CHILDREN TOO YOUNG

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1080, 18 September 1930, Page 7

CHILDREN TOO YOUNG

DANGER IN BEGINNING SCHOOL TOO EARLY INSPECTOR’S VIEWS The view that teachers in New Zealand are wasting time, energy and money in attempting to instruct children who are too ypung for formal instruction when they first enter school is advanced by Mr. N. R. McKenzie, senior inspector, of New Plymouth. A portion of his report is published in the School Committee Journal for September. Mr. McKenzie suggests that actual harm may be done to children who enter school too young. lie also makes a comparison between whites and Maoris to show that the same work can be done in fewer years by children who are more mature on entry.

“It is clear from our two surveys that when the language difficulty is taken into account the Maori is the intelectual equal of the European. In writing, spelling and mechanical arithmetic the Maori is superior to the white. The Filipinos display the same ability in these subjects. The average age of the Maoris in Standard 6 is 14 years. The boys have been at school seven years six months and the girls seven years five months. The average age for the white boys and girls respectively is 13 years 6 months, and 13 years 4 months, while their time at school is 8 years and S years and 3 months. "Our investigations tend to show the futility of beginning formal instruction at too early an age. The Maoris in Standard 6 are older than the white children, but have been at school a shorter time. Their greater maturity at entry has more than counterbalanced the language difficulty. This alone would afford some proof for the contention', but there is ample corro-

boration. The records of the Toronto Board of Education, which controls 100,000 pupils, show that for 10 years prior to my term of office iu that city the children who entered school at the age of five finished the course only two months earlier, on the average, than the children who entered at the age of six. This means that teachers were paid a year’s salary for two months of effective work.”