778 TRANSACTIONS OP SECTION L. 



earners aged from seventeeu to forty. This dilHeulty is perhaps eveu more funda- 

 mental than that of organising— at least, so far the Association has found it so. 



The root idea of the Association is to wed to the existing University Extension 

 movement a system of local associations or guilds which shall comprise all 

 students and interested persons, together with delegates from all working-class 

 and educational organisations in the neighbourhood. The object is to supply some 

 substitute for the collegiate basis of university life, to make work continuous and 

 effective, and to prevent overlapping. The hope is that, at least in the larger 

 towns, these guilds may grow eventually into working men's colleges of the 

 Loudon type. 



Besides this organising work, the Association is already engaged in collecting 

 information on various educational problems. It is hoped 'that with the spread of 

 its local guilds this may become an important department of its work. 



The Association is manned and officered by artisans and clerks, who have so 

 far done all the work of note that has been accomplished. 



The Education of Wage-earners of School Age. 

 By Mrs. M, E. Macdonald. 



6. Report on the Conditions of Health Essential to the Carrying on of 

 the Work of Instruction in Schools.— See Rejjorts, p. 433. 



FRIDAY, AUGUST d. 



The following Report and Papers were read : — 



1. Report on the Courses of Experimental, Observational, and Practical 

 Studies most suitable for Elementary Sclwols. — See Reports, p. 438. 



2. The Balance of Subjects in the Curricula of Elementary Schools. 



By Cyril Jackson. 



3. Adapting Rural Education to the Needs of Rural Life. 

 By T. S. Dymond, F.C.S. 



4. Primary School Problems. — (a) Balance of Curriculum ; (b) Training 

 of Teachers. By Principal A. Buebell, M.A. 



(a) Before balancing the curriculum it is imperative to group the subjects, not 

 for the purpose of correlation in teaching, but simply that it may be understood 

 under what head a subject is to be drafted. The grouping of subjects suggested 

 ■would be as follows : — 



1. Physical Work. — The following come under consideration: Dress, ventila- 

 tion of rooms, games, central playing grounds, and all that belongs to the under- 

 standing, care, and ti-uining of the body. 



2. Tool Work. — Tools are means of shortening and perfecting labour. The 

 pen, the pencil, the ruler, the brush, tlie scale, compasses, carpenters' and joiners' 

 tools, the needle (for boys), and such tools as may be required for boys of special 

 aptitudes are to be instruments of skill and alertness. 



3. OeoyrapMcal Work. — As history is based on geography, the two are con- 

 sidered together. («) The map and the lantern, {b) The main features of physical 



