PRESS, PUBLIC, OR EXPERTS?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 306, 20 May 1911, Page 8

PRESS, PUBLIC, OR EXPERTS?

WllO SHALL JUDGE? I THE HIGH SCHOOL STANDS ITS TRIAL. j A meeting of the Board of Governors of the Ncw Plymouth High School was held last night. Present: Messrs. N. K. MacDiarmid (chairman), S. PercySmith, M. Fraser, E. Dockrill, J. E. Wil- < son, A. H. Glasgow, and Dr. E. (f. Fookes. I The chairman said the meeting was called in consequence of certain strictures which had appeared in the newspapers some months ago. The board had then decided to ask the InspectorGeneral of Schools to make an inspection of the school, and this he had done in conjunction with Mr. Gill, Inspector of Secondary Schools. | He then read the report, a very lengthy and comprehensive document, which opened thus: — I TIIE REPORT. I "At the request of the New Plymouth High School Board Mr. Gill and I paid a special visit of inspection to the school on Friday, 24th March, continuing our inspection on the Monday and Tuesday following. The inspection included, besides the observation of the teaching throughout the school, the examination, of all the classes except the lowest inj the principal subjects of instruction. Wei have also considered other matters, suchl as the staffing and organisation, time! tables, and the arrangement of the sev-i era! subjects. | ' The detailed remarks we have made below are intended to convey the idea! that in our judgment the work of the school is sound on the whole; that the' defects are such as can be remedied j without the aid of a revolution. The | work of the headmaster and of the two lady assistants is too well known :fo| need remark, that of the special science' teacher gives promise of high merit, and' the work of the other assistants shows! marked improvement. The staff is! scarcely sufficient for the work, especially in view of the suggestion we have made for the modernising of the school programme. We recommend an additional assistant. The assistant to be appointed should, if possible, be a lady qualified to take the science of the girls I with especial reference to the science ofi home life; she should also be able to' teach English, French, and, if possible,! either elementary mathematics or book-j keeping. We think the time has come when the school may definitely ofl'er three or four courses to its pupils, namely, the commercial course, the agricultural course, the domestic science, and the Latin course; each of these courses should give a sound general education. The work of the several courses should be done in common except for, say, one-third to one-quarter of the school time, which should be devoted to the special subjects which give their names to the courses in question. The courses might be more specialised in the third and fourth years during the junior or 'intermediate course.'" The report then dealt in detail with the work of the various teachers Vfja classes, and will be published in full on Monday. The work in English was good, except where the subject was sub-divided between the teachers, and the work of Miss Grant's classes was "distinctly good." Latin was not so good, being '"fair" in 6 A, but "below fair" in form U 13. The report recommended th.afc these classes should be placed under the control of the headmaster, Mr. Ward being placed in charge of a middle class or lower Latin form. Other Latin work was from good to very fair indeed. Mathematics suffered by sub-division of the subject, and in this and other subjects a modification of the time-table of the school was greatly needed. Science was handled in a capable manner. The lower forms, very fair, but sub division again militated against successful teaching. The Inspector-General found that the average school life of pupils was shorter than at other similar schools. He strongly recommended a re-casting of the time-table. He also referred to the worship of examination fetish, which he considered militated against true education. He concluded: "I should like to say that we were very pleased with the tone of the school, with the earnestness and honesty of the pupils in their work, with their attitude towards their teachers, and with their general behaviour, so far as it came under our notice." Mr. MacDiarmid said that he felt sure the members would all agree that the report was very favorable, and answered to a very large extent the criticisms which had been levelled some time ago on the school. He looked upon the criticism as the outcome of a very OLD-STANDING PREJUDICE against the school, lie knew dissatisfaction existed, but he was now more than ever convinced that there was nothing in it. The prejudice was au old one, and as a board they had tried to combat it for many years past. As far back as 1895 it had been considered that weaknesses in the school existed, which weaknesses ought to be cured by the board. A gentleman joined the board at that time, Mr. Christopher Richmond, an able and energetic man, who said' Pie was determined to get to the bottom of the supposed weakness in the school. At his instigation, the board obtained a report from two of the best men available in New Zealand at the time—, Messrs. W. F. Ward, M.A., and W. R. Meek, M.A., L.L.B.—and they made a very thorough and searching investigation, supplying a report which must be considered an 1 exceedingly good one, and from which lie now read extracts. A little later oil an ardent educationalist in the person of Mr. R. G. Bauchope, chairman of the Education Board, joined the "board, and he too determined to locate that weak spot. He remained on! the board till the day of his death, but did not discover any weak spot. Mr. I Shailer Weston, a capable and vigorous' man, as capable as most men of "seeingj through a stone wall," joined the board later on with the same determination,j and at his instigation the board went to the considerable expense of obtaining a report from Mr. 0. T. J. Alpers, M.A.. of Chiistclnireli, in 11)01. That report was just as satisfactory as Mr. Hogben's and as that froin which he had just quoted. Mr. Alpers said: "The commercial community of New Plymouth is fortunate in having a school of this class from which to recruit their clerical staffs." He, too, had commented on the disability suffered fron flic fact that the pupils remained at the school for only a comparatively brief period. ANOTHER PHASE. "That gentleman," continued the chairman, "is the answer to the criticism of those who are prejudiced against tile school, I don't think 1 need say more." It had been pointed out that parents preferred to send their sons to Nelson, Wangnnui, and other educational ceuties, hut it was reasonable to suppose that a man who wanted to send his sou to a boarding school was going to send him lo the very best in the Dominion. and would not'consider the difference in the expense. The fact that parents sent their boys away was not connected in any way with the success or non-success of the "school. The chairman added that when Mr. Uogben saw him before going to the school he hadi told him to "send us a report that he j

