The Gisborne Standard AND COOK COUNTY GAZETTE Published every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Morning. Tuesday, November 12, 1889. NEGLECT AND DUTY.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 376, 12 November 1889, Page 2

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

Tuesday, November 12, 1889. NEGLECT AND DUTY.

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

A schoolmaster’s life is at best one of doubtful happiness, though of 'course he does have his periods of sunshine, without which brain workers would soon be unfitted for their occupation. One of the greatest sources of pleasure to the pedagogue is the success which attends his work, and non-success, if it is only in individual cases, gives the full measure of disappointment. It must indeed be a bitter diappointment when a schoolmaster finds that these failures are in many cases attributable to no other cause than neglect on the part of the parents. There is nothing contributes so much to a child’s backwardness as irregular attendance. A boy or girl may be dull of intellect, or worse still be indolent and careless of the future ; but if the pupil is regular in attendance, acompetent teacher, whose profession compels him to be a student of character, would be able to achieve a certain amount of success in dealing with the child : a slow boy can be induced to persevere and perhaps he may overtake his brighter schoolmates, while the boy who is indolent can, with rare exceptions, be spurred on by judicious management or by severe methods if the case be a flagrant one. The master’s influence is generally so great as to have a powerful effect on a child’s future career." But if irregular attendance be allowed the circumstances are completely altered, and not only is this so in the case of those children who are irregular in attendance, but it has a baneful effect on the children who do attend, and lessens the power of control, to say nothing of the miserable future there may be for those children whose parents are so neglectful. The work of the.country schools especially is made to suffer, in this respect, and it is with a feeling of satisfaction we note that Mr Hill, Inspector of Schools, has in his report made reference to the action of the Ormond School Committee in putting into force the compulsory clauses of the Education Act. In country districts Committees very often fail to do their duty in regard to parents who are neglectful of the interests of their children. We do not say that the Committees wilfully decline to take action ; they are as a rule guided by a mistaken regard for the parents, who are ever ready with excuses for their neglect. The Ormond Committee hss set an example which Is to be highly commended, and th? good effect of the Committee’s praiseworthy attitude ought not to be confined to the Ormond district alone.