TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1871.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 192, 15 August 1871, Page 2

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1871.

As a rule, it is found that lengthy reports furnished by officers of the Provincial G-overnment have reference to matters tbat are of interest only to certain portions of the commuuity, and consequently, they are read merely by those few to whose particular locality or occupation they may relate, but there is one paper published annually which is, or at least ought to be, perused by every individual in the province who is old enough to understand it. It is hardly necessary for us to say that we allude to the report of the Inspector of Government Schools. To publish in its entirety the one which has just appeared in the Gazette is altogether beyond our power, but wo propose to make a few extracts from, and to offer a few remarks upon, that portion of it which refers to the general working of our provincial educational system. With reference to the apparent number of scholars in daily attendance at the various schools, we learn that there is a slight falling off since last year, but this is satisfactorily accounted for by the fact th&t regulations have been adopted for checking the " purposeless changes of scholars from school to school" which were at one time so numerous as to form a serious hindrance to discipline in seme schools, while they bad the effect of unfairly swelling the yearly returns by causing a frequent repetition of the same names. "On the whole, a fair advance has been made in the most important subjects taught in our schools, the "good" readers and "good" writers for this year numbering respectively 75 and 63 more than they did in 1870, while those who have passed in tbe higher rules of Arithmetic, from Practice upwards, count 857 against 631 last year. The numbers under tho heads Geography, History, and Grammar, are about stationary." So far, then, our system of education — which is without doubt, the most brilliant gem in our collection of Provincial legislative enactments — appears to be working in the same satisfactory manner that has caused it to be quoted throughout New Zealand as a model well worthy of the imitation of other locul legislatures; but we now come to a most serious drawback — one against which no law can efficiently provide, but which must be remedied, if it is to be remedied at all, by the parents themselves. The Inspector reiterates his annual complaint — somewhat mildly we must admit, and with the air of one who is thoroughly disgusted with the want of success that has hitherto atttended his oftrepeated remonstrances ou the same subject — that a large number of tbe children are withdrawn from the schools prior to, or immediately upon their attaining their twelfth year, and, what is a still worse feature, that the proportion of those over that age who attend the schools is steadily decreasing. Why parents will persist in pursuing so cruel, so inconsiderate, so culpable a course we cannot possibly imagine. Are they actuated in so doing by the selfish desire to secure tho few shillings that can be earned by the child of that tender age, or is it tbat they are unable to appreciate tbe immense amount of evil that they are inflicting upon their offspring by withdrawing them from school just as they- are beginning to understand, and to value that which tbey are being taught ? Have they ever reflected upon the permanent injury to which they are subjecting their little ones by turning them out into, tbe world to gain tbeir living without first allowing them to reap all the advantages tbat are to be derived from the facilities for obtaining useful knowledge that have been placed within their reach by those, who, 1 * with praiseworthy foresight, framed the Education which this Province

