Review of Revieics, IjlltOG. 



The State Schools Exhibition. 



447 



A Class at Clay Modelling. 



them than formerly. Greater skill and better 

 methods than ever before will be required by the 

 teachers in the days to come. The exhibition has 

 proved that where the teachers are well trained and 

 skilful, the essential subjects are as good as ever. 

 But if ill-trained teachers or, worse still, persons not 

 trained in teaching at all, are sent out to take 

 charge of schools, then there is an absolute cer- 

 taintv that some of the subjects of the course, and 

 probably the most essential, will be badly taught. 



THE TEACHEE'S INFLUENCE. 



The influence of the teacher 

 on the plastic natures of chil- 

 dren is at last being fully 

 realised. How is it that men 

 from the village schools of 

 Scotland have so often been 

 able to rise to the highest 

 positions in their own coun- 

 try, and also abroad ? The 

 answer is. they were under the 

 right kind of man in the vil- 

 lage school, often a graduate 

 of a university. And if we 

 ask why America and Ger 

 many are in the forefront to 

 day, we find that the reason 

 is the same. In those coun- 

 tries education on proper lines 

 has been established for some 

 time. And as the destinies of 

 the countries I have named 

 have been profoundly in- 



fluenced for good by their educa- 

 tion system, so will it be in Vic- 

 toria. But the fine system which 

 has been introduced here, and 

 which in the nation's interests 

 should be extended and de- 

 veloped, needs the influence of 

 the right kind of man, highly 

 trained, enthusiastic, and loving 

 his fellow-men to carry it out, 

 otherwise it cannot be whoKy 

 successful. 



THE DUTY OF THE GOVEENMENT. 



There is undoubtedly an in- 

 creasing difficulty in obtaining 

 teachers of the right stamp. This 

 is especially true in regard to men. 

 The reason is not far to seek. 

 Young men find that they can 

 make a better living on the land, 

 or at a trade or some other call- 

 ing, than as teachers. Teachers 

 have now to pass through a long 

 course of training before they can 

 hope for a living wage. Six or 

 more years are ordinarily required to qualify as a 

 trained teacher. The salary to begin with is small, 

 and promotion usually slow. From the point of view 

 of rewards, the prospect before a young man or 

 woman who enters the teaching profession is not 

 bright. It is an axiom that education is necessary, 

 and it is also universally admitted that it concerns 

 the State. I have shown that we have laid the 

 foundations of a fine system by which the children 

 of the State can be trained for the future, and have 



A School, Its Play House (the latter due to local effort) and Garden 



