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 THE MODERN EDUCATOR'S LIBRARY 
 
 (general Editor — Prof. A. A. Cock 
 
 THE ORGANISATION 
 
 AND CURRICULA OF 
 
 SCHOOLS 
 
 BY 
 
 W. G. SLEIGHT, M.A., D.Lit. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
 LONDON: EDWARD ARNOLD 
 
 1920 
 
 [All rights reserved]
 
 \^y aHo\ 
 
 <^v- 
 
 c r 
 
 EDITOR'S PEEFACE 
 
 The Modern Educator's Library has been designed to give 
 considered expositions of the best theory and practice in 
 EngHsh education of to-day. It is planned to cover the 
 principal problems of educational theory in general, of 
 curriculum and organisation, of some unexhausted aspects 
 of the history of education, and of special branches of 
 applied education. 
 
 The Editor and his colleagues have had in view the 
 needs of young teachers and of those training to be teachers, 
 but since the school and the schoolmaster are not the sole 
 factors in the educative process, it is hoped that educators 
 in general (and which of us is not in some sense or other 
 an educator?) as well as the professional schoolmaster may 
 find in the series some help in understanding precept and 
 practice in education of to-day and to-morrow. For we 
 have borne in mind not only what is but what ought to be. 
 To exhibit the educator's work as a vocation requiring the 
 best possible preparation is the spirit in which these 
 volumes have been written. 
 
 No artificial uniformity has been sought or imposed, and 
 while the Editor is responsible for the series in general, the 
 responsibility for the opinions expressed in each volume 
 rests solely with its author. 
 
 ALBERT A. COCK. 
 
 University College, 
 Southampton.
 
 AUTHOR'S PEEFACE 
 
 This small book on "Organisation and Curricula" is 
 intended to give points of view rather than numerous 
 details. Our profession needs more than anything else the 
 broad views and the ideals which will keep our work free 
 from monotony and staleness. If we retain our interest 
 and freshness, the details of routine and practice will be 
 eagerly and easily acquired. In each division of the sub- 
 ject-matter, therefore, an attempt has been made to give 
 the chief features, principles, and ideals, and to avoid a 
 compilation of facts. 
 
 The new Education Act became law when the book was 
 practically completed ; it was thought advisable to place 
 the chapter dealing with the Act at the end, with the idea 
 that many of the matters dealt with in the preceding 
 chapters would then show their most recent phases of 
 development in a genetic order. This can, however, be 
 only partially the case, since much of the book is con- 
 cerned with matters which can never appear in any Act of 
 Parliament. 
 
 No part of the treatment of the subject can claim 
 originality except that concerned with the principle upon 
 which the curriculum is framed. A fuller treatment is to 
 be found in my book upon "Educational Values and 
 Methods."
 
 AUTHOK'S PKEFACE vii 
 
 I should like, in conclusion, to thank all those teachers, 
 head-masters, and Directors of Education who have taken 
 so much trouble in providing me with information without 
 which this book would have been poor indeed. A short 
 paragraph of thanks is a very inadequate return for such 
 services ; if the book becomes of some value to students and 
 to the general public, the recompense will, I know, be 
 found sufficient. 
 
 W. G. S.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 FAl.K 
 
 INTRODUCTION ----- 1 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION - - - - 6 
 
 II. HIGHER EDUCATION - - - - 20 
 
 III. BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND EQUIPMENT - - 37 
 
 IV. PRINCIPLES OF THE CURRICULUM — ELEMENTARY 
 
 SCHOOLS - - - - - -67 
 
 V. THE CURRICULUM — ELEMENTARY - - - 7.5 
 
 VI. THE FLEXIBLE CURRICULUM - - - 85 
 
 VII. CURRICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS - - 101 
 
 VIII. CURRICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS {continued) - 120 
 
 IX. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL — TIME-TABLES - - 138 
 
 X. OTHER ELEMENTS OF SCHOOL ORGANISATION - 183 
 
 XI. SCHOOL GOVERNMENT ... - 205 
 
 XIL OTHER SYSTEMS AND TYPES OF SCHOOLS - - 225 
 
 XIII. ORGANISATION AND CURRICULA UNDER THE ACT 
 
 OF 1918- - - - - - 244 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY ----- 257 
 
 INDEX ------ 261 
 
 VIU
 
 THE ORGANISATION AND 
 CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 INTKODUCTION 
 
 Throughout Continental Western Europe the State has 
 assumed control of practically all forms of educational 
 activity. No school may be established, no person may 
 teach, no subject may be taught, unless the permission of 
 the State is explicitly given. Every school established 
 belongs to a certain type, and a pupil's position in the 
 school is regarded as indicating approximately his attain- 
 ments and degree of general efficiency. Similarly, every 
 teacher belongs to a certain species, determined by his 
 diplomas and experience, and can change his status only 
 by modes of procedure recognised by the State. Con- 
 tinental systems of education are remarkable for the 
 thoroughness of their organisation, every detail being 
 thought out and worked out with the greatest care, the 
 whole plan presenting a mosaic in which the design is per- 
 fectly clear and endlessly repeated. 
 
 In Great Britain things are different. Partly owing to 
 national conservatism and a partiality for compromise nnd 
 middle courses, partly owing to national dislike of interfer- 
 ence and love of freedom, public education is only partially 
 organised, and of those parts which are organised some are 
 under one authority and others under other controlling 
 powers. Thus the Board of Education supervises the 
 main body of schools; but the Home Secretary, the Ijocal 
 Government Board, the Board of Agriculture, the War 
 Office, and the Admiralty have each their own special 
 
 1
 
 2 THE CUKKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 jurisdiction over smaller groups. More important than the 
 existence of multiple central authorities, however, is the 
 fact that education is only partially in the hands of the 
 State. The State might roughly express its attitude thus : 
 " Do as you please so long as you ask for no money." To- 
 day hundreds of schools exist of which the State takes no 
 official cognisance, and many others of which it has no 
 knowledge, official or otherwise. Great Britain has 
 schools of almost every conceivable type, and schools which 
 it would be difficult to fit into any known system of classi- 
 fication except as good, harmless but useless, or harmful 
 schools. Mr. Wells's account of them in " Joan and 
 Peter" is, on the whole, a true one. One of the smallest 
 disadvantages arising out of such conditions is the inability 
 even to hazard a guess as to the attainments of a boy or 
 girl from a knowledge of his or her class or form . Teachers , 
 too, form a heterogeneous collection — some recognised, 
 others unrecognised by the State ; some educated , others 
 half-educated; some trained, others untrained in their 
 professional work ; some receiving salaries on which it is 
 possible to live, others receiving a mere pittance. 
 
 This absence of differentiation, of classification, and of 
 organisation makes it extremely difficult for a foreigner, 
 and even for an Englishman, to form a clear idea of the 
 system, in so far as there may be said to be one, which, in 
 spite of its incoherency, has done and is doing so much for 
 our country. To obtain any adequate view of the whole, 
 a prolonged study would be needed ; to get an idea of thi^ 
 main groupings it is necessary to gra.sp the meaning of a 
 few important facts by tracing the main features of the 
 educational system of to-day in the course of its more 
 recent developments. 
 
 Untiri870, education, both elementary and secondary, 
 was in the hands of any who chose to make it their business, 
 and the State was not one of these. Private persons
 
 INTEODUCTION 3 
 
 undertook it for a livelihood or from a belief that they had 
 a mission ; trustees of endowments carried on schools 
 because they were responsible for the use of the endow- 
 . ments ; philanthropic societies carried on similar work with 
 one eye upon efficiency and the other upon religious or 
 theological training. The State granted financial aid to 
 Elementary Schools on condition that they attained a 
 certain degree of efficiency, demonstrated by the results of 
 an annual examination conducted by State inspectors. 
 
 In 1870 the State took up the proBlem of universal 
 Primary Education, and by the Act of that yeat' sought to 
 make good the existing deficiencies. By the Elementary 
 Education Act of 1870 the whole country was divided into 
 School Board areas, in each of which the School Boards 
 were made the authorities for Elementary Education. 
 The ratepayers of the district elected the members of the 
 School Boards for their special educational purpose {ad 
 hoc), and the School Boards were empowered to levy an 
 education rate up to threepence in the pound. Board 
 Schools, at first intended merely to supplement the supply 
 of denominational schools, began rapidly to supplant them, 
 and the permission to levy a rate soon placed the Church 
 Schools at a disadvantage. The Board Schools in large 
 areas were able to expend more money upon building 
 materials and teachers' salaries, and hence to do their work 
 more efficiently. On the other hand, many Board School 
 areas were so small or so poor as to preclu^de the possibility 
 of providing good buildings and good teaching. Moreover, 
 many members of the smaller School Boards were of neces- 
 sity persons who were ignorant of educational matters , and 
 cared little for the education of the masses. It is therefore 
 a matter for national congratulation that secondary educa- 
 tion was left outside such an organisation. 
 
 The Act of 1902, so far as Elementary Education was 
 concerned, dealt with two problems which since 1870 had
 
 4 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 become more and more acute — the comparative inefficiency 
 of the Denominational Schools, owing to their inability to 
 draw upon the rates, and the equally great inefficiency of 
 many Board Schools, owing to lack of money and inexpert 
 organisation, the result of having established such small 
 administrative areas. 
 
 Moreover, the unorganised and uncontrolled state of 
 Secondary Education had long troubled the minds of all 
 who thought at all upon national matters, and the growing 
 competition between civilised nations for commercial and 
 industrial supremacy now forced the subject to the front. 
 The Act of 1902 did something to solve all these problems 
 by abolishing the School Boards and giving to the newly- 
 set-up County and Borough Councils the control of both 
 Elementary and Secondary Education. 
 
 For the first time in our history it became possible to 
 define the limits of each of the two types of education, and 
 to attain some sort of unity in educational aims and efforts. 
 Elementary Denominational Schools — called non-provided 
 schools because the buildings were not provided by the 
 Education Authority, and continued to be the property -of 
 the denomination — passed also under the direct control of 
 the Local Authority. Many Secondary Schools, to obtain 
 Government grants, had already placed themselves under 
 State supervision, and now, in order to obtain financial 
 assistance from the Local Education Authority, offered free 
 places to a considerable number of Elementary School 
 children. Various Local Education Authorities, encour- 
 aged by the offer of further State grants, began to build 
 Secondary Schools of their own. Much was thus done by 
 the Act to bring Secondary Education under the regulat- 
 inof influence of the Local Education Authoritv, but, none 
 the less, many schools giving Secondary Education — 
 Private and Boarding and Public Schools — which felt 
 themselves still able to pay their way without State or
 
 INTBODUCTION 5 
 
 municipal assistance, remained free of State inspection 
 and entirely independent of local control. Nevertheless, 
 (the Acts of 1870 and 1902 must be regarded as two great 
 landmarks of English educational progress — the one mak- 
 ing efficient education possible for the masses of the people, 
 the other opening up possibilities of higher education to all 
 capable of profiting by it — possibilities which are now being 
 even more adequately realised. 
 
 The Act of 1918, the broad outlines of which are given 
 in the last chapter of this book, indicates the distance 
 educational thought has traversed since 1870 and 1902. 
 The teaching profession has come to be recognised as an 
 expert calling, demanding the highest scientific knowledge, 
 and the public has shown increasing interest in educational 
 activities of every kind. The growth of public apprecia- 
 tion of the value of education before and especially during 
 the war has made it possible to frame and pass an Act so 
 progressive — an Act which in almost every section asserts 
 the right of the State to organise and control the great edu- 
 cational activities of the country for the general good.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION 
 
 For many centuries Elementary Education was under- 
 taken by religious bodies and private individuals v^diose 
 humble names have frequently been left unrecorded.^ It 
 was carried on in the early part of the eighteenth century 
 by various organisations, among which the Society for 
 Promoting Christian Knowledge can claim a noble pre- 
 eminence ; in the latter part of the century, when the 
 advent of machinery began to revolutionise the industries 
 of the country and to drive the people into the towns, 
 it succeeded, in the hands of such pioneers as Joseph 
 Lancaster and Dr. Bell, in even catching the attention of 
 royalty. The British Schools, founded by the British and 
 Foreign Schools Society — Lancaster's legacy to his country 
 • — the National Schools, founded by Dr. Bell, and the 
 National Society of the Church of England ; the Roman 
 Catholic Day-Schools, the Congregational and Wesley an 
 Schools, and the Schools of the Ragged School Union, pro- 
 vided the great bulk of Elementary Education until the 
 year 1870. Since 1833 the State had divided annually a 
 gradually increasing sum of money between the societies 
 engaged in this voluntary work. In 1853 a Capitation 
 Grant was established, which consisted in an allowance to 
 Elementary Schools for each scholar who made sufficient 
 attendances. The year of the appearance of Spencer's 
 work on "Education," 18G1, witnessed also the infamous 
 arrangements, not abolished until 1897, of "payment by 
 results," which did all the liai'in anticipated by the clear- 
 sighted. Since the establishment in 1870 of School 
 
 ^ See Adamson : " Short History of Education." 
 6
 
 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION 7 
 
 Boards, the intervention of the State has been constantly 
 increasing, and has been on the whole productive of great 
 good. Elementary Education was made free in 1891, and 
 by the Voluntary Schools Act and the Necessitous Board 
 Schools Act of 1897 grants were increased where they were 
 most needed. 
 
 In 1900 the Education Department was reconstructed as 
 the Board of Education, and a Consultative Committee 
 was formed to advise the Board and to frame the regula- 
 tions for a Eegister of Teachers. Since the great Act of 
 1902, which brought Elementary and Secondary Educa- 
 tion under one control, the State has been increasingly and 
 beneficially active in promoting the physical and intellec- 
 tual welfare of Elementary School children. In the Edu- 
 cation (Provision of Meals) Acts of 1906 and 1914, the 
 Local Education Authority was empowered to spend 
 money from the rates in providing meals for necessitous 
 children. Provision was made in 1909 for the medical 
 treatment of school-children, and in 1913 an Act was passed 
 which made it compulsory for Local Education x\uthorities 
 to make adequate provision for the mentally deficient.^ 
 
 The Act of 1902 fixed the framework of central and local 
 control. The three directing and controlling agencies — 
 namely, the Board of Education, the Local Education 
 Authority, and the School Managers — represent, or were 
 intended to represent, different kinds and degrees of super- 
 vision : the first remote and general, the second local and 
 general, and the third particular and intimate. The Local 
 Education Authority has, however, by the force of circum- 
 stances, extended its functions to such an extent that the 
 Board of Education tends to become more and more an 
 advisory body only. 
 
 The Central Government is represented by the Board of 
 
 ^ See for full account Birchenough's " History of Elementary 
 Education."
 
 8 THE CUKKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Education. It supervises Elementary and Higher Educa- 
 tion, administers Parliamentary gTants, draws up annual 
 codes, memoranda, and suggestions, and, by means of a 
 large body of inspectors, sees that a degree of uniformity 
 and efficiency is maintained. It has no control over the 
 Universities, but financially assists most of them. 
 
 The Local Education Authorities are no longer ad Jioc 
 bodies. They are the County, County Borough, Non- 
 County Borough, and Urban District Councils, elected by 
 the ratepayers to administrate all local business. These 
 Councils elect an Education Committee, which co-opts 
 other members (at least one woman^) having a knowledge 
 of educational matters. 
 
 The County Council has control over Elementary Edu- 
 cation throughout the county, except in its County 
 Boroughs, Non-County Boroughs with over 10,000, and its 
 Urban Districts with over 20,000 inhabitants. It also con- 
 trols Secondary Education throughout the county, except 
 in the case of its County Boroughs.^ 
 
 The managers were intended to fulfil something like 
 parental functions. 
 
 The County Council and County Borough Authorities 
 must appoint managers to all Provided Schools. The 
 smaller Boroughs and Urban Districts need not do so. In 
 the case of Non-Provided Schools everywhere the appoint- 
 ment of managers is again compulsory, one-third of these 
 being selected by the Local Education Authority. While 
 government by the Central and Local Authorities is char- 
 acterised necessarily to a great degree by its hard, machine- 
 like qualities, the relation between school and managers is 
 bound to be of a more personal and intimate order ; but to 
 a great degree managers have been stripped of their powers 
 
 *■ The London County Council Education Committee now has eight 
 women members out of a total of thirty-eight elected members of the 
 Council, and six women out of a total of twelve co-opted members. 
 
 2 For details see Education Act, 1902.
 
 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION 9 
 
 and functions, and in the Provided Schools at any rate are 
 scarcely anything more than interested and occasionally 
 useful visitors. 
 
 In the Secondary Schools provided by the Local Author- 
 ity there is no rule for the appointment of managers. In 
 schools not so provided, the governors exist to see that the 
 work is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the 
 founders. 
 
 The term "primary" used with regard to education 
 admits of several meanings. It is sometimes employed to 
 cover the same idea as the term "elementary," with dis- 
 tinct reference to the education which is provided free by 
 the State or for which school fees may not exceed 9d. per 
 week. Sometimes it designates education of an elemen- 
 tary kind in which the rudiments of knowledge and skill 
 are given, and thus is made to cover the instruction pro- 
 vided for all children below the age of eleven or twelve. 
 The latter meaning is certainly the more legitimate and 
 logical, and Educational Authorities are tending more and 
 more to use the term " primary " in this sense. Logically 
 the word "elementary " should cover the same meaning, 
 but the English nation is seldom consciously logical, and 
 now arbitrarily differentiates the two terms. Thus 
 Primary Education is coming to mean all instruction of a 
 rudimentary kind, whether given in what are called 
 Elementary, or Boarding, or Preparatory, or Secondary 
 Schools; Elementary Education, on the other hand, is 
 held to designate the teaching received in the free schools 
 of the country. 
 
 As defined by the Central Authority, an Elementary 
 School is a school ' ' at which Elementary Education is the 
 principal part of the education there given," but the term 
 does not include any school ' ' at which the ordinary pay- 
 ments in respect of instruction from each scholar exceed
 
 10 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 9d. a week." " A Public Elementary School is a school 
 which satisfies certain further requirements imposed by 
 Section 7 of the Act — namely, that certain conditions as to 
 attendance at religious observance and instruction shall be 
 observed, that the school shall be open to inspection, and 
 that it shall be conducted in accordance with the conditions 
 required to be fulfilled by an Elementary School in order 
 to obtain an annual Parliamentary grant." 
 
 The power to provide instruction in a Public Elementary 
 School is limited (except by consent of the Board of Edu- 
 cation) to the provision of instruction for scholars who, at 
 the close of the school year, will not be more than sixteen 
 years of age. This statutory limit of age is the same for 
 Higher Elementary Schools as for Ordinary Public 
 Elementary Schools. On the other hand, in the case 
 of certified schools for blind, deaf, mentally defective, 
 physically defective, or epileptic children, not only the 
 power to provide instruction, but the period of compulsory 
 attendance, is extended to the completion by the scholars 
 of then' sixteenth year of age, whether this occurs in the 
 course of the school year or at the end of it. 
 
 The term "Ordinary Public Elementary School" is 
 used to include all schools recognised under the Code 
 except Higher Elementary Schools, and the latter are 
 defined as Public Elementary Schools, which have for their 
 object the development of the education given in Ordinary 
 Elementary Schools, and the provision of special instruc- 
 tion bearing on the future occupations of the scholars.^ 
 The Ordinary Elementary Schools deal, therefore, with 
 the great masses of the children, and those who pass their 
 boyhood or girlhood up to the age of fourteen in them niay 
 be taken as the average, the normal. 
 
 1 The quotations defining: the various types of Elementary Schools are 
 taken from " Statistics of Public Education in England and Wales for 
 1913-14," Explanatory Notes.
 
 ELEMENTAEY EDUCATION 11 
 
 A certain propoiiion of Elementary School children are, 
 however, abnormal, being either below or above the aver- 
 age in intellectual power and attainments. The State has 
 recognised this somewhat tardily, and now demands that 
 the Local Education Authorities should make adequate 
 provision for these types of pupils. It is only fair to say 
 that private and local educational forethought and initia- 
 tive had already done a gTeat deal in this direction. 
 
 The national importance of a provision for Higher Ele- 
 mentary Education is slowly making itself felt. The con- 
 tinued prosperity of the country depends upon it, and it is 
 on this ground that the appeal has been most successfully 
 urged. The necessity of training skilled, intelligent, and 
 thoughtful workmen is gradually dawning on the minds of 
 the English people ; the shadow of the foreign competitor 
 dogging their footsteps all over the world has at last 
 alarmed them. National material prosperity is a great 
 stake, but not the highest. True prosperity, national 
 health — physical, intellectual, and moral — depends upon 
 the degree to which the developing needs and powers of 
 our children are responded to. A brilliant child must have 
 opportunity for a full education — " from the Elementary 
 School to the University." A less brilliant child will need 
 opportunity too, but his education need not be carried to 
 the University. According to talent and power of using 
 educational opportunity, so should educational opportunity 
 be offered. Only in recent years has this idea begun to 
 penetrate the minds of the British public.-^ 
 
 We still have to clear our minds of errors due to custom 
 and prejudice. Talent expresses itself in many forms. 
 