is so justly proud ? On this head we would appeal with all that earnestness, which the subject demands to the parental feelings of those, who are allowing their* children to grow up in iguorance. Of those who have* themselves been allowed to arrive at manhood and womanhood without any education whatever, vre would ask, do you not bitterly regret that, from the inability of your parents to afford the means, or from whatever circumstances may have militated against yonr being taught in your early youth, you have been prevented from acquiring that knowledge which is so essential to success in life ? To those who were more fortunate in their younger days, we would say, your parents, it may be by tbe exercise of much selfdenial, and at the cost of great pecuniary inconvenience to themselves, placed you at school and enabled you to obtain that education which in tbe course of your lives you have learned to appreciate at its full value, and do you feel that you are doing your duty by your children in refusing to allow them the same advantages which their grandparents accorded to you ? Upon both these classes we would endeavor to impress a sense of that weighty responsibility which lies so heavily on their shoulders in tbis matter, and, whether it is to thoughtlessness or to wilful neglect that the acliou taken by them with regard to their children is owiug, we would ask them to take ihe matter into their most earnest consideration, aud to strive, at whatever inconvenience to themselves, to allow their offspring to avail themselves of those means of education which have been placed at their disposal by the pioneers of the province, who, when it was yet in its infancy, saw, and provided for, the necessity for supplying facilities for the training of tbe younger branches of the community. In neglecting to take the fullest advantages of such facilities, parents are doing that which is unjust to the statesmen (we use the word advisedly) who provided the ample means for educating their children which they now enjoy; they are guilty of the most reckless and inexcusable cruelty to their offspring; and they are manifesting the most complete indifference to the future of the colony in which they have made their homes, and the government of which must eventually fall into the hands of those whom they are now suffering to grow up in the grossest ignorance, for we can apply no milder term to the state of that child who at the tender age of twelve years is degraded from the position of schoolboy to that of an untaught, and boorish hewer of wood and drawer of water. We are glad to find that the Inspector is able to report more favorably than last year upon the manners and general demeanor of the children, both in and out of school, but this assertion is, unfortunately, followed by a remark, to the correctness of which every one who is in the habit of walking through the streets of Nelson can only' too fully testify. "The use of foul language is still, I regret to say, more common than it ought to be." Surely both parents and teachers will be stirred up by the fact of so grave an accusation forming part of the Inspector's report to use their utmost endeavors to. prevent the necessity of its repetition next year. We have frequently before now referred to this hideous evil, but we regret to say that there is yet no improvement perceptible. Well clothed^ well kept, and otherwise well-behaved children, over whose heads but some nine or ten summers only have passed, are to be heard making use of the most blasphemous oaths,! and Q coarsest arid filthiest of language. Soon it will be too late to check what will have become a: confirmed habit with them, but if those who possess the authority will use, it without delay, we may reasonably hope . that this disgrace to the community may yet be removed from amongst us. , ■ y* ; '' Reference; .is^hdade to the newly "fbtmed Teachers' Association, and a valuable hint is thrown out which, if acted upon, is likely ito prove of great seryic^.to/thbse' whd'are, engaged iii the" arduous' task of educating tlie young. ' It is that each teacher in

turn should be allowed a week's holiday to enable China: to /visit as many of the neighboring schools as possible when tbey are. at work. As an argument in favor of such a plan being adopted, tbe Inspector urges the . following : — " If the teacher travels in a candid and enquiring spirit, he cannot fail to return, not only fresher, but with his mind stored with new ideas and new methods, such as he would never have gathered from mere reading, or from the monotonous practice of bis own school." The suggestion seems to be well worthy of the consideration of the Local Committees to whom it is offered. In concluding his general report, the Inspector refers to the scholarships and free education at the College, now thrown open to annual competition by the liberality of the Provincial Council, and the Governors of the College, the good effects of which he believes it is impossible to over-estimate, provided a fair representation of the most promising boys in the Government schools enter into the lists each year. We shall quote his remarks on this subject in full, and hope that they may encourage mauy a boy to compete for the prizes offered by those who know full well the value of that which they are placing within the reach of youths, who, but for their liberality, could never hope to receive any higher education than that supplied in the Government schools. " I trust," says the Inspector, " that no cowardly dread of defeat will deter a large proportion of the first classes of our most advanced schools from measuring themselves with those who have been brought up under the same system, and pretty nearly the same circumstances, and who will, therefore contend upon tolerably equal terms. The fear of the unknown, which may have deterred some from competing last year, can no longer serve as an excuse ; and no school, pretending to anything more than mediocrity, can, in future, well remain unrepresented in the educational tournament. Even should private reasons prevent a successful candidate from availing himself of the boon thus proffered, it should not be forgotten that this may probably be the only opportunity that a welltaught boy will have of showing his gratitude to his master, and his regard for the reputation of the school at which he has been brought up, by endeavoring, at least, to win a respectable place for himself. It is not too much to say, that the success or failure of the whole scheme (which is as yet quite in tbe experimental stage) will depend upon the number and quality of the candidates who may come forward at the next examinations." The remainder of the report relates to each school in detail, and wil), no doubt, be read with much interest by both Local Committees and teachers.