5^ 



NATURE 



[November 15, 1894 



Thb rollowing seems a passable definition, such as Sir 

 Eiward Fry asks for in his letter of November 1. But, in 

 oSering it, I only speak of the sense in which I myself use llie 

 enpression. 



Characters are said to be acquired, when they are regularly 

 found in tho>e individuals only, who have been subjected 

 to certain special and abnormal conditions. 



Francis Galton. 



Science Teaching in Schools. 



Two articles have recently appeared in Nature which call 

 for some comment, if the columns of your journal are to be 

 opened once more to a discussion of this question. Educa- 

 tional ref irmers will agree heartily with the general position 

 taken up by Mr. H. G Wells, in "Science, in School and after 

 School" (vol. I. p. 525;, and by Prof. Armstrong in " Scientific 

 Method in Board Schools " (p. 631). But they either ignore or 

 give very little credit for the honest science teaching that is 

 actually being done at the present time. I realise, only too 

 personally, the great difference between training in scientific 

 method and mere instruction in science ; and how few are the 

 attempts to make use of the former in all grades of school.s. 

 But I hold that the old-fashioned instruction in science has, 

 under favourable conditions, a considerable ediualianal value. 

 To have enabled a boy to realise the composition of the air and 

 water is to have introduced him to the world of nature, and has 

 widened his ideas and conceptions to an extent which justifies 

 the means. Was not this one of the original pleas for the 

 introduction of science into the school course ? But having 

 entered my protest, I will pass on . 



Mr. Wells admirably dis'inguishcs between the two styles of 

 science teaching, and points out the original function of the 

 Science and Art Department in encouraging and examining 

 only the one of them. But he admits that the field of operation 

 of the Department has been very much widened in recent years, 

 and that its examinations "seriously affect the teaching of 

 middle-class, and even of the higher standards of elementary 

 schools." Yet his only suggestion is that the Department 

 should withdraw from this work ; for that would be the efiect of 

 an age limit, and is intended to be the effect of the recent 

 alteration in the regulations in the elementary stage. 



But circumstances are such that the Department cannot and 

 ought not to withdraw from its present control of science teach- 

 ing in day-schools, for its influence is greater than that of any 

 other examining body ; not simply financially, but from the 

 magnitude of its operations. It is a historical quibble to say 

 that the Department is concerned primarily with continuation 

 and adult cla-scs, when it specially encourages the formation of 

 organised science day-schools, and yet rigidly confines the 

 teaching in them to the schedules devised for adult instruction. 



Last session there were 94 organised science day-schools, con- 

 taining about lo,OGO pupils taught on the lines la d down by the 

 Department. As is well known, the majority of these are what 

 are otherwise known as Higher Grade Board Schools, which 

 are absolutely dependent for their existence on the grants 

 obtained from the Department. I lake it as indisputable that 

 this is the very class of schools where the science ought to have 

 an educational basis; where its function is "to develop and 

 train the hand, eye and mind togclher, enlarge the scope of the 

 observation, and stimulate the development of the reasoning 

 power." I also believe that many of the teachers are anxious 

 to make it so, ju<lging from ihcir liberal denunciations of the 

 present "pernicious system." F. |ually axiomatic is it that, 

 under the Science and An Dep.irlmenl, it is impossible to 

 indulge in such leaching. Time will not permit. The pressure 

 ilio great that oxygen and water are almost always written and 

 (poken of as O and IIjO. 



Mr. Wells considers other examining bodies, whose work is 

 exclusively directed to school needs, are far more blamewoithy. 

 This I absolutely deny. In the fir-t place, the South Kensing- 

 ton examinations are the only ones which arc entirely controlled 

 by scientific men. The sole cause for ihe existence of the 

 Department is Ihe encouragement of science and art, whereas 

 the other bodies referred 10 provide for the examination of 

 secondary education generally; and the examining board may 

 not have a single representative of science upon it. But 

 further, a-suming that Ihe .South Kensington examinations are 

 neither better nor worse than others, there arc two causes which 

 make them an educational abomination. 



