198 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



done; 1 manual work is probably that form adapted to these 

 aims in which it is most easy to give due recognition to the 

 fact that the boy's attitude is synthetic rather than analytic : it 

 readily lends itself to the Socratic plan of teaching how to think 

 in order to discover what to think ; moreover, it is wide in 

 scope, for, as Emerson says, it is the study of the eternal world. 



In their book on the higher education of boys in England, 

 Messrs. Norwood and Hope remark that " neither the false 

 Humanism which connotes grammar and formal rhetoric, nor 

 the true Humanism which interprets the noblest thoughts of 

 men, nor yet the Realism which aims at discovering the secrets 

 of nature, can alone claim the proud title of a liberal education." 

 The word italicised justifies, if justification be necessary, most 

 of the writer's comments. Such a curriculum as has been 

 sketched would operate against what Canon Glazebrook calls 

 the " baleful predominance of one interest in an unformed mind." 

 The scheme proposed devotes eighteen periods to the more 

 scientific aspects of education, whilst the remaining fourteen are 

 occupied by literary and artistic work — a distribution which 

 seems equitable considering the requirements of the age. 2 The 

 demands of mathematical subjects are large but the point needs 

 no special pleading in view of their acknowledged importance; 

 whilst it is essential that the methods of manual training receive 

 attention in order that mathematical and scientific subjects may 

 be approached with interest and in the proper spirit of inquiry, 

 in order that there may be the atmosphere requisite for their 

 correct presentation and appreciation — this quite apart from 

 all question as to the importance of dexterity of hand and its 

 psychological effect. 



It is perhaps worth while considering if a via media may be 

 found — if indeed the retention of some classical study be as 

 emphatically necessary as has been argued and the time spent 

 at the secondary school be prolonged sufficiently — by the per- 

 mission of a certain amount of specialisation at an earlier age 

 than has hitherto been considered desirable (that is, at about 

 seventeen), by the legalisation, as it were, of an Age of Choice 



1 Let us not forget that Plato reproached Aristotle with being a reader ; that 

 is, one remove from the source of original impressions. 



8 " The whole trend of circumstance is to substitute science for mere rote skill, 

 to demand initiative and an intelligent adaptation to new discoveries and new 

 methods.'' — H. G. Wells, Mankind in the Making. 



