THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 314, 30 May 1911, Page 3

THE HIGH SCHOOL.

THE PRINCIPAL REPLIES TO CRITICS. ] BOARD WELCOMES BONA FIDE ' COMPLAINTS. At a special meeting of the High School Board of Governors yesterday afternoon there were present: Messrs. N. K. MacDiarmid (chairman), S. PercySmith, M. Eraser, ,E. Dockrill, and Dr. E. F. Fookes. The meeting was called as the Tesult of the criticism of the school by two members of the board at a recent meeting, and their subsequent resignations. Before receiving the formal resignations of Messrs. Wilson and Glasgow, a letter was read from the principal, Mr. E. Pridhani, as follows:—"I have to thank the members of the Board who so loyally stood by me, and to assure you and them that no effort on my part will be wanting to prove myself worthy of the continued confidence you have placed in me. I have to acknowledge, with thanks, the increase which you have made to my salary," THE RESIGNATIONS. . Mr. J. E. Wilson wrote:—"l have to advise you that I have to-day forwarded to the Minister of Education my resignation from the Board of Governors. This I have done after very careful consideration, and I rery much regret that I feel no other course is open to me. My views as to the necessity of alteration of the school staff are so opposed to .. those of iiife'on'h'Jor'fty of the Board that I cahnbt' serve tmf. good purpose by remaining on the' Board. In .leaving the Board after being a member of it for some ten years, I wish to acknowledge the courtesy and assistance given to me when acting' as its chairman. My regret .is intensified when I recall ho unpleasantness in our relations save the expressions . used by Mr. Fraser at last night's meeting. The imputations made against p.r'. Glasgow and myself, absolutely without foundation in' fact, were unworthy of a member of such a Board as, yours, and so keenly do I resent them that I should not in any event have remained on the Board." Mr. A. H. Glasgow wrote:—"l beg to .advise you that I have to-day forwarded my resignation as a member of the Board of Governors of the :New Plymouth High School to the Secretary of Education, Wellington. I regret that I have found it necessary to take this step, but as I explained at the Board meeting last night, T consider, under the

circumstances, that, it is the only course open to rtie. 1 \vl9h to again ypii for the tmfarling e6urtesy and consideration vou'nWc always shown me, while,a •member." ■• : ....... '; ; '*PbSIXG A'S MARTVUS," '' r - Mr. ; Kraser said that in regard to.the paragraph in /Mv. 'Wilson's letter pointing to himself, he had no draw'ariy words he had used,"as,he then . believed and still believed them to be perfectly true. He had nothing to-.say ns to iw.het)>er Messrs. Wilson and Glasgow desired'to pose as martyrs, and he had no desire to deprive them of any. honor .accruing from Such a : martyrdom. The chairman'said there was rio need to pursue- that matter further./' : The resignations were accepted with : regret, and the Board- went into com'jiittec to consider the appointment of successors until'the ; expiration of their ier'rn's, when the : Minister will'be mended to permanently fill the vacancies". THE PKIXGiPAf/SREPLY TO MR. -, ■ ■ '. WILSON, v.'■•''' ■'■ The'chairman, read the following letter, which he had Received.' frorn' Mr., Pridbam: — '' ■' '.' '' Sir,—While, giving ; Mr. Wilson credit for sincerity and-purity ofmotive.in tile action taken by him, I should like to .make a brief comment on some of his remarks ami assertions as reported in the papers of the 20th inst. I 'think that Mr. Wilson can hardly have sufficiently considered, the inference'which must be drawn from his statement'that the report received by the' Board' was of little value. He went on'to say that only a' good report could be expected, etc., thus impugning, the honor of the highest educational official i in : the Do-

