Southland Teachers’ Conference.

Southland Times, Issue 13789, 25 June 1897, Page 2

Southland Teachers’ Conference.

The first meeting of the Southland Teachers annual Conference was held yesterday afternoon in the Education Board’s buildings. Mr John Gammell, 8.A., occupied the chair, and the room was fairly well filled. The formal preliminary business having been transacted, . Miss Tracy delivered an address on “ University Extension.” In a very pleasing and effective style the speaker illustrated how the benefits of higher education might be brought within the reach of all who had aspirations for academic distinctions. Examples were quoted from America, where, for the needy student, employment was provided in the University town, so that want of money might be no bar to progress. It was noted that in many places now University education had become as free as that of the primary school. In New Zealand it was to be deplored that so far from encouraging young men and women to attain degrees, the University authorities seemed to place obstacles in the way. Of the London University should extend its examinations to New Zealand the speaker was confident many students would take advantage of the concession. Trinity College had instituted musical examinations in the colony, and these were proving an incentive to young people of musical proclivities. Miss Tracey was of opinion that our system of scholarships was quite inadequate to meet the wants of the country. In America University extension had been'carried out more fully than in almost any other country and one beneficial result was seen iu the fertility of invention that characterised its people. New Zealand was slow in devising means to extend the usefulness of its University. The restrictions imposed by fees and by keeping of terms were quite inconsistent with the fact that the institution was established for the benefit of the whole people. Mr Mehaffey, in words complimentary both of the matter and manner of the address, moved the usual vote of thanks. This was seconded by Mr Hardy, and spoken to by Mr Macandrew and Mr Gammell, the last-mentioned eulogising warmly the suggestions made by Miss Tracey, and expressing a hope that the time might soon come when our colleges would be not only free but would afford assistance to the deserving student.

The second paper was by Mr John Macrae, and dealt with the subject of patience as a factor iu teaching. The paper was humorous throughout, and provoked no inconsiderable merriment. Mr Macrae told ;his anecdotes with effect and displayed an abundance of caustic wit. Unfortunately he pitched his ■ tone so low that it was difficult to hear him, and so much of the address was lost. Mr Gammell moved the vote of thanks, and Messrs Hotan and Macandrew briefly spoke in criticism. The third paper was by Mr Mehaffey, and dealt with the progress of education during the Queen’s reign. He pointed out succinctly the lines along which advances had been chiefly made. In University education he indicated the enlargement in the scope of the teaching, and the increased facilities afforded for admission, especially in the removal of disabilities associated with religion and with sex. In secondary education he thought progress had been in the widening of the aurriculum so as to include a commercial side to study, and in the increased attention to science and mathematics that the conditions of nineteenth century life called for. The greatest progress had been injprimary education. There had been a marvellous increase in the number of schools, a remark-

