THE HON. MR STOUT ON EDUCATION.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1165, 25 July 1885, Page 3

THE HON. MR STOUT ON EDUCATION.

The Hon. the Premier delivered a statement on Education on Tuesday evening, but owing to its length, and pressure of other matter, we are unable to publish it. In the course of the statement he said there was one thing that might be taken as some test of what education was doing for the Colony, and that was the number of teachers who had been trained in New Zealand, and who were teaching in our schools. Excluding pupil teachers, there were altogether 1550 teachers, and of these 1034 were trained in New Zealand, of whom there were 338 who were born in New Zealand, 307 who, though born elsewhere, have been educated from boyhood, or girlhood in New Zealand, and 389 who were mainly educated out of the Colony but first became teachers after their arrival in New Zealand. One main objection, and one which was always difficult to overcome in our present system, was that in order to conduct even small .schools in country districts there must be a large number of classes. Sup-, posing there were six standards, there would require, to be more than six classes, because there were usually some children not yet able to undertake even the first standard, and it was impossible for a single teacher to do all this work. What, then, was to be done? He would so arrange the standards that a teacher in a country school would be able to reduce the number of his classes. He had, therefore, divided the subjects to be taught in schools under three heads. They were what might be termed compulsory subjects.olass subjects, and additional. Compulsory subjects, of course, were those in which no child who did not pass could obtain a certificate. He had. included drawing as a compulsory subject, as it was the first step to technical education. He also proposed that attentionjshould be paid to elementary science, and believed that elementary science could be taught, not from-text books, but orally to our teachers, and it should bo taught to our children from their earliest years, and without any technical names. Geology could be called "earih knowledge," botany " plant knowledge," and so on, and the principles of mechanics couljd be taught without text-books by means of object lessons. In country schools teachers should be able to give special bias" towards agriculture, and in schqols in various town districts special bias; might be given towards those manufactures that had been or were likely to be established in those towns. He entertained a hope that, perhaps from private munificence, if not from Government aid, we might see established, at all events, in eacn lSge£'ceritre,, some working where, the/ handling-of tools might be taught to children, if- only; for an hour or two'a week.. . ,<■[.. .; .