3212
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 93
Class VI.
The free drawing with chalk, pencil, or brush to be continued.
Elementary designing as before. Instrumental drawing.
PATRIOTISM AND CITIZENSHIP.
The object of the instruction shall be to cultivate an intelligent
patriotism and loyalty to the Empire, by giving the pupils some
appreciation of the duties and privileges of citizenship and of the
political and industrial relationship of the several parts of the
Empire and of the Pacific dependencies in particular. This object
will be achieved not so much by definite formal instruction as by
the general conduct of the school and by frequent reference in the
conversational and other lessons to such matters of geographical
and political importance as are well within the comprehension of
the children. Every school should have and should regularly dis-
play the New Zealand ensign, and lessons should be given on its
meaning and importance. Through the music programme the.
children should be introduced to such of our national and patriotia
songs as will tend to awaken a national consciousness. Talks
should be given on such matters as will illustrate the development
of the British from an uncivilized ancestry, our struggles against
tyranny, great discoveries and inventions, and anything that will
emphasize the fact that our present condition is a development from
primitive beginnings.
The conversational lessons should refer frequently to such heroes
and heroic incidents as will impress the child-mind with the
nobility of self-sacrifice.
The conduct and management of the school should be such as to
emphasise the fact that privilege and duty are inseparable. This
can be done best by casting upon the pupils some measure of
responsibility for the management of details connected with the
smooth working of the school.
MORAL INSTRUCTION.
The moral purpose should dominate the spirit of the whole
school life, and the influence of the school and its teachers upon
the pupils should be such as is calculated to be a real factor in the
formation of character. Nothing but worthy motives should be
presented to the children. The method of school government by
rewards and punishments, whether corporal or not, is a substitu-
tion of unworthy motives for real intrinsic interest in the studies
pursued and in the maintenance of an orderly corporate life.
The instruction in morals should be incidental to the other
lessons of the school course. Many of the reading lessons or con-
versational lessons, as well as the ordinary incidents of school life,
will furnish sufficient occasions for the inculcation of such prin-
ciples as are indicated in the "' Explanatory Notes"' (q.v.).
HEALTH.
Teachers are requested to take a close, personal interest in all
that concerns the physical well-being of the children, regarding
whom they should consider themselves in loco parentis. The main
aim of the teacher should be to stimulate the interests of the
children in the importance of observing the laws of health, rather
than to teach a number of facts about the body without reference
to health.
Living a wholesome physical life is a question of the formation
of good habits rather than of intellectual convictions. Teachers
should therefore see that as far as possible the rules of personal
and domestic hygiene are carried out by the children themselves
and are also observed in the schoolroom. The class-rooms should
be kept scrupulously clean, thoroughly ventilated, tidy, and as
bright and cheerful as circumstances permit. Regular cleaning
and scouring days should be observed, and the children should in
turn carry out fixed duties with regard to the care of the class-
room, latrines, and school premises, so that they may acquire a
desire to have things about them clean and attractive. Teachers
should regularly take note of the personal cleanliness of the pupils
and of their clothing, and view with distinct ill-favour any evi-
dence of uncleanliness and neglect.
Though health instruction should not receive a separate place
on the time-table, but should be incidental to conversational and
other lessons, it is on no account to be understood that its im-
portance is in any way secondary to that of the lessons to which