17

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the differences often depend upon causes over which teachers have little or no control. The regularity of pupils at school, the social position of parents, and the emulation of a Committee are important factors in making a successful school, though they are not always indispensable to success. A good teacher, with a smack of enthusiasm for his work, with a little tact, ability to control, and a methodical mind, can work wonders anywhere, and though adverse circumstances may often hinder they cannot kee}} away the success which such a teacher merits. During the year under review the school work has been greatly hindered by the la grippe epidemic, by irregular attendance, and in the case of Standard VI. pupils by a short school year, so that the results do not show in as favourable a light as those of the previous year. Both the presentations in standards and the passes were fewer than they were in 1889, but in class and additional subjects the progress made was very satisfactory. The forty-seven pupils who are returned as above Standard VI. consist chiefly of the senior division of the Gisborne District High School, who do work of an advanced character as defined in section 56 of the Education Act, and altogether beyond the standard requirements. The general report on the work of the upper division of this school has already been submitted for approval. With the exception of the pupils referred to, few of the older children continue to attend school after passing Standard VI., and these pupils have to be examined in the requirements of Standard VI. It seems to me that an important advantage to education would be gained if some arrangements could be made for bringing together the few solitary pupils to be found in the country schools in Standards V. and VI., and the class above Standard VI., so that they might be brought under the same kind of instruction. As things are at present a good deal of a teacher's time in the smaller country schools is necessarily given to the instruction of a few pupils in the higher standards, whilst the lower classes are too often left to the tender mercies of a junior teacher. The difficulties in the way of bringing together for instruction the senior pupils residing in the neighbouring districts are many, but, whenever it is possible, effective organization implies its adoption. The short school year which a number of the Sixth Standard pupils had for the preparation of their work has necessarily increased the failures in that standard, and a reference to the table of passes will show that ymany pupils have not succeeded in reaching the requirements entitling them to a pass. In any case the effect of the failures will be beneficial both to teachers and pupils, and I look forward to much better results in Standard VI. next year, as a number of those to be examined will have had nearly two years for preparation of their work. Before offering a few remarks on the subject of instruction, I would point out how difficult it is to form anything like a fair estimate between my demands for a standard pass, and the demands of Inspectors in other districts. It seems to me that, whatever compulsory subjects are authorised to be prepared by pupils to entitle them to a standard pass, something like a fair degree of attainments should be insisted on. No doubt the departmental regulations assume that a standard pass in one district should be a fair type of a standard pass in every other district. But Inspectors are isolated. They have no common basis by which to judge or compare their several standards, and each interprets the departmental regulations in his own way. The Board has already suggested to the Minister of Education that a meeting of Inspectors should be held. I venture to express a hope that the Minister will approve of the suggestion. I have no more wish for uniformity in education than I have for uniformity in nature, but it would be a great satisfaction to know how far the demands for a standard pass in this district will bear comparision with those of other educational districts. The character of the instruction in most of the schools is in its way commendable, but real educative processes are too often neglected for the more immediate results which are to be obtained for the purpose of meeting regulation requirements. In the higher standards I have observed signs of deterioration in the school work, even in some of the best organized schools. As to the cause, I can only refer it to the number of "pass" and "class" subjects that pupils have to attempt in order to qualify for what is known as a " standard " pass. It is not that children are overworked, they are simply overtaught. They are made weary by a continual supply of the bare husks of the many subjects they have to learn, and yet the cry is, by men who should know better, that our education is " too literary !" I think it is Buskin who says that "nothing is well done that is done in competition," and this is very true when applied to the work of the schools. One of the highest purposes of school training should be to show the children how to use books, and yet in some schools children scarcely become acquainted with any book, except the ordinary standard readers, through which they are taken at competitive speed, during their entire school life. How to use for purposes of study a grammar-book, a geography-book, a dictionary, or even a history-book, is a mystery to most of our standard children, as parents may readily find out for themselves. The blame does not always rest with the teachers. I am convinced that the majority of them would pursue a different course to-morrow if they had the power to do so; but the character of the work to be prepared can only be accomplished by the teachers collecting the scrappy facts of knowledge themselves and getting their pupils to learn the same, regardless as to whether the children are being educated so long as the course pursued meets with departmental requirements. The Inspectors are powerless to alter what they know to be wrong, and so the Education mill grinds on regardless of utility and the constant demands made for the adoption of rational processes in education. The junior departments continue to be carried on with much care and success by a very earnest staff of teachers. But I should like to see an attempt made to train children to answer questions put orally just as fully and as completely as if the children had to write down their answers on paper or on slates. What is made fundamental in the early training of children becomes a mental discipline in after years, and, if young children can be trained to give a complete answer orally when a question is put to them, it will be an important advance in intellectual training compared with the system that now prevails. To illustrate what I mean by an example, let it be supposed that the recapitulation of an object-lesson on "A Slate" is being taken. The teacher, holding up a 3—E. Ib.