1492 REPORTS ON. THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1917. 
range of. any laboratory course or detailed lecture instruction, and 
differing from them by being extensive instead of intensive. TT 
Finally, the aims of the teaching of. science may be stated to be: 
(1) To train the powers of accurate observation of natural facts and 
phenomena and of clear description of what is observed; (2) To impart 
a knowledge of the method of experimental inquiry which distinguishes 
modern: science from the philosophy of earlier times, and by which 
advance is secured; (3) To provide a broad basis of fact as to man’s 
environment and his relation to it; (4) To give an acquaintance with 
scientific words and ideas now common in progressive life and thought. 
VI. Suppny or Scrmycr Tracers In STATE-AIDED SCHOOLS. — 
. Salaries.—It is upon the efforts of those actually engaged in: the 
work of education that the degree of success of any scheme for educa 
tional reform depends; the standard of education rises or falls with the 
teachers, and is largely influenced by the conditions under which their 
services are rendered. A careful review of the present conditions of 
service compels the conclusion that nothing approaching adequate com- 
pensation is afforded for the outlay of time, money, ability, and energy 
entailed on the properly equipped science master or mistress in a State- 
aided secondary school. The average salary paid to the assistant 
masters in these schools in England and Wales is only 1751. 10s., 
and to mistresses 150I., after eleven or twelve years’ service. If an 
adequate supply of properly qualified science teachers is to be secured 
the question of. salaries should receive immediate attention; the best 
type of man will not be obtained unless the nation is prepared to pay 
more than 31. 7s, 6d. per week for his services after long experience. 
Many men accept posts as teachers in secondary schools, when 
leaving the University because the teaching profession offers them .an 
immediate means of maintenance. A man leaves the University at an 
average age of twenty-two years, or later if he has thought it necessary 
to take a course at a Training College. He then can command a salary 
of from 1201. to 1501. per annum—rarely more—according to his quali- 
fications; and this compares favourably on the average with what can 
be offered him to begin with in other professional spheres. But he 
soon finds that tenure is insecure, that superannuation is still ‘ under 
consideration,’ and that he may in the course of some twenty years 
secure on the average a competence of not more than 1901. per annum. 
Under these conditions teaching cannot be a profession which will 
attract into it the best intellects from all classes and spheres of life, 
but will be regarded by many merely as a temporary occupation until 
the opportunity arises of entering a more remunerative and encouraging 
calling. 
It is becoming increasingly difficult to meet the demand for efficient 
science teachers, and a considerable improvement in the salaries and 
conditions of service will be required before this problem can be settled 
satisfactorily. In secondary schools for boys teaching is not an attrac- 
tive profession ; parents have a poor opinion of it, schoolmasters rarely 
recommend it, and the best students in recent years have avoided it 
