A Matter of Teaching.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20418, 24 September 1934, Page 6

A Matter of Teaching.

Dear Sir.—l was present at the meetins of householders at the Addington School and I never heard any reflections cast on the teaching of Mr L. F. de Berry and his staff. It was clearly understood by those present that the failure of the Deoartment was going to be due to the lack of contributing schools and inadequate equipment. Mr de Berry, when speaking himself, thanked the other speakers for the compliments paid to him and his staff, and said that he thought they were rather flattering. I think it only fair that before declaring the intermediate department a failure, the education authorities should get the department fully equipped, and annex Sydenham and the Normal School as contributing schools, thus giving the staff the facilities to carry out the functions of an intermediate school. In reference to the challenge bv your correspondent H.11.E., we will say for argument’s sake that his son is dux of the school. Then take the position of my son, who happens to be at the bottom of his class, though the teacher gives him more attention than he does the dux, and the boy studies longer hours than the dux. It will be clearly seen from this that the smartness of the dux is due to his greater power of remembering. We have also the home environments to take into consideration. Some of the pupils have parents who have had an academical training, with plenty of reference books in their homes. I think it only fair that when making comparisons with other schools it should be done on the average of passes and not on the qualification of one scholar. —I am, etc ADOLESCENT.