SCHOOL BOOKS

NZ Truth, Issue 1215, 14 March 1929, Page 6

SCHOOL BOOKS

A Changed Syllabub

EDUCATION r MVDBim

One of the fundamental principles necessary to a successful beginning *m life is punctuality. From the commencement of early school days right up through the standards this virtue-is strongly impressed on the minds of scholars.

|F lateness is one 1 of the cardinal vices of the schoolboy, it is the bugbear of the teacher, and corporal punishment is not infrequently meted out to those youths who tarry by the wayside playing, marbles in-stead-of putting their best . foot foremost m the direction of school. '• ■ So much has been said and suffered for punctuality, when 'moments marked the difference between the good and bad scholar, that it come.s as something m the nature of a shock when we find that the Department of Education slips months- behind the- recognised point at which punctuality ceases. Those who ( know what is what In the world of" education; and who consider what they think' shouid be done m the matter of teaching the youngs sat nearly eighteen months ago, m solemn conclave and duly arrived at the momentous decision that 7a complete change of syllabus' in our prim-, ary schools should be undertaken. This involved a , set of twenty-two new text bobks. - --' t ' ■ ■ '

By May of last year, advance copies of the' new programme had been sent to teachers for comment. ' After, j sundry revisions the plans were finally approved — flve months later.

At the beginning of August, the Education Gazette notified the selected authors of text books of ' English and Arithmetic thut their manuscripts should be m, the Department's hands by the end of that month. -The compilers of history and geography books were given a little longer. . , That is to say, by September the corrected proofs should have been ready, for the publishers — five months before they would be required to commence the school year m February. On February 1, the Gazette gave out that ."most, if not all, the books that have been written m accordance with the requirements of the new syllabus will be ready at the date of the commencement of the school year." The position,* or the alleged position, waa outlined as, follows:— Arithmetic— Standards I. to "VI. will all be ready when, the schools open. English Composition.— Books for Standards 111., IV., V., and VI. will probably all be ready, but it Is doubtful whether Standard 11. book will be available before the schools ppen. . . History. — The book m Standard IV. J

Five Months Late

, is now ready and it is probable that all the other books m this subject will be ready shortly. ; Geography.— The position regarding these books is not so favorable, as Standard V. is .the only one which might be available. The others- will probably > be . a little late. • ■ -.. A fortnight after the teachers ? and scholars had assembled to ,f tackle the new system, only eight ~ r . of the 22 books had come from the press. ■ Over a month after the new school/: term started, there were still a lew '"'''£ books yet to come to handY ' . ■ Standard six history books are still - conspicuously absent, but, like the geography books for Standards four, five and six, the publishers hope 'to . have them to hand at any time. -if Only last week the Stahc|aird' six . English text books were made available for distribution. ' r :

Printing 1 presses - have been going day andilight m an effort to batch tip with the position as quickly as the typesetters hay« dealt with the

manuscripts;, but tens of thousands of books cannot be printed and bound m a few days; f - The' plain fact is that the Department of Education has been day-dreaming about its reformed syllabus for six months, and It only ' awoke from it when the schools were on the eve of assembling. The success of the whole scheme, for the. first year at any rate, has been, endangered because riot only are the schoolbooks not available, but teachers were not able to draw up their : schemes of work, which had to be approved by the Inspectors .at the end of February. ■ .. v V Whether the change of syllabus, will be. of any material benefit to school children is, indeed, a inbot point, but it is said that under the new system m vogue the old text books were unsuitable. • . "■.>. But the lateness of the appearance of these new books certainly leaves the Department open' to se.vere criticism. The state of flux In the political world just prior to the Christinas vacation cannot wholly be blamed for the /lelay, for the Department lapsed Into Its lethargic state long before that date. ' , ;