Our Public Schools.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4979, 11 April 1889, Page 3

Our Public Schools.

We extract the following from the annual report of Mr J. G. Gow, M.A., the Inspector, which was laid before the Board of Education the other day, on the attendance and work done at the schools The average attendance for the year was ; that is to say, for every 100 children on the school rolls, the were 77.7 present every day. The Inspector does not consider this average so high as it ought to be. He says:—ln.past years the district as a wholehas kept about the average of the colony; but it mav well be asked why we have been so far behind the neighbouring district of Otago. Will the people of Soutn Canterbury plead that thev experience worse weather than they have across the Waitaki? Or will they assert that the children there are of less value than they are here in helping their mothers on washing days,, in picking * potatoes, _ in minding the baby, or in keeping the birds from the strawberries? Are_ wo forced to the conclusion that the parents in this district do not so keenly realise to what extent their children suffer in their progress and their education in its widest seme from the unsteadiness of their attendance ? No doubt a great deal of blame attaches to the parents for their apathy in this respect ; but many of the teachers who find in this an excuse lor their bad results had bettor consider how much of this irregularity is due to themselves. Assuredly I do not attach the extreme im- ) portance to this excuse which some teachers would seem, from the bitterness o 0 their complaining, to expect mo to do. 1 would have them bear in mind that it is a matter of experience that good teaching secures a good attendance ; and that it is a common way of complimenting the teacher on his management of the school for parents to declare that they can scarcely keep their children at home when they really want them. Beferring to the character of the teaching Mr Gow says:— , c Beading. —Taken all round the statistics_ot the year show that the efficiency of the instruction in the standard classes has reached a higher level than in any past year, ihis remark holds good too with jogard lo each subject. In my former repoits I have laid stress upon the necessity of cultivating a better style of reading in all the classes, and that it was to what could be done in the lower classes, among those who had not yet fallen into a bad style, or at least to a bad stylo had not become a habit, that the teachers were to direct their best energies. Erom the improvement I have found in the grouping of the words, in the distinctness or utterance, and in the tone of the reading in most of the lower classes, lam satisfied that the teachers have not been appealed to in vain. There are still some small schools, and one large one, where a monotonous sing-song prevails. In one large infant department I found the modulation rather over-done ; but for this the teacher is deserving of praise, if we look lo the future of the children, for this tendency will most likely disappear as tbey grow older without leaving any bad effects. In the higher classes good reading is by no means exceptional, but still it is not as prevalent as it might be. In the important matter of intelligent explanation of passages from the reading lessons there is still room for great improvement. The value of this exercise can hardly bo overestimated ; and in the face of all that has been done in the past to impress this upon teachers, it is astonishing how little effect it has had on the most of them. Over and over again, on my visits of inspection, I have seen a reading lesson taken, and the only approach at dealing with this part of the work was the asking of the meanings of a few big words as they are given in the list at the end of each lesson, A variation of this plan was to give a word out of the list for oral spelling, and out in one breath would come tho spoiling of this big word, with its bigger meaning thrown into the bargain. Spelling.—The spelling of the first and second standards was generally good, and sometimes it was excellent. . . ._ Erom the third standard upwards tho attainments of the children in different schools varied in this more than in any other subject. Writing.—To any one accustomed to see children at desk-work, a visit to many of our schools would yield a surprise. The children in the upper classes would be found for tho most part sitting with tho right side at the desk, the writing on slate or paper being done at right angles to tho direction of the desk instead of parallel with it. The explanation is that this is the only attitude a boy or girl of average growth can remain in with ease. The desks are very narrow, and tho shelves underneath taka up so much space that there is no room left for one’s knees. The forms too that have been made to go along with these desks are so very narrow that I am sure the children would often be glad to stand up to rest. Fortunately desks and forms of this pattern have not been supplied to all the schools; in some of the oldest schools the desks take up too much room and are ugly to look at, but they are comfortable; and during the past two years ffesks of an improved pattern have been introduced. The matter is so important that I would recommend the board to have all tho obnoxious desks altered. The cost would be considerable, but the money would be well spent. Even where there is no hindrance to tho children assuming and keeping a good position at desk-work I do not find a good position always taken ; and I have very frequently to find fault with tho way in which the pen is held. These are points which, in the teaching of writing, cannot be too carefully attended to. In the small schools where one teacher has to attend to all the standards, good slate-writing in the first and second standards is not general; but in the larger schools it is usually very good, gome of the schools deserve praise for tho writing of the upper classes, but from too many this praise must be withheld. In many cases it would seem as if the teacher had yielded his place to tho engraved head-lines. Arithmetic. —The improvement in arithmetic, which we-are anxiously looking for from year, is slow to come. The results are a little better in standards T. and 11., and in the other standards no ground has been lost. , , . Tho whole matter resolves itself into this : train the children lo be accurate and expert in the simple rules, cultivate their intelligence, and—well, let the teacher now and then read the lesson, “With Brains, Sir.” Grammar—ln Standard 111. the grammar was well done in the majority of tho schools, but the same cannot be said of the results in any of the other classes. Though still far from satisfactory it has improved to some extent in Standard IV.; and while the parsing in Standard V. and VI. is seldom better than more or less skilful guessing, good analysis of sentences has become more general. To judge from the exercises in composition that I have to examine in school after school, one is forced into tho belief that it is the most neglected of aW the subjects taught in our schools. It is true that in tho course of the examinations, I come upon a good many j exercises that arc neatly written, and that ] show correct spelling and punctuation, but they are few compared with the number of those that are made almost worthless from bad spelling, neglect of pointing, and want of neatness and care in the hand-writing. Inm always prepared to let a good composition exeroiso count for a pass in the case of any child whose grammar paper is in other particulars of a very indifferent character, but such a combination is very rare. As a rule I find that where the composition is good, grammar has been well taught. (The inspector’s remarks on tho teaching of geography, history, and drawing may bo summed up “fairly satisfactory.”) , Object Lessons and Science.—l have noted only five or six instances where the science lesson as given by the teacher was worthy of the name, A good object lesson was not quite so rare. _ , Additional Subjects. —Brill is taught in thirty-seven of our schools, and in about a third of these the movements are done with commendable precision. Singing—taught in thirty-three schools—lias much improved m all the largo schools. In most of the schools some attention is given to tho practice of singing from notes, but I am forry to say that it will be only from two or three schools that the children will carry away with them the power of singing at sight even the simplest songs. For tho sweetness of their singing, and the prollmesai of theif movements in their action songs, the

children of the Timaru (Main) Infant department deserve special mention. Instruction in needlework is given in all but eight of our schools. In the majority of the schools the teachers strictly follow the programme of work as it is laid down in the regulations. The specimens of work are nearly oil quite satisfactory, and very often they merit the highest praise.