A PLEA FOR THE CHILDREN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7446, 28 December 1885, Page 4

A PLEA FOR THE CHILDREN.

TO THE EDITOR. Sin, —The accompanying letter on the subject of the grammar taught in the State schooLs was addressed to the Tasmanian Council of Education by a lady whose services to the literature of Australia are well and widely known. It appears to me to contain so much sound common sense that I venture to forward it to you for insertion, in the hope that it may commend itself to the intelligence of, our schoolteachers, as well as to the parents of. their scholars, and tend to mitigate the severity of the present complicated aud oppressive system of teaching grammar.—l am, &c, .. . , , L.C. December 24.

" Gentlemen, —Since I had the honour of forwarding to you individually the reprint of a letter I published in the Launceston Examiner, September 1(V I have received so manyassuranci's of hearty concurrence with my own opinions therein expressed' on the subject of the far 100 complicated manner of teaching English grammar now prevailing in the State schools of the Colony, I am encouraged to take the further step of' making a direct appeal to your honest judgment as to the wisdom—not to say humanity—of prescribing a change in the system. "The absoluto inutility of such technical theory (as is now taught) in the future lives of the children, who are wasting time and brains over the dry, barren lessons, must bo evident to all who can take an unprejudiced, practical view of the matter.

"I do not attempt to estimate the value of such studied to pupils in the higher schools, who may be destined to go oil through life penetrating more and more deeply into treasures of abstruse learning. lam myself too ignorant to do so ; but as I, and most of my contemporaries, learned to speak and write English without the modern mystifications, I feel convinced that they are not essential, nor of any practical' use to the children of our common schools.

" May I ask if any one member of the council now addressed (Mr Stephens exeeptod) could parse and analyse correctly, off-hand, a sentence of 10 words in the" manner of Morell, Sullivan, Graham, Parker, or any other of. the modern grammatical authorities? I trow not! And is it not enough if the children for whom, I plead are as well instructed as was our generation ? Will not such knowledge of English as we possess suffice for all purposes of trade, correspondence, or even literary composition in which they may require to use it? Of what service to a tradesman, office clerk, mechanic, or artizan of any class will it be to know, should he remember the lesson a month after-leaving school, that in the sentence—-' They ran, and saw the Queen,' the little innocent-looking .word 'and' bears in severely accurate grammatical nomenclature the imposing title of a ' copulative co-ordinate conjunction.'

" If the simplest elementary English grammar txtanfc were, bj the authority and order of your council, substituted in all op State schools for the present uselessly laborious and -elaborate lessons, more time might be profitably devoted to subjects of living interest and practical use. Much oppressive brain worry would be avoided, the thinking powers of pupils would be wholesomely exercised, and the seeds sown for much voluntary and enjoyable pursuit of knowledge hereafter. Biit what future growth of ideas, what invention, research, or speculation to beuefit their own, or any other lives, will result from the most intimate acquaintance which boys or girls may establish with 'illative coordination,' ' disjunctive co-ordination,' adversatives, subordinates, and the rest ? "Moreover, it is constantly found that the pupils whose exercises display the most skill in dealing with the intricate theories of grammar, so far from practically illustrating the advantages of their superior knowledge, are notably inaccurate both in speech and composition. " The numerous letters I have received, cordially endorsing my protest against Mprell and Co., prove thnt in many minds besides my own the dissentient feeling has existed for a long time; and I can only account for its being hitherto borne in comparative silence by the reluctance wbich most people feel to confess their own lack of information on any subject whatsoever. Fathers and mothers have, I know, often sorrowed over the distress which their children suffer in the dreary progress through the pages of Morell or his accomplices, but re-' framed from remonstrance, fearing rebuke for their own ignorance. I frankly avow mine, and without regretting it as to these grammatical matters, much as I deplore deficiency on many others.

" In earnestly beseeching you to introduce a speedy reform in this branch of education in the State schools, I would remind you that in 1872 Professor Badham himself pronounced strongly against the ' minute and useless subtlety of that kind of analysis which has hitherto been acquired out of a repulsive text-book'; and observed also that ' pnpils quite at home in the technicalities of Morell' were unable to detect one-half of the errors in a piece of very bad English, amply proving the inefficiency of the systom. "[As stated in our telegraphic report, the letter was referred to the Chief Secretary.—Ed. L. B.]" ' ■. ' '