INFORMATIVE CONTENT OF EDUCATION 359 



same observation might be made as was offered when infants' schools were 

 under consideration, viz., that much of what is suggested should be learned 

 by pupils is already taught, although not as part of a separate subject. Some 

 of the information included in Botany is taught in Geography, talks of other 

 lands, or Nature Study. The part played by the aquarium (a feature of 

 many schools) in this work was not indicated in the information received. 

 Health talks are included in the syllabus of all junior schools and experi- 

 mental work taken to illustrate them. Some Physiology and Anatomy are 

 doubtless taught in connection therewith. Possibly the modern methods of 

 education adopted in schools, and especially the new approach to the curri- 

 culum, have handicapped the inquiry in its efforts to discover what is the 

 actual information gained by pupils during the years they spend in the 

 junior schools. It is obvious, however, that more money will have to be 

 spent on equipment and books to enable the schools to do justice to the 

 expansion in the curriculum dictated by the needs of to-day. 



(3) Replies received from Senior and Central Schools working under 

 Elementary School Regulations to Questions on Grade C. 



The questionnaire on Grade C was submitted to teachers in various 

 types of school working under the Elementary School Regulations. 

 These included selective and non-selective central schools, and rural and 

 urban senior schools. Some were departmental schools either for boys 

 or girls, and others were mixed. The schools to which the inquiry was 

 sent may thus be taken as representative of elementary schools providing 

 for children of the ages 11 to 14 plus. In the selective central schools the 

 majority of the pupils continue in attendance until the age of 15. 



An examination of the replies indicated that the analysis of Mr. Wells's 

 proposed curriculum did not convey to all those who received it an ade- 

 quate idea of what the address with its chart conveyed to those who heard 

 it delivered at Nottingham. The aim of Mr. Wells did not always appear 

 to be fully understood ; certainly his reasons for advocating this minimum 

 of informative content of education were not fully appreciated even if they 

 were comprehended. This was unfortunate, since it may have led corre- 

 spondents to regard the inquiry from the wrong angle. 



The replies revealed a wide divergence between present practice and 

 Mr. Wells's proposals, and to summarise them briefly is a rather difficult 

 task. In these circumstances possibly the best course will be to indicate 

 the sections of the subjects included in the proposed curriculum which are 

 taken in each school. 



History. 



In the Lowestoft school, which is a selective central school, the sections 

 taken are : 



' National and Imperial Boundaries.' 

 ' Economic Changes in History.' 

 ' Rise and Fall of Empires and Powers.' 

 ' History of War.' 



In regard to the remainder the head master wrote : ' It is perhaps fair 

 to say that most of the remaining parts might be " advantageously included." 

 Some of the phrases are rather staggering for a school curriculum, but they 

 probably mean much less than they appear to mean.' 



