The Timaru Herald. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1925. THOUGHTS ON THE SCHOOL YEAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 21 December 1925, Page 8

The Timaru Herald. MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1925. THOUGHTS ON THE SCHOOL YEAR.

With. tlie close of tli© school year it has become customary to indulge the schools in a veritable boo'd of prize giving and make a parade of primary, secondary, and technical scholars who have excelled in term examinations,. Clever children have been praised and rewarded, the others have been invited to do better next year, and scholars, teachers, and parents have exchanged mutual appreciation and good wishes. Thau seemingly necessary decoration, the break-up ceremony speech, by more or less interested citizens, has been delivered. In almost every educational institution from end to end of New Zealand the year has been acclaimed as the most successful in the history of the schools, and teachers ana schools have closed their books and joyously and contentedly “gone on holiday.” In the mam, the speech-making elaborated the theme that better education should be considered indispensable by all young people who strive to win success m the world. The fetish of examination has been worshipped, scholars in .primary and secondary schools have paraded for the annual examination, and when the results are announced, praise will he lavished on schools gaining a larger percentage of scholarships than their neighbours, and even some educational districts will boast that the work in their schools'—measured only in terms of scholarship results—has been more successful than in other districts. It is said of Andrews of Aekworth—a. great headmaster, familiarly known as “F.A.”—whose biography came recently from the press, that it was characteristic of him that he resisted for many years the introduction of external examinations. Says his biographer:

To systematically train the mind wa_ his ideal, not to obtain a large number of passes; Latin, for instance, was not studied far enough at Aekworth for pupils to read the old authors for pleasure,” but with the object of giving them a certain facility in the use of that instrument, language, which plays so important a part in their future life.” The primary objectives in teaching history and geography were not facts aiid dates, but an intelligent interest in other times and other climes, and in the motives that actuated men and Women who served their country in the past. In mathematics, the same idea was kept in view.

“F.A.” had a certain “partiality for the mediocre.” But this was because he held that every child, clever and dull, should be separately considered and bellied. Once when “F.A.” visited a class of girls the mistress proudly pointing to' the top six . girls, said : “These are the cream of the class.” “Itather hard on the milk, isn’t it?” “F.A” said with a mild rebuke. The milk and the cream which “F:A” churned at Aekworth have been alike worthy pf a man in whom honour, eloquence, true faith, and sterling character were blended in a curiously original and magnetic whole. It is not necessary, however, to go to' Aekworth to find condemnation of the mania, fqr examination and the parade of the' cream! '‘F.A.” was head there for sixty years, and education lias supposedly made great progress in recent years. Strangely enough, hqwever, the system of education in New Zealand lias not yet emerged from the wilderness of examination. Giving evidence before a recent commission, the chief inspector of technical education said of the New Zealand system of education: I am of opinion that neither in the secondary nor in the technical high schools do the various courses adequately meet the needs of the various types of pupils. 'The courses are jin too much iiillueuced by the preparation for examination of one kind and another. tVe should remember also that in New Zealand the professions are Somewhat overcrowded, while the demands of industry and commerce are by no means satisfied,. which would indicate that the education system tonds to guide pupils towards the learned professions rather than in directions giving greater promise ol reward and offering far greater scope for service in the country.

It is true, of course, that business of all kiutis is demanding more j and more the' breadth of vision, j knowledge and accuracy of the | ’.veil trained mind, hut the iaci. j remains that there has been ! developed in New Zealand a | system of education which pro- i vents tim proper combination of I the practical and the theoretical, j As Professor Brown said at a j eonfe.renee> in Wellington, “what ) was intended to be an entrance examination to a degree course m tiro University has been changed into a sort of leaving certificate! ot the children of New Zealand. “It is doing more harm.” the Professor' added, “than I believe similar examinations are. doing m any other countries.”. In other j words, the matriculation examin- | alien is dominating' the whole J educational system. Healing 1 with tills phase, Air prank Tate, who ! recently made an investigation | into certain aspects of post- : primary education in New Zealand, said:

'While J think that it is unfortunate that the “free place - ’ system in postprimary education is .’developed too largelv along the traditional lines of secondary i (ha.-ation, I think also that, it is equally unfortunate that education in New Zealand is so greatly dominated by external examinations. Possibly there is a causal connection between the two matters.

In my discussions with teachers, inspectors, and interested laymen I could not help noticing that rarely did tlu-y speak, in terms of courses of education satisfactorily completed. The final examination appeared to he the accepted test. The general public, too, appears to demand from the schools passes at examinations, and “passing for matriculation” is the accepted qualification for many desirable employments

1 If New Zealand can hold its place in the forefront of the free and ! enlightened democracies of the j world by shaping its educational J system to' inculcate the idea, tha t ‘every hoy and every girl should strive to enter the professions, and the day lias passed when mere “hewers of wood and drawers of (water” are essential in the development of the varied activities ot this young- and developing _ country, the system of education in New Zealand functions satisfactorily. But it is significant to have it said of this country where 95 per cent, of the created wealth comes from the land that “apparently the desire for matriculation passes is one of the obstacles to the development of courses of rural education for country hoys and girlsq . . . that in schools m which carefully planned courses bearing 1 directly upon rural life and interests had been instituted, farmers preferred that their children should take- matriculation subjects rather than the special rural course.” In the schools of New Zealand we have the finest material in the world; the teachers can show consoling results in spite of the system; and parents are justly proud of our educational institutions. But the system is manifestly in need of a complete overhaul. Unquestionably a false prestige has . been given the academic: side of education. This condemnation has been voiced not only by visiting and local educationists, hut has been clc~ I claimed from the housetops by i captains of industry, by princes of : commerce*, and by spokesmen of 'the man on the* land, whose daily j reminder of the limitations of the 'finished article sent out into the hard school of thei world bv the present system, has impressed them wi tli the urgency’- of a complete overhaul of both system and methods, and drastic revision and more rational co-ordination of the curricula of both primary and secondary schools, in order to meet the changing needs of an enlightened and -progressive people whose high . destiny, in reality, reposes in the quality and quantity of the products of a fertile and sun-kissed soil.