PRACTICAL KDUCATIOX. 697 



interesting ; the proper use of books as treatises to be consulted 

 for information, is not yet ; pupils " read for the story " well 

 into their teens, because the spirit of romance is strong in youth ; 

 it would be a grievous pity to kill endeavcnn- by stifling instead 

 of directing this romantic spirit to useful after-effort, by substi- 

 tuting the elementary technical manual or commercial text-book 

 for the civic reader. To spelling, on the other hand, reformers 

 on the look-out for economy in school-time, might well turn their 

 attention ; memory work in this connection is nearly as wasteful 

 of time and grey matter as our systems of weights and measures. 

 To spell correctly in English is exceedingly difficult, yet I am 

 no Carnegieite who would alter standard f (~)rms ; but perfection 

 comes with practical use, and all that should be expected from 

 pu])ils is the correct spelling of some two hundred words in 

 common use with the intelligent handling of a pocket spelling 

 guide, and not that they should be expert in all the words that 

 can be found in a shilling dictionary. Scholars in primary schools 

 have not now to suffer the astounding nomenclature, fantastic 

 classifications and the distinctions with fine differences of formal 

 grammar ; their acquaintance with it is limited to that required 

 for the recognition of and ability to formulate a sentence. With 

 regard to arithmetic, I do not see how a greater accuracy can 

 be attained by substituting ])ractical calculations for pure arith- 

 metic, by beginning early with concrete examples; I think the 

 child's mind would be confused beyond hope. Much of the 

 present arithmetic text should be scrapped ; I have already re- 

 ferred to (Uir systems of weights and measures — those effete 

 descendants of a defunct guild mysticism — arithmetical sub- 

 tleties such as problems, however sim]:)le, based upon " remainder 

 theorems " should go, as also those which apparently assume that 

 the pui)ils are going to earn their livelihood by buying money 

 when it is cheap and selling it when it is dear. The time saved 

 should be spent in drill with " the four rules." Fractions should 

 be begun with denominators in tens only, and non-recurring 

 decimals introduced immediately ; further practice in the four 

 rules should then be given with the decimal system with the 

 gradual introduction of " approximations." The calculation of 

 area should be followed by simple square root and of volume by 

 cube root. Fractions with other denominators than ten and its 

 powers would be the next step and, thereafter, problems includ- 

 ing the use and sub-division of money. Everything else in 

 arithmetic should be sacriffced in the primary school to accuracy 

 and speed in this minimum equipment. 



Parents and others are apt to make the mistake of thinking 

 that the manual training instruction given as part of the ordinary 

 or primary school course is intended as a training for what I have 

 already called the business side of life ; that the boy is being 

 pre-trained as a w'age-earner ; that the school woodwork class 

 is a kind of apprenticeship training in the trade of carpenter, 

 and the metal-work instruction a kind of pre-training for that 



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