NEW ZEALAND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

Colonist, Volume XLVI, Issue 10916, 6 January 1904, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE.

TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. Officials : President —T. Hughes, 8.A., Ohristchurch. Treasurer — J. G. L. Scott, 8.A., Ohristchurch. Secretary— T. H. Gill, M.A., LL.B. Wellington. Executive — Wellington: W. T. Grundy, O. Watson, B.A. North Island : R. D. Stewart, Auckland; J. K. Law, Manaia. South Island : J. H. Harkness, 8.A., Reef ton; J. Jeffery, Dunedin. The I'resident declared the meeting open for business. When the roll was called the following Representatives answered to their names : — Auckland : Misses Shrewsbury, M.A., Mcllhone, and Newman; Messrs F. H. Brown, H. G. Cousins, H. Hockin, W «H« Newton, F. J. Ohlson, G. H. Plummer, N. A. Winter, 8.A., Wellington: Miss Craig, W. H. Jackson, W. Foster, A. Erskine, G. MacMorran. Otago: Walter Eudey, O. D. Flamank, J. Grant, 8.A., A. M." Barnett, F. Hilsendorf, James Fleming. North Canterbury: W. Brock, C. W. Garrard,B.A., A. W. Shrimpton, M.A., A./S. Taylor, 8.A., LL.B., L. Watson. South Canterbury: Alex. Goodall, J. A. Johnson, M.A., J. A. Valentine, B.A. Southland: Miss B. Bellamy, W. H. Clark, 8.A., D. S. McKillop, A. L. Wylie, M.A. Nelson: F. G. Gibbs, M. A., L. D. Easton. Hawke'sßay: J. Caughley, 8.A., R. Cole, R. B. Holmes, W. G. Martin. Taranaki: W. J. Evans. Wanganui: James Aitken, 8.A., j G. H. Espiner, R. Grant, Samuel Strachan. Westland. J. J. Henderson. Grey : L. de Berry. Marlborough: D. A. Sturrock. MrF. G. Gibbs, M.A., the President of the local Branch of the Institute, introduced Mr Henry Baigent, the Mayor of Nelson ; Mr John Graham, M.H.R. for the district ; Mr George Talbot, Chairman of the Nelson Education Board ; Inspector Strachan ; and Mr E. Cowlesj the oxPresident of the Institute. Each of the gentlemen named addressed the assemblage, and gave the rep^sentatived a hearty welcome to Nelson, and expressed the hope that the meeting would prove profitable, pleasant, and for the advancement of education in the Colony. Messrs Stewart (Auckland), J. A. Johnson (South Canterbury), and the President acknowledged the kind welcome accorded the representatives. The minutes were read and confirmed. The President (Mr Hughes), in the course of his opening address, said : — "Ijadiesand gentlemen,— The present time marks an epoch in the history of education in this Colony, and a consideration of the past and ajcontemplation of the future outlook may not be unprofitable. "Our New Zealand educational system has now been in operation i

for about a oil a century. How far has it, in the p*st, fulfilled the functions outlined by noted educational reformers? How^far has it efficiently performed its office of training citizens? It wouldgbe|rash to dogmatize, but mistakes have been made. In the past a g?ave error has been made, t believe, in supposing that any finalty could be. attained in education. In 1877 thief Colony adopted a system which was then at least ambitious, and comprehensive. We were proud of it, and boasted ot it in a self-complacent way. Consequently, while the curriculum of;the English and other public elementary schools has been enriched from year to year by judicious reforms to meet altered conditions* we have too jealously guarded our syllabus as a thing so sacred that it has been sacrilege even to improve it. If the report of the Commission on Education recently appointed in New South Wales is justified, 'a simijar policy has been pursued in that Colony, and so the Commissioners find everything faulty. "You know what oar crtfcics say. This is the indictment of an angry one : ' Instead of developing the child's natural instincts, we glue him to a desk and cram him with mere facts, mainly from books. We persistently cut him off from the world outside; The instinct to experiment so highly developed in children is almost, if not entirely, disregarded. There is neither common sense nor morality in Such, a system.' Another says: 'We make) the greatest mistake when we cultivate one set of the pupils' faculties, even when the teaching is really good. ' We stuff the memory, and in the meantime the conscience" and understanding are void. And another: 'The child is rarely taught to dig j out the knowledge for himself, and when he leaves school and teacher behind him he is helpless.' This is the writing on the wall, but it is not necessarily all true. In our new country, with its changing conditions, it would be surprising, indeed, if some of the teaching in our schools had not in the past developed an attitude of passive receptivity, ratherithan the exercise of intelligent self-activity— the teaching of words, as opposed to things— the presenting to the. child a crowd of ready-made judgments, some of whioh he may hold in his memory, but which leave the power of thinking inactive, even if they do not paralyse it. "The examination, valuable as it is, has had great evils attendant on it. It is not surprising, when a child's future is made to depend solely on answers given on a fixed day to either written or oral quesions, if parents are not willing to give every encouragement in their power to enterprising persons who invent methods — generally traversing every scientific law of education, it is true — of preparing their children for the demands of that fateful day and that day alone. So the acquisition of such knowledge — memory