The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY JANUARY 13, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1167, 13 January 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. TUESDAY JANUARY 13, 1880.

Tlfw. PBArnifs plan, as submitted to the Schools Committee, is the only one by wiuefe the educational establishment in Oamars honored with the title of " The High Stkool" can be elevated to thej standard of excellence which it should occapy. The Rector has been performing a thankless task since his appointment to •tW nffiw His school has now the special advantage of a grandiose name; but it also suffers from the disadvantage that the mame is expected to environ the establishment. with a college-like superiority, -wMlst 2 has it not. The only other qualifies fctons:are that it has a Rector and a «irth fnm It could boast of these, vhqogh, when it bore the less pretentious title of " The Grammar School." The scheme has never quite merited either of these superior designations, but the last promotion in title rendered it a •greater delusion than ever. It is true {that the presence in it of a man of saoperior education; experience, and tact, ihaa rendered it capable of conferring •educational advantages that could not be secured in any other school in the district. .JJatrthese advantages have been limited in <tfxtent > and confined to a comparatively few ,scholars. No man occupying a

rectorial position should be expected to comprise in his person all the qualifications necessary to enable him to properly perform the duties of tutor of a senior class, superintendent, and compensator for the shortcomings of an inefficient and insufficient staff! Yet -we think this is about what has been expected of Mr. Peattie. No wonder that lie has felt that his position has been surrounded by insurmountable difficulties. Tinder the circumstances, it was rather fortunate thftf. the Education Board repeated their action of last year and notified to the Committee that the teaching staff of the school would have to be reduced because the scholars were not sufficiently numerous to warrant the maintenance of such a staff. Although they have reiterated the view that the High School of Oamaru has no claims to be treated in an exceptional manner as regards the proportion of its teachers to its scholare, they have led to the question of school reform being opened, and, we trust, to its settlement in a manner satisfactory to us. Although it was scarcely likely that the Board would have, or, rather, could have, reduced the staff below its present miserably low standard, in any case, the School Committee acted with wisdom in deciding upon inatitutiug an inquiry into the management of the school with the object of attaining greater efficiency and an increase in the number of the scholars on its roll. The report of the Sub-Committee upon whom devolved the duty of investigation has, in its turn, elicited from Sir. Peattie a masterly proposal for the future management of the school. Mr. Peattie suggests the teaching on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays of Higher English, Algebra and Advanced Arithmetic, French, Latin, and Geometry, one hour being set apart on those days for each subject—from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. ; and, on Friday, of Music, I Recitation, Science, Drawing, and Drill. 1 In suggesting this arrangement, the Ileotor [ has had in view the education in the higher subjects of those who are not, as well as of those who are, ordinary scholars of the High School. Standards V. and VI. are to be placed under the charge of the matron and the first assistant, the former to takeihe girls and the latter the boys. Another matter of vital importanoe in school management has not escaped his notice —the masters, in turns, are to keep ! a watchful eye on the children during the daily intermission for recreation on the playground. These reforms should effectually compas3 some of the defects that have in the pa3t created a pretty universal feeling that the Oamaru High School was only in name superior to the other schools of this district. Nevertheless it is not likely that these reforms will have much effect upon the attendance. So long as education up to a certain point can be imparted in the North and South Schools as efficiently as at the High School, we think it unlikely that there will be any appreciable increase in the number of its pupils. Nor do we think that it should be otherwise. The real object of a genuine High School is not to decimate other schools, but to act as a means of imparting a knowledge of subjects that are not included in the curriculum of such schools. This is what we believe it will accomplish under the new regime which will be instituted by Mr.*Peattie. He will probably still labor under some of the disadvantages that the Committee obscurely touched upon. But the appointment of a new and energetic matron, who will cordially co-operate with him, will do much towards rendering nugatory defects in the staS, numerical and otherwise, due to the penurious conduct of a Board that has proved itself to be peculiarly adapted to the management of a pauper system of education.