The State School.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 105, 17 May 1883, Page 2

The State School.

thi: kditoe of thb feildikg stax. Sip.,—After reading carefully the reports published in your columns ofthe several committee meetings, in connection with the management of the school, and finding the committee bent on the removal of Miss Goodison, I should like to make a few remarks thereon. I think the com* mittee have acted unwisely in recom- - - mending the removal of this lady. In fact the proposal is somewhat arbitrary, and the grounds for her removal are ex- -„ tremely shallow. The only charge of any serious moment made against Mits Goodison by the committee was that she was unable to control her class, and, con» scquently, the progress of the pupils uuder her immediate charge was retarded. It is just as well the public should know that the class over which Miss Goodison presides numbers 56, some of whom, I am informed, are of a turbulent character. This fact should have proved to the committee the utter impossibility of any lady being able to control a class of such dimensions. It is simply absttrd to expect any teacher (either male or femal to be able to do credit to himself, or justice to his pupils, if over-weighted in the manner described. A feeling is engendered in the minds of some impartial ... observers that a "set" has been made at Miss Goodison, as well as an endeavor to make the lady a "scape-goat" —if J may use the expression —for defects in the school that rightly belong to others. Moreover, I am informed tbat Miss Goodison is the most popular junior teacher in the school, and on several occasions has received from Inspector Foulis considerable praise for her teaching abilities. Certainly, nnder a teacher whose control and tuition are both mild and good, the pupils- are more likely to make better progress than under ono whose temper is irritable and whose mode of teaching is unnecessarily severe* However great the abilities of a teacher may be, if overweighted by a class snch as Miss Goodison is reported to have, (and it is generally understood that ao. „ pupil teacher shall be expected to teach over 25 pupils), the teaching and control must necessarily be at fault, and the. ... pupils cannot make that .progress they otherwise would if a better, system of ariangement and supervision were adopted.—l am, etc., Faie PtAT. -: ********************•"'■