THE SCHOOL SYLLABUS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 549, 2 July 1909, Page 7

THE SCHOOL SYLLABUS.

CONFERENCE AT AUCKLAND. VIEWS OK TEACHERS. dty.Tolograpti.-yresa Aned'cjation,) 'Auokland, Juno 30. At tho Education Conference this, afternoon an inteiesting discussion took plnco on n resolution irovod by Mr. C M Jlimro, oi Romnora, on bohalf of tho Educational Institute. "That tho present syllabus, though undoiibtecllj mnrrcd by some defects, is, broadly speaking, nn excellent ono, and is ill accordance with modoin idras on education " The mover said tho syllabus aimed at tho development of tho faculties of the child through observation, and through reading, and avoided rnero cramming. As teachers, it ga\o them tho right to draw up their own ooureo of instruction, and this was one of its. best.features. Anothor excellent feature was that it placed the classification of pupils W tho hands of tho headmaster, which, he thought, wa? satisfactory to both teachers and to inspector , ; Tho syllabus was an advance on tug previous one, and v.as eo liberal that teachers sometimes hesitated to take full advantage of it, and it had not been al--1 together liberally interpreted by some of the mspectois. Mr. Stewart (inspector), in seconding, said bettor work could be dono under this syllabus than under any that had been previously drawn up Mr I*i R M'Kenzio said though there were defeats in tbo syllabus, it was not fair to put the bkme on tho inspectors The tpacheA had bisen given a chance to get away from the old groove, but, m man;? cpses, this had not been dono They had come to look upon their shackles as articles of adornment, if not of practical utility. lie criticised the teaching of history in particular saying that it was an absolute disgrace that public school children learnt so little It was a good syllabus, but he did not think ho would call it a very good syllabus, and certainly not an oxcellrnt onq One of ite main faults was, that it loft too much to tho teachers' selection Much of what was laid down in the syllabus was indefinite, and he thought that many of the faults in the results obtained in English wero due to this fact. / , Mr. L. J Bagnall wos rather surprised at tho motion, considering the complaints they had had about the syllabus nt the Education Board meeting. The general opinion seemed to be that /'tno throe R's" wero very much neglected in tbo public schools. He moved an amendment: "That the word 'good' bo substituted for 'exccllont.'"

After further discussion, the amendment was lost, # aud the motion affirmed ou I the voices. ' , j , AucHland, July 1. At the sitting of tho Educational Conference this morning, Mr. Parr, chairman of the Board of Education, said members of the board did not'wish it to go forth that they concurred in the resolution passed that the syllabus was on excellent one. Tne question as Ito what wore compulsory subjeote and what wore not was so complicated that it seemed time the uholo syl)a.bus went into tho molt-wg-pot After the disastrous results of 'tho siitJi standard examination in commercial geograph), tho board intended to have that subject properly taught in future. A raotioi was earned, with two dissentient*, that tho principle of tho right of teachers to mako a reasonable selection trout thosyllabus is not adequately recognised in' , this district. Mr Armstrong said he had heard a high educational authority say chat the syllabus was a good syllabus for strong teachers, but' not for weak teachers Jlr. Potiie, Chief Inspectoi, said it would bo impossible to have varied piogrammes of examination in various schools He had very littlo sympathy with tho syllabus as fai a? tho geography course was concerned, and ho would be prepared to go into the mattpr with his inspectors and consider tho advisabihty of setting more questions in the examination papers. i On the motion of Mr Russell, tho following resolution was earned. "That geography ijs unduly omrthasisod in tho present syllabus, and under the present conditions too much |ime 15 being devoted to tho preparation of pupils for written examination difficult mathematical geography to tho exclusion of other important phases of tho subject" \X good deal of discussion foHowedj and the opinion was generally expressed "that top miich time wm devoted to mathematical geography, with the result that commercial geography suffered Jlr IMrie, Chief Inspector, brought forward a proposal that "the plan of teaching history and geography in Course B by tho nso 'of reading-books, a 4 approved by tho present syllabus, has proved unsatisfactory, and should bo abandoned for some moro effco tivo linangcmrot " Mr. 1 Garland heconded the motion MrnParr said tho system of teiching history add geography m primary schools was littlo short of scandalous Tho Sixth Standard children know practically nothing of thn basic prmciples of history and geography If the cnildron worn to ho inculcated with a foeling of patriotism and lo\o of Emmre it woe to br through a knowledge of British history The boys of to-day ucro not to be comparod with tho boy , ! of fifteen yoais ago >n the knowledge of history and geography , Tho following amendment'was accepted bv Mr Potrie "That tho teiohing of history and geography m Course B by means of the text-books now in use has proved, unsatisfactory, and this eonferenco woloomes tho statement that had been made , by the chairman of the Education Board that a change is to bo made, thn conference further affirms that such reading should be supplemented by oral teaching "