EDUCATION IN MARLBOROUGH.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4128, 13 June 1874, Page 3

EDUCATION IN MARLBOROUGH.

Mr. T. A. Bowden, 8.A., dates from Wellington a report upon the state of education of Marlborough, the report being addressed to the Superintendent of that Province. In his report Mr. Bowden says:— The educational status of the Province as compared with other Provinces, is undeniably low, and there does not appear to be any public school in the Province which ranks higher than an ordinarily good elementary school; nor are there many that could be considered as rising to that rank. It is, I think, very desirable that there should be within the Province one school in thoroughly efficient working order, which may serve as a model to the rest.

The general standard of the schools, however, cannot lie raised to a level with that of the other Provinces without obtaining the services of teachers better acquainted with improved methods of school management than several of those at present engaged in the Provincial schools. There is, I believe, no worse economy than that of employing unskilled labor in responsible work of any kind, whether it be in the management of stock, the culture of cro])s, or the teaching of children; but to obtain skilled labor, the rate of remuneration must be considerably raised, so as to place it on a par with that of adjoining Provinces, and all proper facilities in respect to the arrangements of school buildings, and supply of sufficient and suitable apparatus and books must be afforded.

But the great defect of the provincial system appears to me to be in the isolation of its several parts, each school district forming, as it were, a little independent kingdom in educational matters, little, if at all, amenable to the good or bad opinion of its neighbors, and therefore without that stimulus to exertion, self-sacrifice, and improvement which such regard would be likely to induce. This defect will be to some extent remedied by the publication and general distribution of sncli a report as the present one. It would, however, be still more effectually overcome by providing .a moderate fund from which the Government might give aid where specially required, and also make grants to the several districts hi proportion to the ctjccldfc// of the schools, and the expenditure incurred by means of self-taxation on the principle of encouraging those who are willing to exert themselves, as well as by the institution of a systematic plan for distributing rewards or bonuses to industrious and successful scholars and teachers, and by the establishment of a few Exhibitions to superior schools in this or adjoining Provinces to be awarded by competitive examinations, a mode of expenditure by which a small sum of money may effect great results, and interest in the progress of education may be excited in the mimls of children, teachers, parents, and the public generally. Another point which I think essential to a healthy condition of public education is the examination and classification of teachers, iu order that the public may have confidence in their qualifications, and that the more able and earnest teachers may look forward to promotion to the more lucrative and honorable posts. Upon this point I think it very desirable that a conformity should bo maintained with the certificates and standards established for the purpose in neighboring Provinces, so that teachers may pass from one to another without the necessity for fresh examinations.

It is the natural result of defects such as I have pointed out, that the standard of educacation should be low, and the value attached to it by the public proportionately small. That this is the case in this Province is evidenced by the low average of the number of children in daily attendance, compared with the number upon the roll, and with the population at large.