who runs liwy rend. If after receiving your report it is necessary to call for the resignations of ilie whole -tall', the board will do so." Alter the investigation the Inspcctor-uVneral had said to him, ''You are not justified in calling for the resignations of any of the stall', not even the weakest one," and Jlr. Hogben had then intimated which teacher that was. j LAUDATORY REMARKS. | Mr. S. Percy-Smith moved a hearty vote of thanks t» the Inspector-General; of Schools for his report. j Mr. Fraser seconded, and congratulated the board on the removal of this burden from the shoulders of the board.' The board had instituted this inquiry at the instance of the public and the press, who opened the questions, and he was glad that it was so satisfactory. The public had expected the Inspector-Gen-, eral to curse, but, like another celebrated character, he had remained to | bless. | Mr. Dockrill also supported the motion, and said that if bhe board was to I be led by the report they would be pre-! pared to follow the lead given. The ' report had indicated that the New Ply-! mouth High School was on a par with' the other secondary schools of the Do j minion. Mr, Smith considered the report excellent, and he said it agreed with his' views on many things, such as the use ■ of Latin, the examination fetish, and j the necesaity for teaching history. | The motion was carried. | A DISCORDANT NOTE.

schools under the present regulations the school might as well close its doors. If they had to depend upon paying pupils, in view of the present opinion concerning the school, they could not on. lie related that a gentleman who recently came to New Plymouth had told him after making careful enquiries lie lwd said, "I'm not going to waste j my boy's time by putting him at your i school." And that boy wae entitled to free tuition for two years! "That," said Mr. Wilson, "may be prejudice." j Another point that both Mr. Alpers | and the Inspector-General had made was that the pupils did not stay long enough ,to do well. "They don't, and they won't," declared the speaker, "if things i don't improve. When they go and compare what they are doing with wfcat other boys in other schools arc doing in schools of this nature, and they see i they arc not getting the education that others are getting, is it to be wondered at if when opportunity offers they go I off to another school V' He made the point that a man sending his boy away , to another school chose one where the : boy would get a really good education, I but although New Plymouth was not an j unhealthy place no one, even in our . own neighborhood, sent boys to New I Plymouth to board and to be educated lat the New Plymouth High School. Every other secondary school with any 1 reputation got such pupils. "There 1 must be some grave cause, and, in my ' opinion, the cause is the want of reputation of the school." He concluded: "I do say this, that there is a determined intention in this

