CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1071, 11 May 1882, Page 2

CRUELTY TO CHILDREN.

TO THE KDITOIt. Sin,—J hftYo vwd with great attention leading artiole under the above heading, My first impression was that you had been indulging in one ol your little jokes. But since it is distinctly asserted that cruelty is inflicted on children through the want of diligence in a certain section of our local teachers, I have of course formed a different opinion, That the home-work system, like all other human Bchemes, is liable to abuse is a fair and reasonable assumption"; but to argue therefrom that evil is deliberately wrought from motives deliberately selfish \3as well illogical as unkind. An intellectual acrobat, you have jumped with a charming facility, from perfectly right premises to utterly wrong conclusions. One portion of your article requires explanation. Who is the "parent who gives smn or eight Aow'B per diem of his child's time for Bcliolaatio purposes" while "hiaddifm to this one or two hours of evening study are enforced on the' child." The "italics, wj}icb are iqy own,' iqark statements which scjem pfeotly irrecqncpable. How stands the. else 1 Under the Standard system every scholar is required to givo evidence d a certain minimum degree of progress from year to year. To succeed in this it is absolutely necessary that he should havo received an adequate amount of instruction, and above all should he * constantly and perajsjtently fltaptic'ed tti ' the fqnp t| )e bi)sis qf instTUfjtion. It is in thislatteressontial'that , the need for home-work oonsists. There * is notnearly sufficient time, during school hours for what is technically known ns "desk work." The reaily idle teacher (not he of your hypothesis) wiil generally be found in that school where home lessons are not required and where, as a natural consequence, the scholars are engaged during a greater portion of the day in giving feeble expression to the very meagre information they possess, All tho \ education in the world, didactic or inductive, or both, will be valueless unless accompanied by the practical exercise of the intelligence, and for tljis mental' diioipline pgn-fpd-injt forms the readjust artd most pffeqtuaj mec|iqu|, a certain amount of preparation of the day's work (if indeed it is to Ije wprk and not the pretence of it) is demanded ot botl) teapherapdscholar; of the fopgr that he may empjoy his time to |he possiblp adyaqtage; of llje lattpr th&t hjs mind may be conditioned tq receive that instniction which lies not so iuuch lyjthip the lines but between them, J ask myself, sii'.-rOan you pqssihly have realised the m (fur fact it is) tliata largo proportion of sobolavs, probably forty per oent, of the whole, attend eohool with suoli gross irregularity that unless enormous efforts were made by the teacher their advancement would be hopelessness and despair, I would respectfully refer you for inform ition on this subject to the reports recently published by the various Inspectors, and especially to that of Mr Lee. For unfortunates such as those 1 have indicated supervised home exercises cannotdo muoh, but something % unquestionablylaif do j and in this partioufar direction," least, the cruelty would He not in the en. forcement but in tho withholding ot home work. Were evidence to be collcc'fld in reference to parental objections to home lessons, it wouid, I think, be found that in the majority of cases the opposition emanated from parents, distinguished by their apathy, their iqdifferenoG, their dangerous aqd negleqfc of their duty to th§ii; children and Society.' Those who support the parent of this order (an order unhappily whjch is fast becoming stereotyped) aro ijpholdincr lawlessness, brutality, aqd in their- worst phases, I am ljot. Sir, indirectly roproachpig yoq wjth favorft- >. ble to the parent incjiffaroiit. Tl|at yoq admit the existence of tlip- evil, and deplore it equally with my self, I have not the slightest shadow of q, doubt, But acknowledging so much, yon must needs justify t)l§ system yoij. have oondoipec} as a mepg to an pn'l ( involving the wellbein jof the community at large/ Some • no doubt, there are whose opposition to ' the giving of home-work is influenced by conscientious reasons. The opinion of such as these is entitled to respect and V y attention, and it is well tnat their views should receive consideration by the Pcess, But one would like to know what thoao .views are. That " money is the root of all evil" is trite but true. It is tie root ; of tlie evil under discussion. It is desired to ; s'ee our schools well attended; to substitute for the shadow of educatjqn tho • substance. Sljsll tlip anti hfjme-wortp.r ■ cease to rage and the QaSito imagine a vain thing 1 the pubjio pay for its whistle, impose a moderate school fee, and lo! the result. The half tbe quarter, tbenext-door-to-nothing-perl cent times will become a thing of thq past, and home-work the order of the day. We believe shat the extra lessons given in many instances are a * sort of compensation for the want of dili. gence in the teacher." " Sir Harry Vane, tbe Lord deliver us from Sir Harry Vane!" Do you not know, Sir,-but of course you do,—that in every well-con-ducted sohool the home exercises are revised by the teacher, after school hours, and that the errors noted form the subject of subsequent class criticism and special instruction j is it not a fact that the teacher, at no small self-sacrifice, is thus left free to practically double the value of'' the education he imparts; can there be a single instacce is which the giving of home-work lightens the teacher's labour ? Verily, Sir, if you do not know; these <- things, and if they exist only in. the imagination of the writer, then not a section,

but tho wholo of our lenchers are impostors and loafera, and " the trail of the serpent is over them all." If you have conceived the case of a school' conducted jby a conscientious teacher who can afford to dispense with the aid of home-work,—of a school which at the Same time is well-ordered, well-disci-plinod, and well ■instructed, you have conjured up a pictnro, fascinating it is true, but not the ieas is it tho picture of a highly improlmblo teacher in a perfectly iinpossiblo school. I (ltn,&c., lllh May, Dominie Sampson. [Most parents give soven or eight hours per diem of their children's time forsoholastio purposes, as tho journey to and fiom sjhfiol necessarily occupies a considerable ijtime, We hold that a sufficient education VfiflU be provided in our public schools without the aid of home lessons, and while admitting that our correspondent is an authority on this question, we differ from him on tliis material point.—Eb. Yv.i).]