HAKATERAMEA SCHOOL AFFAIRS

Oamaru Mail, Volume XV, Issue 4723, 18 July 1890, Page 1

HAKATERAMEA SCHOOL AFFAIRS

TO THE EDirOK. Sie, —It is not my custom, Don Qaixote I like, to run a tilt at every windmill, but when I see Tooley-Btreet tailors make unjust, angallant, and. ungenerous attacks [on the local school teaoher, and that ! teacher an estimable lady, all the latent chivalry of my natace is .roased, Two hysterical letters,: written no doabt by ladles of a certain'age, appear in yonr columns of the 16th Irist., reflactlngoo.fche, capabilities of the lady., in qao^tlQbj ; and not only on her, for one of them m'akes'an here mallqa', and envy appear, conspicuously—onher,, husband, a• hard-working, lndußtrioua;maQ. Are these individuals, yonr carrepondents, so far raised by talents, nobility of birth, or position above.the common herd that they can afford to look down upon-ft working mad, and s»y . loftily, with Horace, with whom they are well acquainted, Odi profanum mdgus et arceo? Are they able to dlaplae the, source from whence they themselves -have sprung, and clothe themselves with a rotten garment of pride, just beoause untoward circumstances have invested them with a " little brief authority." "No man ever had a point of pride, but it was injurious to himself." As to the teacher-failing in her examltlon, tbat might happen "to anybody. A person may bo a splendid teaoher and yet be not able to pass. 'A'certificate is not a proof of the capabilities of a teaoher to instruct, but.a presumption.that' he or she has the neoessary qualifications, " Householder " says f she., Has been teaching for .over six years" and he might have added, without infringing the truth, to: the; satisfaction of all concerned. - He further says that some of these children: are over 14 iyears of age..; This, I am surej 1b notfaul.fc: of the:teacher^; • children have an-:unhappy. way of growing older as the years roil ori- —" Householder " himself might have observed that daring his varied career—and have not passed the fifth standard. •Sir,, we, all know, .what-Door ohanoas a teaoher haß with children, pf 13 or 14, who are generally wanted at home for some' thing or another. ■ • Does one . individual constitute the School Committee ? Is he " like Mr Oorberus, three gentlemen in one." 5 The Board of Education, to my mind; and to that of every -unprejudiced -person, has acted throughout this squabble with Ita accustomed dignity and jastic3,.and ..has, .very properly refused to'dismiss;? valuable I servant to gratify the spleen of a pmall minority. Ve minimis lion r curat lex. At the conclusion of his letter " HoUßeholder" generously tries to stop furtheri discussion by threatening to ? tell the truth. Mr Householder," what is the truth. The truth is stranger to some people than fiction. . Perhaps it is; so with Mr " and his friends. Sir, we mean to stir up .the mud sttb vino, until it settles and'reburleS'these venerable fossils in. their prlstime element, and will" fight it out -on that line if i» takesusal I,the>ammer." . Would.yoU|kludly Insert thiß letter aud oblige, yourß, etc., Boat C<ex.um. Sandhurst, 17 th July, 1890,.