Mr. J. E. Wilson said he was sorry! to have to strike a discordant note, as he must do by moving the motion of which ho had given notice. He regarded the report as being of very little value indeed. Wlmt was the position? The board had asked for a report from the very department which had year by ycarj for many years past given favorable reports on the school's working. How can we expect anything from that depart-' ment but a report confirming those they; have already given to us? That report; is of very little value to us. There are! certainly some very valuable sugges-i tions in it —suggestion which he hoped would be put into practice. At the same time, the report itself is AN INDICTMENT of the administration of the school. It would be noticed that reference was made to the manner in which some of the subjects are taught. The division of some of the subjects among nearly all the teachers of the school, the inspector says, is absurd. It may be admitted that the school is doing fair work, but here I join issue with you, Mr. Chairman, when you say that the dissatisfaction which exists is the result of prejudice. There is a point wl.va* prejudice is so widely spread that it loses the character of prejudice, amd then we cannot disregard the claims it makj>s. We have now arrived at that stage. This agitation does not come from the newspapers. Prior to the letters appearing in the papers some months ago, I myself advised you, Mr. Chairman, of my intention to bring before the board the strong dissatisfaction wliich existed with regard to the school. It]is not fair, in my opinion, to lay this matter to the charge of one or two people, or, to the newspapers, who are only trying to improve things. If they ell'oct a reform which they think is 1 needed, and which I think is greatly i needed, then they are doing good work. If I have had one man who has spoken I to me and expressed dissatisfaction with I the school and more especialy his want , of confidence in the school, i have had scores. And that is the great point, i that this want of confidence is wide- ! spread, and unless we remove the want of confidence the school will never do the work it ought to do. It is an unpleasant thing to have to ASK OLD SERVANTS TO GIVE WAY TO NEW, but then the board members are not in the position of private employers, I and arc not in a position to be generous. We have got even to sacrifice one ' man or more if the sacrifice of that one I man is going to effect great good." I "Mr. Chairman," continued Mr. Wilson, ''the school lias never been really I popular. It never has had the popularj itv that a really good school commands, and what is the reason for it? We have as the head a gentleman for whom as a 1 man I have the greatest respect, but the opinion of 80 per cent, of the people I who are competent to form an opinion j on the .subject is tie is not a man ntted to be in that position—is not a man who moves amongst men, thus to gain a knowledge of men, the greatest knowledge a man can have, in any position. In that one matter he has always made a very great mistake. He is respected by his pupils, or the majority of them, but he doesn't get near to them. He has been now for 30 years teacher of the school, and in my opinion, and in . the opinion of a great number of people, I the time has come when he should give ; place to a more modern principal of the j school. You have quoted reports of i fifteen years ago, and of ten years ago. j It is not a coincidence that the .very | same fault existed fifteen years ago as j is indicated in the report just received, I viz., that the teaching of Latin is not of the standard it should he. If you | have a man managing a business, and | one department of that business is not I showing proper results, then he is j blameable if he does not rectify the , trouble. In this particular instance we see no iniproveemnt at all. We have got to face the thing as it stands now." PREJUDICE! ''Prejudice! Call it prejudice if you will, but it takes more than prejudice to make a man of moderate means to spend £!)0 a year for the education | of his boy when he considers ho ought to get that education here. That is not an isolated case, If it were isolated, j I should agree that it is due to prejudice. But it is not prejudice. J don't v.nnt to appear here in the light of counsel for the opposition. If I had taken that stand I might have brought forward a mass of evidence—tilings that I told you of when the. matter was before us previously, such as the payment i of fees for private tuition of our pupils outside the school. If it were sorted out, and the truth found about them, I fear it would be found that pu;pi!V showing the best results in our schools and contributing to keep up in some measure the status of the school are pupils who have had extra teaching outside the school." , Mr. Wilson declared that but for the influx of pupils from the primary