knowledge-^-has come to be regarded as education. There are other things that examinations cannot measure. Learning it may test, but virtue, wisdom, goodness, it cannot. But to generalise from a few such cases is folly. •• In addition to the evils of competitive examinatons in the past, the annual examination and its attendant percentage of passes generated and fostered false and meretricious ideals, and has left us a legacy that still cripples, some of our best efforts. How may local authorities still regard the acquisition of knowledge — mere parrot memorizing or examination knowledge, or the passing of an examination — as the one thing needful? ' ' Another charge commonly brought against our system, perhaps with some show of reason, is that, through want of thoroughness in our teaching, the power of concentration and the habit of strenuous work is not acquired in our schools. It is too often assumed that when children have understood, little more is to be done. We know, however, that without the judicious drill, enjoyed by the pupils, that Jacatot and the Jesuit teachers so strongly insisted on, there will be little abiding result. A lack of thoroughness may also be accounted for by the teachers' excessive desire, insisted on by Froebel and others, to make all instruction pleasant. Voltaire illustrates this when he says: 'In education every way is good but the tiresome way.' By following natural methods and by preparation we can and ought to make learning pleasant as far a possible, but still real application is needed. I fear there is in our schools a growing inclination to learn only what is pleasant. Sir J. Sfcuart Mill .says: 'I rejoice in the decline of the old methods, which, however, did succeed in forming habits of application ; but the new, as it seems to me, is training a race of men who will be incapable of doing anything which is disagreeable to them. ' This attitude cannot but engender a lack of sturdy self-de-pendence which should form the equipment of a well-trained citizen. "The recent clamour for technical education has, I believe, been misunderstood by those who cry for it, and those who are 1 attracted by it. They assert that in all its essentials our system has been in the past a literary system, which fits boys for office employment only. Formerly there may have been some ;truth in this, but if our critics recognise a defect they mistake its cure. They propose as a .remedy practical instruction, which means in their minds little less than the acquisition of such technical knowledge as would provide a short cut to a trade — a training which in French schools is designed to make education meet some of the demands of modern life. .They would not only train citizens, but citzens and craftsmen. For this they would sacrifice the education of all the child's faculties — an education which has for its task not the manufacture of coming electricians and chemi3ts, but of highly skilled and fully cultured intellects prepared for all nhe problems of life, not some of them. This early specialisation or preparation for a trade in the primary school has not been not altogether satisfactory in France, and it is admitted that the attempt to specialise too early has been a failure. We should, I think, refuse to kill talent by anj artificial stunting of natural development. We can at least offer a broad general elementary education — • in which manual instruction in various forms provides a valuable hand and. eye training for the child who is compelled to earn his living at the age of 13 or 14, and allow him to supplement this education in a technical or continuation school according to his natural taste. "I should like, here, to|point out j

a misconception, Which is as common as it is misleading. It is believed that in German schools manual training— often confused wifch technical training— is exceptionally efficient, and that this efficiency is the mainspringj of Germany's industrial superiorly. The fact is that manual training, cookery, stenography, and book - keeping have persistently clamoured for admission into the German primary schools curriculum, but as yet the cry is practically a vain dne/ German teachers, both piimary and secondary, set up a plea for general training— the training of the whole of the child's faculties. Here is the curriculum of a German primary school : Religion, reading, writing, spelling, speaking, geography, arithmetic, simpler elements of geometry, history, elementary science in the form of object lessons, nature study, drill and gymnastics for the boys, needlework for the girls and singing. The components of this curriculum are identical with those required of the English school by the Code of 190 a In Germany, as in America, technical education is not allowed to interfere with the general training afforded in 1 the' primary schools. It is relegated to its proper place— the higher technical school— which the pupil enters after he Das passed through, not the primary, but the secondary school course. Continuation^ and excellent manual training schools proper, at which attendance as compulsory, are provided for youths after bearing school. "Another defect m our present system has often been pointed out and emphasised— the absence of any ethical or religious training. It is, says one writer, ' most unfortunate that because men cannot settle their sectarian differences, the most effective and potent instruments for character building are withheld