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The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning.

Thursday, March 21, 1889.

Be just and fear not; Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s, Thy God's, and truth's.

A REPREHENSIBLE PROPOSAL. The approach of the Parliamentary session is reviving the interest in political matters, and as a signal of increased activity the usual stories are gaining currency. It is believed that an attempt will be made to increase the number of members of the Legislative Council, and the names of certain gentlemen are mentioned as probable nominees. This report is said to come from high sources and is entitled to consideration. Most likely it is mereh- pi” forth as a "feeler,” to be denied or substantiated by the Government as the tone of public opinion seems to suggest. Well, we think the taxpayers ought pot to leave the Government long in doubt as to what are the views of the public. The answer should be given in language that cannot be mistaken, nor yet ignored. The country is over-burdened with bad legislation and bad legislators, and nothing could be more to its advantage than a good long rest after the maladministration of the past. The natural destiny of things has done for the Legislative Council a service which ought not to have been needed—the ranks of the Council have been gradually thinned nntll they have been brought within reasonable limits, but instead of now increasing the number it requires to be. still further diminished, if not swept away. Within the last couple however, the Council has shown that it can be of some utility to the country : their action in connection with the Loan Bill did much towards redeeming them in the eyes of those who have any feeling of patriotism left in them. But if no better improvement can be attempted in regard to the constitution of the Council, than the appointment of more members, then it had far better be left alone—the taxpayers should say positively they will have no more of this imposture, for no other term is more, -applicable to the crafty system that, has been adopted by late Governments. The Atkinson Government have so far yielded to the spirit of public'opinlon in this respect, and they will make a grave mistake if they outrage it at the present time in the WAX proposed.

MR HILL ON TECHNICAL EDUCATIONThe question of technical instruction in schools has already been much discussed, and the Minister of Education has announced his intention of introducing a Bill to grant the Education Boards power to establish workshops and schools in the four largest towns of the Colony. This would simply mean that the people in less populated districts would have to contribute towards the expense, while they would receive little benefit. The principle is of course admitted to be an excellent one, but the difficulty of getting it satisfactorily put into practice is the main obstacle to be contended with. The great failing of Colonials is that they always want to do everything on a scale which is beyond their means, and altogether out of keeping with the circumstances. To carry out their idea of the thing there must be workhouses, a large staff of practical teachers, and other expensive arrangements, which the Colony is not justified in undertaking because the expense would not be commensurate with the advantages to be attained, and it is better to let things take the oldfashioned course than strive to organise that which we cannot honestly afford. Mr Hill, the Inspector of Schools for this district, in his last report makes reference to the subject of technical education, and speaking of the elementary lessons in elementary science he mentions an instance of a lad at Kaikora having made a telephone, a microphone, and an electric battery, simply from the knowledge gained from Paul Berte’s " Year Book of Scientific Knowledge.” Mr Hill says : —“ Here a good example is presented,showingwhat the scientific instruction in the schools—elementary though it be—is likely to produce if carefully fostered. But it seems to me scarcely possible for scientific training to be carried into the school routine much farther than this. ■ Handiwork, or the skilful employment of the hands in combination with the mind, can hardly proceed beyond the introduction of writing, drawing, and their cognates into the standard school course, because to do so would result in carrying specialisation beyond the limits of practicability. You can specialise too much in public school keeping, just as you can generalise too much. A public school is not the place for individual specialisation in knowledge, for the reason that the school, and not the child, constitutes the unit to be dealt with. The aim of every school should be to give that instruction and that training likely to be of use to all pupils attending the school. Hence, whilst schools should be differentiated in the matter of instruction so as to become adapted to districts, the instruction ought not to be further specialised for the benefit of any pupil. Towns, districts, countries, are examples equally of special and of relative generalisation; and good government, whether educational or other, adapts itself to each and so develops types and characteristics such as the environment demands.

To do the same thing at the same time in all places develops what is best expressed as Chinese uniformity. All children cannot become farmers, or carpenters, or ploughmen, or mechanics, nor is it desirable that they should, so that it would be useless to specialise the work of a public school for the benefit of any trade or calling, as some persons are vainly imagining to be possible. The public schools do not require workshops to be added to them, for they are already workshops of a most severe type, but the great wants of to-day are, adaptive education, better school appliances for objective and technical instruction, and better opportunities for teachers to prepare themselves in science and art. When these are forthcoming the schools will be able to send out into the world of specialisation children with better aims and capabilities than now, and with a higher ideal than the prevailing one to-day, which is, I regret to observe, how best to utilise the school for commercial purposes, as if all virtue, and knowledge, and goodness were measurable by the standard of gold. ” Mr Hill’s sensible remarks are well worth studying by every reader, for whilst pointing out a common error of judgment, he indicates a course by which there might be much improvement, and at the same time he does not use flowery language to disguise his thoughts as to the standard by which school progress is now measured. His few words suggest a train of thought which cannot ’.fail to impress one with the true state of things; but the age is an utilitarian one, and everything must to an extent give way to it; the one who stands by and muses as to what ought to have been and is not, will be thrown in the background and his ideas regarded as old-fashioned. The hope is to make utility fit in with a higher ideal, to make the best of what we have, and that none should be inactive in the changing course of events. Mr Hill appears to be fully aware of this, and to recognise that though it is not well that utility should outpace the higher objects, the former must have due weight attached to it. If our children are to be able to compete in the struggle for existence, which is yearly becoming more stern, they must be given the advantages of preparatory instruction, and technical education cannot be ignored. In England now, Germans are gradually supplanting the home-born youth in many occupations which the latter had come to regard as reserved for himself and countrymen. The success of the former is attributable to many causes, but one reason in particular is the preparation which the German youth undergoes and the tuition he receives in different branches of employment. The time will come when colonials will have this brought to their notice in a very forcible way, and in the meantime it is well that the subject should be considered in a practical manner. Mr Hill, in other words, says there is a line beyond which which utilitarians cannot go without incurring defeat of their own purpose; on the other hand it would be the extreme of selfishness were the country people compelled to contribute ■ to the support of technical schools by j which only a few city folk would be : the gainers, and it is questionable i whether the colony could bear much 1 further expense on educational matters. ; Therefore we think a medium course - would be the most satisfactory, and i though we might be prepared to extend ■ the line set down by Mr Hill, he points * Out the great wants, which at any rats ; should be remedied,| ,

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GSCCG18890321.2.5

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 276, 21 March 1889, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,497

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning. Thursday, March 21, 1889. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 276, 21 March 1889, Page 2

The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE. Published Every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday Morning. Thursday, March 21, 1889. Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 276, 21 March 1889, Page 2

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