JUDGE RICHMOND ON SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2106, 7 January 1886, Page 4

JUDGE RICHMOND ON SECONDARY EDUCATION.

Iv a speech that lie delivered sit the annual pnze dUtnbution at the Wellington College, Judge Richmond said :—: — "L'»ok at the trained woi'-.man, *-cc liim squint along a piece of nice work ; or a man who works with u hie. The ait of filing is a very difficult art, and 1 feel great respect for a man v.h > has attained "kill in it— he i» a man who has learned what accuracy and exactitude in work aie. Any man who has pone through a course of this kind will be able to boil your eggs for you if nerea-ary (laughter and cheers), and do the same thing twice over in the «arne way, for the worry is that you can't get that dtnio. (Cheer-.) Well, I know I shall be told that this is rather a speech against cla--sic.il tran.ing. (A voice: Hear, hear.) I don't nipan it in that way, and I don't believe it. (Another voice: Hear, hear.) I am not inclined to join in the somewhat too popular outcry against classics. I maintain still that if we revert to our principle i that education is training faculty — I still adhere to the doctrine that theic i-> nothing like mathematics and classics for political tnimng. (Cheer-..) They cojrect one another veiywoll. As to training, wh.it mathematics gives in accuracy is almost as obvious n» that "which physical science give-. You know voiy well, buys what it i-> if >ou forget the signs m algebra or foiget to take the point out of the bracket-, or mi-s one of those horrible little fractions of ColcnsoV, or mistake the point of a cii dilating decimal ; the whole result is vitiated, and although you began with a little error, it eventuates as our fiiend- across the Pacific say, in a veiy laige error. Then with regard to language ; the study of th.it is to be by no means neglected. It is full of inI struction as to the neces-ity of accuracy. I Consider the fine distinctions between the I tenie*, the minute attention that the dead languages oblige you to give to inflexion. The vulgar say— Strange all this difference should be 'Tw i\t Tw eedledum and Tweedlcdee But in the classics you leain very quickly that th«J« is a ffteat deal of ditteienco between duni and dee ; it sometimes means ."iOO line*. (Laughter and cbeei s.) I spoke with admiration of the accuracy of Nature. But consider the accuracy of some human minds. Take all those thousands and tens of thousands of lines of Virgil, and the absolute regard for quantity there displayed ; the wonderful tesselated work of Horace and the Greeks have even iivire wrmileiful examples of perfect exactitude. The boy will piofit by the reflection, and he will see what wondeiful accuracy has been attained by the human mind, a:id with w hat giand result*. Those things although you may never be called upon to lead a lino of Latin— although if you go intu the learned professions you ceitainly can't get on without it,— though you may never be asked to solve a single algebraical problem in your life, your time will never be lost in it. (Cheers). I believe you practice \\ ith club-, and per-ons who see you might be inclined to exclaim, " What is the use of that? You are not going to be windmill-.' 'That is quite tiue,' you reply, ' but if you knew moie about it you would know the excellent effect it has on the deltoid and bicep*-.' You would say it had an effect on the mu-cles— that in the reason why we are doing it— for exercise, for the development of faculty. I take it that you will go into the woi Id thoroughly pemiaded of the advantages of mental exactitude and nice observation — a clo-e observation of tilings. Principally it is very often the smalle-t things that are worth of attention. And T trust that you will carry that spirit into the work of life, whatever department you may be called to. It will lead you to be faithful and conscientious men, or should do so, in any work you may undertake. Conscientious accuiacy and exactitude are the secret of micccss, of com.-c, in every walk of life It i» required and will lead to the success it deserves. I say conscience, and there I pass into a diffeient and a higher sphere. All the book learning in the world cannot give you conscience. You may have a conviction of the necessity of accuracy, and yet you won't use it. Confccioiice is not to be taught by mere school teaching. 1 might say that the only way of teaching it is by evample. It is the spectacle of others putting into their lives the kind of spirit that I am recommending to you."