880 Mport— 1903. 



part of the work. Lately, however, science, long treated in schools fls a sort of 

 Cinderella, has shown a tendency to play the part of an imperious queen. 

 About the value, on the other hand, of mathematics, there can be no doubt ; 

 experience has demonstrated their power to strengthen and invigorate the mind ; 

 fjir]8f\s dyewjiiTprjTos etVtVo) is still written large over the door of knowledge. For 

 others, too, less capable of abstract thought, study of the laws of language and 

 the eftbrt fully to understand and appreciate the great thoughts of great men, is a 

 discipline that has stood the test of time. But the value of the study, say, of 

 botany, of electricity, or of geology, as a means of training is, as yet, to say the 

 least, 'not proven.' Primarily, most of the sciences rest on the basis of an 

 enormous accumulation of observed facts, and it is after the facts have been 

 accumulated that reason, intelligence, and imagination begin to find in them a 

 field for exercise. "What is to be deprecated is that the teaching of science should 

 assume too large a place in education, owing to a vague opinion that, because 

 science is of the highest practical value, it therefore affords the best training for 

 practical life. 



5. Curriculum affected by Leaving Ages of Pupils. 



What the exact arrangement of literary, mathematical, and scientific training 

 in a curriculum should be it is impossible to state precisely, for it is absurd to 

 suppose that one curriculum, will suit all varieties of schools, from small local 

 grammar schools to the large public ones. Obviously the training suitable for 

 boys who stay at school until eighteen or niueteen, and then proceed to some 

 university to spend three or four years more in preparation for some learned 

 profession, must differ from that of boys who have to begin actual work at sixteen, 

 and each school must modify its curriculum to meet its own special needs. 



But in every curriculum what is vital is that its main plan and purpose be 

 sound, that it help to form a complete man, capable of using all his faculties of 

 speech, reason, and observation to best advantage, and, above all, that it impress 

 on his mind a deep conviction that what he has learned is as nothing to what he 

 has yet to learn and must go on learning through life. 



6. Injiuence of Examinations and Teachers. 



Examinations many and manifold, complex and confusing, are at present the 

 real masters of education. They control the whole course of study, and it is 

 absolutely idle to establish any systematic curriculum until sense, system, and 

 simplicity are in some measure introduced into examinations. Further, the best 

 curriculum is worthless without good teachers. 



iv. By G. F. Daniell, B.Sc. 



In the spring of 1902 Canon Lyttelton suggested that it would be both 

 interesting and valuable to obtain and collate the views of teachers on the subjects 

 essential to an ideal curriculum, and on the order in which they should be taken 

 {e.g. should Latin be begun before French, or vice veisa ?). The idea developed, and 

 during the autumn of 1902 and the spring of 1903 a series of meetings was held, 

 altogether about thirty in number, and reports have been received at the Teachers' 

 Guild headquarters. 



The following is a summary of the conclusions arrived at as the result of this 

 inquiry : — 



1. Classification of Results. 



The returns with reference to secondary (including preparatory) schools may 

 be classified as follows : — 



Part I. contains the conclusions with regard to which there is practical agree- 

 ment. 



