STATE SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1476, 26 June 1912, Page 6

STATE SCHOOLS.

DISAPPEARANCE OF THE BRIGHT BOY. COMMISSION IN CHRISTCHURCH. TEACHERS' DEMANDS. (By Telegraph— Press Association.) Christchurcn, June 25. Tho Education Commission opened its sittings hero to-day. Tho chairman announced that tho time within wiiieh tho report had to be in had been extended to July i. It was decided to ask the officials in tho different education districts to supply statements regarding tho small schools that in their opinion could bo amalgamated. A lengthy statement signed by 'Messrs. G. Perry (chairman) and A. Morton (inspector, ot Westland), was read. They seated that there was general opposition! on the part of parents to any senenie of amalgamation ot educational and school districts. Tho industrial conditions in their district prevented tho adoption of vocational training. Mr. L. B. Wood, ex-school inspector for North Canterbury, condemned the present system of training teachers, and' stated that a system providing for instruction being given at both training college and university was foredoomed to failure. Under tho stress of the system students wero called on to undertake a hopeless bask. Ho recommended that tho Government should appoint an Education Commission, say, of three men to travel in England and the Continent of Europe, to obtain, first-hand knowledge of the best in education. Suggested Improvements.

Mr. 11. Dalziell, chairman of tliq North Canterbury Education Board, in the course of a statement, said that that board was of opinion that in the interests of education, the following modifications or improvements were desirnuie: (1) That the i)J- per cent, per annum on the. cost of construction should bo granted for the maintenance oi' sehoolbuildings, in accordance with the Parliamentary Cdm : . liiit-teo's recommendation, and that the board should be advised as to the actual amounts paid for tho re-buiiilijig; (:!)■ that (he grant for rebuilding omitted in 150U should bo paid over; (3) that where large ureas of land are subdivided, it should bo incumbent on tho owners to reserve school sii.es at tho original cost; (■!) that the allowance for sick pay should be sufficient to enable boards to pay full salary for the first month and half-salary forthe subsequent two months, a second leave within three years to bo on half pay; (5) that special grants should be made to meet the needs of the largo schools in the matter of tho installation of sewerage; (6) that some of tho grant now provided for free school books would bo better spent on copy books, exercise books, paper, etc.; (7) that probationers should receive a large allowance, so as to correspond with the payments mads to, pupil teachers, as of the third and fourth year 3 (in reality their first and second years of service). (S) That while feeling that, frequent periodical examinations by head teachers were unnecessary, the board was of opinion that an annual examination by an inspector would be in the best interests of the children. (9) That the principle of grunting subsidies in tho case of district high schools for the maintenance and improvement of such schools should be extended to all primary schools. II r. '1 , . W. Adams, a member'of the board, emphasised the desirability of returning to the pupil-teacher system. The present syllabus was overcrowded. Tho "three It's" should be emphasised. Shortage of Boys. Mr. T. S. Poster, chief inspector and acting-principal of the Training College, in tho course of his evidence, stated :— "Complaints are occasionally heard of the inferior attainments ot the from the .State schools when first they are put to office work or other forms of employment. This is in a great measure to be explained by the fact that during the recent prosperous years there has been a shortage of Iwys required for a!! kinds of wort. Tlie provision made for free secondary education and for continuation classos of various kinds lias greatly reduced the number of pupils who seek employment fls soon as they pass the sixth standard, and consequently employers are often compelled to put up with an inferior article, and to accept lads for office work who have not passed through the ordinarv primary school curriculum, and whom'their teachers would never think of recommending for positions where neatness and accuracy are reThe chairman questioned Mr. Foster at some length on the subject, and said that tho complaint amqngst employers was that youths were not so well founded in essentials as they were ten or fifteen years ago. Mr ■ Foster remarked that nowadays employers drew from a lower Stratum, owin" to tho greater demands for boys in every walk of life. If tho employer got the finished product he would find them as well equipped as those ten or fifteen years ago. It was desirable that those who did not pass Standard Six should attend continuation classes, and he did not think that they would attend voluntarily.

