36o REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 



A Bristol girls' school includes in its History syllabus : 



' Development of Imperial and National Boundaries ' ; 



' The Rise and Fall of Countries and Empires ' taken generally ; 



and no suggestion was made of desirable additions, though the opinion was 

 expressed that ' Leading Theories of Individualism, Communism, Corporate 

 State ' should be excluded. The reasons given for this opinion were that 

 girls in a non-selective central school ' are intellectually incapable and of 

 insufficient experience at their age, to benefit by study of these subjects,' 

 and that 'the girls come from different homes, where political opinions 

 may be freely expressed at home, and they may be (and probably will be) 

 strongly biassed towards a political party supported by the home.' 

 A school in Oxfordshire takes : 



' The Development of Existing National and Imperial Boundaries ' ; 

 ' The Increasing Importance of Economic Changes in History ' ; and 

 ' The Search for Competent Economic Direction.' 



The head master would also like to include ' Elements of Political 

 Theory ' for pupils during the 14-15 year, but he would exclude the 

 ' History of War,' the ' Rise of Russia,' the ' History of the Baltic' His 

 reasons are lack of time, and the unsuitability of these subjects for rural 

 children who are more practical than bookish in type. ' Theories of 

 Individualism, Corporate State and Communism,' he wrote, ' could not be 

 studied with profit by rural elementary children until 14-15, as they have 

 no background to which to attach such knowledge and are too young to 

 have opinions thereon of their own.' 



A Staffordshire head mistress reported that ' practically all is taken in 

 one syllabus or another with the exception of " Detailed Study of European 

 History " as mentioned in Mr. Wells's speech. . . . All of it is taken in so 

 far as the sections make contact with English or Imperial History.' In this 

 school the ' special bias is given to (i) Social History and (2) Imperial 

 History.' 



This head mistress thought that when 14-15 is established as the last year 

 of school life a fairly comprehensive study of Modern European History 

 might well form the basis of this year's work in History and Economics. 

 At present the available time does not permit of this being included. It 

 also prevents the inclusion of the ' Rise of Russia,' the ' Rise of Dutch 

 Power,' the ' Unification of Germany and Italy,' and the ' Leading Theories 

 of Individualism, Corporate State and Communism.' Even if time did 

 permit, however, she would not include the ' History of War.' 



Another head mistress who has charge of a school in Hull includes these 

 sections : 



' Development of Existing National and Imperial Boundaries.' 

 ' The study of such phenomena as : Rise and Fall of Ottoman Empire, 

 taken baldly as it impinges on the Crusading Era and the Renaissance.' 

 ' History of the Baltic' 

 ' Rise and Fall of Spanish Power.' 



She reported that an approach to the ' Leading Theories of Individualism, 

 Corporate State and Communism ' has emerged from the wireless talks on 

 ' History traced Backward ' and ' Topical Talks.' 



Of the remaining correspondents one reported that the History taught 

 is not on the lines of the suggested curriculum but more in accord with 

 the section under the heading of ' Social Mechanism ' ; and the other 

 gave the bald answer ' None ' to the questions, adding that the whole 



