Spare Half-Hours.

Otago Witness, Issue 1506, 25 September 1880, Page 26

Spare Half-Hours.

SCIENCE IIN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Bt Hknby T.apttam.

A system of education which is free and compulsory is essentially a system intended to benefit the lower classes, and as such a system is now in force throughout New Zealand, and has had a sufficient length of time to prove its merits, one may fairly enquire as to the benefits arising therefrom- In the first place, primary education is placed within the reach of every child, and those parents who are too careless or too idle to voluntarily grasp such advantages for their children are, or may ba, compelled to do so. Hence it follows tbat only a very small proportion of the rising generation will grow up without receivicg some kind of education. Every girl and boy will, at least, have an opportunity of learning to read and write. Another difference between the old system and the new is that in the latter the teaching of elementary science is compulsory. This is a significant fact. In the old days when a teacher gave lessons in any soience, it was certain to be one from which he had a natural aptitude, and of which he had made ft special study. Consequently it was likely to be well and thoroughly taught. Now-a-days a teacher who wishes to take a certifi eate is compelled to read up some text book, bntbas no desire to learn more than will enable him to ga c .s the examination}; consequently the lessons given afterwards will be poorly and superficially taught. No man or woman can teach any subject well in which they take only a very slight interest. However, the demands of the School Inspectors are not very vigorous. A man of average ability could " learn" enough science in three months to more than satisfy all requirements. The lessons usually take the form of Bhort lectures, diversified by experiments. But the question intrudes itself if thia smattering ef science, these very homeopathic draughts from the well of knowledge, be of the least use or benefit to the scholars in after life. It must be borne in mind that the pupils who attend the primary schools are children of labourers, and will themselves have to earn their livelihood literally " in the sweat of their brow." Their time at school is limited, and they require to learn, not what is ornamental or even invigorating, but what will assist them in the coming etropgle for existence. Will science do this? I hardly think so. Beading will enable them to look better after their own interests, wiiting and arithmetic will help them in their pecuniary affairs ; but how will a knowledge of the primary facts o! chemistry, physiology, or astronomy assist them ? Of course the design is merely to put them into the way of afterwards .following out for themselves the . marvels and beauties of the scientific world ; bnt is the teaching as cow given likely to do this? I doubt it. But if teachers desire to make their pupila pursue science for its own sake, it should be clearly pointed out tbat each science has a real and economic value. Let a boy clearly understand that the stndy you introduce him to is one which, if earnestly pursued, will benefit him in Mb after life, then self-interest, the strongest of all motives, will induce him to follow it out. Tbat if he means to be a farmer, chemistry will enable him to discern more surely the nature of the different soils, and the best means of improving the poorer kinds ; botany will teach him to conserve and improve the native grasses and what plants suit best the different soils ; — that to a miner or stone mason, geology is useful in showing the different strata in which useful or valuable minerals may be found. Taught in this way, even the science of etymology may be made very instructive and useful, if a bay is made to observe and discriminate between nseful and noxious insects, to recognise their Jarvaj and to experiment on the best methods to destroy such as are hurtful. Again, in all country schools the boys should be taught something of tbe science of agriculture, but I venture to Bay, not on^ country schoolmaster in fifty has any know-

ledge of it, not even to the very paor extent of reading the primer on the subject. As far as the girls are concerned the teaching of science is a decided mistake and waste of time. For what are these girls to look forward to in after life— either to being domestic servants or the wives of working men. And in what way will their scientific knowledge be of use to them 1 What will it avail Mary Jane to know that soap " is compounded of stearine and oleine which when subjected to a hot lye of coda changes to margaric acid and oleic aoid," if she forgets to apply sufficient of the compound to the clothes on washing day I—what1 — what is the use of her knowing all about caloric if she forgets to warm the dinner plates ? It is very well that she should know all about the various gasea which make up the atmosphere if she poisons herself and her family by keeping the windows of the sleeping apartment hermetically sealed lesta breath of air shouldintrude. The practical knowledge that cold water freely used will prevent colds and keep off many epidemics is far better for her, even if she never heard of hydrogen or nitrogen. While the one science which is really essential to every working woman ia neglected, there is no time or need to study others. Working women, and wives of working men, ought especially to know how to cook economically and yet tastefully. Let them learn this science as thoroughly as they may, for it will make their whole life happier. Yet how many girls of the working clashes have any idea of cooking properly so called ? They can boil a piece of meat to rags, or roast it to a cinder, but there their skill ends.

As to delecacy or taatefulness in the preparation of food, anyone who has stopped at a bush public house and has been regaled with steaks parboiled in dripping, soup thick with vegetables and fat, or boiled beef and rank cabbages, will fully appreciate the ability of country cooks. But in New Zealand and the other colonies where meat and vegetables are at the command of the very poorest, it is sinful waste of God's best gifts to destroy viands after the fashion of most women of the working classes. Cook? Is it cookery to burn a piece of meat till it is as dry an innutricious as leather, to make their husbands dyspeptic with watery vegetables, and their children martyrs to indigestion through feeding on heavy dough, staffed with currants and called cake ? But who shall blame these women ? they do their very best as far as they know how, and it is simply ignorance which causes them to err. When poverty comes upon them, which amongßt them, even if their family were starving at their feet, would dream that the fresh bones which may be had for the carrying away can be transformed'into excellent and nutritious soup ? If sickness comes they immediately fly to Holloway's or someone else's pills, or some poisonous Elixir, or Essence of Life, never dreaming that the commonest herbs in their garden are much more efficacious remedies. Yet the camomile which borders the garden beds will make a drink particularly strengthening to the digestive organs ; that when baby, in a spirit of investigation, scalds himself by peeping a little too closely into the teapot, the terrible agonies may be re* lieved by a poultice made of a raw onion and a potato scraped up and moistened with salid oil ; or when that mischievious Dicky comes in yelling from the beehive, the pain may be cured by a leaf or two of the poppy plant. Here then is a wide field for the would be teachers of science. Teach girls to be better servants, more capable house-wives, more helpful mothers. Introduce a good simple cookery book, manage to institute cooking classes, if only once a week ; make your examinations strict and searching in this aubj ect ; reward success an i painstaking with all your best prizes ; make your school girls fair primary cooks ; and see whether the motherß, fathers, future husbands, and families, will not say you have done a good and worthy work, that the science into which you have initiated your scholars is indeed one worth studying incessantly all their lives long.