SCIENCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1301, 30 October 1880, Page 2

SCIENCE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

A System of education which is free and compulsory isessentially asystem intended to benefit the lower classes, and as such a system is now in force throughout New Zealand, and has had a sufficient length of time to prove its merits, one may fairly enquire as to the benefits arising therefrom. In the first place primary education is placed within the reach of every child, ' and those parents who are too careless or too idle to voluntarily grasp such advantages for their children are, or may be, compelled to do so. Hence it follows that only a very small proportion of the rising generation will grow up without receiving aome kind of education. Every girl and boy will, at least have an opportunity of learning to read and write. Another difference between the old system and the new is that in the latter the teaching of elementary science is compulsory. This is a significant fact. In the old days when a teacher gave lessons in any science, it was certain to be one form which he had a natural aptitude, and of which he had made a special study. Consequently it was likely to be well and thoroughly taught. Now-a-days a teacher who wishes to take a certificate is compelled to read up some text book, but has no desire to learn more than will enable him to pass the examination; consequently the lessons given afterwards will be poorly and superficially taught. No man or woman can teach any subject well in which they take only a very slight interest. However, the demands of the School Inspectors are not very vigorous. A man of average ability could "learn "enough science m three months to more than satisfy all requirements. The lessons usually take the form of short lectures, diversified by experiments. But the question intrudes itself if this smattering of science, these very homeopathic draughts from the well of knowledge, be of the leas>t use or benefit to the scholars in after life. It must be borne in mind that the pupils who attend the primary schools are children of labourers, and will themselves have to earn their livelihood literally "in the sweat of their brow." Their time at school is and they require to learn, cot whdtis ornamenUl or even invigorating, but what will assist them in the coming struggle i ©r existence. Will science do this ? I hardly think so. Reading will enable them to look be'ter after their own interests, writing and arithmetic will help them in thoir pecuniary affairs ; but how will a knowledge of the primary facts of chemistry, physiology, or astronomy assist them ? Of course the design is merely to put them into the way of afterwards following out for themselves the marvels and beauties of the scientific world ; but is the teaching as now given likely to do this f I doubt it But if teachers desire to make their pupils pursue science for its own. sake, it, should be clearly pointed out that each science has a real and economic value. Let a boy clearly understand that the study you introduce him to is one whioh, if earnestly pursued will benefit him in his after life, then self-interest, the strongest of all motives, will induce him to follow it out. That if he means to be a farmer, chemistry will enable him to discern more surely the nature of the different soils, and the best means of improving the poorer kinds ; botany will teach him to conserve and improve the" native grasses and what plants suit best the different soils ; — that to a miner or stone masen, geology is useful in showing' the different strata in which useful or valuable minerals may be found. Taught iv this way, even the science of etymology may be made very instructive and useful, if a boy is made to observe, and discriminate between useful und noxious insects, to recognise their larva; and to experiment on the best methods to destroy ,-uoh a> are hurtful. Again, in all country schools the boys should b ■'tauirht something of the scienceof agriculture, but I venture to hay, not one fountrv schoolmaster in fiftyhasanyknowledg * of it, not own to the very poor extent of reading the primer on the subject. A.s far a.» the girls are concerned the teaching of science is a decided mistake and wa^tc of time. Fi.r what are thesegirls fo look forward to in after life — either to being d<mie->tic servants or the wives of working m? n. And in what waywill their .scientific knowledge he of use to them ? What will it avail Mary Jane to know that >oap*' is compounded of stearine and ohine which wheu subjected to a hot lye of soila changes to margaric acid and oleic asid," if she forgets to apply s'lffiji^ntof the o'Tinpouml to the clothes on washing day ? — what ii the use of her knowing- all about wtloric if she forgets to warm the dinner pi ites? Ifcis very well that she should know all about the various gases which make up the atmosphere, but what if sho poisons herself and her family by keeping the windows of the sleeping apartment hermetically sealed le-t a breath of air should intrude. The prac f ic°l knowledge thiit cold water f.eoly used will prevent roltls and keep off many epidemics is far betrrr for her, even if she never heard of hydrogen or nitrogen. While the one scions which is vc:illy c-s a »tial to overy work-ing worn-mis neglected, there is no fime or nesrl to study others. Working women, and wives of working men, ought especially to know how to cook economic.iUy and yet tistefully. Let them learn this science as thoroughly as they miy, for it will make their whole life happier. Yet how many girls of the working classes have any idea of cooking properly go called? They can boil a piece of meat to rags, or roast it to a cinder, but there their skill ends. As to delicacy or tastef ulness in the preparation of food, anyone who has stopped at a bush public house and has been regaled with steak parboiled in dripping, soup thick with vegetables and fat, or boiled beef and rank cabbages, will fully appreciate the ability of country cooks. But in New Zealand and the other colonies where meat and vegetables are at the command of the very poorest, it is sinful waste of God's best gift to destroy viands after the fashion of most women of the working classes. Cook ?Is it cookery to burn a piece of meat till it is as dry and innutricious as leather, to mQg their husbands dyspectic with watery vegetables, and their children martyrs to indigestion through feeding on heavy dough, stuffed with currants and called cake? But who shall blame these womon ? they do their very best as far as they know how, and it is simply ignorance which causes them to err. When poverty comes upon them, which amongst them, even if their family were starving at their feet, would dream that the fresh bones which may be had for the carrying away can be transformed into excellent and nutritious soup? If sickness comes they immediately fly to Holloway's or someone else's pills, or some poisonous Elixir, or EsseDce of Life, never dreaming that the commonest herbs in their garden are much more efficacious remedies. Yet the camomile which borders the garden beds will make a drink strengthening to the digestive organs ; that when baby, in a spirit of investigation, scalds, himself by peeping a little too closely into the teapot, the terrible agonies may be relieved by a poultice made of a raw onion and a potato scraped np and moistened with salid oil ; or when that mischievious Dicky comes, in yelling from the beehive, the pain may be cured by a leaf or two of the poppy plant. Here then is a wide field for the would be teachers of soience. Teach girls to be better servants, more capable house-wives, more helpful mothers. Introduce a good simple cookery

book, manage to institute cooking classes, if only onoe a week; make your examinations strict and searching in this subject; roward success and painstaking with all your best prizes; make your school girls fair primary cooks ; and see whether the mothers, fathers, future husbands, and families, will not say you have done a good and worthy work, that the science into which you hare initiated your scholars is indeed ene worth studying incessantly all their lives long. — Witness.