EDUCATIONAL MIRACLES

Southland Times, Issue 23047, 14 November 1936, Page 16

EDUCATIONAL MIRACLES

Work Among Backward Children

Only recently a determined effort has been made to bring education to these unhappy children. As a result of past neglect primary schools actually have been responsible for the production of an ever-increasing army of uneducated Australians, the fault of whose condition has lain not in their defects, but solely in the environment in which their education has been conducted. The remedy, long delayed, has now given astonishing results, writes Fred Maher in The Brisbane Sunday Mail. This remedy has taken the form of “The Opportunity School,” where the opportunities, so long denied backward children, are afforded them in the delightful form of novel play, _ so that their untutored, and in some, instances almost untutorable, brains may be coached along the right fines until their deficiences have been ironed out and they have progressed sufficiently to take their rightful place among the ordinary children. It is soon apparent that ninety-nine _im.es out of a hundred, the opprobrious title of “dunce” is undeserved. This has been demonstrated by the good women who are pioneering this laudable work in Queensland’s “Opportunity School” at Park Road, South Brisbane; for the brain of the backward child has been developed to as high a standard as that of a normal child. Educational Miracles. Miracles of education are performed daily at this school, where children, given up as hopeless under ordinary teaching methods, have come into its teachers’ hands, and since gained scholarships. No fault lies with the ordinary school teacher, who has neither the means nor the time to give the backward student the proper care, attention and instruction. Unique Methods. Brisbane’s “Opportunity School” employs unique methods and, what is more important, obtains unique results. The members of ■ its staff are not trained psychologists, but their experiences and untiring resolution to bring the light of learning to these hitherto regarded as unteachable mites have secured results. Although Brisbane’s school is in its infancy its objects and need were visualized by the school’s founder and organizer, Mr W. F. Bevington (assistant chief inspector attached to the Department of Public Instruction), many years ago. He recognized the necessity for such an institution so that the children could be given the benefits of education with which their peculiar temperaments and inability to respond to the accepted methods could not supply them. Mr Bevington caused classes to be attached to various State schools. While doing good work this scheme was found to be not completely successful, as the children, needing the help of these special classes,' were still being hampered by contact with their more fortunate fellows. At last, early this year, the department extended the idea, and put four competent women in charge of the old Dutton Park School building, giving their head mistress, Miss K. Sheehy, practically carte blance so long as her methods gained access to the minds of these sturdy young Australians. The transformation in the school in the past few months has been remarkable. It is not a school in the accepted sense of the word, but a veritable children’s paradise. The walls are covered with ornate and skilful drawings, depicting nursery and educational scenes, which serve as a captivating guide to the child studying the lesson they represent. Although the scholar does not know he is studying lessons —the very hint of that would be distasteful, and would result in retrogression, but he is encouraged to believe that he is indulging in some exciting game—his mind by degrees absorbs useful knowledge, until, by happy stages, and at times quite fast, he is coached to a standard which will permit his re-entry to the usual primary school, now fully equipped and qualified to absorb the education

provided by the Department of Public Instruction. The Three “R’s.” The main object of the “Opportunity School” is to give its pupils a close insight into the intricacies of the three great R’s—reading, 'riting, and ’rithmetic. At the outset the youngster’s attitude to the school is generally rebellious but soon he is enjoying every minute of his hitherto unbearable scholastic life, and is learning fast. His first day synchronizes with his introduction to the “fish pond,” a source of never-ending delight to the urchins, all of whom are, at this stage, innoculated with the germ of Sir Izaak Walton. In his exciting play at the fish pond the newcomer is taught the fundamentals of the first big “R,” ’rithmetic, without his being aware that the fearful school ogre has once again entered his domain. Supplied with a rod and line, to which is attached an ordinary magnet, he takes his place around the “pond” with other members. of the class in readiness for the big competition and at tire commencement of the music of a gramophone enters the list to see if he can catch more than his fellows. At the conclusion of the gramophone record he is asked to total his catch, and joyfully proceeds to do so, a task he is able to perform after a fraction of the time taken in tuition by the ordinary educational methods. And So He Learns. Next he is asked how many more, or less, he has than his neighbour, and thus learns rapidly addition and subtraction, momentous problems of his ordinary school Life. Soon he is cheerfully adding up columns totalling 99, and when he can do that he is passed on to the next stage, where multiplication tables and elementary reading are taught by methods just as attractive. It is when he enters the third stage of his career that his real interest and capacity for learning are properly tapped. Here there are miniature shops, where he can act as store keeper and buyer, and handle real money in making his purchases until he learns the value of the coins and can trade with money correctly. The children are taught to be proud of their achievements, and success in competition gives to them the real spice of life, for they are ever being judiciously forced into rivalry with their fellow students, and are alternatively proud of their victories and imbued with a determination to see that they are better on the next occasion if vanquished. A Contribution. The school is continuously acquiring new ideas with which to provide avenues to reach the minds of its charges, and enthusiastic and quite helpful in this regard has been the Director of Public Instruction, Mr B. J. McKenna, who is an enthusiastic admirer of the wonderful work of Miss Sheehy and her staff at Dutton Park. Mr McKenna has given the school several suggestions, arising out if his observations on his recent tour of the Continent, where he studied educational systems in many countries, and these suggestions have been acted upon with highly beneficial results. His suggestions on the teaching of reading and writing have become established features of the school.

Arithmetic by jig-saw puzzles is another interesting method of teaching a higher standard of arithmetic. On a sheet of paper the student finds six squares, in each of which is a sum. Six pieces of loose cardboard, which fit the squares exactly, are supplied him, and each of these contains an answer to one of the sums on one side and a portion of a coloured picture on the other. The child works the sums out, and then fits the pieces containing the answers over the square which corresponds to his answer. If the answers are all correct he finds that he has made a picture with the squares. Of course, in the pictuhe does not make sense he has a sum or sums wrong, and he makes strenuous efforts to rectify his mistake so that he can get the pretty picture right.