The Daily News WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. EDUCATIONAL FADS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 4 September 1907, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4. EDUCATIONAL FADS.

\Ve do not know whether it is tha tlic educational changes ill this countr; are conceived by persona who have i feeble conception oi' the issue of th-is changes, or that they are conceived b; persons who have a full appreciatio; of their educational and practical Ira portanee, but are directed by person who cannot grasp that importance. During the last ten years we have had several fads on the boards. Not that 111 subjects themselves were fads, but tha they were made {ids by persons wh did not understand them. Ambidexterous drawing was the correct thing !>.v or six years ago, and was recouuucnlei by the dilettante as of the utmost im portanee, giving "balance to the mind and preventing ••'mental lopsidedness. Now it is condemned by sonic of th greatest educationalists in England am America, to say nothing of New Ze;i land. Less than ten years ago "manua training in woodwork," which has jus been taken up in Taranaki, was to b the means of "properly developing th faculties." Anil a very valuable mean it is. Indeed, if the manual work i done with, the educational aim, ther are few means better calculated to lev to successful development. It was, hon ever, sought to be the "only means. Teachers were to be taught the use o the '-saw, the plane, and the chisel, in the hope that they would impart th knowledge gained to* their pupils, am as a result, boys woidd be able t hang duors, make gates and hurdle: and do general carpentering of an eh menlary character. The education-.! feature was lost sight of by those d: recting the movement, heme woodwor now is as dead as a dodo. "We. M.i; not despair. With the death of wooi work we hive the birth of agriculture This is another invaluable subject wile directed along right lines, and Wiie! taken up by teachers who 'can m-ik good use of it. Within certain limit teachers may take what subjects they choose, ljut the powers above are si directing the movement that all tea chers must take agriculture as the subject of science or Nature study. Then should be the training of tile observa tion, the training to see, to know, uni to admire; to know things rather tint works, and principles rather than plati tudes. The idea of the educationalist is plain, but that of the Director of tin Educationalist, the "power behind the throne," is another matter. The Inspectors, who are the advisers, eonsidei well the educational value of the subjects, and advise teachers accordingly; the Boards of Education and School Committees, and Farmers' Unions, consider the. practical value as set in pounds, shillings and pence. Teachers are in danger of losing the educational in the practical, essential as the latter is. In all school subjects the educational element should be paramount. Of course if the practieil can be added, so much the better.

MAKING A SHOW OF KESPECTABfLITV. in (Jhristehurch Supreme Court the other day counsel advanced the opinion before Mr Justice Chapman that the obligation on a clerk to pay £52 away on an order out of £2OS a year was a particularly heavy burden, inasmuch as nis occupation demanded that he should dress well and probably live better than he ordinarily would, because he had to reach a certain level of respectability on account of his position. '•Why should he?" asked His Honor. "An engine fitter or a carpenter with normal employment would earn about £3 a week, and on that he had to discharge all the duties of his position in Mfe, including the bringing up, clothing, Mid education of a large family. Here was the case of a man getting" £4 a week, and he did not sec that that man's position was any different to that of a first-class mechanic. No doubt ordinarily he would dress better, but if he had a. debit, should he claim to live bettcr and bo on a higher level? There were thousands of persons in the colony who lived and put on a really good appearand whose family looked well in public, on an income of £3 a week. He was not speaking of laborers or exceedingly strict economical persons, who did wonders on lessjmt it was an everyday sifjlit to see respectable mechanics, who did not always get £3 a week, who' dressed well and were independent. Why should the man in question claim to be any different merely because he worked with a pen instead of with a tool?" And who will sav that the Magistrate was not right?