164 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



and influence. It means the supremacy of England in di- 

 recting the trade, and in a large measure the government, 

 of the world. 



And observe what effect this trending of education to 

 competitive necessity is having on the upbringing of young 

 children : " Half-time scholars should not be subjected to 

 any system of exercise or drill which, if practised in the 

 morning, might render them unfit for their afternoon's 

 labour, or, if practised in the afternoon, might press heavily 

 upon a tired boy or girl." These words are quoted from 

 the "Revised Instructions" of the English code of 1899, 

 page 659, with reference to physical exercises, and they suffice 

 to show what so-called primary education is becoming in 

 England as interpreted in the public-school system of that 

 country. The schools are already little less than preparatory 

 workshops to meet the stress of industrial competition, and 

 an " instruction " such as is here quoted shows the tendency 

 of the so-called technical and manual form of instruction in 

 countries where competition is a case of life and death. 



But are we in this country called upon to adopt a similar 

 scheme of training for the children of our public schools ? It 

 has already been explained that environment is an important 

 factor in the education of the people, and that our needs and 

 our ways of living, and even our national aspirations, differ 

 from the ways and needs and aspirations of people who live 

 in other lands. It may be that the course of instruction 

 adopted in the public schools of England and Germany is best 

 suited for the present needs of those countries, but is it to be 

 said that what is good for England and Germany is therefore 

 good for us ? The case of the boys and the frogs as told by 

 iEsop should give us the answer. 



What, then, are we in this country to do if we may not 

 accept the schemes of education such as other Governments 

 have adopted for the benefit of their people '? The answer is 

 an easy one. We must provide a scheme adaptive and adapt- 

 able to our own ever-varying conditions, where the law of 

 evolution will operate and education will be modified to 

 meet environment as presented in the unlike conditions 

 that now exist in the colony. We must foster a know- 

 ledge of natural science among the teachers so far as 

 relates to local and even colonial environment, and we 

 must have teachers prepared as teachers in anticipa- 

 tion of the profession they are to follow. Our country sadly 

 lacks teaching experience and skill, and the two training 

 institutions in the South Island are certainly running along 

 on unscientific lines. There is an abundant supply of book- 

 men who teach the book, the whole book, and nothing but 

 the book, but who are ignorant of the great book of nature, 



