1126
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 75

straightforward sentences, usually short, and words that have quite un-
ambiguous functions.

In ARITHMETIC the tests of the work of any standard should consist of
easy examples of that work, and should always comprise easy problems
therein, excluding, except in the fifth and sixth standards, problems
involving the use of more than one principle; and exercises intended to
test skill and rapidity in the manipulation of figures should be set only in
parts of the subject that are certainly familiar and easy to the pupil.

In HISTORY the pupils will not be required to learn more than about
a dozen dates, or to answer questions on more than about twenty-five
persons and events, for any one standard; nor will they be expected to
trace the remote causes, or even to remember the proximate causes, of
great events. What is wanted is a clear view of a few prominent persons
and salient facts so exhibited as to afford glimpses of the conditions in
which our ancestors lived at successive periods of our national history,
and to establish in the mind an outline that may be filled in by later
reading. A child may have a vivid idea of royal authority prone to
excess, and of the status of a baron, and of the political insignificance of
the common people at the beginning of the thirteenth century, without
knowing the contents of Magna Charta, or all the incidents of feudal
tenure. The manner in which the whole outline is treated in the defini-
tion of history for the third standard is an indication of the bold and
general treatment contemplated by the Department in prescribing periods
for study in the later standards.

The ELEMENTARY SCIENCE prescribed in the syllabus is called "ele-
mentary science" because that term is used in "The Education Act,
1877;" its scope is often misunderstood by critics of the Act and of the
syllabus, who think that the children are being "crammed with all the
'ologies." But the term is to be taken as denoting such a knowledge of
conspicuous natural phenomena as constitutes a general basis of the par-
ticular knowledge of separate sciences. Children are capable of under-
standing why a scientific man does not regard a whale as a fish, or a
spider as an insect. A few well-chosen experiments will suffice to give
them a definite idea of the difference between chemical combination and
mechanical mixture. A few other experiments with a cheap and simple
galvanic battery and an electro-magnet will afford means of explaining to
them in a very useful if not a very complete way the operation of the
electric telegraph. Instruction of this kind suited to their present stage
of development will serve to enlarge their conceptions of the world and to
quicken their intelligence—perhaps to stimulate a profitable curiosity,
and to create in some young minds a bias towards scientific pursuits.
Ohms and volts, atomic weight, the vascular system, and such high
matters in general, are out of the reach of the ordinary primary-school
pupil, however desirable it may be that the teacher have some real
knowledge of them.

In examining in elementary science, or in the subject-matter of object
lessons and natural-history lessons, or in geography and history, the
Inspector may, if the teacher presents a book containing the notes of the
lessons that have been actually given, base his examination on the
contents of the note-book. He may also inspect any exercise-books in
which the pupils have entered composition exercises founded on the
lessons they have received on these subjects.

In GEOGRAPHY the Inspector may require the children to point out on
the map the places that they ought to know, and this with respect not
only to places named in their geography lessons, but also with respect to
places referred to in the lessons on history, on animals, on natural
products, and on manufactures. The importance of bringing the several
parts of the school course into mutual relation in this way cannot be over-
estimated; the degree of success attained by the principal teacher in his
endeavours to establish such a correlation of parts should weigh heavily
with those who are called upon to form an estimate of his skill and
efficiency, and upon it will depend in a high degree the development of
the intelligence of his pupils.

17. It is to be remembered that in many ways the examination of a
    school has an important bearing on the morals of the children. They
    should be made to feel and understand that the Inspector is not a severe
    and frowning critic bent on probing their ignorance and finding oppor-
    tunity to put them to shame, but that he comes as a courteous and gentle
    friend, who will use his best skill to put them at their ease, and will
    invite them to give him proof of their diligence and let him see what
    progress they are making; and they should be taught to despise all showy
    tricks and arts of evasion, to show themselves frank and simple, and to
    avoid everything that is not in accordance with the strictest principles of
    honour.

18. The syllabus of pass-subjects, class-subjects, and additional sub-
    jects for each of the standards shall be the following:—