The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1913. THE TEACHER & THE CHILD.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1758, 24 May 1913, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1913.

THE TEACHER & THE CHILD.

The principle that an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory has been acted upon in connection with the Bible-in-Schools controversy with results that are on the whole satisfactory. It is well known that a system similar to that which the Bible-in-Schools League desire for New Zealand is in actual operation in Queensland, and the presence in Wellington of Me. W. L. Gripp, one of the senior inspectors in the Department of Public Instruction in Queensland, has given our own teachers an opportunity of getting an insight into the system as a going concern. The report of the conference held on Thursday night is interesting from several points of view, and Mr. Geipp's remarks go to show that many of the theoretical difficulties now being raised in New Zealand had been discussed in Queensland, but actual experience has demonstrated that the use of the text-book has caused practically no friction. He states that no teacher has complaincd or reported to him that there has been any trouble. The teacher explains the lessons just as he would an ordinary reading book, and without comment. Some teachers were against the introduction of the book, fearing it would overload the already very heavy curriculum, but Mr. Gripp does not think that any subject has suffered in consequente. He declines to be regarded as an advocate, and told his audience that he was giving them, plain facts. This of course makes his view of the position all the more valuable.

The difficulties regarding the giving of Scripture lessons by the school staff, suggested by the Wellington teachers in their questions to Mr. Gripp, appear to have been met in a- decidedly effective and common-sense way by the Queensland Inspector. One of the points rained was that the Text-book contained certain matter. relating to tho miraculous—a subject on which there is much difference of opinion, and Mn. Gripp was asked how a teacher would deal with it. The answer was, "As it is iij the book — just as it is there"; that is to say, that the teacher would simply explain the ordinary meaning of the words so as to make tho passage intelligible to the children from the literary point of view. Mr. Gkundy, however, was not quite satisfied with this answer. He said tho present - idea in' teaching was. to encourage the child to ask questions, and if a child did so in a case like this how was tho teacher to get- over it ? Now, it is quite true that the desire to ask questions should not be unduly 'irepressed; but every schoolmaster is supposed to use discretion in this matter, otherwise ho would soon get, himself into awkward positions, for even a child can ask more questions in five minutes than the wisest man can answer in a lifetime. Supposing, for instance, a teachcr tells a child that it is right to do this and wrong to do that, and the child asks "Why?" The teacher may give some more or less commonplace reply, but supposing the child follows with the question, "Why should I be moral at all?" By this process the teacher would soon find himself wrestling with an explanation of the ultimate basis of morality, one of the biggest problems the mind of man has ever tackled. Take again Milton's great description of the hurling of Satan from the "ethereal sky" to "bottomless perdition; there to dwell in adamantine chains and .penal fire." In dealing with this passage would any sane teacher allow himself to bs drawn by a series of questions into a discussion of the various conceptions of heaven and hell? For another instance let us go to Shakespeabe, who, in the Merchant- of Venice, referring to "the quality of mercy," tells us that

It is an attributa to God himself; And earthly power doth then showlikest God's When mercy seasons justico. Is tho teacher to give an exposition of the being and attributes of God to satisfy the curiosity of some precocious There may of course be some teachers whose consciences are so acutely sonsitivo that they could not bear to hear the lines in ;ls You Like It, which declare that Ho that doth tho Tavens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my ago. The question of Divine providenra could be raised in connection with these simple words; but surely it nerd not be. Supposing again in a scicnce lesson some inquiring mind wanted to know who made the world; how is the schoolmaster to answer it without offending somebody's consciencc 1 Surely such difficulties as these, should they ever arise, may safely be left to tho common sense of the teachers; and this same common sense should be quite able to deal with the imaginary child who may bo thirsting for information regarding the possibility of miracles, or the historicity of any specific miraculous event mentioned in the Text-book. Wc do not suggest that Mn. Gkipp's statement has removed all difficulties from the teachers' point of view, but it has certainly helped to clear the air as regards' at least two important points. In the first place, he tells us that the ordinary work of the Queensland schools lias not suffered by the rearrangement of the curriculum necessary to find room for the Scripture lessons; and, secondly, he shows that many of the theoretical difficulties disappeared when the 1 new system was in actual operation.