The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1884. THE TEMUKA HIGH SCHOOL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1162, 8 April 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1884. THE TEMUKA HIGH SCHOOL.

The news that the Board of Education intends to give Mr Wood, the Head Teacher of the Temuka District High School, three months notice to leave, has caused a good deal of uneasiness. A letter which betrays the indignation of the writer appears elsewhere, and the Chairman of the School Committee has called a public meeting for next Wednesday evening to consider the question. The people, as a whole, are very much annoyed at the very autocratic way in which the Board is going to work, and if this matter is persisted in we have no hesitation in saying that it will injure education in the district to a considerable extent. Before going any further we may as well understand the position of affairs thoroughly. Shortly after the Temuka School was raised to the dignified position it now occupies, the Board of Education resolved that its Head Master should be a graduate of a University. We commented upon this at the time, and pointed out how undesirable it would be to interfere with the present Head Teacher. In reply to our remarks the Chairman of the Education Board addressed to us a letter, in which he said, “It is not the spirit of the High School regulations that present head masters will be summarily dealt with. Any proposals they may make with the view of bringing themselves into harmony with the regulations, will, I am sure, receive the utmost consideration. Now, will it speak ill for the industry and ambition of such masters, if by raising their own scholastic status, they endeavor to hold their places to gratify their friends, please Committees, fall in with the progressive spirit of High School legislation, amt improve both financially and socially their own positions.” This appeared to us fair and reasonable at the time, and when subsequently we learned that the Board was willing to give these teachers three years to qualify themselves, we came to the conclusion that there would be no difficulty in the way. It appears now, however, that the Board wants these teachers to go up for examination next November. The Board does not require that they shall pass then ; it only wants them to present themselves for their first examination. Mr Wood has refused to comply with this request of the Board ; he is willing to prepare for taking out a degree before the end of the threo years, but is not ready to present himself fer examination in November next. It will thus be seen that the whole dispute consists in whether Mr Wood presents himself for examination in November next or not. The Board is willing to give him three years to

graduate, Mr Wood is willing to accept the Board’s terms, but the Board wants him to take his “ preliminary canter” in November, and he refuses on the ground that he is not ready just yet. Nobody we presume knows his own business better than Mr Wood, and doubtless he has got good reasons for not “ bringing himself into harmony with the regulations ”so far. Still we think he might as well have made an effort, even though he felt he was not prepared. He might as well have humored those autocrats of the Education Board, and if be had done so we feel confident he would have succeeded in making matters more agreeable for himself. So far Mr Wood has committed a fault, but there are extenuating circumstances to be put in as a set-off against it. He is a gentleman who possesses the reputation of being a good scholar and a thoroughly capable teacher, and he does not wish to run the risk of damaging himself by presenting himself for an examination for which he is not prepared. The Board of Education on the other hand has no such excuse for the abrupt way in which it has gone to work. The Chairman has assured us that any proposals the teachers shall make with the view of bringing themselves into harmony with the regulations —that is taking a University degree—shall receive the utmost consideration. But though Mr Wood offers to bring himself into harmony with the regulations within the specified term of three years, that is not satisfactory unless he presents himself next November, In this we think the Board has exceeded the bounds ot reason 4nd common sense. Because Mr Wood declines to comply with such an arbitrary request on the ground that he is not ready, he is to be given three months notice of dismissal, regardless of what consequences may ensue to the school he has presided over most successfully for the past few years. Only that we know Mr Wood has not an enemy on the Board, or off of it, we should set down the petulance and little-mindedness that is betrayed in this action to petty spite. But we know this is not the case, for it is impossible for any one who knows Mr Wood to entertain for him feelings other than those of esteem and respect. The conclusion we must come to therefore is that the Board of Education has taken into its head that Mr Wood shall go up for examination next November, and that it means to compel obedience to its mandates. The Board is thus unreasonably hasty. It cannot be said that, Mr Wood is incompetent and lhal tlr n is not time to wait. The Board knows that he is thoroughly competent, that he has done excellent work since he took charge of the school, and that no interest whatsoever will suffer by giving him time to prepare for the examination. Under these circumstances we would ask the Board to drop this •“ fad ” and to look upon the matter in a broader light. Let the Board remember that it has a most industrious, painstaking and capable teacher, who requires only a little time to qualify himself as it desires, and let it reflect whether it would not be better to have a little patience with such a teacher than to run the risk of getting in his place some lazy, incapable noodle with B.A. to bis name. A graduate of first-class teaching capacity will not accept the head mastership of the Temuka School; only a second-rate man will be found willing to take the salary attached to the position. We urge these reasons on the attention of the Board, and we hope they will consider them well before doing so unpopular and undesirable a thing as to remove Mr Wood.