—— 
OcTOBER 23, 191 3] 
Nevertheless, two of them, at all events, gave evi- 
dence of a real liking for mechanics, and within a 
year or so could be trusted to take the engines to 
pieces, clean them, and replace them with but little 
supervision. It might be argued that although they 
had imperfectly acquired the rudiments of ‘the three 
R’s,” the aptitude of these lads was the result of 
their training. Of this, however, 1 could find no 
evidence. It is difficult to understand how these boys 
could have profited so little by their many years of 
school life. If such an example is in any way typical, 
it is time to consider what the country is obtaining in 
return for the thirty millions annually expended on 
elementary education alone. 
It may be thought that I have been unfortunate in 
my experience. I do not, however, believe that my 
case is singular. In The Contemporary Review for 
July, 1909, Prof. Stanley Jevons contributed an article 
on “The Causes of Unemployment.’ He referred 
therein to the opportunities afforded him by Univer- 
sity Settlement Boys’ Clubs in London and Cardiff of 
forming a judgment concerning the products of our 
primary schools. He described the following experi- 
ment :— 
“| arranged to test a few members of the Boys’ Club. 
They were gathered in a room with pens and papers 
and were asked to write down the following short 
sentence, which was spoken to them distinctly twice, 
as an example of the kind of message which they 
might be expected to have to write occasionally for 
an employer: ‘‘I have not been able to find the 
book which you sent me to fetch.’ The test was one 
both of memory and spelling, and most of the boys 
failed in one or both respects.” 
Prof. Jevons gave facsimiles of the results, which 
I am unable to reproduce; but I can indicate the 
nature of the spelling. It will be noticed that there 
are no words of two syllables. The following is the 
best of the batch :— : 
Boy aged nearly sixteen: “I cannot (fetch) find 
the book which you sent me to fetch.” 
The following are from boys aged fourteen and 
fifteen respectively :— 
“T have not been abele to find the boock whi witch 
I sent you (for) to fitch.” 
“T have Not bend able to find the book With I 
sent you to fath.” 
All these boys have been through one of our large 
primary schools. 
Prof. Jevons added: ‘‘In contemplating the ques- 
tion of unemployment one is at once led to the 
conclusion to which so many other economic 
problems ultimately lead—that the only certain 
means of abating the evil is the improvement of the 
individual.” 
Passing from such limited experiences to the views 
of those who are brought into contact with the pro- 
ducts in bulk, a sense of dissatisfaction and uneasi- 
ness is no less evident. Consider the following 
extracts from the presidential address of Mr. Walter 
Dixon, to the West of Scotland Iron and Steel Insti- 
tute in October last :— 
“T have, over a somewhat extended period and a 
wide area, made inquiries amongst those who have 
the control of about 200,000 men in our own allied 
industries, with the following results : 
“Tt is the unanimous opinion that any book- 
learning outside the rudiments of ‘the three R’s’ is 
considered a matter outside the requirements of the 
education of more than 90 per cent. of the usual 
manual workers. In other words, the worl that 
these men are called upon to do, the labour which 
they have to perform in their daily avocation, would 
be as efficient, as successful, and as expeditiously per- 
NO. 2295, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
251 
formed if the men had no school education whatever 
outside * the three R’s.’” 
If there is any truth in this severe indictment there 
is small cause tor wonder if a general sense of un- 
easiness exists amongst those who consider that the 
future prosperity and safety of this country are 
dependent on the manner in which we train the rising 
generation. 
In justice to Mr. Dixon I must give a further 
extract from his address :— 
“During the recent meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation in Dundee I spent some time amongst educa- 
tional authorities, not only those belonging to our 
own country, but delegates from other nations, and | 
find that they themselves are beginning to see the 
futility of the present methods and to realise that 
they are ploughing the sands. Amongst other matters, 
it was of interest to note that they are at present pro- 
mulgating a scheme for what they call vocational 
education. In other words, I gather that they are 
now attempting in a modified way to replace the old 
‘prentice system by teaching trades in their schools, 
so that children may enter the trades as_ skilled 
workers—a system which, to my mind, would render 
the present confusion more confounded. . . .We must 
recognise that the mechanical developments of the 
last half-century have done away in a large measure 
with the possibility of the interest which man could 
once take in his daily work, inasmuch that few men 
now make anything, but only a small portion of 
something. A statement was made at Dundee that 
135 different persons were employed in the making 
of a boot. It is not to be expected that any of these 
135 workers can get enthusiastic about their particular 
bit. We must recognise that as long as we live under 
the reign of industrial competition the hours of labour 
are likely to be hours of stress, and that when a man 
has finished his labour it is only right, it is only 
human, that he should have hours of reasonable 
recreation. It is with a view of making these hours 
of recreation worthy of the nation to which we 
belong that I feel that our educational methods might, 
and ultimately will, be altered and rendered valu- 
able.” 
If I may venture to summarise Mr. Dixon’s address 
as a whole, it appears to me that the argument is 
somewhat as follows: It is admitted that “the three 
R’s”’ are necessary for all workers, of whatever 
grade, almost as necessary for the mental as are sight 
and hearing for the physical equipment. A large 
majority of manual labourers, however, are not ren- 
dered any more efficient in the discharge of their 
tasks by further instruction of an academic character, 
and therefore we should aim at providing them with 
some form of education which would so quicken their 
intelligence as to enable them to find an interest in 
matters external to their employment and thus lead 
them to utilise their hours of creation in a sane and 
healthy manner. It should be our object not so much 
to train all our soldiers as if they were to be generals, 
as to give them that education which would make 
them good soldiers, and to spare no expenditure of 
time or money in the further education and develop- 
ment of the small percentage who have shown those 
qualities which lead, under proper guidance, to high 
achievement. 
The assumption that all children are fitted to profit 
by more than the rudiments of academic education is, 
I believe, responsible for many of our present diffi- 
culties. In physical matters we seem to be wiser. 
We take account of bodily disabilities; we do not 
train lame men for racing, or enter carthorses for 
the Derby; we do not accept the short-sighted or the 
colour-blind as sailors; but those who talk of com 
