Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1911. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10206, 6 April 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 1911. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM.

The education system of New Zealand has, in recent years, undergone a complete transformation. The primary school is no longer a place where teachers are permitted to throw the three "R's" promiscuously at the heads of the youngsters, in the hope that one or other of .hem WiU adhere to the juvenile cranium. The curriculum is designed to prepare the youth for the divergent avocations of business, to cultivate a love «for and appreciation of the boundless resources of Nature, to stimulate ambition, and to fortify the body as well as the mind for the occupations of life in their most strenuous form. There are not a few who contend that our educationalists are aspiring to too much, that they are saddling both the teacher' and the child with too heavy and varied a syllabus. It must be remembered, however, that child intellects are not a 1! alike, and that as different classes of cereal are required for the'variety of soils, so must the education be adapted to the peculiar aptitude and environment of the pupil. Reading and writing are always essentials in the primary school syllabus, and these must not be neglected on any account. Arithmetic, however, requir' to be handled in a different fashion, and must be applied according to the requirements and natural bent of the child. For instance, it is pure waste of time to cram the female brain with mathematics when a course in domestic economy is required. Outside the three "R's," there is possibly no subject which can be taught with greater advantage than science. The Minister for Education apparently recognises this fact, for, in a recent address in the South, he strongly emphasised the

importance of this branch of education. A general education should, he said, be both disciplinary and practical; that was, it should train the mental faculties on the assumption that a vigorous and well-balanced mind was the best required' of a man, and it should also furnish the necessary information for the guidance of conduct in ail probable circumstance. It was now generally conceded by educationists that instruction in science, if given on the right lines, should find a place in the scheme of general education. He meant such education as was intended to prepare a person for the duties of manhood or womanhood. The all-important question was not what people studied, but how they studied. It was to be feared that a large part of what students learnt at schools did not survive transplantation to the climate of the world. It would, however, appear that science at its best stood a better chance of thriving in everyday life than book-learning in any other branch of study.