 ^ There is a growing advocacy of Secondary Education for all. The 
 Labour Party is opposed to any tendency to maintain a barrier between 
 the working and the middle classes ; they claim equal privileges for all. 
 Outside the ranks of Labour, too, the same opinion is gaining adherents. 
 It is, for example, a favourite theme of those responsible for The Times 
 Educational Supplement.
 
 12 THE CURKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 There is too great readiness to look for it only in the form 
 of book knowledge, particularly literary and linguistic. 
 Manual talent of different types is probably not receiving 
 sufficient recognition or opportunity. It is true that 
 nearly all real success in skilled work demands a power of 
 using books, but in training the power to use books it is 
 vital that we should not in the process suppress or destroy 
 the children's real power. It is certain that, given free 
 opportunity, some will show talent in one direction and 
 some in another ; hence the type of education we are offer- 
 ing to the clever of all sorts is probably too distinctly 
 bookish. 
 
 We have, too, to guard against another misconception — 
 the idea that manual work is less honourable than other 
 work ; that work by which the hand becomes hard and 
 dirty, in which it is necessary to w'ear aprons, is more 
 menial than other work. It must be realised and con- 
 stantly remembered that to follow out one's own bent, to 
 give free play to the best powders one possesses, is the hap- 
 piest, most honourable existence that can be led, and the 
 one which is most useful to the State. 
 
 Schools of many types must therefore be provided. At 
 present we have fairly distinct kinds for Elementary 
 School children who have shown a certain degree of ability 
 —the Higher Grade, the Higher Elementary, the Central, 
 and the Trade School. 
 
 The Higher Grade School is the result of the initiative 
 of Local Educational Authorities (School Boards), who, 
 realising the importance of more advanced education for 
 those who could profit by it, were willing to run the risk of 
 offending the ratepayers by spending larger sums in the 
 provision of means. Children of ability were given the 
 opportunity of spending the last two or three years of their 
 Primary School life in a higher type of institution, among 
 companions intellectually more on a level with themselves,
 
 ELEMENTAEY EDUCATION 13 
 
 receiving more advanced instruction in some subjects and 
 initiation into one modern language. By this means they 
 frequently prepared themselves for entrance into a Tech- 
 nical or Trade School. Unfortunately, the new departure 
 was not always properly organised. It is now clear that a 
 definite number of Ordinary Schools should have been 
 made to feed each Higher Grade School, and that only 
 those children should have been admitted who were cap- 
 able of profiting by the teaching, and of these only those 
 whose parents would promise to keep their children at the 
 school for a definite time in order that the full course might 
 be followed. Instead of adopting this line, the School 
 Board allowed head-teachers to admit children somewhat 
 indiscriminately, little care being taken to see even that 
 they had reached some standard of attainment. Some- 
 times the top classes of an Ordinary School were consti- 
 tuted Higher Grade, and were taught in the same build- 
 ing ; the parents of children in the lower classes claimed 
 that their children, fitted or not, should remain in the same 
 school, and should not be removed to another school when 
 the dividing-line was reached. The claim was difficult to 
 resist, especially as the teachers of surrounding schools 
 which should have been " contributory," and to whom the 
 innovation was strange, objected to losing their best pupils 
 just at a moment when it looked as if the fruits of their 
 training were about to be realised. Numbers of Higher 
 Grade Schools were therefore doing no more advanced 
 work than the Ordinary Schools, or were giving more 
 advanced instruction to pupils unable to benefit by it. A 
 waste of energy and public money resulted. In some 
 parts of the country the early difficulties have now been 
 overcome and excellent work is being done. 
 
 The Higher Elementary School was the creation of the 
 Central Authoritv, and doubtless arose as the result of a
 
 14 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 study of the merits and faults of the Higher Grade School. 
 The latter received no additional Government grants to 
 cover the increased expense of buildings, apparatus, 
 laboratories, and teachers, and it was therefore free to 
 work out its own destiny so long as it conformed to the 
 regulations for the Ordinary Elementary Schools. In the 
 case of the Higher Elementary School, however, the Board 
 of Education made higher grants on condition that its rules 
 with regard to admission, equipment, and curriculum were 
 obeyed. The Board, until 1919, recognised and paid 
 special grants to those Public Elementary Schools which 
 had for their object "the development of the education 
 given in the Ordinary Public Elementary Schools, and the 
 provision of special instruction bearing on the future occu- 
 pation of the scholars." 
 
 These schools must be organised to provide a three years' 
 course of instruction , and in certain circumstances a fourth 
 year may be provided for scholars qualified to profit by it. 
 Admission is limited to pupils who are not less than twelve 
 years of age, and who have also been for at least two years 
 under instruction in a Public Elementary School. As a 
 rule, the newly-admitted scholar must begin with the 
 "first year" of the course. 
 
 The attempt to form a type of school intermediate 
 between Elementary and Secondary has not been very 
 successful. Some Local Authorities considered that the 
 curriculum imposed by the Board was not sufiiciently 
 practical, and did not adequately prepare for the future life 
 of the pupils ; that manual work was not adequately repre- 
 sented in the curriculum ; and, in general, that their own 
 freedom of direction and control was curtailed to an un- 
 necessary extent by the conditions laid down for the earn- 
 ing of the grant. 
 
 It has also been found very difficult to induce parents to 
 keep their children in such schools until they have finished
 
 ELEMENTAEY EDUCATION 15 
 
 the whole course, partly because of the wage-earning 
 capacity of the boy or girl, and doubtless partly because 
 their parents are sceptical as to the value of the education 
 given in the Higher Elementary Schools. 
 
 Owing to these difficulties, comparatively few schools of 
 this type have been established. Local Education Author- 
 ities have preferred to avoid the difficulties and to retain 
 their freedom by focussing their efforts on the Higher 
 Grade Schools and on other types for which they have 
 received no additional grants. With the discontinuance of 
 the Government grant and the advent of compulsory con- 
 tinuation schools, the downfall of the Higher Elementary 
 Schools seems imminent. 
 
 An attempt has been made by the London Education 
 Authority to establish a type of school resembling in some 
 points the Higher Grade and Higher Elementary Schools, 
 and yet differing from both. These are the so-called 
 Central Schools.^ They are intended to provide what the 
 other two types have been unable to provide — viz., instruc- 
 tion which is emphatically practical, and which combines 
 general education with a preparation for industrial and 
 commercial life. For this purpose the schools fall into 
 two types — those with an industrial and those with a com- 
 mercial bias. Some are purely industrial or purely com- 
 mercial ; others combine both types. Sometimes the 
 school is confined to one sex ; sometimes the one school 
 contains classes of boys and classes of girls ; sometimes 
 boys and girls work in the same class ; in the latter cases 
 the school has only one bias, not both. The pupils are 
 selected from Ordinary Elementary Schools at about eleven 
 years of age, partly on the results of the Junior County^ 
 Scholarship examination, and partly on the pupils' records 
 
 * The present number of L.C.C. Central Schools is fifty. Other sixty 
 departments are to be established.]
 
 16 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of work and conduct. A very few small maintenance 
 grants are also made. 
 
 The State does not yet recognise the Central School or 
 the Higher Grade School as worthy of additional grants, 
 although the expenses are very much greater than in the 
 Ordinary Elementary School. There is little doubt that, 
 owing to considerable diversity in the admission test, the 
 pupils are on very different levels of attainment. There is 
 also no statutory power to compel parents to keep their 
 children at the school until the whole four years' course is 
 completed. A rule exists which makes forty the maxi- 
 mum number of children in a class, but this rule is not 
 rigidly adhered to. Moreover, the inherent difficulty of 
 the decision as to whether a boy should be placed in the 
 industrial or the commercial section is insuperable ; at 
 eleven years of age the child is too young to show per- 
 manent tendencies. A sensible course which might 
 be adopted is to make the first two years' course 
 common to both sections, and at thirteen to make the 
 decision. 
 
 It wouU seem that there is a future for the Central 
 School, but its usefulness as an important factor in 
 national education can never be fully realised until its 
 position in the system of State education has been more 
 closely studied and defined. Such study and definition 
 may result in transforming it into a branch of Secondary 
 Education. 
 
 Vai'ious Local Authorities have instituted Trade Schools 
 for fee-paying and free scholars, who are there prepared to 
 take up apprenticeships or employment in skilled trades. 
 As a rule the transfer from the Ordinary to the Trade 
 School takes place between the ages of thirteen and four- 
 teen. In London in the year 1918 there were 260 scholar- 
 ships for boys and 320 for girls tenable at such schools over
 
 ELEMENTAKY EDUCATION l1 
 
 a period of two and sometimes three years/ Unfor- 
 tunately, many possible entrants, more suited for a life of 
 manual occupation, have, several years earlier, been 
 absorbed into Secondary and Higher Elementary Schools, 
 where their manual talents have necessarily run to waste 
 and their less pronounced academic abilities been unnatur- 
 ally forced. 
 
 Throughout the country the brighter Elementary School 
 children can, as we have seen, obtain instruction of a more 
 advanced kind. At the same time special provision is 
 made for children who for one reason or another are handi- 
 capped in varying degrees in the process of adapting them- 
 selves to their environment. Only in comparatively recent 
 years has it been recognised that it is worth while for the 
 sake of the community itself that such children should 
 receive special training ; that unless such children are 
 trained, some forms of abnormality lead to crime, and that 
 with training a surprising amount of usefulness to society 
 may be obtained. These abnormal children are classified 
 into groups which require separate treatment and a special 
 training; the blind, the deaf, the physically defective, the 
 
 ^ The trades taught to boys were : 
 
 1. Carriage and motor body building. 
 
 2. Professional cookery. 
 
 3. Professional waiting. 
 
 4. Building, carpentry, masonry, bricklaying, plumbing, etc. 
 
 5. Furniture and cabinet making. 
 
 6. Wood-carving. 
 
 7. Printing and bookbinding. 
 
 8. Silversmithing, jewellery, and engraving. 
 
 9. Engineering and allied trades. 
 
 10. Photo-engraving and photo-process work. 
 
 The trades taught to girls were : 
 
 1. Hairdressing. 
 
 2. Photography. 
 
 3. Needle trades— dressmaking, trade embroidery, ladies' tailor- 
 ing, upholstery, millinery, corset and lingerie making. 
 
 4. Domestic trades — domestic service cookery, cookery, and 
 laundry work, training for housemaids or parlourmaids. 
 
 2
 
 18 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 epileptic, and the mentally defective are specifically treated, 
 and special .schools are organised to deal with each type. 
 Many Local Education Authorities make use for such pur- 
 poses of private and other institutions, instead of building 
 and equipping their own schools. 
 
 By far the largest number of these defective children are 
 to be found in the schools for the mentally deficient, many 
 of these cases, however, being the result of quite tem- 
 porary causes. Such pupils are periodically examined by 
 doctors or psychologists, and as soon as sufficient improve- 
 ment has been observed sent back to the Ordinary School. 
 By humane and scientific treatment many such children 
 have been saved from progressive mental deterioration, 
 and have become a support instead of a burden to the 
 State. In Mannheim the experiment has been success- 
 fully tried of dividing the school into three departments — 
 one for normal, one for backward, and one for mentally de- 
 ficient pupils — thus rendering transfer more easy, making 
 it possible to follow up the history of each abnormal cliild, 
 and, in general, to temper the wind constantly to the shorn 
 lamb. 
 
 Open-air schools have been established for children 
 suffering from general physical debility. In such schools 
 most of the work is done out of doors, lessons requiring the 
 use of desks being taken under shelter just sufficient to 
 protect against extremes of heat and cold. The so-called 
 classrooms are little more than sheds, fully open on one 
 and partially open on the other three sides. Great use is 
 made of the garden, and, in general, the education given 
 is less bookish and more calculated to encourage bodily 
 activity than in the ordinary schools. The results of 
 school life spent entirely in the open air have been suffi- 
 ciently remarkable to warrant a further development of 
 this idea. At present there are only two such schools in 
 London, and very few indeed elsewhere.
 
 ELEMENTAEY EDUCATION 19 
 
 The idea of teaching in the open air has taken root, and 
 many teachers are trying under obvious disadvantages to 
 apply the same idea to the benefit of normally healthy 
 childi'en. In some Ordinary Schools classes take turns in 
 doing their v\^ork in the playgrounds or in neighbouring 
 parks. In Birmingham open-air classrooms, placed in the 
 playgrounds, have been erected at an average cost of £55. 
 In some places these shelters have been constructed by 
 class and teacher at a still smaller cost. 
 
 The same desire to secure continuous physical and 
 mental development has led to the institution of Vacation 
 Schools, where the children of poor parents are healthily 
 occupied during the summer holidays in pleasurable 
 manual work. Nature-study, and games.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 
 
 Secondary Schools 
 
 The growth of industry and commerce during the last 150 
 years has naturally affected the Secondary Schools, has 
 caused great modifications in their curricula, and has given 
 rise to great varieties in types of schools. Not yet, hov^- 
 ever, has this influence been great enough to produce a 
 complete system. It would be easy in a few words to out- 
 line the German system of Secondary Schools — the Gym- 
 nasium or Classical, the Bealgymnasium or Semi-Classical, 
 and the Oberrealschule or Modern School, with either a 
 six or a nine years' course. An account of the French 
 system of Secondary Schools would be almost as straight- 
 forward — the State-supported Lycee and the State and 
 Commune supported College, both linking Primary and 
 Preparatory Education with Secondary, and both pro- 
 viding alternative courses of a classical, semi-classical, 
 linguistic (modern languages), and scientific nature. 
 
 It is not easy to make clear the various types of 
 Secondary Schools possessed by this country. No Govern- 
 ment has yet had sufficient popular support to warrant a 
 complete overhauling of the Secondary and semi-Secondary 
 institutions. Vested interests, general ignorance of the 
 necessity for system, popular indifference and opposition, 
 have prevented any thoroughgoing reform. 
 
 Uniformity of any real or valuable kind is the one thing 
 not to be found. Some educationists assert that it is the 
 one thing which never ought to be found. They glory in 
 
 20
 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 21 
 
 the variety and iiTegularity of onr Secondary system. 
 Others feel the necessity for some degree of organisation, 
 but see in State interference and control the inliiction of a 
 tyranny, the crushing of all individual initiative, and the 
 mechanising of all educational effort. In every belief 
 there is an element of truth, and organisation does risk 
 these dreaded dangers. At present Secondary Education 
 maintains to a very large degree its freedom and variety of 
 types, and the English parent, in deciding upon a school 
 for his child, suffers acutely from an embarras dcs 
 rid I esses. 
 
 This is not to say that progress has not been consider- 
 able. On the contrary, not only is the confusion less 
 to-day than hitherto, but it is possible to see glimmerings 
 of a future "system." It was not, hovi^ever, until past 
 the middle of the nineteenth century that the State began 
 to wake up from its indifference with regard to Higher 
 Education. 
 
 The statutes under which many great schools were being 
 governed hampered and often entirely prevented jn-ogres- 
 sive development. These statutes, dating often from 
 Tudor times, prescribed curricula and an internal organisa- 
 tion ill-fitted to modern needs. Hence in 18G1 Lord 
 Clarendon's Commission was appointed to enquire into tlie 
 conditions under which the leading Public Schools were 
 working. This investigation paved the way for the Public 
 Schools Act of 1868, by which seven of the schools under 
 investigation received new governors and new statutes. 
 Lord Taunton's Commission had already in 18G-4 begun its 
 laborious enquiry into the state of the Endowed Schools, 
 and had later presented a Report of twenty volumes. The 
 Report revealed many defects and deficiencies in these 
 schools, among the chief being the anti(]uated schemes 
 under which many schools were being conducted and the 
 lack of anything in the nature of Secondary Education for
 
 22 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 girls. The enquiry was productive of good in both these 
 directions. In 18G9 the Endowed Schools Act was passed, 
 which soon brought about improvement in the schemes 
 under which many schools had hitherto been forced to 
 work, and made development along modern lines possible. 
 Another effect of immense importance was the impetus 
 given to Secondary Education for girls — a development 
 long deferred, but vital to a democratic State. Lord 
 Taunton's Commission continued its labours until 1874, 
 arranging schemes for 285 schools, and finally handed its 
 powers over to the Charity Commissioners, who exercised 
 them until 1902. 
 
 The Victorian era saw also a great extension of Public 
 School Education and an immense increase in the mnn- 
 ber of Public Boarding-Schools. Among these may be 
 mentioned Marlborough and Haileybury as types of the 
 almost purely Boarding-School ; Clifton and Manchester as 
 types of the partly boarding. Most of them were non- 
 sectarian ; Lancing, however, may be regarded as chiefly 
 Anglican and Mill Hill as Dissenting in character. 
 
 If the schools investigated by Lord Clarendon's Com- 
 mission be excluded, the number of Boarding-Schools 
 properly called "Public Schools" was in 1909 about 
 forty, and the number has remained practically con- 
 stant.* The Public School is defined by the sponsors of 
 the figure just quoted as one which draws its pupils from 
 all over the country, and possesses a more than local repu- 
 tation. The same authorities exclude, however, a number 
 of schools capable of answering to these demands, because 
 of a lack of social status. Hence the perplexed parent 
 will still find himself occasionally in a quandary in select- 
 ing a school which is within his means, and which will at 
 the same time confer upon his offspring the social advan- 
 
 * Norwood and Hope, " Higher Education of Boys in England," 
 p. 28.
 
 HIGHEK EDUCATION 23 
 
 tages and status involved in a Public School Education. 
 Of the forty Public Schools, some are Delocalised Gram- 
 mar Schools like Eepton, Uppingham, and Tonbridge ; 
 others are Proprietary Schools founded by high-minded 
 individuals or societies, and not carried on for purposes of 
 profit, such as those mentioned in the preceding paragraph . 
 
 Among the Public Day-Schools are St. Paul's, Merchant 
 Taylors', Dulwich College, City of London School, King's 
 College School, University College School, Manchester 
 Grammar School, King Edward's School, Birmingham, 
 Bristol and Bradford Grammar Schools. During the last 
 four or five decades the numbers of pupils attending these 
 schools have doubled, and in some cases trebled. 
 
 The Preparatory School is also the product of the Mid- 
 Victorian period. While the Public School has maintained 
 its Secondary School characteristics, the Preparatory 
 School has undertaken the task of covering the elementary 
 field, and of preparing its pupils at thirteen or fourteen 
 years to enter the Public School. The education provided 
 is not elementary in the usual sense, but deals with 
 the elements of general education, and, in addition, with 
 those of the subjects taught in the higher institutions. 
 Many of the largest Public Schools have their own Pre- 
 paratory Schools in organic relation with the main institu- 
 tion, and throughout the country are many private Pre- 
 paratory Schools in which special training is given to 
 prepare for entrance to some Public School. 
 
 The history of Non-Public Secondary Schools during the 
 last forty years is complicated and confusing, and we shall 
 merely note a few of the outstanding facts. The Board of 
 Agriculture, created in 1889, was allowed to distribute a 
 Parliamentary grant to agricultural education , and to still 
 further complicate an ill-working machine by inspecting 
 and reporting on any form of Higher Education wliich was 
 connected with agriculture. In 1894 the Bxyce Co.mmis-
 
 24 THE CUREICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 sion began its enquiry into Secondary Education, and 
 revealed, in conjunction with the 1897 Census of Enghsh 
 Secondary Schools, a deplorable state of disorder. As a 
 result of the Bryce Commission recommendations, the 
 Board of Education Act was passe^, in 1899, which estab- 
 lished the new Board of Education as the Central Educa- 
 tional Authority, and a representative Consultative Com 
 mittee as a Board of Advisers. Finally, the Education 
 Acts of 1902 and 1903 gave County and Municipal Author- 
 ities powers over Secondary Education, thus ensuring 
 public control over a large number of Secondary Schools 
 already in existence, and in addition giving rise to the 
 Municipal Day Secondary School. 
 
