The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1908. WINTER SCHOOL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2272, 18 August 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 1908. WINTER SCHOOL.

The inauguration yesterday of the first Winter School held in Gisborne is an event of more than ordinary importance, and the Hawke’s Bay Education Board is entitled to a good deal of credit for making the necessary arrangements. The school is to bo continuously in session until Friday week, and during its brief existence teachers of all the schools within reasonable distance of town will be given the opportunity of hearing lectures from some of the most expert scientists in the country. Gifted men who •have made special studies in particular branches of modern education will personally communicate the results of their research to those who are entrusted with the noble task of educating the rising generation. The time when, a teacher was supposed to have attainert all that was necessary for the success of his work by passing an examination in mathematics, chemistry, geology, and history, with a smattering of Latin and French thrown in has long since gone by. Modern conditions have demanded a broader scope for the pedagogues who exert so va6t an influence upon the future of our people. In place of a steadfast cramming of a multitude of facts on specified objects into the cranium of the youngsters, they faro expected to train the reasoning and observing faculties in regard to the chief factors of existence in a workaday world. In pursuance of this policy quite a number of new subjects have been introduced into the school curriculum, some of which received not the slightest consideration when our present teachers were receiving their training. The Agricultural Department, with its numerous ramifications that take a most important part ill the development of the country, is an institution of comparatively recent growth, .and it is significant of the present tendency in general education that the Board has deemed it wise to largely utilise the services of erperts of that Department in arranging the present programme of .lectures. The Board’s action in this respect is thoroughly commendable, for in the. Poverty Bay district it is particularly desirable that our teachers should be conversant with the main principles attached to the winning of produce from the soil. It is to be hoped, moreover, that the public will show their appreciation of the opportunity provided by the Board to attend in goodly numbers at the evening lectures. It is only on rare occasions that gentlemen like Messrs Gil ruth' and Bay.liss can be heard in Gisborne, and in the case of the Chief Veterinarian, who has recently accepted a. higher position, in Australia, it will probably be the last occasion upon which he will deliver a. lecture in this town. There are subjects of different character that will he treated in the next few days by other specialists, and we shall bo surprised if the ultimate benefit to the district does not prove to be great and far-reaching in extent.