CORRESPONDENCE.

Colonist, Volume XXIII, Issue 2688, 3 April 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

CORRESPONDENCE.

BLENHEIM. HIGH SCHOOL. To the Editor of the Colonist. Sib,—Facts without their attendant circumstances being often more calculated to mislead, than even deliberate untruths, it is right of those to whom the circumstances ure known to give them publicity whether the omission in the first place has bean wilful or otherwise, but the right becomes a duty when injury to others is likely to foliotv*silence. In the statements made at the late meeting for the election for the Blenheim School Committee, and in many of the letters and articles referring to the High School of that town, which have sines appeared in the columns of the Maryborough papers, there is evidently too much of this one-sided way of story telling of the truth, but not the whole truth. By the speakers and writers the bare fact of the Inspector's report after last examination, contrasting unfavorably with former ones, is paraded before the public in such a manner as to lead outside readers to infer that a falling off during the past year has taken place in the school, for whioh the teachers, but especially the head master, are to blame. No attempt is made, no desire evinced to discover whether other causes than neglect of dui.y or tho like may have contributed to the result complained of; on the contrary, while the report is freely quoted where it tells against those on whom blame is sought to be fixod, it is ignored when it assigns as a reason for the non-success of the establishment, that the teaching power is insufficient. The project of establishing a High School in Blenheim when first mooted was received with jealousy throughout the rural portions of the education district. Aware that the allowance to Boards for the payment of teachers was basedon the average attendance throughout a district, taken as a whole, and knowing that by the Marlbo.rough Board the minimum salary of head teachers had been fixed at £120 per annum, it could be seen that unless a profit was made upon tho largo schools, all those where the attendance was less than 32 must necassarily be closed. To give a higher class education in Blenheim it was argued, thereby depriving other places of any at all, was contrary to the spirit of the act, and an injustice. The, schools being maintained out of the general revenue of the country, all had a right as far as possible to benefit by them, it being clearly wrong to afford to one set of children what might be termed tho luxuries of education, while. others were going without the necessaries. These arguments being met by reiterated assurances from the advocates of the High School that no extra expense would thereby devolve upon the Board, and the time happening to be propitious, two prominent inembero of that body being in the field aa candidates for the seat in Parliament, to which the votes of the Blenheim people would go fat in returning a member, the change was effectod with comparatively little opposition. As by these changes sxtra subjects would have to he taught in the school, to an ordinary thinker it would°appear that unless there was a superfluity of teaohing power before, more would henceforth be required. There seemed then but one way in which the pro \Jiigh schoolists could fulfil their promisep, to make the fees chargeable cover the salary ot another teacher if required. The courso suboequently taken by the school "authorities was, however, very different.' In the boys' division of the Borough school, prior to its b'eiDg declared a High School, three teachers were employed, a head master, an assistant, and a pupil teacher ; the latter receiving no pay. Now instead of adding to this stall", or keeping it up by payirg the pupil teacher, "when ho Bignified that he could no longer give his services gratuitously, he was allowed to depart, and the only new arrangement mado was handing over the fees, Bmallin amount, to the head master, as though he were some species of educational stoam engine wh eh, j being Btoked with more money, would work at a higher pressure. Commercially the arrangement was a lair one, the master with whom it was made had to work more, teaching the extra subjects out of school hours, and had a right to be paid accordingly. It was a cheap arrangement, and as such probably commended itself to parents, the nature of a bargain being generally better understood than that of higher education, but it was an arrangement which a very little penetration indeed must have enabled anyone to foresee would have ended as it baa done—in failure. As in other occupations there is in teaching a limit to the power of an individual, this limit being eooner reached tho greater the number of subjects required to be imparted, or tho higher the class of education required to be given. Extra pay may in come cases stimulate to extra exertion, and thus widen the limit, but it may also be the means of inducing a teacher to undertake that which is beyond his power, afterwards blinding him to the fact that he is attempting an impossibility, besides this it is well known »vhere a large variety of subjects are taught by tho samo person, the pupils are generally pushed Jbr ward in some one or more to the neglect of the rest, or where pupils of various degrees of advancement are pliced under the same tuition, the junior classes are seldom aa well attended to as the senior. Iv the arrangement referred to the seeds of all this were sown, and when'the report of 1878 \a fairly and impartially compared with that for 1879, tho tree bearing its fruit will be seen and nothing more. In the former report referring to the Blenheim boyß* Bchool, the Inspector prefaces his remarks with, •' This is a thoroughly well taught school." The evenness of tho work is perhaps the most noteworthy feature, no undue prominence being given to any particular subject. In the latter the same gentleman, after oondomning the arithmetic of pupils examined for Standards V. and VI., passes on to the more advanced pupils of the High School and thus wiuds up, "A great advance has been made in mathematics eince last year. I could detect little or do improvement in the Latin. It is obvious, however, that no master however able or energetic (and Mr Macklin ia both) can do all that is expected of him. The bare enumeration of his multifarious duties Jwlll suffice to B how this. Until the last four months, in addition to the work of organising and supervising the work of three schools besides his own, he had sole charge of sixty scholars preparing for tho four higher Standards, each of which embraces seven distinct subjects, exclusive of drawing and elementary science. He is also expected to teach about thirty of the more

