GATHERING OF TEACHERS

New Zealand Mail, 29 January 1902, Page 27

GATHERING OF TEACHERS

(By Telegraph.—Own. Correspondents.) WANGANUI, January 20. The opening session of the Teachers’ Summer School took place this morning, when some 250 teachers from all parts of the district assembled.

The chair was occupied by Mr G. S. Bridge (chairman of the Education Board), and on the platform were also Dr Smyth and Mr J as. Milne (inspectors), the ministers of the town and the teachers wlio are to act as instructors during the session. Air Bridge, in his opening address, expressed great pleasure at having the honour to preside at the first meeting of the first Teachers’ Summer School held in New Zealand, and in welcom- ' ing to Wanganui so many teachers in the service of the Wanganui Education Board. He regretted that it was not possible to have teachers from other districts, but accommodation was somewhat limited. He thought they had very great reason to be proud of the fact that Wanganui was the first place in New Zealand to establish a summer school for students. It was generally recognised throughout the colony that Wanganui was one of the centres of education, and when they looked round on the educational institutions in the town, they had every reason to be proud of the fact.that they were so far advanced. Wanganui was one of the first districts in the colony to take advantage of the District High School and Manual and Technical Instruction Act. Although it was the province of the Board to find buildings and appliances for schools, these would be of little avail if the teachers were not up .to date. Education was always progressive, and methods that were acceptable some forty or fifty years ago were now completely out of date. It was to enable teachers to study the most modern methods of teaching that a summer school had been suggested. Manual and technical instruction received much more attention now than had been the case in the past, and it was recognised that they must not only train the children’s heads, but also their hands, and heads and hands must go together. Teachers in some country schools who were doing good work ha'd not the opportunities of receiving the instruction they needed, and to assist them, the summer school had been started. Summer schools had been in existence in England for the past five years, and last year one was held in Melbourne, and another was to be held this year. There were five courses of instruction to be given, three of which would be illustrated. Lectures would take the place of teachers, and the teachers would become students. Any credit attaching to the Wanganui Students’ Summer School should be given to Dr Smyth, for he it was who originated the idea. He brought the matter before the Board. The Board heartily supported the Chief Inspector’s suggestion, and the result was the gathering to-day. In the past they had been too apt to instruct and not to educate, to train and cram instead of drawing out, and the present school was for the purpose of showing teachers how to draw out what was in children. Tho Mayor gave an appropriate address, in the course of which he said he believed it was intended to have a combined North and South Island summer school, at which 500 or 600 students were expected to attend. Dr Smyth referred to the last century being called an age of progress. No don't it was an age of marvellous pro-

| gress in work and education, but they j must look forward to greater triumphs, j The work that had been started in tha | last century was not completed, and it ; was left to those who bore the beat and burden of the day to carry out what had been started in the last century. . The speaker referred to the'marvellous j strides Germany had made in education during last century, and to the attempts made by America, England, Ireland and Scotland to follow on in the lines laid down by Germany. Great progress had been made in primary schools in Great Britain, but still they lagged behind j American schools. Except through books it was a difficult matter to learn what was being done in other lands. New subjects had been introduced, and educational ideas had been altered. It had been said that all that was required to be taught in primary schools was the . three R’s, reading, writing and arithmetic, but those who held such views, he thought, had not fathomed what they ■ were saying. To rightly teach meant far more than reading, writing and arith- , metic. The only ideal of education was j that a man should be developed on all : sides of his nature, mental, physical and , spiritual. The new ideal of education 1 said that whatever was possible in the child ought to be brought out, and the State said that the genius, talent and : capabilities of the child must be deJ veloped, so that the child should not ■ only do the best for himself, but for the State. Education should fit the child for life, not merely in. the utilitarian sense, not merely that, lie might earn i his bread by the sweat of his brow, but ■ that it should fit him for the life he was intended for. He sometimes thought it hard on old teachers who, in the past, had done good service, ta have to struggle with the new demands of education and the demand of school inspectors, but it was necessary. The problem they had to solve was what was the best way of impressing teachers with new subjects, and* one way that suggested itself was a summer school. Similar schools had been established in Germany, Britain and America, and he had seen them in Scotland. He did not wish to boast when lie said he was proud of the Wanganui Summer School. I They had capable instructors, and they ; would do their utmost for the teachers. , He believed, apart from the instruction they might receive at the school, the ■ fact of bringing teachers together from all parts of the district, and thus having the privilege of exchanging views, would be of immense benefit, and he trusted that at the end of the school course the teachers would go away with fresh energy to commence their work. Dr Smyth then proceeded to explain the syllabus, after which the teachers settled down to work, which, it is expected, will extend over three weeks.