 The age for entering Secondary Schools varies ; it is 
 sometimes as low as eight, although the principal grant is 
 paid only upon pupils of twelve years and upwards. The 
 schools are classified by the Board of Education, so far as 
 it has to do with them, according to the leaving age. 
 First Grade Schools are those in which the pupils remain 
 until eighteen or nineteen, and in which the main object 
 is to prepare for the University or for the older professions. 
 Second Grade Schools provide at least a four years' course, 
 from twelve to sixteen, although the Board now gives con- 
 siderable financial encouragement to these schools to keep 
 their pupils a year or two longer. 
 
 When the regulations with regard to age have been 
 satisfied and " the school has been inspected by the Board, 
 and is regarded as providing efficient instruction and pos- 
 sessing adequate premises, it is placed on the list of 
 Secondary Schools recognised by the Board as efficient." 
 "If in addition certain further conditions are satisfied — 
 e.g., as to management, religious tests, financial position, 
 scale of fees, etc. — the school may ... be recognised as 
 eligible for grant." Large numbers of good, bad, and
 
 HIGHEE EDUCATION 5 
 
 indifferent Secondary Schools will have nothing to do with 
 the Board of Education, prefen-ing to retain their inde- 
 pendence and free initiative. This freedom, not without 
 danger to the community, will possibly continue to be 
 retained so long as the best of these schools do valuable 
 work, and parents are wihing to entrust their children's 
 future to uncertain and unguaranteed agents. Perhaps, 
 however, the State will step in and make use of the powers 
 it possesses — not in a benumbing, but in a really vitalising 
 way, wisely leaving freedom to those capable of using it. 
 
 Technical Schools 
 
 The first great impetus towards Technical Education 
 was given by the great Exhibition of 1851, as a result of 
 which the Science and Art Department was brought into 
 existence. The teaching of drawing was subsidised by 
 grants given for certificated proficiency in art, and extra 
 grants were paid to schools or classes organised as " Science 
 Schools" with a three years' course. Some literary in- 
 struction in these schools was afterwards made compulsory. 
 Thus in 1894, outside London, thirty-nine Higher Grade 
 and sixteen Endowed Secondary Schools were organised 
 as Science Schools. At the same time the Evening 
 Schools conducted similar courses, entitling them to the 
 grants for science and art teaching. As a result, hopeless 
 confusion reigned as to what was primary and what was 
 secondary instruction. The " Cockerton " judgment in 
 1900 drew public and administrative attention to this state 
 of things, and the Act of 1902, by putting the control of 
 both Primary and Secondary Education into the hands of 
 the same authority, made differentiation and co-ordination 
 at length possible. 
 
 The confusion just alluded to was increased in 1889 by 
 the appearance of a formidable rival to the Secondary 
 Schools in the shape of Technical Schools. The [jowcr to
 
 26 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 give technical instruction was conferred upon the recently 
 established County Councils by the Technical Act, and in 
 1890 the Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act made over 
 to the Councils the residue of the beer and spirit duties 
 (known since as "whisky money") for application to 
 technical and science and art instruction — a sum of money 
 equal in amount to the whole income of the Endowed and 
 Secondary Schools of the country. This money, together 
 with the Id. rate allowed, amounted to nearly one million 
 pounds. The result was a severe handicapping of 
 Secondary Education on the literary and cultural side, and 
 a rush of pupils into Technical Schools before they had 
 acquired the necessary foundation which only Secondary 
 Education of a general kind could give them. The Act of 
 1902 cleared the gTound for a system of progressive educa- 
 tion, which is now on its way to realisation. 
 
 The trades and occupations have been broadly classified 
 as (1) artistic handicrafts, such as metal-chasing and en- 
 graving, enamelling, carving, etc. ; (2) partly manual 
 trades, such as cabinet-making, plumbing, masonry, 
 tailoring, etc. ; (3) factory and workshop occupations ; and 
 (4) agi'icultural occupations ; and it has been suggested 
 that each class will require its own type of technical instruc- 
 tion.^ Technical instruction has certainly developed along 
 these lines, but not to the same extent as in Germany, 
 where, for example, occupations such as butchering some- 
 times have their own special school for instruction in the 
 technique of the business. In England there exist Schools 
 of Building, of Arts and Crafts, of Engineering and Navi- 
 gation ; classes for bricklayers, gas-fitters, and for scores of 
 other occupations. Nevertheless, Technical Schools in 
 this country aim less at specialised trade teaching than at 
 an understanding of the principles underlying a trade or 
 group of trades. 
 
 ^ Cyril JacksoD, " Outlines of Education in England^"
 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 27 
 
 Together, the Polytechnics and Municipal Technical 
 Schools give excellent technical instruction, and in con- 
 junction with the technical departments of University 
 Colleges form the natm'al passage to post-graduate re- 
 search work of the Provincial Universities and of the 
 Imperial College of Science and Technology. 
 
 Continuation Schools 
 
 All kinds of institutions have contributed to the sum- 
 total of agencies at work for promoting Continuation Edu- 
 cation. The Sunday-Schools, Adult Schools, Mechanics' 
 Institutes, the Working Men's Colleges, the Y.M.C.A., 
 and many other agencies, have been important factors in 
 the progress already made. In 1855 the first Government 
 aid was afforded in the shape of grants to the often isolated 
 classes for pupils between the ages of twelve and eighteen, 
 managed by benevolent societies and private individuals. 
 Considerable improvement resulted when in 18G1 day- 
 school teachers were permitted to give instruction in 
 Evening Classes, and in 1870, with the establishment of 
 School Boards, fresh impetus was given to the movement 
 for Evening Education. 
 
 In 1890 an Evening School Code was published, and the 
 upper age limit of pupils removed. As the Code demanded 
 variety in the curriculum, interesting methods of teaching, 
 and the introduction of games, the emphasis was slowly 
 and naturally transferred from efficiency of work to enter- 
 tainment, and the value of the work deteriorated. The 
 difficulty spoken of in connection with the Technical 
 Schools was reflected in the Evening Continuation Schools 
 —the difficulty, namely, of finding instruction which the 
 pupil was able to understand, and which could at the same 
 time be called technical, in order to earn the grants for 
 Technical Education. When in 1902 the often antagon- 
 istic authorities for primary and higher instruction were
 
 28 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 made one, certain reforms became possible. The Act of 
 1870 had made it far less necessary to provide very elemen- 
 tary teaching in the Evening Schools, since the scholars 
 had all received the education of the Primary School. As 
 this education was not sufi&cient to provide the necessary 
 foundation for technical training, the Evening Schools 
 became the natural channel connecting Elementary and 
 Technical Education. The work was now limited at both 
 ends, and made to proceed along definite lines, and the 
 Evening School took its place in a definite system. Its 
 special aim is to continue the education of those who have 
 left Elementary Schools, and to ensure the liberal or 
 general characteristics of the work ; the more specialised 
 training is almost universally combined with general 
 educational subjects into courses. 
 
 Excellent work has been and is being done in the Even- 
 ing Schools of the country, but attendance has hitherto 
 been voluntary. Under such a condition much valuable 
 time, energy, and public money have been wasted, and by 
 far the greater number of Primary School children have 
 received no systematic instruction or discipline after the 
 age of fourteen. Under the new Education Bill of 1918 
 this state of things comes to an end, and Continuation 
 Education becomes compulsory until the age of sixteen is 
 reached. The Bill permits this age at a later stage to be 
 raised to eighteen. 
 
 Many leading business firms had, long before the recent 
 Bill just referred to, made continuation instruction com- 
 pulsory for their apprentices and younger workpeople. 
 Other firms, although not making attendance at Continua- 
 tion Schools a condition of employment, had encouraged 
 it by every means within their power, and had thus con- 
 tributed not a little to the cause of adolescent education. 
 
 Even the .Army has been drawn into the movement, and 
 quite apart from its own Schools and Training Depart-
 
 HIGHEE EDUCATION 29 
 
 ments, organised to meet its pre-war needs, has established 
 in its graded battaHons of A IV. men classes in which 
 geography, economics, and social history, as well as many 
 other subjects, are taught by whatever suitable type of 
 man it has been possible to find. There are also voluntary 
 classes for older men, and Education Schools at Oxford 
 and Cambridge for the training of Army instructors.^ 
 
 Many agencies besides the authorities just mentioned 
 have been busy with the problem of Continuation Educar 
 tion. The University Extension Lecture organisation, 
 established in 1873, has done, and is doing, admirable work 
 by means of its popular lectures and class-work. The 
 Adult School Movement, after receiving its modern im- 
 pulse in 1845, had, in 1914, 1,883 schools, with a mem- 
 bership of over 80,000. In 1903 was founded the Workers' 
 Educational Association, which in 1917 comprised 2,333 
 affiliated societies ; the Association has organised one-year 
 classQS, study-circles, and courses of lectures, as well as 
 supplying lecturers to other organisations. The University 
 Tutorial Movement, established in 1907, organised three- 
 year courses which aimed at reaching the standard of 
 University work in Honours ; the members of these classes 
 are mainly working men and women. Ruskin College in 
 Oxford and the Labour College in London provide residen- 
 tial courses which prepare working men and women to 
 take official positions in Trade Unions and other industrial 
 organisations. Co-operative Societies, Settlements, Field 
 Clubs, Working Men's Clubs, are all making valuable con- 
 tributions to the cause of Continuation Education. Sum- 
 mer Meetings and Vacation Courses, organised by the 
 various associations already mentioned, will soon be as 
 remarkable a feature of English Adult Education as of 
 American. While the greater part of Continuation Educar 
 
 ^ See Second Interim Report of the Adult Education Committee, 
 '♦ Education in the Army," 1918. (Cd. 9225.)
 
 30 THE CURKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 tion has been carried on in the industrial and urban 
 centres, the rural districts have been by no means idle. 
 The Committee on Adult Education singles out for par- 
 ticular mention a Kent rural district where one organisa- 
 tion covers a dozen villages and small towns. ^ 
 
 When the enormous difficulties under which many men 
 and women endeavour to procure educational opportunities 
 are considered — difficulties with rega-rd to hours of labour, 
 overtime, the shift system, night work, distance, home 
 study, and numberless others — it is easy to realise the pos- 
 sibilities open to our country when Continuation Education 
 becomes widely distributed and thoroughly organised.^ 
 
 Training Colleges 
 
 The organisation for the training of teachers has always 
 been outside what may be called the educational system of 
 the country. The Local Authorities have since 1902 been 
 compelled by the State to make provision for both Elemen- 
 tary and Secondary Education, but until quite recently all 
 the Training Colleges had been founded by societies, and 
 for the most part by religious societies. Until quite re- 
 cently the supply of Training Colleges was totally inade- 
 quate to the needs of the times, thousands of candidates 
 for the teaching profession being unable to obtain places. 
 So inadequate was the provision, and so entirely quiescent 
 was the Central Authority on the subject, that it might 
 have occurred to a student of education that the State 
 wished to severely limit the number of trained elementary 
 teachers. Since 1902 the larger Local Authorities have 
 been encouraged by means of large building grants from 
 the national exchequer to build Training Colleges for the 
 purpose of meeting the needs of the district. Thus at the 
 
 * See Interim Report of the Committee on Adult Education, 1918 
 (Cd. 9107). Also " Reconstruction Problems — Labour Conditions and 
 Adult Education."
 
 HIGHEE EDUCATION 31 
 
 present time there exist Training Colleges for Elementary 
 teachers which are carried on by the Chm-ch of England, 
 the Wesleyan Chmxh, the Eoman Catholic Church, by the 
 British and Foreign School Society, and by certain of the 
 larger municipalities, all under Government inspection, 
 and depending for their maintenance upon the Govern- 
 ment grant paid for each student in attendance. Most of 
 the Colleges are residential or have hostels attached. The 
 older Training Colleges are almost entirely residential. 
 
 Many educationists have in the last few years expressed 
 themselves very strongly against the system of training 
 students for the teaching profession in institutions devoted 
 solely to that purpose. They have seen in the enforced 
 segregation an influence which hinders the development of 
 broad views and wide interests, so necessary to a teacher, 
 and have urged the necessity of putting the Training Col- 
 leges in close touch with the Universities. These views 
 are meeting with almost general acceptance, and it is prob- 
 able that before long radical changes of this nature will 
 take place. Already there are a number of Training Col- 
 leges closely attached to Universities, as in London, Man- 
 chester, and Leeds ; the students receive their academic 
 training in the University, and their professional training 
 is given by the staff of the Training College. 
 
 Training Colleges for elementary teachers are now 
 usually classified, according to the nature of the responsible 
 body, as University, Council, or Voluntary. The first- 
 mentioned are either Training Departments of Universities 
 or of Constituent Colleges of Universities, Training De- 
 partments of University Colleges, or Training Colleges 
 provided by a University. Council Colleges arc those 
 which are provided by Local Education Authorities. 
 
 The ordinary course of training covers two years, and 
 occasionally is extended to three. For students of a Col- 
 lege closely connected with a University and providing a
 
 32 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 course of study leading to a degree, the course is usually one 
 of three years, and in the case of students aiming at an 
 Honours Degree four years. 
 
 The Board has authorised two principal methods for 
 obtaining a constant flow of students into the Training 
 Colleges. " A Local Education Authority for Higher or 
 Elementary Education may recommend for recognition as 
 bursars boys or girls who intend to become in the future 
 Elementary School teachers and are attending full time 
 at a Secondary School . . . but require assistance in order 
 to render their continuance at the school financially pos- 
 sible." A bursar is recognised for one year only. The 
 candidate must be over sixteen and under eighteen, and 
 his parents must sign a declaration of the bona-fide inten- 
 tion of the bursar to become a teacher in a Public Elemen- 
 tary School. He must produce a certificate from the head 
 master or mistress of the Secondary School stating that he 
 is not unsuitable for the profession, and that he may rea- 
 sonably be expected to pass an examination during his 
 bursarship qualifying for entrance to a Training College. 
 At the end of the year of recognition, bursars may, if they 
 do not remain at the Secondary School, either (1) enter a 
 Training College for Elementary teachers,^ or (2) enter a 
 Training School of domestic subjects, or (3) become 
 student teachers ... in an area in which the authority 
 has brougiit into operation a scheme approved by the 
 Board of Education for the supervision of student teachers. 
 The student teachership lasts ordinarily for one year, but 
 may be continued for a second year with the approval of 
 the Board of Education. During this period a considerable 
 time must be spent under supervision in an Elementary 
 School ; the rest of the time is generally spent in the 
 
 ^ A list of the examinations qualifying for admission to a Training 
 College is given in Appendix A of the " Regulations for the Training 
 of Teachers for Elementary Schools," and in Circular 1166.
 
 HIGHEE EDUCATION 33 
 
 Secondary School attended as a bursar. The original 
 arrangement was that the student teacher attended'' the 
 Elementary School not more than eight times per week, 
 but under recent regulations the Board allows Local 
 Authorities to submit schemes adapted to local conditions 
 in regard to the division of the time between training, 
 instruction, and recreation. At the end of this period the 
 student teacher enters a Training College.^ 
 
 Persons over eighteen years of age, who have been 
 neither bursars nor student teachers, may enter a Training 
 College on condition that they have passed the qualifying 
 examination, and on the further condition that they receive 
 during their Training College course an adequate amount 
 of practice in teaching. 
 
 One feature of this system has met with considerable 
 criticism. Head-teachers of Secondary Schools find great 
 difficulty in dealing with the student teachers attending 
 their schools only twice a week. They form usually a 
 small and somewhat alien section, whose chief interests lie 
 outside the school, and whom it is difficult to fit into the 
 school organisation. When Training Colleges become 
 integral parts of Universities the difficulty will be over- 
 come. 
 
 The second princij)al means of entrance to a Training 
 College is through a course of training and instruction as 
 pupil-teachers. The Regulations provide that boys and 
 girls who are receiving (a) training in teaching in Public 
 Elementary Schools, together with (6) instruction ;iccepted 
 by the Board, may be recognised as pupil-teachers. The 
 period for which they are recognised is normally two years. 
 The Local Education Authority undostakcs to see that tlie 
 pupil-teacher receives proper training in teaching and a 
 
 ^ For exceptions to these arrangements see " Regulations for the 
 Preliminary Education of Elementary School Teachers,'' pp. 2-LJ. The 
 exceptions usually refer to pupil-teachers in country schools. 
 
 3
 
 34 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 course of academic instruction. He may be employed for 
 not more than half and not less than a quarter of the 
 number of Elementary School meetings throughout the 
 period for which he is recognised, and in addition to the 
 time set apart for his academic instruction he must have 
 either two half-days or one whole day in each week free 
 from employment. Great care is exercised by the Board 
 ■that the centres for instruction of pupil-teachers are 
 adapted to the task. A Pupil-Teachers' Centre may either 
 form an integral part of a Secondary School recognised as 
 efficient and suitably equipped for the special purpose, or 
 be regarded as attached to one or more Secondary' Schools 
 or Higher Elementary Schools, or be conducted as a 
 separate institution. The minimum number of hours and 
 times during which the pupil-teacher may attend are also 
 fixed. Preparatory classes for boys and girls intending to 
 become pupil-teachers may provide instruction between 
 the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and must fulfil the 
 Board's other conditions.^ 
 
 It is tolerably clear what the common aim of these two 
 methods of securing trained recruits for the teaching pro- 
 fession is. The old pupil-teacher system failed in several 
 ways. At a verj' early age it segregated the candidates to 
 then' great hurt ; it also placed too much work and respon- 
 sibility upon the shoulders of very inexperienced young 
 people, often to their own disadvantage and to that of the 
 scholars they taught. They acquired also too often merely 
 empirical methods of teaching, formed habits good and 
 bad before they were old enough to reflect successfully, 
 and retained them during a grotesquely long pupil-teacher- 
 ship until they had lost the plasticity necessary in bringing 
 about any modification of them. These faults the present 
 systems have done something to correct. One thing, how- 
 
 ^ For further information on the whole subject see "Regulations 
 for the Preliminary Education of Elementary School Teachers."
 
 HIGHER EDUCATION 35 
 
 ever, the old system seems to have done successfully : it 
 conferred upon the pupil-teacher a facility in managing 
 childi-en, " in keeping his or her end up" before a class 
 which the present pupil-teacher and the student teacher 
 often lack. The cure for present failings seems to lie in 
 effecting a compromise between the two systems. 
 
 The provision for training Secondary School teachers is 
 very small, although it has to be remembered that many 
 students trained in Colleges for Elementary teachers find 
 employment later in Second Grade Elementary Schools. 
 Even making allowance for the small number of pupils in 
 Secondary Schools compared with those in Elementary 
 Schools, the proportion of trained Secondary teachers is 
 absurdly low. The chief reason for this state of things is 
 to be found in the remarkable belief held by very many 
 persons interested in Higher Education that training is 
 unnecessary. It is assumed that a man or woman of 
 knowledge and culture can teach without studying the art 
 of teaching. There is generally a grain of truth in any 
 nonsense, and it is true that the trained teacher runs the 
 risk of having his enthusiasm and innate teaching gifts 
 reduced to a sterile formalism. The mass of candidates 
 for the teaching profession, nevertheless, need training, 
 and benefit by it. 
 
 The course followed in the Secondary Training Colleges 
 is confined to professional work, and must extend over not 
 less than a full academical year. Only those students are 
 recognised who have obtained a degree or some other 
 approved qualification previous to the commencement of 
 their course. It is an essential condition of the recognition 
 of a College that suitable Secondary Schools should be 
 available in which students can study and practise the art 
 of teaching. The Board of Education has lately favoured 
 an arrangement by which a Training College or a Training 
 Department of a University works in close connection with
 
 36 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 a group of ai)proved Secondary Schools. The Training 
 College undertakes the ultimate responsihility for the 
 whole of the student's training, and delegates the respon- 
 sibility for the practical training to the authorities of 
 Secondary Schools of an approved type. This organisa- 
 tion is thus a compromise between two types — one which 
 makes the Training College the centre and the other which 
 makes the school the centre of the training of the student.
 
 CHAPTEK III 
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND EQUIPMENT 
 
 The school building plays its part in the educative process. 
 If it occupies a jDosition of dignity, stands out from its 
 commonplace surroundings, has an appeai'ance both inside 
 and outside which commands respect, and is light and 
 cheerful within, the effect upon the pupil is bound to b© 
 good. When, as is unfortunately so often the case, it is 
 cramped among dwellings, built like a factory or barracks, 
 and is dull and cheerless, the effect is just as certain to be 
 bad. It is desirable, too, that the pupils should feel 
 attracted to their school, should admire it as an institu- 
 tion ; and from this point of view no care spent on adding 
 dignity and beauty to the building can be considered as 
 wasted. The more uncongenial the surroundings, the 
 greater the necessity for a fine school. 
 
 The effect upon the parents and other inhabitants of the 
 district is also considerable. The Englishman is notorious 
 for his contempt of, or at least his indifference to, educa- 
 tion, and if a few millions spent on school buildings would 
 convert him, the investment would be a paying one. 
 
