OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2645, 12 April 1894, Page 4

OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The following are the principal portions of Mr G-ow’s remarks on the work done in the primary schools, in his report as Inspector to the Board of Education, for the year: — Reading.—The reading of the children iu the first and seconds standards is better than it was a few years ago, through there is still room for great improvement. Many a time when I have had good reason to find fault with the reading I have felt my position strengthened by the clear statement in regulation 16 of what constitutes good reading; and in directing the attention of teachers to this statement, I like to lay stress on the fact that proper emphasis and tone are to be insisted on even in the first standard. Our school children as a rule read too little, and so long as most of them get through only one class book in a year, no great advance may be looked for, . . . By every means and device the teacher should strive to give his scholars such a command of reading that they will feel pleasure iu reading by themselves, and in the exercise of their power find themselves possessed of the most effective instrument for their own advancement and culture.

Writing.—Writing is relatively much better in the lower than iu higher classes; and yet it cannot be because of any inherent difficulty that the promise of success shown in earlier stagrs is not fulfilled a<* th» children pass on to the higher classes. The systematic teaching aud painstaking correction of faqltg with abundant practice found necessary in the earlier stages gives place in many instances to simple and insufficient practice in copybooks in the upper classes, with supervision more or less strict according to the standard of attainment the teacher has accustomed his scholars to aim at. . .

Even in oiio year a school whose reputation for writing is of the poorest, may be brought up to rank with the boat. Spelling,—The dictation and spelling tests have, as usual, been taken from the class reading books. The resul a. ju moat cases have shown with how much industry the lessons have boon ransacked for every passage and word that might cause a child to trip during examination, and the reward of all this labour has boon a strong pass in spelling in by far the greater number of our schools. , , . The frequent recurrence of misspelt words in exorcises other than the formal dictation and spelling tests has again teen noticeable. If the great body of '4 .

our scholars were to form the habit of reading more extensively than they now do, I am sure it would have a good effect on their spelling, for it will be found that with rare exceptions those who read most spell best. Arithmetic. Arithmetic has been steadily improving from year to year, and the results this year have been satisfactory on the whole. The importance of the subject itself, and the definiteness with which the progress of each individual can be tested by examination have secured for it the place of honour among the primary school subjects. Teachers feel that in teaching arithmetic they must put forth their stongest efforts, for the popular verdict as to their ability to conduct a school will bo largely influenced by the success or failure of their scholars in this subject. . . In several schools fingers were freely made use of for counting by children of the first and second standards. I was sorry to see this; 1 thought such a stupid and laborious habit would have been stamped out by this time; its appearance in a class is a sure sign of weak teaching. Composition and Grammar.—Steady progress continues to be made in the teaching of composition, and the letters and short essays of the pupils are much improved. A good foundation in sen-tence-making is being laid in the third standard; and the pupils who are now passing up to the higher standards should not be open to the reproach of passing through the public school course without acquiring sufficient skill to write an ordinary letter that will be clear in its meaning and free from grammatical blunders. .When grammar held a place among the pass subjects the results were far from satisfactory iu the majority of our schools. It is no better taught now when it ranks as a class-subject; and in some schools I fear the work shown indicated something approaching neglect in its treatment. As an intellectual exercise no other subject the children are called upon to deal with cau compare with the grammar lesson; and I always regard good work done in grammar as sure evidence of skilful teaching. Drawing.—Drawing remains about the same as last year. A great deal of the school time is spent over it, more perhaps than can be spared from other subjects in higher standards. The relief afforded to the girls of the fourth and sixth standards by the excision of geometrical drawing from their course was much appreciated, but there was considerable disappointment when it was found that scaledrawing was not wiped out from the work required from girls of the fifth standard. In nearly all the schools the children of Standards 1., 11., and 111. were well grounded in the kuowlege of geometrical forms prescribed for them ; indeed their head work was much iu advance of their hand work.

Geography.—ln standard II the children had usually a good knowledge of the meaning of a map, and of the principal geographical terms. What they did best, however, was the pointing out of continents, oceans and seas ; and in the besttaught classes a short description of the position of the seas was readily added as the pointer was travelled over the map from sea to sea. This descriptive accompaniment was in a good many instances carried into the work of standard 111 and higher standards. If children are trained to use their maps and interpret what they see, they will learn a good deal without a text book. Map drawing is not sufficiently practised by the children, and fewer teachers than one would expect show themselves expert in sketching maps on the blackboard in the presence of their class, and filling in details as the lesson proceeds. History.—ln history the selected dates were almost accurately known; indeed it was the rule to find the dates prepared even where the lessons themselves had little merit. It was hoped that the history lessons would have greatly improved when the choice of what he should teach them from the proscribed periods was left to the teacher, and the number of lessons was limited to twenty-five. The improvement, if there has been any, has not been striking. It would appear that with the restricted course there has been much leas reading of history than before. There is a distinct loss here; for whether the children were acquiring historical knowledge or not, they were at least getting additional practice in reading, which was a good thing in itself. Science and Object Lessons.—The teachers have done their best to give their scholars some knowledge of elementary science. In a good many schools the character of the instruction has been worthy of commendation, and it may be said that in all the schools the pupils have acquired a good deal of useful information. Object-lessons of a kind have been given in all the lower classes. It is not easy to give a good object-lesson. A good many teachers forget this, and very often what passes for an object-lesson with them is so only in name. A certain amount of information is imparted to the children, and it is not unusual to find them able to express themselves well in answering questions on what they have learned. So far this is yery good. But the main purpose of the lesson—the cultivation of the perceptive powers, is often entirely overlooked. Additional Subjects—Under the head of additional subjects are included recitation, disciplinary exercises and drill, singing, neodbwork, and knowledge of the subject matter of the reading books. In thirty-eight schools the children were presented for examination in all these subjects; drill was omitted in eight schools, singing in 17 schools, and needlework in nine schools. As there are so many small schools in our district, I think our teachers are to be congratulated on the efforts they have put forth to overtake the work entailed by attention to these subjects.. It is laid down in the regulations that “ any good work under this head done in small schools will be accepted as evidence of praiseworthy zeal and efficiency.” Very few of our schools have failed to give evidence of such good work.

The past year will long be remembered for its measles, mumps, aud mud. Parents in this district take an intense interest in the examinations, and they were indulging iu gloomy forecasts as to the condition li> whffih the schools would be found. Teachers, too, had mope than thffir usual anxiety about tfio fruits of their labours. Fortuuataly most of tlje school work had bean overtaken before the epidemics swept over oijP d> s ti’iat, the examinations, howeve-, taking place wl}i)n maftors were nearly at their worst. It speaks well for the .oss with which the fouu dations of i' o work had been laid in most of our .uffieols that iu spite of all disadvantages disaster was exceptional. Where disaster did come, I wish the chances of recurrence were as little to be dreaded as a fresh outbreak of measles.