The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1916. AN OVERLOADED SYLLABUS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1606, 5 September 1916, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1916. AN OVERLOADED SYLLABUS.

ANYONE who has given the least thought to our educational system must have reached the conclusion that the syllabus is woefully overloaded. Too much is crowded into the school week, with the result that the children in many cases are not well grounded in the essentials of education. There are too many trimmings and not enough of the substance. Mr W. H. L. Foster, M.A., in the course of an address before the Wellington branch of the Education Institute, dealt with this phase of the subject very ably. The present system, he contended, was economically extravagant and educationally unsound. The general educational “expert” forgot that those attending the primary schools were children. One class of them went to work on leaving school; the other half went in for secondary and technical education. In this connection he expressed the opinion that a good deal of expenditure on secondary education was wasteful and useless. What they wanted was a close knowledge of the child, from the entering age to the age of fourteen, when he left school. The State should, in making a syllabus, consider three classes of education: physical, moral, and intellectual. He stressed the necessity of inculcating a knowledge of speaking, history, needlework, and a certain amount of general knowledge. As to physical culture, he objected to the “scrapping” of the Junior Cadet system, which, just as it had got on to sound lines, had been “butchered to make a political victory.” If restored on sound lines its restoration would be welcomed. Lessons on morals and health should only be given when circumstances warranted them. The State had a right to demand that and useful citizens, but lie doubted whether any of those present could, at the age of thirteen, have answered the junior scholarship questions on the subject of citizenship. What they should aim at would be to turn out. boys and girls well-mannered, straight, honest, and pure.