NOTES ON EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 544, 26 June 1909, Page 14

NOTES ON EDUCATION.

(Br Botmirmj,

eentry, when ho interviewed & country - teacher'on-a matter affecting tbe punishment of-his son. Tho man, it wae alleged, in Court, had falsely accused the teacher of Bevcccly punishing his child and bad grossly insulted him, using most objectionable- lan-1 guago: whereupon the teacher took the law into his own hands and severely handled i tho complainant. The parent went ,to law, ,and tho caso was dismissed by the Magis- , trate, who remarked that tho defendant had , acted undoKgreat provocation. Tho teacher's application for £3 Is., costs" incurred, was i defrayed by the district institute. Recently, a sub-committee of .the Auckland branch of the New , Zealand Educa- I ' tiomil Institute was set up.to report upon tho alleged .unnecessary moss of official in- ' formation required '.annually from school ( cadet companies, involving considerable 1 clerical work. The committee, reported as follower—' ' , "In addition to keeping a cadet roll throughout the year, cadet officers are required by tho Department to furnish in all five Boparato returns. s They are:. Account book return,' equipment return, challenge shJold return, class-firing return, and capita- , tion claim return. ' "To the firsi thrco but little exception can be taken, a3 the woTk involved is not great, and the information contained therein is ' necessary'to tho Department. \ "Tho class-firing return requires a detailed entry of the points mado in each shot in tho class-firing by each cadet, the total points scored at each, rango, and tho grand total mado by each cadet. -This necessarily is a most tedious return to make out, and wo fail absolutely to see the utility of it. Its useloss- / noss is the more apparent when we come to - tho capitation claim return, which requires the cadet officer to again furnish what wo consider tho most essential part of it, viz., the grand total points scored by each cadet. Wo therefore consider that this return might, without'loss, be dispensed with. ,' "The' capitation claim return is a' most irksome return to moke out, requiring as it does the entry of, tho name and rank of each 'cadet, tho number of parades ho has at- i (i < tended during tho > year, his .age on entering the corps, and;tho total points scored by 1 him in tho class-firing, or tho reason why ho has not completed the class-firing. No such' dotailed'information is asked for in out . •, school returns, which are practically our .' capitation claims, nor' is it asked for in tho | claim for capitation in handwork. We consider that a certificate from tho cadet offi. , cer 'That ( ) cadets in his corps,, having ■ fulfilled .tho, conditions specified in the regulations,", bavb qualified, for capitation,' should suffice." ', ;' > % >, "In conclusion wo would point out tint das ' ;,, excessive clerical work is thrust ,0a- cadet officers at a time, in\Dccember of each year, > when there is'olrcady a press of school work. - It therefore, of necessity, 'moans a heavy tax on their.private time If the returns', as at present required, are'insisted upon, wo consider that tho 'Department should at least recompense cadet extra work j , necessarily entailed." ' ' • c , A copy of the report has been sent on to tie executive of the N.Z.E.I. for its opinion, with Sj.view to making representations to the proper authorities on-the question.' , Note.—"Socrates" will bo glad to receive for pnbKcatJon in this column any further information or suggestion with regard to this question. For some timo past there have » been complainte from cadet officers as to tho burdensome character ofithe clerical work attached to their companies, and ; from the above report it would certainly appear,that there are grounds for this dissatisfaction. *'' : Commßnfting,.nv The "Dompooh .'recently, on tho' impressions gleaned from a visit to N the teachers'' vacation school at Groytawn, -, the writer suggested' that tho Bcope of tho' , training at the Normal School at Thorndon , might bo extended to include teaching: in agncultttral science,' a suggestion'Mspircu by" remark which had been made to him that, owing t6 lack of;accommodation, tho authorities at.the Training College had-been-un-able to adequately oope with . this isubject. t ? ' This suggestion implied' somothing,.not-al-togethor jnst te tho Training College, as the writer has since discovered. True, lack of accommodation at tho college has made it - impossible, to deal' with agricultural science ' to the extent that the pmcipal (Mr. Gray) . would like, but very good work in that subject is, nevertheless, being accomplished with tho present resources of the institution, the -students being regularly practised in tory ~nv experimental agricultural chemistry, botany, and biology. ,".Coming to . tbe training college with so poor an equipment in science and in observational - geography, -graphy, observed Mr.' Gray, in his annual .report, the students have a great deal to do m their, two/years' course, even along this one line, if, they would prepare themsolvcs' tor tbe demands that will shortly bo mado upon them as teachers. 'The most elementary , notions m physics, in chemistry; and in the phenomena of nature , are often 'wanting.! Surely it is a.reflection on 'a -'good deal of .the. education-that has-gone before that it is so, and,constitutes an additional reason for equipping this part of tho collego work'as • fully and adequately as possible, and of pro-: ' viding for it tho services of a'specially qualified science master who can givo his undivided • ( attention to tho subject." - P» Auckland branch of the' New Zealand Educational Institute'has resolved, among «aior thmgs:— - ■• "1. That to the conference of inspectors to ' be hekl early in 1910 to revise tho syllabus, the Minister of Education bo asked to add representatives of headmasters, infant mistresses,fa)lo teachers, and assistants." "2-That in the case of transfer of teachers, when such transfer is brought about by falling attendance or other adverse circumstances, tho removal expenses bo paid by the . Education Department." , i ' . . '