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vice versa, and so on. Certain grammatical mistakes occur with suck great frequency tkat it will be necessary to devise appropriate metkods of dealing witk tkem. For eack class it will be possible to select a certain number of typical errors in Englisk tkat skould be tkorougkly dealt witk, so tkat as a ckild passes tkrougk tke sckool ke will gradually overcome those difficulties wkick at present make the teaching of Englisk composition and letter-writing suck a difficult and disappointing matter. " Publications. —Cook Islands sckool journal—Te Tuatua Apii —to be publisked : During tke year designs for tke cover of a montkly magazine were submitted by both pupil-teachers and pupils. From these a design depicting a typical Polynesian scene has been chosen. Now that the normal school has been opened and a sufficient number of teachers attached thereto, arrangements have been completed for the regular publication of a journal to be called " Te Tuatua Apii." " Tke Radio News now distributed to schools : In order to widen the outlook and interests of the pupils, to give them an insight into the interdependence of different countries, and to increase and widen their powers to use English, a weekly bulletin, called the Radio News, is circulated among the schools. This gives a brief outline of the news received by radio that is of interest and value to school-children. It provides for discussions on important topics which affect the economic, and social life in Cook Islands, New Zealand, and tke Empire, and skould kelp to give an intelligent understanding of many matters on wkick tke Native is necessarily at present ill-informed. " Attendance of Pupils.—Higk percentage of population at sckool: It is nowadays generally considered tkat, of tke total population, 20 per cent, are between the ages of six and fourteen years, and so should be at school. It is therefore interesting to note the percentage of the Cook Islands population tkat is at school (primary), and compare the figures with those for other coloured communities : — "Cook Islands (Southern Group) .. .. .. 18-5 per cent. (1926). "Hawaii .. .. .. .. .. .. 15-6 „ (1920). "Japan .. .. .. .. .. .. 14-9 ~ (1920). " Porto Rico .. .. .. .. .. 13-7 „ (1920). " Philippines .. .. .. .. .. 941 „ (1923). "Unfortunately it is not possible to secure the percentages for more recent years in regard to the foreign countries mentioned. "School j),opulation gradually increasing : The following table shows a gradual increase in school population from year to year, the total increase in four years amounting to 16-4 per cent. Year. Roll. Increase. 1922 .. .. .. .. 1,294 1923 .. .. .. .. 1,377 83 1924 .. .. .. .. 1,385 8 1925 .. .. .. .. 1,470 85 1926 .. ..1,507 37 213 " Classification and Achievement. —New system of classification introduced : In 1925 it was found that 47-1 per cent, of the sckool-ckildren were in tke so-called preparatory classes. Owing to tke fact tkat tkere was no general understanding as to kow many preparatory classes were desirable, nor was tkere any standard of ackievement to determine promotions, the number of primer classes varied from one to four in different sckools. In order to clear up tke situation tke classes were renamed from 1 to 8, tke curriculum for each year constituting a year's work as near as it was possible to estimate it. " Failure now being replaced by success : As a result of the new system of classification tke number of pupils in tke preparatory classes (new classes 1 and 2) kas been reduced from 47-1 per cent, in 1925 to 36-3 per cent, in 1926. Still more important is tke fact tkat tke number of pupils in tke upper classes kas increased from 8-4 per cent, of tke sckool roll in 1925 to 17 per cent, in 1926. Tkis means tkat, instead of large numbers of children being kept year after year doing infant work, tke pupils are now being moved up into the upper classes, where they will not only receive instruction in more important subjects, but they will be more in contact with the European head teachers. It means, too, that a system of failure is being replaced by a system of success, and nothing will have such a profound influence on the characters of the children passing through the schools as that of success in their school-work. Failure year after year demoralizes and breeds enemies of society. " Overageness is being reduced : The difficulty of reducing overageness will be realized when it is understood that, if there was not a single failure at the end of the year, there would be no reduction in overageness, or retardation, as it is sometimes called. In order to effect some slight reduction in overageness in the schools the head teachers in Rarotonga kave entered fully into tke spirit of tke problem and have made a number of double promotions, based on the results of standardized tests. In the Outer Islands, where the difficulties are greater still, the head teachers have given this problem serious attention, and are already effecting considerable improvements. " Pupils in Cook Islands classes younger tkan tkose in Pkilippines: So muck kas been written about education in tke Philippine Islands that it is interesting to compare the ages of pupils in similar classes. It will be seen that the Cook Islands pupils are from o'B to 3 years younger for their class, the average difference being 1-66 years in favour of the local child.

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