COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION.
An affair of rather a novel character came off at the Portobello school on Saturday, the 29th of June. We refer to the competition which took place between the five best Maori children attending the Native school, Otago Heads, and the live best children out of the Portobello district school. The subjects for examination were arithmetic—including sums in the compound rules, simple and compound practice, interest, rulgar and decimal fractions - the general geography of the world ; writing in copy books and exorcise books ; and spelling, dictation and reading. Mr. of North East Harbor, was to have been the examiner, but was unfortunately prevented from attending by the bad weather, and Miss M ; Geor"-e a teacher in the Portobello district school, kindly consented to act, with Mr. "Walker and Mr. Latham as umpires. The first subject was dictation, in which the En"-]i s ]i children scored a decided victory. In arithmetic however, the Native children turned the tables upon' their opponents with a total of twenty-two sums riVhfc out of thirty, against the Portobello fourteen siuns right out of thirty. In geography the competition was exceedingly close, and ended slightly i:i favor of th" Maori children. In copy books and exercise books the Natives again had a decided victory, but were defeated in oral spelling. Owing to the lateness of the hour the reading had to be left out. At 5 p.m. the umpires Wve their decision to the effect that having added marks they found the children equal, a decision which was acquiesced in by all present. When we consider the disadvantages under which the Maori children were struggling, such as being in a strange school, with a strange examiner, and having to speak in a lan<niao-e entirely different to their own, while the English" children were in their own school, with an examiner with, whom they are brought in contact every day, and speaking their own language, we must say that the result was highly creditable to the Maori children, and very satisfactory to their parents and the Native and English residents at the Kaik. We should also mention that the Native children were highly pleased with the reception they met with at Portobello. —Otago Witness.
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Bibliographic details
Wananga, Volume 5, Issue 31, 3 August 1878, Page 386
Word Count
369COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION. Wananga, Volume 5, Issue 31, 3 August 1878, Page 386
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