South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1883.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3303, 2 November 1883, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1883.

Mr Talbot is to be commended for taking exception to, and entering bis protest against one recommendation of the Education Board’s Sub-Committee re District High Schools’ staffs. The Committee recommended that every Head Master of such school should he required to hold a University degree ; and to this Mr Talbot demurred. We most heartily concur with his view of the subject. Mr Wakefield and the Chairman expressed surprise ” at Mr Talbot’s opinion ; in fact they lifted their eyebrows with mild horror at such heterodoxy as he gave utterance to, Mr Gray expressed something of the same opinion as Mr Talbot and Mr Barker objected that men with academic status were not likely to pay much attention to rudimentary work. The other members did not appear to take any interest in the subject, and Mr Wakefield’s eloquence and the Chairman’s vehemence prevailed so far that the Board adopted the recommendatbiiis of the Committee It is needless for us to enter into a discussion of the subject; but we feel hound to express the conviction that what is required in our teachers is not academic status, but teaching power, and in the present day it seems fashionable to require the former and run the risk of obtaining the latter. The idea of requiring the head masters

of schools which have just been raised to the. status of District High Schools —men of mature age and proved attainments and ability—to obtain n degree at the University or vacate their positions iu favor of some seedy graduate without experience, is preposterous. If carried into effect it would he ruinous (o the scho ds and grossly unjust to some of our most able teachers. Academic status is very desireahle as an adjunct, but a man must be superior to his degree, and not a mere peg on which a degree hangs, and nine-tenths of graduates are the slaves of tradition, and mere book-worms. There are far higher and more important qualifications than that of a degree, and our schools want energetic and clear teachers, not mere repositories of learning.