5o6 



NATURE 



[September 12, 1907 



■executive- officer L.C.C., reported that the 2000 scholars 

 selected annually were about the numbei* who were fit to 

 iake advantage of secondary education, but this number 

 was much less than the 25 per cent, of free places which 

 secondary schools, aided by the Board of Education, were 

 required to provide. He agreed to the principle of an 

 oral examination and to making a fair standard of 

 physical development a condition of eligibility, but he 

 ■warned the audience as to the difficulties in applying 

 such tests ; for instance, a missing limb was an obvious 

 defect, but doctors might differ as to disqualifying for 

 ansmia. Mr. H. Bompas Smith said that we needed 

 scholarships to train girls for callings other than that 

 of primary teaching, and a greater variety of secondary 

 schools to meet different needs. 



In the afternoon Mr. G. Gidley Robinson spoke on the 

 ■scholarship system as affecting preparatory schools. The 

 Rev. \. .\. David, headmaster of Clifton College, thought 

 that the money value of all scholarships might be reduced 

 to something quite nominal, but sufficient to serve as a 

 symbol of the intellectual distinction ; the remainder of 

 scholarship revenue might then be converted into augment- 

 ation funds. Dr. H. B. Baker, F.R..S., reported that at 

 •Cambridge about 17 per cent, of scholars could have 

 resided at the University without their scholarships, while 

 at Oxford the proportion was only 6 per cent. There 

 might be a voluntary relinquishment of the emoluments 

 ■of a scholarship by a wealthy parent, the other privileges 

 of the scholar being retained. Not infrequentlv a former 

 scholar, on attaining to fatter fortune, has paid back in 

 ■some way the money that was the foundation of his 

 fortune. Prof. H. A. .Miers, F.R.S., thought that scholar- 

 ships should be awarded by examinations of a less special 

 character, and should be administered by the universitv. 

 The present system of grouped colleges is a step in this 

 ■direction. .'\ny exhibitions given otherwise than by 

 examination should be administered by the colleges. 

 'Scholarships are required for advanced and post-graduate 

 work. The whole discussion indicated a marked advance 

 ■of thought on the scholarship Question. The difficulties 

 were clear, especially the poverty question. Suggestions 

 were numerous and helpful. The general agreement on 

 the proposals made was very clear, and was emphasised 

 "by other speakers. 



Sir Oliver Lodge road the report of the committee, 

 consisting of Sir Oliver Lodge (chairman). Mr. C. M. 

 Stuart /secretary), Mr. T. E. 'Pa<?e, Profs. M. E. Sadler, 

 H. E. .Armstrong, and J. Perrv, Sir Philip Magnus, Prin- 

 cipal Griffiths, Dr. H. B. Gr.-iy, Prof. H. A. Miers, Mr. 

 A. E. Shipley, Prof. J. Findlay,' and Sir William Huggins, 

 appointed to consider and to advise as to the Curricula 

 ■of Secondary Schools ; in the first instance, th" curricula 

 of boys' schools. " The committee submit for consider- 

 ation the following conclusions which thev have reached 

 as the result of their debates : — (i) There is need for 

 secondary schools of different tynes, with different curri- 

 cula or combinations of curricula, because (a) all bovs 

 are not suited to the same course of studv : (h) the require- 

 ments of the various callings upon which the bovs will 

 subsequently enter differ considerably : (c) the needs of 

 the schools differ in a considerable degree according to the 

 economic conditions of the districts in which thev are 

 situated. . . . (2) The committee consider that one modern 

 foreign language should in all cases be begun at an earlv 

 age, but are of opinion that it would be a wise educational 

 experiment to postpone the systematic teaching of Latin 

 as an ordinary school subject until twelve years of age. 

