EXAM. SYLLABUS

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1933, Page 7

EXAM. SYLLABUS

SOME TRENCHANT CRITICISM.

ATTACK BY HEADMASTER.

FEILDING, Oct. 16

Trenchant critic.sin of the syilabus for the University Entrance examination, as laid down in New Zealand, was voiced by Mr L. J. Wild, principal of the Feilding Agricultural High School, at a meeting of the board of managers. “It is at this time of the year especially that the strain of examination begins to be felt, and the narrow outlook, hounded as it is by the examination prescription, is manifested in its worst form,” said Mr Wild. ‘‘The natural curiosity of youth and its interest in every-day concerns is restrict cd and confined. The conquest of Britain by Julius Caesar 2000 years ago, which is in the syllabus, is of greater interest than the conquest of Manchuria by Japan a year ago, which is not in the syllabus. So also what Cicero thought and wrote in Italy, in a language long since dead; is of more importance.than what Mussolini is saying to-day in the same country. Hypo' thctical questions about hypothetical stocks and shares, yielding entirely hypothetical rates of interest, are regarded as of greater importance than the food production of New Zealand in relation to the markets of the world, the fluctuation of prices and the qouta system.

“Pupils are the victims of a pernicious system that permits our schools to be dominated indirectly by professors of the university, whose vision is limited "by their specialised and academic training and experience,” said Mr Wild.