168 



REPORT 1864. 



the school or class lessons in a week, as furnishing a comparative scale of the 

 number of hours to be devoted to the respective subjects of instruction, and the 

 time to be given out of school for preparation. 



I. 



n, 

 m. 



IV. 

 V. 



School Lessons 

 (at One Horn" each). -rA i 



Classics, with History and Divi- 

 nity 11 



Aiithmetic and Mathematics . . 3 



French or Gennan 2 



Natural Science 2 



Music or Drawing 2 



20 



Horn's of Preparation. Houi-s 



in a 

 Week. 



Classical composition 5 



Classics, &c 10 



French or German 2 



Natural Science 2 



19 

 Hours of school lessons 20 



Hours 39 



Dr. Faraday, in his evidence before the Public Schools' Commission (1862), 

 mentions his opinion that one-fifth certainly of the time which an individual 

 devotes to study, ought to be devoted to the attainment of natural knowledge. 



"The first thing to do," remarks the leai-ned Professor, "is to give scientific 

 teaching an assured and honoured place in education. 



" The study of natm-al science is so glorious a school for the mind that, with the 

 laws impressed on all created things by the Creator, and the wonderful unanimity 

 and stability of matter, and the forces of matter, there cannot be a better school 

 for the education of the mind." 



With such obvious advantages ai'ising from the study of natural science, an 

 inquiry may be made why the great public schools of this country do not encourage 

 a larger amount of class or school lessons in natural philosophy, as well as m 

 other modem subjects of instruction. 



The Royal Commissioners remark in their report, that in the public schools 

 there is especial deficiency in arithmetic and French ; and they observe that the 

 path of promotion, and the subjects in which the time and thoughts of the boys 

 are employed, are mainly classical ; the traditions of the most ancient public 

 schools are classical ; the chief honours and distinctions of those seminaries are 

 classical ; and the head master and, where the tutorial system exists, the tutors 

 are men distinguished chiefly as classical scholars. 



To improve the existing system, a school council is suggested by the Royal Com- 

 missioners, consisting of the assistant masters, or a selected number of them, repre- 

 senting the whole body ; and, in the latter case, the classical and the mathematical 

 masters, and the teachers of modem languages and natural sciences respectively, 

 are recommended to be duly represented on the council. The head master is pro- 

 posed to preside, if present, and matters conceming the teaching or discipline of 

 the school are intended to be considered by the council. 



In University College School, London, the head master is requested by the 

 governing body of that institution to call together the assistant masters at least once 

 in every term, to consult with them as to the management and an-angement of the 

 classes; and the views of parents maybe communicated to the head master regard- 

 ing such subjects as Greek, mathematics, natural philosophy, chemistrj', and 

 Genu an. 



School lessons at University College School are distributed in a week from 

 Monday morning to Saturday afternoon in the following manner : — 



Latin occupies 9 hours in each week in every class ; but neither Greek nor 

 Latin verse compositions form any part of the system of lessons at the school. 



French has G hom-s a week assigned to it in each of the three junior classes, 

 and 3 hours a week in each of the three senior classes. 



German occupies 2^ hours in a week in the senior classes ; and Greek has 4^ 

 hours a week in the classical subdivisions of those classes, its place being taken in 

 the other subdivisions of the upper classes by more modem subjects, such as 

 writing, arithmetic, geography, English, history, mathematics, natural philosophy, 

 and social science. 



