Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1885. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1166, 29 July 1885, Page 2

Tuapeka Times. AND GOLDFIELDS REPORTER AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 1885. "MEASURES, NOT MEN."

The Education Statement submitted to the House of Representatives by the Minister of Education, while containing a few practical hints, is not a very striking production, either for the boldness of its conception or the originality of its matter. Touching upon university education, Me Stout holds up to the admiration of astonished Colonists a few students of the New Zealand University who have distinguished themselves in English universities; but he has wisely refrained from giving an estimate of the annual cost to the State which the maintenance of these universities involves. Far be it from us to decry university education ; but we are disappointed that the report of the Minister of Education does not give some information relating to the number of graduates turned out of the several institutions in the Colony, as well as some indication of the money expended on that class of education, We take the liberty, however, to question the wisdom of bolstsring up an expensive and fully-equipped university system, while as yet the secondary schools are incomplete. The extension of secondary schools, with fewer of the universities, would, we think, suit better the educational requirements of the Colony in the meantime. Turning to secondary education, the report gives a list of the high schools of the Colony, but no attempt is made to give any idea of the value of the work performed by them. Further than expressing his regret at these schools not being placed under the same management as the primary schools, Mr Stout says absolutely nothing concerning them. As primary education is that which most intimately affects our social system, we can afford to pass by secondary and university education without further notice. Referring to primary education, Mr Stout says : "It is impossible to accurately gauge the result of an education system in seven years. . ... There .are, signs, however, thai? our education, system is doing excellent work." He then takes as a test of what the system is doing for the Colony the number of teachers produced, and also those trained in New Zealand who have " distinguished themselves in every department as professional men, as merchants, as manufacturers," and, last but not least, " in the Government service." These utterances savor strongly of the Bar, and more resemble clap-trap than solid reasoning. How many of those who have "distinguished" themselves, we wonder, are the products of the present education system 1 Those, we presume, who had the solid groundwork laid under other systems, and before the disabilities ' 'of the present system crippled them. Mr Stout is inclined to enter into a fulsome glorification of our education system, especially as remodelled by himself; but should it

survive another seven years, we hold the opinion, heterodox though it may now appear, that his ideas will, be con- 1 siderably modified. Mr Stout names three main defects in the system — "First, there -has. n6t been a proper graduatioW^eir^een i/he primar^'/kn^ secondary schools ; secondly^ ther4 has been more attention to the literary part of education than to the scientific ; and, thirdly, technical instruction has been almost 'entirely* ignored."'"" Reforms'" in WU" cation/ continues Mr Stout in justification of his revered Spencer, "must come-- slowly." Granted j - but theMinister of Education has entirely overlooked the fact that the existing system is not a reformed system grafted upon a previous one. It is as much a reform as the abolition of the provinces may be termed a reform — revolution is the better word. In spite of his undoubted ability, we fear Mr Stout has made use of some mere conventional language to cloak the real difficulties which beset his path as an educational reformer. Reform of the present system is not what is required to improve it ; the most rational way to effect that would be to sweep it away altogether. The New Zealand standards are bad copies of the English code, and betray, in all its weakness, the want of originality in the latter. The English standards themselves are but in the experimental stage, and every succeeding year reveals their defects in a more displeasing light. In matters educational, we English are wofully behind Continental nations, partly the result of overweening conceit and natural conservatism ; for anyone proposing to introduce Continental systems into our schools would call down the wrath of ' John Bull. The standards as modified by Mr Stout will afford some slight modicum of relief to the schools of the Colony j but in actual practice we feel convinced the relief will not be anything like what the sanguine Minister expects. The old burden of subjects, marshalled in appalling array, still greets the eye, on glancing over the 1 syllabus ; and the relief given by rele-, gating some of the subjects to the section I of class subjects must depend very largely ! upon the exactions made by the inspectors. The making of drawing a compulsory subject in all the standards is a move in the right direction ; and Mr Stout's remarks on the taaching of science in the common schools are Of a very practical nature. He recoga ;r< ". the importance of oral teaching in object-lessons, and had he made this feature a little more prominent, in the revised scheme, we would have been better pleased with it. However, as reform must not, according to the dogmas of Spencer, proceed by leaps and bounds, we must repose in the dim hope that iv the sweet by-and-bye scientific and practical education will be grafted upon the present extremely literary system. Meantime, while professional men are rolling out fiom the Government educational mill, let us be content, and leave to succeeding generations the production of agricultural and artisan classes. The Education Stat • rrent is too long to permit of a general review ; but we think that, in the allimportant bubject of primary education, the official utterances of the Minister of Education are wholly disappointing.