Newspaper Comment on Proposed Reforms Christchurch "Press," July 10, 1906.

We think that both Dr Truby King and our contemporary, the Dunedin 'Evening Star,' are to be congratulated on the articles Which former has written and the latter has published regarding the defects in our educational system. The views and criticisms advanced are worthy of the most serious consideration of all who have at heart the welfare of New Zealanders as a race. Our present system of education is wrong in two very important respects. In the first place, it" seems to treat the brain as the only portion of the human body which requires attention, and so far from regrding the physical improvement of the race as something worth striving after, it actually presupposes a willingness to sacrisce the general health for the sake of developing certain features of mental equipment. In the second place, the real object of education, even from the mental side, is apparently being lost sight of. As to the first point, Dr Truby King sicows that so far from any attempt being made as among the ancient Greeks, to build the body in a beautiful and health-form, the conditions of school life as exist are actually conducive to disturb Dr Truby King has examined many schools and found their provision for heating ventilation, lighting, and the supply of suitable furnishings (desks, forms, etc.) to for the most part extremely defective—entirely inadequate." As he very truly re-marks: "Nothing is more depressing and devitalising than the combined effects of cold and excessive pollution of air. When a bad form and bad desk are super added we have an accumulation of physical evils in schools which it is hard for the pupils to boar up against." And what is the nature of the mental training, so-called, for which these physical evils are endured, to the serious risk of the children's health? For the most part their memories are loaded with material of various kinds, the greater part of which will never be assimilated/ The next examination, whatever it may be, is the goal which is kept steadily in view. Little is done to draw out and strengthen the faculties of the mind, nor is there in many cases any apparent desire to make the information imparted of practical use in the affairs of life. The remedies which Dr Truby King suggests seem to us based on sound common sense. He desires the provision of adequate open-air playgrounds for every school, proper provision in the way of ventilation, lighting, furnishings, and so forth in the schoolrooms; the devotion of a leasonable time daily to open-air occupations and recreations; lestriction of the quantity of mental work (especially memorising) imposed; the safeguarding of pupils from mental or physical breakdowns by encouraging open-air games by simple practical instruction in elementary hygiene and the laws of life. We ourselves have frequently suggested that the medical officers of the Health Department should exercise medical supervision over our schools. Dr Truby page 54 King, while agreeing that a school doctor should he readily accessible in connection with all teaching establishments, lays great stress on the importance of careful observation by teachers as a means of detecting the first signs of failure in body, mind, or spirits. He points out that loss of weight is a valuable indicator of incipient consumption, and suggests that all pupils should be weighed and measured at intervals and a proper register kept. No one can deny that these are all practical and sensible suggestions, and that if they were adopted they would have a most beneficial effect on the health of the rising generation. As regards reform in the course of studies, Dr Truby King's recommendations seem to us equally sane and valuable. He urges a reduction in the number of subjects studied in any one term, the recognition of quality rather than quantity of work, "a proper adjustment of studies to meet the respective necessities and aptitudes of boys and girls, the future man or woman being always kept in view." It is in some respects humiliating that in the twentieth century in a colony that prides itself its its progressiveness, it should be necessary for one-unconnected with our official system of education to impress these obvious truths upon the responsible authorities and on the public at large. The truth is that in our cras for e lamination we have lost sight of t real meaning of education. Plato had a far truer conception of the ideal to be aimed at than we have, in spite of con vaunted progress. In truth, we seem as the we had as much to learn from the ancient. Greeks as regards the true principle, as which the development of mind and boys should proceed as they are able to tea us in regard to the plastic art, as applied to "dull, cold marble." We hope that the Truby King's crusade will have the effect of stirring up New Zealand parents, so that they will insist on at least a measure of the reforms which he suggests.—Christchure 'Press,' July 10, 1906.