3700
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
No. 89

larity at school, at work, and elsewhere; industry in school, at home, in play; cleanliness of person (hands, faces, teeth, heads), of clothes, about the house, and in school; clean talk and clean thoughts; pure minds and pure deeds; truthfulness in word and deed; honest work; self-control; government of temper; patience; perseverance; moral courage; duties in relation to our own bodies and minds. Temperance in eating and drinking; alcoholic beverages and their injurious action on the body; moral evils of intemperance; what intemperance costs—these subjects may be treated in accordance with the program indicated on the wall-sheets issued by the Education Department. The reading of good books; choice of amusements; readiness to learn from all. Duties to others, to parents, to the family, to those in misfortune, to neighbours and those in authority, to fellow-pupils; respect for others; obedience to parents and teachers; toleration of others in regard to act, speech, and opinion; gratitude; practical help to others; speaking well of others; kindness, unselfishness, and self-denial. Good manners—at home, to parents, to friends, to brothers and sisters; at school, to teachers and fellow-pupils; in the street, to girls and women, to the old and to the young, to the sick and afflicted, to seniors, equals, and juniors—in short, to every one. Money and its uses; it represents the result of labour; frugality and thrift; savings-banks. Regard for property, public or private, not to injure or spoil. We should help to make the place we live in a more beautiful place. Civic duties; the franchise, and the duty of using it always with honesty and intelligence; the welfare of the State should be the care of all, for we are all members of it. Kindness to animals. Candour; honour; love of home; forgiveness and forbearance; peace; duty; accuracy and pains-taking; contentment; benevolence or humanity; cheerfulness; self-reliance; self-respect; modesty; courage; prudence; zeal and energy; justice; loyalty and patriotism; respect for law; magnanimity; integrity of purpose; precept and example; formation of character; the golden rule.

The experience of teachers will guide them as to the best time and manner in which to impart these lessons; it will probably be recognized that abstract moral teaching fails to excite any interest in the minds of children generally, and that it is best to enforce the principles of moral conduct by examples taken from history, biography, poetry, and fiction, and by anecdote, allegory, and fable.

[It is recommended that part of the government of the school should be placed in the hands of the older pupils, who should thus be led to recognize their own responsibility for the moral life of the school community, and to gain some elementary experience of the principles of self-government. Certain pupils, some nominated by the teacher, and some elected by their school-fellows with the consent of the teacher, might be made prefects or monitors, and invested with authority accordingly.]

HEALTH.

36. Lessons on the structure of the body and on health should be given in the Senior Division.

These should include such subjects as the following, treated in a very simple manner: The chief bones of the skeleton, and the way in which they form a framework for the body; tendons and muscles; the skin; the heart, the blood, and the general system of circulation; food and drink, digestion, the stomach and intestines; the lungs; the liver; the kidneys; the nerves; the brain; the eye; the sense of touch; the outer ear; the throat and nose. Air, ventilation, and respiration; water, washing, and cleaning; the choice of clothing, food, and drinks; the management of health; exercise; the avoidance of evil and unhealthy habits; infectious diseases; vaccination; methods of dealing with common ailments, colds, and common accidents.

The lessons on the structure of the body are intended not as a course in physiology, but solely to serve the practical purpose of an introduction to such a knowledge of the laws of health as every individual of the community ought to possess: e.g., the study of the eye need not include a knowledge of all its parts, if it be known to act as a lens through which the rays of light pass and, forming an image on the retina, convey a visual impression to the brain. (The care of the eye should receive some notice.)

The instruction may be given partly in the nature-study or science lessons, and partly in special oral lessons, or in conversations based on the articles on this subject in the School Journal. If this be done, it will not be necessary to allot a separate place for the subject on the time-table.

Very simple preliminary work of the same kind may be done in oral lessons, at the discretion of the teacher, in the Preparatory and Junior Divisions.