NOTES ON EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 813, 10 May 1910, Page 4

NOTES ON EDUCATION.

(Br "Socrates.")

"Tliero is still room for improvement in" tho working. of the' School' Attendance . Act," says Mr. J. Dineon, Truant Inspector for tho' Wellington Education Board. "Fleece-picking was the cause of some very bad attendance (luring November and. December, last. Three particularly had cases wore brought before tho Court, the worst being that of thci son of the chairman of a country school committee. Tho boy had mado no school attendanco for nearly four months. During part of tho time. I believe the boy was sick. Her was employed from November 9 to December 23 at fleece-picking, receiving 255. per week. Tho cause of absence given tt> the master was "sickness."' Tho master knew that the boy t was working, hut did not report him for, being absent.. I found out :his absence on visiting .the. school and examining tho. register. The case, was-brought before the local, court, sis informations, being laid; and fines of-105.,-with costs .75,,. were imposed in each case, The Bench, when dealing with the case, spoke very . strongly .to the defendant, who, ..by tho. way, had been warned before. 'The proceedings will havo a good effect on that district;. This oftenco has been on the increase;/ and I' folt quito justified in .taking a very firm- stand fin that- particular occasion."

The teaching profession in the "Old Country is evidently in aj bad way, to I judge from the recent "warning" which has'been issued by the National Union of Teachers, to parents against allowing, their children to accept the "risks of entering-the teaching profession." After enumerating various points, the leaflot goes' on to state : that students of good character when highly trained at ■ considerable expenso to their parents, as well.as to the'ratepayer and taxpayer, are .unable to find employment, oven at low salaries) as tho following figures illustrate; —Of 4384 teachers who lefi the-Training College in July. 1908, at least 1226 were' without employment threo moaths .later, and twelve months later 259 wore known to' be still without employment. 0f'4336. students who left the Training College-in July, 1909 i 528 were still without employment in October, 1909. In conclusion is proffered in the following terms:— "When the sripply of candidates is regulated to meet the demand for teachers, and when by the spread of educational reforms there is a reasonable chance of your children finding employment in a school, then 'lot them" become teachers, but that 'time is not now."

■ Mr. John Ord, Superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department, in

the. Glasgow Police, recently, gave nn address, on the subject of "Tho .Wastago of Youth. Between: the Ages of 14 and 20,'.' bafo're' the. Educational Institute' of Scotland.- For; the' past tbrco-quar-tcrs of. a century;* hp said various Acts of Parliament hadjWn. passed 'with. a' view t0... impr.ovin'gVitfta' condition of., the working classes,.ami- preventing the continual augnientation,y i of..' I the crhrfinal] classes, but ,tho 'result#'had;.,seldom or, ever come up, to,.the,-expectations o£ the prorr.cters of,-Aho' .Vets. rfeffined.- to,- arid' that' was particularlyftru'(i 'in tlid case' of. the youth ' <)f rl both. sdxesV■ The; speaker was'of'-opinion ing iby boys. and-' girisi: was, an .uhrniti-. gated eviL. Once a boy. became a street! (rador-he. was easily, on the, road .to'' becoming'a- corner loafer, or,. \n- all probability,, a criminal: 'Attempts'diad ■ boeff : made '■ to suppress, this evil v-.by. legislation, but .'tlio.' evil "still existed; 1 and would continuo.to i trading' was 1 abolished ''.entirely.'' ; Thero ■ HSse'ttdd, fcti; become more■ lenient, with, children.. The .b.ecdih'e.'a/'siirio.us problem, ..and .the coddling of him,;was .nbt!:iinproving him.V,-.The. use. Approbation -as a . reformative-.had ,yot to bo regarding: children'; 1 so- 'far as his ; experience, "went it had'proved ii complete failure as reg'sids adults.' Be:! yond laying' befqre them sejeril: facts and clearing up some papular', fallacies .as to the criminal classes,', ho had not attempted a- solution ;-of ; -the : problem of the , wastage...of. youth, except-that

