TRANSACTIONS OK SECTION L. 867 



education, n,ud it is tlio dillicult and responsible duty of this Section to attempt to 

 place our st udy upon an objective and truly scieutitic basis. 



The necessity for a scientific study of education has been brought home to the 

 British Association by the force of events. Discussions have arisen from time to 

 time in the various Sections as to the true methods of teaching difl'erent subjects of 

 science. In the Section of Chemistry much valuable work has been done, under 

 the lead of Professor Armstrong, by means of a committee working in co-opera- 

 tion with practical teachers. Much also has been accomplished by the Geo- 

 graphical Section for the reform of methods of instruction in geography. 



There can be no doubt that this plan of treating education in separate de- 

 partments makes an admirable introduction to further investigation, but it is 

 clearly inadequate in scope and faulty in method unless it be carried into a much 

 wider field. To begin with, the diflerent Sections of the Association only touch 

 a small part of the whole sphere of education. They leave out almost all that is 

 implied in the training of the character and the feelings, the cultivation of the 

 poAver of expression through language, and the enlargement of sympathy that 

 comes through the study of literature. Secondly, such a method of dealing with 

 single subjects by themselves is imsound both in logic and in practice. The 

 practical schoolmaster is attacked by specialists in an endless number of subjects, 

 each one of whom demands that his own speciality shall be taught, and taught 

 thoroughly. The schoolmaster cannot possibly teach them all ; he must make 

 some selection among them. On what rational grounds is he to do this ? His 

 school time-table shows his practical answer ; he divides the twenty-five hours a 

 week which he has to distribute among the different parts of the curriculum in 

 certain propoi-tions, giving, let us say, five hours to mathematics, two to history, 

 five to the study of the mother tongue and its literature, and so forth. If he has 

 any weU-considered and intelligible account to give of his time-table, that account 

 must be rendered in the terms of some theory of the comparative importance of 

 the various subjects to his pupils. This implies some conception of an ordered 

 system of knowledge as a whole, quite apart from the individual claims of special- 

 ists. This theory of the curriculum is an important part of the science of educa- 

 tion. Again, if we turn to the question of methods of instruction we cannot 

 solve the problems which they raise by referring to the difierent subjects in isola- 

 tion. For instance, are we to teach geometry demonstratively in the method of 

 Euclid, or concretely and through physical applications ? We can get no sure 

 answer by appealing to the mathematical specialists. They will tell us that it 

 depends what our object is in teaching geometry ; what mental powers we wish to 

 train ; what later applications we intend to make of the geometrical faculty when 

 acquired. That is, we find ourselves referred partly to a consideration of the total 

 aim and purpose of our education and partly to its technical bearings. And these 

 are not mathematical considerations at all. Similarly, if we are asked how we 

 are to teach a language, let us say French, we cannot give a satisfactory answer in 

 terms of French linguistic science alone. We must reply that it depends upon our 

 purpose in teaching French, whether, that is, we desire to make it a key to knowledge 

 of one of the foremost literatures in Europe, or whether we desire to give a power to 

 conduct commercial correspondence in French, or whether we aim at both of these 

 ends and many others that might be named. There is no such thing as a method 

 in the abstract. A method is a means to an end, and varies indefinitely in relation 

 to that end. 



It is clear, therefoi-e, that the science of teaching is not the same thing as the 

 teaching of science. The study which belongs to Section L must be, in a sense, 

 independent of the subjects studied in the other Sections, although, in another 

 sense, it is closely bound up with them. The great work which the Section can 

 do is to introduce some kind of order into the confusion which rages at present in 

 educational controversy. It can achieve tbis only by simplifying and concen- 

 trating its field of work, by defining its scope, and by aiming at an orderly and 

 systematic treatment of its main topics. 



We may best arrive at an idea of the scope of educational science by consider- 

 ing the following questions : What is it that the educator should study and practise 



