206 



NATURE 



[October 17, 191 2 



of questions that have hitherto been regarded as the 

 more or less legitimate matter for the professional 

 controversialist. "The vexed question of " formal train- 

 ing," for example, may be set at rest once and for all 

 by a sufficiently extended series of correlations of the 

 results of pupils' progress in certain subjects. The 

 peculiarity of this method of dealing with correlations 

 is that once we have handed over our facts to the for- 

 mul.TE, the process passes out of our hands altogether. 

 We have only to work out our equations and the results 

 make their appearance. Here we certainly seem to 

 have reached an objective standard. 



Such results, however, are not unnaturally regarded 

 with some suspicion. Once the formulae have been 

 established by mathematical proof they must, of course, 

 be accepted as irrefutable on that side ; but their 

 application to educational problems is so mechanical 

 and indeed inhuman that man\' are unwilling to accept 

 and use them. Some people are doubtful whether, 

 in dealing with human beings, it is desirable, even if 

 it were possible, to have an objective standard that 

 eliminates humanity from all human problems. It has 

 to be pointed out to such critics that all human prob- 

 lems must begin with the individual and end with the 

 individual. All the intermediate process maybe carried 

 on in the pure objectivity of quantity, without de- 

 humanising the application of its results. This will 

 be kept in view when we deal with the average. 



Apart from the danger of dehumanising our subject, 

 there are two real possibilities of error in the applica- 

 tion of the formute. First, there is the danger that 

 the investigator may be satisfied with an application 

 to an insufficient number of cases. The second danger 

 is that the subjective element may cause error in the 

 preparation of the data. If the first possible source 

 of error be minimised, the second will be practically 

 removed. Granted a really wide investigation, there 

 is little room for serious error. If a sufficiently large 

 number of cases be examined, and these cases selected 

 under sufficiently varied conditions, the subjective 

 variations will neutralise each other, and a trustworthy 

 result will be produced. It must never be forgotten 

 that the Pearson and other formula are merely means 

 of dealing with material already acquired. It is only 

 to this extent that they supply an objective standard. 

 Many of the recognised sciences are in no better case. 



The hope of the evolution of education as a science 

 lies in the proper manipulation of the method of 

 experiment. Students of education have always been 

 in the habit of asking questions, but they have not 

 always waited for an answer. Nor have they usually 

 taken sufficient care in making their questions precise. 

 They have not laid down with the necessary detail the 

 conditions implied in the question, and when they have 

 reached some answer they have been too often content 

 either to accept it without any verification at all, or 

 with the support of nothing but a few general con- 

 siderations that seemed to confirm it. In the newer 

 educational investigations questions are set out in great 

 detail. They are usually limited to one point, and all 

 the relevant conditions are carefully laid down. Various 

 control tests are applied during the progress of the 

 investigation, and every precaution taken against the 

 introduction of interfering forces. Then when a result 

 has been obtained various confirmatory tests are 

 applied. Even when all has gone well so far the result 

 is not regarded as authoritative until the experiment 

 has been repeated with the same results by diflferent ex- 

 perimenters working under different general conditions, 

 though, of course, all the detailed conditions must be 

 precisely the same as in the original experiment. 



'l"ho questions asked are often of a verv practical 

 char.acter. In the current number of Child-Study, 

 Mr. W. IT. Winch gives an example. The question is 

 whether one gets better results in working "problems " 



NO. 2242, VOL. go] 



in arithmetic by (a) direct teaching for a certain period 

 in how to work such problems ; or (b) spending the 

 same period in giving the pupils practice in working 

 such problems. Mr. Winch gives a very instructive 

 account of all the conditions under which his experi- 

 ment was carried out, including all the necessary pre- 

 cautions. The result is that those who had had the 

 teaching scored an average of ii'i in the final test, 

 while those who had had the practice scored only 

 9'2 : the group that was taught improving on its pre- 

 liminary record to the extent of 34 per cent., while 

 the group that had been confined to practice improved 

 by only 11 per cent. It is thus demonstrated, at 

 present, that teaching counts for more than practice 

 in the preparation of pupils to do problems in arith- 

 metic. But the fact cannot be regarded as a part of 

 the permanent possessions of the teacher till it is 

 verified by many more experiments in this country and 

 abroad. 



We have seen that even at our present stage 

 of advancement there is quite a respectable collection 

 of recognised facts in connection with teaching and 

 education, and that these are in process of organisa- 

 tion. We shall soon have such a volume of well- 

 arranged knowledge as shall meet the first require- 

 ment for recognition as a science. But while organisa- 

 tion is imperatively needed and must go on, there is 

 an equally urgent need for new knowledge. There are 

 hundreds of definite practical questions that are being 

 asked by teachers every day, and unfortunately an- 

 swered according to individual experience, if not indeed 

 according to individual caprice. Some few questions 

 about the memory are now definitely answered, and 

 practical educators have the benefit of the results of 

 experiments ; but there are scores of points with regard 

 to memory on which there is still doubt, and yet these 

 are points on which the practical educator must adopt 

 a definite line in his daily work. He cannot postpone 

 his decision : he must do one thing or another, and in 

 the meantime he has no standard. Such investigations 

 as are being undertaken by the committees of this 

 section are helping to increase the total body of know- 

 ledge at present available. It is true that hitherto 

 these investigations have been mainly concerned with 

 psychological matters, and certainly our store of 

 psychological knowledge is not so great as to warrant- 

 any complaint at the concentration on this aspect. 

 But it is pleasant to note that this year we are havinsr 

 a report on more distinctively pedagogic matters. 

 There could be no more useful subject of inquiry sug- 

 gested than an investigation into the questions that 

 are most urgently demanding answers at this time 

 among the practical educators of the country. To 

 discover and classify these, and then to correlate them 

 with the various investigations that are being made 

 throughout the world, would be to render a very prac- 

 tical service to the study of education. The truths 

 thus acquired and recorded could be fitted in to the 

 mass already at our disposal, and the result would 

 be a great strengthening of that objective standard 

 that is so essential to the independent progress of our 

 study. 



Education ranks with a group of studies that deal 

 with humanity in its various aspects. Psychology 

 naturally is the science that underlies them all, since 

 it is the abstract study of human nature which is 

 their raw material. But politics, economics, socio- 

 logy, eugenics, all claim to be sciences, and if we 

 probe into their standards we find that they are 

 largely statistical. It is quite possible by careful in- 

 vestigation among the subject-matter of these 

 sciences to organise a system of general principles 

 based upon averages obtained from a very wide field 

 of investigation. These principles are of very 

 general application, though they may not enable us 



