SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENTS.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume III, Issue 391, 14 December 1889, Page 2

SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENTS.

As the annual entertainment in connection with the Gisborne School will be held on Monday next it may not b? out of place to refer to arguments which have on previous occasions been ad* dressed to us, but to which we have not thought it worth while to refer. The following article appears in the Napier News, and exactly expresses our sentiments on the subject:—“ We were sorry to notice an attempt made in the columns of a local contemporary to decry, and actually denounce the entertainments annually given in connection with our schools, as being conducive of no good effects upon the morale oi the children, but on the contrary as doing much harm- We feel constrained

to enter a strong protest against such arguments, believing them to be completely false. It is contended that the school work suffers very seriously for some two months before the entertainment eventuates, that the attention of the children is diverted from their work by the necessity for practices, rehearsals, etc., and to put it briefly, that there is too much thought given to play and too little to work. Now, as ; matter of fact, we venture to say that were a poll taken of the teachers of Napier, or of Gisborne, in both of which towns the entertainments are conducted on an elaborate scale, it would be found that in the opinion of the teachers these entertainments do not in the least interfere with the regular course of school duties. The rehearsals are conducted after school hours, and there is no cur* tailment of the ordinary standard work as laid down by the Education Department’s rules and regulations. The teachers would, we feel sure, not only give a strong negative answer to this charge of interruption of school work, but would, we believe, go further and declare in favor of these entertainments as being calculated to improve the discipline of the scholars, to encourage habits of neatness and order, to make them more self-reliant, and to sharpen their brains in such a pleasant manner as to render them much more capable of fulfilling their school duties. From our own personal experience of New Zealand schools, both primary and secondary, we can speak in high terms of praise of the value of these entertainments which are now given in connection with all the large schools of the colony. The objection taken to them that they familiarize the children with stage surroundings which are not of a wholesome character is pure nonsense The children are in charge of the teachers at the rehearsals, and on the occasion of the representations, and we cannot recognise any great evil as being occasioned by the lasses and lads wearing fancy dresses. The happy, contented looks of the children as they Crowded the wings of the Gaiety Theatre the other night, their excellent behavior, the cleanliness and neatness which become imperative on- such an occasion, were most pleasing to notice, and he must be the most priggish of Puritans who could take exception to their conduct and appearance, j