482 



NATURE 



[OCTOliER 13, I9IO 



prominent than the process it may become a method more 

 suited to the adolescent or the adult mind than to that of 

 the young child. 



I can fully realise that a most difficult and anxious 

 lime for the teacher must be that of the maturing intellect, 

 in the interval between childhood and the close of the 

 school career, when the method and spirit of the teaching 

 must to some extent gradually change with the changing 

 mental characteristics of the pupil. But, whatever may 

 be the right methods of teaching children of ten and young 

 men and women of twenty, many of our failures are 

 due to one or both of two prevalent mistakes : the first, 

 the mistake of teaching children by methods that are too 

 advanced ; the second, that of teaching University students 

 b;, methods that are better adapted for school children. 

 It is with the latter that I wish to deal in this address; 

 but we may in passing remind ourselves that when young 

 men and young women are sent straight from the Uni- 

 versity to teach children with nothing but their University 

 experience to guide them, it is not surprising that they 

 often proceed at first on wrong lines, and as though they 

 were dealing with University students. 



The difficulty of divesting oneself of the mental attitude 

 and the form of expression familiar in University circles, 

 if one is to become intelligible even to the higher classes 

 in a school, is betrayed by the unsatisfactory nature of 

 many of the papers set by University examiners to school 

 children. The teachers complain, and rightly complain, 

 that there is often an academic style and form about 

 them which just make them entirely unsuitable for the 

 child. 



It is, of course, hopeful that a diploma in pedagogy or 

 some evidence that they have received instruction in method 

 is now generally required of those who are to become 

 teachers m schools. It seems to me, however, somewhat 

 curious that, while efforts are now being made to give 

 instruction in educational method to such persons, no 

 similar effort is made to give instruction in more advanced 

 methods to those who are called upon at the close of their 

 undergraduate career to become University teachers, and 

 that in consequence many of them have no'method at all. 



J his may be a matter of comparatively small import- 

 ance to those who possess, not only the necessary know- 

 ledge, but also the natural gift of 'personal influence and 

 the power of inspiring those whom they teach. But for 

 those who are not blessed with these powers it may be 

 almost as difiicult to fall into the ways of successful 

 University instruction after the sudden transformation 

 from student into teacher as it is for those who become 

 teachers in schools. 



Granting, then, that there should be a radical differ- 

 ence between the ways of school and University teaching, 

 and that there is at present an unfortunate overlapping 

 between the two, let me next consider how the distinction 

 between the intellectual interest of a child and the intel- 

 lectual interest of a man may guide us in adjusting our 

 methods of teaching when students pass from school to the 

 L niversity. 



.A tenable, perhaps even a prevalent, view concerning 

 a liberal school education is that its chief purpose is not 

 so much to impart knowledge as to train the mind ; indeed, 

 some teachers, influenced, perhaps, in the first instance bv 

 the views of Plato, go so far as to think that no subject 

 which is clearly of direct practical use should be taught 

 as such at school. This view they would carry to the 

 extent of excluding many obviously appropriate subjects 

 from the school curriculum, whereas almost any subject 

 rnay be made an intellectual training ; this being' a ques- 

 tion not of subject, but of the manner in which it is 

 taught. .In any event, if the scheme of intellectual train- 

 ing he adequately fulfilled, the period of mental discipline 

 should come to an end with the close of school life, and 

 the mind should then be able to enter upon new studies 

 and to assimilate fresh knowledge without a prolonged 

 continuation of preparatory courses. Indeed, the professed 

 object of entrance examinations to the University is to 

 exclude those whose minds are not prepared to benefit by 

 a course of University study, and to admit only those 

 who are sufficiently equipped by previous training to do 

 so. An entrance examination, then, should not be merelv 

 a test of whether a boy or girl has learnt sufficient of 

 NO. 2137, VOL. 84] 



certain subjects to continue those subjects in particular 

 at the University ; and yet it has unfortunately come to 

 be regarded more and more as performing this function 

 instead of being regarded as a test whether the student 

 is generally fit to enter upon any University course. The 

 result is that an entrance examination tends to become a 

 test of knowledge rather than a test of general intelli- 

 gence ; merely one in an organised series of examinations 

 which endeavour to ascertain the advancing proficiency 

 in a limited number of subjects, and therefore tend really 

 to encourage specialisation. Specialisation is not to be 

 prevented by insisting on a considerable number of sub- 

 jects, but rather by teaching even one subject in a wide 

 spirit. Another result is that the entrance examination 

 belongs properly neither to the school course nor to the 

 University course; if it is taken at the age of sixteen, the 

 remainder of the school career tends to be devoted to 

 University work, which should not really be done at 

 school ; if it is taken after leaving school this means that 

 work is being done at, or in connection with, the Uni- 

 versity which ought to be done at school. It is certainly 

 true that for various reasons a vast deal of education is 

 now being carried on at the Universities which should 

 belong to school life, and, moreover, is being carried on 

 by methods which are identical with those pursued at 

 school. It is equally true that, owing to the early age 

 at which matriculation examinations or their equivalents 

 may be taken, many schools are now asking that at the 

 age of eighteen or nineteen a school examination may be 

 held which shall be an equivalent, not for matriculation, 

 but for the first degree examination at the University. 

 This would really imply that schools should be recognised 

 as doing University work for two years of their pupils' 

 careers — surely a most illogical procedure, and one which 

 supports my contention that there is now very serious 

 overlapping, for it assumes that the work for the first 

 degree examination can be carried on either at the school 

 or the University, and therefore that there is no differ- 

 ence in the methods of the two. 



An increasing number of candidates actually present 

 themselves from secondary schools for the external inter- 

 mediate examination of the University of London ; in 1904 

 there were about 150; in 1909 there were nearly 500 such 

 candidates. This is, of course, a debatable subject, and 

 there are many who think the overlapping of school and 

 university work a highly desirable thing. 



There will always be exceptional boys and girls who 

 reach a University standard, both of attainments and 

 intelligence, long before they arrive at the ordinary school- 

 leaving age. Let them either leave school and begin their 

 University career early, or let them, if they remain at 

 school, widen their knowledge by including subjects which 

 are not supplied by the more rigid school curriculum 

 designed for the average pupils ; but let them not cease, 

 save in very exceptional cases, to be taught as school 

 pupils, i.e. with mental training as the chief object. It 

 is equally certain that there will also be boys and girls 

 whose development is so slow that they barely reach the 

 University standard when they leave school ; yet some 

 among them are the best possible material and achieve 

 the greatest success in the end. For such persons an 

 entrance examination will be required at the age of 

 eighteen or nineteen ; but I think it is unfortunate that 

 this should be the same as that which quicker pupils can 

 pass at the age of sixteen or seventeen, for an examina- 

 tion designed for the one age can scarcely be quite satis- 

 factory for the other. 



I confess that the whole matter is inextricably involved 

 with the question of University entrance examinations. Rut 

 to enter upon this here would carry us beyond the limits 

 that I have laid down for myself, and it will be more 

 profitable to decide what should be done at school and the 

 University respectively before discussing how the examina- 

 tions are to be adapted to our purpose. It will be sufficient 

 for me to say that I have been led to the conclusion that 

 if they are to test the intelligence of those who are ready 

 to enter upon a University course, matriculation examina- 

 tions should be designed to suit the capacity of average 

 pupils not less than seventeen years of age. 



Starting, then, with the principle that the period of 

 mental discipline is closed at the end of the school career, 



