INFORMATIVE CONTENT OF EDUCATION 355 



The suggested Biology is not taken in the Birmingham school, though 

 the head mistress thinks that a httle of it might be, ' to remove the 

 " nightmare " reaction.' Stories of wild animals are told in the Rhondda 

 school, and in Sunderland the head mistress reported that the information 

 is given in the stories of animals connected with such projects as the farm, 

 the circus and the Zoo. 



In the same way the Descriptive Zoology and Botany are taught in the 

 last-named school, through the care and observation of animals and plants 

 kept at the school. Daily nature and seasonal news of animals, birds, etc., 

 and the daily observations on plants in the various seasons, are a feature of 

 the Rhondda school, and reference was made in the reply to a Nature Table. 



No reference was made in any of these replies to a school garden, which 

 is known to be a feature of some infants' schools and which would enable 

 much of the informative content included in this section of Mr. Wells's 

 proposed curriculum to be adequately taught. 



There was an indirect reference to it, however, in answer to the question 

 relative to the obstacles in the way of teaching what is considered desirable. 

 ' School buildings,' it was said, ' need to be replanned to give more space 

 for free movement and experimental work for the children. Classrooms 

 should look out to gardens for nature study and care of animals.' 



The replies to the question as to the part or parts of the scheme that 

 should be excluded were : 



(i) From Birmingham : ' Any subject matter which is beyond the power 

 of the normal child to assimilate. Children under seven cannot appreciate 

 differences in time.' 



(2) From Rhondda : ' Detailed study of Geography, Biology, Botany, 

 human cultures and development should be left to later stages of school 

 life. Plants, animals, weather conditions, are dealt with incidentally in 

 daily talks.' 



(3) From Sunderland : ' History.' 



The reasons given for these exclusions were : 



(i) ' Fundamental difference of opinion in regard to treatment of children 

 aged five to seven. I feel that children should be provided with opportuni- 

 ties for actual experiences. Any knowledge in the form of facts will be 

 gained through their project work and will be very incidental. Definite 

 lessons on the animals would not be included. After seven the child is 

 ready for much of this formal teaching. Before seven some children gain 

 much factual knowledge through their reading and their experiences, but 

 there can be no uniformity if the children have progressed freely and 

 individually. I feel that here our great task is social training, and I am 

 putting formal teaching later and later.' 



(2) ' The children's interest in the people and things in the world 

 immediately around them, with its attendant vocabulary, should first be 

 aroused and satisfied. Analysis of these conditions, and their origin and 

 development, are dealt with in later school life. The two-year course in 

 the infant school does not allow time for detailed study of Botany and 

 Biology, nor does the children's ability permit it.' 



(3) ' The children in this school, owing to the poverty of the conditions 

 in which they live and their squalid surroundings, are lacking in many of 

 the ordinary experiences of life when they enter school at five. They do 

 not, therefore, in this department, reach the stage when they are interested 

 in other lands and other times ; at any rate, not to the extent of giving a 

 definite course of lessons in such subjects. I consider that the history 

 suggested by the chart belongs, for most children, to the age seven to eight, 

 as does the transition from nursery tales to the true stories of other ages. 



