JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19498, 5 June 1925, Page 7

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS.

THE SYSTEM EXPLAINED. ADDRESS BY MR J. OADGHLEY. Mr J. Caughley, Director of Education, addressed members of the School Committees’ Association bust evening at the conclusion of the animal mooting, on the subject of Junior High Schools. Mr Caughley, who was received with applause on rising to speak, said, it was not his fault that he had not kept his former engagement. He was glad to say a few words on the question of the junior high, school movement. All children m the primary schools were interested in knowing what concerned higher education, and every child was trying to get through secondary education. Junior high schools were not experimental in an educational sense. It was only in the experimental stage as far as New Zealand was concerned, 'mere was no English-speaking country that had not adopted the principle that primary education should finish at 12 years and higher education commence at 12 and proceed onwards, it was remarkable that New Zealand was the last to adopt this principle. At about the age of 12 boys and girls were entering upon that period which was described as adolescence. They were becoming youths and maidens. They looked upon things in a different way, and some ot the greatest changes in then lives took place between the ages of 12 and 13. Boys and girls at about that age should be learning the elements of the subject they were going to take up later on. It was the A li <J elementary stage, it was just tiie same with learning music. lo those taught in their teens it became tedious, whereas taken at an earlier age it became easier and more agreeable. We should not wait till lo or 14 years of age before commencing. If we waited till 13 or 14 wc sprang too much upon a boy at once. If he went to the high school he started a number of brand new subjects of which he had had no previous know-' ledge. It was too great a jump to tackle all at once, ,< and he had to take his subjects up under very different conditions, it was quite . enough to he under one teacher without having several masters for different subjects, each expecting a boy to push on with his particular subject. There was a tendency for’ a great strain to be put upon the boy. A boy or girl who wont, iiito a secondary school, if fairly bright, could matriculate in three years. Even if they took four years they vyent through their work too quickly. It was one tiling to be able to produce a result that would satisfy an examiner, but knowing their subject was quite another thing. .Even if a boy gained 50 or 60 per cent, he had gone through too rapidly, and he should not go through his work so rapidly. There was a slow mental stage, and if a hoy went at an extra pace he could not got through his subjects properly. He must go through them at a certain stage of life. There was a mental age "at which the various subjects should be taken, if a boy got them at the proper stage he would understand them better, and they would enter into hi§ mental life. He should not have to go through a thing so quickly that he could not properly see through it. These were some of the general reasons why educationists, and those studying the matter, had persisted, all over the world, that a change from the elementary stage to an advanced position should take place about 12 years of age. The speaker went on to say that _ when most of those present went to school very few pupils went from the primary school lo the secondary school, the great majority of pupilsfinishing at the Sixth Standard, if not oariier. The tendency, therefore, was to make the leaving age higher so as to prolong the period at school. He was satisfied that the amount of grammar which the pupils had to learn in his time was more than was now learned up to the standard of matriculation. The same remarks applied to arithmetic and drawing, and vet people talked nowadays about the overloaded syllabus. Although the syllabus had been reduced in many ways the fact remained that a good deal of the work had a better relation to post-primary education. It was a great pity when free places were introduced that the system was not watched more closely in regard to its tendencies. The. secondary school of 40 years ago was designed for a small portion of the community, and so the school was fitted for that particular class. In 1904 the door was opened to all classes, and by 309 it was the regular thing for boys and girls to pass into the secondary schools. He did not think that in any ocher country there was such a proportion of pupils going into the secondary schools as was the case in New Zealand. It was not realised at the time that the schools were being turned into schools for the masses. He was not very much alarmed at the tendency to take up clerical occupations lather than artisan occupations. That would right itself in the course of lime. Too many had gone in for the genteel occupations, but lie thought the pendulum was already swinging in the other direction. By and by ihey would find clover men taking up artisan nominations just as they wore taking up clerical occupations now. Ho did not: think it was right that the clever boys should go to the high schools and the other to the technical schools. The establishment of the technical day school was very largely due to accident resulting from the queer' capitation system in force at the. time- By keeping the day classes going payment for the teachers of die evening "classes could be secured.' At present a full staff could almost be maintained on the evening classes alone. The technical classes had emphasised the practical side of education. At present they did not make a proper distinction between technical education and technical vocational training. The wealth of any country consisted of what was produced, and that was the foundation of life. The main way in which man was developed was through producing things, and no man could be properly educated by using his head alone. There were forms of education and training which could not be got without the use of the hands. That should be emphasised in every type of school, the thought and differentiation between the high schools and the technical schools should be broken dow n. Part of the reason tor the growth of technical schools was a disinclination of the high schools to change their methods, but there were signs of a departure from those methods now. The junior high school course tried to get over some of the difficulties he had mentioned. It would provide a sufficient variety of courses for all the pupils. About threefifths of the work was the same for all the pupils, including English, arithmetic, drawing, history, and geography, irrespective of whether a boy was going to be a doctor or a bricklayer. For the remaining time—-about 10 hours per week—the work would be, differentiated. The main aim was not lo teach children for a vocation, but was to develop them. If a mistake were made in the choice of subjects a change could easily be. made. The junior high school would not be a dead end, but would lead after three years to the ordinary high school or a technical school. The junior high schodl would be a fine thing for democracy. The junior high school would mean that the primary school course would end at about the Fourth Standard. Three schools in Auckland had had their Fifth Standards cut off to form the Kowhai School, and the head masters had reported that the work in the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Standards had never been better. The remaining pupils were getting just aa good education as ever. This form of high school had been such a success that there had been pressure to secure more. There was a junior high school u.t Mata-mat a now. Instead of having s'o pupils with two teachers the school how had 180 pupils from nine adjacent schools with five teachers. That school was working very satisfactorily. At Northcm-e there was a system with only three schools. In the smaller country districts he did not. see how the scheme could be carried our, but there were places in Otago whore there could be a type of junior high school if arrangement could be made for collecting the children. The cost, for buildings would not be any more in one case than in the other. As far as salaries were concerned the cost was about Is per head more under the junior high school system than it: was under the old system. If they thought well of the system they could consider how it would operate in some of the districts in Otago. In. a cit-v like Dunedin some four or five junior high schools would lie required. The donartineut was not proposing to press the system at present, but rather to explain it. The system was started in Scotland, but it was more important to have it in New Zealand than any other country, because the State had taken practically the whole rt-spomi-inlity for .secondary education, and w'<s providing it. free. He did not: know of any other country where the standard of education was so good. There was a splendid basis in the dominion, and it was their dirty to do the best, for their boys and girls. In reply to a question, Mr Caughley said the junior high schools would be very largely by primary school teachers. There would be a much better blending of all tyP®s of teachers than there had laven in the past. Quito 50 per cent, of the st-oondary school teachers, were trained i.dnchers. and the proportion would increase in (he future. On the motion of Mr d.oinervillo a hearty vote of thanks was passed to Mr Caughley lot ilia iulcrostinfi addicts.