RURAL SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 904, 25 August 1910, Page 8

RURAL SCHOOLS.

. BETTER ; TREAT!yiENT;WANTED, THE "MAN BEHIND THE GUN.: , . Yesterday, at the conference of delegates from the Education, Boards of New Zealand,' one.of .the mo'st interestdebates of the -.day's proceedings was', that which centred about the following remit from the Otago Board: — . "That justice will not bo done to '." the rural schools.-of the Dominion . until a-distinct,cleavage is made m the.classification of country and " city schools, and suitable regulations for tho instruction, examina-. tion, and promotion of tho pupils, -.. and.for tho appointment of teachers I .'hi' the'respective classes of schools .-. be'inaugurated." .... A Cleavage—But Not a Chasm. In support of the:motion, the Rev. P; B. Eraser said that tho principle involved had the unanimous support of oducatipnists and. persons interested ■ in'; education of that section of the public press which took an interest in educational questions, "and he. ventured to predict that it would : soon have .the whole-hearted support of , the school cotnniittees of tho Dominion. The word "cleavage", in the .terms of.the motion was.not to be..interpreted as a "chasm." What was implied was' a method of differentiation as urban, and jural . .schools, '.involving ; the projvision ,of '.'special' attention t0... the ilatter. ' / Tho' speaker went 'on to .'characterise in terms of the strongest denunciation- , the ,- perpetuation of a ' system .',' of education which , secured for' ; t'he children-.of , urban districts vastly better treatment in the matter of education than those.'in 1 the rural flistricts. The salaries.offered for teac-h- - .'the country woro such- as to make it a matter of the 'greatest, difficulty to-fill these, and-fre-quently, when they were filled, only inferior teaching" ability. wa>; available. It was.-small encouragement to tho country settler to find his family so situated.-: >'.; ; .;-., ■ -.' ■' :.; .-,- .'.;.... , Oood Teachers Scarce. i ; J.. Parr (Auckland); cordially endorsed "the remarks of the previous speaker.. The quality :bf tho' teaching ability; available, .for country appointments in. the remote parts of the Auck-land-district was'of the most wretched description, he averred, and if was not a fair thing for tho country settler. , Mr. Gilchrist, ! (Southland) asserted, that" it was a question of morioy—the education vote would require- to be increased. ' , .--. •'..' .'. '-.• -, Mr. Opie (North Ganterbury) quoting from past reports of. education board inspectors stated, that much.of.'the' dissatisfaction and inefficiency which was' noted in the 'education,- system' of., to--day was due to its.vagueness andinn-. certainty... -It;.was certainly-a fact. that, freedorii' of classification, had .not been a.wise thing,'at least it/was a privilege 'which-.should , .'riot'.have been granted-to ■all teachers'. , „ \A great •"• niahy .-of the : country teach-ars were not ■ qualified to classify their pupils in tlie liest interests of efficiency. '■ ' .■;■.'.'-'■■,,- , : I :- '■; Yes— But ;how? '' : ; ; - V;': , : ■'■Mr!:. , . Lee (Wellington) :said. that if they, desired to raise .'.tho':. standard'oi. '-tho,.'small school. they, would. have, to raise, the , salary. -In' , theory , tho .idea of "differentiation" looked,;all right, but when it/came to°its practical operation, , '.' he failed', to ■ se« : how , they wero going. to , do it. It was too;visioriary. So-far as the old system of.standardising the : classes,; ho had .been: tho first, to. insti- , tute. ;.its : operation ;-,■ in ;.New ! Zealand/, and he ;.'was:';.not'i;'.quit© so' .sure ;,that "a ' mbdificatiori of that, ■system-would, not be better, than absolute, '■ freedom of classification. . ' : "Barking Up the•■-Wrong' Tree." =. -The chairman (Mr. Pirani) said that .delegates w.ero\ i "barkinjg'.up the wrong ■tree." The wholo .burden l of ':. com-plaint-was; that sufficient salaries were not;'paid. -for'-:'...country!; appointments. All "he could say was 'that delegates who .wanted to pay more than £90 .year' for the' teaching of eight pi"nine children were putting up a proposition, which they would not dream of in their o\rn businesses. Iri his opinion, the 'Department ' paid , 'the country teacher handsomely. The point' to. get at was the efficient preparation of the country, breach for his. ivork. In' thd AVanganiii Board* they had. a system of training-by which a country teacher, was given a month's•:experience in-a rural, school under supervision before taking up. his.appointment. : The Inspector-Ceneral's Remarks, At this, stage it. was suggested that the Inspector-Gerieral ,of Schools ■ (Mr. 'G. ■ Hogben) should enlighten jjje.' conference on certain aspects \of the discussion so, far; as it had'gone. - . Mr. Hogberi ■ consented, and' was about', to speak when' the .'Rev.' P. B.' , Frasor objected. ; It was riot right, he, said,': that an issue of this : nature, should be'influenced either one way or another, by the opinions expressed by the Inspector-General. : ■. : . ■ The,question was. put-to the vote, a unanimous call for the Inspector-General..: , '■':.-.' '..''■'■' ' Mr. /Hogben ! said.- that he was glad to have the, privilege of hearing such criticism's as had been expressed by the.delegates with reference to his Department; and would have pleasure'in recommending the adoption of such of tho proposals of' the conference as of--.fereu a practical. nieaus ; of improving the present system. ' -Ori'" the subject 'of tho syllabus, he desired to say that at the last- Education Conference that much-discussed " budget ■ of regulations and suggestions had. been' freely criticised, and approved. '. Complaint had been made that the syllabus was weak in that the , essentials, did not receiyo sufficient attention. He would reply 'that,'- in the case, of English, fnorcstudy was insisted upon than any syllabus that had "(yet been drafted. No less than ten and a half hours per week was; what that subject should receive altogether. Generally',' speaking, .'the opinions : which had been passed upon the .syllabus was that it was a great improvement upon : its predecessor. Howover, ..the .main issue , at this juncture -was how to improve the country school.: There was only one way—to improve "the man behind the gun." If a teacher' who was, in constant coritact with his pupils ' throughout. the year was unable, to classify them according to their abilities, then all he could say was that that teacher was ill-fitted for his work. It might be that the inspectors could with advantage step in in cases of this kind —no doiibt they did so—but it might bo a matter for consideration whether something should not bo done to improve -this aspect of the matter. . ; .'

, Mr. Hamilton (South Canterbury) said that despite Mr. Hogben's assurance that .the syllabus was a great improvement, the, fact remained ■.. that thero had been evident no improvement in results. (Hear, hoar.) . . Tho Otago remit, with tho following, were adopted:— . "That this conference is of opinion that the' system of examination of schools, ami of promotion of pupils, whereby tho whole, responsibility for the examination and promotion of pupils and for the courses of work is placed on all teachers, is inimical to the best interests of education in the smaller rural schools of the Dominion, and that power- should be given to boards to specify in what schools these responsibilities should bo imposed on the head teacher."