Jan. 19, 1888] 



NATURE 



281 



subject we have to deal with." The teaching of it is dull 

 and mechanical, and the rules are rarely intelligently- 

 applied. In this large district there is one bright spot, 

 which shows what can be done by ordinary industry and 

 skill. It is the town of Nottingham, in which 2526 

 children were examined in specific subjects, of whom 

 four-fifths passed. " Mechanics for boys and domestic 

 economy for girls, are the subjects principally taken by 

 the Nottingham Board Schools, and are taught by a 

 specially qualified science demonstrator and assistant, 

 who visit the various schools in turns, bringing the 

 apparatus with them in a specially constructed hand-cart. 

 The lectures given on these occasions are afterwards gone 

 through again by the teachers of the schools, from notes 

 taken at the time. These lectures are simple and interest- 

 ing, and are given with great care and skill ; the results 

 are remarkably good, both as regards the actual knowledge 

 acquired by the scholars and the stimulus given to the 

 general intelligence. Besides the above-named subjects, 

 physiology and algebra are often taken with very good 

 results, and in one school the principles of agriculture 

 are taught with marked success." This extract from 

 Mr. Blandford's report shows that the neglect of element- 

 ary science is due, not to the dullness or irregularity of the 

 pupils, as some of the inspectors would seem to imply, but 

 frequently to the ignorance and incapacity of the teachers. 

 In the Eastern Division specific subjects are rarely taken, 

 but in the Norwich district mechanics, chemistry, and 

 botany have been taught satisfactorily in one or more 

 schools, and " are distinctly a gain to the boys." On the 

 whole, however, this division is rather at a standstill. 

 The quality of the education given has not risen as one 

 would expect, and with regard to scientific and technical 

 education, in the words of Mr. Synge, " there is plenty of 

 room and need for progress in the immediate future, but 

 at the present moment too little sign of its beginning." 

 In the South-Western Division "elementary science has 

 hardly any existence." In fact, except in some of the 

 large towns, it is practically non-existent, and in the 

 whole division, there were only about 600 children 

 presented on specific subjects. In Wales, except in 

 a few higher-grade schools, the teaching of science is 

 unknown. 



Some of the causes of this almost total absence of 

 any scientific teaching in our elementary schools have 

 been pointed out. Where science has been well taught 

 it has borne good fruit, and where teachers and managers 

 have set themselves, steadfastly to overcome the diffi- 

 culties in their way a high and encouraging measure of 

 success has been obtained. Thus we have the remarkable 

 testimony of the success of the experiment in Nottingham, 

 and surely there are many other districts in England 

 quite as competent to carry on this work as Nottingham, 

 Why it could not be done in any town in England, it is 

 difficult to see. In many cases where these subjects have 

 been taught, the inspectors have wisely set their faces 

 against them, finding but a wretched smattering amongst 

 the pupils. Nothing else can be expected in remote rural 

 districts, where the teacher, whose whole time is scarcely 

 sufficient for the few rudimentary subjects, is so ambitious 

 as to attempt to cram some of his pupils with the 

 elementary knowledge of a science of which he is him- 

 self confessedly ignorant. But in our towns and cities 

 competent teachers are always to be had. If the Board 

 masters do not find themselves fit for the extra labour and 

 extra knowledge required, there should be no difficulty in 

 obtaining a specialist, as has been done at Nottingham. 

 And in no place could the foundations of technical 

 education be more surely laid than amongst the elder 

 children of our elementary schools. In the Minutes 

 and Instructions issued to Her Majesty's Inspectors, 

 managers are requested to aid in every way they can the 

 teaching of one or more specific subjects appropriate to 

 the industrial or other needs of the locality, and the rudi- 



ments of two higher subjects to supply a foundation for 

 future work. With this object it is suggested that where 

 the teacher is not competent to do so — and this, according 

 to the reportSjis the rule, and not the exception— a specialist 

 might be employed by a number of schools in a district, 

 whose instruction would be supplemented by that of 

 the ordinary teachers. There is only one instance, that 

 of Nottingham, given in the reports of such suggestions 

 having been followed. 



Geography.— XNh^ro. there is "a great absence of culture 

 and general intelligence upon the part of a considerable 

 number of the candidates," it is not surprising to find 

 that, though the answers to the geography papers for 

 admission to the male training colleges were fairly 

 accurate, they were not inteUigent. Here, again, the 

 metropolitan candidates are superior to the provincial 

 candidates, particularly in the map-drawing, though, in 

 this particular, there has been a falling away of late. 

 Amongst the female candidates, the geography was not 

 very satisfactory, exhibiting inaccuracies in map-drawing, 

 indefiniteness in the answers, and, generally, marks of 

 defective early training. In the examinations for the first 

 year's certificates the male candidates answered fully and 

 accurately ; but usually there was a slavish following of 

 the words of the text-books and the lecturers' notes. At 

 the end of the second year, there is the same report, 

 book-knowledge without intelligence, and abundance of 

 information imperfectly digested. With the females, the 

 result is the same : verbatim reproduction of the books 

 or notes they had read ; fairly creditable answering ; but 

 "the style of the papers reveals the painful poverty of the 

 general reading of the students, and the utter absence 

 of any individuality, or attempt at description in their 

 own words." In many papers there was a constant itera- 

 tion of the same words and phrases, suggesting that the 

 candidates had learned off by rote the answers to probable 

 questions. With regard to the elementary schools, all 

 the reports agree in saying that there has been a marked 

 improvement in the teaching of geography. Where it is 

 intelligently taught it is the favourite subject ; but too 

 frequently the children are not well grounded. While all 

 divisions report progress in this subject, it is worthy of 

 remark that all the maritime districts,and particularly those 

 of the South-Western Division, including the counties of 

 Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset, 

 surpass the inland schools in the knowledge of our country, 

 its colonies, and its trade. And this is only natural. The 

 teacher who would not, in Devonshire, interest a class of 

 boys in the voyages of Drake, or who, in Somerset, would 

 not rivet the attention of his pupils on the victories of 

 Blake, would not be worthy of his post. Though the 

 teachers may be congratulated, speaking generally, on the 

 progress made in geography, there are many faults to 

 be found. In portions of Wales and of the centre of 

 England, geography is only fairly satisfactory. The 

 pupils are weak in questions of latitude and longitude ; 

 they do not learn intelligently ; because, most probably, 

 they are taught mechanically and unintelligently. It should 

 be within the power of every teacher by the use of an ordi- 

 nary globe to make this portion of the subject intelligible to 

 any ordinary boy ; but few lads could understand a lesson 

 on meridians and parallels, given by a teacher who does 

 not use a globe at all. And yet this is quite common ! 

 Hence it is that the map-drawing is very poor, even 

 where there is a good knowledge of geographical 

 facts. Many of the inspectors complain of lack of globes, 

 maps, &c. ; and even where there is abundance of general 

 maps, there are no local maps, a want which is very 

 widely felt. In this respect our Board of Education 

 might take a lesson from the Commissioners of National 

 Education in Ireland, who have published local maps, 

 and require each pupil in the higher grades to know, 

 in addition to general geography, the map of his 

 neighbourhood. 



