"ORIGINAL AND BRILLIANT CHILDREN"

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 222, 7 June 1918, Page 6

"ORIGINAL AND BRILLIANT CHILDREN"

Sir,—Hγ. Coomb's remarks. "Where are the brilliant aii'l original children at eight who entered our infant rooms ilk five?" Olio workers if the fault really lies -where suggeited. All children at the age of five are original, and if Mr. Coombs has studied the> matter first hand he will know the trnlh of this assertion Wo hear parents exclaiming every day/, "Oh, my children are bo original." Yes. but usuallv these ■ these littlo wonder workers have been washing pussy'd face with their' own sponge, or washing tho coal 'to keep mother's hands clean. What, is termed originality is usually untrained activity. What is'so delipbtfiil in a : child 'of fivo would hardly bo tolerated in a child of", eight, for ihen it would bo expected.U> know bettor, as it were. Or if a child of eight wero so very original it would probably be a precocious little personage, always looking for admiration. I Is it in tho infant room where, Ihe fault lies? _ I once heard remarked of a. certain large infant room that cipline was too mild for what followed in the standards; and I wondered if Mr. Coombs could loilc there for a little of the stereotyped style of which he speaks. Again, re brilliancy If children are brilliant fas well as original) at five, I Bay that tho infant rooms in New Zealand will not muke any difference to them. At eight they will still be brilliant, and always be the top of their classes as they go through Ihe standards, and always .i source of pleasure to the teachers. One of the few joys that ■teachers have in the daily routine is the brilliant scliolar, and he is never forgotten, for in future life if: iviTl always be a joy to remember him as top pupil of your class.

Again, are thevj not brilliant men and women to-day ivhc v receivea their first training in the stereotyped style which Mr. Combs so im;ch deplores? Perhaps in writing thus, I have mistaken Mr. Oooii'bs'e main idea; but I really think originality and brilliancy are not so completelj squashed in our infant rooms as Mr. Cooniljs will have us believe.—l am, etc., A REAL LOVER OP CHILDREN. '