THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1906.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8220, 25 August 1906, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 1906.

Very mixed results are being obtained. in New Zealand from the various methods and styles of writing taught in the public and secondary sohools, and though educationalists declare that the handwriting of the race is improving, it cannot by any stretoh of imagination be regarded as satisfactory uow. New South Wales teachers, to judge from a report in the Sydney Daily Telegraph, are just as muoh worried about the matter as are New Zetland teachers. There is a feeling, says the Telegraph, that the copy book reflects the tone of a school, but discussion of the subject is of little use if it is based only on experience of one school or one group of ohildren. Ibe very important physiological aspect of the teaohing of was discussed by the teachers themselves in Sydney a faw days ago. The subjeot was introduced by a lady lecturer, who argued that the abolition of sloping writing was imperative, on the grounds that it not only induced spinal curvature, but was also a frequent source of ophthalmia trouble. During the discussion some alarming statements were -Bade. The lecturer stated that 35 per cent, of her senior class wore

spectacles. A further statement that spinal curvature was rife was oouutered by a statement that not. 2 per cent, would be found io the public schools. Much waa said both for and against sloping writing, on the grounds of legibility and fluenoy, for teachers disagree quite as often as doctors, but the discussion waa chiefly oonoerned with the question of physical deterioration, and there seemed to be a general sugestion that crooked bauks, rouuded shoulders, and weak eyes were becoming increasingly common in the sobools. Several speakers insisted that wheu oases of the kind were discovered they should be placed promptly under suitable treatment, and that all school children should undergo a periodical medical examination. "The system of breathing exercises and ten-min-ute drills recently introduced into the schools," says the Telegraph, "is effecting splendid results, but the introduction of suitable school furniture and the scientific lighting of the schoolroom oan alone make the improvement permanent." From tbid it would appear that New Zealand is not alone in recognising the importance of daily exercise in the schools.