Teachers' Salaries. The hon. secretary of the Gisborno branch of the Hawke's Bay District Udncationnl Institute, wrote that the branch was of opinion :-(l) That scholarships should be abolished, and boarding allowances to country schools should be substituted; (2) that, wherever practicable, "children should ba conveyed to central schools in place of the multiplication of small schools; (3) that teachers, especially in the lower grades,- are inndequatelv ' paid. That tho dearth of teachers is -due to the absence of prospects; (<t) that more clearness in the svllabus for Standard A T I Liiglish is desirable; (5 that the scope of commercial eccrapliy could be extended, and that the"requirements in physical geography should be correspondingly curtailed; G) that all technical education should be shut out of the primary schools, and taken in continuation and secondary -ehools; (7) that there- should be a Dominion scale of salaries for inspectors, and that the lowest salary paid to an inspector should bo at least equal to the highest ralary paid to a headmaster (i.e.. ,£100); (S) that a Dominion scheme for the promotion of teachers is an urgent necessity; (9) that it would be a decidedly retrograde step to demilitarise tho Junior Cadets of our primary schools. Debating Societies Suggested. Mr. Tly. Bignell, chairman of the Grey Education Board, stated the expenses of the Grey Board amounted to about 8 per cent., and this could not be reduced by any scheme of amalgamation. Boards with a large percentage of "backblocks schools should be put on a more literal footing than other boards. As a business man, he was struck by tho ability of the majority of those who have passed through the primary schools to write a good composition. Ho urged that short methods in arithmetic -should be taught. It was a surpriMng fact that few lads can speak fluently in public, a state of things that might be remedied by making debating a prominent feature of the raomlnry school course. The medical inspection of school children was absolutely essential. , Mr. T. 0. Malcolm, instructor in agriculture for North Canterbury, also gave evidence Mr. W. B. Brock, inspector for North Canterbury, stated that ono weak point in Die education system was the want of continuity between the primary and Rprnndfiry schools. The solution of the difficulty would ba found, in his opinion, by remodelling secondary school methods si) that their teachers will be able to build on the work dene in Hip primary schools. The difficulty in peeing teachers wns due to the insufficiency of the remuneration, and tlie demands made 'upon the time of the 'JiinVnt. Tho present system of the appointment and promotion of (eaehr-is gave everv farilitv for tlie promotion of good tenehers if it was rightly worked. To make it (horoiiglily successful it: only required biHchone on tho part of the board. He believed that the board should only send two nn-incs to school committee.*. Picture Show Influence, Mr. C. I). Hardie, inspector fnr Nor'h Canterbury, after .giving evidence, stated

in reply to a f|uestion dial in many instances moving picture shows had a demoralising effect. Mr Pirani: Too much ' "Deadwood Dink." * Tho witness: Yes; too much of the cowboy of the Wild \W*t. Continuing, (he witness thought that representations on the subject, bucked up by public opinion, might result in tho mailer being remedied. .Mr. Kirk: Is there any economic consideration that would be a justification for dill'ereniinlinn in the payment of men and women teachers? Tho witnes?: The man who has to face life's struggle luis usually to look after the interests of a great maiiy move Hum himself. A woman might haw to flu ?«, but such cases were exceptional. Isiuilly a woman looks to marriage as the consummation of her life's work. Mr. Kirk: Ought instruction in fexunl physiology to be given to the pupils in certain classes? . The witness: if I could be assured that such instruction could be given by the. right person, to whom the-e pupils could look up to and respect and then follow the lead of his own personal example, and inlliiencp—if J rould be of that—l would say "Yes." But if it were a Departmental regulation that the instruction be given by (enehcis. then I would consider tho experiment much too dangerous a one. .1 have in my mind finite ;t number of very worthy people in many ways to whom 1 certainly would not delegate the task of giving instruction on the subject. I consider Unit it is a matter best left to parent* tn impart ti» their children, and it is (inly because (liat most parents liavo a di-incliiuitiou to do so that I approve of such instruct ion being given in schools under the conditions already detailed. To' Mr. Davidson: The payment of teachers by capitation based largely on unih of attendance was not the most eflicient way of getting full value for services rendered. Sums might have been paid in capitation and m many instances tho educational results might not. 'be what they ought to be. The money expended on school text books would be better spent in supplying stationery, paper, copy-books, and requisites to tho children, whose parents did not object so much to paying for text, books us, they did (o paying lor the incidentals for which tho children wero always coming to them. Tho Commission then adjourned.