NELSON SCHOOL REPORT.D

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 388, 13 February 1880, Page 2

NELSON SCHOOL REPORT.D

We havo r»&4 with interest the annus! report of Mr llo&gnon, Inspector of Schools for the Nelson district, a* published in the " Colonist " of the*" 15 ult, Mr Hodgson has sueeewkd in &9, out of the 60 schools in the 'wfcjgacfc, and prepared and published hiss rfeport l upon thwi to 31st December 1879, by the l!)th of January 1880. We understand tho report 'A the Wellington Bchools will not \m out tiHlii March as Mr Hodgson's report contnins many IU-nm [that should interest parents ami tosichfti's arid the public, We quote the following extracts from I it :~~

The number of schools in this district h sixty, throe new ones having been opened and four more ready to open. The number ol scholars on the rolls for the hvst quarter of 18" 3 v/as 3525, during the corres ponding quarter of 1879 it was 3787 ; the working averages for the same periods being 2770 and 2935 respectively. During the year all the schools with one exception have been examined twice.

Although sufficiently absurd inferences may b3 drawn from a mere inspection of the list of passes and failures, the margin of error will undoubtedly be lessened at next examination. As it is, several schools that have succeeded in passing leas than sixty psr cent of those presented are notoriously better taught than some that show ninety to one hundred per cent. For this result I do not hold myself the least responsible. If the shoe 'frequently pinches I did not manufacture it, my duty being now simply to apply it to. all alike. The docility with which the bulk of our teachers have adapted their style of instruction to the requirements of the standards, should gratify the most ardent admirer of uniformity; It ia impossible to pass unnoticed the startling fact that a quarter of a century after the establishment of a system of free education in this district, a considerable proportion of the scholars presented for the first standard are over nine, and not a few over eleven years of age. The requirements for a pass in thie standard being merely the ability " to read com- . mon words of two syllables," and to work ! correctly three little sums in addition and multiplication, a task that has been accomplished with ease by hundreds of children of seven years old. The only possible conclusion is that a large section of the population is still practically untouched by our school system. The school rolls fully acquit the teachers of all blame in the matter. Most of these overgrown laggards, the torment of the schoolmaster, have not entered a school, it will b# found, for the lost am® months, sad they relatively quite 'as"numerous in. our as in oar most backward schools, ia the country as in 'the town. Frequent mention of discipline and moral tone will be found in -. my.-.- cM-fetled reports of each school, where &Ibq.si.general estprwsion of opinion will J|| : found. In no respect liave out ; 'moire. during the last two/or years i.than in their .diMipHns,,. Orders'are now "obeyed with far mors promptitude, and 'although the absolute silence-for which itb® stricter sort of inspectors, tod emimi■■jjiers stickle, has not yet-'been': obtained, jwhat noise is now is for the moat .jsarfc the noise of work. As to the moral '.tone ol our schools, I shall do what I can jto eorwet a v&ry general misconception. ji'o'pat it shortly, the moral :tone oi ousf gehool children will be just as good or just fcs bad m that @i the homum from whieh tfa@y eome ; fend yet ih.hm to hp a gene-

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