from the teacher, but to deny thejchila some form or other of ethical training is tyranny— he needs such ethical training that Jesus Christ inculcated.' It is true that little is done, directly to influence the child;s spiritual environment. Though it is not recognised, it is admitted, however, that much has been done indirectly, and in the future direct, if incidental, ethical training i 3 providedlfor. Personally, I consider that it would be deplorable if we in our anxiety to cultivate the intellect should allow national character to suffer in our training. I believe, however, that if nature study, an essential subject in the curriculum of German, and American schools, were made the basis of our lessons on objects much more could be done to develop and awaken interest and cultivate the sympathy and higher nature of the child, in short, to, adapt him to his spiritual environment. A writer has well defined nature study as 'the study of nature, not books, not mere reading or listening A study of nature under natural conditions — nature living and in action, not mere form and stuctrue. It must be studied, not, glanced at or talked about, but studied by personal investigation — by the child individually, not by the teacher merely.' Speaking for myself, I believe that this study should form a potent factor in the early education of all children. The laboratory for nature study is all out of doors, and the only instruments and appliances absolutely necessary are the seeing eye and the listening ear, and the understanding heart. As the child is thus learning to appreciate nature to discover in~ everything about him, in seed, leaf, and flower, rock, and insect, a purpose and a plan, will not his thoughts be lifted to a Planner. "With the new year we are promised a comprehensive scheme for the training of teachers. Educational reformers have long recognised that of all the ""improvements that can be made in our schools none are more important, none perhaps so important as those tending to secure a supply of able and skilful teachers. These are the very soul of the system, and the only positively indispensable element in it. We can only wonder why such a scheme has been deferred for so many years. Our Institute will welcome a reform it has consistently fought for. But connected with the scheme is the important question of the supply of teachers. Training is an excellent thing, but for the work of education in the future we want the best intel- r lects. How are we to attract these? In no country is teaching on so sound and philosophic a basis, we are told, and nowhere are teachers so highly appreciated as in Germany. The German teacher, too, is highly trained — for a period of six years this training goes on. Teachers are proud of their profession, and the country is proud of them, and it may well be so; but the German teacher possesses an absolute security of tenure, and is entitled to a pension after ten years' service, and, like the English certificated teacher, he is entitled to a full pension at the age of sixty-five. He is moderately paid, and enjoys a good social status. In order to attract men and women of high character and ability to the teaching profession, we must offer them some better inducements than a fairly high emolument •at the very outset of their career as pupil-teachers. I think one of the finest opportunities to attract desirable candidates was missed when the teachers' superannuation scheme was shelved this year. I know that throughout the country a grievous feeling of dissatisfaction and of hope deferred prevails among teachers. We still look forward to this measure being accorded to us by men (and we are encouraged to know that there are many throughout the Colony) who, like the late Minister for Education, recognise the importance of our work, and the. urgent necessity there is in the interests of education for some such provision. Teachers certainly, not less than railway employees and police officers, render efficient service to the State, and they deserve equal consideration. "The new year brings a new syllabus. I do not propose to attempt a detailed criticism of it, nor is it necessary at this stage. Speaking generally, however, let me say that history has again repeated itself. Pestalozzi's school coadh has again been turned round and started in a new direction. The aim of the new curriculum will be to develop the mental faculties of the child rather khan to teach. Its object is to abolish mechanical teaching, and its methods are 'Heuristic,' those of learning by doing and of stimulating self-activity in the child. These methods, of course, are not new nor foreign to our schools. In the syllabus they have been very strongly emphasised. "It is a programme embodying principles which Huxley, Thring, H. Spencer, Carlyle, and Professor Armstrong would approve. lam not so

