E< view of Revieu s, 1/10/13. 



EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS. 



8j 9 



has had time to mould the mind and 

 personality. 



To sum up : England is face to face 

 with an economic problem of extra- 

 ordinary difficulty, but one that is sol- 

 uble by " generalship and unity of pur- 

 pose." Inter-departmental action can 

 deal effectively with the question of 

 labour if the Board of Education can 

 deal with the question of education. 

 Miss Dunlop and Mr. Denman advocate 

 the raising of the school age, the crea- 

 tion of compulsory half-time educa- 

 tion, the further regulation of employ- 

 ment out of school hours, and the ap- 

 pointment of Juvenile Advisory Com- 

 mittees. Certainly this minimum will be 

 resented neither by the public, the par- 

 ents, nor the employers, and it must 

 come very soon if England is to main- 

 tain her historical position. 



Mr. Frederick Thoresby has given con- 

 siderable thought to the question of the 

 Primary Schools in England, and we 

 are glad to print his suggestions :- 



' The remedy which I propose, and 

 which is approved by many people 

 keenly interested in education because 

 it is believed it will remove one of the 

 principal causes of the national ill- 

 health, is a comparatively slight altera- 

 tion in the curriculum of our State 

 schools. Instead of this nation being 



satisfied to teach its children subjects 

 which do not even help them to become 

 half-timers at twelve or thirteen years 

 oi age (a concession which should not 

 be permitted under any circumstances), 

 the suggestion is to retain the present 

 system of education up to, say, the age 

 of ten, and from then until they leave 

 school — which, as a rule, is now four- 

 teen, but which, if possible, should be 

 extended up to the age of fifteen or 

 sixteen -to have the children taught 

 upon alternate days (or under some 

 equivalent arrangement) the elements of 

 practical subjects ; for instance, in the 

 case of boys, agriculture, building, en- 

 gineering or wood-working, and in the 

 case of girls housework, cooking, dress- 

 making, or upholster}-. 



'Each school would not, oi course, 

 teach all the subjects, but only those 

 considered important in the district 

 which it serves. 



' There are, of course, many initial 

 difficulties to be got over before this 

 suggested alteration could find practi- 

 cal expression, but it is submitted that 

 the idea is worthy of consideration by, 

 say, a committee composed of represen- 

 tatives of our national system of educa- 

 tion, of our polytechnics and trade 

 schools, and last, but not least, of our 

 trade unions. 



THE NEW EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHINA. 



Ex-President P. W. Kuo, of the 

 Chinese Students' Alliance in America, 

 regards things in China as hopeful from 

 the educational point of view. In this, 

 as in the other progressive movements, 

 lack of money is a serious drawback. 



With the reorganisation of the Minis- 

 try, he states in the Educational Reviezv, 

 there has taken place a change in the 

 educational system itself. In the course 

 oi a few months the Ministry drew uo 

 one after another four different scheme 

 The final one, which was submitted to 

 the Central Educational Conference for 

 discussion, provides the following: 

 Primary elementary school, lour years, 

 ages 6 9; higher elemental')- school, 

 three years, ages 10 -12; middle school, 

 four years, ages 13 [6 ; colic ;e pre 

 paratory, three years, ages 17 ") ; and 

 college proper, thee or tour years, ac 



cording to the nature of the course, ages 

 20 — 22 or 23. It also provides two types 

 of normal schools the normal school 

 with a course of four years and one year 

 of preparatory course, ages [3 17; ; 

 the higher normal, having a course of 

 three years and one year ol preparator) 

 course, ages 17 20. Two kinds of in- 

 dustrial schools are also specified, each 

 having a course of th ears, ages to 

 1 2 and 13 -15. The - hem 1 re- 



( eived the endorsement oi he ' 'entral 

 Educational Association, with the exi 

 tion of the 1 - 1 preparatory course, 



!i the confer ic< urged to h; 

 shortened from three years to one year. 



one reason or a 1 recom 



lation "I ' 



:< !, and the 1 Tin ,1- gn en ab< >\ e has 

 been < ncially made t he new edti 

 onal scheme for 1 he Repul >lic. 