advanced boys euolid, algebra, plane trigonometry, and Latin. That the whole sohool has not utterly collapsed under these conditions reflects the highest credit on Us master." "It is also clear then that an increase of tho staff as well as a redistribution of the work is necessary, if this is ever to deserve tho namo of a High Sohool. Enough will havo been done by tho head master if, besides supervising the boys, the girls, and the infant schools, be confines his attention to the subjeot9, tho teaching of which would seem to form the sole justification of establishing a High School at all. Two or even three assistants will be sufficiently occupied in teaching 120 boys now attending the High and Boys' Schools the Standard subjects." There is no necessity for going further when ioken in connection with the circumstances that preceded it. The late report of the Blenheim High Sohool assumes a very different appearance from what it has when read alone or in parts as it ha 9 lately beon. Instead of condemning the teachers, the quostion which has to be asked is " Who is to blame for placing them in the difficulties which they have been endeavoring to contend." From clauses 55 and 56 of the Education Act it is evident that the responsibility of establishing a High School rests on the Board, it being clearly the duty of that body to make sure tint a proper and sufficient staff of teachers can be provided and maintained before recommending the Minister to grant the prayer of the Committee. In the present instance the duty seems to have been wholly lost sight of. Finding its finances in such a condition as nob to allow of increased expenditure on the Blenheim school, the Board should at least have insisted on the fees being fixod at such a rate as would insure tho salary of another master, and see that he was employed before it listened to the Committee. This was nob done, the only aim seemingly being to steer between the two dangers. Offending the people of the country or those of the town. The great faulb of our last Provincial Education Act was that it placed teachers directly tinder-local Committees, and thereby subjected them to annoyances arising out of the petty quarrels that constantly disturb small communities. By those who reaHy desired to see our public schools what they should be, institution that vanity or fanatic sin alone would prevent parents from sending their children to, (he passing of the present Act was hailed with pleasure. It promised greater security to tho teacher, by placing the Board between him and those amongst whomlie had to live. A better class of individuals, it was hoped, would seek the office when it became known that Spandering to cliques or parties was no longer necessary. Whichever way the Act worked elsewhere hove it is in this respect a failure. Short as it has been in operation thr< c attacks havo already been made upon teachers by members of the Board. Tb.B Inspnotor on each occasion siding with tbn former and ultimately proving right. It would eeem indeed that we lack the men who can fill an office without endeavoring to make it subservient to their own small ambitions, instead of a steady body to which our teachers can look with confidence for help and protection. Our Education Board has from its birth been nothing better than a creaky weather cock, that merely indicates the shifting nature of the puffs and squalls that sweep across the political horizon. Yours, &c, A Maelbohough Resident. Marlborougb, March 17th, 1880.