town that the school shall he reformed in the direction that I have indicated to j you. Yon have referred to three mem- [ bers of this hoard who tried to reform the school, and did nothing. I suppose [ that 1. and perhaps one or two others, j will be classed with them as thinking ,| that something ought to be done and I finding that nothing could he done. But J if I gauge the opinion in this town corj rectly—l have been in business hero for many years, and 1 am a member of a .j profession in which one can look into J the minds of men and gauge the sin- ' cerity, or otherwise, of their intentions II —there is a determination that the J school shall he better than it is now. I shall move that it is in the interests of the school that a fresh appointment be made to the position now held by i the principal." , Mr. Glasgow seconded the motion, f ; saying that, like Mr. Wilson, he felt j | very strongly on this subject. He had ,j opposed obtaining this departmental re- . port, on the grounds that it would not ,| put them any further ahead, and eo it rj had proved. He was quite sure that Mr. Wilson was right in regard to the public j feeling, and of the damage it is doing j. to the school, which was not progressing as it - iiould. owing to its unpopularity, j. He had hardly heard a good word fot j the school. If he thought the teaching j. in the -chool was what it should he, he j. wouldn t mind what the public thought, but hi was convinced that a change should he made.. Whilst it was painful to sug; i'st that an old servant of the . board should be replaced, they had to ] remember their duty to ttoe children. n Mr. Fraser said he had felt very tired I whaii the chairman unnecessarily took ' up | time by reading out those reports, an<J the patience of the board had been much tried by the speeches of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Glasgow. He doubted if ■ the board had any duty to perform in ' respect to letters in newspapers, but ; the board had conceived it a duty to UI get this report. Whilst recognising that I | the mover and seconder were sincere, it j.: appeal'd to him that some members J were l oubled with a cist, which grew, I and gi •»', and grew. Whilst these two 'i members had received complaints, ana . j Mr. Glasgow had been advised not to i send his boy to the school | Mr. Glasgow: I did not say anything ' of the sort. | Mr. Praser said that the other memfi bers of the board seemed not to have attracted folk with these tales. At j! any rate, they had only one place to go f | for information, and to the Inspector_'j General they had gone. Further than e that they could not go, and they had e i no further duty. j Mr. Dockrill wanted to know who was I to guide the hoard? Were they to effect . changes at the dictum of the pubfllic. Jor of the papers? No, they could recog- ! nise only the Inspector-General, and his p report was exceedingly satisfactory. He J had never detected that pupils sent j. away to other schools were better cdue| cated than here. n j Mr. Smith considered the motion j | should not have been brought until the hoard had found that the terms of the j report were not carried out, or that . they effected no improvement. [ Dr. Fookes thought criticisms of Mr. j Pridham were not so much criticisms of j his work in the school, but rather that ; J he had not done as much outside for j the school as he ought to have done. J Mr. MacDiarmid said there wag no ■ question that the school was better to- j , i day than when it was so favorably reported on years ago, for the time spent I by Mr. Pridham and Miss Grant in the { ! United Kingdom and in France and ( [ Germany had certainly improved the "| methods. He referred to the fact that I Dr. Fookes and Mr. Wilson were both I . "old boys" of the school, which rather opposed Mr. Wilson's case that it was I a waste of time to send boys there. , 1 Mr. Wilson: I had only two years j.; there, and that was 23 years ago. ! Mr. Glasgow: And we are dealing with the present day. I Mr. MacDiarmid. before putting the motion, complimented the mover and „ seconder on the firmness with which I they had adopted this course which they knew would find favor with the ' other members. s ' The motion was lost, only the mover jiand seconder supporting it. ij MEMBERS RESIGN, t; Mr. Wilson said he had not expected 3 that the motion would be carried, but , it was a matter of vital interest to the - school. It was a matter of policy, and t as his policy was fo opposed to the f other members that he could serve no 1 good purpose by remaining a member, t This went to the life of the school., t lie had children whom he had hoped • to have educated there, but he saw no t hope of their receiving what they 6hould i receive there. His proper course then, 1 was to withdraw, that an appointment , might be made of a man whose views > ■ would be in harmony with the rest. i Mr. Glasgow announced a similar in- : tention, saying that, feeling as he did ) on the matter he could not uphold the - position outside. He expressed his rei gret at severing his connection with a ) work that had proved so congenial. ' In answer to requests that they

should take time to think it over, both gentlemen were emphatic that the decision was not hasty, but the result of •ome months' consideration. Mr. Smith urged them to remain, ami try again. Mr. Glasgow: But our views are so conflicting. Mr. Wilson (with his hand on the door-knob): It is so hopeless. Mr. Fraser: Look at old Maasey how he keeps pegging away. Mr. Wilson said they were convinced a change was needed. All the other members thought differently. Of what use to remain? Mr. Fraser said that even if Mr. Pridham were replaced, where would they get a better man? Mr. Wilson said it was patent that the majority meant that there should he no change. The Chairman : Who is to be the judge of the school, if not the experts? Mr. Wilson: This board. Tho chairman: This board can't We are not experts in educational matters. Mr. Wilson: This <board is the judge of whether the school is doing the work it ought to do. After further expostulation, the members departed, amidst expressions of regret. " LIVE OR DIE." Speaking subsequently, the chairman said a crisis had arrived. "The school has got to live or die," he said, "and we are going to make it live!" SALARIES RAISED. The board went into committee to consider the salaries of the staff. It was decided to increase the salaries of the principal and Mr. Wills by £2O each, and the other members of the staff £lot The increases will date from the commencement of the year. It was further decided that applications be called for a lady junior teacher, capable of teaching domestic science as referred to in the Inspector-General's report, at a salary of tloO per annum. On the motion of Mr. Dockrill, seconded by Mr. Smith, it was resolved—"That the board commends the report of the Inspector-General to the Principal, and requests that he will carry out the suggestions contained therein."