502 



SCIENCE PROGRESS 



detailed set of typical science courses for schools of different types. The 

 Committee strongly deprecates the present-day tendency to introduce science 

 teaching for two hours only each week : it is their opinion that, for the training 

 obtained to have any practical value, an average of one-sixth (for boys) and one- 

 seventh (for girls) of the total time available should be allotted to this purpose. 

 (A very modest proportion compared with the 40 per cent, claimed by Latin and 

 Greek.) It is found that, since the last report was completed in 1908, Mechanics 

 is less frequently included in the science curriculum, while Biology is receiving 

 more attention than before, as it undoubtedly should do ; though a student 

 intending to specialise in science would do well to master the elements of 

 mechanics before starting systematic biology. The Committee also reports that 

 there is evidence that the present syllabus of the Class I Civil Service examinations 

 discourages science in the Public Schools. The new scheme dealt with above 

 may possibly improve this if it ever materializes. An appendix gives tabulated 

 statements on the salaries of teachers in aided and maintained secondary schools 

 in England and Wales. It is an old story, but it needs constant repetition. 

 The average salary is £175 ; the maximum in 54 per cent, of the schools is less 

 than ^200, and in one case only reaches .£300. The prospects for a boy leaving 

 a secondary school are infinitely worse in the teaching profession than in any 

 other — e.g. Civil Service or Banking. He is worse paid throughout his career, 

 harder worked, has no security of tenure, and, as a rule, no pension. These 

 things are a scandal which cry to heaven — and they will probably continue to 

 do so until the teaching profession adopts the only remedy which seems to meet 

 with a successful response to-day. It should be said, however, that the Board 

 of Education has set up a Departmental Committee to consider the principles 

 which should govern the salaries of science teachers. This does not sound very 

 promising unless it be accepted that the fundamental principle is the right to the 

 removal of the disabilities mentioned above. 



The question of the inclusion of general science in the preparatory and public 

 school curriculum is discussed in a quiet but trenchant fashion by Major 

 V. Seymour Bryant, M.A., in his monograph entitled The Public School System, 

 published by Longmans for the Committee on the Neglect of Science. Major 

 Bryant points out that over 80 per cent, of the masters on the Head Masters' 

 Conference are classical scholars, and that they dominate 82 per cent, of the boys 

 attending the public schools. Only 10 per cent, have any science qualification at 

 all, and these control only 7*5 per cent, of the boys. Unbiased modern ideas 

 can hardly be expected from such an assemblage, and, in fact, we find that the 

 percentage of time allotted to the teaching of various subjects in preparatory 

 schools by a committee of this conference is as follows : 



No science and 40 per cent, of the time devoted to memorizing the grammar 

 and vocabulary of the dead languages — a stultifying drudgery indeed ! The 

 author considers that specialisation should not begin until the age of 16 or i6|; 

 but that up to that time general science should be an essential part of the 

 curriculum, and he gives brief suggestions for courses suitable for preparatory 



