E.—2.

[Appendix C.

pursue this heuristic method to the reductio ad absurdum of making every step forward a laboratory experiment. The child is still the " heir of all the ages," and his deductions from information wisely given or facts judiciously brought under his notice may still be heuristic. We are on perfectly safe ground so long as we give the pupil an opportunity of responding either physically or mentally to impressions made in any way by our teaching. Further and more important even from the pedagogic point of view is the continued insistence on clear oral or written statement of facts observed and of inferences drawn. This more than any other factor has conduced to Germany's educational pre-eminence. Critics of German methods have noted the fact that the so-called science lesson is rather a lesson on the command of the mother-tongue than a science lesson ad hoc. Reading, recitation, history, and much of B geography, supplying as they do the humanistic side of our syllabus, apart altogether from their individual importance, afford the teacher the most direct means of appealing to the child's imagination, of cultivating his moral sense, and of building that foundation of "many sided interests" on which alone the future character of the child can be developed. We are aware that to the often bewildered teacher Inspectors' reports at times seem fairly to bristle with suggestions and details of technical criticism, and, for our part, we would willingly forego our special privilege of giving further " counsels of perfection," if by so doing this one aspect of our English teaching could be emphasized. This change in the treatment of English has certainly begun with us, but in no department of school work are we so far behind the older countries. There is no reason why we might not soon be abreast of them : our children are at least as intelligent, and our teachers as capable and painstaking. We lack, perhaps, local traditions and historic associations, but this is only another reason for emphasizing this side of our work. In practice this aim will mean for the pupil less time given to mechanical arithmetic, spelling lists, formal grammar, isolated geographical and historical facts; more time for the reading of literature and biography and the discussion of the romance of history and geography. For the teacher it means wider reading, closer touch wdth human interests, and higher ideals, for which, though the rewards may not be immediately apparent in examinations, there will surely come a keener interest and a more active mental response in all the work of the school. Needlework and Domestic Economy.—Of late years there has been a most beneficial movement towards making the girls' training bear more intimate relationship to the home life. Hence the introduction of cookery, laundry work, housewifery, physiology and hygiene, &c. In all these subjects good work is being done in our district, and a wise mean is maintained between their purely vocational and their educational values. There is still room, however, for closer correlation between them and the ordinary school course. In the needlework we feel that some of the syllabus requirements might be modified to allow, particularly in the higher standards, of drawing and design taking the same place with regard to sewing that it now takes with woodwork. In cookery and laundry work arithmetic should lead to the keeping of household accounts, which might be made as truly educative and certainly of more utility for primary children than, say, obsolete computations in compound interest or calculations as to the time required to empty or fill a bath by the somewhat unusual method of keeping the supply and waste pipes open at one and the same time. Physical drill and games should form a natural complement to the more theoretical treatment of physiology and hygiene. District High Schools. —The number of district high schools in our province remains the same as for 1910, nor has any change been made in the programme of work undertaken. The rural science course inaugurated in 1909 has fully justified its establishment. Good work has been done, and this year there was keen competition for the Board's B or Rural Senior Scholarships reserved for those taking the rural course. Marks are allocated as follows : (1) For Junior Civil Service papers, 1,500; (2) for practical work and oral examination, 50. We were specially pleased to find the general improvement in the practical work as evidenced' in these scholarship examinations. Practically all opposition to the introduction of this course in our district high schools has disappeared; in fact, criticism has rather taken the form of " asking for more." In last year's report we stated plainly the limitations of this work —" it was inaugurated to bringabout a more intimate relation between the course of instruction in the district high schools and rural pursuits." This purpose it is satisfactorily accomplishing, but parents find that after the completion of two years, students are at the end of a road which should lead right up to an agricultural college—the natural complement to such a course of instruction. Though somewhat outside our province, we would like strongly to support the claim for such an institution. Its absence (for Lincoln College is full, even if it were not so far away) gives some reason for the demand that our district high schools should develop more on the lines of the purely vocational schools of America or Switzerland. We do not wish it to be inferred from these remarks that the "rural course" without this scope-stone of a specialized school of agriculture is in any way a failure even for those boys who intend to go on to the land. Such is not the case, for we feel confident that the high school pupil will take to his life's work an added interest in rural affairs, and a mind quickened to grapple with the problems of the farm. Physical Instruction.—Military drill and physical and breathing exercises are well taught, and the practice adopted of devoting ten or fifteen minutes daily to deep-breathing and a few free exercises is to be commended. These exercises, however, are not sufficiently made use of to influence the bearing and deportment of the children, and we have had to impress upon teachers the necessity of paying attention to " a careful cultivation to correct posture at writing or other lessons." Swimming is taught in a number of schools in the country as well as in the chief towns. Organized games also form part of the physical instruction in the larger schools, and the extra time given by many of our teachers to instruction in sports is commendable. While recognizing the value of games as an important factor in the training of the young, we cannot but feel that a real danger exists in allowing these games to take up too much of the school time, and to occupy

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