TRADITION IN EDUCATION 195 



with due appreciation of the possibilities of the mother tongue; 

 there is no need for reversion to a formal treatment of logical 

 concatenation quite unsuited for boys. 



A General Curriculum 



Passing now from destructive to constructive criticism the 

 writer proposes to express his opinion on the curriculum that 

 is desirable for boys until the age is reached at which experts 

 agree a great degree of specialisation is permissible if not 

 necessary. It is with the utmost diffidence that he ventures to 

 take part in a controversy with which specialists alone are 

 considered qualified to deal ; the opinions expressed by various 

 authorities are so antagonistic, however, that no compromise 

 seems possible, consequently the organisation adopted is 

 haphazard and of a makeshift nature, and while educational 

 theories and educational schemes generally are in the melting- 

 pot, the incorporation of but a trace of new ideas or of new 

 ingredients may profoundly modify the formulae which are on 

 the point of settlement. It is a faint hope indeed but, as Locke 

 says in his Essay on the Human Understanding, " he that will 

 not stir until he infallibly knows that the business he goes 

 about will succeed will have littleto do but sit still and perish." 



The normal week in the secondary school contains thirty-two 

 periods — four every morning and two on each of four afternoons ; 

 for older boys two successive periods may be allotted to one 

 subject and longer periods are the rule, so that, in their case, 

 the normal week may be said to contain sixteen periods ; but for 

 convenience in generalising we may retain the shorter period 

 as unit. Now, as Prof. Armstrong has insisted, there are three 

 necessary forms of discipline — literary work, experimental work 

 and manual work. Other exercises may be expedient but the 

 three mentioned are evidently indispensable. Also whilst admit- 

 ting its highly controversial nature, one must acknowledge that 

 there is much force in Prof. Stanley Hall's doctrine that it is 

 always wasteful to teach what will never be thought of or 

 practised outside the schoolroom or after school years are ended ; 

 though as school, in the wider sense, is never finished, it is 

 difficult to say what subjects are " useful " and when and where 

 the utility of a subject begins or ends. What we have to do to 

 the best of our ability is to choose between various subjects or 

 branches of work and select those which combine the greatest 



