PRIMARY SCHOOLS OPEN.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18367, 28 April 1925, Page 8

PRIMARY SCHOOLS OPEN.

SPLENDID RESPONSE.

A HEADMASTER'S COMMENTS

Though the various headmasters ot" the primary schools throughout the Christchureh district partially expected that the schools would be allowed to reopen yesterday—one, in fact, predicted last week the date on which the restrictions would be lifted —several to whom a reporter spoke declared that the short official announcement took them by surprise, and that they had spent most of the week-end engaged in such preparations as had necessarily . to be left to "the last minute.'' One school is reported to have been minus two teachers, who, when eventually located, said that they had not seen the newspapers containing the announcement.

That slight accident was the one shade in the otherwise brilliant response madn by teachers and pupils in all tho schools to the announcement that school lifn may resume its normal course. It is especially meritorious, considering that attendance is not yet compulsory. Quite 90 per cent, of the total roll has responded in practically every case. The pupils were obviously enthusiastic about returning. They "settled down to their studies punctually and earnestly, and a headmaster describes the keenness of their attitude by stating that though nearly five months have passed since tho pupils were assembled, they returned to their studies "as if thev had left off onlv last Friday "

Value of Dalton Scheme. Much of the correspondence work has still to be corrected, and the resumption of the ordinary school routine, it has been decided, is not to interfere with the corrections of such work as has been scut in. Asked his opinion as to the value of the scheme, the headmaster of one of the largest schools in the city expressed the opinion that it had proved most successful, and that incalculable benefits would yet result. "Its beneficial after-effects will bo noticed iu two ways," he observed. "In the first place, many parents will take far nioro interest in what the children are doing, and will know moro about it in a general way; secondly, many of the children themselves, I. think, will have formed the habit of working -at home, and carry it on for the love of it. The engendering of this principle of selfeffort is one of the most important aims of our system of education, consequently the scheme has been most useful." ,

Should Hours be Increased? This headmaster, questioned about the suggestion that, in view of the long holiday, school hours should be increased, remarked that apart altogether from the position of ..tho teacher, it would defeat its own Object as far as the children were concerned. He was decidedly opposed to it, except, perhaps, in the case of Standard VI. children. In tho ordinary course of events the general experience of educationists, he said, was that by Friday the children wore growing "stale" even after five fivehour days, and it was hardly likely that the extended holiday they had just experienced would predispose them favourably to an increase in hours. The result would only be the undesirable one of a series of breakdowns among the children. In any case, the children had to forgo ■ one of their term holiday periods, and in view of the approach of the winter months and the amount of work to be covered, enough extra time had been imposed upon them. More would harm instead of benefit them. Tho policy of extra hours was, after all, merely an attempt to introduce cramming, and this was directly opposed to the avowed principles of modern education. Teachers who agreed to it would be traitors to their own gospel of education.

Executive Criticised. . also mention, incidentally," he concluded, "that I am opposed to the suggestion made by tho New Zealand Executive of the Educational Institute, that the time devoted to BUch subjects as arithmetic should be curtailed in favour of au extension for geography and history. The latter subjects can always be picked up afterwards, if necessary, but if a child does not Tcceive a good grounding in arithmetic while he is at school, ho will never grasp its principles. Our business is to fit the child completely for its battle in life, and experiments like the one suggested aro dangerous."