SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3505, 1 July 1926, Page 2

SECONDARY EDUCATION.

STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION. Wellington, June 28. “I should like to refer very briefly to a wrong view of secondary education that is all too' prevalent,” said Mr. J. Caughley, Director of Education, at the opening of the Ilutt High School. “Many parents think that unless their children are being taught Latin, French and mathematics, they are not receiving secondary education. Parents, therefore, often insist on those subjects being included in the course of instruction for their children.”

Mr. Caughley said that in some oases the children were not suited for the study of these subjects, though they could study to great advantage in other subjects. In most bases the children would not he able to continue the study to a profitable stage, i.e., to the point where, at least, they could read Latin or French with some ease and profit, or use mathematics in some real way. Unless such a stage was reached the real objective of education was defeated. The old idea that certain subjects gave a special kind of mental training or discipline of value in itself, apart from the content value of the subject, was exploded long ago.

Air. Caughley said: “We claim that n fuller study of the English language and literature, with the additional time that might he given to it that is too often wasted on acquiring a useless smattering of a foreign language, would give far better educational and cultural results even on the very points of the study of foreign language is supposed to score. The proper study of statistical method in connection with commercial geography and calculations involved in experiments and science would do all that the scraps of pure mathematics in three years could accomplish.” Ho also put in a plea for manual works and home science. Besides being useful, these developed the kind of thinking that could never he gained from mere abstract study.