ALEXANDRA SCHOOL.

Dunstan Times, Issue 730, 14 April 1876, Page 3

ALEXANDRA SCHOOL.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE DU VST AN TIMES.) Sir,—ln your last issue, by the authority of the Alexandra School Committee, you published the report of Mr Petrie, the Government Inspector of schools, upon the state of the Alexandra School. I now ask you, in the name of “ Fair Play,” to give publicity to this letter, for it the report, as published, be taken as true in its general features the result will bo that the present Teacher will loose his reputation as a Teacher, and as he is a new arrival in the Colony it may possibly, and probably will, injure him in anything else by which he may attempt to gain a livelihood. Two years elapsed between the last two inspections of the School by Mr Petrie, so that he was, and is, totally unable to judge of what state of proficienye it was in when placed in charge of Mr and Mrs Rice thereby placing them at a disadvantage by leaving all the blame (if any exists) for the backward movement in the school. The Inspector reports the reading as “ moderate”, in a few cases fair. Now, Sir, ■during his examination he told the Teacher that the reading was good, in fact, too good as compared with other subjects ; but indeed, he remarked, Alexandra School was always noted for that. No honor to the present Teacher in that, the good reading being put down to the credit of the late Teacher (Mr Reid), i et us hope the report, as a whole, will be in accordance with that verdict. Repitition of poetry—accurate and fair, hut comprehension of meaning inferior. It is not many months since the -correspondent to the Tuapeka Times remarked that there could be no doubt but that the Alexandra children understood what they read and recited, and he gave the credit of this to Mr Bice, then the new Teacher, now the discarded one (at least by a few). Spelling—inferior, but a few papers ■were good. Special attention is required to the correction of errors in spelling and dictation lessons. The latter was not practised sufficiently. The -moaning of this paragraph is quite plain, the Teacher has given the children no dictation exercises, or if ho has, ho has allowed them to pass uncorrected. Now, how far this is true can be at once ascertained by any enquiring parent asking his child how often are they in the habit of writing dictation : a child in tho lower room will at ones say every day ; a boy or girl in the upper, two or three times, and perhaps four times in the week. Next query: Are the slates corrected. Answer, yes ; and wo write out errors ten times each and show them to the Teacher ; this does not look like insufficient practice, nor did tho Inspector ask a question on the matter of either of the Teachers, still he assumes that which cannot bo maintained. Writing—in a few cases fair, etc., there are, we are told,

a few good writers, but a good m an y ones, ami thatjthejpens were in many cases as short as small pieces of slate pencil. Not a bad idea at all ; perhaps some of tbs spectators present on the occasion of this wonderful visit might remember the tact that somej’dozens of new(pens u wero actually idle on that day, but I believe ono or two old pens might have been taken up by the children ; as far as I can remember, the Inspector’s remark to Mr Rice was that one pen in use was too short, and that another was not fit to be handled because through some mishap the handle had got blackened with ink. Sewing was not taken up owing to the illness of the mistress. Now, the fact is, when the Mistress became aware of Mr Petries intended visit, she, on the morning’ previous, in direct opposition to her medical attendant’s orders, so as to get her work—which will stand an inspection—ready for presentation. Well, on Thursday she asked him to look at it, and he declined on the plea of being tired ; on Saturday she was knocked up by being obliged to stand by his side all the previous day, hut ho was made aware that the work was ready for his criticism, but it;was passed over, and I forget why. Passing by some of the small remarks, though they are intended to point out that the Teacbersj are incapable. We are told there was no attendance roll and no time-table, but he might, in justice to the Teacher, knowing”the report would be made public, have stated the reasons given for their absence, which were bom tide, that the Teacher was under the impression that a roll was furnished by the Education Board, and in consequence of the delay which existed iu sending down the annual returns from Alexandra, it was not sent, so after waiting for some time he applied to a stationer in town and procured one. Bear in mind, this was the Teacher’s first new year in the Colony, and he was not acquainted with the general rules : in’such cases. Anent the time table Mr Petrie was told that up to the previous Christmas a time table was posted up iu ’a prominent position in the School-room, but that owing to the illness of; the Mistress it was found impossible to adhere to it, so it was laid by pro tern. The remark"on arithmetic, grammar, and geography, though scantily complimentary to Mr Rice, were quite as un-

complimentary to Mr Reid, who was always held up to the "Alexandra good folks as being one of the best Teachers in the employment of the Board, and no doubt he was a good Teacher, though by reference to the columns of the Tuapeka Times your readersjwill find thatjthecAlexandra'people were of a different opinion ; however, my argument is if Mr Reid was such an eminent Teacher, and that in his time Alexandra School was one of the best in the Province, how in the name ofi all that is sensible and just could Mr Rice drive the very elements of those subjects || which, according to Mr Petrie, the children do not even.know. If Mr Reid’’the'great was for ’.seven years assiduously at'twork leaving' those foundations, surely if it is a bad compliment to Mr Reid it is a worse one to the Alexandra parents to be bringing up such a set of blockheads, that in nine months they forgot everything theypearned in seven years under able tuition. The best school in the Province to become the worst in a few paltry months is surely a conundrum which puzzles me, and I for one would like to see a satisfactory answer to it. In regard to the syllabus, that was’certainly a fault on the Teacher’s part in not having one at hand, but no doubt he was aware of what was required of him ; the mistake he made was that he arranged his school into six classes, and Mr Petrie examined the sixth or head class in the syllabus sixth c'ass work which the children had certainly never done, though they would have done so in a few,months in accordance with the programme laid down for the year’s work. Than there is reason in this can be ascertained by comparing the arithmetic text book in use in Mr Reid’s time, which was a small book either the Scottish School text book on the subject, or the small one used by the Irish National Kducation Board for the junior classes, perhaps both ; well, anyone who has made education a study, and no doubt Alexandra boasts of a few dilet-

taiitea in the art, will agree with me that even if a child knew the book from cover to cover the knowledge would be simply superficial still \ well, Mr Rice acting upon this introduced Colenso’s Arithmetic, and also Barnard Smith’s, two of the best and most exhaustive school books on arithmetic, commenced with those, was working steadily through them, hut being larger books the progress was, as a matter of course, slower than it would have been in a smaller hook ; Mr Bice pointed out this to Mr Petrie who, both on Thursday and on the following day refused his request to examine the children on the work they had been at. This was rather hard on Mr Rice,’ especially after that Mr Petrie had told him that his opinion was not satisfactory. Surely he might have satisfied the Teacher so far as to show that his time and labor were not altogether thrown away ; it may have been that he did not wish to break a general rule, but this was an extenuating case, for it certainly was not for lack of time as he (Mr Petrie) did not leave the district till the afternoon of the following day. He did leave the School before 12 a.m. on Friday, a greater part of that time being taken up with matter foreign to the report.; Apologising for intruding so much upon your valuable space, which 1 would not do, but after such a report certain consequences are bound to follow, and it is only justice to the people that whatever is above board in such a matter should be made known. In conclusion, Mr Editor, while thanking you for publishing this letter, I will ask one more question : To whom should Mr Petrie direct the study of a particular book? To the Teacher or to a Committee ! I say to the Teacher, and in a private letter, as a Committee has nothing whatever to do with the Teacher’s studies. I am, etc., Ujjo lluum,