TEACHERS’ EXAMINATIONS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8362, 24 February 1913, Page 10

TEACHERS’ EXAMINATIONS

AND BULLOCKS’ EYEBALLS. (By “Observer” in the “Southland Daily News.”) These are four of the questions taken from tho ten set in Section I, of the Human Physiology paper for Class D candidates at the recent teachers’ examinations : 11. Make a drawing showing what you would see on sawing longitudinally through the thighbone of any mammal. By wfiat means have you determined the proportion of organic to inorganic matter in tho bone? V. State precisely what you observed when examining the liver of a pig or other mammal. Discuss briefly the functions of the liver. VIII. Describe the external appearance of the eyeball of a bullock or any other mammal, omitting mention of the several muscles. Mention, in order, the stops taken- by you in dissecting the eyeball. X. How would you proceed in order to lay bare in the case, say, of a rabbit, (a) the sciatic nerve, (b) the sub-max-illary gland, (c) the spinal cord, (d) the tendon of Achilles P It will be remembered that the Southland Education Board, some time ago, became suddenly concerned about the number of uncertificated teachers in its employment. It was stipulated, therefore, that, should these fail to obtain certificates within a stated time, they would bo forced to relinquish their positions. As the result of that resolution school-teachers of the district developed unwonted regard for the insides of stodgy text-books, wherein is set out wiith_ peculiar perplexity everything pertaining to dead languages and political problems. Those fortunate ones within tho radius of accessibility burned to avail themselves of the advantages offered by the teachers’ classes conducted in the centres; while those, begirt about by tho impassable channels of waist-deep mud, politely designated as roads, floundered helplessly and unaided along the more impassable road of literary equipment. All eager to obtain certificates and to retain the pittances doled out in reward for their teaching services. That a certificate may be obtained a pass in each of twelve or fourteen subjects, 1 forget which, is essential. A failure in only two entitles the candidate to a partial pass. Should he, or she, fail in three subjects, no credit whatever is given, and the long dreary road must be re-trod all over again. In my mind now is a school mistress who has sat twice for her examination. At the first attempt she failed in arithmetic, English, and physiology. Tho following year she passed in these subjects, but failed in three others, having concentrated all her energies on her weak subjects of the previous year. Thus, in two examinations she passed, with credit, in every subject; yet she was compelled to face another examination in all subjects before getting her certificate. Thio present system of examination is unjust, antiquated, and scandalous, and is almost solely to blame for the number of uncertificated teachers in the country to-day. The teacher who is able to attend the town classes is severely handicapped by these absurd regulations; but what about her sister in tho backblocks? She, poor soul, is confronted with an almost impossibility. The surroundings in which her lot is cast are generally those of discomfort. If she be conscientious the preparation of her daily lessons will take up much of her spare time. Then she, in order keep her job, must qualify in twelve examination subjects in one hit. With a big heart she sets to work. Deep into the night, when all is quiet, she reads, until her eyes tire and her brain swims. No fancy phrases or farfetched trading on imagination heed be here brought into employment when dealing with this matter. The upcountry mistress’s preparation for her examination is a pathetic affair. Worn out with long months of anxiety and brain-fag she nervously awaits the coming of the fateful paper which means to her so much. One can 'easily imagine the trepidation with which the paper on Elementary Human Physiology was awaited By many a nervous mistress last January. The four questions quoted at the bead of this article are fair samples of those contained in that paper. Can anything more absurd be imagined than tne course necessary to be taken in order that such questions might be satisfactorily answered P How, in the name of everything that’s great and small, can an unfortunate mud-en-ciroled school mistress conduct such experiments? In my imagination I can see one of these struggling .with her pig, disembowelling it in her bedroom by candlelight, and proceeding by the carefully laid-down principles of dissection, to locate the grunter’s liver and respiratory organs. _ Again, I can picture her in the delicate operation of wrestling with a bullock’s eyeball, cutting her way to knowledge through the structures of bovine vision and trimming up the sticky exhibit with the dexterity of a cannibalistic nigger. Once again she is seen revelling in the unsavoury mysteries lying beneath the exterior furriness of a rabbit, her eyes dilating with enthusiasm as bunny’s internals are laid bare to her pocket knife. She is eager to get through before daylight as she has yet to sharpen her saw prior to making an onslaught on the longitudinal section of some other animal’s thigh-bone. The whole business is repulsive and disgusting. If this is the kind of knowledge required of our school mistresses in these days of enlightenment and advanced educational methods, let us speedily get back to the old order of things. No wonder it is that the teaching profession is regarded as an unattractive one. Our examination regulations were always (clumsily contrived, and now it seems as though the subjects themselves were being dished up in such a way as to increase teachers’ difficulties and to make the profession less attractive.