 The teacher more than anyone feels the influence of 
 noble surroundings. His life tends to become largely 
 routine, and is felt to be monotonous. Through the con- 
 stant need for "fool explanations" and for repetition ad 
 7iauseam, through everlasting contact with minds far less 
 developed than his own, he often comes to regard himself 
 as a " hack." When to this is joined a depressing build- 
 ing, with badly lighted rooms, labyrinthine corridors j or 
 
 37
 
 38 THE CUKEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 windows too far from the floor to permit a glimpse of the 
 outside world, then he may indeed feel himself in a back- 
 wash of human activity. No one can measure the amount 
 of influence that school buildings have had upon the teach- 
 ing profession. 
 
 It is undeniable that some of the best educational work 
 and training has been done in buildings ill-fitted for their 
 purpose. But it should be remembered that such work 
 has been done in spite of disadvantageous conditions, and 
 that while teachers of genius and of a naturally cheerful 
 temperament may rise superior to circumstances, others, 
 and by far the greater number, are extremely sensitive to 
 them. The principles which condition the activities of the 
 ordinary human being, and not those of the genius, are 
 most worth attention. When the school building, like the 
 church, possesses a dignity and artistic beauty of its ovv'n 
 commensurate with its importance, influencing in the 
 fullest possible manner pupils, parents, and teachers, the 
 whole organisation of education will feel its beneficent 
 effects, and the schools of the country may then become 
 institutions around which centre the affections of its 
 people, and social as well as educational activities. 
 
 School architecture is still in the experhnental stage. 
 The hygienic and educational problems involved are by no 
 means mastered. It is anticipated that changes in our 
 educational methods will in the immediate future be at 
 least as rapid as in the past, that many of the more impos- 
 ing edifices lately erected will in thirty or forty years be 
 structurally antiquated. The growing realisation of the 
 importance of manual and physical work, of securing the 
 active collaboration of the pupils, and of open-air work, 
 will necessitate school buildings of a type very different 
 from those of to-day. Hence it seems inadvisable to build 
 schools of a very enduring structure.
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITUEE, AND EQUIPMENT 39 
 
 In deciding upon the site of a school building, care 
 should be taken that it is in an open spot, and that the 
 surroundings should not be of an undesirable kind. It 
 should not be built near noisy factories, workshops, rail- 
 ways, or busy roads, and, if possible, should be reasonably 
 near some park or open space. The class-rooms should, as 
 a rule, face south-east or east. It has been customary, 
 generally owing to lack of space, to build the Elementary 
 School on three floors, but it is desirable to choose a site 
 where the school building can be made to cover a larger 
 area, the ideal being that the whole school should be on the 
 ground floor. 
 
 The new demand for open-air classes will necessitate 
 some modifications in the nature of the playground — per- 
 haps the presence of a number of trees to provide shade. 
 The school garden, too, will demand more playground 
 space. Roof playgrounds are useful where better provi- 
 sion is impossible. The Board of Education Regulations 
 stipulate in schools of less than 200 children a minimum 
 playground space of 2,000 square feet, together with 20 
 square feet for each older and G square feet for each 
 younger child. The shape of the playground should 
 approximate to a square, and should have a warm, sunny 
 aspect. 
 
 In the planning of the school building consideration has 
 to be given to the proposed organisation into departments 
 and classes, and to the number of children the school is 
 intended to aocommodate. With regard to the first, the 
 rule laid down in the Regulations is that no single depart- 
 ment should contain more than 400 children, and Local 
 Authorities are advised that separate departments for older 
 boys and girls make organisation easier and more efficient. 
 The question as to whether children under five years of age 
 should be admitted to the school is now left to the discre- 
 tion of the Local Education Authority, and the decision,
 
 40 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 must affect the general plan of the building. Moreover, 
 in different districts the leaving age varies ; in some parts 
 of the country the top classes are very small ; in other parts 
 fairly large ; and this has to be considered when the school 
 is to be erected. The question arises as to what is the 
 ideal size. In our large towns it would appear that be- 
 tween 300 and 400 is regarded as the most convenient com- 
 plement of a department, and therefore between 900 and 
 1,200 of the whole school. In the large towns of Germany 
 the number of children in one school often reaches 2,000 
 or 3,000, and among these there are none under six years 
 of age. It is evident that the two countries have different 
 opinions on the subject. On the one hand, classification 
 tends to become more efficient when the school is large ; 
 but on the other, the organisation becomes more machine- 
 like and misses the direct influence of the head-teacher, 
 who can only very seldom know anything of individuals. 
 There is little doubt that the last consideration is of vital 
 importance, and English teachers have always attached 
 great value to it. It is, however, very difficult to adhere 
 always to a good principle in the face of actual conditions. 
 For example, the swift growth of some towns or parts of 
 towns has created an emergency which can only be met by 
 building a very large school ; for land has been very ex- 
 pensive, and one plot is cheaper than two. For these and 
 other reasons we find schools of different sizes. In Lon- 
 don the schools are gi'aded according to their size ; Grade I. 
 having any number of pupils up to 200, Grade II. from 200 
 to 400, and Grade III. more than 400, so that even in the 
 largest there is nothing to prevent the head-teacher's in- 
 fluence being felt throughout the school. 
 
 The population of some neighbourhoods fluctuates very 
 much, and a sudden increase has brought about the erec- 
 tion of some very large schools ; ten or tvv-enty years later, 
 with the completion of the great engineering work or the
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITUEE, AND EQUIPMENT 41 
 
 exhaustion of the mine, the population has become normal 
 and left the schools without pupils. It has been found 
 advisable, therefore, to meet a sudden need for increased 
 accommodation by putting" up small temporary buildings 
 in the playground or near the school, and to dismantle 
 them when the emergency is over. Such temporary build- 
 ings may, when suitably constructed, be used again and 
 again to meet similar passing needs. 
 
 The provision of a hall is essential to any large school, 
 and this need, again, complicates the question of the 
 general plan of the school. The school building erected 
 after 1870 consisted generally of three floors, arranged 
 symmetrically one over the other. The infant department 
 was invariably on the ground floor, the boys usually occu- 
 pied the middle, and the girls the top floor. Frequently 
 corridors ran along the length of the school and the class- 
 rooms opened out from them . The corridor developed into 
 a central hall, and for many years no large school building 
 was erected without a central hall, with class-rooms open- 
 ing out of it generally on all four sides. 
 
 One great disadvantage of this arrangement was the 
 failure to secure an adequate supply of fresh air in class- 
 room and hall. Moreover, several of the class-rooms would 
 necessarily be deprived of adequate sunlight and natural 
 heat. Efiicient ventilation and a proper supply of sun- 
 light are now known to be vital to health ; it is therefore 
 regarded as essential that class-rooms should be so arranged 
 that they obtain the necessary supplies of fresh air and 
 sunlight. To obtain the former they must have unob- 
 structed windows on two opposite sides of the rooms. To 
 secure the latter the windows must not face north. The 
 centrally-placed hall was also a constantly disturbing factor. 
 Since physical exercises and chorus-singing were often 
 carried on there, the resultant noise was very distracting
 
 42 
 
 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 for the children in adjacent class-rooms. This was 
 specially true in the case of the infant department, where 
 the hall was in constant use the whole day, and where 
 restrictions as to noise would be educationally most harm- 
 ful. The educational value of a hall — its use for assembly, 
 the opportunity it offers for cultivating a corporate life — is 
 so great that it cannot be dispensed with, and a great deal 
 of thought has been given to the problem of how to retain 
 it without retaining the disadvantages. 
 
 Some schools have been designed on the lines of the fol- 
 
 lowing rough diagram 
 
 J. 
 
 J 
 
 nnzrzrj: 
 
 MALL 
 
 n 
 
 - 
 
 □ 
 
 3 
 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 The common hall is placed close to the infant depart- 
 ment, and can be reached from it by means of a covered 
 verandah. The children of the other departments have 
 sometimes to brave the elements to reach it. To every 
 class-room through ventilation and direct sunlight are 
 secured, and no classes are disturbed by the noise which is 
 so often a necessary element of work or play in the central 
 hall. As all departments use the hall, it is probable that 
 each department uses it insufficiently, and there would 
 be considerable advantage if the infants had in addi- 
 tion a large room for organised games and free move- 
 ment.
 
 BUILDINGS, FUKNITURE, AND EQUIPMENT 43 
 Another variant is roughly as follows : 
 
 HALL 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 In this case the school is not a "pavilion school," but is 
 built in storeys, and would therefore be more suitable for 
 an urban area where land is expensive. At the same time, 
 it is evident that such a plan requires more space than the 
 old type of school, and owing to the projecting wings 
 diminishes effective playgTound space. Perhaps, too, such 
 a plan increases the difficulty in the way of an artistic 
 design. None the less, the great aim being to secure 
 hygienic efficiency, it is probable that the advantages out- 
 weigh the disadvantages. 
 
 It is in the class-room that pupil and teacher spend most 
 of their time, and therefore any care spent upon making it 
 thoroughly hygienic, comfortable, and artistic will not be 
 wasted. The Board of Education by its Kegulations lays 
 down minimum demands with regard to the first two 
 conditions. 
 
 For infants at least 9 square feet per head of floor-space 
 must be provided, and 10 square feet for older children. 
 Long and narrow rooms must be avoided, because they 
 throw a strain upon children's sight and the teacher's 
 voice, and make supervision and instruction difficult. It 
 will be advisable to have class-rooms of different sizes, 
 since classes tend to diminish in numbers as the leaving 
 age approaches, and variations in numbers occur owing to 
 promotion and other causes. There should be, too, a suffi- 
 cient number to preclude the necessity of two teachers
 
 44 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 working in the same class-room. The latter regulation, 
 together with another forbidding the use of class-rooms as 
 passage-ways either to other class-rooms or to entrances, 
 secures for the modern teacher and liis work a degree of 
 comfort unknown to former generations. 
 
 Teachers of only twenty years' experience will remem- 
 ber the congested state of many rooms. The Eegulations 
 are now quite clear with regard to this point, and demand 
 that a space of 7 feet inches along the whole front of 
 the class be kept free of desks ; that gangways between 
 dual desks be 1 foot 4 inches in width ; and that 1 foot of 
 space be left between the last rows of desks and the walls. 
 Temporary difficulties, however, often cause a suspension 
 of these rules. 
 
 In arranging the desks care should be taken that the 
 most favourable position for good lighting is selected ; they 
 should be placed so that the light falls from the left of the 
 pupils. It is better that neither teacher nor pupils should 
 face windows, since objects between the observer and a 
 strong light are seen with difficulty. With artificial light- 
 ing, too, certain necessary precautions should be taken. 
 When natural light on winter days begins to fail, all in- 
 struction which involves looking at small print or black- 
 board wTiting should be discontinued, or carried on only 
 under really good artificial light. Far too little attention 
 is given to this matter. Teachers should never, under any 
 conditions, allow children to undertake work which in- 
 volves the slightest strain upon the eyes. Every Local 
 Authority, too, should regard it as a most important duty to 
 see that the lighting is sufficient to enable the pupils to do 
 their work without this strain. When gas is used, the 
 installation should include a provision by means of which 
 the fumes are driven out of the room. If the ordinary 
 incandescent burner is employed, the greatest care should 
 be taken to secure a constant current of fresh air, Eleo
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITUBE, AND EQUIPMENT 45 
 
 trie lighting is probably the best, as it neither heats to any 
 extent nor vitiates the air of tlie room. 
 
 "The colouring of the walls and ceilings and of all 
 fittings in the rooms should be carefully considered as 
 affecting the light." Those parts of the wall which 
 grimy fingers can touch should of a dark colour, so as not 
 to show the dirt ; the upper parts require a colour, such as 
 pale green, which neither absorbs light nor fatigues the 
 eye. 
 
 The proper ventilation of the class-room is a matter of 
 the first importance. The health of the child, his power 
 to attend and respond to instruction, his behaviour, and, 
 in fact, his whole future, depend to a great degree upon 
 the provision of fresh air. The teacher can and must help 
 in this vital matter. He can see that sufficient windows 
 are open top and bottom ; that the proper windows are 
 open, the proper blinds are drawn, and that during recrea- 
 tion and lunch hour the rooms are thoroughly flushed. 
 Even under unfavourable conditions these matters can be 
 attended to, and many of the worst evils of bad ventilating 
 arrangements mitigated. In Continental countries and in 
 i^merica the great cold has produced the double window 
 and the overheated and often stuffy room. The same im- 
 pulse which leads the German traveller to close all the 
 railway-carriage windows makes the German schoolmaster 
 seal up his class-room in the same way, with the result 
 that the atmosphere is frequently unbearable. No one 
 can tell what the evil effects upon the children have been. 
 In our own country the blessings of fresh air are more 
 generally recognised, but even here much more thought 
 would be given to the subject if its importance were more 
 clearly realised. Much has been done by designers of 
 schools to aid the teacher in this work, and the Board of 
 Education nightly insists that certain conditions vshould be 
 observed. "The inlets for fresh air should be large and
 
 46 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 well distributed, and be provided with some arrangement 
 to divert the incoming air from striking directly on to the 
 children and teachers." The "draught-board," so com- 
 mon in nearly all urban schools, by directing the incoming 
 air upwards, permits the opening of the lower part of the 
 window. Mr. Clay strongly recommends that glazed 
 hoppers should be fitted to all the window-frames down 
 each side of the room. The sash should be of the rising 
 type, so that the space by which the air enters can be 
 made large or small. In hopper openings at the top of 
 windows the slant of the swing window is inwards and 
 upwards, so that the incoming air is directed first to the 
 ceiling. It is found, however, that its force is not spent 
 on striking the ceiling, and that in cold weather it de- 
 scends as a cold draught upon the heads of the children. 
 Centre-hung swing panes should in mild w^eather be open 
 as wide as ix)ssible, and in cold weather used for flushing 
 purposes. Other means of admitting fresh ak, especially 
 necessary when in winter many windows must be closed or 
 almost closed, are by means of Tobin's tubes, ventilating 
 grates, and openings behind the hot-water radiators. 
 
 Mechanical and combined systems of heating and venti- 
 lation in which an- raised to a sufficient temperature to 
 warm the rooms is used for ventilation are not to be recom- 
 mended. The Plenum system is an example. For effi- 
 cient working all windows and doors have to be kept 
 closed ; the windows are fastened and are practically never 
 opened. In all these systems "the stimulating and in- 
 vigorating effects of fresh, cool air are lost " ; and in addi- 
 tion the children acquire the bad habit of sitting in rooms 
 with closed windows. As private houses are never supplied 
 with such a system of ventilation, the children miss those 
 practical lessons in natural ventilation which would be of 
 real service in their home life. 
 
 In England the problem of heating rooms properly is
 
 BUILDINGS, FUKNITUEE, AND EQUIPMENT 47 
 
 much simpler than in Continental countries and in 
 America, where the cold is sometimes severe and pro- 
 longed. In our own schools and under normal conditions 
 it is a fairly simple matter to maintain the proper tempera- 
 ture of between 56° and 60° F. It must be remembered, 
 however, that the facility of the problem by no means 
 obviates the necessity of dealing with it. Eoom tempera- 
 tures of 50° F. involve a discomfort to the pupils which is 
 opposed to mental activity, and a temperature in the 
 neighbourhood of 40° lowers the vitality to such a degree 
 as to make school work almost barren of results. The 
 teacher sometimes forgets the difference between his own 
 position and that of the children ; he is constantly moving : 
 they are often sitting still for prolonged periods ; he can 
 put on an extra coat, and the woman teacher often does 
 so : they cannot ; he has warm winter clothing : they are 
 frequently ill-clothed ; he can scarcely help being in the 
 neighbourhood of the fire : many of the pupils are remote 
 from it. These differences should be remembered, and 
 steps taken to render the children as comfortable as pos- 
 sible. In cold weather they should have plenty of oppor- 
 tunities for movement ; frequent exercise should be taken 
 and the thermometer should be frequently consulted in 
 order to see that the temperature is being maintained at 
 the required height. The amount of heating is largely 
 determined by the kind and amount of ventilation, "for 
 the full use of fresh-air openings is largely governed by the 
 power of quickly warming the room. Where cross-ventila- 
 tion is provided, a single firej)lace will be insufficient to 
 warm the room." In a large room heated by an open fire 
 the heating should be supplemented by hot-water pipes on 
 the side farthest from the fire. As a rule the teacher has 
 no voice in the choice of the system of heating, by open 
 fire, stoves, gas radiators, warm air, or hot water, but he 
 can do his best to apply his knowledge of principles, so
 
 48 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 that the air of his class-room is kept as fresh as possible 
 and as warm or as cool as under the existing conditions is 
 best calculated to maintain his scholars' health and mental 
 activity. 
 
 The furniture of the class-room should be of a non- 
 obstructive kind, and easily movable, so as to ahow of the 
 class-room being easily cleaned. It is, for example, better 
 to have cupboards let into the wall than separate ones. 
 It is better to have single or dual desks than long ones. 
 It should be possible to clear a room easily and render it 
 available for freer forms of movement, or for handwork 
 and activities which require large flat tables instead of 
 desks. If University desks are ordinarily employed, and 
 the class-room floor is level throughout, this becomes an 
 easy matter. In such a room, wall-slates at a proper 
 height should be provided in plenty, especially in all 
 infants' class-rooms. For the youngest children small 
 tables with chairs are preferable to desks, so that the floor- 
 space may be made easily available for free movements. 
 It is almost equally important that the older children 
 should enjoy the same advantages, and that we should rid 
 ourselves of the notion that our pupils must always be 
 seated at desks. 
 
 In front of the class and close to the middle of the rear 
 wall a platform is sometimes placed, to enable the teacher 
 to overlook the whole class. The platform should be 
 movable, so that it need occupy room-space only when the 
 teacher is diminutive. It should not be more than 6 inches 
 high, and if placed as far from the class as possible Vv^ill 
 involve no muscular strain to neck or eyes of the nearest 
 pupils. As a rule it is unnecessary, and table and black- 
 boai"ds are the only furniture which should occupy the 
 space in front of the class. 
 
 ' ' Seats and either desks or tables should be provided for 
 all the children, varying in size according to the heights of
 
 BUILDINGS, FUKNITUKE, AND EQUIPMENT 49 
 
 the children, and placed at right angles to the window 
 wall. The seats should be fitted with backs. If desks are 
 supplied, they must be single or dual. In selecting seats 
 attention should be paid to the following points : 
 
 " (a) The height from the floor to the seat should be 
 such as to allow the child when seated to rest its foot on 
 the ground or on a suitable footboard. The upper part of 
 the children's leg should be horizontal and the lower part 
 vertical . 
 
 " (h) The height from the seat to the writing surface 
 should allow the child when writing to sit upright in an 
 easy position. 
 
 " (c) The edge of the writing surface should be almost 
 directly over the edge of the seat. It is better that the 
 writing surface should overlap the seat somewhat than 
 that there should be any appreciable distance, measured 
 horizontally, between the two edges." 
 
 The teacher has generally little or nothing to do with 
 the selection of desks, but he can be awake to the neces- 
 sities of the situation. He can try to approximate as 
 closely as possible to the above rules by using intelligently 
 the desks placed in his room, and choosing for each child 
 the desk best adapted to his size. In cases where the room 
 contains no desks to suit certain children, he may be able 
 to effect exchanges with other teachers similarly placed. 
 When suitable desks have been allocated they should be 
 retained, and a fresh distribution made as soon as the 
 bodily growth of the pupils demand it. If a child has to 
 stand, he should move out from the desk into the gangway 
 to allow of an erect position. It is impossible to insist too 
 strongly on the necessity for allowing children to change 
 their position frequently, to do work which does not in- 
 volve sitting, and to move about with a reasonable degree 
 of freedom And when they are compelled by certain 
 kinds of work to keep seated, the intelligent and humane 
 
 4
 
 50 THE CUKEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 teacher will be constantly on the alert to encourage or 
 enforce good healthy sitting positions, for in spite of the 
 most hygienic desks children can and do assume most un- 
 healthy positions. 
 
 In general, it may be said that one of the most important 
 duties of the teacher is to counteract the injurious elfects 
 upon his pupils of confinement, of prolonged sitting, and 
 consequent loss of the advantage of natural and lieneficial 
 activity ; to achieve this by vigilant attention to the chang- 
 ing physical conditions under v^^hich instruction has to be 
 carried on ; by not relying upon the mechanical hygienic 
 arrangements of the class-room, but by constantly applying 
 common sense and scientific health principles to the school 
 routine. The young teacher is often so closely occupied 
 with problems of order and methods of teaching that he 
 overlooks this side of his work entirely, and only under the 
 supervision of a watchful hea^-teacher will he come to 
 regard this side of his work seriously. Nothing can com- 
 pensate for loss of health, and loss of health is often 
 brought about by neglect of matters apparently insigni- 
 ficant. 
 
