The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 5. 1875.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 163, 5 July 1875, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 5. 1875.

The annual report of the Inspector of Schools, which we published on Saturday, in in some respects highly satisfactory, in others entirely the reverse. Mr Hodgson bas this year for the first time prefaced his detailed report with what may be called a general summary of the results of our educational system throughout the province, and, although he does not indulge in any high flown terms of praise or exaggerated congelations upon the manner in which it is working, he appears, td be, and gives his reasons for being, on the whole, well satisfied with the result of his annual examination of the schools. The increase in the numbers attending the schools, namely, 536, is certainly a good sign, as ia the fact that duriDg the year eight new schools have been opened. With regard to the West Coast, which during the late session of the Provincial Council we were led to believe, or, rather, were attempted to be made to believe, was neglected in matters educational, we are told that there is not more than one neighborhood — Totara Flat, in the Grey Valley— where a well-founded claim for an additional school can be made out during tfaeWxt twelvemonths. On the contrary, assistance has been rendered to "mere skeletons of schools," wherever .the imhabitants have given practical afrd j pecuniary proof of their desire to secureS school teaching for their children. Of the discipline of the schools the report speaka more favorably than it has ever done before, although we have noticed that year by year allusion has been made to the improvement observable under this head, but, still, perfectionhas not yet been arrived at, and teachers will do well to reflect upon the suggestions made by the Inspector, especially with regard to allowing talking during school hours. We must, however, state our surprise that he should express himself upon this matter so very mildly, a3 though he regarded it an open question whether talking should or should not be permitted. 1 Reminiscences of our own school days leave no doubt in our minds as to tbe views that were then entertained regarding the desirability of preserving perfect silence in a schoolroom beyond such sounds as might proceed from a class that was engaged in saying its lessons." Mr Hodgson might have made use of more decided language than. "1 am inclined to think that during certain kinds of work, at least, such as writing and arithmetic, absolute silence might be enforced^ without the exercise of undue severity,*' aud then perhaps we might have had reason to hope tbat in his next report we should not find such remarks as the following.—"! found the scholars, as usual, excessively noisy. They have not apparently the faintest notion of what working silently really means."— "Too much *'.. chattering is tolerated, even in such v^ork as arithmetic, when silence and undivided attention are absolutely necessaßy." — "The constant efforts required from both teachers to preserve anything like the requisite silence during my examination showed pretty clearly that too much talking ia permitted, on ordinary occasions." — M Fair discipline is maintained", bn the whole, though too much talking at work is allowed." — " The reading was so interrupted by a Babel i of sounds that it was impossible to | catch more than one word in three." i These are a few extracts selected at | random. "Willing as we are to bow to Mr Hodgson's larger experience jn .ali matters connected with the education oi the young, we cannot understand why ifc ahould be "not easy to lay down | a general rule on this subject." By | the time he is called upon to write his next report we hope that he will have seen his way to overcoming the sh^dowiqg difficulty that seems to present itsejf to kfe mind. The most unfavorable portiojj .of the report is, as usual, that which concerns " attendance and holidays." While ■^he " teachers as a body do quite as much .is can be fairly 'expected from them," their labors are materially interfered with by the irregularity of their pupils in attending school. "To put it plainly, during the past year the children, one with another, have absented themselves from school every third day, the absentees amounting to 3-1 per cent of the whole. Does this Wan that the parents do not value the privileges they enjoy in having secured to them at tkeh vev? doors the means af educating tjxeiv e^ildtpn9 Jfcmusfc be the fault of the parents, for without their permission, or at least their cognisance, the children could not absent themselves. Do they thoroughly know and appreciate the injury they are inflicting upon their offspring bykeeping them away from- school? We wish we could impress them with a due sense of their responsibilities in th_- matter. Year after year the Inspector has made the same complaint; year after year we h&vp commented upon it, and endteavoped to the best of our ability to bring about some improvement, but still the evil remains, and will continue to e^ist until tbe parents acknowledge the duty they owe to their children. There is one more point in which parents can render assistance to the "teachers iv j educat%g their ehildren.fand, so far 1

from requiring any sacrifice at their hands, it would, we should imagine, be affording them a real pleasure to do so in the way pointed out by Mr Hodgson. He reports considerable improvement in the reading in the schools, but adds, " Much more might be achieved, however, if parents would but second the efforts of the teachers by .encouraging their ohildren to read aloud at home more than they do. I find that a large proportion of our scholars never open a book out of school. It is obvious that the reading of two or three sentences, at most twice daily, which is as much as can be done in our larger schools, is not, of itself, enough to ensure proficiency in an art in which excellence can be attained only by constant practice." In reporting upon one of the country schools, of the management of which he speaks in high terms, the Inspector opens up a question which, should our Provincial Education Ac. remain ia existence for any length of time, will have to be dealt with. "An educational system," he says, " which results in placing one of our ablest masters in a small country school cannot yet be considered by any means perfect. The waste of power is too obvious." This is reasonable enough, but the remedy is not yet available. It lies in forming a regular service under the Act, in which, as vacancies occur in the more important schools they shall be filled by those who have served for some time, and have given proof of thair superior teaching powers. To carry this out the appointment of masters will have to be removed from the Local Committees, and vested in the Central Board. As the end of Provincial institutions appears to be rapidly drawing near, it is perhaps scarcely worth \. while to discuss the question, but we ■■fan see. it looming in the not very far distance if our present system should continue to exist.