728 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



H. C. F. The study and production of a butter cooler is typical' 

 of school work which will hasten the coming of the Country Home 

 Comfortable. 



Psychological Limitations. — Psychology calls for the exclusion 

 from the elementary school curriculum of subjects which need 

 developed logical powers for their comprehension. Grammar 

 should be replaced by practical language teaching and composition ; 

 all theory of music, except such as will enable the pupil to turn 

 black marks into a song, must go ; hygiene and first aid must 

 replace physiology ; botany mu-t give way to horticulture and 

 agriculture, and so on all along the line. 



Curriculum to Reflect all Major Activities of the Community. — 

 Our complex civilisation demands a curniculum which reflects all 

 its major elements, while psychology forbids the premature intro- 

 duction of matter beyond the pupils' comprehension, and the time 

 limitation forces strict selection to prevent overcrowding. No ideal 

 solution, therefore, is possible, and the compromise thus necessi- 

 tated calls for fairly frequent revision of the curr culum. 



5.— THE PLACE OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SCIENCES IN 

 EDUCATION. 



By the REV. E. N. MERRINGTON, M.A., Ph.D. 



(Abstract) 



I. 



Every subject in the higher education is worthy of its place, and 

 philosophy recognises this fact. But in order to realise the true 

 ideal of University education the philosophical sciences must be 

 encouraged and advanced. More than acquisition of knowledge 

 and technical training is required for the ends of culture, namely 

 a spirit of " illumination " (Newman) and orientation of all the 

 sciences and liberal studies. This is the " philosophical habit " 

 which is essential to the ideal of the higher education. In com- 

 parison with other countries. Australasia has made slight provision 

 for these subjects, although they are very necessary to our develop- 

 ment. The new Universities in Australia seem to be without pro- 

 vision for such teaching. The tendency is in the direction of 

 technical education. But there is no fundamental antagonism 

 between the so-called "liberal" and the "useful" studies. 

 Efficiency in the long run implies the trained mind and the wide 

 horizon. 



II. 



Philosophy is a general name for a number of studies whose 

 methods are scientific in the sense that they are rational, systematic 

 and adapted to their special fields of human thought and action. 



