i86 



NATURE 



[November 7, 191 8 



Civil Service has been drawn up by the Ministry of 

 Labour, and is even now being considered by an 

 Inter-Departmental Committee. The recommenda- 

 tions advocated in that report are based on the funda- 

 mental hypothesis that both parties to an industry — 

 the employer and the employed an well organised. 

 If, therefore, men of scienci di ire to have a voice in 

 framing the conditions under which they work for the 

 State, they must organise themselves, and the sooner 

 the better. A beginning lias been made, but only a 

 beginning. (.. F. Herbert Smith, 



Joint Hon. Sec, pro tern . Society of 

 1 In il Servants. 

 2 Old Queen Street, S.W.i, November 5. 



Modern Studies in Schools. 



I was somewhat surprised to read in Nati ri of 

 October 3 a vigorous attack upon the Government 

 Committee on Modern Languages on the ground "I 

 its having considered nothing but the interests oi 

 trade and diplomacy. I trust this will not deter your 

 readers from examining what is generally considered 

 to be a most valuable report. It is certainly a docu- 

 ment which has met with the general approval of 

 modern language teachers and others interested in the 

 subject with which it deals. Against the charge made 

 I may point out that of the nine pages of the section 

 entitled "The Value of Modern Studies," nearly three 

 are devoted to the higher aspects of the subject, while 

 the section on the aims of language teaching in schools 

 begins with the sentence, " Language teaching has, 

 and should have, a disciplinary and educative aim," 

 and the treatment of the subject is based on this text. 



Most surprising of all is the view expressed 

 in the article that "the opinions of the Committee 

 on educational methods are astonishingly re- 

 actionary." If by "educational methods" is meant — 

 as cine supposes must be meant, considering the con- 

 text — "methods of language teaching," the statement 

 is the exact reverse of the truth. The opinions 

 enunciated are the most advanced which have ever ap- 

 peared in a document issued by a public authority. 

 The Committee recognises the strong position now- 

 held by the "direct method," and discusses its merits 

 critically, yet sympathetically. A whole section is 

 devoted to phonetics, and the need fur a good phonetic 

 training for teachers is insisted on. Uniformity in 

 grammatical terminology is recommended. Of our 

 own suggestions for examinations, which are usuallv 

 considered to be of a moderately advanced character, 

 the report says that they are " good so far as thev 

 go, but they do not go far enough." An oral test is 

 mm'ended in all cases, and free composition, it is 

 considered, should either be substituted for or be addi- 

 tional to translation into the foreign tongue. Finally, 

 it is urged that translation in school "should be 

 practised only so far as it is necessarv " — a view which 

 '1 mam teachers will think unsound, but which 

 ill characterise as reactionary. 

 G. F. Bridge, 

 Hon. S 1 , Modern Language Association. 



I cordially agn e that ti ai hing For bn ad 

 winning" is the first duty, but "bread-winning" maj 

 be "bread-capturing," and it is this spirit, I am 



afraid, which pervades thi re| Rut manufacturers 



with production and co- 

 operation than with comi n . md thej find the 

 need for a wider knowledge of languages for this 

 service, so ] am not surprised that the questionnaire 

 met with little response. 



The aims and methods set forth in the report are 

 NO. 2558, VOL. I02] 



of the standard classical type, and they insist on the 

 study of one or, at most, of two languages taught to 

 a high slate of proficiency; but tile needs of the 



times, and the average capacities ol boys, demand a 

 less specialised course. The difference is funda- 

 mental, as Mr. Bridge will admit. We expected a 

 new method and a new outlook, but we go! the' old. 

 In our opinion, schools should give boys the oppor- 

 tunity of reading many languages, not excluding the 

 Eastern languages or the languages bl Africa, and 

 boys should use the languages for research and dis- 

 covery. Whether this work is disciplinary or educa- 

 tive is of minor importance; or whether ii cultivates 

 taste or judgment. Of minor importance, too, as we 

 think, an the various methods id" teaching which are 

 recounted b) Mr. Bridge. It is true that these an 

 thing- which trouble the mini'- of mam schoolmasn i -, 

 but with deeper aims the method- would takl ca 



themselvi -. We expected the Committee would have 

 shown the way to more fundamental changes in 

 method, but it did not do so. 



The Writer of the Article. 



THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH HILT. AM) 

 AFTER. 



SINCE October 17, when most of the news- 

 papers gave prominence to an announcement 

 that the Ministry of Health Bill had been re-cast 

 and .submitted to the War Cabinet, possibly 

 because the body named has had other things to 

 think of, nothing; has been heard of this measure. 

 Much, however, has been said and written of tin 

 Ministry itself, and a certain amount, none ot it 

 good, of the Local Government Board, the reason 

 being the extent and severity of the influenza out- 

 break. If some of the speakers and writers are 

 to be believed, the Board, because its methods 

 are "wooden," or because of its "Poor Law 

 taint," is mainly to blame for the epidemic: if 

 there had been a Ministry in existence, the sug- 

 gestion is that there most certainly would have 

 been no outbreak. 



The persons who make these statements are, 

 many of them, those who are responsible for 

 trying to convince the public that if only a Ministry 

 of Health were formed there would follow an 

 immediate and marked improvement in public 

 health. 



That many have listened to promises of this kind 

 and look for something in the nature of a quick 

 change is pathetically true. Unfortunately it is 

 true also that disappointment awaits them. It has 

 never been quite clear why it should have been 

 necessary to exaggerate so much as to the benefits 

 likely to follow the establishment of a Health 

 Ministry. The case for a separate Ministry to 

 co-ordinate health effort and ensure that all 

 branches of hygiene, scientific, practical, and 

 tistrative, should have proper recognition 

 and support was always sound, and no good can 

 come <>f these exaggerations. On the contrary, 

 a greal deal of harm may result unless it is recog- 

 nised at once and generally that it may he long, 

 \er\ long, before signs "I improvement become 

 apparent. 



It lias taken, and may -.till take, a long time to 



oct a Ministry of Health Bill. It will take time 



