EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1973, 12 September 1889, Page 3

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

The monthly meeting of the Dunetlin Board of the Otago Educational Institute was held at the Normal School on Saturday morning, the President (Mr G. R. Smith) in the chair. There were also present— Misses Fitzgerald, Sinclair, Hay, Miller, and Messrs White, M'Nioll, Fitzgerald, Stewart, Milne, Chilton, Moore, Kyle, J. Reid, Jeffery, Endey, Balsille, M'Lean, Fraser, J. H. Grey, W. Gray, aud Pirie (secretary).

PUBLISHING INSPECTORS' REPORTS

Mr D. Ross, hon. sec. Waifcaki branch, forwarded a number of copies of a circular scut out by the Waitaki branch to the school committees and teachers in that district. The circular drew attention to the following reasons for not publishinginspectors'annualreportsofschooL!:— (1) It; causes an unhealthy rivalry between schools and jealousy amongst teachers, from which state of affairs the children 'suffer most, as ifc intensifies the already too great tendency towards cram; (2) school reports are not generally published in extenso in other parts of the colony.

Mr Fitzgerald said this was a very important question, and he would move : — •' That the secretary express to the Waitaki branch our sympathy with them in their endeavour to stop the publication of percentage results of inspectors' examinations, and that the Committee of Management ba requested to bring th« question of individual examination and estimation of results by percentage values before the Educational Institute of New Zealand, at its next meeting."

Mr Chieton seoonded the motion, which, after a short discussion, was carried.

spencer's essays on education.

Mr J. Reid (Raveusbourne) read a paper on Spencer's "Essays on Education," dealing mainly with the first two of the essays, the others being more fully admitted, and therefore not requiricg such attention as those about which there was some difference of opinion. He explained that he agreed with all that Spencer wrote,*except ing on one point, and for that reason his paper would not take the form of a criticism. He then went on to refer minutely and remark upon the essays, and said that, unlike Spencer, he held that language cultivated the mind to a greater degree than science.

Mr White spoke on the value of Spencer's work to young teachers, and said that he was wich Mr Reid in his contention that science did not cultivate the miud to such an extent as language. He thought Mr Reid had «3oue wisely in giving an exhaustive prseis of the firsK two chapters rather than a criticism of them. The other two chapters were in every way as valuable as the ones Mr Reid had touched on, especially the one dealing with moral disoipliua' He proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Reid,

Mr Moobe seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation,' after which Mr Reid briefly replied.

THE EXHIBITION CIBCULAR.

Mr White, in answer to a question re the circular issued to teachers with reference to the exhibition, said that the position of matters was this : In the exhibition there was a court termed tbe education and science court, and the commissioners had set apart 4000 ft for it. The committee appointed- to make it a success had had several meetings in order to get exhibits, and circulars were drawn out by the primary school section of that committee, naming the classes of exhibits they expected to receive from the primary schools. They also drew out, at the same time, certain conditions, on which the exhibits were to be sent in. It was these conditions that had been misunderstood by almost all those to whom circulars were sent, and they had been sent to almost every teacher in the colony. It appeared that they all pat a different interpretation on the conditions, but he supposed that naturally followed from the fact that a schoolmaster drew them out. — (Laughter.) He might explain that the conditions were sent to the Education Board, but that body did not send them out in the way it received them, and one .condition or restriction with regard to the exhibits had certainly not been left in its original shape. He would not say whether it was expressed more clearly or less definitely — (laughter;— but it was alters ', and it was this condition that gave rise to dissatisfaction. A meeting was held on Saturday morning to discuss the matter, and it was resolved that a spcond circular be prepared and sent out by Sir Robert Stout and himself, and an effort would be made to set forth in it as clearly as possible what was really meant and what teachers were expected to do in the matter.

In reply to Mr White, the Secretary said he had received no oomrauuication of any kind from the Committee of Management.