August 5, 1909] 



NA TURE 



'/ j 



the bulk of the population of this country will be that 

 imparted in the clc-niuntarv school, the conimuation cvcn- 

 ino school and the evening technical (includnig by this 

 te?m commercial, or art or craft) school. The nation, at 

 enormous expense, has instituted a system of national 

 education which is almost entirely confined to children 

 under fourteen years of age. In addition to this, an 

 elaborate system of evening technical education has been 

 established mainly for those above the age of seventeen ; 

 but no adequate 'national system of evening continuation 

 schools for the bovs or girls between the ages of fourteen 

 and se'venteen, linking on the elementary scliool to the 

 evening technical institution, has yet been developed. Ihe 

 boy or girl leaves the elementary school at the age of 

 thi'rtecn. At seventeen or eighteen the youth may realise 

 the necessitv of attending evening classes for technical 

 instruction relating to his special industry, assuming he 

 is engaged in some skilled occupation or other. At the 

 technical school ho finds that he is unable to profit by the 

 instruction given. During the years between thirteen and 

 seventeen his powers of assimilation have declined through 

 disuse he has lost the habit of study, and most of his 

 previous small stock of knowledge, e.g. mathematics and 

 English has vanished. He spcedilv becomes disheartened 

 and ceases to attend. As a result, the greater portion 

 ot such chance? as he possesses of rising in his trade, or 

 of even keeping his position in a few years' time, vanishes. 

 Not only is the worker thus damaged in an industrial 

 sense, but the community loses, first by his diminished 

 (■fliciency as an industrial 'unit, and secondly by the lessen- 

 ing in the sum total of sustained intellectual effort made 

 by its citizens. Everv workman, who by systematic in- 

 struction passes from' the level of the ordinary artisan to 

 that of the trained, intelligent worker, becomes an asset 

 of increased value to the nation. 



The problem now is. What can be done to (a) carry on 

 the education of the wage-earning youth of this country 

 during the vears from thirteen to seventeen, (b'l bridge 

 over the present gap between the elementary school and 

 the centres of higher evening instruction, such as the 

 technical school? The solution lies in the development 

 and the increased efficiency of the evening continuation 

 school. The following statistics for iqo6-7 from the 

 report are not without interest as showing to some extent 

 the measure of success which has been obtained : — 



In recent years special attempts have been made in some 

 districts to persuade boys and girls on leaving the 

 elementary schools to join the continuation schools with- 

 out delay. Some striking results have been obtained. In 

 Wldnes about So per cent, of the boys leaving the 

 elementary schools commence attendance at evening schools 

 without a break. Halifax has secured 66 per cent. The 

 Lancashire Countv Education Committee reported :n 



VOL. 8l1 



January that in the larger boroughs 37 per cent and in 

 the smaller boroughs 22 per cent, of the boys and gnls 

 leavin<^ school during the vear ending October jO, lyo^ 

 to s?cu^o employnTent, joined the evening schools 



immediatelv. ^ , „ u^*;..^ Pr,.ii 



The principal recommendations of the Consultative Com- 

 mittee are the following : — . 



(1) The leaving age should be raised to thirteen years, 

 and after a short period to fourteen vears. 



(2) l-ull-timc exemption from the day school should only 

 be «iven to boys and girls under sixteen when the parents 

 or guardians can show that the children in question are 



suitablv employed. u 1 oi 0,1, ,m 



(1) I't should be the statutorv duty of each local educa- 

 tion authoritv to make suitable provision of continuation 

 classes for the further education of young persons up to 

 Ihe age of seventeen. . ,, , „j .„ 



fa) Loral education authorities should be empowered to 

 make b^e-laws compelling attendance at continuation 

 classes for voung persons up to the age of seventeen and 

 emplovers should be compelled to make provision enabling 

 such voung persons to attend the continuation classes. 



(;l"Empk)vers should be forbidden under penalty to 

 ennplov ,anv' voung person under seventeen years o age 

 who 'fails ' t6 attend the evening continuation classes 



'^''16') The curricula of the continuation schools should be 

 such as to continue the general education given in the 

 primarv school. It should have reference to the crafts 

 and industries in the district, and prominence should be 

 given to practical and manual instruction. 



Most educationists will heartily support the above re- 

 commendations. Numbers (3) and (4) of the above are 

 taken from the Scotch Education Act of moS. The com- 

 mittee points out that in Germany attendance at continua- 

 tion schools is compulsorv in portions of twentv-two out ot 

 uventv-six of the constituent States of the Empire, and 

 in Switzerland in portions of nineteen out of_ the twent>- 

 five cantons of the Republic. The committee is of opinion 

 that there is now a strong and rapidly increasing bodv ot 

 public opinion readv to support its recommenda lons^ 

 The committee estimates that the total cost (imperial^ and 

 local) of " maintenance" which would follow from raising 

 the leaving age to fourteen would be about 490,000/. per 

 annum. The corresponding cost of compulsorv continua- 

 tion classes (exclusive of new buildings) would be about 

 2,600,000/. per annum. ., , , j ij t,.,,.o 



The proposals of the committee, if adopted, would h.ive 

 important educational and sociological results. Thus tor 

 examole, one of the main causes of unemployment would 

 be eliminated. Educationally the proposals would have a 

 far-reaching effect upon the develooment of a complete 

 national svstem of education. As has b^^n before 

 indicated, the continuation schools would t.ake the boys 

 and girls from the elementarv schools, continuing without 

 a break their general education, while soeciahsing to a 

 limited extent in either commercial, agricultural, technical 

 or domestic work, depending upon the requirements ot tne 

 pupils. At the age of seventeen the boys arid girls, after 

 this t>reliminary training, could then be drafted on to 

 technicrd, or commercial or art schools. The continua- 

 tion schools would thus link on directly, '-;"<J coordinate 

 with, the elementary schools on the one hand and tne 

 technical institutions on the other. .. t „ 



The direct and indirect gain to the community from 

 (a) the improvement of the general education of he 

 masses (M the increased technical efficiency of the 

 workers, would be incalculable. In this connection the 

 following extracts from the report may be given :— 



" \n increasing stock of practical ability in a nation 

 enlarges the range of its economic abilities and rnnidly 

 adds ■ through all the grad.ations of directive responsibility, 

 to the number of well-remunerated posts which could never 

 have existed if men had not been forthcoming to till 

 them." , , , 



" A risin" level of education among the mass of workers 

 increases the real level of their wasres, thoueh this mav 

 not be .accomoanied bv a rise in their nomin.al amount. 

 It conduces to wise expenditure of income and to the 

 av'^-'innrp of tlioiirthtless or har'iiful waste." 



" Improvements in educational opportunity make possible 



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