6io 



NA TURE 



[October 27, 1923 



Officialism in Education.^ 



'"■p*nK Hritish Science Guild Ims issued a Memo- 

 1 rundum on the subject of bureaucratic inter- 

 vention in education, which, it states, has reached 

 an acute stage and " has become detrimental to 

 educational development and efficiency." The main 

 charge made by the Guild is that official intervention 

 in educational administration, as distinguished from 

 efficient educational control, is now so excessive — 

 lx)th on the part of the Board of Education and Local 

 Education Authorities — that governing bodies of 

 Technical Institutions and Secondary Schools are 

 becoming mere advisory* bodies, without any freedom 

 of action which would allow them to develop the 

 individuality of their institution and take a lively and 

 responsible interest in their progress. It is also pointed 

 out that heads, appointed for their educational powers, 

 are crippled by officialism, both as regards initiative and 

 freedom to experiment on one hand, and on the other 

 by the large demands for clerical work in the nature of 

 " returns," which unduly curtails the time which they 

 can devote to their proper work as educationists. 



There have been similar protests from other sources. 

 Local Education Authorities have themselves protested 

 against the apparent endeavours of the Board of 

 Education to assume greater control of matters which 

 should be left to local disci-etion and to local knowledge. 

 Here we find the British Science Guild accusing Local 

 Education Authorities of acting similarly towards 

 governing bodies of educational institutions. We have 

 also heard of heads who have made similar protests 

 against their governing bodies. We do not suggest 

 that the protests are unwarranted. On the contrary, 

 we think that there is much official intervention that 

 is not only unnecessary and expensive, but is also 

 detrimental to educational development. 



We have an example in the working of the new- 

 scheme of national certificates in chemistr} and in 

 mechanical and electrical engineering, referred to in an 

 article in Nature of July 14, p. 45. Apparently the 

 scheme is designed to secure all the advantages of 

 internal examinations and of reasonable freedom in 

 the arrangement of the courses of work to meet local 

 conditions and needs, coupled with just enough central 

 control and assessment to secure the attainment of 

 some uniform standard of work on which a national 

 certificate can be issued, bearing the endorsement of 

 the Board of Education and of the appropriate institu- 

 tion of chemists or engineers. The scheme is excellent, 

 but we have reason to fear that before courses of study 

 are recognised they are so modified—" mutilated " 

 was one word which we heard— by the Board that they 

 all bear a close resemblance to one another. If such 



' Memorandum jn the Increase of Bureaucratic Interventioo m Edaca- 

 tJoB. (British Science Guild.) 



NO. 2817, VOL. I I 2] 



be the fact, it is certainly an example of Immpering 

 local discretion and tending too much towards that 

 machine-like uniformity beloved by bureaucrats 

 tendency is to worship at the shrine of organisatio;. ..... 



to ignore tlie essential needs*of educational progress. 



We are not blind to the need of some mea- 

 central control and to some sound and efficient or^, 

 tion, but any attempt to standardise education, whether 

 in school, technical institution, or universit 

 certain to put an end to progress as is the >• 

 tion of any machine— like a motor-car, for example 

 bound to prevent any development or '■ 

 that particular machine. Iftheincrea 

 intervention which is complained of is tendin;. 

 this thing, then it must be resisted strenuously. 



The Lister Ward of Glasgow Royal 

 Infirmary. 



THE managers of the Royal Infirmarv*. Gl 

 recently decided that, for various rease; 

 celebrated Lister Ward of the Infirmary should 'be de- 

 stroyed. It is not surprising to know that this decision 

 has elicited many strong protests, and that an appeal 

 has been made for the preservation of what is a unique 

 relic in the history of medical science. 



The ward in question was Ward 24 of the " New Surgi- 

 cal House," and was Lister's male ward from i86i to 

 1869. It was the scene of his first attempts to apply 

 the results of his studies on the healing of wounds to 

 combating the septic disease which was rampant. By 

 their success it became the birthplace of modem surgery. 

 In 191 2, when the reconstruction of the Royal Infirmary 

 had advanced so far that the ward was no longer used, 

 it was decided to pull down the block in which it is 

 situated. Then a movement arose for its preser%-ation 

 as a memorial of Lister, and the managers of the 

 Infirmary decided to keep it. 



This decision the managers later rescinded, and tlie 

 ward has really escaped destruction through force of 

 circumstances. It was arranged as a museum, with 

 relics and portraits of Lister and hospital furniture of 

 the period, for the occasion of the visit of H.M. King 

 George on July 7, 1914, and a few weeks later it was 

 occupied by wounded soldiers from France. Now it is 

 in use as cloak-room and reading-room for the women 

 medical students. The relics, etc., are stored in the 

 Pathological Institute, and it is hoped to use them in 

 furnishing the ward, so as to illustrate some of the con- 

 ditions under which Lister worked in it— a task of no 

 great difficulty. 



The sentimental value of the place is felt by those 

 who teach in the Royal Infirmar>' and by their students 

 and by visitors from abroad. No one questions the 

 value of Bums's cottage at A>t ; yet apparently the 