able improvement in the methods of instruction, and a most notable betterment in the surroundings of school life. The results of the sixty years might be thus summarised : The pupil was better taught, more fully taught, and taught under far happier circumstances. The teacher was better equipped for his work, was better paid, and occupied a more satisfactory social position. The education imparted was more liberal, more intelligent, and though not, perhaps, much more utilitarian, was certainly more humanistic. Mr Macrae moved the vote of thanks and expressed regret that the address had not been of double the length. Messrs Horau, Hardy, Selby, and Gammell having added to the discussion the meeting adjourned till the evening. EVENING SESSION. : There was a moderate attendance at the evening session, when the president of the Institute (Mr John Gammell, 8.A.), extended a welcome to those of the teaching profession who were present, and also to those of other professions whose sympathy counted for much to the teacher. The past year had been singularly barren of events from the educational point of view ; as far as he was aware not a single school committee had ventured to raise a dissonant voice. There was one exception—that of the general election, an event which could never happen without producing some effect, positive or negative, on the educational interests of New Zealand. Until the division lists appeared it was not easy to say with precision how parties stood upon educational questions. Various questions had been propounded to parliamentary candidates by the different branches of the Teachers’ Institute throughout the colony, paiticularly three from the Southland branch. The first related to the financial injustice which existed in the varying salaries paid by different boards for the same work done ; the second to the variation in the fulness of the education given under various boards and the necessity of making it uniform by transferring the school inspectors from the boards to the department. The third referred to the subjects of instruction, and invited the candidates to pledge themselves to resist all attempts to introduce a theological element into the present secular system. The first two questions would doubtless be settled in due time. Kegarding the third it seemed certain that the Bible-in-Schools party had received a severe check. This was particularly noticeable in Dunedin, where a candidate who had previously introduced a bill to destroy the secular character of the Education Act had been defeated, and in Mataura, where a candidate who had remained faithful to the principle of secular education had headed the poll.' There was reason to believe that the majority in the House today in favour of our present secular system of education was greater than it had ever been at any previous' stage in the history of the controversy. There was little doubt that if the victory was with the supporters of the present system it would be final, and the question substantially settled. Should they not, however, recognise that the opposition has, at least, professedly made in. the highest interests of man—those of morality and religion—and show that the fears of their opponents were groundless, that the . interests of morality were perfectly safe in their hands, and that the children of the colony, when they issued from the schools, might be expected to show that conscientious regard to duty, that respect for the rights of others, and that abhorrence of all wrongdoing which their well wishers desired to see in them ? Mr Gammell then proceeded to deal with the special subject which had been announced, “The teaching of morality in the State schools.” He referred to a statement made by a Presbyterian minister that he objected to the present system of primary education because there was no moral teaching in the schools, a view the accuracy of which the speaker had at once taken the occasion to deny. The minister in question had confounded moral teaching with religious teaching, and had doubtless regarded the two terms as synonymous. Mr Gammell then asked, What was the real bash of morals? Why was it wrong to commit theft, adultery, murder, &c., and how were they going to stop people from committing these crimes ? What was the origin and what were the sanctions of morality, and how were both to be ascertained ? In the physical world they gained information as to its laws from the science of physics, and it was the same in the world of mind. So, morals was a branch of [mental and social science. Morals was the science of society and the art of living in society. Moral philosophy was one of the oldest and best established'sciences in the whole circle of human knowledge. Briefly stated right and wrong were no mere arbitary abstractions, no merely ideal conceptions. Virtue, ab least in the first instance, was that conduct which was favourable to the life and health of society, whilst crime was that class enactions which was injurious or fatal to the existence of man as au organised collection of individuals. And so, ] to appropriate that which belonged to another] against his will was to do that which would make it impossible for men to liveieide by side with each other in peace. Theft, therefore, was immoral, not because of any authoritative statement to that effect whether on the parb of a finite or even an infinite being, but because, if stealing were to become genera), human looiety would become moribund, and if universal, society would cease to be. The laws of morality were founded not on hypotheses of any kind but on facts, on the actual necessities of human society. Men only lived together in groups because of an understanding existing throughout the members of the groups, and as long as the confidence of the members in one another was strong so long there was good reason to believe that each member of society would respect the lights of all the others, and continue to live together and en j oy all the ad van ■ tages of universal co-opcration. Whatever tended to increase that mutual confidence stimulated the vitality of society and so constituted virtue. Whatever on the other hand impaired such mutual confidence struck at the very life of society and so constituted crime. Wrong, immorality, crims was jusb an unsocial act and therefore was properly branded by universal consent as utterly loathsome and essentially bad. Ib was these hard stupendous vital facts which were the basis of the science of moials. There had been evolved in the course ortho uutold millemniums which constitute the history of our race those intentions of right and wrong that now appeared to them as almost innate and independent of experience altogether. They were the sum total of the experience of the race and their strength was accounted for by the myriads of ages through which their roots extended. Mr Gammell then went on to explain at length that the natural agencies for enforcing the moral law were—l, the institution of civil government—ctitne was stamped out by the civil power; 2, the force of public opinion “ the collective conscience of the cqmmunity ” ; and 3, the happiness or misery of the individual dependent on the testimony of his own conscience. Coming to the application of these principles Mr Gammell said his proposition was that the school, including the State school of New Zealand furnished them spontaneously with the best object lessons in the science of morality they could wish to have ; that there was no occasion’ to wander outside the limits of the natural into those of the supernatural in order to guard the interests of morality bub that from the very necessity of the case there were adequately safeguarded in every efficient school. Every school teacher who was worth the name was in the daily and hourly habit [of inculcating moral truths,and that without any reference to his own theological principles. He might be ecclesiastically-minded, blit they would find him appealing repeatedly to just those principles to which the speaker had referred. The school was a little world ; ib was human life and human society in miniature ; it exhibited the principle of government in its simplest form; and, consequently, it is presented in a primitive way with all ths problems that arose in [human society. Practical teachers found no difficulty at all in enforcing morality on a secular basis. The teacher was king, he>was called upon to govern as well as to instruct, and hence he was forced to have a philosophy of morality and carry it out in his practice. Mr Gammell proceeded to illustrate thia department of his subject by instancing how the teacher enforced and cultivated obedience, punctuality, truthfulness, fair _ dealing, courteous and considerate behaviour, &c.,

