E.—(i.

12

course based upon old-fashioned lines. The ideal vocational course should embrace a sound study of English literature, history, and civics, a practical knowledge of the fundamental scientific principles underlying the common facts of life, particularly, in the case of boys, applied science (including agriculture and commerce), and, in the case of girls, domestic science and art. No doubt, if the programmes of the secondary schools were adjusted somewhat on the lines just mentioned, parents would have a greater inducement to allow their children to go through a complete course in a secondary school. The present regulations for admission to Senior Free Places, which have now been current for more than three years, give the secondary schools ample scope to modify their programmes as suggested; the only compulsory subjects are English and arithmetic, and the optional subjects include (besides mathematics, foreign languages, and the ordinary branches of science) such subjects as the following : Elementary practical agriculture; elementary hygiene (including elementary physiology, with instruction in " health " and in " first aid "); domestic science (including cookery, dressmaking or advanced plain needlework, and housewifery); shorthand, book-keeping, and commercial correspondence; woodwork or ironwork. There appears to be a growing tendency on the part of many of the schools to lean more towards the vocational course, especially in the direction of subjects bearing on agricultural and pastoral pursuits. To qualify for a Senior Free Place or an Intermediate certificate it is not necessary, under the regulations, for the pupil to sit for examination; it is sufficient if he or she gives evidence of having diligently and intelligently completed a satisfactory two-years course. Upon the completion of a similar satisfactory four-years course is based the senior or " leaving " certificate for which provision is made. (b.) Average Duration of a Girl's Stay in a Secondary School. According to the census returns for J 906, there were 97 girls of secondaryschool age to every 100 boys. From the figures set out in Table K2 we find that there were in 1910 only 72 girls to every 100 boys. This great difference is only partly accounted for by the number of private secondary schools for girls in the Dominion. There can be no doubt that the chief cause is that parents do not consider a secondary education as necessary for a girl as for a boy. If we apply the same tests to the numbers of boys and girls separately on the rolls of secondary schools as was applied in the case of all pupils, we find that the average duration of a girl's stay is slightly greater than that of a boy : — Average girl's stay in a secondary school ... ... ... 2-58 years. Average boy's stay in a secondary school ... ... ... 2 - 55 years. :;: Average stay of a pupil (boy or girl) ... ... ... ... 2-56 years." From Table K2 we get the following information :— 110 girls stayed 1 year to every 100 boys. 88 „ ' 2 years „ 100 „ 97 „ 3 years „ 100 „ 85 „ 4 years „ 100 „ 120 „ 5 years or more „ 100 „ It would therefore appear that, in addition to the fact that a large number of girls are never sent to a secondary school, an undue number are withdrawn after their first year; those that are left after the year, however, stay longer than the average boy. Domestic reasons are, no doubt, at the root of the trouble. That the trouble is not insurmountable is evidenced by the fact that in the United States the very reverse is the case—there are 129 girls on the roll to every 100 boys.

* Exolusive of Chribt's College, for which no separate figures were available for the year 1909.