sure that Dr. Fitch would. The requirements postulate a high aim, as great freedom of classification is accorded in teaching, and they insistjon individual investigation by the pupil, as opposed to mere book work as a means of developing the faculties of the children, training them to see, dissect, examine, and express for themselves. Under it the development of the intellectual power of the child should become the ultimate aim of the teacher, and the acquisition of knowledge of facts of secondary importance. Of course I am now speaking from a theoretical point of view. But it is possible to push a "theory too far. In practice 'Nonmultased multum' is not only a plausible maxim, but one to be applied. Thoroughness in a few things is better than a sperking acquaintance with many. To ensure thoroughness and a proper assimilation of 'knowledge, it is essential that our efforts should be confined within certain fixed limits. The science of education is always enforcing the truth of experience that when seed is sown too thickly, the yield is less productive. It is fair general criticism to state that the work demanded in a year is too great. The requirements of the standard course have beea increased by much incidental instruction, which, too, demands time. Without intending it — indeed the evident purpose has been simplification — the De- , partment has echoed the demand of •Fulfil your works, your daily tasks as when there was straw.' "Inspection and examination will, under such a system, need fco be exceedingly efficient, otherwise thoroughness and general study will be sacrificed to desultory attempts to teach too much, or in such a way that the resultant system will be about as complete as a marriage ceremony in which the bride is absent. " I am convinced that to put education on a~sound basis, especially in our isolated schools, it will be necessary to appoint permanent competent organising inspectors, as is the practice in large Board schools in England. Each should have the charge of a district, and should cooperate with the teachers in working but satisfactory schemes of instruction on the spot. "I believe that if our legislators had a clear conception of the vital importance of education, they would forthwith commit the preparation of a national education programme to a small and select body of men, who, with the officials, would be likely to deal with the matter in a scientific manner, without prejudice, mindful only of the paramount responsibilities of the State, and of the certainty that unless those responsibilities are met, serious harm will result to the children of the Colony t I sincerely hope such a Commission will be appointed, which might form a permanent Consultative Committee on Education. i "A national system is one in which primary, secondary, and university education are co-ordinated, so that there may be no "cul de sac' for the gifted fchild. 'All for all' is a beautiful motto, but a difficult one for school practice, yet the educational ladder should make ' equality of opportunity' something more than a myth for the boys and girls of the Colony. 'Lowell well describes the attitude of the educationist when he says : — 'New times demand new measures and new men ; The world advances, and in time outgrows The laws that in our fathers' days were best : And, doubtless, after us some purer scheme Will be shaped out by wiser men than we, Made wiser by 'the steady growth of I _truth.S^J _ _ - 3 . .;:,.:*_ Our'time'is one"" "that calls'for earnest * deeds.' " The address was well received, and on the motion of Mr Grundy. seconded by Mr Law, the President was heartily thanked for same. Mr J. G. L. Scott was elected Chairman of Committees. The hours of sitting were fixed as follows:— 9.3o a.m. to 12.30; 2 p.m. to 5.30. On the motion of Mr W. H. Clark, JB.A. (Southland), seconded by Mr James Aitken, B.A. (Wanganui), it was resolved—' ' That the Institute again affirm the resolution adopted at Napier in January, 1903, viz. : 'That uniform regulations for the appointment and promotion of teachers throughout the Colony are necessary, and the Institute suggests thtat a conference of delegates from Education Boards, Inspectors, and teachers be called by the Inspector General, with the object of»recommending a code of regulations to be adopted in all Education Districts of the Colony, and that such regulations be made obligatory.' " On the motion of Mr Brock (North Canterbury), seconded by Mr Stewart (Auckland) it was resolved— "That the Institute re-affirm the resolution carried in 1903, viz: 'That the Primary school teachers in each Education District shall be given the power to elect one member — not a teacher — to the Education Board of suah Education District.' " On the motion of Mr Taylor, 8.A., L.L.B. (North Canterbury), seconded by Mr Jeffery (Dunedia), it was resolved—"That the gN. Z.E.I, urge upon the Government the necessity which exists for offering greater inducements|to young men to enter'the teaching profession." On the motion of Mr W. H. Clark, seconded by Mr A. L. Wylie, M.A., it was resolved — That remit No. 1 re the syllabusfbe referred to a Committee for consideration and report, the Committee to consist of Misses Mcllhone and Bellamy, Messrs J. A. Johnson (convener), Newton, Jackson, Eudey, Sturrock, L. Watson, Gibbs, 'Caughley, Aitken, Henderson, Barnett, McMorran, Holmes, J. K. Law, and the mover. On the motion of Mr Foster (Wellington), seconded by Mr Erskine (Wellington), it was resolved— That remits Nos. 3, 4, and 8 on^the Order paper re Constitution of the Institute be referred to a Committee for consideration and report, the Committee to consist of Messrs Stewart, (convener), Plummer, Flamank, Taylor, Valentine, Clark, Caughley, R. Grant, J. K. Law, and the mover. Mr Gill (the Secretary) brought up the report of the Executive, 4 which was discussed at great length, j the meeting going into committee todo so. It was'resolved to send a congratulatory telegram to the Australasian

Association for the Advancement of Science meeting at Dunedin.