 It is desirable that the accommodation of schools should 
 be somewhat greater than the actual average number of 
 children in attendance, and that there should be one or 
 two rooms in excess of the actual number of classes. 
 These extra rooms are specially necessary when it is not 
 easy to clear the floor-space of class-rooms in the way 
 previously described. The extra rooms could be used for 
 practical work — Nature-study, handwork of all kinds — and 
 by various classes in turn. The Regulations rightly sug- 
 gest that such rooms would be better without fixed furni- 
 ture, but unfortunately permit them to be reckoned to- 
 wards the accommodation which the school is recognised 
 as providing. In the infant school one of these rooms 
 would naturally become the playroom.
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITUKE, AND EQUIPMENT 51 
 
 The extra room must not be considered a substitute for 
 the handicraft room, which should be modelled on the 
 basis of a workshop rather than a school. Most Local 
 Authorities, in order to reduce expenditure, have estab- 
 lished Handicraft Centres to which the pupils of a group 
 of schools are sent in turn. Under the conditions which 
 existed when handicraft was first introduced this was 
 necessary, because the subject was still in its experimental 
 stage, and also in order to make the best use of the small 
 number of cjualified teachers. It is now no longer in the 
 experimental stao;e, and a "very large number of teachers 
 have qualified themselves to teach it. Not only so ; it has 
 been brought into very close relations with the other sub- 
 jects of the cuniculum, and is now also prized as an indis- 
 pensable method of teaching geography, technical drawing, 
 and other subjects. Instead, therefore, of centres which 
 are nearly always alien to the life and purposes of the 
 individual school, there should be a handicraft room in 
 every large school, under the direct supervision of the head- 
 teacher, who would co-ordinate the work done there with 
 the general school activities. ' The same remarks apply, 
 in a modified form perhaps, to the organisation for the 
 •teaching of domestic subjects, such as cookery, laundry- 
 work, and general housewifery. In small schools, the 
 children will naturally attend the centres for such subjects. 
 "A large room, suitable for instruction in cookery and 
 laundry -work, would also be suitable for the teaching of 
 combined domestic subjects, with the addition of at least 
 two adjoining rooms, each approximately 14 feet by 12 feet, 
 furnished as a sitting-room and bedroom respectively." 
 
 In Higher Elementary and Central Schools there should 
 be a room specially fitted for advanced drawing, arranged 
 so that it receives a north light ; and besides a simply 
 furnished laboratory for practical science work, there 
 should be a demonstration room with demonstration table
 
 52 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 and a stoep gallery to afford a proper view of the teacher's 
 experimental procedure. 
 
 It is obvious that many of the material advantages 
 mentioned will be all but impossible in the case of small 
 schools. These material disadvantages may be balanced 
 by the spiritual and intellectual advantages of more in- 
 timate contact with the head-teacher, and the school con- 
 ditions may make for equally efficient work. The head- 
 teacher frequently teaches the three or four highest 
 standards himself, and has perhaps two assistants for the 
 rest of the upper schools. In such a case it will be neces- 
 sary to have a "main room " — that is, a room in which 
 such composite classes can be divided into sections in order 
 to make the instruction efficient. The main room may 
 thus be occupied by two or three standards, working at 
 different tasks, one of them being under direct oral instruc- 
 tion. It is desirable, therefore, that the room used in this 
 way should be considerably larger than an ordinary class- 
 room, and, v/here there is no hall, should have space suffi- 
 cient to allow of physical exercises and other free work of 
 the kind already described. 
 
 It has become a time-honoured custom to hang maps, 
 pictures, and illustrative w^ork of all kinds upon the walls 
 of the class-rooms. Some teachers believe that a map 
 which is permanently placed before the pupils will end by 
 impressing its features upon them. Experience shows, 
 however, that children's attention is very rarely tm'ned to 
 familiar objects, and that therefore no educational good 
 accrues. The subconscious effects of the surroundings 
 are, nevertheless, great. When the pictures are worthless 
 from an artistic point of view, the colours crude, and the 
 surface dirty ; when the maps are defaced and cracked by 
 long usage and exposure; when, in fact, the children's 
 general surroundings are inartistic, their taste tends to 
 become depraved. Like the school building itself, the
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND EQUIPMENT 53 
 
 class-room should possess a dignity of its own, and exercise 
 a beneficial influence on all who spend their time there. 
 Maps should usually be consigned to store-room cupboards, 
 and only worthy illustrations should appear on the walls of 
 the rooms. 
 
 Cleanliness and brightness should characterise the class- 
 room. Monitors, if properly directed and supervised, will 
 give the finishing touches to the work of the school cleaner, 
 and a few plants and well-chosen pictures will contribute 
 to malve the class-room a cheerful and comfortable place, 
 in which the cultivation of a healthy body and a healthy 
 mind meets with no unnecessary obstacles. 
 
 The Secondary School 
 
 A great part of what has already been said of the 
 Elementary School building and equipment applies equally 
 to the Secondary School. Certain modifications in the 
 arrangements are necessary in order to satisfy the different 
 conditions. In the Secondary School, for example, the 
 scholars are in general older, and their work is also of a 
 more advanced type. The approach of adolescence is 
 characterised by bodily and mental conditions which re- 
 quire to be met in part by a suitable material environment. 
 (1 rowth is rapid and energy diminishes ; it is a time of 
 nervous disintegration, and, more important than all else, 
 the primary and secondary sex functions begin to play 
 their part. With diminished energy, there is a return to 
 passive attention; dull and formal repetition of all kinds, 
 unless the material is interesting, becomes tedious. The 
 power to think abstractly, to understand principles 
 appears, and memorising must now be carried on by means 
 of logical connections. The pupil begins to experience and 
 to sympathise with hitherto almost unknown emotions, 
 such as love, jealousy, pity. His ideals begin to take 
 shape, and, to his confusion, appear often in strange con-
 
 54 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 tradiction with each other. His personahty begins to 
 show more definitely, and the ambitions and more perma- 
 nent desires begin to indicate what path in hfe he will 
 follow. Arbitraiy authority is now ruled out and reason 
 takes its place. 
 
 To these bodily and mental changes even the school 
 buildings and adjuncts must adjust themselves. We note, 
 for example, that to the freer and less highly organised 
 games of childhood succeed self-controlled and finely 
 adjusted gymnastic movements ; and for these a gym- 
 nasium is required. The free play of younger children 
 develops in adolescence into more highly organised group 
 games and contests in which the individual is subordinated 
 to the team ; and for these the school needs a playing-field. 
 The class-rooms should be spacious and the classes some- 
 what smaller. Science laboratories, art rooms, and music 
 rooms should be provided. We may, indeed, assert that 
 the guiding principle in differentiating between the Ele- 
 mentary and the Secondary scholar is based upon differ- 
 ences of physical and intellectual characteristics and upon 
 the difference of aims in the two branches of education. 
 Anything to which this principle cannot be apphed, any- 
 thing over and above what this principle directs, must be 
 either a superfluity or something to which the Elementary 
 School child is equally entitled. 
 
 It should be noted that many children of the highest 
 classes of the Elementary School are undergoing the same 
 physical and mental developments as those of the Second- 
 ary School. Poor and well-to-do, scholarship and non- 
 scholarship pupils, all have to pass through the same gate 
 to manhood or womanhood. Arguing, therefore, from the 
 nature of the older scholar, there will be but little need to 
 differentiate. The additional provision of science and art 
 rooms will be the result of attempting more advanced work. 
 
 The differences between Elementary and Secondary
 
 BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, AND EQUIPMENT 55 
 
 School children have been over-emphasised. It is common 
 knowledge that the Secondary School provided by the 
 municipality is built and equipped in a style superior to the 
 Elementary School. The playground is, in accordance 
 with 'the Regulations of the Board of Education, very 
 much larger and is provided with seats ; there are playing- 
 fields o? at least 2 acres, and a gymnasium with minimum 
 dimensions of 50 and 25 feet. It is laid down that class- 
 rooms 01 Elementary Schools should not be designed for 
 more thaa 60 , or at the rate of 2 for every 100 pupils ; those 
 of Secondary Schools for not more than 30, or at the rate 
 of 4 for every 100 pupils. The provision of extra rooms, 
 lecture ro^ms, and a library, is also recommended for the 
 latter. The hall of the Elementary School should have, 
 we are told, a floor space of about 8| square feet for each 
 scholar ; tiat of the Secondary School one of from 6 to 8 
 square feei. The class-room of the former is planned on 
 the 10 sqmre feet basis, and of the latter on the basis of 
 from 16 to 18 square feet per child. 
 
 With reference to the Elementary School, it is stated in 
 quite a theoretical manner that, " where possible, arrange- 
 ments for Irying wet clothes are valuable ' ' ; with refer- 
 ence to the Secondary School that "it is very desirable to 
 provide a snail drying room for wet cloaks." " In large 
 Secondary Schools," too, " it is desirable to provide chang- 
 ing rooms, which should be fitted with fixed seats, pegs, 
 lockers, anc boot-racks." In the matter of lavatories, the 
 former shoild provide both in boys' and girls' departments 
 1 lavatory lasin for every 25 children ; the latter 1 for every 
 20 boys ani 1 for every 10 girls up to 100. The same 
 exaggeratiai of the differences between the needs of Ele- 
 mentary aid Secondary School children is found in many 
 other dkecions, always to the disadvantage of the former. 
 We find tlie same marked differences when we examine 
 the recomnendations with regard to the accommodation
 
 66 
 
 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 for the teacher. The Elementary "Teachers' Rooms" 
 and appurtenances are on a scale much inferior to that of 
 the "Staff Rooms" and corresponding arrangements for 
 Secondary teachers. 
 
 Many of the differences just noted are necessary, some 
 of them seem over-emphasised, and some seem rather 
 arbitrary. It is quite possible that the two schemes of 
 l^lanning have been worked out independently. It is none 
 the less necessary to maintain that the schools of the 
 people require as much attention and care in all that con- 
 duces to physical w^ell-being, comfort, and individual self- 
 respect as those of the middle classes. HumaMtarians 
 might reasonably claim that the Elementary Sciool chil- 
 dren's needs are greater, and thus require more attention.
 
 CHAPTEE IV 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE CUERICULUM— ELEMENTARY 
 SCHOOLS 
 
 What are the children for whom the State has organised 
 an educational system and established schools to be 
 taught? So far in this book we have been dealing with 
 mere material arrangements, which are important only 
 because they make the work of educating possible. Now 
 we are in contact with almost the central problem of edu- 
 cation, the solution of which is vital. Only one matter is 
 more important, that, namely, of securing conditions 
 favourable to the development of the spirit which shall put 
 life into the matter chosen for instruction. Here, how- 
 ever, we are concerned with the question of what we 
 should teach. 
 
 The question is not a new one ; it has exercised the best 
 minds from remotest ages, and although some approxima- 
 tion to the truth has been reached, no final solution has 
 yet been obtained. It may be that there is no final solu- 
 tion to it ; the problem is a dynamic and not a static one ; 
 its data are constantly changing, and a curriculum suitable 
 to-day might in a short time be so no longer. One thing is 
 clear : it is essential to discover some principle of guidance 
 which, however much the conditions vary, may help in 
 determining the matter of instruction. Our examination 
 of the problem should therefore begin with the formulation 
 of a conception of the aim or purpose of education. 
 
 It is necessary to realise that no principle or conception 
 of any value contains within itself the manner of its con- 
 
 57
 
 68 THE CUKBICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Crete application. Broad principles discoverable as to the 
 aim and purpose of education can only afford general direc- 
 tions ; they cannot point directly and immediately to the 
 ideal contents of the curriculum. Even if agreement is 
 reached as to these broad principles, there will be various 
 interpretations of the methods of application. Moreover, 
 these applications will vary according as we are dealing 
 with the great masses of society, with special groupings, or 
 with other widely diverse conditions. We shall first con- 
 sider the case of the great masses of children, and shall 
 endeavour to discover whether there is a central and 
 explicit purpose in the education of Elementary School 
 pupils. If this can be found it will serve to indicate the 
 general lines upon which the curriculum should be con- 
 structed. 
 
 The necessity of formulating this aim has, in recent 
 years, been very generally felt, and many attempts have 
 been made to define it. Each view of the aim has naturally 
 been coloured by personal convictions and philosophies 
 of life. Some educationists have decided that the de- 
 velopment of the intellectual powers is the chief purpose 
 of education, others the growth of personality, others that 
 of character; some efficiency as a member of society, 
 others independence and reliance upon oneself ; some have 
 come to regard the implanting of religious feeling, others 
 the formation of a definite theological belief, as the central 
 pm"pose. 
 
 When the problem of the curriculum has been seriously 
 taken in hand, these various ideals have been used as 
 criteria in the selection of material. The different 
 branches of study have been closely scrutinised, with the 
 view of ascertaining what help they provide towards the 
 achievement of the particular aim desired. This scrutiny 
 has given rise to a number of theories with regard to edu- 
 cational values which have greatly influenced the choice
 
 PBINCIPLES OF THE CUERICULUM 50 
 
 of studies. Some of these are true, but many of them 
 contain a great deal of error, and one object of this chapter 
 is to indicate wherein these theories are adequate or 
 inadequate. 
 
 Education is regarded by many as being directed chiefly 
 to the training of the mind — that is to say, to making the 
 mind a powerful instrument of thought capable of coping 
 efficiently with any ordinary or extraordinary situations 
 which may arise. It matters less to these theorists what 
 quantity or even what particular type of information or 
 knowledge is to be stored up in the mind, and far more 
 what particular discipline is given to the mind in the pro- 
 cess of taking it. Process and acquired mental powers are 
 with them the important consideration. This view is 
 handicapped by two circumstances. First, substance can- 
 not thus be divorced from process ; knowledge cannot be 
 absorbed in this unreal fashion ; the process of acquiring 
 specific knowledge depends to a large degree upon the 
 nature of the subject-matter. Second, the view is attached 
 to and dependent upon an erroneous conception of the 
 nature of the mind itself. This is conceived as consisting 
 of faculties or general powers, such as reasoning, memory, 
 observation, and others. The phrenological idea of the 
 mind is still quite common, even such characteristics as 
 accuracy, industry, and neatness being regarded as general 
 powers or faculties capable of growth as wholes. 
 
 Since these faculties are considered to be indivisible 
 wholes, it is argued that the learning of a particular sub- 
 ject which necessitates the constant use of a particular 
 ' ' faculty ' ' will result in such a development of that 
 faculty that it can be employed with almost or quite equal 
 facility and certainty on any other material which involves 
 its use. The conception of education as the process of 
 mind-training, besides laying too great stress on the intel- 
 lectual aspect of mind, was and is almost inevitably tied
 
 60 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 to this ' ' faculty psychology ' ' and to the theory of formal 
 training, and leads to the framing, or more frequently to 
 the defending, of a curriculum which consists of subjects 
 specially capable, so it is supposed, of afi'ording the re- 
 quired amount of discipline for each faculty. Thus an 
 inordinate stress is put upon arithmetic, and far too much 
 time allotted to it, because it is thought that a thorough 
 training in that subject will enable the pupil to deal effec- 
 tively vv^ith all other problems involving the use of this 
 ' ' reasoning faculty . ' ' 
 
 The child of ten is still plagued and worried with the 
 abstractions of grammar, because that subject is regarded 
 as " the logic of the Elementary School," and as capable 
 of putting a fine edge upon the reasoning power. Mind- 
 training is made to appear analogous with knife-sharpen- 
 ing ; in the latter case, when sharpened, the knife will cut 
 anything of a certain degree of hardness; similarly, it is 
 argued that the mind, when trained to reason in grammar, 
 will be able to reason wherever reasoning is required. 
 The fact is overlooked that the mind behaves quite diifer- 
 ently from the knife ; the former absorbs and becomes one 
 with the material which is used to train it, as the knife 
 does not with the sharpening instrument. 
 
 If we can rid ourselves of the fallacy of formal training, 
 which compels the learning of Latin grammar because it 
 is a fine mental gymnastic, or of botany because of its 
 value as a means of disciplining and enlarging the powers 
 of observation , or of mathematics because of their value in 
 ti'aining accuracy and reasoning power, it will be possible 
 to view the field of suggested studies from a truer and 
 simpler point of view. Ignoring formal values, we shall 
 be able to consider the values of the different kinds of 
 specific knowledge and power from a saner and more fruit- 
 ful point of view. 
 
 The subject-matter of instruction should be selected
 
 PEINCIPLES OF THE CUERICULUM 61 
 
 without any regard for this incorrect theory. When, on 
 grounds to be considered, the material has been selected, 
 the teacher should use his art to connect and vitalise the 
 various facts in such a way as to secure the greatest 
 ainount of training possible. 
 
 An even more subtle form of error is to be discovered in 
 the method of choosing curricula employed by many who 
 start out with one of the truest and highest conceptions of 
 education. They pose the problem thus : The ultimate 
 aim of education is ethical, the formation of character; we 
 have therefore to discover which branches of knowledge 
 have greatest possibilities in this direction. Those are the 
 branches to select fii'st and foremost for the pupil's study ; 
 those are the subjects to emphasise throughout his school 
 life. Other matters are of minor importance ; they must 
 therefore be scantily treated or even omitted. 
 
 Now, if the problem were as simple as this, these well- 
 meaning people would be justified. But it is not, and the 
 enlightened views of psychologists and educationists, to- 
 gether with the less enlightened tendencies of a material- 
 istic generation, are combining to thwart the application 
 of such ideas to education. 
 
 Both those who hold this view and those who oppose it 
 consider that the function of the school is to form good 
 men and women, possessed of strong wills to good. In the 
 case of the former this has resulted in giving a large place 
 in the curriculum to the humanities, and particularly to 
 biblical, literary, and historical studies. The Herbartians, 
 for example, have done this. Supporting their action by 
 means of a psychological theory of doubtful validity with 
 regard to the motivation of ideas, they have tended to 
 attach far too great a value to the cultivation of thought 
 and too little to that of action. This error is, however, 
 not to be discovered in their conception of the aim of
 
 G2 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 education, but in their illogical deduction from that 
 conception. 
 
 What is character? A thousand difi'erent answers would 
 be given to this question by a thousand individuals. Some 
 would say that it involves the possession of deep religious 
 convictions applied to behaviour ; others would prefer to 
 signalise strength of will, others sympathy. And so the 
 original and simple demand for the training of character 
 becomes an obscure and pious wish for something almost 
 indefinable. It is impossible to discuss here more than the 
 fringe of the question. We will attempt to find merely a 
 few important points of agreement. The man of char- 
 acter must bo possessed of ideals which he is always 
 struggling courageously to attain ; his will to attain is 
 strong. These ideals must be of an enlightened kind ; no 
 narrow-minded or bigoted man can be regarded as possess- 
 ing a desirable or complete character. It is true that, 
 speaking loosely, we often allude even to a bigot or a man 
 of very limited knowledge and capacity as a man of char- 
 acter, but it would be admitted, I think, that this is an 
 unwarrantable use of the term ; we are really thinking 
 chiefly of determination of character rather than of full 
 character. We may feel admiration for one noble quality 
 of an individual, but we do not therefore admire the whole 
 character ; we may even recognise and lament unmistak- 
 able weaknesses and twists in the same person. The ideal 
 character which the educationist has as his aim is one 
 which is not radically lacking in any direction ; one marked 
 by sanity, width of view, steadfastness of purpose, ideality 
 and sympathy applied in general to all life's many-sided 
 activities. Character must not be envisaged as a part, 
 because it is a whole ; the strong-willed, industrious or 
 persevering, methodical, [esthetic, artistic, and even really 
 pious man is so characterised with reference to his most 
 prominent qualities, and may hide many serious defects.
 
 PEINCIPLES OF THE CUEEICULUM 63 
 
 When the educationist, therefore, speaks of character- 
 formation, he is concerned with something far wider than 
 any specially prominent quality ; he is concerned with the 
 whole man. In other words, he aims at a well-balanced 
 and harmonious whole. 
 
