458 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



fruitful, purposeful, and of permanent value ; how lie can utilise the 

 interests and aspirations of the pupil to make those experiences real and 

 a part of his everyday existence. In this connection the Committee desires 

 to emphasise the prime necessity of broadening the basis of science 

 instruction in schools, and to urge the inclusion in the school curriculum 

 of only such parts of any particular branch of science that are considered 

 fundamental from an educational point of view, and considered necessary 

 for a clear understanding of those natural phenomena with which a well- 

 educated youth, and not an expert, might reasonably be expected to be 

 familiar. Only to the extent that school science can do this will it fulfil 

 its purpose in contributing to the development of capacity for self -education 

 when the controlling influences of school days are over. It is experience 

 that matters ; the mere acquisition of facts is relatively valueless. The 

 growth of power to deal rationally with any subsequent situation that may 

 confront the individual is of far greater importance. 



Drawn up on these principles the science syllabus would start with the 

 boy or girl as the basis of consideration rather than with an examination 

 to be passed at the end of four or five years. It would take into account 

 the pupils' ability, their intellectual limitations, their interests and needs 

 at different ages. It would also include within its range contacts with 

 the literary side of the school curriculum in order to identify its cultural 

 possibilities with the highest the school can give. 



Given the necessary freedom the study and training in science associated 

 with literary work should lead the growing boy, or girl, to a fuller appre- 

 ciation of the verities of life, to something larger, loftier in their outlook 

 than anything that could be offered by a literary training alone. 



The Committee feels that the majority of syllabuses prescribed at the 

 present time for this particular part of school life are too rigid, too much 

 influenced by college requirements, or by the standard demanded for 

 university scholarships. It therefore advocates a complete breakaway 

 from the present course, which has little to recommend it except the ease 

 with which it can be brought within an examination system. 



Most examination syllabuses ignore the great difference in the mental 

 powers of the pupils between the ages of 11 and 14 as compared with 

 those between the ages of 14 and 16. The ordinary four- or five-year 

 course apparently provides work to be done at the rate and standard at 

 which a pupil of 16 would work. It ignores the fact that, for the first two 

 years, the work must be simpler and of a different type from that of the 

 last two years, and must proceed at a slower pace. The difference is not 

 one merely of range and depth of knowledge — the reasoning powers have 

 to be developed, good habits of judging and reflecting engendered. It is 

 growth that has to be encouraged ; the acquirement of information is only 

 incidental. 



Examinations may be necessary at the end of the school course, but 

 their influence during the earlier years of a secondary school course should 

 be directive rather than controlling. They offer wrong values to the 

 pupils because they, the examinations, and not the subject, are made the 

 objectives of the work done. Teachers need freedom to educate, and 

 freedom to work without being compelled to cram for examinations. 



