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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 23

Standard IV

page 8

Standard IV.

Reading(1) and Definition.—An easy book of prose and verse.

Spelling and Dictation suited to this stage, as represented by the reading book in use; the dictation to exhibit a knowledge of the use of capitals and of punctuation, but (at inspection) to be confined to prose.

Writing.—Good copies in a hand not larger than round-hand, and transcription of poetry.

Arithmetic(2)—Long multiplication of money; reduction; the compound rules applied to problems in weights and measures; practice, and the making out of bills of accounts and receipts; tables of weights and measures; mental arithmetic to correspond.

Grammar and Composition(3).—The distinguishing of all the parts of speech in easy sentences; the inflexions of the noun, adjective, and pronoun; letter-writing on prescribed subjects; the addressing of letters and envelopes.

Geography(4).—Knowledge of the countries of the world, with their capitals, and of the principal seas, gulfs, mountains, rivers, lakes, capes, straits, islands, and peninsulas on the map of the world; geography of Australia in outline; and the drawing of rough maps of New Zealand, with one set of principal features (as capes, or towns, or rivers). [In this and the subsequent standards, scholars will be expected to page 9 know the situation of places mentioned in their reading books.] Mathematical geography: The form of the earth, day and night, the seasons, the zones, meridians, and parallels; and climate in this connection.

English History(5).—The succession of Houses and Sovereigns from 1066 a.d. to 1485 a.d., and the leading events of the period known in connection with the reigns and centuries to which they belong, and in their own character. [Precise dates will not be required, though a knowledge of them may assist in referring each event to the proper reign.]

Elementary Science, &c.—See Regulation 9.

1 The notes on the reading of the preceding standards should be remembered here. It is of great importance to use an easy reading-book. Nothing can be more absurd than to put the "Sixth Royal Reader" into the hands of children who have only passed Standard III.; it is better adapted to the purposes of a youth's mutual improvement society. If a class has become too familiar with the fourth book of any modern series, then the fourth book of another series should be introduced. The great secret of success is to give the children something that they can be made to understand thoroughly, and to read with proper expression and natural emphasis. Poetry of a high order is beyond them; so is oratory; and so are sustained explanations of the facts of physical science. A teacher ought not to expect his pupils to pass in Standard IV. unless, from a book fairly within the compass of their intelligence, they can read with such distinctness and propriety that an Inspector who had never seen the book could readily follow the sense of the passage by simply listening to them. This degree of proficiency can never be attained under a teacher that allows each child to mumble and drawl so as not to be heard by the rest of the class; nor under one that allows the slow utterance of a string of words, helped out by the spelling of a word here and there, to go by the name of reading.

2 Fractions and proportion have been reserved for Standard V., in order that the many pupils that will leave as soon as they have passed Standard IV. may learn to make up accounts and to make out bills. Without some knowledge of fractions, however, the pupil will be poorly furnished for a business life, and, indeed, will not be able to comply with the requirements of this standard with respect to the rule called "practice." It will be found useful to divide a sheet of cartridge-paper, or the black-board, into halves, quarters, eighths, &c., by parallel and diagonal lines, in order to illustrate the simpler eases of fractions and aliquot parts. The method should extend to twelfths, sixteenths, twentieths, and twenty-fourths, so as to bear upon tables of money, weights, and measures. A teacher who knows that proportion is the soul of arithmetic, and that an equation of fractions is a form of a statement of proportion, will be able to anticipate much of the work of the two higher standards, and so secure more intelligent work in this lower one. Head-teachers might well devote a part of their own time to the Fourth Standard arithmetic class, if a subordinate cannot be trusted to do full justice to it in this direction. The pupils should have abundant exercise in "problems."

3 The notes on grammar and composition for Standard III. apply also, in some respects, to the same subjects for Standard IV. Great attention should be paid to the proper forms of letter-writing and addresses. As to the formal grammar, children presented in this standard should be able to parse any easy sentence, assigning every word to its proper "part of speech," and giving the inflexions of the nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. They should also be able to give the plural and possessive forms of any noun or pronoun proposed by the Inspector, the remaining cases of the pronoun, the comparative and superlative of any adjective of the positive degree, and the feminine form corresponding to a word denoting masculine gender, and vice versa. Teachers will not err if they regard composition as of more practical value than formal grammar.

4 As in Standard III., "knowledge of. . .countries,. . .capitals,. . .seas, rivers," &c., does not mean exhaustive knowledge, but appreciative knowledge of the map. "Geography of Australia in outline" means appreciative knowledge of the leading features exhibited on the map of Australia. All the mathematical geography that is required can be taught in a very few oral lessons with suitable illustration. [Professor Bickerton, of Christchurch, has lately designed a simple model, which can be made for a shilling or two, and is all that is needed for the illustration of this subject. A wire, carrying a ball to represent the earth, is fitted into a brass ring (as a diameter of the circle) so that the ball revolves freely and can be made to spin on its axis. The ring is suspended in a vertical plane by two parallel cords attached to hooks in the ceiling, and forms a conical pendulum that can be made to revolve round a lighted candle or lamp. The lamp or candle represents the sun, the motion of the pendulum in a circle or ellipse represents the earth's orbit, and the wire being placed at a suitable angle, the ball rotates upon it in such a way as to illustrate the phenomena of day and night; while, the direction of the axis remaining constant, the phenomena of the seasons are also represented. A half-turn given to the ring, so as to twist the parallel cords, shows what is the effect of the precession of the equinoxes in half of the cycle of twenty-five or twenty-six thousand years.]

5 Particular attention is directed to the notice in the regulation that in the examinations in history "precise dates will not be required." The words of the Order in Council are " the leading events of the period [1066 a.d. to 1485 a.d.] known in connection with the reigns and centuries to which they belong, and in their own character."