EDUCATION NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15236, 25 February 1913, Page 4

EDUCATION NOTES.

by MBinroa, /

At the Inspectors' Conference, recent fr held in Wellington, Mr. Bakeweli, insp2 ■ tor of schools under the Wellington Education Board, made some remarks conceit ing national recognition of distinguished : service in the oause of education which will be very cordially endorsed by edncationista throughout the Dominion. Mr" Bakeweli was proposing that the' con . ference should place on record its hi gn appreciation of the distinguished services rendered to education by Mr. D. 'Petrie and Mr. P. Goyen, until recently chief in specters in the Auckland and the Ota™ districts respectively. In the cours« L his remarks, Mr. Bakeweil pointed on tnat while the Imperial Service Order has been awarded to public servants for dij. tinguished _ service in other the education branch has been consist4>ntl4 overlooked or neglected. He strong urged that men who have distinguish themselves in the cause of education should not be allowed to retiro from active service without public recognition of the debt which was owing to them by the country. Mr. Bakewell's remarks were unanimously endorse By the conference and the following clause" was added to the motion that he had brought forward« " and the conference can only express its regret that in the distribution of honours so freely bestowed on other branches of the Public Service no recognition appears to be made of the fact that men who have devoted their lives to the discharge of the highest duty and the noblest function of the State have also deserved well of their country."

An interesting discussion has been taking place in the English educational papers during the past few months as to what should be the character, scope, and aims of the course of work in science that is ' taken in secondary schools by girls who are not intended to follow professional careers in later life.. A demand has arisen recently for instruction in what has been variously termed, " the science of home life," "domestic science," "housecraft." "housewifery," and so on; and it is claimed by some that it is possible by such courses of work to inculcate the methods of science, and at the same time - to impart information likely to prove of the greatest value in the management of the household.

In. the discussion that has been carried ~V on there appears to be a fairly general. consensus of opinion on the p'irt of those % who have experience of science teaching that (1) the prime object of a school 0-$, scheme of science study should be edu- -: '-% cational, and its object the acquirement 4 of a scientific attitude of mind rather than a smattering of ill-digested and incom- ' v pletely understood information regarding | the complicated processes of the kitchen, ■,' J laundry, and other household depart- ': 5' ments; (2) domestic operations shotild b*j .'] taught as "house arts," and it should be ' admitted frank!/ that their scientific | treatment is invisible ■ without much';.;' preliminary study of cEemistry, physics, K;. and physiology; (3) the usual course in |K3 science is too acjideimc, and is not sum- /: ciently real to appeal to girls. It could, 7 ;;■ and should, be superseded by an. experi- t;. mental introduction to the scientific me- -. '':' thod in which all the subjects of practical >, study should be closely related to every- •.'..■':. day occurrences' in the home and illus. Crated by them.

On this subject the 'lady lecturer en ""-< chemistry #at Newnham College, Cam- ,4 bridge,' writes :■ "lt* has been urged that || girls do not take well to the , study o? physical science, owing to its very exact- i: I ing demand for clear thanking and cogent t)?M reasoning, and that, therefore, the course | for them should be on fundamentally different lines from that arranged for boys. .'J Surely if such a, sex disqualification does •-% exist it becomes all the morn important '■" for girls' education to be so planned as to develop -and strengthen the stunted faculty. : '§o, There are no two • brands of logic, one superior for use by the male and one inferior for the female. The recognition, - of the inviolable connection in nature be- . - tween cause and effect-, the method of ''„■//. assigning an effect to its proper cause, the intellectual Honesty required to -Z differentiate" between what may be taken s as proved and what belongs to the. realm of 'they say,'; all this surely is essen- | tial alike for boys and girls, for the house- ■ jj Keeper no less than for the engineer. And this attitude towards facts, which is, "M summarised in the term, 'scientific me- y thod' is most thoroughly and most quickly acquired through the study vof " physics, v which has the advantage over . all other . I school subjects that it applies the most ' exact possible method of acquiring know- | ledge to the . simplest possible subject :»*.; matter." . '.'

■ ' '■■'nW'^i On the same topic Lady Eucker writes i , "I feel strongly thai; some reform of our' present system of girls' education is re-, quired, and that the health and welfare , of the nation are suffering from a failure r to recognise that, where post-school edu- - cation is not possible, training must be given during the school period for the li'e a woman has to lead. I venture to assert- | . that there is not a doctor in the country; who could not reveal sorrowful tales of f ' lives of both mother and children crippled, . S if not lost, by an unnecessary ignorance, ' .; and this in all classes of society. Further.-;';;'< than this, the appalling waste of the n'£-J| tiorl's resources caused by the ignorance Jg| of women in the rules of economic manage- - r ment, or of the right use of household.' > ' materials,- not to mention the science which should govern a housethis .i ought surely to be prevented if our edu-, | cation, were on right lines.

"Wo are beginning to realise that with ;■'•.; the ever-increasing amount of scientific y ; s J knowledge at our disposal, ;■ each. profession / must be willing to leave on one side those -yfl sections of a science which do not bear .'.. upon the problems with which it has io;; ' deal. It is in this way only that the doc- ;. tor, the engineer or the agriculturist, can ;,; cope with the mass of knowledge required ,; for his profession- In the same way the : science of a household does not necessarily. -■ -" include nil branches of physics, chemistry, ■'■", physiology and biology, although certain sections of these sciences must be fully studied by those who wish to be expert* in household administration.

"How far," asks Lady Riicker, i: can/ this knowledge be- introduced into t&JV crowded curriculum of a school, and ho.W: far can it be made of real educative valua. '. Most educationists will agree that a smattering of ill-digested and ill-understood: information should stand condemned.^The,:|.v: first object of all schemes of school education must, without doubt, be educational in. -the widest sense of the .term. ;■> But the training will be incomplete if it' does not enable the student to apply the ; . knowledge learnt in school to the problems in life with which eh© is confronted. ; Sorely, a course of science taught by those who have studied its applications to the requirements of a profession may, even "i; its elementary stages, be vitalised by ap s ; ? illustrations, which help the student toV realise the object of the teaching,:without;, detracting from the value of the science ■ taught! The domestic arts will, ,ot course, always remain arts, but there is ; ; . proof to show that the girl who has been, taught some science and how to apply ner.-v knowledge is more likely to acquire .the . domestic arts quickly- Furthermore, it s ,: certain that many girls who are not »oW. ■;.:, attracted by the science teaching that given in our schools would find a new in " terest in the subject if they saw whnher it was leading, and that if science became ; part of everv girl's education, many would be inspired "to car.y it further." ; ;.'.