THE SCHOOLS OF WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4305, 7 January 1875, Page 2

THE SCHOOLS OF WELLINGTON.

Sir,—l have just received a copy of the report of the Inspector of your province, <md as Mr. Lee has made remarks about the ICarori school which I coneider at the least unjust, I trust you will allow me space for a few comments upon them. He says : "There is much room for improvement in the tone, discipline, and attendance.. Writing and arithmetic were poorly taught. The lower classes show little improvement." What Mi-. Lee means by the tone of the school lamat n loss to imagine. Of the discipline I have no doubt he formed his conclusions from the following:—One of the candidates for Standard 111. appeared to fall under Mr. Lee's displeasure. Being called up for the oral part of the examination, she did not happen to stand just in the position he wished her—did not look him in tho face, or some similar trifio. For this she was treated to several reftnod (?) remarks, such as, " Bear me, what a rude girl you are;"' and " How sadly you require te be taught good manners," &c, &c. Is it to be wondered at that, after such remarks as these, she refused to open hor lips, and failed in the standard ? Tho number of,marks she required for a pass were live, if I romember rightly. If tho query Is asked, why I did not report tho matter J I may say that as I was about to leave, I thought my action might bo misconstrued. I, therefore, resolved to allow tho mattor to pass. I did mention it in a conversation to Mr. Heading, one of the local committee, but not officially. With regard to the writing, I recollect Mr. Lee remarking of one (J. Qooder's), " You don't often see writing like that in a school." Tor the arithmetic, &c, of this poorlytaught school, comparod with others, we have only to turn to the tabulated statement to find Mr. Loo iiatlv contradicted. There wo find the average for tho whole district for Standard 1 to bo 42 ; the Karori school gives 42. For Standard II tho average is 13; the Karori school gives 22. For Standard 111, wo And, out of 10 schools in tho whole district, only H children passed, two of which are credited to the inferior school aforesaid ; while in the town of Wellington, neither the largest nor the best conducted school, passed a single candidate. (Vide roport.) The lower classes showing little improvement, is accounted for by two reasons. The iirst, that I implicitly followed Mr. Lee's directions in their instruction : the second, the extreme severity of the weather (April to August) preventing them from attending, coupled with fact recorded by Mr. Loe, that on a wet day the rain came down the chimney in suflicient quantities to drown the fire. Having thus shown the extreme value of the report lately published, I am, &c, Henry Wilson, Late Master of Karori School. Canterbury, December 29, 1874.