Science in Public Affairs 



standard demanded determines the curriculum 

 of all boys, (b) This standard renders a wide 

 curriculum impossible. 1 



Further, it is much to be desired in the in- 

 terests of science that there should be organised 

 as speedily as possible a permanent Anthropo- 

 metric Survey on the lines recommended by 

 the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical 

 Deterioration in 1904^ Such a survey would 

 furnish the nation with knowledge as to the health 

 and physique of the population a subject upon 

 which we possess at present only disjointed and 

 inadequate information. The Committee recom- 

 mend that the survey should be based, in the 

 first instance, upon the periodic taking of measure- 

 ments of children and young persons in schools 

 and factories. It would be controlled from a cen- 

 tral bureau in London, but the actual observations 

 would be made by the assistance, among others, 

 of teachers and factory surgeons, "supplemented 

 by a small staff of professional surveyors or 

 measurers." 



Again, in the present state of educational 

 science, it is much to be desired that the central 

 or local authorities should encourage, in selected 

 schools, experiments in methods of teaching and 

 in curriculum. Such action is strongly recom- 

 mended by the Board of Education to local 

 educational authorities in the " Suggestions for the 



1 The Preparatory Schools Review, December 1905. 



2 " Report," pp. 8-13. Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1904. Cd. 2175. 

 is. 2d. 



126 



