NOTES ON EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 804, 29 April 1910, Page 7

NOTES ON EDUCATION.

(Br "Soceates.")

Having heard the latest pronouncement by the Minister for Education (the Hon. Geo. Eowlds) on tho subject of the agitation for a high school proper at Petone, those who have tho interests of education in tlie Hutt Valley at heart will do well 'to consider whether these interests will not be better served by desisting from any further attempts to secure the establishment of separate high' schools at the Hutt and Petone, -and endeavouring to secure, by united effort, the establishment of a properlyequipped and fully-staffed secondary college, and centrally situated, in ample space, to serve the requirements of secondary education for the whole of the Hutt Valley. Any agitation to that end will be deserving of all the support and encouragement that can bo given to it, and, it may be safely asserted, will bo assured of a ful result if the Ministerial observa*tions to: the deputation which interviewed Mr. IWlds on Tuesday last count for anything. The Minister very properly declined to entertain any suggestion that Petone should receive preferential treatment in the matter of liigher education at the expense of the Hutt, for that is what, the proposition really amounted to, but. plainly hinted that a centrally-situated secondary college for tlie Hutt Valley would not be distasteful to him. . The principjo underlying snch a policy is a perfectly sound one, and it will be a matter for extreme regret if local differences on this question' are allowed to interfere with tlie general interests of the Valley as a whole.

Masterton, at the present moment, is considerably exercised over the question of rural secondary education. In a way, there is something to be said for the attitude of the school authorities in. Masterton, though their point of view is easily assailable. Shortly, tho position is this: The Wellington Education Board has accepted the lino of policy suggested hy the Education Department on. tho subject of special programmes of work for the district high schools in rural districts, and arranged courses of instruction for the secondary classes with special reference to agricultural subjects, the idea being 'that all rural high schools should, in their courses of instruction, have an agricultural bias, 'as distinct from tho formal grammar school courses prescribed .for secondary classes in tho city.' Masterton objected, their grounds of objection being, mainly, that pupils attending the Masterton District High' School secondary classes wore compelled to take the special course suggested by the Education Department to the board; and so were placed under certain disabilities with respect to tho matriculation examination. This objection was met by a modification of tho course to the extent that pupils desiring to proceed to matriculation were, allowed' to include Latin in their curriculum of study. A further pbjection was then raised that under the course prescribed, with the modification agreed to with respect to Latin, pupils could not matriculate under four years, whereas' in the grammar school course in the city institutions the matriculation work could be covered in a less period. This latter objection cannot. hold in the . face of the principle laid down by, the University. Senate at its last meeting,, viz., that the standard of matriculation, which had deteriorated; seriously, should he raised by imposing conditions of study that could only, be met satisfactorily oy a four years' course for tho average type of candidate. The General Conference on .Education held in February last endorsed this principle, arid. no cducat'enist of standing will dispute the soundness of that principle. Masterton, people have therefore no reason, to fear that the-,interests of their secondary pupils have been threatened in any way. If a student in a rural centre can be trained'to think correctly and express himself intelligently along certain lines of study with which from the. peculiar circumstances, of his environment ho is familiar, and that without prejudicing his prospects of advancement in any urban pursuit in which ho may desire in the future to engage,_ then the question as to whether his' study at the. secondary classes should partake either of .'the nature of "a "rural" or; of 'a "grammar school" course would appear to be im-. material.

Head teachers everywhere, but more especially in tho country districts, will j acknowledge that Mr. Geo. Flux, headmaster of Wellington South School, has done no small service to the profession by-his dear and emphatic pronouncement to the householders of his district at the School Committee election on Thursday Inst, as to respective spheres of authority of a headmaster and his School Committee. Last year, the Wellington South Committee. expressed a desire -that the school should be represented at certain competitions. Mr. Flux declined, basing his opposition to the committee's proposal on his belief that competitions were not good for the children', as they created unhealthy ideals. The result was an unpleasant situation, which was only ended by.tho ■vote of confidence which the householders accorded the headmaster at the annual meeting. So far as the question of school competitions is concerned, many teachers will be inclined to differ from Mr.- Flux, but that is not the point. Tho point is, as Mr. Flux himself told the committee, that the responsibility for the conduct of the school rests, not with the committee, but with the headmaster. Though it is possiblo that the power conferred upon the headmaster of a school by the acceptance of this principle might, occasionally, be abused m cases where a teacher does not appreciate his proper relationship to his friends—i.e., his School Committee—any attempt at a. compromise on the question of responsibility as between headmaster and committee would only lead to friction between the two. as certain headmasters in this district' have had cause to realise in the past. Hence, for the benefit of those headmasters who aro deficient in that indefinable quality which may be described as tho, "ability to .govern"— a' rare quality—it is well that the line of demarcation between -the teacher's and tho committee's, authority should be i'clearly defined. There are constitutional methods of dealing with any teacbor in most cases, but smoothing the path | of a teachor who has surrendered part of his authority in a weak compromise with his committee is loss easy.