November i8, 19 15] 



NATURE 



329 



I and tjood health were the prime requisites, though 

 school might do more to awaken girls' interest in 

 public questions, (c) Occupations which can be begun 

 L an earlier age, e.g. secretarial and clerical work — 

 urnalism, accountancy, and civil service. Two views 

 - to this class of girl. Either she should leave school 

 ! fifteen and go to a ■"crammer's," or the school 

 -iiould organise special courses. But school-trained 

 ^irls are not wanted by business men. They find the 

 school training rather "•amateur," and in any case 

 hf atmosphere of school, when it is right, is not that 

 t business. Six months or a year in a reorganised 

 Lisiness school is a desirable interlude. Civil service 

 ought not to encourage competitive examinations 

 before sixteen, and so cut short the proper school time 

 of a girl. Miss Haldane also opposed all utilitarian 

 claims upon school. A better education of a general 

 kind is what is wanted. The want of prospects under 

 which most girls had to do their work and the narrow 

 specialisation of the preparation for Government work 

 had a most depressing influence. " We cannot afford 

 to be economical in the matter of education. If school 

 buildings must be plain, at least we must see to it 

 that the staiY is well-qualified and efficient." Miss 

 Oldham pointed out the increased necessity for train- 

 ing women for economical independence. "What 

 strengthens women in the best sense strengthens the 

 nation." She urged free entry and free progress for 

 women into all professions for which they are physic- 

 ally fit, an improved status for the home-maker, who 

 should have a right to the best education and to the 

 honour and rewards which belong to great tasks well 

 discharged. "Motherhood is so important that a 

 whole year might well be given to its problems in the 

 education of every girl. Even for those who never 

 marry, it should be remembered that the preservation 

 of babies born is the first line of defence of our sex." 

 Miss Charlesworth, "a voice from the bottom," as 

 she expressed it, spoke from the clerk's point of view. 

 The most important thing in the education of a girl 

 is to develop "'self-reliance and independence" — much 

 more important than technicalities. A girl with this 

 feeling will not do a woman's work for 12s. 6d. a 

 week "if only it is genteel." School should teach girls 

 not to take work without prospects. Girls are very 

 apt to mistake permanence of employment for a career. 

 Some standardisation for the education of clerks was 

 a great need in these days. Miss Burstall, Miss Escott, 

 Miss Foxley, Miss Sheavyn, Miss Higgs, and Mrs. 

 Findlay took part in a very lively discussion. Miss 

 Burstall was severely criticised for the view that Latin 

 should be left to the clever girls — an expression which 

 probably did not mean to its author what it sug- 

 gested to her audience. 



The section met again on Saturday morning. The 

 large gathering was significant of the interest taken 

 in the subject — education and industry. Sir William 

 Mather declared that the two were connected as inti- 

 mately as soul and body. Future historians will 

 marvel at the fact that we made no attempt whatever 

 between 1872 and 1889 to deal with technical education, 

 and that until quite recently we gave more time and 

 energy to quarrelling about the place of religion in 

 education than to the problem of how to make our 

 boys and girls "children of light." After paving a 

 warm tribute to the work of the City and Guilds In- 

 stitute, he pointed to the waste of elementary educa- 

 tional expenditure, because of the absence of any 

 general form of continued schooling. Happily, Great 

 Britain was a peculiarly plastic country. It learned 

 best from its own mistakes, and herein lay the hope 

 of the future. Such voluntary movements as that of 

 the boy scouts had much to teach us. Mr. Maxwell 

 Garnett pointed out the great gulf fixed between educa- 

 tion and industry. We have thought out the material 



XO. 2403, VOL. 96I 



and equipment side of education much in advance of 

 the human. The scientific way of handling educa- 

 tional problems was much handicapped by the want 

 of a technical language. The use of the words of 

 ordinarv life was i)roductive of all kinds of miscon- 

 ception^. Education should aim at developing a single 

 wide interest. The old notion of a general education 

 was psychologically absurd. Coherence at seventeen 

 is the surest way to comprehensiveness at twenty-seven. 

 By means of a chart, Mr. Garnett showed what should 

 in his view be the relation of each grade of education 

 to the rest. Mr. J. Graham described the practice of 

 the Leeds authority in providing a quasi-technical 

 training for boys about to leave the elementary school. 

 The work began in two or three so-called " Day 

 Preparatory Trade Schools," in which the time-table 

 was divided into three broad sections dealing about 

 equally with English, drawing, and manual work. 

 Now it is proposed to extend this provision to all the 

 elementary schools of the city. On leaving the school, 

 the boys enter a trade, and a real technical education 

 should begin, lasting for four years (fourteen to 

 eighteen), and occupying half the pupil's time. In 

 the secondary schools the vocational claim is being 

 admitted. The matriculation examination should be 

 broadened. The present dominating influence of the 

 university upon the schools should be weakened, but 

 the secondary schools ought not to be made into 

 technical schools. The president of the Association 

 pleaded for practical suggestion. He did not think 

 our present system was wrong because it turned out 

 too few trained minds. Incidentally he criticised the 

 use of the term "Honours" in the universities. 

 Principal Griffiths raised the question of education in 

 its relation to want of understanding between em- 

 ployers and employed, not a little, he thought, due to 

 such "class" education as that of Ruskin College. 

 The discussion closed with some account of the educa- 

 tional work done by the Westinghouse Co. for its 

 younger employees. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Cambridge. — The fifth edition of the War List of the 

 University was published by the Cambridge Review 

 on November 15, and is an impressive quarto volume. 

 U consists of 90 pp. and cover, and contains more 

 than 11,000 names. Trinity College has 2500; Pem- 

 broke 1052, Gonville and Caius 952; Clare 750; Em- 

 manuel 648; Trinity Hall 603; Jesus 559; King's 

 556; Christ's 540; and St. John's 513. The other 

 colleges also show a great increase in numbers. The 

 list not only contains the names of past and preserit 

 members of the University who are serving in every 

 branch of both Services, but, so far as is known, after 

 each name appears the honours awarded for distin- 

 guished service ; also, alas ! the large number of both 

 killed and wounded. It is a record of which the 

 University may well be proud, showing, as it does, 

 Cambridge University's fine spirit. There are 614 

 killed, nearly 900 wounded, and 123 prisoners and miss- 

 ing. The distinctions comprise : — Mentioned in 

 Despatches, 241; V.C., 3; D.S.C., i; D.S.O., 36; 

 Military Cross, 48; D.C.M., 4; K.C.B., i; C.B., 2; 

 {\M.G., 6; Medaille Militaire, 4; Croix de Chevalier, 

 10; Croix de Guerre, 4; Russian Orders, 5 ; Serbian 

 Order, i. 



The Long Fox lecture will be delivered by Dr. 

 Richardson Cross, at the University of Bristol, on 

 Wednesday, December i. The subject will be "The 

 Evolution of the Sense of Sight." 



