Report of Inspector Maguire-Inspectoral Division No. 13

HON. R. S. THORNTON,

Minister of Education, Winnipeg, Man.

Sir, I beg to submit the following report on Inspectoral Division No. 13, for the year ending June 30th, 1915.

There has been no change in the boundaries of this division since my last report. It consists of the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, together with the English schools in St. Francois Xavier.

There are forty-five schools in this territory, all one roomed rural schools except Oakville, which has three teachers. During the year two of these schools were visited once, thirtyone twice, nine three times, one four times, one has been closed for the last two years for want of pupils, and one is consolidated with the Landing School District, which is outside of this division.

Thirty-one schools kept the same teacher for the year, eleven had two teachers, and one had three teachers. There were thus fifty-eight teachers in all in the division during the year. Of these seventeen had third class certificates and twentythree had third class certificates with second class non-professional standing. Two had third class certificates with first class non-professional standing, twelve had second class certificates, two had second class certificates with first class nonprofessional standing, and two had first class certificates. Four of these teachers were men, and the rest were young women from sixteen years, with no experience, up.

As this territory is one of the oldest parts of Manitoba many of the schools are old fashioned frame buildings, but kept in good repair and comfortable. Those built within the last few years are, of course, modern, and up-to-date. One of these is a brick building. Oakville is a four-roomed school, situated in the village of Oakville. In the matter of heating, twenty are stove heated, fifteen furnace heated, and nine have Smith or other systems.

With three exceptions the grounds are fenced. Eleven schcol sites are in or beside a natural bluff, thirty-two are on the open prairie with no trees or at the most one or two. In only one case has tree planting been persisted in until the school. is surrounded with beautiful trees, this is Mount Pleasant, the school that has been closed for want of pupils.

Most of the schools are well enough equipped in the matter of maps and globes, but nowhere is there an up-to-date working school library. There are collections of books, more or less

large, which are suitable or not as may be, and which are read or not as may be. Something special should be done to awaken teachers to the value of a good library, and to train them in the use of it. Very few schools have equipment for the teaching of weights and measures. Pictures for help in geography and history are rarely ever seen. A stereoscope and a few dozen views illustrative of life in other countries would cost a mere trifle compared with their value in the school. Good pictures of famous events and people, are cheap, and should form a part of the necessary equipment of every school. Many people do not realize the difficulty of teaching history and geography to children who live on the flat prairie, and who have never been farther from home than the centre where supplies are purchased. How for instance is a child born and raised on the prairie to be given an idea of the Rocky Mountains, the St. Lawrence River, an Ontario apple orchard, or a ship under full sail. Take our readers for example, which the children are supposed to read in the proper sense of that term, the selections are taken from the best in the English language, but to understand them they require a background of experience, that few of our children possess. The best substitute for actual experience is a picture, therefore, more emphasis should be placed on pictures as necessary equipment.

The statement at the beginning of this report shows that the greater part of the teachers have the minimum of scholarship and experience. They are as a class, earnest and faithful, many of them enthusiastic, they do the best they can but do not produce results. Those teachers who have second class professional standing are usually competent and where they stay for an extended term do work for the community, of which the school work alone is not the full measure. The chief virtues of our rural teachers as a body are their freshness and earnestness, and their love for their work. They want to help the children and they try to make school a pleasant place; their chief weaknesses are lack of scholarship, skill, and governing power. These weaknesses are due generally to youth and inexperience; it is a rare occurrence to find a teacher morally unfit, or deliberately unfaithful.

The work of the year began as usual with the opening of the local Normal Session on August 7th, nearly a month earlier than last year. There were forty-eight students, all of them girls. In age they ran from sixteen to twenty, and average for the class was about seventeen and a half. Twenty-nine of them had third class standing only, and nineteen had second class standing. The session began August 7th and ended October 30th. The next week was spent examining the papers, and making out a report, and after that the regular work of

visiting the schools was continued until the end of the year.