minion. Mr, Wilson says that he holds no brief for tliq opposition; and; I say that I hold no brief, for the InspectorGeneral, and I would further; add that if it can be shown that lie .issues dishonest reports the sooner this' is brought to the notice of .the Minister for Education tl|e better. Mr. Wilson's, next stricture is in connection with the subdivision of subjects. Mr, Hogben think»| that the. different branches of. the' satne subject' should, be taught by, tlie Same that is that mathematics, for instance,: should be one subject, and not divided into its branches of -arithmetic, algebra; geometry, trigonometry, etc. I also think this desirable, and provided I had an adequate staff at my disposal the time-table would have been drawn up to provide for this. I have not the back feports. to refer to, lint I believe that I am right in saying that this is the first occasion oti which my time-table has been taken exception ,to. Since Christmas I have had a new form to provide for without any additional teaching power, and it became necessary to adop ( t the best.' time-ta-ble that circumstances allowed; I was quite well aware that it was not an ideal one. Mr. Wilson's next remark is that scores of persons have made complaints to him. In reply to this I would mention that Mr. Wilson held the responsible position of chairman of the Board for a considerable time, and that on no single occasion has he ever mentioned to me a.ny ground of dissatisfaction, either on the part of outsiders or as a result of what' he himself saw on his frequent visits to thi> school. Mr. Wilson says that I have made, a great mistake,in not moving, amongst men. If [ understand rightly what he means, it is that I have not sufficiently sought outside popularity. I can assure Mr. Wilson that I have no desire to be unpopular; but I fail to see liow gaining outside popularity is going to make me more efficient'in the discharge of my duties. Mr. Wilson draws attention to an undeniable fact, that the standard of Latin in the school is not high. This is a very general complaint against most of the secondary schools of the Dominion, as evidenced by the reports from year to year of the University examiners. The chief cause for this state of things is that pupils cannot in the short time of the secondary school course acquire any great depth of knowledge in a subject of exceptional difficulty. It may not be generally known that boys begin Latin in the schools at Home at about eight years of age, and systematically pursue the study to the age of 17 or 18. and often later than this; whereas out here

a boy has to begin and end all bis secondary school subjects in a period of three or four years. Notwithstanding all this, it is a fact that nearly all our pupils who have the matriculated have also passed the solicitors' general examination, which depends on a pass in Latin. Mr. Wilson's remark about pupils who keep up the status of the school on private tuition is (unintentionally, no doubt) untrue. That the school could not be kept going except by the aid of free pupils may, or may not, be true. If what is intended to be conveved is that supposing those who now hold free places were sent away, and not allowed in the school either as free pupils ot as paying pupils, it is true; but there is

no proof as to how many of those who) now hold free places would be in the school as paying pupils if the free place regulations had never been adopted. With regard to pupils who are sent from here to Nelson or elsewhere, it will be found, I think, that they take as high a position in their new school as they had in this. The obvious advantage of sending boys to a large boarding school is that they will form school connections which may be useful to them in after life, and it is absurd to suppose that parents who can afford to make a choice of a boarding school will not prefer to send their boys to a school specially built for the purpose and amply equipped without regard for expense, than to one which, at the best, can only be regarded as a makeshift and a preparation for something better in the future. Notwithstanding all the damaging statements made about the school by those who have professed to be its friends. our numbers this year show an increase of 20 per cent, over what Ave have ever had before.—l am, etc., ERNEST PRIDIIAM. AIRING COMPLAINTS. The chairman submitted a motion, the purport of which was that the Board I should invite parents and others to at- 1 tend a public meeting in the Town Hall on Friday night next, when any complaints against the school could be urged I and considered by the board.

Mr. Frascr: I'should certainly object to that, but I don't know if my opinion is worth anything. Mr. Smith said he was afraid he could not give the motion his support, for the Board should not recognise any responsibility to the public' They'were responsible only, to the Governor." Mr. Frase.r said that so .far as he could remember, only one man had ever come, personally before the Board with a complaint about the teaching. Reports were obtained from the teachers, who were of opinion that the girl whose progress was unsatisfactory was a very good and diligent girl, but one of those to whom it was impossible to teach anvthing. That parent left New Plymouth shortly afterwards, and he threatened to write to the Board if the girl made satisfactory progress in her new school. So far the Board had received no communication from that gentleman. Dr. Fookes complained that unfair comment had been made in an editorial in one of the local newspapers criticising the report of the Inspector-General. In this article portions of sentences had been quoted from the report, but not Tfkole sentences, and strung together. These portions of sentences thus handled looked like strictures on the teachers, whereas the context showed that they were only comments on portions of the instruction in some of the classes. That article was the grossest piece of unfair criticism that lie had seen for some time, for it was always grosslv unfair to shear sentences of their context as had been done in this instance. Another editorial article that appeared was more temperate, and had evidently been written after fuller consideration of the subject.

