THE BOARD OP EDUCATION.

Evening Star, Issue 3668, 24 November 1874, Page 2

THE BOARD OP EDUCATION.

To the Editor. There is no mistake about it, the Board of Education think that there is no talent or ability in the Colony equal to the charge of the superior schools. For every important appointment theory is we must look to the Home Country. This has been going on for many years, and it surely has not occurred to the Board of Education that m effect they regard the Home Country masters when colonised as having lost the prestige brought with them, and that the estimate of the Board is somewhat in keeping with the chjld’s preference for a new toy, supply because is new* lam sure xud& opt.of tep educationalists will a >le master with a few years Colonial experfence is far m re effl. dent than one who has to learn the P|quii eme»ta of Colonial life in order to train our youth., How absurd would it be for Otago politicians to urge the necessity of importing from the Home Country a gentleman with a University de gree and some parliamentary experiences Superintendent of the Province.

A a icgards the Rectorship of the High and the staff for the prbposipud Normal School, I venture to assert that tbe Board of Education can supply from its roll if requirements of experien^ Ihe professional fresh frorh the Home Country is not the right man in the rioht plac j for imparting knowledge to the Colonial youth. “The merely professional man,” says Professor Blaokie iu a chapter on the ’Culture of the Intellect” (“Self-Culture," 1874), ‘-is always a narrow man; worse than that, he is in a sense an artificial man, a creature of technicalities and specialities removed equally from the broad truth of nature, and from the healthy influence of human converse. In society the most accomplished man of mere professional skill is ptten a nullity; h'e has sunk his hnuikhity in his dexterity ; he is a leather-dealer, and cm tala only about leather ; a student, and smells fustily of books, as an inveterate smoker does of tobacco.”

Education dres not how require so' much forcing upon the people by the •overament. Times are changing, and we change with them. Teachers will have an alternative in the event of any slight or undue interference' on the part ot committees, inspectors, or the Beard. I find that there are parents Zealand who will pay/anfi [Jay fiahdsomeM for education by private masters who baye a system of teaching that can ptapd tfip test expressed in 1 the homely adage, “ The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” Scotch though the community is to a great extent, for the genuine article there ate those who will pay and pay well,—l am, &c,, Self Help. Dunedin, November 24.