THE MOTHER TONGUE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15265, 1 April 1913, Page 8

THE MOTHER TONGUE.

©GLOBAL IMPERFECTIONS. mm to MODERN hustle. WffiLUHQtpM, Monday. Tm spoken language of-young New SJea< landers i» one of the subjects discussed by tho inspectors under the Wellington Education. Board in their annual report. "Some weakness in thomatter of vowel Bounds and some slovelincsa in enunciation, come under our notice," they state, " but 'glaring instances .'these fanlU are 1 now rare. Certainly they do not exist to 1 the ©intent that some of the sweeping as- ' sertions made before the Education Commission would lead people to 'suppose. 1 " Critics are too prone to dilate upon and exaggerate tho prevalence of these defects," the report continues. "Our ex* 1 *>erieiace. is that tho spoken language of the children in our primary schools com- ! pares more than favourably with that of 1 importations from other part* of the ' Empire. The, presence in a class of these ; newcomers can bo unmistakably detected 'by their strong provincialisms. We do ' not «ay that there is not room for improvement, and, as a matter of fact, ' we are most insistent in our demands that teachers relax no effort in striving for improvement, , but there is too g:eat a ten- [ dency to saddle. the unfortunate primary teacher with the solo responsibility for each and every failing in our social system. The feverish hustle of modern social and business intercourse, is, in our ! opinion, much more to blame than primary teaching for the deterioration in th» spoken language."