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REPORT OF THE INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS FOR THE HALF YEAR ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 1858.

To the CHAIRMAN of the CENTRAL BOARD OF EDUCATION, Nelson.

SIR—The state of the schools since my last report has been on the whole progressive; the number of children has increased, and their attendance been in general more regular. On examination, the answers of the children have been for the most part intelligent and satisfactory; but it has occasionally been necessary to call attention to the advantage of carrying the system of viva voce examination and questioning after each lesson throughout the school, and not confining it to the more advanced scholars. The absence of some of their best pupils at the time of my inspection has sometimes been regretted by the masters; but it has always appeared to me that the condition and progress of the lower classes was a much truer and more satisfactory criterion of the real state of any school, than the acquirements of a few children at its head, as well as a better test of the teacher's general attention and care.

The greater number of those who attend the schools are still children who have scarcely got beyond the rudiments; and the difficulty of keeping these well occupied during the school hours is one which still exercises the ingenuity and taxes the patience of the master; but it is a difficulty which must be met and overcome, if our schools are ever to afford an education which, so far as it goes, shall be complete and permanently useful.

To read with tolerably fluency any book suited to his age, and to be able to give a fair account of what he has read; to spell without any gross blundering; to write a plain and legible hand; to be able to perform any simple operation in arithmetic where money is concerned; are attainments which every child should have acquired by the time he is twelve years old; and if in addition to this he is able grammatically to distinguish the words of a sentence, to obtain a general knowledge of geography in its leading features, and of the broad outlines of history, he has acquired an amount of knowledge which will not only be of permanent use to him in after life, but which is valuable for much more than at first appears; for the habit which is thus formed of exercising the memory and the reasoning faculties, of fixing the attention steadily on one subject for a moderate length of time; for the power of adding indefinitely to the stock of knowledge; and for the desire to do this, which is sure to arise sooner or later when these foundations have been laid thoroughly and judiciously. As a general rule, if their attention is not over-taxed or wearied, either by being kept too long to one subject, or by being set to master what is too difficult for their comprehension, children like to have the faculties of their mind called into play; and it is only where this is not done, where the spirit of instruction is wanting, and only the drudgery of teaching remains, without any conception of its aim or ultimate object, that the impressions of school are distasteful, or the acquisitions made there altogether unavailable.

Whilst, therefore, the importance of insisting that these first elements of knowledge shall be effectually taught cannot be overstated or too much insisted on, it would be conveying a false impression of the state of our schools not to mention that in many cases they not only show a very good average acquaintance with the rudimentary branches of education, but in their upper classes have advanced considerably beyond them. In some of the examinations, the knowledge displayed of history, geography, the meaning of words, and the structure of language, has called forth warm commendation: the rudiments of geometry have been taught in some cases, and the introduction of music and drawing has also been successfully attempted in several instances.

It is indeed in furtherance of a more complete and advanced education than our schools generally are able to provide, that it appeared desirable to insist upon the advantage of directing special attention to the younger classes; the difficulty of learning, or rather of beginning to learn, increases with the age; and it is to the children who have had the advantage of entering school at an early age, that our masters must chiefly look in future years for the full reward of their exertions and the most gratifying evidence of their success.

I have, &c.,
J. D. GREENWOOD, Inspector.

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