Manamatu Herald. SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 1892. A Law Unto Themselves.

Manawatu Herald, 12 November 1892, Page 2

Manamatu Herald. SATURDAY, NOV. 12, 1892. A Law Unto Themselves.

The Education Boards are a law unto themselves, they demand- from their teachers an impossibility. In effect they require that every teacher shall be perfect, and that -so Snany teachers to so many pupils shall be sufficient to secure certain results* Of course this is an impossibility and no one but members of an Education Board would ever expect it. This may read &» strong, statement but the following facts- -will prove the truth of it. A head teacher in a school is held answerable for the efficiency of the teaching of all his assistants, in whose selection he has no choice. The Board pleases itself .as to the class of assistants furnished whether all pupil teachers, aUc&sr sistants or some of .both classes, M?\ without consultation with ttie Ireao'- 1 ' master. As two pupil teachers count as only one assistant it becomes apparent that opportunities for instructing a large number of pupils wholly depends upon the view the Board may take on the. officering of a school. We have in mind the present position of the Foxton school, which the Board asserts is fully officeied, and therefore the number of teachers must be sufficient for the scholars.. Of course the facts are just otherwise. The Foxfcon schqoi is officered by assistants, and altogether they number four, and last week's average attendance was over 190. The best authorities on teaching say that no assistant should have more than thirty to look after, heije we have very, close upon fifty pupits for each teacher. The result is that none of; -jfehe pupils are receiving proper attention, and though the Board mighteasily grant one or two of the* assistants deserved promotion- and supply four pupil-teachers, in their place, thus raising the number of the, staff to six and reducing the number! to each teacher, to thirty three-, yei : in their wisdom they, cannot sete the, need of it. We have, thus & fair sample of how these Board* -wodrj" they desire to obtain an increase in ,fche~-&tfcend&nce at the schools,. this having been done, they then say tj^ rtbfii popular master >Y6Ti^4awj jbvought all this trouble on your own .head; you must do the best youcao." ■h this fair or wise fc. The treatment meted out to. the Foxton school is not such as to either encourage master or committee, when» having dene their best, they find it has been the cause of their children at the school not receiving the attention they need. There is a vast difference also us to how Boards assist their, teachers. In the neighbouring Wellington Board to which we tried some years ago to be connected, their teachers are supplied with Kinder* Garten apparatus, drawing models and chemical apparatus. These things are conspicious by their absence in in the schools under the Wanganui Education Board, and the members were much upset by the application for a sum of fifty shillings by the Foxton School Committee to pay for the chemical apparatus brought to the school by Mr Stewart. The Wanganui Board expect the teachers to make bricks without straw, and'

the C6ittn*itte»;s ttf mc' ease attend'AWoon without assistance, and yet it is claimed that all children in the colony receive a similar education ! Year by year evidence gets piled up that those Education Boards are most useless pieces of machinery, under which settlers in certain • die--tricts are -heavily ■hanclicappsd - irr the education of their children. It ta Dot the children of the batter to do parents who suffer so much as thosG of the labouring population",' as it becomes a matter of vital importance to them that their children receive as good an education in the shortest time it is possible. This certainly cannot be obtained when the junior classes of large schools are crowded and under officered. Masters may write, committees may move resolutions, but as. long as. the seven wise men "of the Board choos* to hold their own opinions, they are a law unto themselves against which there is no appeal.