SIGHT TEACHING FAVOURED

Southland Times, Issue 23678, 29 November 1938, Page 8

SIGHT TEACHING FAVOURED

HOSPITAL BOARD OF EXAMINERS PROBLEM OF ERRONEOUS SPELLING (Special to The Times) AUCKLAND, November 28. The importance of teaching by sight was presented as a new aspect to the problem of erroneous spelling by the board of examiners to the Auckland Hospital in a report to the Hospital Board. It was stated that the unanimous opinion of those who had for many years been examining nurses was that even in the more advantageously educated students spelling was “so exceedingly bad” that in some cases it was difficult for the examiner to interpret what the written word meant. “In discussing this aspect of the examinations we came to the conclusion that this serious defect is due to the teaching of spelling by the phonetic system,” it was stated. While it might readily be admitted that the phonetic system enabled teachers in primary schools to achieve early results, it did not equip those going out into the world with ability to convey in writing what they might subsequently learn. It was not suggested that the Hospital Board should, as a body, make any comment on these methods, but every member was asked to consider this aspect of instructions and its implication. “Boys and girls going out into the world to learn their life’s work have been taught to learn through their ears and are therefore subject not only to faults in their own hearing, but also to the variation of accent of the person who talks or lectures to them,” the report continued. “Of the human receiving organ the brain nerve of hearing is the eighth nerve and the nerve of sight is the second. The board of examiners does not decry teaching by sound, but it does emphasize teaching by sight. It unanimously forwards a strong recommendation that light projectors and an epidiacope be provided for the teaching of nurses. “Supported by the medical superintendent, the. lady superintendent and the tutor sister, the examiners ask the board to provide in the proposed new nurses’ home a suitable and wellequipped educational centre,” the report added. “This will aid the handing down of our racial nursing knowledge.”