BACKWARD CHILDREN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17228, 7 April 1930, Page 9

BACKWARD CHILDREN

THE SPECIAL CLASSES WONDERFUL PROGRESS “The application of objectionable names to the class is most unfortunate, and it is not in the least justified by the facts,” said the Director Education, Air. T. IT Strong, in an interview, when explaining the aims of flic classes held by the department for backward children. Mr. Strong’s statement was prompted by the report of a recent discussion on the subject at, a meeting of the Auckland Education Board.

“Spceial cla-sses for backward child-] ron have been established in Hie I.)o-! minion for the benefit of those children j who, though not able to keep pace with children their own age in the ordinary academic subjects, are nevertheless well worth educating along manual! lines, with a view to making self-sup-j porting citizens of them later on.” said j Mr. Strong. “If left in the ordinary! classes these children become thoroughly discouraged by frequent failures, and are so emotionally upset that further progress is impossible for them. [ “The department could quote many, examples of children regarded as quite j hopeless in the ordinary school who, given patient, tuition :in a special class, i have made wonderful progress even in i academic subjects, while in manual worlc they have exceeded what might reasonably lie expected of children their own age. it is true that in the past the classes have contained a sprinkling of children whose abilities were so limited that they must be regarded as of defective intelligence. Nevertheless, even some of these children have had such good manual ability that to exclude them from such instruction would have been grossly mi flair. ■SMARCH FOR LATENT ABILITY “No child is retained in a special Hass who proves to be uneducablc in the broad sense of the term. No class contains more than 20 pupils, and teachers are instructed to endeavor to find what latent abilities each child has, and to develop them to the full. One-third of the school day is devoted to academic work, one-third to manual work, ami one-third to music and I physical education. The difficulty! that faces the department os that , many people do not appear-to .realise J that teaching children nothing but j the three; It’s is not really full education. No child ever yet, was sensitive about his position in a special class unless made so by other people. T MKT I MON V I l 'lit )M I’A RENTS “ In !>!> cases out of M>o the parents; are so glad to see the happiness of] the child in his new surroundings that nothing would induce them to remove him. Many parents have testified to i tht' fact that after being placed in a special class, irritable children have become contented, poor appetites have become good, sounder sleep lots been induced, and general naughtiness has been eradicated. In short, the nervous systems of children in special classes tend to become stabilised. It is not claimed that all naughtiness is cured, but there is no doubt that the benefit of a smaller class and a suitable curriculum, with freedom from the constant humiliation of failure, is most marked.

“’Before a child is placed in a special class, it is customary to notify Hie parents of the proposed transfer, giving them an opportunity to state their objections if they have any. It objections are made, and seem reasonable, no pressure is brought to bear on them. Indeed, there are so many parents asking to have, their children admitted that few difficulties are experienced in this direction. ” —Dominion.