TRAINING THE YOUNG.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12814, 13 July 1912, Page 7

TRAINING THE YOUNG.

PHYSICAL DRILL AND OTHER

SUBJECTS.

(Pet Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day.. At the sitting of the Education Commission yesterday, the Rev. J. H. M. Mackenzie, ex-chairman of the Nelson School Committee, advocated the abolition of boards and committees, and the substitution for them of a system under which the teaching staff, equipment, and inspectors A\ r ould be controlled by a central authority, leaving to the local bodies the provision of school sites, buildings and upkeep. Mr G. CraAvshaAV, the secretary of the HaAvke's -Bay Education Board, stated that the grants made by the department for the provision of n6AA r schools Avere insufficient. The cost of conveying children to school should be provided, to avoid the multiplication of small schools. He adVocated th© demilitarising of the present junior cadet organisation up to a certain point. The battaiioll system should be abolished, but squad drill and company organisation should be retained. Instruction m the use of rifles should also be retained. A physical training instructor, Mr J. A. Duffy, of Wellington, said his experience 'had convinced him that physical training, as sometimes ''carried out;- 'Avas unsatisfactory. The training of children for spectacular displays predominated. He condemned- the junior cadet system Avhich catered for boys of a certain age only. The system of military drill was overlapping into the senior cadets and territorial training. Under the present system children were instructed by military instructors, Avho had neither knowledge., nor experience m handling chili dren. Greater prominence should be given .the subject m the school syllabus. Them should be a director of physical training for the Dominion, Avith one I trained instructor m each district to instruct the teachers. Miss M. Lorimer, principal of the Nelson Girls' College, agreed that the primary school syllabus Avas a good and up-to-date one, but it needed for its interpretation much higher teaching ability and a broader and more intelligent outlook ,on the part •of the teacher " than sufficed for the syllabus and system it superseded. There ought to be some uniformity of method hi teaching arithmetic betAA'eert the two classes of schools. The president of the Wellington branch of the British Medical Assbcia-' tion, Dr H. J. McLean, said school houses should be situated Avhere there Avas a free circulation of air, no obstruction of light, and away from noise and dust. Every schoolroom should provide each pupil with. 15 square feeo of floor space and 200 cubic feet of air space. Lighting and ventilation should receive careful attention. Children should not receive formal teaching till seven years' of age. The kindergarten period should .be extended. Physical culture Avas necessary for brain groAvth, as much as mental exercise aaas for brain development. ' 'As regards sex physiology,' said uv McLean, "no one outside the medical profession knoAvs Wow much is included under tins. 1 Certain facts have to be learned, and they should be learned at the proper time, and m the proper Avay."

! i.iio principal K)f the Nelson Boys' Col'lcge, lur H. L. FoAvler, said the primary school syllabus Avas a good one, but ; its' requirements were too great for the j ordinary primary school teacher. The experience of secondary schools •showed distinct Aveakness m several subjects, among them ' geography, .avith'. metic and - formai* grammar.- Noav that tree education Avas open to almost every.ono there Avas not much need for scholarships, and thoi funds might well be used for assisting country children to coin,e to the centres for education. The .age At -which boys passed the 6th standard was too high for entry into the secondary schools. j The Rev. W. J. Comrie, cliainmui of ! the Terrace School Ck>mmitttee, avlio claimed thirty years' experience m local admiiiistratioh of. the iSducatkm 'Act, > said , he -: fully approA^ed of ' the ; proposed I enlargement of education board districts, 1 and considers thei diAision of districts into -wards should be abolished. Better provision ought to be made for the trans- j fer of. teachers from one school or dis.r i • trict .to another, and steps shibuld be .- tak^en to prevent teadhers m small counI try schools being buried there. The rylilabus ought to be simplified, and promo-: j tion should be- decided by the teachers. The -age limit for free places should be ! abolished-. I . Professor W. T. Mills discussed schools Jas the training ground foi 1 good citizens. .The test' of a school, he said, AA'as not 'ithe number, of its pupils who could pass examinations, but /its power to render j | real service to the community. A school .should interest itself directly m the question of motherhood. It should xe<] ! late itself immediately to the newborn 1 child. Tho care of a child before it Avent 1 ■ to school determined so largely Avliat it ■ Avould do Avhen at school .: that it 'pre.-; ' sented a great scope" for tne-> activity of • educational authorities. At least one meal per day scientifically prepared (should be .provided by the school and! 1 served to its pupils. Exercise shovild be' out of doors, arid should have some | motive; .other than mere -exercise. Edu-cation-ought to be along lines, land the child at school should be taught to do things similar to the things he or I she Avould ' have to tib^' in " ' af tier ' life 1 . Courses m economics and politics should j be provided for on a. much larger scale ! than at present. The whole system of ' education ought to be controlled by a f national council or board, avlio should I be 'so constituted as to represent such a J great group of interests as the . labor unions, commercial associations, . agricultural associations ,and so on. By such means they would directly relate the 1 life of the community to' the schools. Statements covering aspects ,of the education system traversed by previous witnesses Avere received fr6m Mr D. ; Kerr (mathematical and scieptific master) ;at Napier Boys' High School), Miss E; Clmplin (representing the North Canterbury District Education Institute)^ Mr R.: Thomas (Taranaki), Mr H. Trimble (chairman of the Taranaki Education Board), Miss C. Maekay (Stratford; Taranaki), Mr A. G. Thompson (AvoOdAvork instructor', '• Nelson)/ Mt'fl. Prbbyn (an ex-teacher' resideht m Wellington.) In camera Dr Truby' King,' medical suporbitendent of the Seachff Mental Hospital, gave evidence, m which he discussed the teaching of sex physiology and kindred matters from thevm&dical point of vieAV. ,_