154 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE.—1917. 
After magnetism, electro-magnets, and telegraphs, the boy redches his 
electrical paradise. The effects of a current and its measurements by any of 
these effects, B.O.T. unit of current, ammeters, voltmeters, microphone, tele- 
phone, dynamo, magnets, motor, X-rays, wireless telegraphy, electrical energy 
and power, Watt lamps, wiring of houses—these abolish all need of punishment 
for lack of industry in trying to understand physical laws; indeed, they help 
that understanding. 
In this scheme emphasis has been laid especially on those aspects of the 
work which make the subject alive and personal; this treatment does not 
exclude a grasp of those elementary laws with which an educated man should 
be familiar. It only insists on associating such laws with their practical 
applications. This generalised science scheme for those boys who are not 
pursuing the subject any further has been evolved during ten years at a school. 
Iu arriving at its present stage, which is far from perfect, some golden rules 
have been applied : 
1. Make sure of the landscape; do not start the boy on a niggling bit of 
formal science, 
2. Exclude rigorously any work, practical or otherwise, which is not worth 
doing for itself. 
3. Some work is worth doing because it is valuable educationally—e.g., 
experimental investigations. Other work is worth doing not only because it 
has educational value; it also concerns itself with matters which occur in the 
average life of an educated citizen who is not actively concerned with a 
scientific career. 
4. Some work is only contributory to the further study of science beyond 
what is necessary for a general education. This work is an unjustifiable waste 
of time for those boys who will never study science further. 
5. Be suspicious of anything which occurs in any existing examination 
syllabus. It is usually there for the convenience of the examiner, or because 
it is contributory to the formal study of science. 
6. Consider the conditions of the school and the personal equation of the 
teachers rather than examinations in drawing up a syllabus for the average boy. 
His need is to understand (1) the multifarious ways in which the results 
of scientific investigation affect his daily life, (2) the experimental methods 
by which the natural phenomena of daily life are being investigated, (3) whilst 
knowing the value of an expert, none the less to be confident and resourceful 
within his own limitations. 
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