EDUCATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1455, 1 June 1912, Page 15

EDUCATION.

OUR SYSTEM UNDER REVIEW. THE COMMISSION SITS. INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OPINIONS. The Commission recently sot up by thi ■Government to inquire into the educatioi System of the Dominion, and tho adminis tration of the education vote, met in th< Parliament Buildings yesterday. Th< following members were present :—Messrs 31., Cohen (chairman),-W. , Dnvidson, J P. Kirk, J\ Pirani, J. C. Thomson, M.P. and T. M. Wells. Mr. H. Poland, M.P. was the only member absent. Order of Reference. The Commission was instructed'to in quire into the following matters:— 1. The cost of State edncation in re spect to primary, manual, technical, anc secondary; and its relation to efficiency 2. The administration of the centra! department. 3. The powers and rights possessed respectively by education boards* and other local educational authorities,, and .whether they should be extended. i. The expenditure , on mnmial and technical instruction, and the question of local responsibility in regard to pro.riding portion of funds therefor. _ 5. The amalgamation, of local govern- • »ng or controlling bodies. 6. (Jverlapping and duplication. J. i'ho finimce of education boards, ■high school and. manual and technical governing bodies. ' 8. .Agrioultural instruction and rural Courses. , 9. In what respects school instruction can be improved and made- of more practical value' in equipping pupils foi their future careers. 10. Scholarships and free places. What changes, if any, should bo made, in this connection. ; 11. And generally in what respects improvements can be made to secure higher efficiency, better administration and' coordination and the securin? of greater value for tho nnmial expenditure on the m? c , °* ? d 'jcation above referred to. The Commission is authorised and empowered, to conduct the inquiry into the foregoing matters at Dunedin. ': ChrfsTchurch, Wellington, and. .Auckland at such-times-as;may be deemed expedient, Tvitßi power to adjourn from time to time and from- place to place. Power is given to examine" witnesses on oath and to call for and examine books and records likely to aftord information. •tha!;7«s: istor€portnonater ' Preliminaries. The Hon: J. A. Hanan, Minister for CoimuU° ? ' w * lcomed ' the members of the In discussing the proposed itinerary of -Unfortunate- that the inquiry should be confined by the order of reference to the four.large.districts. The conditions in tho smaller districts were different in matoy ways from tho=e in the big towns. It should at least be possible for the Commission to take evidence in some of the smaller centres passed through. , Mr. Pirani wished that the Commission should. viMt;\Y.angamii, but he recognised that witnesses'from most of the smaller districts, could bo brought to the centres at less expense, than would bo involved in the moving .of .-the. Commission to ■ the smaller-centres to hoar their evidence If time permitted the : ,, Commission ou"ht to go to some of-,the smaller towns/ especi-ally.on..the.West-Cdast.-of .the .South IsJand,. where reforms were needed more than anywhere else. The chairman said he feared the order of reference the Commission to tne tour centres. It, was decided to sit at Auckland on luesilay morning next at 10 o'clock. ■ Air. Pirani then suggested that it would be advisable .to proceed at once-to the s , o " t , h .fslanfefrom,-A-uclila.nd, and-to sit at W ellmgton last of all. Then if thero .was time they could ask the Minister to modify tho order of reference to allow the Commission to sit - in other smaller districts. It was remarked that the Commission ha « only three clear weeks in which to complete its labours. "I think it is absurd to nttempt such a gigantic task in threo weeks," said Mr. Davidson. . Mr. Pirani thought they might bring m an interim report, and apply for an extension of time afterwards. The chairman advised that the question ot an extension of time should be left for £ I : l J 3e !- ng -'' He ,vns sure tne members of theXommission were-agreed upon this: that they were going into the matter with the intention of making "a proper job of it." (Hear, hear.) ' « w>3 agreed at length to postpone further consideration of tho itinerarv,7nd *°.y x it. during the stay at Auckland. .Mr. Kirk, sought to correct the imprespiuu that the commission was debarred trom taking evidence from university proiesfors. },o recommendations could be made as to university work, but the evidence should bo taken if possible. Mr. Davidson said he proposed to move wer that . two . Wellington professors should be asked to give evidence. In the course of a debate as to how best evidence might be secured, Mr. Pirani urged that," instead of inviting all and sundry to come forward as witnesses, it would be well.simply to ask those willing to give evidence to notify the commission on the points on which they desired to be heard. This would make it possible for the commission to prevent waste of time, a very important matter in view of the short time available. The chairman said he did not wantthe commission to be obsessed by the id*>a that they must report by .Tuiio 25. "1 may tell you candidly," be added, "that if I thought that, I would not be here for one hour." It was arranged that before the commission should .set out for Auckland, tho Inspector-General should make a statement explaining all that was to be covered by the inquiry. THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL, REVIEWS EDUCATION SYSTEM. Mr. George "Hogben, Inspector-General of Schools, referred to the various headings of the order of reference. The first, as to cost, he thought it unnecessary to traverse, as the information he could give was fully set out in tho education reports. Then he proceeded to explain in great detail how Hie revenue from endowments was distributed, how much of it there was, and generally summarised and remarked upon the reports of the Department. He explained ulso the administration of the central office, and at tho-sii"-gestion of Mr. Pirani ho agreed to prepare a return , showing the cost of every branch of the Department, and tho duties of every officer. The return would also show how the work of the Department had grown of late years, and. the efforts to de.il with it. „ With reference to the powers posseted respectively by education boards and other lor-.'il educational 'authorities,' and as. to whether they .should be extended, he held that education boards-should control all education in their-districts, of what kind eoever—primary, secondary, and technical. Ho assumed that if this were to come, education boards would bo popularly elected. He believed in only one franchise for everything in the country, and naturally that would bo the Parliamentary franchise. He was not sure that education boards should have powers to make all appointments to secondary schools. He would like the boards to nrove that they were qualified before giving them this power, but he admitted that the Education Board at Wanganui had been given that power without any bad result. He thought boards should have general control, but it seemed to him advisable that every school, primary, secondary, or technical should retain its own board of governors or committee of management. - It was most important tnat there should be no -interference with teachers in the. methods by which they should teach or control thnir schools. University colleges and training colleges should I: s> outside the control of boards. He thought three of the boards in New Zealand vcaie- too small, and he was not sure that the Auckland district was too large to be properly administered by-one board. Overlapping Not an EviJ. As to Head 6, he said it' did not seem to him essential that there should be no overlapping or duplication as among schools of different classes. There must

