THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1909. TRAINING THE MAORI YOUTH.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9632, 26 October 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1909. TRAINING THE MAORI YOUTH.

The annual report, on Native schools is always interesting, and it is satisfactory to know that steady and creditable progress is being made with the work of bringing the Native racj to a true appreciation of those i benefits which civilisation confers. It is, of course, by instruction aloot; i that such an object can be attained, and it is, therefore, essential to real success that methods most suitable to the needs of the native race should be adopted. From the report in ques : , tion it appears that the number of I children on the rolis of these schools at the 31st December, 1908, was 4,217, as against 4,183 at the Oo.e of the preceding year. The average attendance for the year was 3,781, the percentage of regularity being 84.4, an increase of about 2 cent, oti that of the previous year. The average, weekly roll number for the year was 4,479, which is the highest yet reached. There were at the 31st" December 215 childre i on the rolls of the various native 1 missiun schools and 303 others on the rolh of the secondary native schools, all of which are inspected by officers of the Education Department. Tnis shows that there were at the end of 1908 4,735 children attending Native schools of one kind or other, the gross average weekly roll being 4,986 and the gross average attendance being 4,249. The steady increase in the attendance, and the frequent applications received for the establishment of r.evv schools, point to the appreciation by the Maori people of the advantages offered them, and an increasing desire on their part for education. The Inspector's report shows that the standard of efficiency of the I schools is satisfactory; in many cases it is very high indeed. It must be remembered in this connection that there has been a very considerable increase during- the past five years in the standard requirements, which ; are. now practically ori a level with those of the ordinary country school. The new syllabus provides for some form of manual- training in every school. In many schools elementary practical agriculture is taken up, | and useful experimental work is being done. There were fifteen workshops in operation during the year, arid much useful work cori' tinues ti he done by them. A very important" phase of the whole system is referred, to at some length by the Inspectors, ai follows:—No one will deny that the Maori boy ghould have access to the highest d«

gree of education to which it is

possible for him to attain, but few will assert that such education isnecessary or even desirable for everyone. In fact, in the prjceis of get ( ting a few Maori boys through the ( Matriculation Examination the whole usefulness of a school may be considerably impaired. Much has been said in support of giving Maori youths such education as will fit them for the higher walks in life; unfortunately, however, those walks the great majority are destined never to tread—in our opinion Maori boys and girls would be better occupied in learning soinpthing of the dignity of labour. In these days the education of the Maori, as . indeed that of the European, should be in the direction of fitting him for his work in life. It would undoubtedly be of greater service to them to know the principles and practice of agriculture, the elements of dairy farming, woolclassirg, and the management of stock, than the declension of Latin nouns and verbs. From the report of the General SuperinI tendent of Education, Manila, Philippine Islands, we may here quote the following: "Iraining in the English language and literature supplies the place in the Philippine system of the classical studies of the American school programme. The great need of Filipino national life is precisely in the direction of effort to acquire material benefits. The graces of the culture-atudies may well await later lessons. The I crying need now is for a stimulus

which environment and racial his- j tory have for centuries dented—a stimulus to practical activity. It is with that training which gives the most tangible benefits that our secondary and specialised nation purposes to concern itself." The Sherman Institute United Sutes Indian School, with a capacity for 550 students, was foun led in California in 1901, to meet the needs of the advancing Indian yo' Eh of Southern California. The school is graded with the city scho hj, with special attention given u the correlation of the class-room w rk v»ith that of the industrial den .. c nants. To quota from the report: —Ch3 school ranch is a little trainin r i-chool in it-elf. On the 110 acres irrigation and general farming—as raising grain, alfalfa, and wheat hay. the care cf the dairy herd, dairying, and' the raising of hogs and poultry—are thoroughly taught. Vegetable gardening is empha.ised with the result that large q .antities of vegetables are supplied to the school proper throughout the year. Girls receive instruction and training in all that pertain 3 to the dutits of ranch-housekeeper, such as caring for the home, cooking, kitcare of poultry on a small scale, care of milk, and butter-making. No department of Sherman is mera popular fjr its valuable opportunities and instructioi than the ranch. As part of the schJol-plan the outing system is practised each year. Students have no difficulty i:i securing positions, the girls in the best families of "Southern California, and the Doys on ranges and in other industrial lines." It seems to us that these principles might well be applied, if not in whole, at least in great part, to our scheme of secondary training for Maoris