NATURE 



361 



THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1908. 



C(>STI.\LATION SCHOOLS. 



i'iintinualion Schools in England and Ehen'bcre. 

 I-;diled bv Prof. M. E. Sadler. Pp. .\.\vi + 779. 

 (.Mancht-ttr : Lnivcr^ity Press, 1907.) Price 8^. 6rf. 

 net. 



PROP'. SADLER and his fellow-workers are to be 

 congratulated on the production of a volume 

 which is full of useful information and contains many 

 valuable suggestions and expressions of opinion; 

 juoreover, it appears at a time when precise ; in for- 

 HKition of the kind given is urgently needed by 

 ."■ducational authorities, merchants, manufacturers, 

 xvorkpeople, and teachers. For at the present moment 

 two problems stand in urgent need of solution, and 

 with both (if them this volume is largely concerned. 

 The first is how to meet the grave difficulty occasioned 

 l)V the enormous development of machinery, which, 

 ihough a good in itself, has brought in its train a 

 grave loss., viz. the almost entire disappearance of 

 the old apprenticeship system, which involved the 

 careful training of the craftsman by his employer; 

 ,Tnd the second is how to deal with the large number 

 of children who are employed as unskilled labourers 

 at comparatively high rates of pay during their early 

 years, who sre subsequently replaced by similar 

 ■children, and are then thrown on the labour market 

 .as unskilled labourer^ for whom there is not an 

 adequate demand, and who go to swell the ranks of 

 the unemployed. 



Prof. .Sadler and his colleagues give an account of 

 the agencies which seek to solve these problems in 

 this countrv and abroad, and of the legislative and 

 administrative measures which we and other nations 

 have adopted in order to cope with these difliculties. 

 I'hey show that, in so far as Great Britain is con- 

 cerned, our success has only been partial, and, while 

 tl^'iving full credit to all the improvements we have 

 ofTected, they point out in what respects other nations 

 nre in advance of us ; they instance, for example, the 

 people's high schools in Denmark, and the enormous 

 service thev have done to the Danish nation, more 

 particularly in so far as they have educated the agri- 

 cultural population, and, inter alia, made possible 

 ■cooperation among farmers, thus bringing about 

 numerous improvements in Danish agriculture and 

 conditions of rural prosperity which one would like 

 to see in this country. 



It is impossible to touch on all the various questions 

 which the authors discuss ; but there are four points 

 which seem of more importance than the rest. In the 

 'ilrst place there is the question of the " half-timer," 

 wliich is dealt with by Mr. Sandiford in chapter ix., and 

 tiy Prof. Sadler in the following chapter, which gives 

 •details as to the laws in regard to the employment 

 of children in this country, Germanv, and .Switzer- 

 land. The" evidence on both sides of the question is 

 given in an impartial manner, and few unprejudiced 

 persons will read it without being convinced that the 

 continuation of the half-time system involves grave 

 injustice to a not inconsiderable proportion of the 



K'O. 1 999 VOL yj] 



child population of Lancashire and Yorkshire; for it 

 is clearly shown that the mental, moral, and physical 

 condition of the average half-timer is seriously injured 

 by the large amount of overwork to which he is sub- 

 jected. It is painful to read that these wretched 

 children are awakened by the " knocker-up " between 

 4.45 and 5.30 a.m., that with short intervals for food 

 thev work until 12.30 p.m., and are then expected to 

 learn something in the two and a-half hours which 

 thev spend in school in the afternoon. The result ot 

 this cruel treatment can readily be imagined ; careful 

 measurements have shown that the average half-time 

 scholar between the ages of thirteen and fourteen is 

 an inch less in height, and weighs more than 2 lb. 

 less than the average full-time scholar of the same 

 age. Moreover, the damage is not merely physical ; 

 we are told that the half-timers are undoubtedly 

 duller than the full-time children, and that they rise 

 less frequently to good positions in their industry. 



Clear evidence is adduced to prove that the employ- 

 ment of half-timers is by no means necessary, as 

 there are many successful mills in which no such 

 persons are employed; it is to be hoped, therefore, 

 that Parliament will soon awaken to this crying evil, 

 and will absolutely forbid employment of this kind, 

 which is sanctioned in scarcely any other civilised 

 country in Europe. 



The second question, concerning which this book 

 provides valuable information, is the need for the im- 

 provement and development of our public elementary 

 schools in directions likely to give a better prepara- 

 tion for industrial life in the case of boys, and 

 domestic Hfe in the case of girls. In the past, and to 

 a large extent at the present time, the schemes of 

 education set forth by the Board of Education have 

 been devised, and their working inspected, mainly by 

 persons trained on classical lines in the great public 

 schools and at the older universities; the result has 

 been that our elementary education has taken direc- 

 tions which are too bookish and not of a sutficiently 

 practical character; if anyone doubts this, he need 

 only examine, as a sample, the absurd questions in 

 arithmetic set by the Board of Education for the so- 

 called " Labour Certificate." As a consequence, our 

 elementary schools have tended to encourage unduly 

 the production of clerks, and to spread amongst the 

 poorer classes the idea that manual labour is less 

 honourable thap clerical work. Experiments are being 

 made to counteract this, experiments, unfortunately, 

 m some cases, not too cordially assisted by the Board 

 of Education. 



In chapters xiii. and xiv. an account is given of 

 certain trade schools and pre-apprenticeship schools, 

 which shows the attempts that are being made to com- 

 bine ordinary elementary instruction with the attain- 

 ment of a reasonable amount of manual skill. The 

 very few hours a week at present given to such work 

 in our elementary schools are grossly inadequate, and 

 a much better result would be obtained if boys be- 

 tween the ages of twelve and fourteen were allowed 

 to devote a considerably larger fraction of their school 

 time to practical training of a suitable character; and 

 if, during the same period, girls were given a know- 



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