in detail. In the courao of a very long paper, which occupied nearly two hours in delivery, Mr Gammell proceeded to combat the theological theory of morals. Finally, ho said that the schools were doing a work on behalf of morality not inferior to that of their predecessors, and that those colonies which, like New Zealand, had instituted a thoroughly secular system of popular education had done far more and far better than they had intended at the time. MrMacandrew proposed n vote of thanks to Mr Gammell for the paper, although he thought there were many present who did not accept its conclusions and would like to see it replied to.—Mr Horan seconded the motion, and it was carried with acclam iti- x. , The Rev. VVm. White delivered an address on “ The Administration of the Act.” He began by pointing out how such a measure a< the Education Act, that was in its language somewhat vague and was left so much to regulations, must depend very largely for its efficiency on the discretion with which it was administered. The machinery was complex and needed much care to make it work v i hout unp’ea’ant friction. The Board and the Committee —the principal bodies concerned in the administration—were not in the satisf ictory position of having their respective powers clearly defined. Again, school inspectors were permitted greater latitude in the performance of their duties than was consistent with a uniform interpretation of the syllabus. The inspectors were as varied in their methods as they were in their personal characteristics. In respect to the qualifications of teachers there was altogether too much lack of definiteness in what constituted fitness for given positions. In some districts literary attainments were most prized, in other districts the teacher of most experience was preferred. His own opinion was undoubtedly that other things being equal the candidate with the highest certificate should always receive the appointment. He would Buggeet'lor the consideration of the Institute. too, that the relation of teachers to the Boards be defined more exactly. The ■ present vagueness often gave occasion for harshness on the part of the administering body. It seemed to him very undesirable that teachers should be as at present so much at tho mercy of the Boards. More security of tenure was urgently needed. It had occurred not infrequently that teachers lost their employment quite undeservedly, and they* had at present no recourse. The sooner a Board of Appeal was established on a satisfactory basis tho better it would be for the service. The speaker referred at length to the inconveniences that arose from an unnecessary multiplication of schools and of the danger to the profession that was threatening from tho increasing production of teachers, an increase due to the excessive employment of pupil teachers. Already the supply was in advance of the demand, and in such a case reduction ’in salary was imminent. The proportion of pupil teachers to assistants should be lessened and the staffs should be uniform for the colony. On the comparative merits of the provincial and central systems of administration tho reverend gentleman descanted at some length. One important feature of the latter system was that under it teachers could have opportunity of effecting a change of location. Then a teacher desirous of gaining University distinctions but residing far from a college would be able to exchange with a city teacher and pursue the requisite course of study. But the central system would open the way to political corruption and that was an evil to be avoided at all hazards. Appointments would be made not according to fitness but according to the extent of the political influence a candidate for a position could bring to bear. He, the speaker, thought safety lay in dual selection, a selection for which both board and committee were responsible. The address concluded with an exposition of the inequalities in payment that prevailed and of the desirableness in the interest ot tho profession that steps should be taken for their speedy removal. Mr Macrae moved and Mr Clark seconded the vote of thanks, which was passed.