During the winter months a number of public meetings were held at various points. These meetings were arranged for by the local trustees, and the Department provided a speaker for each occasion. The meetings were quite informal, a short address or two on some educational topic, followed by a general discussion of some live subject, usually local, but none the less important on that account. A musical number or two added variety and interest, and sometimes the mothers of the community with their usual keen discernment of social needs added a feature that always banishes stiffness and formality. Where it was possible the meetings were held in connection with the local Literary Society or some other local body. They thus became a part of the social activity of the neighbourhood.

The general effect of these meetings was good. They formed an excellent medium for the interchange of ideas. They brought the Education Department and the parents into more intimate touch, and to a better understanding that should tend to more efficient work. So called educational men do not monopolise all the educational wisdom of the ages, and it is a good test for educational theories to bring them up against actual needs and conditions. When the men who direct the educational thought of the country, and the people whose children are to be educated, and who pay the bills, meet on the equal footing of these gatherings, there should be results that would never follow from formal correspondence or statement. Under the influence of tasty sandwiches and fragrant cups of tea the red tape official and the wrong-headed ratepayer suddenly become human and prove to be fairly good fellows after all. The wheels of the machine thus oiled, old frictions disappear. When earnest people are working for a common purpose, though from different standpoints, nothing establishes cordial relations like seeing each other "face to face." I hope these meetings will be continued and their scope broadened as much as possible.

In addition to this work the Agricultural College Extension Department established Home Economics Societies, at different centres in the district. The audience was naturally somewhat more diversified at these meetings than at the others. I was glad of the opportunity to be present and to speak at as many of them as possible in order to emphasise the school as a social factor in the community, and to bring out in as strong relief as I could the essential unity of all educational work.

In the winter's work, mention must be made of the Annual Convention of the Local Trustees' Association on January 23rd. The executive had enlarged the scope of the gathering by inviting the parents generally and the teachers and older children. The idea met with a gratifying response, for the Municipal Hall in which the meeting was held was crowded. The meeting was very enthusiastic and free and open discussion was the order of the day. Addresses were delivered by Superintendent Newcombe, Mr. H. W. Watson, from the Department of Education, Mr. Newton from the Agricultural College, and Inspector Dunlop from Brandon. The most important work of the convention was the organization of a Farm Boys' and Girls' Club by Mr. Newton, to be under the management of the trustees' association, and in connection with the school fair.

Mention of the boys' and girls' clubs leads naturally to the question of the school garden. Nearly every school in the division has made some attempt at a garden, but speaking for this division, a really good garden is not often found. The chief factor in a successful garden, as in everything else about a school, is an enthusiastic and painstaking teacher, but it often happens that a teacher of excellent stamina and teaching power has no taste for gardening. The school garden as an element is essential, beyond that it should be experimental, and not for the production of results in the shape of potatoes and carrots. The Agricultural College in establishing boys' and girls' clubs is an influence against the school garden, for the interest of the Agricultural College centres in the home, not in the school. The club takes in the boys and girls who are at school, and gives them an opportunity that is denied them in the school garden. As I stated last year in my report, there is a strong feeling among the parents in favor of the home garden, and against the school garden. The plans of the Agricultural College have appealed to them for that reason. Consequently the local trustees' association took hold of the matter, and a committee consisting of the president, vice-president and secretary, together with the inspector, was appointed to take charge of the work. A club has been formed in accordance with the regulations of the College, but under the direct management of the trustees' association, which includes practically the whole division. The point gained is that the educational work of the community is not divided, and no educational work goes on in which the school, as a school, has no fart. On the other hand, the school gets the advantage of the strength and resources of the Agriculural College, and the College is brought into closer touch with the people through

the intimate relations of the school and the home. The work in this line is an experiment this year. It has met with a hearty response and has developed to unexpected dimensions. Mistakes have been made, as was natural, but not of so vital a character, it is hoped, as to interfere with the success of the movement.

The social activity throughout the division interfered to some extent with the regular visiting of the schools, but the gain in co-ordinating the forces in the work, outweighs any loss in that respect.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

T. M. MAGUIRE, I. P. S.