ON SCIENCE m SCHOOL CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS. 52a 



My scheme is now ' of age,' yet I see little reason to alter it ; certainly not in 

 principle and but little in detail. In practice, I should lay emphasis not only upon 

 tlie chemical work- — which, however, must always be of j)rimary importance, as we 

 live and have our being in chemical change — but also upon the physical, especially 

 electricity. I should also develop the biological side so far as possible, in the later 

 stages of the course. In fine, I should aim at maldng it complete as an elementary 

 experimental course in geography ! Still, it is useless to talk of what should be. 

 Such work was difficult twenty-one years ago. To-day it can scarcely be attempted 

 — didacticism and the worship of the knowledge idol reign supreme. The strangle- 

 hold of outside examinations is now mastering the schools, making rational teaching 

 and the development of the spirit of inquiry all but impossible. True science is not 

 being advanced in schools. 



Hekry E. Akmsteong, Avgvst 1928. 



