The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 4th,, 1916. EDUCATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1572, 4 July 1916, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 4th,, 1916. EDUCATION.

A VEI»Y interesting letter <ni educational unit tors ns effecting the Wanganui Education District, appears in the Wanganui Herald. The writer is apparently a teacher. lie says; “it is impossible for teachers to give the liesl that is in them when they are harassed at every turn by pettifogging regulalions, and oppressed with fear that at any lime Mr Bowal.ers case may he theirs. .For this the Board's system is entirely to blame. The Bowater east* is typical of the system that lias brought education in the Wanganui district to the unsatisfactory condition in which it now appears to be. The stale of the schools is recorded thus; DILI, fit) schools good, 1 111 •satisfactory, Tit) unsatisfactory. 'Jo. I pei’ cent, good; 1015, 33 schools good, !)7 satisfactory, (it) unsatisfactory, 17.1 per (amt. good. The system that produces results like litis very (dearly wants amending, and the lirsl thing that needs at trillion is the altitude id' the Board to its staff of teachers. A reliable test of the condition of education in a district is a. comparison with the condition in other districts, and the best .means of comparison are the results of (he scholarship examination, which is conducted under equal provisions in all education districts. The two tables subjoined give two views of scholarship results in the live largest education districts for (he year 15)15: —

Senior Scholarship. Junior Scholarship. Total won. Scholarships clue at 1 per 500. Won per cent.

For the whole Dominion Number of jmpils per scholarship won. —Otago, 831); Auckland, 1)35; Wellington, 103(5; N. Canterbury, 1052; Wanganui, 1705; for the whole Dominion, 1010. “This last table means that to produce a scholar it takes about twice as many pupils in Wanganui as in Auckland and Otago, and 70 per cent, more than in Wellington comparison with the whole Dominion, the Wanganui district is nearly 80 per cent, to the hud. It also means that in comparison with the rest of the Dominion about onethird of the potential scholars in the district are being deprived of their educational opportunities. If it is true that a tree is known hy its fruit, the irresistible conclusion is

ilial- the system followed by the Wanganui Education Board for many years is fundamentally wrong, and Ihe public interest demands it should ho in<|iiirod info and the proper I'omodios applied. Tlio Bowater ease is only an example of the working of an evil system, and the figures quoted afford unmistakable evidence of its evil results. Out of eight Teachers* Court of Appeal cases for the whole Dominion, four have arisen in the Wanganui district. Are the teachers to blame or is the Board and its methods?” The writer throws the blame of this unsatisfactory state of affairs on the Board’s “pettifogging regulations” and the system. We do not know that the Board’s regulations and system differs much from the regulations and system of other Boards, except, that they arc considered more up-to-date. Perhaps the lime spent in technical and agricultural work under this hoard takes up more of (he pupils’ time than is devoted to the same objects in other districts. We know that the “topping-off” process in the Wanganui Board’s primary schools is below (lie average. We refuse to believe that the children attending (lie Wanganui Board’s schools are below the average intelligence, and yet the fact remains that they are not up to the standard of other hoards. Take the Box ton school, for instance, one of the largest primary schools under the Board —we have not yet produced a, scholarship winner and our proficiency results are nothing to boast about. There is something wrong somewhere. One tiling is certain, a great deal more concentration work is required in subjects other than technical.

District. Dingo 18 28 4(i 80 118 Aucklimd 80 (>() 0-1 8(5 .100 Wellington 15 21 30 81 10(5 North ('.nilterlmry 11 22 33 40 88 W.nngiimii !) 10 10 28 (58