 The two applications we wish to make of this view of 
 character are tolerably clear. In the first place, no merely 
 linguistic, or mathematical, or scientific, or even religious 
 training, however inspired, can produce character in the 
 true sense. Each will, when employed alone, or when 
 unduly overweighting other elements of training, produce 
 a one-sided and therefore incomplete character. A 
 " whole" character is formed by a training of the widest 
 kind, and he who hopes to do it by means of a linguistic 
 or mathematical or religious training is indulging in the 
 same fond dream that leads the fonnal trainer to trust to 
 grammar or mathematics to produce a general power of 
 thought. In the second place, no one single fine quality 
 can be fully produced by training on one special material ; 
 industry enforced or even induced in one direction may 
 appear in no other; patriotism fed on history, as the 
 English Public School in the past has often understood it, 
 may teach a man how to die, but scarcely how to live for 
 his country's good. 
 
 Character-training, to achieve its purpose, must go on 
 in every branch of study. Omit or over-emphasise one 
 important branch of knowledge or power, and narrowness 
 results. The boy or girl who has never properly envisaged 
 the accuracy and certainty of mathematical truth has 
 missed a valuable character-forming ideal. The child who 
 has not been led through some study of the physical world 
 to a love of Nature has missed much which would have 
 enriched his character. 
 
 Our investigation into the reasons underlying the choice 
 of studies has disclosed two views, one of which is contrary
 
 64 THE CUREICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 to fact, and the other constantly misunderstood. Both are 
 children of one parent — that is, they both arise from the 
 assumption that the mind consists of a comparatively small 
 number of separate faculties, such as imagination, reason, 
 memory, and others, and that these faculties may be 
 trained in some specific and suitable material for general 
 use. The theory of formal training in its crude form is 
 false ; the theory that character-formation is the ultimate 
 aim of education is true, but cannot be successfully applied 
 on formal-training lines. An examination of both views 
 leads us to conclude that no successful training can take 
 place unless by means of the curriculum all the great 
 aspects of life are faithfully placed before the pupil. In 
 a wide curriculum lies the only hope of producing a man 
 or woman of general mental power and of real character. 
 
 Of the two conceptions, one psychological and the other 
 ethical, the former was found to be a false guide, the latter 
 a guide capable of giving, like the Pole star, the general 
 directions only. With eyes upon the Pole star it is pos- 
 sible to maintain the general direction, but it will still be 
 necessary to pick the road, to decide which is the proper 
 path up the mountain, where the river ford is to be found. 
 In the same way, the establishment of the aim of educa- 
 tion as ethical is of fundamental importance, but cannot 
 settle questions of material except in a most general 
 fashion. 
 
 The problem of the curriculum begins to assume a more 
 concrete and practical form when the social aspect of char- 
 acter is strongly emphasised. The school then appears as 
 the servant and minister of the connnunity, and education 
 as that which fits a pupil to take up his functions in the 
 service of the society in which he lives. 
 
 A valuable aspect of the educational aim is here re- 
 vealed. Character has been too often regarded as a purely
 
 PKINCIPLES OF THE CUERICULUM 65 
 
 personal concern; modern thinkers, especially American, 
 have come to recognise that this is only a one-sided view. 
 The influence of social environment upon the character 
 and the reaction of character upon the social envii"onment 
 are facts which should receive consideration commensurate 
 with their importance. Extremists have doubtless over- 
 emphasised these facts, and in doing so have, in the writer's 
 view, fallen into various practical eiTors. 
 
 There are obvious dangers in subordinating the in- 
 dividual to the needs and aims of the community. The 
 theory may be construed as an acceptance of the claim of 
 the State to exercise complete control over what shall and 
 shall not be taught. The dangers of such direction in the 
 hands of an autocratic State are evident ; in a democratic 
 country, where the citizens elect their governors, such 
 dangers are less evident, but they none the less exist. 
 The people's representatives are rarely elected on purely 
 educational questions; never yet in our own nation's 
 history has such a question decided, nor even materially 
 influenced, an election. Hence on matters concerning 
 education a Government may hold opinions and act upon 
 them in complete opposition to the views and will of the 
 electorate. Eeal education helps to develop individuality, 
 and strong individuality sometimes appears to run counter 
 to the interests of the community as a whole. It is in the 
 curriculum that the State finds a most powerful ally in 
 stereotyping thought and custom by suppressing originality 
 and initiative ; in the name of the common good obsolete 
 and harmful elements are confirmed and true social effi- 
 ciency diminished. 
 
 There is, moreover, in each individual both a social and 
 a personal self — a side that he may and does expose to 
 public view, and a side which he reserves for himself and 
 a few others. This deeper and more intimate self would 
 reveal tastes and sympathies, aspirations and ideals, ideas 
 
 5
 
 66 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 upon life and death — in fact, a side of the human being 
 which concerns the individual far more than the com- 
 munity — and these, especially in an Englishman, are 
 regarded as private and sacred. \Miile these personal 
 elements would almost certainly never have made their 
 quiet way into being without the influence of society, they 
 nevertheless remain the individual's peculiar possession, 
 and any view of education is inadequate which, like that 
 under consideration, tends to underrate or ignore their 
 importance. The aim of social eiQciency requires widen- 
 ing by the inclusion of the idea of individual or personal 
 sufficiency. 
 
 From such a view of education as the preceding, which 
 lays stress upon the value of the individual to the com- 
 munity, it may seem a far cry to that which emphasises 
 the individual's own material success. And yet the two 
 views may not be contrary ; they may on examination be 
 found to be complementary ; only then extremes may be 
 dnectly opposed. 
 
 In the minds of the extremists education is conceived as 
 the instrument by means of which the individual earns his 
 livelihood or makes his way in the world among a host of 
 competitors. Nations, as well as parents, sometimes take 
 the same view, and educational plans are then made with 
 a view to gaining a superior position in the international 
 struggle for commercial supremacy. Probably this is the 
 most common view taken when judging of the value or 
 merits of a curriculum ; it is the view of ' ' the man in the 
 street." Is this or that subject useful? is asked. The 
 utilitarian aspect of the curriculum is one that appeals to 
 the ordinary, commonplace, practical person who wishes to 
 see children receive instruction which can be put at once 
 to a practical use. He will have nothing to do with orna- 
 mental, conventional studies, or with so-called accomplish-
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE CURRICULUM 67 
 
 inents. The majority of the people of Europe and America 
 still regard education in this way. 
 
 One great difficulty connected with this view is to know 
 what is meant by the term " useful." Most advocates of 
 a utilitarian education think of it in terms of bread-and- 
 butter, and hold that only that is useful which subserves 
 the aim of gaining a livelihood. These people are gener- 
 ally blind to the fact that many studies which, superficially 
 examined, appear to have no value of this kind, do really 
 contribute to material success. At first sight the reading 
 and memorising of good prose and poetry may seem useless 
 for life's practical purposes, and yet such studies may effect 
 great improvement in the powers of speech, and this in its 
 turn may prove a great advantage in the struggle to earn a 
 livelihood. Thus, too narrow a view of utility may defeat 
 the aim we set out to achieve. But there is a far greater 
 danger inherent in this narrow view than that of merely 
 failing to obtain a good livelihood. It takes little or no 
 account of the spiritual ; it looks only at the material. For 
 the inner life, for the development of the man's individu- 
 ality and of his higher nature, it seems to suggest nothing. 
 We cannot be satisfied with such a limited conception of 
 life. 
 
 Herbert Spencer combined the two ideals of individual 
 and social efficiency, and his view of " utility " was there- 
 for a wider one. He extended its scope to include all the 
 fundamental activities of life. These he classified in the 
 order of their importance as activities employed in direct 
 self-preservation, in indirect self-preservation or the gain- 
 ing of a livelihood, in rearing a family, in performing the 
 duties of a citizen, and in making use of leisure. Instruc- 
 tion which bore directly on these points he regarded as 
 useful. Subject-matter which did not bear directly on 
 them he regarded as useless. As a sequence from this 
 broader notion of "utility," Spencer put forward the
 
 68 THE CUKEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 paramount claims of science, claims which he failed on the 
 whole to substantiate. 
 
 Both conceptions of education as a training for purely 
 individual or for purely social efficiency fail to satisfy ; but 
 even when the narrower meaning is attached, they have 
 been, and still are, of considerable service in ensuring that 
 school studies shall be of a practical kind, bearing directly 
 upon the life lived by the scholars and upon their future 
 activities. We cannot afford to look altogether contemp- 
 tuously upon such serviceable guides. 
 
 Each of the theories which has been considered presents 
 a partial view of the aims of the school. Each, when held 
 by persons of broad and liberal ideas, escapes most of the 
 criticism levelled against it; and each, held by normal 
 ordinary people, tends to lay an unwarrantable stress on 
 some one aspect. Each contains a great deal of truth. 
 Together they give a fairly complete view of what educa- 
 tion should seek to do. If, therefore, we are to obtain any 
 guidance in deciding upon curricula from a conception of 
 educational aims, it will be necessary to take these aims 
 as a whole into consideration. 
 
 Two points appear to stand out clearly as a result of our 
 analysis. In the first place, all the theories suggest the 
 necessity of a wide and liberal curriculum, and in the 
 second place, all seem to assume that the child is to be 
 taught what his educators hold to be good for him. 
 
 First, all the theories suggest the need of a wide and 
 liberal curriculum. Now that it is known that mental 
 power gained by practice on specific material may be, and 
 usually is, confined within the limits of that specific 
 material, or is usable but little beyond it, the conclusion is 
 inevitable that no one or two special subjects can be 
 allowed to monopolise the school curriculum. If powers, 
 largely confined in then- application to the problems upon
 
 PRINCIPLES OF THE CURRICULUM 69 
 
 which they were trained, are to become available in the 
 general life of the pupil, he must at school be made 
 familiar with the general experiences of mankind. No 
 great phase of human culture may be unrepresented in 
 the curriculum. 
 
 It has already been seen that character, using the term 
 in its proper sense, involves width — that, ideally, it in- 
 volves knowledge of a wide kind, moral power, and a large 
 number of qualities only acquired by coming into contact 
 with many sides of life. School and life both take as 
 their ideal the well-balanced character, and one of the 
 many conditions under which such a character may grow 
 is that the experiences of school life shall be many-sided 
 and typical of real life. Moreover, it has been shown that 
 no one quality of character, such as industry or patriotism, 
 can develop in its best form except when it finds constant 
 stimulus from, and application in, all the more typical 
 situations of life. The quality of industry, for example, 
 may first show itself in one particular corner of school 
 experience, but requires for its proper gTowth opportun- 
 ities of exercise in many other departments of experience. 
 Only a wide and liberal curriculum can supply these 
 opportunities. Thus, from whatever legitimate point of 
 view we look at character, we find it to a great degree 
 dependent for its growth upon wide experience, and we 
 are driven to the conclusion that the school curriculum 
 must present the accumulated and representative experi- 
 ences of mankind. 
 
 If the conception of education as the instrument for 
 producing social efficiency be considered, the same con- 
 clusion follows. The ideal citizen must be conversant, 
 according to his capacity, with the culture of his time ; the 
 citizen whose sole school education has consisted of the 
 three R's or of the classical languages cannot adequately 
 use his opportunities as a useful member of society. One
 
 70 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of the great agencies by which a wide outlook upon Hfe is 
 developed is the curriculuin, and lack of width in it can- 
 not be compensated by "training," however expert and 
 specialised it may be. To act their various parts in life, 
 ordinary persons must learn them. 
 
 The theory of utihty leads to the same conclusion. The 
 interconnectedness of knowledge is becoming more and 
 more evident ; no so-called useful subject-matter can be 
 properly grasped without a knowledge and an unde^'stand- 
 ing of matters that at first seem quite remote from it. A 
 wide cmTiculum is again found to be the condition of secur- 
 ing even bread-and-butter aims. 
 
 The second point suggested by our examination of 
 educational aims is that the whole problem is being looked 
 at, not from the child's point of view, but from that of the 
 adult. " You shall eat what is good for you," the parent 
 says, and the teacher imitates him by saying, " You shall 
 learn what is good for you," and too often the good is of 
 a medicinal rather than a savoury quality. 
 
 There are clearly two factors involved in the problem, 
 namely, the environment — human and material — and the 
 child. Sometimes the theorist has concentrated his atten- 
 tion upon the envir'onment, and has failed to take into 
 account the knowledge, capacities, interests, and needs of 
 the child ; the result has been seen in a curriculum which 
 has no organic connection with child life. Sometimes the 
 theorist has directed all his attention to the nature of the 
 child — his interests, purposes, spontaneous activities — 
 and has neglected to do justice to the environment and the 
 pressing need for adaptation to its modern complexities ; 
 here the effect is seen in a curriculum characterised by 
 lack of system, an unordered scheme of work correspond- 
 ing with the children's transitory desires and purposes, 
 one incapable of natural development into the pursuits and 
 purposes of adult life. As Professor Dewey says, " If we
 
 PEINCIPLES OF THE CURRICULUM 71 
 
 isolate the children's present inclinations, purposes, and 
 experiences from the place they occupy and the part they 
 have to perform in a developing experience, all stand on 
 the same level ; all alike are equally good and equally 
 bad."^ 
 
 The error of emphasising the environment is generally 
 made by those who have never taught children ; thus, out- 
 side the profession there is a reiterated demand for in- 
 struction of a practical kind v^hich shall enable the boy or 
 girl leaving school at fourteen to adapt himself or herself 
 easily to the occupations of industrial and commercial life. 
 Some employers and business men ask that the pupil 
 shall come to them provided with certain fundamental 
 knowledge ; others that he should possess, not knowledge, 
 but fundamental powers of thinking. There is some 
 reason in the first demand, for the schools do not always 
 teach fundamentals, and it is reasonable to ask that they 
 should. In the second demand there is less reason, for 
 the teacher cannot provide intelligence, nor can intelli- 
 gence be cultivated in vacuo. It may be, however, that 
 the business man has put his finger upon a grave fault of 
 our school work — it is often impractical and remote from 
 real life. 
 
 The error of over-emphasising the child's nature — his 
 spontaneous activities, non-permanent interests, and pur- 
 poses — in its bearing on the planning of school curricula 
 is generally confined to educationists. At its worst it is 
 as if the teacher should ask his pupils what they would 
 like to learn or do, and, having obtained the interesting 
 information, should call it the curriculum. The Tolstoyan 
 school was an example of this concentration upon the 
 child-nature, to the detriment of the other factor. 
 
 It is clear that both environment and child must be 
 
 * Dewey, "The School and the Child," p. 28, edited by J. ,T. Findlay. 
 Blackie and Son.
 
 72 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 adequately considered. The problem of giving each factor 
 proper consideration is not really a double one, any more 
 than is a problem in arithmetic which contains two pieces 
 of data, and it is scarcely a reasonable way of regarding 
 the matter to pose the question as to which factor requires 
 the greater consideration. The knowledge and activities 
 of adult life have their roots in the knowledge and activ- 
 ities of child life, and these, again, in the instincts of 
 infant life. There is a continuous line of development 
 from the earliest forms of mental life and its expression to 
 the thoughts and pursuits of the man or woman. This is 
 far from saying that every infantile instinct, every childish 
 tendency, purpose, desire, or activity, is of value educa- 
 tionally and can be made to develop into some form of 
 complete living. Some are the creatures of a day and 
 quickly perish. The development of the race shows the 
 same characteristics — i.e., impulses and movements in- 
 dicative of momentary interests, purposeless activities, 
 and transitorily felt needs which did not lie in the line of 
 progress. Hence it is essential to distinguish between the 
 infinitely varying expressions of child thought, desire, and 
 impulse. Some are the growing points of the plant, 
 others are only withering bracts. 
 
 The task is therefore to discover what are the funda- 
 mentals of knowledge and power which every English boy 
 and girl needs for the purpose of coping efficiently with 
 the common experiences of life, whether of a private or 
 public nature. Then we have to discover the germs of 
 these fundamentals in the instinctive curiosities and 
 activities of the child, the moments when they make their 
 appearance and when they ripen. 
 
 Attempts have repeatedly been made to ascertain what 
 are the fundamentals of our present culture, and the 
 moments when the child is himself ready to enter upon 
 successive stages of his inheritance. Almost every educa-
 
 PEINCIPLES OF THE CUEEICULUM 73 
 
 tionist of recent times has concerned himself with this 
 problem, but until it is attacked in a co-operative way no 
 solution will be forthcoming. The work is so immense 
 that no individual can attempt it with any hope of success ; 
 hence the common-sense alternative appears to be that the 
 experience and knowledge of the most expert and experi- 
 enced representatives of present national culture should 
 now be made use of for this purpose. 
 
 The teaching profession has not until recent years been 
 sufficiently organised to be capable of undertaking this 
 work. To-day it is, and with the aid of psychologists, 
 local and central educational advisers, and representatives 
 of the most important social, industrial, and business 
 activities of the community, could produce an approxim- 
 ately satisfactorily solution of the enigma which has 
 baffled the best minds of all times, and which to-day 
 greatly diminishes the effectiveness of school education. 
 Teachers would naturally exert the preponderating in- 
 fluence in such a council. 
 
 Experience and theory based on research afford such a 
 body of experts one general guidance in their task. It has 
 now been definitely established that the sources of the 
 child's future knowledge and power lie in his spontaneous 
 activities ; that the foundations of abstract thought are to 
 be found in his childish interests and purposes expressed 
 in acts. The most primitive forms of mental life, with its 
 threefold aspect of cognition, feeling, and conation, are 
 the instincts, and these utter themselves in movement or 
 some kind. In the manifold forms of expression we shall 
 find the germs of complete living, the fundamentals of 
 present culture. In planning the curriculum, therefore, 
 this root principle will be in constant evidence and will be 
 constantly applied. At present it is recognised as vital in 
 framing the scheme of work for infants and mental defec- 
 tives ; as the age of the child increases the principle tends
 
 74 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 to fall into disuse. Thus only can we account for the 
 break in continuity between the education of the infant 
 and that of older children. In the latter it shows a tend- 
 ency towards bookishness and lecturino-, and the pnpils, 
 conscious that their school studies do not touch their lives 
 at vital points, lose interest and hope.
 
 CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE CURRICULUM— ELEMENTARY 
 
 Every child has the right to an education which at least 
 supplies him with a minimum of the cultural elements 
 which constitute the inheritance of his race. These 
 elements exist in germ in him, and show their presence 
 at different stages in his development. Hence the special 
 duty of the educationist and psychologist is to study the 
 developing mind of the child by means of the indications 
 afforded by the various forms of expression, and so dis- 
 cover the appropriate moment for presenting to him new 
 aspects of the environmental facts and processes. The 
 child will indicate, directly or indirectly, which of the 
 typical aspects he is ready to assimilate, and how he can 
 most easily do so. 
 
 The necessity for this study of the child is becoming 
 more and more apparent. Much valuable work has 
 already been done, but the field is so vast that it is no 
 exaggeration to say that the work is scarcely begun. Now 
 and then some explorer into the unknown — a Montessori 
 or a Stanley Hall^ — discovers hitherto hidden phases of 
 child nature, and thereby suggests new possibilities in 
 education. The ordinary teacher is not exempt from the 
 same necessity ; he too must constantly explore the minds 
 he deals with in order to know what and how he shall 
 teach. He may not be called upon to lay down the mini- 
 mum requirements, but he cannot teach these intelligently 
 and sympathetically unless he understands the principles 
 and facts which have led to their selection ; moreover, 
 he has constantly to decide what he shall teach, for a 
 
 75
 
 76 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 minimum cumcnlum can never do more than suggest the 
 outlines of the matter of instruction. 
 
 Certain facts of child life have heen ascertained, and 
 we shall now hriefly indicate them for the purpose of 
 guidance in building up a scientific curriculum. At about 
 three years of age the normal child can Walk, talk, and in 
 general comport himself like a miniature human being ; he 
 is no longer a baby, but an infant, and the State ordains 
 that he may enter upon school life. When he gives signs 
 of readiness to pass from primary to secondary interests 
 — from seeing and hearing things to reading about them, 
 from saying things to writing about them — when he can 
 attempt to do these things without injury to eye or hand, 
 to sit at such work in desks for somewhat prolonged 
 periods without detriment to his body, he is no longer an 
 infant. This period is reached ordinarily between the 
 sixth and seventh year, and this moment will therefore be 
 chosen for placing him in that section of the school where 
 these tendencies can be afforded proper scope. None the 
 less, we have to guard against the idea that this period 
 witnesses anything like a complete break in the little 
 human being's development. It is certainly a great 
 change, but it is a change which has been slowly taking 
 place long before it is visible, and will not be complete for 
 years after it has appeared. Too often the period is treated 
 as if it were a real moment of time, which, when passed, 
 presents us with a quite different individual, resembling 
 in intelligence and capacity the youthful figure of Christ 
 in so many of the old masters' pictures of " The Madonna 
 and Child." 
 
