April 6, 191 1] 



NATURE 



183 



ing of the school age to sixteen. There is much to 

 be said in favour of boch suggestions, and indeed the 

 former is essential ; but those who have thought over 

 ihe problem feel that the raising of the school age 

 will provide no remedy unless what may be called 

 jjost-elementary or secondary education is directed into 

 channels which will lead up to and adequately pre- 

 pare children for their future work, whether of a 

 jjrofessional, commercial, or industrial character. For 

 professional and commercial occupations ordinary 

 education has done something, but not enough ; but 

 for industrial occupations very little has been done 

 except by classes which have been attended by students 

 after a break of two or three years, during which 

 time they have forgotten much that they had learnt 

 at school. The need for some reform in our educa- 

 tional work and for an extension of education in con- 

 tinuation schools has been pointed out in papers read 

 at the British ^Association meetings, in reports by the 

 British Science Guild and the Consultative Committee 

 of the Board of Education, and at conferences of educa- 

 tion authorities. 



The resolutions passed and the opinions expressed 

 at the recent conference held at the Guildhall (see 

 Nature, March 2, p. 31), supported as they were by 

 men and women representing all classes of the com- 

 munity, may be considered as evidence of a strong 

 tceling that the time has come for some definite action 

 to be taken. As an industrial nation we cannot afford 

 to neglect the adequate preparation of our children for 

 'heir future careers any longer. 



Doubtless the commercial training required for pro- 

 fessional or clerical occupations presents the least 

 difficulty, because such training is more or less in- 

 timately connected with an extension of the curricula 

 of higher grade and secondary schools with a definite 

 objective, and generally there is no opposition to such 

 education. The problems connected with the traininf^ 

 of those who will take up occupations of a manual 

 or industrial description are more difficult. As soon 

 as such training is talked about there appears to be 

 a general, though erroneous, fear that such training 

 implies definite trade training, and that the market 

 will be flooded with skilled workers; but an inspec- 

 tion of the work and methods of the schools to which 

 we refer later on will show that this is unfounded. 

 The object of these schools is to prepare those boys 

 and girls who intend to enter various trades, so that 

 thev will have an opportunity of becoming skilled 

 all-round workers rather than one-branch hands. The 

 changed conditions of manufacture make some Nystem 

 of preparation in schools and technical institutions 

 an absolute necessity. 



In any general scheme, local trade conditions will 

 Iiave to be taken into account by local education 

 authorities in arranging the curricula and in selecting 

 the children >uilal)le for the various types of schools. 

 The number of ])upils attending the various types of 

 schools will ultimately be regulated by the laws of 

 supply and demand. The training for industrial or 

 trade orcu|)ations, if it is to be successful, must be 

 given in special schools, such as preparatory 

 trade schools, schools of arts and crafts, or technical 

 institutes; and the instruction, whilst not neglecting 

 the general education of the pupils, must include 

 sound prcliininary training in the theory and practice 

 of the trades, vvhether of an artistic, scientific, or 

 mechanical character. 



There must be no attempt in such schools to super- 

 sede the training of the workroom, workshop, or 

 factory; their aim should be to provide an all-round 

 acquaintance, both theoretical and practical, with the 

 particular trade or group of trades which the pupils 

 will enter, and so to make up in part for the loss of 

 those oppoiiiinilie- of learning formerly provided by 



NO. 2 l()2, V(JL. 86] 



the apprenciceship system in various industrial occupa- 

 tions. 



A good beginning has already been made in this 

 direction in London by the trade schools for girls, and 

 at the London County Council schools and the 

 Borough and Woolwich Polytechnics ; there are 

 similar opportunities for boys at the L.C.C. Pad- 

 dington and Poplar Schools of Engineering, the 

 Shoreditch Technical Institute for woodwork, the 

 Borough Polytechnic Institute for engineering and 

 metal trades, the Stanley School, the L.C.C. Central 

 School of Arts and Crafts, and at the National Bakery 

 and Confectionary School at the Borough Polytechnic 

 Institute; there are others which might also be men- 

 tioned. There are also schools of various kinds ia 

 many of the principal towns of the country, such as 

 Leeds, Liverpool, Bradford, and Wigan. In nearly 

 all the schools mentioned the work is a full-time 

 course, but railway companies and large employers of 

 labour in various parts of the country have afforded 

 facilities for their young workmen to attend classes 

 for short periods in the daytime, to enable them to 

 improve themselves both by study and practice in 

 the trades in which they are engaged. Some problems 

 in boy-labour in Government departments are also 

 receiving attention, though much remains to be done. 



Without considerable elasticity, no scheme of 

 industrial training in schools and institutes can be 

 thoroughly successful or completely satisfy the indus- 

 trial and commercial needs of a practical nation such 

 as ours ; such training must be post-elementary ; that 

 is, must come, not under the regulations governing 

 elementary schools, but under those governing 

 technical schools and institutes, as otherwise there is 

 a danger of liniitations in various directions ; it may 

 be trammelled by religious questions, by large classes, 

 by rigidity of syllabuses, and will probably suffer from 

 lack of freedom in the choosing of suitable teachers 

 for the work. The type of teachers employed in such 

 schools is indeed one of the most important factors of 

 success, and such teachers must be chosen rather 

 for their special trade and workroom experience than 

 for their academic qualifications. The cooperation of 

 employers and foremen on advisory committees will 

 also form an important feature in the work. 



In conclusion, it should be remembered that trade 

 prospers only with a nation which has an adequate 

 supply of technically trained skilled workers. It is 

 generally believed by those who have paid attention 

 to the subject, and it is the opinion of those who can 

 s])(^ak with authority, that the trades in which we hold 

 our own are those in which apprenticeship or its 

 equivalent is not yet dead. -As the opportunities for 

 apprenticesliip in various trades are becoming fewer 

 and fewer, something in the way of a substitute is 

 necessary, and this can be supplied by wise modifica- 

 tion and extension of our educational system in the 

 direction of industrial training. 



C. T. Mii.Lis. 



DAYLIGHT SAVING? 



ON the face of it, the proposed Daylight Saving 

 Bill is distinctly good. For a certain season 

 in the year the clerks' in the City of London will get 

 one more hour to spare before the sun goes down. 

 As a result of this they will have more time for the 

 enjoyment of fresh air.niore time for outdoor amuse- 

 ments, more time to learn rifle shooting, gain more 

 health, become happier men, and enjoy other benefits. 

 If this is really the case, then the clerks in the west 

 of England, who have for years and years enjoyed 

 1,1, per ceni. more evening sun than those in the 

 eastern counties, ought to exhibit at least some trace 

 of the benefits which accrue from an extra dose of 



