ACCREDITED SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14885, 27 January 1914, Page 6

ACCREDITED SCHOOLS.

By his motion in Saturday's session of the University Senato in tho direction of accepting the leaving certificate of approved secondary schools in lieu of the present matriculation examination, the Reiv. A. Cameron raised a question involving very far-reaching issues. It is matter of common knowledge that some 6uch system has long obtained in Germany, but it will be new to many of our readers that it also obtaius widely in the United States. The system is referred to with approval in many of the reports presented by members of the Moseley Educational Commission, which visited the States in 1903. and has undoubtedly much to recommend it. It is, in tho first place, no new thing, for it Tvas instituted as far back as 1872 by the University of Michigan, and appears to havo been- since generally adopted by the Universities of tao Middle West and "West, though not by tho moro conservative institutions of the Eastern States. Under it high schools in equipment, range of sfild?6s, and general efficiency with Univcreity requirements, are accredited for a three-year term, and, to

keep them in touch with the higher educational bodies, are subject to inspectorial visits at irregular intervals by specially appointed University inspectors. The pupils of such schools aro duly received as matriculated students on presenting their headmaster or head mistress's certificate that they have attended a full four years' course and are capabla of profiting by University work. The responsibility for the fitness of the students »s thus thrown entirely on the school authorities, and it is claimed that upwards of thirty years' experience has proved to demonstration that the average efficiency of such students is in marked degree higher than the efficiency of those admitted by the test of external examination. It is further claimed that under the system the dignity of the scholastic profession is enhanced, and that the greater freedom of educational method it allows enables the schools to attract stronger and more original touchers. The problem of hoy.- to keep the average scholar at a High School sufficiently long to enable him to take real advantage of the training offered is solved, and the inspectorial visits of University professors are at once a stimulus to the staff and a means of awakening a new and practical interest in University education in tho minds of the scholars. Moreover, in those States in which it is adopted, the evils of over-pressure so intimately linked with competitive scholarships are done away with by allotting on a numerical basis, and if necessary by rotation, to the accredited schools all entrance University scholarships, to be by them awarded to those students deemed most suitable. Such a system eliminates some •of the worst drawbacks under which our own High Schools carry on their work. It does away with the obsession of the examination fetish and the baneful worship of tho paying subject, and effectively checks the deplorablo tendency to rush the more promising scholars through their school course, and so to a largo extent deprive them of solid grounding - . It does not therefore follow that it would necessarily he wise to introduce it at once in New Zealand. For it is well to remember that where the educational authorities of the "United States think in millions, we must perforce be content to think in thousands. But some thanks are due to Mr .Cameron for bringing a question of such interest forward, and we agree with Professor J. It. Brown that the system of accredited schools is well worth investigating.