STUDY OF FACTS OF NATURE

Southland Times, Issue 24860, 28 September 1942, Page 3

STUDY OF FACTS OF NATURE

TRENDS OF MODERN EDUCATION “Both town and country boys fail to notice their surroundings. They are ignorant of our universal mother, Nature. They walk through the park and do not know the name of one tree from another. That is deplorable. They do not know one flower from another, though they are surrounded by them all their lives. There ought to be a course in elementary botany at our schools, not for examination purposes, but for general knowledge. For the same reason, in order that children may know something of the starry heavens, they ought to be taught a little about astronomy.” These remarks were made by Mr T. D. Pearce, a former rector of the Southland Boys’ High School, at the annual meeting of the Old Boys’ Association or the school on Saturday night. Mr Pearce added that a recent leading article in The Southland Times had advocated the teaching of geography. “It was certainly amazing,” he said, “that the writer of the article seemed to think that topographical geography, a knowledge of the names of places, would help in the study of economics. I cannot see it at all. There are all sorts of geography; political geography, which is not worth anything; physical geography, a knowledge of the structure of Sie earth; economic geography and racial or ethnic geography, a very interesting subject.” Referring to the teaching of history, Mr Pearce said: “When I was at school history was a dry subject. It consisted of lists of dates and kings, miserable stuff. The teaching of history has really improved. Lessons are conceived on broad lines and not in minute detail. The teaching of European history is important because we cannot understand the present troubles of Europe 1 unless we know something of the history of Europe.” TYRANNY OF EXAMINATIONS

Mr Pearce also dealt with what he described as “the tyranny of examinations.” To illustrate his remarks he quoted the cases of two brilliant boys who had been dux of the Otago Boys’ High School in their respective years. Yet both had failed to pass the examination for the B.A. degree at their first .attempt; one because he was weak in Latin and the other because he was weak in mathematics. The one who was weak in Latin eventually became a distinguished mining expert and did not need Latin, and file other became a doctor and did not use mathematics in his profession. “A person can pass the B.A. examination and not take his mother tongue as one of his subjects,” Mr Pearce said. “That is an extraordinary thing at a British university. However more time is now devoted to English and I think that still more time will be devoted to it in the future. MATRICULATION TO GO

“The matriculation examination is due to go. Its decease has not been recorded yet, but it is dying fast and I hope that next year we shall be free of it,” said Mr J. L. Cameron, a master at the school. “Secondary school teachers do not look upon examinations as undesirable things in themselves, but they do think that the curriculum should come first and that the examinations should not make the curriculum.” Mr Cameron added that the. system which would replace matriculation would not be complete accrediting. There would be a school certificate examination set by the Education. Department. A boy could take this. at fire end of his third year at a high school and he would have a wide choice of subjects. He would then pass into the sixth form and from there would be accredited to the university. NEW CURRICULUM

Referring to the new curriculum Mr Cameron said that important subjects would be English, the social sciences, history and geography. In the teaching of geography all the types of this subject mentioned by Mr Pearce vfould be included. General science would also be taught with emphasis on the connection between various branches of science, but one problem was the wide field of science and the difficulty of distinguishing between a smattering and a satisfactory knowledge. Importance would also be laid on handiwork of various types. This would need equipment and at present they were only on the fringe of the subject. Languages would be in the syllabus for those who had a bent that way and would eventually use them, but languages would not be compulsory. “There are some people who say that education should be purely practical, that is that it should be solely concerned with fitting a child to earn its living,” Mr Cameron added. “But although we are aiming to make the machinery of industry function smoothly we do not want to become slaves of that machinery. We want to make the machines do more work and that will give us more leisure or optional time for other things. But children must be taught how to make good use of that time. Education, therefore, must be of an all round character, and not be concerned merely with the rather small side of life —the making of one’s living. It is not a question whether a language should be dropped or not, but it is a question of what selection of subjects should be made to produce citizens of a world community.” “We may have tackled the question of teaching French in an amateurish way, but we certainly seem to have started something,” said Mr E. H. Smith, a member of the High Schools Board. He added that he did not see why a boy who would make an able engineer or surveyor should be barred from these professions because he did not know anything about Latin or French.