February 4, 1909] 



jVA 1 URE 



411 



SCnOOL-WORK AND AFTER-LIFE. 

 'T^HE problem of bringing school curricula for boys and 

 ■*• girls into closer relation with their probable after- 

 school activities has been discussed at recent educational 

 conferences, and I wish to direct attention to three par- 

 ticular cases of the problem : — (i) technical training of 

 boys before apprenticeship to a trade, or attendance at 

 technical institutes ; (2) scientific training of boys between 

 ages sixteen and eighteen, preliminary to a medical or 

 engineering course ; {3) science teaching of girls with a 

 view to domestic application of the principles and skill 

 acquired. 



L.C.C. Conference: junior Technical Schools. 



(1) A session of the London County Council Teachers' 

 Conference was devoted to the subject of junior technical 

 schools for boys. The attendance was large — more tlian 

 221)0 applications for tickets admitting to the conference 

 having been made to Dr. Kimmins, who was responsible 

 for the organisation of the meetings — and the chair was 

 taken by Sir. F. C. Ogilvie, principal assistant-secretary 

 at the Board of Education for Technology and Higher 

 Education in Science and Art. The chairman said that 

 the present need was a clear statement of accomplishment. 

 The question of the leaving age and the different necessi- 

 ties of localities made the determination of the curriculum 

 a wide problem, so that there could not be a sealed pattern 

 of a junior technical school. Mr. T. Luxton described 

 the system adopted at the Hull Technical Institute, where 

 the boys were admitted after twelve years of age and stayed 

 for two and a half years. Two-thirds attended the com- 

 mercial side, the remainder the engineering and science 

 side. More than 90 per cent, of the boys came from the 

 elementary schools, and the net effect was to lengthen 

 their school life by about two years. 



.Mr. F. Jefifery gave an account of the methods adopted 

 at the Stanley Technical Trade Schools, Norwood. Experi- 

 ence at many technical institutions had shown that when 

 a working lad or man returns from a fatiguing day's work 

 he has little energy left to go to a higher school, and the 

 founder of these schools recognised that technical educa- 

 tion must begin at an earlier age. Being himself a 

 technical manufacturer, he became convinced that much 

 could be done to develop the originality and skill of boys 

 by taking them at a compulsory school age and giving 

 them a taste for practical science and mechanics. He 

 said : — " If we can so prepare our boys that they will be 

 coveted as apprentices by our technical manufacturers, I 

 am sure this will raise the standard of our work." Boys 

 are admitted between twelve and thirteen years of age, 

 and devote half their time to general subjects and half to 

 workshop practice. This system has the economical result 

 that the teaching staff for 300 boys is only that required 

 for 150 in each division, or, in other words, the total 

 teaching staff is not increased by the addition of workshop 

 instruction. The system of fees is unique. The fee for 

 the first year is one shilling per week; those " students " 

 who make satisfactory progress are elected " junior 

 scholars," and pay no fees for the second year. In the 

 third year they may be elected " scholars," and will then 

 be paid a small consideration for their mechanical work 

 if it be of commercial value. Mr. Jeffery claimed that the 

 class-room studies did not suffer in quality, though some- 

 what restricted in range. His Majesty's inspector re- 

 ported : — " One justification of the special feature of the 

 school, in devoting half the working time to practical 

 workshop instruction, is seen in the keenness and vigour 

 with which all the work is carried on, and the evident 

 interest which the students take in their studies." 



.After giving a useful account of the details of this 

 valuable educational experiment, Mr. Jeffery stated the aim 

 of the school to be that of preparing lads to be skilful, 

 scientific, and artistic mechanics, and to make them 

 anxious to continue their studies at polytechnics so as to 

 become skilled artisans fitted for good positions in their 

 industries. When such a result has been achieved, schools 

 of this type arc likely to become an integral part of the 

 educational system of the country. Then the status of the 

 British artisan and the standard of his work will be raised. 

