NA TURE 



577 



THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1888. 



SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS IN ELEMENTARY 

 SCHOOLS. 



AVERY remarkable Report has been received by the 

 London School Board from a Special Committee 

 appointed by it a year ago "to consider the present 

 subjects and modes of instruction in the Board schools, 

 and to report whether such changes can be made as shall 

 secure that children leaving school shall be more fitted 

 than they novi^ are to pe.form the duties and work of life 

 before them." ^ 



The Committee, of which Mr. William Bousfield was 

 chairman, was a strong one, representing well the various 

 sections of the London Board. It has produced a Report 

 of twenty-one folio pages, including no less than thirty- 

 one recommendations, and followed by voluminous 

 minutes of evidence given by scientific men and others, 

 who have paid attention to elementary instruction, 

 teachers of special subjects, inspectors, empioy'es of the 

 Board, working-men representatives, and others. 



This important document is the outcome of several 

 movements. The London Board has, throughout its 

 existence, endeavoured to promote the teaching of science 

 by means of systematic object-lessons ; and has made 

 several attempts to give a more practical turn to the 

 instruction. In December 1884, a previous Special Com- 

 mittee reported on technical education, affirming the 

 principle that it was not the duty of the Board to attempt 

 to teach any particular trades, but that it was its duty so 

 to direct the education of its scholars that they could easily 

 take up any special work afterwards, and suggesting various 

 ways by which this might be promoted. Since then the 

 conviction has rapidly grown in the public mind that the 

 teaching is too bookish ; the supremacy of the three R's 

 has been rudely assailed ; and many people have asserted 

 that other things, such as Lord Reay's three DR's (drill, 

 drawing, and 'droitness), are equally important. 



The Report — starting with this definition of education : 

 '' the harmonious development of all the faculties, bodily 

 and mental, with which the child is endowed by Nature," 

 — points out the deficiencies of the present curriculum. It 

 has an earnest paragraph on moral education, and makes 

 various remarks upon the present teaching of history^ 

 geography, social economy, and art. But its main 

 criticism is " that the physical or bodily side of educa- 

 tion, including the development of muscular strength, of 

 the accuracy and sense of colour and proportion of the 

 eye, and of the pliancy and dexterity of the hand, is 

 almost entirely neglected ; and that the mental or 

 brain work, which occupies the great bulk of the time 

 in schools of all kinds, is composed far too much 

 of appeals to the memory only, resulting, at the best^ 

 in the retention in the child's mind of a mass of undigested 

 facts, and far too little of the cultivation of intelligence." 

 The Kindergarten principle is strongly approved of, and 

 the first recommendation is: "That the methods of 

 Kindergarten teaching in infant schools be developed for 



' " School Board for London. Report of the Special Committee on the 

 Subjects and Modes of Instruction in the Board's Schools, with Appendices." 

 (Hazell, Watson, and Viney, 52 Long Acre.) 



Vol xxxvil — No. 964. 



senior scholars throughout the standards in schools, 

 so as to supply a graduated course of manual training in 

 connection with science teaching and object-lessons." 



These, then, are the two main directions of progress that 

 are indicated— the knowledge of Nature, and the power of 

 work ; the development of the perceptive faculties, and 

 the education of the senses— and these two are to go 

 hand in hand. 



Object-lessons are common in elementary schools, but 

 much is said, both in the Report itself, and in the 

 evidence of Sir John Lubbock and other witnesses, in re- 

 gard to their improvement, and the importance of good 

 collections of objects. Yet it appears from the appendix 

 that only about forty minutes per week on an average are 

 actually given to these lessons in boys' and girls' schools, 

 and we know from the Annual Reports of the British As- 

 sociation on the teaching of science in such schools that the 

 present regulations of the Government Code are actually 

 diminishing the amount of the teaching of geography and 

 elementary science. The Special Committee, there- 

 fore, very properly recommend that application be 

 made to the Education Department to grant more 

 freedom of choice in the selection of class-subjects ; 

 and that the provision for object-lessons, and lessons 

 on natural phenomena, should be taken into account 

 in boys' and girls' schools in assessing the merit 

 grant, as is the case at present with infant schools. The 

 Scotch Code has within the last few weeks allowed that 

 either elementary science or English may be taken as the 

 first class-subject, which is a hopeful sign of progress. The 

 favourite scientific subjects taught at present in the Lon- 

 don schools are animal physiology and algebra ; but the 

 Special Committee favour the teaching of mechanics and 

 the fundamental notions of physical science by means of 

 special teachers on the peripatetic plan ; and they re- 

 commend " that the teaching of all subjects be accom- 

 panied, where possible, by experiments and ocular de- 

 monstration, and that the necessary apparatus be supplied' 

 to the schools." 



As to manual instruction, it exists in infant schools 

 wherever Kindergarten exercises are practised, but in 

 boys' schools there is often no practice of the kind except 

 in writing. In London, and perhaps in most large towns, 

 drav/ing is 'generally taught, and it is universally allowed 

 that this is at the very foundation of technical instruction. 

 The Committee recommend " that all manual instruction 

 should be given in connection with the scientific principles 

 underlying the work, and with suitable drawing and 

 geometry." Drawing to scale is invaluable for teaching 

 accuracy in work. But drawing does not give the best 

 idea of form, and there is a conventional element about 

 it which puzzles little children. Hence modelling in 

 clay is also recommended. The Board started a class 

 for the use of tools in carpentry at Beethoven Street 

 School, Kensal, but the outlay was disallowed by 

 the Public Auditor. Six such classes, however, are 

 being carried on at the expense of the City Guilds 

 technical Institute. There is little doubt that the 

 present disability will be shortly removed, and that 

 eventually a work-room or laboratory will become an 

 essential part of every large Board school. How best to 

 give manual instruction is still a matter of discussion and 

 . experiment. Good observations about it will be found in 

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