THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1903. THE NEW SCHOOL SYLLABUS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12829, 25 November 1903, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1903. THE NEW SCHOOL SYLLABUS.

A teachek of .cxpcrienco and. standing in this city some l\ttlo time ago expressed the conviction that Ayo should find, when the new school syllabus was issued that, instead of the burden of the teachers being lightened, there would bo another turn, of the screw: All previous experience has pointed in that direction, and there was 110 good reason for hoping- for bsttov things under the present dispensation. It will not, therefore', bo a ■ matter of very great surprise to the,older teachers that the now syllabus adds materially to the burden: of the public school curriculum under which the State school system has groaned for years. We had hoped that, when the abolition of the standard pass was filially determined upon, a measure of freedom would be allowed the teachers, and reasonable time permitted for instruction jn the subjects of the school course. Vain, hone! The new regulations issued by Order-in-Council prescribe a curriculum which will be found very much more difficult to overtake than the work of the syllabus which is

thereby displaced. The most cursory; glance at the new syllabus, a few copies of which have been distributed locally, will convince anyone who lias looked into the matter of public school education, at all that, more instead of fewer subjects will have to be taught in all of the standards from the First to the Sixth. Indeed, the Secretary of Education, who is,: of course, responsible for the whole thing, puts on the screw in the' preparatory class, which will now be asleep to perform all the arithmetical operations, involved in dealing with numbers from 1 to 20, though this, as Euclid would say, is absurd. At present.it is considered sufficient to teach a. knowledge of figures which does not pass ; beyond the fifth line of the multiplication tabla' There is much in the new syllabus that is admirable in conception, if only the curriculum had been arranged with a view to allowing time to deal with the subjects in a reasonable manner. For instance, spelling must be taught by means of systematic lessons on word-building, and this is tb e correct method of teaching spelling; 'but when the Secretary of Education prescribes a; new. departure from established precedent in this particular he does not improve matters. He surely does not contemplate a; recasting of the whole of our school books, which ihavo been specially' designed under the guidance of experts, to meet the requirements of word-building! Having prescribed word-building, Mr Hogbcn might well have loft the manner of teaching to the teachers. It is a general fault of the syllabus that it takes no cognisance of the ultimate effect, of what it prescribes. It bears on the face of it evidence of crudeness and want of thought, notwithstanding the. fact that it ran the gauntlet of a Parliamentary Committee cn Edu-, cation. But, unfortunately, members of Parliament are not necessarily educational experts, and any amendments the committee suggested were unimportant to the main issue. No more potent argument in favour of such a. council of education as ws havp repeatedly suggested could be found than the absurd syllabus clias has just been issued by the Department. Had the 'Secretary of Education taken into his counsels any ol •the head masters of our public schools ■with a reputation for good work wa feel certain that a syllabus of a. very different character would have been the result. Mr Hcgben has tried m his (latest production to implant some of the new ideals in education; but unfortunately lie leaves no time for adequate treatment of the subjects ia a. time-table that already provides for too many separate lessons. We are pleased to note that an attempt will be made to teaclr grammar-apart from the text-book, the subject being taken in conjunction with composition. Text-book- grammar is not always satisfactory, and until children have a good grounding in the grammatical construction of sentences wo think the text-book might quite yell bs dispensed with. But we hold the opinion that in the upper standards a good text-book is necessary (,o a correct understanding of Englith. Composition is to bo commenced in the First, Standard, which will ba required to form simple sentences orally. .These, wet suppose; the teacher will reproduce on the blackboard. This is a step in the light direction, as wo believe the sooner children become acquainted _ with correct methods ot speech'the better. In the teaching of geography Mr Hogben is 011 the right (rack, and is simply, followipg the lead of advanced educationists in other lands. Teachers are advised that the subject should 'be based as far as possible upon tho actual observation of natural phi.nomena by the children; but whero the 1 actual phenomena do not come within the range of the children's observation models should bs used i" possible, .Manifestly the cf geography from Nature possesses more real valua than any amount of mora map and text-book teaching. Geography. begins in the Second Standard, and it is suggested that tho first lessons might bo given in the playground. They might, at any rate, be. given in the immediate environment of the school. Wo will not endeavour to follow out the course in ge-ograpliy, as we shall probably make a more critical examination of the new syllabus late cn. Physical drill and military drill are made a feature of the school coursc, and-a new departure is made in wha'.fc ni'J termed 'moral lessons and lessons on health. Although included in tho subjects that must be. taught, it is prescribed that moral lessons should not occupy a separate place in the syllabus. "The moral purpose," Mr Hogben. thinks, "should dominate the spirit of the wholo school life." Numerous examples are given as to what the syllabus contemplates in moral lessons, sue!) as the formation of habits—e.g., " order (tidiness at home, in school premisss, in the streets tidiness.of dress and; person), punctuality and regularity at school, at work," etc. It is a fault ef the new syllabus that it is a treaiisa on methods of teaching in addition to constituting a programme of instruction. Nature studies, apart ironi objcct lessons, aro also compulsory. The course of instruction, it is: explained, should ba so arranged " as. co include a continuous course of Natme study, tho purpose being to train the children in the careful observation of surrounding objects and coimnoa phenomena." Not only is an. instruction to tcachers that elementary science shall bp taught ia the schools, but ii complete set of (samples how to go to work in connection therewith is supplied Wo are afraid the tellers will resent Mr Hosben's intrusion, upon a domain with whow explovstion he gives undoubted evidence of only a limited acquaintance. But wo must ressrve further criticism m tho meantime.