o, SCIENCE IN- SECONDARY. SCHOOLS. 143 
because its obvious disadvantages overshadow the few advantages it 
offers. 
The supply of masters is being maintained at its present level only 
by the large influx of clever pupils who pass from the elementary 
schools to the secondary schools and are maintained out of public 
funds almost entirely throughout their scholastic career. The time 
seems fast approaching when the scholarship will be recognised as the 
normal means of entry into the profession. ; 
The scarcity of well-qualified science masters and mistresses will 
become accentuated in the near future by the fast-growing demand for 
scientific experts from the various branches of manufacture and 
industry, and by the attractions offered by medicine as a. profession for 
women. Unless far better salaries and conditions of service are offered, 
it is hopeless to expect that sufficient numbers of well-trained scientific 
men and women will take up teaching in preference to much more 
remunerative and less exacting appointments in other spheres of life. 
Promotion.—Headmasterships and administrative posts connected 
with education should be filled from the ranks of the teaching profession. 
Classes.—The large size of classes is one of the greatest obstacles 
to successful science teaching. Modern methods demand classes not 
exceeding sixteen to eighteen if efficient supervision is to be given in 
the laboratory. SAIS 2 ‘ 
Hours of Teaching.—A science teacher should be afforded oppor- 
tunities for study and research in order that his instruction may repre- 
sent increasing scientific knowledge. On this account it may reasonably 
be urged that his teaching hours should be less than those of masters 
concerned with literary or mathematical subjects. In the case of the 
senior science master, who is responsible for the organisation of the 
science department as a whole, including the supervision and upkeep 
of the laboratories, much more non-teaching time is necessary. 
Tabulated statements on salaries and other details will be found 
in Appendix I. 
VII. AcapEMIc QUALIFICATIONS OF HEADMASTERS. 
Closely related to the questions of the prospects of science teachers 
and the position of science teaching are the academic qualifications of 
headmasters. Inquiry has shown that schools of the Public School 
type are to a very large extent in the charge of classical specialists. 
Only a numerically insignificant minority have been recruited from 
the ranks of graduates in science, and not one of the largest or best- 
known Public Schools has a science graduate as headmaster. Without 
in any way wishing to maintain or imply that academic qualifications 
are, or should be, regarded as the sole, or even the chief, criterion of 
eligibility for such posts, it is difficult not to recognise that many of 
the defects and deficiencies in the organisation of the schools (from 
the science point of view) are related to the apathy or antipathy 
‘of their headmasters towards science. Among such defects are: The 
bias given to classics and literary subjects in the Entrance Examina- 
