CHILD, SCHOOL AND PARENT

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3930, 13 April 1929, Page 3

CHILD, SCHOOL AND PARENT

ADDRESS BY MR, P. A. MASON. Mr F. A. Mason (Headmaster of the local District High School) was the speaker at this week’s meeting of the Foxton Luneli Club, which was presided over by 'Mr A. E. Scott, and was well attended. Mr Mason took for his subject “The Child, The School, and The Parent.”

The child, said Mr Mason, lives in two great communities —the home and the school —and of these two, the home undoubtedly has the greatest influence on its well-being. There were good and bad homes, tho former fostering all that was good in bringing the child up in the right atmosphere and guiding it to. ultimate success in life, and the latter tending to a life of mlilsery, distress 'and even crime. Environment Was a very important factor in a Child’s life and the home was the greatest educational factor they had to-day. Study however, played an important part and it was a great pity that many parents failed to realise what was required of the child in this direction, with the result that many blunders were often made, to the consequent detriment oif a child’s future. The various stages of a child’s life could roughly be arranged as follows: Babyhood, from one to four years; the kindergarten stage, from four to seven; the stage of stability, seven to 12, early adolescence, 13 to 18; adolescence, from 18 to 25, and even longer. Quite often a baby was called after its first-framed names, such as “Goo-Goo,” and other such appellations. Repetition .plays a great part in the baby’s first speech and it w!as a very common thing to hear the baby prattle off “Dad, Dad, Dad,” or some other su'cli name. As the child mastered the technique of speaking it rapidly reached the questioning stage and asked many difficult and searching questions. This was a common trait .with all children and was not, as solme fond parents imagined, a sign of abnormal intelligence. It was the child merely using its newly acquired power of speech. The greatest period of activity, was reached at about five years of- age, When the child plays, runs, yells, and is constantly on the move, and at this time of greatest activity, he goes to school.

Mr Mason here referred to the old educational system under which children had a fear of their teachers and a dread of school, which never left them all their school days. The teachers of those days were untrained as we know.-them today, and set themselves out to master the child and make him orderly by fear. As a result there was a lack of discipline, and of schoolboy escapades there were plenty. There was a marked contrast today. Good buildings obtained throughout the country, in which the atmosphere was happy and pleasing. There no longer existed that dread of the teacher among the pupils. In many oases difficulty Was' experienced in getting them to leave school. Tho youngsters w<fre only too eager to run aWay to school to-day and were often to he found hanging about its precincts long after school was out. Tihe schoolrooms were pleasing and there was an entire absence of dread on the faces of the Children. Why? This was chiefly due to the fact that .to-day the teachers were trained for their work, trained along psychological lines, trained to study the child and know Its various characteristics and to set to work to educate the child along the correct lines. 'Syllabus was the main thing in the teaching profession a few years ago and one teacher h!ad been credited with saying that he could teach 1,000 children just as easily, as ten. He .was a teacher of the old school for to-day it -Was the endeavour of the teachers to ’limit the classes to 30. The reason for this was that it might be possible to give individual attention to the pupils. A class, of, say, fifty children, was a class of fifty distinct personalities, fifty children with varying eharacterisifcics, each of whom must receive different treatment and this the modern teacher, endeavoured -to give. The teacher of to-day was in sympathy with the child all the time, studied him and realised the various developments thalt were taking place in that child. Mr Masno instanced eases where teachers had been able to detect a failing in health in a child that had gone unobserved in the home and to inform the parents to the ultimate betterment of the child’s health. Medical examination also played a big part in .school life to-day. The object oif this .was to find out the condition of the child’s being so that the teacher as well as the parent might be informed and so be able to assist in guiding that child and help in righting any disorders and so ward off any evils that might handicap the Child in after life. Mr Mason stressed the necessity for parental co-operation with the teachers. The love of the child was greatest in the parent’s heart and the .parent undoubtedly had ‘the deepest interest in the child, but, during the sfchool career of the child, the teacher, to a great extent, took the place of the parent, and it was so vital that the parents and teachers should work together at all times. Parents should try to realise that the teachers were -working on the interests of the children and they should not withhold any knowledge about their children, which might prove useful, from them. With reduced classes the teachers were able to give greater effort tq individual treatment and were able to realise more readily the Various aptitudes of the child

and so be in a position to advise in connection with its future career. Many a child leaving school to-day had no idea what it wanted to be and in many .cases the parents had merely a hazy idea. This was a critical time and with no guiding advice many a child’s future might lie mined. The co-operation of the parents and teachers in this respect could do m!ueh in placing a child in the ni’tch suited for him. Mr Mason briefly addressed the employers on 'the .matter of employing children who had just left school. He urged .them to .consult the school when, in want of an employee. The sichool’s recommendation Was a child’s best reference. They could rest assured 'that they would receive the best available child for the position. There was always a difficulty in placing children in a .small community such .as Foxton and it was always desirable to engage local 'talent whenever possible. In regard to local ex-pupils of the school who h'ad been Recommended for positions locally, he had found, in every case, that they had been admirably suited for the work and had proved themselves highly satisfactory. (Applause). At the conclusion of his address, Mr Mason was .accorded a hearty vote of thanks on the motion of Mr G. F. Smith who expressed the hope that Mr Mason would be able to augment his very interesting remarks at some future meeting of the club.

The motion whs ’carried by acclamation.