The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2702, 14 October 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1871.

We arc informed by the telegrams that the Education Bill has been withdrawn for this session, but that it is to be introduced next session without any substantial alteration. Although we should have preferred to see the Bill pass at once, believing as we do that almost any conceivable Act on the subject would not be found to answer the purpose without being greatly modified and expressly adapted, after experience had been gained, to the peculiar circumstances of the Colony, and that this Act would have answered as well as any other, as a first tentative effoit in this direction —-fiat experiment am in corpora rid —yet it is possible that some good may result from the further discussion which is likely to be carried on on the subject from the present time until next session. We say good may result, but do not think it at all probable that it will, as nearly every person in the Colony whose opinion on the subject is worth anything, has had his say about it already in some way or another. And, as we said before, it seems probable that no amount of talk about what sort of Bill would be suitable to the circumstances of the Colony would be of much use. Trial must be actually made of an Act. Thus only we believe will it be possible to discover what the educational wants of the Colony actually are. Let some Act be passed and be worked for three or four years, and then it will be possible to frame a good Act. This is what has had to be done (not, of course, intentionally) in other Colonies, and it is what will also have to be done in this. We may certainly avail ourselves of the experience of other communities to a certain extent, and thus avoid falling into very many radical errors, but to hope to produce a good Bill without knowing to what particular ends our means should be directed is mere folly. But at all events we hope that the withdrawal of the Bill will not prevent the carrying out of the improvements which are urgently required in our own Provincial system of education. It is certainly a great temptation , to official persons and others—this having a change of system impending! Under these circumstances it becomes almost natural for them to say, “ Oh ! wait till the change is “ made ; it would be very unwise to “ do anything at present. Let us see “ exactly what the nature of this “ change is going to bo, and then we “ shall be in a position to act advan- “ tageously.” And thus the most necessary improvements may be staved off from year to year, and in the case of education, a whole generation of children may suffer most severely. One of the things that we would suggest is most urgently required, is a “ standard of attainments ” lor scholars attending public schools. In England, in Victoria, and indeed in every place almost except Otago, there is a programme of examination for children belonging to these schools. All children are required to be examined in the subjects specified in this programme, at least once a year. Till a child has been passed by an inspector in one particular class, he or she is not allowed to be examined in the subjects laid down for the higher class. Thus a parent has a most reliable means of estimating the progress of his children. If he finds that his son, a boy of fair capabilities, say, is unable to pass his examination before the inspector at the end of the year, he has fair ground for supposing that he has been in some way or other neglected. Here, on the contrary, a parent has no reliable means of judging of the progress made by his children, unless he is prepared to observe carefully the course of lessons they have to go through, and to note the way in which they do it ; a thing which few parents care to do, when their time is very fully occupied in getting food and clothing for their families. If for any reason the parent is unable to do this, his only available aid towards estimating the respective merits of different schools, or towards ascertaining the capabilities of the teachers of the school attended by his children, is public rumour. It is hardly necessary to say that this is, in numberless instances, a very unsafe guide to follow. A schoolmaster’s popularity depends very much indeed on circumstances but little connected with his profession.

It is well known that a man may have the most polished manners, be very learned, and very anxious to benefit his pupils, and may yet be but a poor teacher ; on the other hand, an excellent schoolmaster may have his head full of crotchets, may lie bumptious and unsociable, and even a very middling scholar. The fact is that there is a certain quality which schoolmasters and others call “force of character,” and unless a man has this endowment he is likely to do but little good as a teacher ; with it he can hardly fail, lie all this as it may, examinations with reference to a certain standard of qualifications are the only things that will give parents the least lidl) towards finding out whether their children are making duo progress or not, and we have no such thing in Otago. While there is no stated welldefined standard of attainments with reference to which teachers and scholars may work, and as long as we have no means of ascertaining whether this standard has been reached or not in each particular case, it is mere folly to hope that there will not be a deplorable loss of power, a desultory mode of teaching, and generally inadequate results. We are persuaded that this one thing is of more importance than any other in a system of education. If this is included in the system, a real tangible amount of educational work will be done; without it all will be shady, indefinite, and unsatisfactory. We are inclined to believe that the same mistake is often made with regal'd to educational affairs as is made in other matters ) the attention is entirely directed to external and showy, but really unimportant things ; while the effective working out of the details, the truly important part of any system whatever, is too often completely neglected.