CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 283, 22 April 1911, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

TEACHERS MADE TO ORDER. ff the most brilliant professional men in Xew Zealand were compelled to sit for their preliminary examination to- ', morrow in order to decide whether they should be permitted to carry on in their specialty, the majority would fail. The cruel and ignorant method of gauging a person's ability by the size of his memory is a wicked travesty of education. In our issue of Wednesday was a letter over the noni-de-plume "Disgusted" —a perfectly just and reasonable protest against what he calls "the high-handed behaviour of the Education Board," in setting up on a pillory the teachers who have failed to pass their examinations. The ability to pass an examination was never, nor will it ever be, any indication of a teacher's abilitv to teach. The people most liable to object that their children are not being taught by a gorgeously certificated teacher arc, of course, the people who are least educated, and who Jirc unaldo to see that personal ability, human efficiency and in-born understanding arc more than a mechanical nrtitdo to slew in text-bocks and soak up other people's thought. Illustrating our point that the most brilliant people are the oftenest "plucked" at examinations, one of the most successful barristers in Xew Zealand strove almost hopelessly for many years to "get through." His heart was not in the mechanics of preparation for the profession. He had to "get through," however, and h&s long ago left the crowd of successful contemporary "sponges" in the rear. Our correspondent in reference to teachers asks if experience and length of sevrice are to count. It is better to b.xng to the "sponge" class than to have experience or even teaching genius. At least the "sponge" may he assured of the larger salary. The right persons to decide the ability of a teacher, either certificated or otherwise, is an inspector. A board knows little if anything about the personal worth of teachers in their intimate schoolroom contact with children. An inspector does. It does not matter, as far as the inspector is concerned, whether the teacher is a very cncylcopedia of facts or a marvel of memory. He is guided by the ability of the teacher to implant knowledge; not to soak up facts and gain certificates. It is not a question of what a dominie knows so much as what portion of it he can teach, his affectionate hold over his pupils, and the results of his administration. So long as parents and boards believe that the possession of a piece of paper is the possession of ability which can be applied automatically, the present ridiculously unfair and stupid system will continue. And as long as the mere mechanics of teaching give the best cash return to the mechanic, the born teacher, who can't be a mechanic, will either be kicked by a stupid administration or remain outside a profession that becomes increasingly wooden.

ABOUT A POLICE FORCE, We only hear about the men of the North-Wcst Canadian police, when a few of them get frozen to death, or some of them get laid out in conflict with beasts or outlaws. The cables tell us that another little detachment has been wiped out by ice and starvation on a lonely post. The force is almost unique, for its individuals, subjected theoretically to a rigorous discipline, are useless unless they are able to exercise marked individuality and instant initiative. The troopers of this famous force are not. as one might suppose, drawn from the trappers and men born to the rigors of Canadian winters. So much responsibility is placed in the hands of individual troopers that each of them is in reality a whole court, in his own person, judge included. That is perhaps why, on the most remote posts, one will find the police to be recruited from British University men, men with the feeling driven into their hearts and marrows that nothing is half so worth while as "playing the game." Very likely some of these policemen, on whom the limelight never shines, have been or are "ne'er-do-wells," in the ordinary acceptance of the term, but they have been drawn to the rigorous life by the possession of the same spirit that has driven innumerable Britons to undertake any enterprise where inborn daring and carelessness of consequence are necessary attributes for success. The immense inhospitable stretches of country in North-west Canada make it necessary for police patrols —often consisting of a single man—to cover hundreds of miles, and to undertake duties unknown to members of any other force. Of late years there have entered into this unique force a number of Australians, New Zealandcrs and Afrikanders who have become tired of merely intellectual pursuits and who desire to combine physical struggle with the exercise of brains. A very remarkable story was told a few years ago about a New Zealamlcr, who, single-handed, overcame two desperate "bad men," bringing them a distance of four hundred miles and arriving at the "fort" in a wounded, starving, but triumphant condition. When a whole post of these lonely men get frozen and starved to death, therefore, it is remotely possible that some homes in Britain, Australia, Africa or New Zealand may be personally concerned, even if the world does not worry.