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EDUCATIONAL.

)S OUB POLICY A SUCCESS ? The conclusions of a headmaster Nobody can say definitely, as the answer depends on what the policy sets out, to accomplish. To the educational brass hats our system is all that can be desired. It does not keep any particular objective in view, and consequently has no difficulty in “ getting there.” From a business man’s point of view, the product of our sc’; ?,ols is nothing to be proud of. One too frequently finds the stipulation " must be neat and accurate at figures ” in the advertisements of prospective employers. Recently I. heard a master printer bemoaning his inability to get "educated” boys capable of writing three sentences grammatically. These people have found two of the great weaknesses in the school syllabus. The teaching of Mathematical subjects has been modified to such an extent that pupils get to understand the operations: involved but do not get sufficient drill work to perform them automatically. Speed and accuracy have been sacrificed to prevent the subject becoming uninteresting. . Similar modifications affect the teaching p£ English, the king pin subject of our educational fabric. Formal grammar is now practically abolished. It was ruled out for no valid reason other than pupils found it dull. When youngsters use incorrect expressions they are told the correct form without having any reason assigned for its use. It is confidently hoped that, in the few hours of the school day, habits of correct speech will be formed having sufficient strength to crowd out the habits of incorrect speech formed during several hours of contact with undesirable associations in the street. The idea is a fallacy. It generally results in pupils speaking fairly correctly under the sobering influence of the class room and incorrectly -when out of it. Environment, rather, than knowledge, is regarded as the basis of the child’s: education, and when he exists, from the point of view of language, in two divergent environments —the school and the street—-he most certainly will develop a formal speech for school and a provincial one for general use. The fundamental' rules of grammar in so far as they elucidate the difficulties of everyday speech are a necessity. Better axponents of the art of self-expression were produced by the old “ rule of thumb” methods pf teaching English rather than by the new “rule of ear” system.

1 have the fortune—or misfortune-— tc deal with a number of youngsters who have passed through a course of primary instruction. They have plenty of vague general ideas, but know nothing thoroughly. A wide range of subject matter has been presented to them in the most interesting manner possible. They followed it in a general sort of way, but their ideas are neither clear cut nor definite. The term “Jack of all trades ” describes the qj-imary school boy. He leaves school fitted for nothing in particular, obtains employment in some dead end occupation of the shop assistant or messenger .type till he is old’enough to receive the basic wage, and is then pushed into the ranks of the casual worker, to make way for a younger and cheaper youth. Skilled workers are dwindling in numbers, annually, while a corresponding increase in unskilled . labourers is following as a matter of course. It should be the duty of our schools to combat this unfortunate’ trend. At present they only accentuate it.

Much of the educational clap trap one hears is based on experiments carried out in Europe and America,' where the* conditions of life and requjreinents of the country differ considerably from our own. New Zealand is a young nation whose prosperity and safety depend on self-develop-ment. Men with specialised knowledge are required for the work, but little is being done to provide them. Our schools should train* boys to provide for themselves, and in doing so they will provide for the country. Secondary schools should lead on to universities similar to those of Manchester and Leeds, where students concentrate on technical courses of study. To many people such an idea is repulsive on account 'of its utilitarianism ; nevertheless, thinking people must admit.that the study of engineering, for example, is Qf as much value from the education point of view as the classics, and infinitely ms.re useful in an undeveloped country. We do not know the opinion of the general public regarding .these matters, because no one ever took the trouble .to find out. We obtained and abided by public opinion on the national question of conscription, but the equally important question of changes in educational policy has been left in the hands of a select few who know little of. and care less for, the wishes of the people concerned.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HPGAZ19231126.2.16

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4630, 26 November 1923, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
779

EDUCATIONAL. Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4630, 26 November 1923, Page 4

EDUCATIONAL. Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4630, 26 November 1923, Page 4

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