NO. 1307, VOL. 51] 



(1) In one year the pupils have to be rushed through such an 

 excessive amount of work that the teaching degenerates into 

 the merest cram. The Department distinctly states that 

 students in the first year are to be prepared for the first stage, 

 and in the second year for the second stage. Putting aside 

 entirely the consideration as to whether the scheme is any par- 

 ticular subject, as chemistry, will any practical teacher deny 

 that the requirements for either the first or second stage are far 

 beyond what it is possible to accomplish with satisfaction 

 within the given time? It must be kept in mind that the 

 time-table has to provide not only for the seven or eight 

 subjects of which the Department takes cognisance, but ' ' for 

 instruction in those literary subjects which are essential for a 

 good general education." Do not these latter often suffer in 

 favour of the former, especially at the approach of May? 



(2) The consequence of this restriction is that boys scarcely 

 in their teens enter by thousand- for an examination beyond 

 their normal capacities. It is in this that the South Kensington 

 examinations differ so entirely from those of the Universiiies. 

 The difference in standard between the Department's examina- 

 tion in chemistry and the Cambridge Junior Locals or London 

 .Matriculation is not great ; but in practice, the average age of 

 candidates in the latter is higher by two or three years. Time 

 is allowed for the awakening and development of ihe powers of 

 ob-ervation and reasoning. A boy is then able to describe 

 intelligently what he has become thoroughly familiar with, 

 instead of reproducing mechanically his notes or text-book. 



In SI ill another particular have the University Boards a 

 decided advantage. Either they dispense altogether with an 

 examination in practical chemistry, or they make something 

 more of it than an analytical drill. Not much, it is ttue, but it 

 must be remembered that practical chemistry is the most per- 

 verted subject in the whole range of knowledge at the hands of 

 both teachers and examiners, liut the greatest mockery is that 

 which passes under the name at South Kensington. Of the 

 written part of the examination it is needless to say anything ; 

 no boy would regaid it as a test of what he has done in the 

 laboratory, but what he has seen in the lecture-room. As to 

 the analysis of salts, what bearing h.as it on the chemistry he is 

 being taught elsewhere? Though at a certain st.tge it has a 

 considerable educational value, tlie amount of lime wasted upon 

 it is appalling. It is useless to reiterate how easily it lends itself 

 to being converted into a mechanical grind. 



Mr. Wells is of the opinion that the recent abolition of the 

 second class p.ass in the May examinations has had a beneficial 

 effect. So it may, in extinguishing what might be termed "bogus" 

 classes. But it has only intensified the evils in organised science 

 schools, and put a higher premium on the cleverest cramming. 

 The change did not deter such schools from sending in their 

 pupils as before, but now they h.id to obtain 60 per cent, of 

 the possible marks, or fail — and most of them failed. This year 

 ihere were fewer failures, because Ihe uaching has answered to 

 the whip. Financially the result is satisfactory to them, but 

 educationally it is disastrous. At that age the average boy is 

 not capable of obtaining more than forty or forty-five per cent, 

 of the marks in such a subject as chemistry. Very often he 

 does not understand the full meaning of the question ; and when 

 he does, he is unable to write down more than a moiety of what 

 he knows, or what could be drawn from him by a series of oral 

 <|uestions. There is no consideration shown for the immaturity 

 of the candidates, but the standard is pitched higher than that 

 of any other public examination in the country. 



So far from agreeing with I'rof. Armstrong that science must 

 be admitted to equal rights wiihthe three A''<, I hold that it is 

 taught too extensively as long as the present system of examin- 

 ation prevails, and that the first battle to be fought ought lobe 

 against the South Kensington examinations, until they truly 

 perform Iheir double lunction. W. B. CkumI'. 



Heath Grammar School, Halifax. 



Will you allow me to take the opportunity allordeil by the pub- 

 lication, in NaTUKE, vol. I. p. 631, of Prof. Armstrong's address 

 at the Berners Street Board School, to offer my testimony to 

 the value of leaching, based on the piinciples which he advo- 

 cates so eloquently ? The fraclical difficulty of teaching what 

 I'rof. Armstrong has called scientific method in an ordinary 

 school, is ollcn ihe ground of the objection made to it, so that 

 it may interest your readers to hear of any experiments in this 

 direction. 