Mr. Dockrill could not agree with the chairman's proposal, for the Board was there to carry out the advice and instructions of responsible Government officers, and not to take directions from the public. If they failed in that dutv, then there would be reason for some public meeting. He was satisfied that if the school got its due it would be admitted that it was up to the standard of most of the secondary schools of the colony, and as a result of the recommendations of the Inspector-General it would no doubt be improved. Dr. Fookes asked the chairman if he thought any useful purpose could be served by obtaining copies of reports on similar schools, such as those at Napier and Palmerston North. The chairman thought not, except for the members' own use. Continuing, he supported his suggestion for a public meeting as giving an opportunity for the public to bring forward its complaints. Mr. Fraser: There is no public. Mr. Dockrill thought it would be better to ask the people to come to the Board if they had complaints. He knew that much of the criticism of the school was due to prejudice, and some to ignorance. For instance, a man who had been inveigling heavily against the school had made the astounding statement to him that no pupil of the school bad ever passed the matriculation examination! Mr. Dockrill repeated'to the Board the ■ejaculation which' was forced from him by this remarkable statement, which he combatted at the time. The person making it was the parent of a present pupil, and who admitted that lie was perfectly satisfied with his boy's progress. What surprised him most was that so few people had bothered to read the Inspector-General's report on the school, yet had devoured the unfavorable criticism of it.

Dr. Fookcs, referring to the statement by a newcomer that the school could be of no use to his boy of 17, said that that parent must have been "filled up" by someone who had a prejudice against the school.

Mr. Smith emphasised that all but one of the letters-in the Press were over nommes des plumes, and so that while the board would naturally be prepared to hear bona fide complaints, against the school he saw no reason for members to concern themselves abou,t anonymous correspondents in the newspapers-.' Dr. Fookcs asked'if it.wa,s intended that people should put their complaints personally before the koard, .

The chairman: Yes,'certainly. W« have tried for twenty years to catch this will-o'-the-wisp. ' ' Mr. Fraser: That's the right name for it. '

Mr. Dockrill criticised the local Press for not making a far bigger reference to the fact that last year and in the previous year pupils of the school had won two of the highest. scholarships available to Taranaki children. He knew districts, both in and out .of. Taranaki, where such an achievement would have been held up as something to be proud of, but here in New Plymouth not'only was no notice taken of.it, but when the matter was referred to in public meeting it was not recorded. So now he repeated the statement, explaining that he referred to the Taranaki .scholarship, giving entrance to Victoria College, and the Bayly Memorial scholarship. Mr. Smith suggested getting a return from schools of a similar size, showing the number of teachers engaged the number.of pupils, nm \ tm , resu u s of th( , examinations. That might give an answer to these R ood p oo ple who were raising the objection that the education given at this school did not enable pupils to pass on to higher education as the result of examination.

Mr. Dockrill said the only thin* the school fell short of in the matter of examination results was that.its pupils did not secure the Junior University scholarships, and that was because the pupils' school term was too short. The board then discussed a sii-mcs'tion that the parents of pupils be invited to attend next board meeting and make their complaints.

Mr Frascr objected again. He said Hie chairman doubtless felt that he was (loins a lot of work in connection with the school, and he felt this matter more than he should do. These complaints were not from dissatisfied parents at all, hut were inspired by opponents of the school, and the writers of the letters could be counted on the fingers of one hand, with still two or three finger., left. The board's duty was not to "the Press, or to the people of New Ply-

mouth, and they should give no heed to anonymous letters, which might all be from the pen of one writer. To do so was an admission of weakness. He suggested that the board might say it would be pleased to meet parents who had complaints against the school, but it should not invite them to lodge complaints. Mr. MacDiarmid admitted the truth of Mr. Fraser's remark that he felt the matter very keenly, and although there might be only a few people criticising, and while the strictures might be inspired, the criticism must still have a bad effect on the school. It had gone beyond New Plymouth, and was published in the Press throughout the Dominion. He had worked hard for many years as a member and as chairman of the board, and he felt the position very keenly. As a board they were doing their very best according to their rights, and to have done other than they had done at the last meeting would have been to have stultified themselves.

Eventually the following resolution was minuted:—"That the wish of the board is that if any parent has any complaint against the school or suggestion for its improvement, the board will be very pleased to discuss the matter with them, and that parents of pupils be circularised to that effect." It was decided that Mr. Smith and Dr. Fookes should confer with the principal and obtain from other schools reports to throw light on the examinations and passes here. The board then went into committee.