 At the very beginning of life the human being comes 
 into direct contact with the world of sense. Through the 
 medium of his sensations he at once begins to gain first- 
 hand concrete experience. He opens his eyes and sees
 
 THE CUKEICULUM— ELEMENTABY 77 
 
 what his quite undeveloped mind allows him to see ; he 
 hears something, he knows not what; he touches himself 
 and other objects, and is more or less aware of change. 
 Until other factors begin to play their part, the world is 
 to him as Professor James suggests, "a big, blooming, 
 buzzing confusion." None the less, it is first-hand experi- 
 ence, and the foundation of all future knowledge. 
 
 From the very beginning of life, too, the human being 
 reacts upon his sense experiences. Contact of the hand 
 with an object brings about an instinctive movement of 
 clutching, and the baby fingers close around it. The 
 muscles of the neck will presently turn the head in order 
 to see and hear better ; he will even learn to sniff in order 
 to increase the intensity of odours. Without reaction to 
 sensations there is no resulting perception. Psychologists 
 and teachers are learning to attach increasing importance 
 to this aspect of the mental life, and to perceive the vital 
 necessity of combining reception with expression. 
 
 This receptive-reactive process is concerned at first with 
 the immediate environment. When this has been ex- 
 hausted, so far as the child mind is capable of exhausting 
 its almost infinite variety, the remoter environment exer- 
 cises its attractive force. At a certain well-marked stage, 
 too, the power of speech comes, and widens the child's 
 horizon far beyond the narrow circle created by the senses. 
 
 In the education of the infant we shall follow the lead 
 thus given by himself. Man, Nature, and the common 
 objects used in the school, and in the household we shall 
 employ as the material for his observation — at first the 
 more striking flowers and animals and human beings 
 around him, and then, as speech develops, the second- 
 hand material found in literary and historical stories and 
 in tales of the little people of other lands. From amongst 
 this subject-matter he will also develop his first feelings 
 for beauty.
 
 78 THE CUKEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 At first it will be necessary, in following the guidance of 
 Nature, to encourage the reactions of the larger muscles. 
 The infant will spend a very large part of his school time 
 in free play and in games, in tumbling, crawling, running, 
 and dancing ; gradually he will bring his smaller muscles 
 into play, achieving finer adjustments. He will therefore 
 be given opportunities of handling and of carrying, of 
 performing useful activities with common utensils and 
 small furniture. He will be introduced to games which 
 require some hand dexterity; he will draw, paint, and 
 model. At the same time he will, in story-telling, in 
 dramatisation, recitation and singing, satisfy his craving 
 for expression through speech and gesture. 
 
 So far — that is, up to about the age of six or six and a 
 half — the child has given no sign that he desires to imitate 
 his older friends, who, even to his infantile understand- 
 ing, aj)pear to be getting interesting information out of 
 books by reading. The concrete envkonment has absorbed 
 all his attention. Eeading is a non-natural activity, and 
 in spite of the often wonderful success achieved by 
 Madame Montessori in teaching Italian childi'en to read 
 and write their own language at a very early age, English, 
 German, French, and American educationists are becom- 
 ing more and more convinced that such work should not 
 be begun before six years of age. Apart from Madame 
 Montessori's own genius as a teacher, it may be that the 
 phonetic nature of the Italian language and the quickly 
 ripening powers of the Italian child constitute conditions 
 which distinguish the Italian problem from our own. 
 Speech must first become certain, and the understanding 
 of speech. There is no need to hurry ; the process of 
 learning to read is beset with so many difficulties that 
 unless the psychological moment is seized upon and a 
 method employed which grows out of the child's mental 
 attitude, the power will be acquired in opposition to his
 
 THE CUEEICULUM— ELEMENTAKY 79 
 
 natural tendencies. Writing and reading are naturally 
 taught together ; it is therefore suggested that both should 
 be entu'ely excluded from the period of infancy. We 
 would, indeed, choose this moment of transition from the 
 natural to the symbolic to mark the end of infancy. 
 
 The comprehension of number is in quite a different 
 category. Without any interference on the part of the 
 teacher, children pick up ideas of number. They gain 
 elementary notions of size, weight, length, distance and 
 shape, in passing from one object to another, in carrying 
 and handling ; games and occupations lead naturally to the 
 earliest ideas of arithmetic and geometry. Apart, how- 
 ever, from their games and occupations, infants have no 
 interest in number ; hence whatever work of this kind is 
 undertaken vv'ill have to be incidental. 
 
 We may therefore summarise the school curriculum for 
 infants in the manner shown on p. 80. 
 
 After infancy the body and the mind undergo further 
 changes, which, if thoroughly understood, serve to guide 
 the educator in the choice of studies. Between the ages 
 of six and a half and nine, the same impulses of imitation 
 and play, the same instinct of curiosity and love of 
 imagery, carry the child farther along the road to know- 
 ledge and power. The ability to direct and control his 
 movements increases; he is no longer content with mere 
 activity, but demands definite results; he desires to im- 
 prove his power. He begins to envisage a wider environ- 
 ment, and, his power of concentrating attention augment- 
 ing, he sees more of the details of objects. Experiments 
 go to show that the child of this age regards objects very 
 largely from the point of view of their use or of the activity 
 that can be exerted upon them ; he is chiefly interested in 
 the dynamic qualities of things. He is still an individual- 
 ist, although less so than during the period of infancy; 
 thus group work and group games naturally begin to
 
 THE CUKKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
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 THE CUEBICULUM— ELEMENTARY 81 
 
 appear, and will play a constantly growing part in his 
 education. Summing up briefly, we may say that during 
 this period the teacher will continue to direct his efforts 
 tov/ards the training of the senses, of the motor powers, 
 of expression, and of memory, and will take care not to 
 demand more thought than is natural at this stage. 
 
 From the age of nine to the period of puberty reason 
 begins to exercise a preponderating influence. Mathe- 
 matical and logical sequences are followed less for the prac- 
 tical result and more for the interest in the process. This 
 development of the reasoning powers proceeds more and 
 more rapidly until the later adolescent period, when the 
 whole universe may become the field of thought. During 
 the pre-adolescent period, however, we shall not expect to 
 see this fruition ; reason will be intermixed with unreason 
 and mere imitation, the latter, however, now being the 
 result less of perception than of conception. The collect- 
 ing instinct appears and produces activities which may 
 become of educational value. The group spirit, too, with 
 all the social development it entails, becomes more and 
 more marked ; football and cricket and co-operative school 
 work are expressions of it, and these often form back- 
 grounds for the still concrete ideals of the period. 
 
 The facts just noted will decide what elements of general 
 culture shall comprise the minimum fundamentals of the 
 curriculum between infancy and adolescence. We have 
 in these facts indications as to the nature and complexity 
 of the items, of the order in which these should be pre- 
 sented, and even of the methods by which they can best 
 be taught. The widening social life of the child, the 
 abating influence of the immediate environment, and bis 
 propensity to imitate adult activities, lead naturally to 
 instruction in the arts of reading and writing. Specially 
 expert and sympathetic teachers have proved beyond doubt 
 that the teaching of these symbolic arts can, by following 
 
 6
 
 82 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 closely the line of the child's interests, become a natural 
 and therefore a pleasant process. First and second hand 
 observational work — i.e., direct observation and acquire- 
 ment of knowledge through the medium of speech and 
 books — undergoes expansion into Nature-study, which 
 develops on the one side into what is known as physical 
 geography, and on the other into the deeper study of man, 
 this taking the forms of political and social geography, 
 literature, history, Bible-study, and hygiene. Practical 
 arithmetic and practical geometry — the latter much 
 neglected in the schools — will be carried a stage farther, 
 the material corresponding with the perceivable environ- 
 ment. 
 
 A word of warning seems necessary with regard to the 
 teaching of arithmetic. Every child feels a need for the 
 power of calculating, and so long as we do not exaggerate 
 the importance of arithmetic beyond the practical neces- 
 sities of the actual and foreshadowed life of the child, all 
 will be well. But owing to the prevalent misconception 
 as to its value in affording general logical training, a mis- 
 conception which was formerly shared by educational 
 administrators and expressed by grants paid upon the three 
 R's, it still occupies a far too prominent position in the 
 curriculum of the Elementary School. 
 
 With increasing strength the child's reactions will be 
 given opportunities of development in drill and gymnastics 
 and in swimming ; individual and group contests will 
 demonstrate the growth of, and will help to develop, the 
 personal and the social self. The smaller muscles will 
 find natural training in drawing, modelling, and carving ; 
 woodwork, and later on metalwork, needlework, and house- 
 wifery, will be gradually introduced as common and im- 
 portant elements of communal life. Occupations under- 
 taken, not merely from utilitarian motives, but for pure 
 enjoyment, will fill a not unimportant place. Artistic
 
 THE CUEEICULUM— ELEMENTAKY 83 
 
 appreciation and artistic occupations depend so largely 
 upon each other and form together such a valuable and 
 cherished part of the human inheritance that the school 
 cannot afford to ignore either. A very wide choice will be 
 offered in order to give free scope for individual preferences 
 and tastes ; one child wall enjoy one thing greatly, another 
 some other; most will find some joy in all. The larger 
 muscles will therefore be exercised in dancing and 
 rhythmic movements; the smaller in drawing, painting, 
 modelling, and carving ; the voice in singing. In an 
 atmosphere of freedom and enjoyment, the seeds of appre- 
 ciation possessed by every normal child may grow and 
 finally blossom into appreciation of natural beauty, the 
 beauty of literature, music, song, pictures, and architec- 
 ture. The world is full of beauty ; it is therefore only 
 necessary to clear away as far as is possible the barrier 
 between the school and the world. 
 
 The scheme of fundamentals may be summarised as in 
 the following table (p. 64).
 
 84 
 
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 CHAPTER VI 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUHRICULUM 
 
 A VERY reasonable demand is often made that the curricu- 
 lum should be flexible, and the assunii^tion underlying this 
 demand is that schools and scholars have varying needs. 
 The rural school, it is said, must be treated quite differ- 
 ently from the town school ; the slum school from the 
 ' ' respectable ' ' suburban school ; the school of a manufac- 
 turing from that of a commercial or agricultural com- 
 munity. Based on the same idea, the assertion is made 
 that the poor scholar must have a different curriculum from 
 his better-class neighbour ; that the child who will leave 
 school for work directly he is permitted by the Education 
 Authority has educational needs of a kind differing from 
 those of the child who will remain at school until nearly 
 fifteen, or will pass into some higher type of educational 
 institution. The problem we have to face, therefore, is 
 that of determining to what extent the principles govern- 
 ing the choice of the subject-matter of instruction and their 
 applications should be modified as a result of these differ- 
 ences betv/een various types of schools and scholars. 
 
 There is little doubt that flexibility in the curriculum is 
 essential if we are to respond successfully to the needs of 
 differing individuals and communities. There is no 
 special and complete diet which may be forced upon all, 
 irrespective of nature or environment. 
 
 Little danger exists at present that we shall attempt to 
 do this. In no country in the world has such infinite 
 variety been permitted as in our own. Every type of 
 school has framed its own home-made curriculum, and 
 
 85
 
 86 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 nearly every single school has used its liberty similarly. 
 Each head-teacher di'aws up his own curriculum in har- 
 mony with his own general views on education, the par- 
 ticular needs of the locality and school, the special capacity 
 of his staff, and, naturally, his own idiosyncrasies. If 
 possessed of an active or creative mind, he may introduce 
 " new ideas," good or bad ; if uncreative, he may content 
 himself with the syllabuses inherited from his predeces- 
 sors. Under existing conditions of almost complete free- 
 dom we appear to have reached the extreme of flexibility 
 and variety. 
 
 But the broad outlines of knowledge and the general 
 activities of mankind do not greatly vary in the com-se of 
 a few years or within the geographical limits of our com- 
 mon country. Since physical science entered on its real 
 heritage, scientific principles have undergone but little 
 change. The instincts, needs, and occupations of children 
 and adults have not appreciably deviated from ancient 
 paths ; they could be stated to-day in general terms in 
 language almost identical with that of much earlier times 
 in the world's history. In his essential nature and de- 
 mands upon life the town child differs very little from the 
 rural child; every English child, whatever his local en- 
 vironment, has the same general cultural needs. 
 
 To illustrate the point, let us take a possible item of the 
 school material of instruction — the generation and use of 
 electric power. A normal city child takes a natural interest 
 in the tram, and is curious to know by what means it is 
 propelled. Another child from a different environment 
 has never seen a tram, but desires to understand how the 
 motor-car or army lorry passes so swiftly through his vil- 
 lage. Another wishes to know how the electric light in 
 his school works. Although each pupil will start his 
 enquiries from a different jx>int, they do not require a 
 different science syllabus ; all three have to master the
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUEEICULUM 87 
 
 same principles, and the experienced teacher makes use 
 of tram or car or light merely as illustrations; in fact, 
 ■these are part of his method of teaching an important item 
 of the cm'riculum. 
 
 Hence it is wrong to lay too great stress upon changing 
 or varying conditions of hfe ; they must, it is true, be taken 
 into consideration, but the fundamental part of the curri- 
 culum will remain much the same ; stability will be its 
 essential characteristic. The flexibility so often recom- 
 mended for the curriculum is much more in place as a 
 characteristic of the inetJiod of teaching. 
 
 We may obtain confirmation of this view from the 
 further consideration that, in seeking to bring all our 
 scholars into vital relations with the fundamental elements 
 of general English culture, we shall find it necessary to 
 include and even lay stress upon elements which the 
 innnediate envkonment fails to provide. Thus, while 
 the immediate envkonment of the rural child will suggest 
 illustrations and special methods of exposition, a cm'ricu- 
 lum will be needed in which the elements of life outside 
 the rural areas definitely appear. In this way there is no 
 real opposition between two apparently contradictory re- 
 commendations—viz., that the pupil should be led to take 
 interest in and see more deeply into his familiar surround- 
 ings, and that he should find in the school curriculum 
 some compensation for the absence of certain fundamental 
 sides of local life. The same principle applies in the 
 case of the town scholar. The school must do all it can 
 to fill in the blanks in the experiences of the children of 
 slum schools, and the curriculum of such schools will differ 
 somewhat from that of schools attended by more fortunate 
 children. The same historical, geographical, arithmetical, 
 and other material will, with a few necessary modifica- 
 tions, be presented, but it will be the methods of presenta- 
 tion, and not the curriculum itself, which will show the
 
 88 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 greater differences. These two classes of scholars cannot 
 be appealed to in the same way ; the familiar objects and 
 experiences of the one cannot be used with the other class 
 for illustrating the principles taught. Each will apper- 
 ceive the fundamentals of general life in a way condi- 
 tioned by his past experience, and it is the function of the 
 teacher's method to render this apperception possible and 
 easy. 
 
 It is true that the children of the poor, owing to dis- 
 advantageous conditions of life, are usually somewhat 
 "behind" children living under more favourable condi- 
 tions in attainments and capacity. But the solution of 
 this difficulty is to be found chiefly in small variations of 
 the curriculum, in differing rates of promotion, and in the 
 introduction of suitable methods of teaching. The hand- 
 work which is generally given in larger quantities to poorer 
 children should be not so much new or different work as 
 the vehicle of a new and more suitable method of teaching 
 the same subject-matter. The same geography, arith- 
 metic, and historjs with slight modifications in detail, will 
 be presented to children suffering from poverty and its 
 resulting disabilities as to the others, but will be treated 
 in a more concrete way through the medium of handwork. 
 
 The present practice of each head-teacher making his 
 own curriculum results, apart from its imperfections as 
 the work of an individual, in many obvious disadvantages. 
 There is no means of easily determining what kind and 
 amount of knowledge a child transferred from anothei* 
 school should or even does possess. If an attempt is made 
 to discover this by means of fathoming his knowledge of 
 number, it will be found that the order in which the ele- 
 mentary principles of arithmetic have been taught varies 
 so greatly in different schools as to make such an enquiry 
 difficult for the teacher and unfair to the child. At ten
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUEEICULUM 89 
 
 or eleven years of age he may or may not have learned 
 liow to deal with easy vulgar and decimal fractions ; he 
 may or may not know what ' ' percentage " or " average 
 or "proportion ' ' or "ratio ' ' signifies. If also we consider 
 what very large numbers of children move from one school 
 to another, it will be clear that the amount of time and 
 energy wasted in adjustment to different curricula must 
 be immense. It is unfair to the child and the teacher that 
 this adjustment should be made so difficult. Moreover, 
 the great diversity in the syllabuses of different schools 
 entails an educational disadvantage in that large numbers 
 of children are bound to miss some of the fundamentals 
 on which more advanced knowledge and power are built 
 up ; many an Elementary scholar on leaving school has 
 never learned anything concerning long periods of history 
 or important countries of the world. It is not easy to 
 measure the amount of harm done by this lack of system, 
 miscalled freedom. 
 
 Everything points to the necessity of dealing with tlic 
 (jUGstion of curricula on national and organised lines — not 
 by stereotyping it in details, not by destroying its flexi- 
 bility, but by bringing to bear upon it the expert know- 
 ledge gained by scientific study and experience of the best 
 minds of the profession. 
 
 Although the teacher's right to plan his own work is 
 now widely recognised, suggestions are made from time to 
 time that school curricula should be " standardised."-^ 
 Such proposals have met with considerable opposition, and 
 have been regarded as a reversion to the old and bad times 
 when the State imposed the scheme of work in detail, re- 
 lentlessly crushing out initiative and possibility of pro- 
 gress. There is, however, still a fairly numerous body of 
 
 ^ It has only recently been proposed by certain head-teachers of the 
 London Elementary Schools that the Council should lay down a definite 
 standard syllabus in arithmetic.
 
 90 THE CUBBlCULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 teachers who hunger for the flesh-pots, who wish for the 
 return of the times when they had a definite and unam- 
 biguous syllabus to work from. 
 
 The suggestion to standardise the curriculum is calcu- 
 lated to arouse the opposition of all possessed by a love of 
 freedom and a sense of its indispensability in human 
 endeavour. No man enchained by arbitrarily imposed 
 rules can express himself worthily in an art. Better con- 
 fusion with freedom than system with enslavement. 
 Standardisation often covers a system of slavery — a system 
 in which individual initiative has no place, in which 
 enthusiasm is bound to perish, and in which the humanis- 
 ing activities of the teacher become little more than the 
 revolutions of the wheels of a machine. If standardisa- 
 tion means, as it usually does, the framing of a common 
 curriculum in which there is no place for variety, for per- 
 sonal powers, gifts, and enthusiasms, then the little know- 
 ledge we possess of the springs of human endeavour for- 
 bids us to have anything to do with it. 
 
 Owing to its historical associations, " standardisation" 
 contains nearly always a suggestion of very cheap articles 
 manufactured almost without the agency of human hands 
 and to one specified pattern. No doubt the idea occurs 
 to most teachers that these articles and soulless machines 
 are symbolic of what the externally imposed codes of the 
 last quarter of the nineteenth century tried hard to pro- 
 duce out of pupils and teachers. To that condition of 
 things the schools can never again revert. 
 
 The demand for a "homogeneous" curriculum may 
 mean the same thing. Neither term — neither " standard- 
 isation " nor " homogeneous," as usually used — is capable 
 of meaning anything which can be regarded as education- 
 ally sound. 
 
 Herbert Spencer's dictum that " Education must pre- 
 pare for complete living," however wrongly he interpreted
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUEEICULUM 91 
 
 its application, still indicates most nearly the direction our 
 efforts as teactiers should follow. Most recent writers on 
 education have adopted his view. Now, the life which 
 every child is living and will live is life in a society. He 
 therefore needs preparation for life as an individual and 
 for life as a member of a community. To play his part as 
 a social unit he must in himself mirror the society in which 
 he lives ; he must be acquainted with its history and tradi- 
 tions, its institutions and literatm'e, its activities, inven- 
 tions, and knowledge. This is, of course, only another 
 way of saying that he must adapt himself to his environ- 
 ment, and we thus reach the threshold of our present 
 diiSiculty with regard to the teacher's freedom in assert- 
 ing that no fundamental part of this environment can be 
 safely omitted. 
 
 Such an assertion, if correct, logically involves a curri- 
 culum which embraces the whole universe of knowledge 
 and power — a demand which, without immense modifica- 
 tions, must appear ridiculous. For reasons to be found 
 in ourselves and our pupils, we cannot teach everything, 
 and common sense suggests that in selecting fundamentals 
 consideration must be given to two measurable factors — 
 their relative intrinsic values and the varying power of the 
 pupil at different ages to grasp them. The needs and 
 powers of the child become a mandate that he should be 
 instructed in fundamentals, and that these fundamentals 
 should be presented to him in the order in which his 
 powers develop and render it possible for him to assimilate 
 them. In place, therefore, of the present unsystematised 
 curriculum, in place also of the proposed standardised or 
 homogeneous curriculum, v^e propose to substitute a 
 general minimum curriculum which includes at least the 
 fundamental elements of human knowledge and powers. 
 
