652 NATURE 

Lonpon,—Prof. E. D. Wiersma of the University 
of Groningen will deliver a free public lecture on 
“The Psychology of Epilepsy’ at 5.15 o'clock on 
Thursday, May 24, in the Robert Barnes Hall, The 
Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, W.1. 
The lecture will be in English. 
MANCHESTER.—The following resignations are 
announced: Dr. A. V. Hill, from the Brackenbury 
chair of physiology, on appointment to the Jodrell 
chair of physiology in the University of London ; 
Mr. J. P. Headridge, from the lectureship in dental 
metallurgy ; and Dr. J. Gray Clegg, from the lectureship 
in ophthalmology. 
Arrangements are being made for broadcasting 
University public lectures by joining up the University 
with the Metropolitan Vickers Broadcasting Station. 
Ir is stated by the Hong-Kong correspondent 
of the Times that Sir Catchick Paul Chater has 
presented a sum of 30,000/. as a_ contribution 
towards the general purposes of the University of 
Hong-Kong. 
Tur Ramsay Memorial Trustees will, at the end 
of June, consider applications for two Ramsay 
Memorial fellowships for chemical research. The 
value of the fellowships will be 250/. per annum, to 
which may be added a grant for expenses not exceed- 
ing 50/. per annum, and one will be limited to candi- 
dates educated in Glasgow. Full particulars as to 
the conditions of the award are obtainable from 
Dr. Walter W. Seton, Secretary, Ramsay Memorial 
Fellowships Trust, University College, London, 
W.C.1. 
Tue Board of Education has just published a list 
of fifty-two holiday courses, which will be held at 
different times during the present year but mostly 
in the summer months. Nineteen of these courses 
are organised by Universities and University Colleges 
(of which nine are held in connexion with the tutorial 
classes of the Workers’ Educational Association), 
seven by Local Education Authorities, and the remain- 
ing twenty-six by various educational bodies. In 
addition to general courses for teachers there are 
special courses, among which are the following: 
economics, gardening, geography, geology, hand- 
work, international relations, languages, librarianship, 
medieval and modern universities, mine-surveying, 
physical training, psychology, social service, speech 
training, and the Victorian Age. The dates of each 
course, the fees, principal subjects of instruction, 
address of Local Secretary, and other details are 
given with each entry. This list can be obtained 
direct from H.M. Stationery Office, Imperial House, 
Kingsway, London, W.C,2, or through any book- 
seller, price 6d. 
EXAMINATION and inspection of secondary schools 
in the United States are undertaken by several inde- 
pendent and, in many cases, overlapping agencies, 
namely—State officers of education, universities or 
colleges, and accrediting associations such as the 
Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the 
Southern States, the New England College Entrance 
Certificate Board, and the North Central Association 
of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In 1913 the 
United States Bureau of Education prepared a 
directory of schools (more than 13,000) which had 
satisfied or been “ accredited’’ by these various 
agencies as equipped for preparing students for 
colleges requiring 15 ‘‘units’’ for unconditioned ad- 
NO. 2793, VOL. III] 


[May 12, 1923 
mission, and a fourth edition of the directory has 
recently been published as Bulletin, 1922, No. 11. 
The definitions of standards involved in the processes 
of “‘ accrediting,’ as set out in the Bulletin, are in- — 
structive. One on which the various agencies are 
all agreed is the above-mentioned “unit ’’ of measure- 
ment of secondary school work: a year’s study in 
any subject, constituting approximately a quarter of 
a full year’s work, on the assumption that the school 
year is from 36 to 40 weeks and that the study is 
pursued for 4 or 5 periods (of from 40 to 60 minutes 
each) per week, it being understood that a satis- 
factory year’s work in any subject cannot usually be 
accomplished in less than 120 sixty-minute hours or 
their equivalent. The subjects recognised by the 
various accrediting bodies vary greatly: the College 
Entrance Examination Board, for example, permits 
the inclusion of English, mathematics, languages, 
history, science, and drawing only, whereas the 
University of California accepts also mechanic arts, 
agriculture, home economics, music, book-keeping, 
and stenography and typewriting. Almost all the 
State universities specify among their admission 
requirements ‘three units of English and two and a 
half of mathematics; nearly half of them require at 
least one unit of science; more than half require 
history and foreign languages ; only three require a 
classical language. 
“THE Rising Cost of Education’”’ in America is 
one of the main subjects dealt with in the recently 
published 17th annual report of the president of the 
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teach- 
ing. During the past thirty years, while the national 
income increased by 500 per cent., the expenditure 
for public schools—elementary and secondary—rose 
by 700 per cent., and for universities, colleges, and 
technological schools by 1400 per cent. During the 
last decade the pace of growth increased, and an in- 
creasing share of the cost was transferred to the 
Federal treasury. The people still believe in educa- 
tion, but are becoming somewhat critical as to 
whether the system for which they are paying is 
altogether justifying itself in its results; and, in any 
case, the fact has to be faced that the cost of schools 
cannot be indefinitely increased: ‘‘ Education must 
reckon with economic necessity.’’ So far the pre- 
sident’s review discloses a situation identical with 
that brought to light in Great Britain by the Geddes 
report. Analysis of the factors shows that in 
America, as in England, the increase in salaries since 
the War has been very great, but that in America it 
has been specially pronounced in the colleges: in the 
institutions associated with the Foundation, pro- 
fessors’ salaries rose in four years by 28-83 per 
cent. The main purpose of the report, however, 
is to emphasise the fact that the rise in cost has been 
largely due to a change in the conception of education 
itself and the part the school is to play in the social 
order: to the widespread notion that formal educa- 
tion is not only the one way to advancement but also 
“the panacea for all social and political disorders ”’ ; 
to the admission to high schools and colleges of great 
numbers of pupils ill fitted for them; to the so-called 
“enrichment ”’ of the curriculum with a great variety 
of subjects in which a mere smattering of know- 
ledge is imparted; to the introduction of vocational 
training into the high schools; and to “ acceptance 
of the notion of scientific research as the prim 
object of the college teacher.’’ ‘“‘ Both financial 
necessity and educational sincerity require a return 
to a feasible and educationally sound conception 
of the school.” 
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