 and that such a change will orove sufficientiv successful 

 to warrant its adoption. . . . The committee also desire 

 to record their opinion that the continued teaching of 

 either of the two dead languages to bovs who after serious 

 trial have shown little or no progress in, or capacity for, 

 such linguistic study, has little or no educational value : 

 and that, though the mental training afforded hv such 

 studv is of great value in the case of many bovs, vet 

 in the case of others such studv not onlv produces no 

 good results, but does positive harm to their mental and 

 moral progress bv reason of their incapacitv to grapple 

 ■with its difficulties. The committee go further, and 

 express their doubt whether the authorities in some 

 secondary schools have sufficiently recognised this fact or 

 NO. 1976, VOL. 76] 



have provided sufficient alternatives to such linguistic 

 study. (3) The committee deprecate any form of early 

 specialisation in the education of children, and therefore 

 regard with grave concern the fact that the entrance 

 examinations at the great English public schools give 

 undue prominence to the study of Latin (and Greek) in 

 the course of education at the preparatory schools, the 

 result being that too little time is available for (a) the 

 teaching of the mother tongue, (b) manual training, 

 (c) science and mathematics. (4) The committee would 

 deprecate anything like State-imposed rigidity in the 

 organisation and studies of secondary schools. . . . 

 (5) The committee are of opinion that the curriculum in 

 secondary schools suffers gravely from the number of 

 subjects which have been crowded into it. . . . (6) The 

 committee desire to see a great simplification in the 

 arrangement of examinations for secondary schools, and 

 they strongly recommend that examination and teaching 

 should go hand in hand, the examiners cooperating with 

 the teachers and acting in conjunction with them in order 

 to further the interests of real education. The committee 

 would urge upon the universities and professions to accept 

 as qualifying for entrance the leaving certificates granted 

 by each university to the schools which submit to its 

 inspection. . . . The committee particularly deprecate any 

 uniform or centrally administered examination applied to 

 all the schools of the country. ... (7) The committee feel 

 that no scheme of secondary education can be satisfactory 

 unless it is carried out by teachers of learning and force 

 of character, and they would urge that every effort should 

 be made, by conditions of appointment, by scale of 

 salaries, and by retiring allowances, to attract a high 

 class to the teaching profession, which should be re- 

 garded as a very laborious, but very honourable, form of 

 public service. ..." 



In this and other discussions there was much keen 

 criticism of the Board of Education. The burden of it 

 was distrust in matters which could be put on a scientific 

 foundation. A subcommittee of the curriculum committee 

 has been appointed at the request of Mr. G. F. Daniell 

 to report on the sequence of scientific studies. Prof. 

 Armstrong directed attention to the dangers of State 

 control, to the importance of manual training as a branch 

 of intellectual education, and to the administration of the 

 examination system, not with altruistic motives, but as a 

 lucrative business. .\ committee of Section L has been 

 appointed to watch legislative and administrative action. 

 Dr. .Anderssen, of Christiania, reported the gymnasium 

 for boys of fifteen to eighteen years as divided into three 

 branches, one with mathematics and science as the centre, 

 one with modern languages, chiefly English and history, 

 as the centre, and one with Latin as the centre. Prof. 

 L. Morel, of Paris, spoke of France as a field for experi- 

 ments. For the years fourteen to seventeen, boys are 

 grouped in four sections. Section A is characterised by 

 Latin and Greek, B by Latin and foreign languages, 

 C by Latin and sciences, and D by sciences and foreign 

 languages. The last is the normal cour.se for those who 

 learnt no Latin before fourteen or who choose to 

 abandon it. 



.Mr. R. E. Thwaites reported the results of his inquiry 

 into the Conditions of Science Work in Secondary Schools. 

 The average number of boys in a class is twenty-one or 

 twenty-two, but twenty should be the maximum for a 

 laboratorv class. The average expenditure per boy on 

 apparatus and chemicals is about il, per annum In public 

 schools and 8*. 6d. in secondary day schools. From two- 

 thirds to three-quarters of the schools are satisfied with 

 the number of the science staff, the laboratory accom- 

 modation, and the equipment of apparatus, but little more 

 than half have any laboratory assistant, the more 

 expensive time of the science master being spent on details 

 which could be perfornied less expensively by an assistant. 



.■V ioint meeting was held with Sections D and K on 

 The Teaching of Biology in Schools, Introduced by a paper 

 from Mr. O. H. flatter, of Charterhouse. In the pre- 

 paratory school and lower forms of public schools the 

 standard indicated as " nature-study " seems the best form 

 of science training. Common animals Involving direct 

 personal observation were more suitable in the next stage 

 than the " type-method " with its underlying idea of 



