March 9, 1876] 



NA TURE 



37: 



in cases of rare genius in a boy, costs the school a good 

 deal, not in money, but in efficiency. To get one you 

 must spoil several. First-rate proficiency in a subject, it 

 is believed, can only be got when many are working 

 together in it. Competition is stimulated by numbers. 

 The success is less brilliant when the racers are few. A 

 form is somewhat disorganised, it is urged, if some boys 

 drop Greek, and others drop verses, or composition alto- 

 gether ; and thereupon many are kept to swell the triumph 

 of the few. The possible disorganisation is an imaginary 

 evil, I believe, but a real argument none the less, and 

 science suffers much at schools from a want of freedom 

 given to boys to drop some other subjects and pursue it 

 as a principal study. 

 Then there is the inevitable silent disparagement of 

 I non-appreciation. Some men have genuine sympathy 

 I with learning of all kinds, and can make others feel that 

 they respect a learning they themselves do not possess. 

 But such men are rare. It is too often made plain to 

 boys who " take to science," that they are regarded as 

 failures — as we hear of some '• ne'er-do-weel " that he has 

 "taken to" sheep-farming in Australia. It is the entire 

 and transparent honesty of this opinion that makes it so 

 effective, and this adverse influence, which is deeper than 

 words, and often in flat contradiction to them, will only 

 be eliminated by the general growth of public estimation 

 of science, and by the fruits that education in science 

 can show. For this we must wait. 



5. The last influence is that of parents and the public 

 generally. From them, as far as I can judge, there is no 

 trace of a demand for a revolution in education. The 

 only subjects on which there seems to me to be a strong 

 and tolerably united opinion, are the postponement of 

 Greek in the education of young boys, and a desire for 

 greater weight to be given to arithmetic, good writing, 

 and geography. The teaching of science is desired, 

 ( principally on grounds of utility, not of training ; and 

 choice of the time of introduction of it, the order of the 

 subjects, &c., the stratification of science, in a word, has 

 not been considered, except by ver)' {&^\ 



Prof. Roscoe thinks science ought to have " educational 

 equality both in range and time with classics and mathe- 

 matics.'' Here I distinctly differ. I maintain, after trial, 

 that it is unwise, and unscientific from an educational 

 point of view, to attempt to teach science at school to 

 boys till they have attained a certain standard of know- 

 ledge in arithmetic, and a certain power of reasoning 

 and language, as shown by their attainments in geometry 

 and Latin. Let science be held before them as a thing to 

 be enjoyed w en they are older and more advanced. It 

 is spoiled for them, and they are spoiled for it, by its 

 being taught them too soon. The dicta of men like 

 Faraday and Sir John Lubbock, and Roscoe are mis- 

 leading opinion on this point, and I wish to record my 

 protest against them. Do Sir John and the Professor 

 know, have they the slightest idea what the standard of 

 arithmetic is in the lower forms and among the new boys 

 of a public school ? I will tell them. This was the en- 

 trance paper I set in Arithmetic last January. By the 

 Regulations, " No boy shall be admitted who cannot work 

 sums m Fractions and the Rule of Three." 



" RUGBY SCHOOL, JANUARY, 1 876. 



" Entrance Examination. — Arithmelic. 

 " You are required to satisfy the Examiners in this paper. 



1. Subtract one hundred and seven pounds, nineteen shillings 

 and sixpence three farthings from two thousand seven hundred 

 and three pounds, and threepence halfpenny. 



Multiply the result by seventeen. 



2. Write out the table of square measure, and find the number 

 of ounces in a ton. 



3. If 49 tons 15 cwt. I qr. 13 lbs. of coal are distributed among 

 23 persons, how much will each receive ? 



4. Multiply 11/. 3 J. 6f rt'. by 3^. 



2.\ - \\ 



5. Sunplify 2\ ~ If and . j. 



/ • J4 



6. If a man walk 4 miles, i furlong, 40 yards in one hour 

 and 13 minutes, how far will he walk in two hours ? 



7. Multiply . 105 by 3.027 and .105 by 3.027. 



8. Find the cost of 3,653 articles at 7/. I3.r. 6i</. each." 



The plucking on this paper happily did not rest finally 

 with me. But it may affect Prof. Roscoe's opinions if I 

 tell him that if every boy had been required to answer one 

 of the first three questions, and either 4 or 5, and 6, — 1 per 

 cent, would have failed : and the average age of these 

 boys cannot have been under foiurteen. This is a stubborn 

 fact. No doubt boys ou^ht to know more. But they dot^i. 



What, therefore, we insist on is that boys, when once 

 in the school, shall not begin science till they know some- 

 thing of fractions, decimals, and square measure, and half 

 the first book of Euclid. Does the Professor think our 

 standard too high ? 



To sum up, therefore, what has been said. The com- 

 mission and governing body secure fair play to science ; 

 the Universities do the same, though the new examination 

 is, indirectly, rather adverse to it. Head-masters follow, 

 and do not lead the public ; and the public has no very 

 decided opinions just at present 



If, therefore, I were asked what I think ought to be the 

 programme of those who are interested in the progress of 

 physical science and of sound education generally, in 

 schools, I should reply that our great aim ought to be the 

 postpotiement of Greek in all schools, audits removal from 

 the compulsory subjects in the examination for certificates 

 that carry a University vabte j that meantime we ought 

 to use the certificate examination, and improve it ; and 

 to demonstrate, if possible, to unbelievers, the advantage 

 it would be to some boys to drop Greek and composition 

 for the purpose of scientific study, and that such a liberty 

 woidd not injure the efficiency of schools in classics. It 

 will be well also to watch with care the progress of schools 

 in which Greek is not taught at all. No index to public 

 opinion can be more valuable. 



" The History of Education," Henry Sidgwick says,' 

 " is the battle-ground and burial-ground of impracticable 

 theories ; and one who studies it is soon taught to abate 

 his constructive self-confidence, and to endeavour humbly 

 to learn the lessons, and harmonise the results of expe- 

 rience.' 



It is in this spirit — and I trust it is mine — that anything 

 must be written that will now, in the present stage of the 

 discussion, be a valuable contribution to the formation of 

 opinion on this interesting and important question. 



Rugby, March 6 JAMES M. WiLSON 



I should feel obliged if you would permit me to say 

 that my views with regard to this question agree in the 

 main with those of Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Wilson. 



The regulations of the Oxford and Cambridge Schools 

 Examination Board were amended after the first exami- 

 nation in 1874, and the paper together with the practical 

 work set last year was, in my opinion, sufficient in point 

 of difficulty. Several of the candidates from Chfton, 

 and doubtless from other schools, were quite prepared to 

 work a much more difficult paper. That, however, is not 

 the question which is to determine what shall be required 

 of the average boy when he leaves school 



In Clifton College the Modern Side receives instruc- 

 tion in science at the rate of two lectures a week on 

 chemistry and two on physics. Latin gets only three 

 hours a week. A large number of boys (over fifty) attend 

 voluntarily in the laboratory and thus have three or more 

 hours a week of practical work, whilst a few of the more 

 advanced receive two lessons in theoretical chemistry, 

 besides doing a considerable amount of reading out of 

 school. The subject is rewarded by marks at the same 

 rate per hour as Latin, and also gets a fair share of prizes. 

 In short, science at Clifton occupies a prominent and 



' In the re%Tse I have struck out this number. Its publication might be 

 regarded as a breach of confidence. And it is almost incredible. 

 - •' Essays on a Liberal Education." Macmiilan, 1S67. 