be overlapping between primary and secondary schools, and there might bo over-' lapping between tho higher branches of teaching in tho technical schools, and tho teaching in' the university colleges. Tho technical schools trained an apprentice to the engineering trade, and the university equipped a man for the profession of engineering. The methods of teaching would bo entirely different, but there must bo overlapping; the technical school work would be mainly practical, but incidentally scientific, and in the university the. work would bo mostly Scientific,. but also in part practical. Methods of Teaching. Tho questions involved in Heading 8 were very big ones indeed. Demands were very often made by business iirnis for boys fully equipped to take up the work of an office, whoso handwriting was formed and whoso arithmetic was perfect. Such demands were not reasonable. But it was far better to turnout boys trained to tiso their brains in any occupation, rather than to turn them out equipped as junior clerks. He thoi--oughly believed in "vocational training." By this he did not mean that pupils should be turned ont as finished produels, ready to take their places in offices or shops. He referred rather to the choice of subjects, which should bo _ made having regard to the pupils' present environment and their probable futuro life. Formerly the instruction in our schools had been too literary or too formal. The pupil had too littlo to do, by way of exercises, to establish correlation between the brain and tho hand .and tho eye. The methods of instruction were eo far removed from tho children's own experience of tilings 'that school, work was looked upon as something having no relation whatever to life. As soon as a child • thought that school work had no practical relation to life, the moral fibre of the scholar was apt to be weakened. It was one of the most remarkable things about our British system in past yenrs that it produced a state of things in which a schoolboy forgave himself with the utmost ease for the complete neglect of his school duties. And his schoolfellows backed him up in his judgment. He referred especially to the teaching of arithmetic, which was much too formal. It should be made more practical, na it was in America. He did not believe in the miscellaneous reading book at all. He would teach reading entirely out of interesting books. The- teaching of science ' should have reference to the pupil's cvery-day experience. This was why so much importance was attached to nature study nowadays-.

Special Courses. He would have in every secondary school vacatfonal' courses. Owing to the requirements of the professional examinations it would be necessary to retain many of the pure learning classes. In every secondary school there should be a commerce course, not to turn out expert clerks, but to instruct boys in some commercial subjects. There must be a course in agriculture. Agriculture was the greatest industry in this country, and likely to remain so for many years. > It was a serious mistake to neglect it—a mistake that had been made too long already. It was a subject which got very close to the facts of nature, and might bo made a useful scientific study for boys or girls, whether they were destined to be agriculturists or not. He would have a. course in applied science for boys, lending up to engineering or some other branch of applied science. For girls he would suggest a cour.se of domestic science. He did not believe in the establishment of different schools for different courses. It would, be too expensive, and it was unnecessary. About three-fifths of" the school work would bo the same, and it might be that the pupils would need to be separated .out. for i their, special subjects only in the afternoons. It was impossible to'tell, at" the age of U ivhat Ti boy wag going to be, and the mistake now being rectified in Germany was that of putting boy.s into a special course at an early age. Foi this reason it was advisable to have all the- special subjects taught at the same school. He did not believe in bread and butter education, which would mean tho sacrificing of mental. l .ijttributes : ,for considerations of mei;e'''''immVdiate "utility:-' The other method would provo in the long run to be really utilitarian. It was arranged that Mr.. Hogben should continue his.evidence to-day at 10 a.m.