work is at present being carried on in Auckland; telling of utterly inadequate accommodation, of huge classes crowded into classrooms and laboratories too small bv half, of an utterly unsuitable wooden building, a great part of which was already old when first made use of for university purposes some 30 years ago ; of leaky roots and insufficient lavatory and sanitary conveniences. Another very important matter before the College Council at its last meeting was the present condition of the college library. This is altogether bad. The books are not classified on any definite plan, and there is no complete catalogue and no shelf catalogue. It is almost impossible to tell what books are in and what are out; and there is no doubt that in ;the past many works have been lost to the library through either gross carelessness or dishonesty on the part of the borrowers. Hitherto the library has been supposedly* under the care of the College Council, but in order to bring about a better state of. things a joint committee, consisting of fOur members of thejCollege Council and three members of the Professorial Board, has been set up. This committee, if it enters upon its task with any enthusiasm, should be able to put matters on a much more satisfactory footing. In one respect, I think the constitution of the committee appointed might be improved upon. Why should not the undergraduates and the students be allowed a representative ? The library means much to the undergraduates', and it would seem to be a reasonable thing to give, say, the president of the Students' Association, for the time being, a seat on the committee of management of the college library: r Educationists ■throughout ; the country have been practically unanimous in denouncing the clauses dealing with education in the Local Government Bill that has been under discussion in Wellington during the past week, and few or none will regret the decision arrived at to delete these provisions from the measure. Most people will agree with the views .expressed by Mr. Dakiell, of Canterbury, who declared that education should stand apart, and that the cost should come out of the Consolidated Fund and not out of local, rates. And if this is the view held in Canterbury, where the country is, practically all settled, where many of the , schools are substantially built in brick or stone, and where educational endowments now producing large revenues were set aside in the early "days, how much more strongly will it be held throughout such a district as our own ! Great areas in this province are still unroaded and unoccupied, our school buildings are practically all built of wood, and, as time goes on, these will prove a constantly increasing source of expense for upkeep and repairs, while our education reserves, compared with those that exist in the South, are, practically valueless. The proposals made in the Bill would have pressed heavily indeed upon new and struggling settlers; there can be no doubt that education would • have suffered severely in efficiency, and consequently the action of the Minister in deciding to drop these clause-? from the Bill will be generally approved. The subject of corporal punishment is always an interesting one to teachers and to taught, so I make no excuse for quoting verbatim the following remarks on the subject made by Mr. James Hendry in his monthly report to the Southland Education Board, at the, beginning of the present month. He says : " Every teacher may' be presumed to have in his possession several of the very large number of excellent treatises now available dealing with the_government of schools, and may further be presumed to have made himself more or less familiar with the principles enumerated therein. It cannot have escaped the most unreflective student that, however much the writers of these books may seem to be at variance on certain points of Bchool policy, there is at least one matter with respect to which there is practical unanimity, to wit: that corporal punish- | ment should never be inflicted for intellectual faults, for stupidity, or for ignorance. It should be resorted to only for the worst offencesflat disobedience, obstinacy, vice, gross impertinence, and even for these when there seems no alternative, when every other means of dealing with the offences has been tried and has failed." i Surely then the corollary is obvious that ! the instrument of corporal punishment should not bo constantly in the view of the children. Acceptance of the above. i quoted principles would result in its banishment to the teacher's cupboard or I drawer, to be produced only on the few : occasions when its use is imperatively I necessary. All teachers will cheerfully | subscribe to the dictum of the text-books, i yet many of them fail to square their ! practice with their professed belief. In 1 numerous cases the strap is a permanent exhibit on the school wall or on the teacher's table, a perpetual memento. The folded leather may be used as a pointer bv a teacher correcting desk work. It ■■'may I be observed, like the pistol butt of the Bad Man of the West, protruding from the teacher's pocket. It, way even on occasions serve the purpose of a necklet to an infant mistress. Now all this is as wrong as it can be, and it is quite unnecessary that I should point out wherein it is wrong. For an exposition of the Board's attitude on this matter, teachers are referred to a pamphlet forwarded to the schools some years ago. Therein they are reminded that the efficacy of the strap is in inverse proportion to the frequency of its application; that the injudicious '- employment of this artificial stimulus to exertion and good conduct tends to frustrate the very object the teacher has in view; and that the indiscriminate and frequent administration of corporal punishment is an indication of lax discipline, the cause of which is to be sought in the teacher himself. AH of which is excellent. i __ J£v ■• :/ :a.< : ?