 Mr. R. Bunting would leave trade schools to the poly- 



NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



technics. The ordinary day school should give such a 

 general education that the children would be prepared to- 

 take ininieiliate advantage of the special facilities offered 

 by the regular trade schools. From a recent analysis of 

 a record which he had kept of the boys leaving the .\cland 

 School (Kentish Town) during the past five years, he found 

 that the boys of greater mental power were also more- 

 capable in all intelligent motor exercises, including manual 

 work. Lads liked manual work ; such work was specially 

 valuable in cases of slow development, leading to a 

 marked increase in their general mental development con- 

 comitant with their growth in skill. 



It was well that a conference of teachers should discuss 

 this problem, and it is all to the good that they are 

 endeavouring to link the work in the schoolroom with 

 the after-school employments of their boys, but personally 

 I am convinced that the time is ripe for legislation which 

 should make it illegal to employ young persons unless they 

 are working in the capacity of learners of industry. A 

 recent Act has established this principle for Scotland — 

 why should England lag behind? 



Preliminary Scientific Instruction of Medical and 

 Engineering Students. 



(2) The General Medical Council refuses to recognise 

 tlie leading secondary schools as places where the pre- 

 liminary training in chemistry and physics may be given 

 to medical students, notwithstanding the fact that the 

 Conjoint Board of Physicians and Surgeons grants such 

 recognition. It is alleged that the council wishes the 

 students to learn " medical chemistry " and " medical 

 physics." As already reported in N.^ture of January 21, 

 the Public Schools Science Masters' .Association condemned' 

 the action of the General Medical Council, as boys have 

 been removed from school in consequence of the non- 

 recognition stated above, although it is not clear that 

 this non-recognition by the General Medical Council is of 

 the slightest practical consequence. During the debate 

 the wider issue was raised as to whether a boy intended 

 for a scientific profession should leave school at seventeen 

 or remain another twelve or eighteen months and devote 

 his main energies to science studies. Prof. .Armstrong 

 spolie in favour of compelling all boys to leave school at 

 seventeen, but the majority of those present were of the 

 opposite opinion. Nothing was said about the boys who- 

 reach the age of seventeen without reaching the position 

 in the school appropriate to that age ; but, unfortunately, 

 such cases are far from rare, and it is, in the writer's 

 opinion, very dubious policy to keep such youths longer at 

 school ; transplanting offers the better chance of growth ; 

 but for the abler and more industrious the age of seven- 

 teen is a critical period in mental development. .At this 

 epoch the boy has begun to feel his feet, to tal-ce his stand 

 on general scientific principles, and sees before him an 

 inspiring and unlimited vista of future study. Is it 

 advisable to remove him at this moment from the instructor 

 whom he understands, and who understands him? Is it 

 prudent to exchange the individual tuition witli constant 

 questioning and supervision, the homely apparatus which 

 does not obscure the idea and purpose of its construction, 

 for the large classes, the diminished or evanescent tutor- 

 ing, the elaborate lecture appliances of the technical' 

 college ? Moreover, it is necessary to consider how far 

 the youth is matured in character, as the possibility of a 

 wrecked career is not negligible when a youngster has to 

 be sent from a boarding-school and a country home to live 

 as a medical student in London or in a great industrial 

 city. 



On the other hand, it has been urged, and Prof. Arm- 

 strong stated this view as a result of his personal observa- 

 tion, that character is strengthened by removing the youtlr 

 of seventeen from too tender tutelage, and that the pro- 

 longation of such tutelage hinders the growth of resource- 

 fulness, initiative, and relf-reliance. To the writer it 

 seems necessary to distinguish between two parallel' 

 courses : — (a) public school folloiv^ed by Oxford or Cam- 

 bridge ; (b) town school followed by day college, with 

 residence at home. The transfer from school to college 

 may perhaps be a year earlier for (6) than (a). It is worth 

 pointing out that high academic distinctions often bring a 

 rich reward in later years, and that to shorten the course 



