44

E.—lB

the same sort " (" Mason's First Notions of Grammar," page 63) —than to say, " ' Three,' an adjective, it tells how many rabbits ; ' little,' an adjective, it tells what kind of rabbits ; ' rabbits,' a noun, it is the name of something;" but we should have no ground of complaint if we got the latter answering. It is not a material point whether the classification is the most approved one or not, or whether the natural order of thought and of teaching is adopted in expressing the reason first and the conclusion last; the essential element is a sufficiently correct explanation of the use. We think it well that the parsing of Standard IV. should be confined to some such simple form as the above, with the explanation invariably attached, and that the inflections should be treated separately in a similar fashion. But elementary analysis must be taken from the very first, and no oral exercise in parsing should be conducted without a preliminary inquiry into the structure of the sentence. In the Fifth Standard all the previously-acquired knowledge of inflection and of sentence structure is combined with a more intimate knowledge of the verb, to make a more complete treatment, the reasons being now omitted for convenience ; and, in analysis, the proper grouping of the parts of any simple sentence ought to be quite within the powers of the pupils. The study of clause functions and more difficult syntactical relationships constitutes, in this department, the further advance required from the Sixth Standard.

Table C.—Class Subjects.

The above table shows the existing condition of the class subjects. For the sake of convenience we may speak of drawing and geography as if they were wholly included in that group. An increase in the attention given to drawing and the introduction of the subject throughout schools in which it had never been taught before make one of the features of the year. Freehand, however, is almost the only thing attempted, and for some time to come tne instruction will probably be in substance confined to this. No very material change has taken place in History. This remains very scrappy and meagre, and in the Third Standard often secures only a nominal mark. In a few cases only has advantage been taken of the rule by which the history and geography'of Standard IV. and Standard V. may be taught and examined together. Geography in the Second Standard shows great improvement. A fairly-intelligent apprehension of the meanings of the chief geographical terms and a knowledge of the leading features of the map of the world have been generally secured. A downward tendency is distinctly observable in the Fourth Standard, and on the whole the subject as taught in our schools is undeniably wanting in merit. Vagueness is the general characteristic of the answering—even in the highest class. An improvement in one direction at least would be made by following the practice of illustrating every lesson by the sketch of a river-basin, coast-line, &c, and accustoming the pupils to illustrate in a similar way. The habit of drawing little maps of this character, which require only a few minutes to produce, would be of infinitely more service than the execution of the elaborate productions sometimes exhibited, though these too have an occasional value. Object Lessons and Science have been attempted in nearly every school, with the most widelyvarying results. It is to be presumed that these subjects have been included in the syllabus in order to give occasion for lessons that shall train the children to habits of observation and stimulate their reasoning faculties. Children should be taught first to see facts for themselves, then to inquire into the causes of these facts, and lastly be led to recognise the general laws which underlie them. No information that does not rest upon such a basis, however useful it may be otherwise, can be properly regarded as satisfying the requisites of science teaching. For the purpose referred to object lessons and science teaching may be considered as one subject. In the object instruction the attention is devoted mainly to the training of the observation, which should be directed to such facts connected with familiar objects as would otherwise be unnoticed by children. To take the natural history lessons as an example, the points of likeness and difference existing between the various domestic animals serve the double purpose of making observation more systematic and of leading up to a simple classification, which is the next step in advance. The lessons in the reading books and the picture cards in use in most of the schools, though conveying what is not strictly matter of observation, afford opportunity for comparison of lesser known animals with better known ones already dealt with, and they have therefore an interest and a purpose closely akin to that of the legitimate object or science lesson. In regard to science lessons proper —where not only facts are noted, but causes are sought for and laws enunciated —it would probably be well in most cases if a few simple experiments were performed; but it should not be forgotten that the knowledge derived from carefully watching natural phenomena or carefully examining natural objects is for tj^e most part just as useful for this purpose, when suited to the subject in hand. These considerations are, or should be, familiar to the minds of most teachers. School museums have been found to give a wholesome stimulus to studies of this class, and children take an additional interest in them if objects collected by themselves occasionally form the

Subject. Percentages. Number of Schools obtaining 60 per cent. and upwards. Number of Schools obtaining from 40 to 59 per cent. Number of Schools obtaining from 20 to 39 per cent. Number of Schools obtaining less than 20 per cent. Number of Schools included in Estimate )rawing ... listory ... J-eography Icience, object lessons, &c ... Jl subjects 41-5 46-5 55-6 34-7 44-6 24 47 67 24 24 52 44 46 37 68 56 39 27 48 US 13 11 5 36 7 145 141 145 145 145