The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1912. THE EMPIRE'S HISTORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 225, 21 March 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1912. THE EMPIRE'S HISTORY.

Sir Robert Stout, Chancellor, of the University of New Zealand', has lately said that the study of history should be encouraged in the schools of New Zealand. The average scholar is considered to bo adept in the subject if he can fire off a number of date's of great 'events. As far as the schoolboy is concerned, the great events of history are the wars, the wickedness of kings, and the execution of celebrities. Few Bchool children and fewer adults could review with any clearness the events that have led up to the present condition of the Empire, its wondrous progress, and its tremendousinfluence. This is not the fault of the individual. It is the custom' to con-, dense into text, books the real or alleged happenings of various, kings' reigns, and it is unusual to discover any coherent or useful school history book which leaves the scholar with any definite sense of understanding. History teaching partakes of the parrot repetition common in the'teaching of all and, generally, the historians are jnere collectors of more or less valuable information that cannot be verified, and the teaching of which has no essential influence on the young mind. The desire to produce books has led many writers to put schoolbooks on the market, and Sir Robert Stout himself, who advocates the proper teaching of history, has produced a New Zealand geography, which, of course, it. may be assumed, will oust all existing school geographies, seeing that Sir Robert Stout is credited 'with being the greatest educational leader of this country. The critics are not so sure, and one very frank critic remarks that it should not be placed in the hands of any schoolchild, and suggests that it is dull and otherwise uninteresting. Most school books are hopelessly dull, and there is no inspiration to the young mind in them. . It is but a few years since that even literary and poetical handbooks were absolutely gruesome, the idea of the collectors of these selections seeming to be that youngsters should be terrified by tales of death, accident, disease, sudden death and sin. The mathematical tendency of the average schoolmaster has led to the dullness of school books, and youngsters' hate of them. Only one child in a hundred could sip inspiration or become enthusiastic over the pages of British history generally placed in their hands. They do not know causes or reasons; they are not allowed to understand that- series of events other than the murder of kings or the wickedness of queens have made him and his country and his contemporaries what they are. Facts, or alleged facts, dished up in iron lines, are merely I

annoying. The fact of the remembering of the date of the Battle of Crecy is not of the least value in the world. Why was the Battle of Crecy? What happened because of it? What effect had it on history ? What Was the condition of the people when it happened? We believe that history should be written as it occurs, and by the brightest men who can be obtained. It is the business of the State to record events in its progress, and the State's authorised history should be the only one taught to children. The attitude, however, of the average adult towards history is that knowledge of it or ignorance of it, does not affect his everyday life. The past may be interesting, but a knowledge of it is not essential to the payment of the baker's bill. It is easy for an educationist, or anyone believing himself to be an educationist, to vaguely declare that young New Zealanders should study history. Who.is competent to teach Imperial history, if Sir Robert Stout is incompetent to teach local geography?