THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Evening Star, Issue 3121, 19 February 1873, Page 2

THE HIGH SCHOOL.

To the Editor.

Sir, —I hear a good deal said about the High School, aud how it has" fallen off of late, but I must say for my part I can’t quite see the wonderful deterioration spoken of T am in the habit of passing pretty constantly by the High Schoo 1 , and though I am not very observant, still one or two things do Strike 1110 uriiK «u>£u«*Annf!.£o.iii. I see, for instance, a large gymnasium built behind the High School, which I don’t remember seeing when Mr Simmons was in Dunedin ; and I see a fives court, too, a late addition, though the High School wall was just in the same place when Mr Simmons was here. I had a look inside the school not long ago, and I saw a small museum and a library—l don’t remember ever seeing either of them before. I have read the reports'of the various examinations at the High School, and I notice that chemistry, botany, zoology, &c , are taught now; my memory may be bad, but for the life of me I can’t remember ever hearing of any of these sciences being taught before Mr Hawthorne came to Dunedin. Certainly in these respects the High School does not appear to me to be going back. If our boys learn a little less Latin and Greek, they learn a good deal more of what I consider equally useful, and I for one shall never regret that Mr Hawthorne has introduced natural science, to the exclusion of some of the polite, but almost impractical, and to the greater part of his pupils virtually useless, dead languages.—l am, &e., Fiat Justitia,