EDUCATION IN MANY LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 73, 19 December 1907, Page 8

EDUCATION IN MANY LANDS.

RETURN OF MR. Q. HOQBEN. '.. ' AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW. Tho Insppctor-Oenernl of-Schools, Mr.-Geo. Hogben, f11.A., returned to Wellington yesterday .freighter] with information on the educational systems.of-many-lands, the product of a ten months' world's tour. His investigations have been made ' iii 'Italy, Switzerland .(to which he paid two visits), Germany, both North and South, Holland, Great Britain, Franco, Canada, the United States, and Australia. He has traversed the whole range of education, from the elementary'to the University stage,' not neglecting the great subjects of the training of teachers and education of defectives arid deaf mutes. It was impossible to earry • out such a programme in a detailed manner, so Mr. Hogben confined himself to ' visiting only tho best institutions-in each country, and forming the most thorough impressions possible of characteristic -methods and ideals. These impressions will be incorporated. in a lengthy report to the Government, and will doubtless have their : inflnence : oh the educational system of New Zealand, Mr. Hogben-was'good enough last evening to relate to a Dominion- representative some, of tho most general impressions he has gained. GENERAL LESSONS. Ail the countries visited, he said, had "different systems, with the exception' that some countries had none nt all, in the sense iii which New Zealand had a system. It would not; bo desirable , to , transplant : any ■foreign system in.Now Zealand, but points might be loarned from several. " Our chief lessons will be lessons of detail and of methods of working. From the Continental schools we have some lessons to learn, and these are lessons which ■ English schools-in many cases have to• leani from them also, though individual schools have done so. The'principal of these lessons is in respect of tho great attention given to the teaching of the mother tongue—the cultivation from the elementary school to the university of the power .of ' expression 'of thought. Other lessons we have fairly well learned already. One thing to be noted is the thoroughness" of the German school, especially in regard to language teaching. What are very often regarded hero as new methods are accepted there almost universally as the only ones to bo used. The direct or natural method of teaching languages is an oxample. But one should not go to Germany for the teaching of science in either primary or secondary schools. It is the language .teaching- that is specially good there, though, there is hardly anything to be seen in Germany that cannot be seenas good, or better, in Great Britain or America. " The greatest, general lesson, to be gained from America is the identifying of the, school life with the public work and. life of the citizen. All the other methods followed at the' best institutions .flow from this. In the elementary school, for example, scholastic subjects, generally speaking, are not accounted of so: much', importance as the development of the child's mind in its relations tn society and things in nature* and the civilisation in whiph it lives. . In some of the schools much more of the initiative rests 'with the pupils, under the direction of the teacher, than is .the case, with us. There-is less instruction which depends on booksj and in ono school,*in a suburb of Boston, I heard lessons, both in English-and. iii arithmetic, in ,which all the questions were put by one pupil to another, while .the teacher criticised, and now and then' directed.' The' pupils thought out their own questions, which were oxtremely good and practical. In regard to .the 'English lessons, .it- was, remarkable how children of fourteen.and fifteen years directed their whole attention to learning: the mind of the author. Questions of grammar,.form, etc., disappeared, and'- the recognition-' of beauty and comprehension of 'the : puthorls meaning -were made the chief ends in view. "Neither on the Continentnor in America was there anything of, what-I call the examination'fever. The progress of the'pupils, is tested by the teachers themselves,: and. there aro-no examinations by outside-persons',ex-cept .'to a very limited extent. . . ■ :■■ ■ : TRAINING'OF TEACHERS. During his tour Mr. Hogben devoted much attention to ■ the subject, of.- the' training: of teachers. Tho three institutions which found most suggestive in this connection were Jena University, in Germany; tho Teachers' Training College, Columbia University;' and' the- Education Department's institution at Chicago. The Columbia • Collegeis the largest and, , he thought,'-the most ■interesting. Both there and at , Chicago the staffs, wore very largo, and everything is-'done, in it very thorough manuer. A great.work' is being' done, in Canada -and .the United Statps in training teachers in that department 'of nature , , study which - verges on the agricultural industries. M'Donald's College, ' at ■ St. - Ann, • near ■ 'Montreal/ contains three separate institutions, >an agricultural college, a domestic- science college,, and a teachers', .training college. These , institutions'were fonnded by. a'private benefactor, at. a cost of 2,500j000. dollars for th'= buildings and equipment. • The 'teachers' j .training college was' established for the benefit' of rural' teachers, but it is actually used by most".of'the teachers'of Montreal in* respect of all lines of work. The Guelph Agricultural College in Ontario, which Mr. Hogben visited, afso ' owes !much to the M'Donald whose generosity has endowed St. Ann. . . ■ •..'.-. V '

■■- - , NEW SUBJECTS'. Domestic ' science,.- in , which' Canterbury College is establishing a chair, nature.study, and agricultural .work are. subjects. stuTin an early, stage in other. countries; it is ■ too .soon yet for their effects.to-be 'noted..Nature study is receiving a good deal of'attention in-many places, but Mr. Hogben thinks that if-Now Zealand'goes on with this movement, > as it is, doing, now., the Doininion v will be as forward in this respect as any'.part' of 'the world, since,'its niachiuory allows'more'direct expansion than that .of any of' tho other countrios. i . . .-.'■,'-. •■■;.'.'"■' SCHOOL HYGIExN'E. - ■' ', Mr.. Hogben : was present at .the International Conference of School .Hygiene in London,, which was,attended;by nien.of ,the first rank'from nearly, all the countries.-of Europe, from America, and even from Japan. ~ The most, important, question treated was the inspection- and hygienic control , of, school .children. Surprise was expressed when' Mr. Hogbeii" stated that in this country there was no necessity-to-con-sidbr the question of' under-fed . school children, which is one of the problems at Home. Themedical inspection of school children in different. places visited took a good many different forms. The whole question of howmuch should oe done by the teacher, arid how much by the doctor, and at whose expense, was very fully discussed at the Conference, and this subject is likely 'to form a feature of one part of the. InspectorGeneral's official report. ■ DEAF MUTES AND DEFECTIVES. • Mr. Hogben.also attended a Deaf Mutes' Conference at Edinburgh,'and visited .'some of the institutions represented. Tho Coilferonco was almost unanimous in its opinion that lines • practically tho same as those on which,the Sumuur Institute is conducted aro the' best that can' he followed, and Mr. Hogben fo.und that tho general system therb adopted is displacing other systems all over tho world. As , regards the treatment of defectives, Mr." Hogbon states that schools aro still'only fooling their way in every placo. ;Tho subject .has not become a "fixed science" ynt. It is more nearly so in the caso of imbeciles, where the limitations are better known. INTEREST IN NEW ZEAL'AND.' : Mr.. Hogbon found that New Zpiiland was oxciting a good dual of interest in other countries in connection with its advanced legislation and ether matters. He was"sur : prised, to find "low much was known-about its education system , oven in such countries as Germany-iiid Italy.. Our cadet system was widely: known,' and even in ' countries wliere' conscription ruled was regarded with much , interest.. It was often suggested that, in v.iow of--the completeness of-the New Zealand education system, this country had not* much to learn abroad; but this - ; was partly'said in , compliment j and'it was recognised also, that the conditions were.'simpler and more favourable in New Zealand than .in. the older countries.- : - ■ ■ < .■•■■■.