DEFECTS OF OUR SCHOOLS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1849, 8 September 1913, Page 5

DEFECTS OF OUR SCHOOLS.

Sir, —Mr. F. Martyn Reniior, of Wellington College, deserves tho thanks of lovors of puro English for his bravo criticism of tho defects of English teaching in tho schools of our Dominion. Wo aro accustomed to bo told that Now Zealand leads the world, but hero is ono matter, and not of small ' importance, in which wo are behind. Mr. Rcnnor says ho is convinccd that tho school children of New Zealand speak badly, and that tho tendency to do so has increased of lato years; his opinion boing that many teachers were not capable of undertaking tho task o£ teaching children to talk and speak English aocording to tho standard of good English. This is not at all to be wondered at. Tho standard of English literature and indeed of the English touguo has been excluded from our schools. Fancy tlio Chineso excluding the writings of Confucius, or tho Mohammedans their Koran from their children's instruction! And yet, for many years past tho fount of best English 'has been withheld from our children by the prohibition of the Bibl<j as a pieco of literature. Let_ that bo restored to oiir schools and it would not be long before there would be an improvement in tho knowledge of the English language, and of English literature; oven if thero were no moral benefit or ho religious teaching connected it-i », «<« INGLO . giXON ,