he was emplvirticr upon'-the ;>prohibitiori of ntreot trading"-by- .'children.'''-'." Dr. Andrew/' His "Majesty's '.Chief . In-, spertor -of^Sohoolsi-'istiid., .'lie was .iii thorough : agreement; .with.Mri .Ord as to the ab'solute' necessity of measures

being taken-,to:-put--<lown street -trad-, ing.. It seemed, tift'liiw tbat. all such philanthropic-'Undertakings -as- Newsboys' Leagues, giving thoso boys drives and. treats, and 'everything' to make their lot'more agreeable, was ' utterly mistakon. Dr. Andrew referred to the chango in modern economics",; which had practically destroyed the"'apprenticeship system, with its. great'moral discipline. The question .was what was to take its place. . A fearful wastage was going on. They had built expensive schools, they had highly-trained-teachers, and they were carrying on.. a - great campaign against ignorance,-. and yet' there was this'mournful result.

Dr. Dyoj said'they often., asked 'themselves the question, how far-, was education trying to solve the problems with which they were confronted/ 'J'hoy had just paid too- much attention, he sometimes thought, to what was "usually called tochilica] education, because after all a* comparatively small number wore able to apply might bo called technical education. They should, of course, .fit tliem to. become intelligent workmen, but above all they should give them a good goneral'education. ■Education, if it did not lead to tho.

farther exertion of tho scholar,was worse than useless.

; • There is a tendency, on tho .part -of. some educationists in New, Zealand to regard tho teaching of history' • in. schools as a kind of perfunctory observance. Tliero is no donbt at all that in 1 many of our schools this subject is "•slummed'! over. In a recent lccturo on tho subject of "Tho Teaching of History in tho Secondary Schools," delivered beforo tho members of tho Secondary' Education Association of Scotland,- Sir Oliver -Lodge remarked that history was on tho wholo tho most essential subjcct for the education of our future citizens. Tho British Constitution, which had served aa .a model 'throughout tlio world,, was mainly based upon precedents and conventions. Tho relations of the House of Lords .to money bills, tho dispute about tacking, tho concurrent power of legislation of tho Houso of Lords which was erroneously and niisleadingly termed veto, tho prominonco of tho horeditary qualification in tho composition of the Houso of Lords, all thoso woro questions which could ;only be properly understood by looking at their historical setting. Tlio question of Irish Homo Rule could not bo fully understood or grasped without reference to past history, to the relations of Ireland fustly to England and afterwards Great Britain, and to other historical examples of homo rule. It ,was. said that tho history learned at school was no'use for a voter. Would tho ordinary citizen, acquire that knowledgo in after life ?. In tho vast majority of cases lie would acquire it in tho newspapers by the writings of professed partisans. Tho history they acquire would bo comparatively worthless history, becauso it would bo a building constructed .without any foundation. Speaking of tho educational valuo of history, ho said that it had certain very'great educational -uses. It was perhaps tho best method of training and disciplining tho imagination—a faculty which was too often left to take care of itself. History also supplied a very valriablo training to tho reasoning faculties, and it was a neoesearj;.

training -in. citizenship. The most prominent place should be given to the history, not of England, 01 Scotland, or Ireland, but tko history of Great Britain. More attention should bo paid to the study of the general history and progress of the world. An effort should bo inado this direction by lcctures or chronological tables; or by some grouping of tko. subject round gre.at- epochs. -"What was wanted was tho ability to throw one's mind over considerable areas of - time, "to realise what the progress of time had been, and to what had been great and fundamental changes in long periods in the history of the world. Dealing with the Question of how history should be taught, lie said that the text-book and oral instruction wcro both abso-' lately necessary, neither being adequate alone. Tho subject must be. taught by more or less ,of an expert,'for that, was the only way in which success could be obtained. He firmly believed that every school which . organised its teaching in an efficient manner, which provided an expert, and interested teachor, and which encouraged that teacher to' really teach the .subject.' 6f history in'tho way in which ho had sketched out, that school was rendering an enormous service, not only to. tho University, but also to the State 1 and to' its future'citizens.'