 In reality this is a plea for a liberal education. The 
 acquirement of detailed knowledge in a special branch of
 
 92 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 study cannot compensate for the non-acquirement of 
 general fundamentals. Moreover, knowledge of a special 
 subject, if it is to be living and practical, cannot be 
 possessed in total or even partial isolation. A real know- 
 ledge of geography or of any other single subject involves 
 a good fundamental knowledge of history, of mathematics 
 and literature. It is, therefore, a matter not merely of 
 expediency, but of necessity, that those facts which are 
 fundamental in themselves and fundamental in their rela- 
 tion to any special subject should not be neglected. 
 
 The question as to who is to decide what elements are 
 fundamental is not so difficult as at first sight appears. 
 Teachers themselves should do this ; not each head-teacher 
 for his own school, as is now the case, but the whole body 
 of teachers for the gTeat mass of schools. The best men 
 and women from the ranks of the teaching profession 
 should be elected by the teachers, with power to co-opt 
 inspectors, educationists, psychologists, and employers of 
 labour. Such a body of experts, by placing its appro- 
 priate members in committees to deal with the various 
 branches of human culture, might soon bring to a head 
 the valuable work of this kind which has already been 
 done. Full general meetings of the whole body of dele- 
 gates would settle the final difficulties with regard to 
 debatable relative intrinsic values. 
 
 It has been contended that even uov/, in the present 
 anarchic condition of the curriculum, the head-teacher 
 does not form his own curriculum in entii"e independence. 
 He has a staff to aid him and an inspector to advise and 
 oven control him. But at the best we have here between 
 nine and ten heads put together over a subject which has 
 taxed, and is taxing, the best brains of every country. 
 
 Assume the possibility of a young and inexperienced or 
 a lazy or too busy inspector, and the head-teacher's little 
 conference loses one important member. A.ssume also a
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUEEICULUM 93 
 
 staff which has only a few hours to give to these questions, 
 and the head-teacher is left alone to grapple with the 
 problem. Assume further that the head-teacher may be 
 too old, too ignorant, or too lazy, and what can be 
 said of the curriculum brought to birth under such 
 conditions ? 
 
 Some would perhaps contend that none of these possi- 
 bilities hold good in their own case. They are capable, 
 their staff is capable, and also willing, to give all the 
 needed time, and the inspector is eminently capable or 
 immensely tractable. It must, however, be conceded 
 that these ideal conditions do not obtain everywhere. 
 Where such advantages exist it seems only reasonable to 
 ask that those enjoying them should by the means sug- 
 gested give their advice and help to others less fortunately 
 situated. 
 
 There appear to be two classes of opponents to the sug- 
 gestion of a general minimum curriculum of fundamentals 
 — those who believe that the task of fixing the funda- 
 mentals of modern culture is beyond human power, and 
 those who believe that the fixing of fundamentals would 
 limit the teacher's freedom, thereby destroying his pro- 
 fessional enthusiasm and changing him from a humanising 
 influence into a machine. To the first it seems necessary 
 to say : "Let us try; your criticisms shall be welcome." 
 To the second the ensuing paragraphs are addressed, in 
 the hope of allaying their fears and their opposition at the 
 same time. 
 
 Supporters of freedom are not only sincere, but they are 
 frequently the people who are the idealists of the profes- 
 sion : men and women of enthusiasm who, if they were 
 convinced that any proposal would hamper them in the 
 effort to pursue their high ideals, would suffer intensely ; 
 men and women whose discouragement and diminution
 
 94 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of enthusiasm and efficiency would be the greatest loss 
 and calamity which the profession conld suffer. 
 
 The great problem that those have to face who believe 
 in the necessity of obtaining a curriculum which covers at 
 least the fundamentals for life in its widest sense is to 
 prove to these idealists that their aspirations are untouched 
 by these proposals, and that their freedom is retained un- 
 diminished, and that the suggestions are not made by 
 formalists who desire to make education into a machine 
 that turns out standard patterns both of teacher and 
 pupils. 
 
 True freedom always carries on its activities within the 
 limits of law. The laws of a democratic community are 
 made by its members, and constitute a body of rules essen- 
 tial for the well-being of the members. They are, in a 
 free country, as few as are consonant with the well-being 
 of the State as a whole. They are the fundamentals. 
 Within these fundamentals each may express himself as 
 much as is possible to him and as freely as the community 
 by its laws has decided is good for the whole body politic. 
 It must first be recognized, then, that freedom has its 
 limits, within which the best possible work may be done. 
 
 Now, the thesis is at least arguable that an agreed-upon 
 minimum curriculum — a curriculum in which at least the 
 fundamentals are always present — will not hamper the 
 freedom of any man, however idealistic he may be, how- 
 ever specialised a form his enthusiasm may take. If, for 
 example, such a teacher has founded his ideals and his 
 culture on what is called geography, it is certain that he 
 will teach the fundamentals of that knowledge, and the 
 request that he shall not thereby cause the child to forgo 
 the advantage of possessing the fundamentals of history 
 or mathematical knowledge will diminish neither his real 
 freedom nor his sense of freedom. 
 
 Those who oppose the proposal on the grounds of free-
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUERICULUM 95 
 
 dom will not deny the presence of some danger in uncon- 
 trolled enthusiasm. Frequent experience shows that there 
 is considerable risk in the case of a specialist of over- 
 emphasising his subject to the detriment of other funda- 
 mentals just as vital to the child in his struggle to adapt 
 himself to his environment, the effect of which may be 
 to leave him handicapped in a world which needs both 
 special and general knowledge. 
 
 The real difficulty of the problem of freedom has now to 
 be faced, the difficulty, namely, of showing that the pro- 
 posals here made leave the teacher free to pursue his 
 ideals ; and in attempting this proof it is necessary to ask 
 the careful and sympathetic consideration of the reader to 
 a theory which is vital to this and many other educational 
 problems. It is this : The soul of a teacher finds expres- 
 sion in his method of teaching. It is in his metliod of 
 teaching, as contrasted with the matter of instruction, 
 that the teacher realises that perfect freedom essential to 
 self-expression in his art. 
 
 It is confusion of thought which leads the individual 
 teacher to identify this freedom with the power to choose 
 what he shall teach. His royal prerogative, untram- 
 melled and unfettered except by laws of Nature, is to 
 choose how he shall assist the child to transmute fact into 
 faculty ; and in deputing to the collective best minds of 
 his profession the task of deciding upon the fundamental 
 essentials of the curriculum, he is pursuing a common- 
 sense course without surrendering an iota of the freedom 
 which belongs to him by virtue of his office. 
 
 Let us now examine this theory more closely. The 
 data of arithmetic or geography consist, considered merely 
 as items of the curriculum, of a series of facts intrinsically 
 useful in varying degrees, but depending for their power 
 of inspiration, for their training value, upon the art of 
 presentation. The results of realising this truth are far-
 
 96 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 reaching. Being a man of intelligence, the teacher recog- 
 nises that certain facts are fundamental and of intrinsic 
 value to the child. Of the value of some other facts he is 
 not quite so sure, but he is morally certain that every child 
 should be acquainted with certain matters. It is true that 
 he may appreciate their value without being, however, 
 strongly interested in them. But — and here is the vital 
 point — knowing their value, he determines that he will 
 vitalise those facts and teach them in as inspiring a fashion 
 as is possible to him. What does this mean? It means 
 that the teacher, although not deeply interested in the 
 facts, is supremely interested in the method of teaching 
 them. This is where the teaching profession reaches its 
 highest level and overcomes its most retardative frictions. 
 Here we see the inspiring method in its purest form, and 
 here we see the teacher, in spite of adverse circumstances, 
 still expressing himself and his professional enthusiasm. 
 
 Now examine for a moment the case of the teacher who 
 is personally interested in, or even enthusiastic about, 
 certain subjects. It is within the experience of every 
 person who through love of a study has come near to 
 mastery of it that he is constantly noticing new relations 
 and new applications of its facts to the facts of life in 
 general. And so it is with the teacher who loves his sub- 
 ject-matter and is master of it. Assume that it happens 
 to be geography, his literature lessons will bear the im- 
 press of his knowledge of geography, and his history- 
 teaching will acquire geographical connections of immense 
 value to his pupils. His conversation, his illustrations, 
 his out-of-school activities with his class, with find constant 
 expression in geographical terms. It cannot be contended 
 by the most ardent teacher of geography that his freedom 
 is limited by a proposal that in every school the funda- 
 mentals of geography shall be taught. On the contrary, 
 he will find in his chosen subject two sources of inspiration
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUEEICULUM 97 
 
 — his own personal interest in the material and profes- 
 sional interest in the art of presenting it. 
 
 Principles are not always easy of application, and this 
 principle is no exception. We must therefore enquire 
 how it touches the question of fundamentals in the literary 
 parts of the curriculum. The subject-matter here has 
 already received its power to inspire by the art or method 
 of the historian or poet. A mere fact may be asserted 
 thus: "On the 10th of May, 1774, Louis XV. died." 
 The living writer inspires the fact by his treatment, by his 
 method of presenting the fact : " Yes, poor Louis, Death 
 has found thee. No palace walls or gilt buckram of 
 stiff est ceremonial could keep him out ; but he is here, 
 here at thy very life-breath, and will extinguish it. Thou, 
 whose whole existence hitherto was a chimera and scenic 
 show, at length becomest a reality; sumptuous Versailles 
 bursts asunder, like a dream, into void immensity. Time 
 is done, and all the scaffolding of Time falls wrecked with 
 hideous clangour round thy soul ; the pale kingdoms yawn 
 open ; there must thou enter, naked, all unking'd, and 
 await what is appointed thee." 
 
 A truth may be put before us in dead form, thus : " God 
 does all things well." But the writer of inspiration says : 
 
 " The year's at the spring, 
 The day's at the morn. 
 Morning's at seven ; 
 The hillside's dew-pearled ; 
 The lark's on the wing ; 
 The snail's on the thorn ; 
 God's in his heaven — 
 All's right with the world," 
 
 and the fact passes into our lives with a thrill, for the 
 absence of which there is no compensation. 
 
 Thus literary material stands on a different footing from 
 any other. In no real sense can we regard it as inert or 
 dead, as we can and do regard many items of the syllabus 
 
 7
 
 08 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 which belong to arithmetic, geography, or science. Be- 
 fore the teacher has put a finger, and sometimes a sacri- 
 legious finger, upon it, it stands before our pupils in a 
 twofold aspect — as a series of plain facts of intrinsic value, 
 and also as facts permeated with inspiration by the form 
 into which they have been thrown. How will this affect 
 the question of fundamentals in history and literature? 
 Can it be said with any meaning that there are specific 
 parts of our literature of fundamental nature without 
 which we ought not to allow our pupils to leave school? 
 
 It has been asserted that any single work of art touches 
 life at all its vital points, but this is probably only true for 
 the initiated. There is little doubt, however, that the 
 national literature, in its collective capacity, is able to do 
 this in a way which is evident to every seeker. Lyrical 
 poetry by itself cannot be said to do this, nor epic, nor 
 dramatic, nor narrative; but together they do sound the 
 depths of Nature in all its forms. And since our admitted 
 aim in the school is to bring the pupils into vital relations 
 with all fundamental sides of life, it follows logically that 
 we have to put before them, in an order harmonious with 
 their developing ideas and understanding, all types of the 
 highest poetry and prose which the language possesses. 
 Beyond this, in the demand for fundamentals, there seems 
 no reason to go. Moreover, by following these lines we 
 provide a literary menu which will appeal to all the varied 
 types of appreciation which exist among the children in 
 our schools. 
 
 With regard to history-teaching, the difficulty which we 
 have seen arises in pure literature on account of the artistic 
 form into which it has already been thrown exists to a 
 much less degree, and the problem is therefore simplified. 
 As a rule, history -teaching depends for its inspiration to 
 a considerable extent upon the teacher's method, upon the 
 manner in which he sees and feels and expresses emotion-
 
 THE FLEXIBLE CUEEICULUM 99 
 
 ally his feelings. Nevertheless, it is true that the facts of 
 history, like those of literature, have already been put into 
 a more or less appealing form, and are already capable 
 without treatment by the teacher of producing an emo- 
 tional stirring in the minds of his pupils which gives rise 
 to historical convictions and ideals. 
 
 There is, of course, no reason, except for the purposes 
 of the present argument, why the inspirational side of 
 history should be treated in isolation from its informative 
 side. It should always be remembered that when dis- 
 cussing curricula we are dealing with information, and 
 when discussing method we are dealing with the problem 
 of how to make that information inspiring". Hence the 
 protagonists of complete freedom could throw consider- 
 able light on our discussion by stating the guiding 
 principle on which they select the syllabus of history. Do 
 they select certain biographies, do they choose that certain 
 facts shall be learned, because these appear to be most 
 useful for the inculcation of certain ideals? They would 
 most probably reply : ' ' No ; but in teaching those facts 
 which we have decided are sufficiently important to bo 
 learned, we hope and we shall strive to do those things 
 you spoke of." Now, expanding this statement, it means 
 that those biographies and facts are selected which they 
 regard as knowledge fundamental in general life, or at 
 any rate as necessary for showing the connection or rela- 
 tion between fundamental items of historical knowledge ; 
 but it also means that they will seek by their method of 
 presenting these fundamental facts to inculcate patriotism, 
 honour, loyalty, and other ideals. And this is all we are 
 contending for. If the idealists will only admit that they 
 choose the history syllabus, not because of the moral value 
 of the facts, but because these facts seem to them to be 
 best calculated to give an understanding of history, to 
 produce an intelligent citizen, one better able through his
 
 100 THE CUEEICULA OP SCHOOLS 
 
 study of those facts to make his political decisions ; if 
 they will further admit that citizen ideals will depend 
 almost entirely upon how they teach those facts, then they 
 will see, we believe, no insuperable difficulty in agreeing 
 that in selecting fundamentals their real aim is being in 
 no way frustrated, nor their true freedom limited. 
 
 The proposal to requh'e the schools to teach the funda- 
 mentals of human culture is thus in no way calculated to 
 establish a tyranny over the teacher, to stereotype the 
 work of the school, or to standardise the teacher into a 
 machinist. All the arguments urged on behalf of standard- 
 isation — arguments dealing chiefly with the enormous 
 practical benefits which it is believed would follow the 
 standardisation of the curriculum — apply with the same 
 force in the case of " f undamentalising " it. At the same 
 time, by merely making certain that the curriculum 
 includes the minimum of fundamentals, no teacher is 
 hindered in giving scope to his predilections and special 
 powers, as was too often the case when standardisation 
 exercised its tyranny over details.^ 
 
 ^ In a paper on standardisation of the curriculum by Mr. Dumville, 
 he points out certain great advantages which would follow the course 
 suggested. All teachers, he says, would be familiar with the complete 
 course of instruction ; inspectors and others would not, as now, in 
 assessing the work of the school, have to spend time in studyinsf the 
 school curricula ; the official curriculum would be invested with the 
 authority which at present it lacks ; and a vast amount of thought now 
 directed to the framing of syllabuses could be devoted to method. I 
 gather from my reading of Mr. Dumville's paper that the chief ad- 
 vantage he sees in standardisation is to be found in the possibility of 
 giving copious help to teachers in elaborating methods of teaching ; as 
 in France, periodicals and books would be written by specialists in 
 large numbers showing how the definite subject-matter should be 
 taught ; in fact, I am not sure that Mr. Dumville does not exaggerate 
 the educational value of this consecjuence. In any case, " standardisa- 
 tion " is not the same thing as a minimum of fundamentals ; if it is, 
 then it would be well to say so very plainly.
 
 CHAPTEK VII 
 
 CURRICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 
 
 In the course of a perfectly general education until twelve, 
 various signs have indicated what broad fields in life the 
 pupil, following his natural bent, will traverse. Only the 
 very widest generalisations with regard to these fields will 
 as yet be possible, and in many instances none. By the 
 age of fourteen more specific tendencies show themselves, 
 and it begins to be clear whether the boy has linguistic or 
 literary, mathematical or scientific interests and powers. 
 The realities of life begin now to appear as purposes which 
 act as driving forces, but which in most cases do not yet 
 point in specialised directions. Even where such indica- 
 tions are not wanting, the pupil's choice has frequently to 
 be guided and controlled, for it is easy for an immature 
 mind to take short views. He will often readily seize 
 upon narrow and immediately useful interests, and be- 
 come a rather unsafe guide in choosing his special line. 
 He will devote much energy to shorthand and book-keep- 
 ing, which a consensus of opinion rightly regards as sub- 
 jects of too' specialised a nature for the pupil under sixteen, 
 and as of less intrinsic value than other branches of human 
 culture. Sixteen seems to be the age at which the boy's 
 hitherto uncertain interests take permanent forms. 
 
 On the whole, it seems that Nature has marked out 
 general directions for the educationist to follow. Up to 
 the age of twelve, and under ordinary conditions, the pupil 
 will be occupied in adjusting himself to the more funda- 
 mental elements of his immediate and remote environment ; 
 from that age to fourteen he will become more or lessi clearly 
 
 101
 
 102 THE CURRICUIiA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 aware of the general directions in which his powers He ; 
 from fourteen to sixteen he will probably be seeking — 
 and will find by the end of the period — the special power 
 or powers with which Nature may have endowed him. 
 The girl arrives at these stages about a year earlier. 
 
 We may make from these facts two valuable conclu- 
 sions with regard to curricula for pupils between the ages 
 of ten and sixteen. We may conclude, in the first place, 
 that the education given should be of a general type, 
 many-sided, and dealing with fundamentals. If the 
 child's nature and needs are used as guides, no attempt 
 will be made before this age to specialise, to go deeply 
 into one branch of study by neglecting others — in other 
 words, to deprive the pupil of his chance of finding " him- 
 self." In the second place, it is evident that the curricu- 
 lum will have to exhibit a development from broad features 
 to details, from outlines to light and shade, from width to 
 depth. The beginnings of the different studies will be 
 found in the common observable facts of life, which will 
 have to be treated on informal lines ; later will appear the 
 more hidden relations, with the possibility of systematic 
 and formal treatment. 
 
 Such conclusions can only refer to the ordinary normal 
 child. There are, it is certain, many children to whom 
 they cannot be made to apply. Some, who have matured 
 more rapidly than the average, definitely indicate their 
 special powers long before the age of sixteen ; others of 
 very slow growth require a year or two more in which to 
 develop their hidden talent. Hence there should be no 
 attempt to devise a cast-iron curriculum for different ages, 
 but, on the contrary, every effort to allow of due elasticity 
 and variety. None the less, for the good of the great 
 majority of Secondary School pupils it is vitally necessary 
 to make use of these principles, since without them our 
 pupils would leave school without mental equilibrium,
 
 CUERICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 103 
 
 viewing the world through a deceptive twilight of unas- 
 similated and unrelated knowledge. 
 
 The educational aim of providing the opportunity for 
 self-development, for the growth of special powers, and of 
 a background of general culture capable of directing and 
 controlling those special powers, can only be achieved if 
 the principle of a general education until sixteen is 
 observed. Few educationists to-day believe in the pos- 
 sibility of producing a wide and catholic mind by means 
 of specialised school instruction. Unfortunately, the 
 school reflects one phase of the life of the community — its 
 hurry and push and struggle — with a thoroughness it fails 
 to put into other far more important phases ; hence early 
 specialisation is by no means unknown. While few en- 
 lightened teachers would advocate for pupils under sixteen 
 a merely mathematical or scientific or linguistic training, 
 in practice this tendency is often seen. The State itself 
 some years ago encouraged this tendency, and by its large 
 grants to the Organised Science Schools handicapped to a 
 disastrous degree the literary and linguistic curriculum. 
 Its repentance is, however, thorough ; every publication 
 now issued by the Board of Education on the subject of 
 Secondary School curricula urges the necessity of width 
 and catholicity. 
 
 A comparatively small but influential group of educa- 
 tionists still maintains the superior value of a merely 
 classical training. The most conservative would begin 
 this type of instruction at an early age, give it an over- 
 whelming position in the curriculum, and continue it as 
 long as school education lasts, in the belief that it will 
 produce the most adaptable and able type of mind. The 
 more liberal supporters of a classical education no longer 
 contend that this view is correct, and, while asserting its 
 value as an essential part of the curriculum, have the 
 
 vision to see that it can be only a part , and may not usurp
 
 104 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 the place of other instruction necessary to complete living, 
 whether social, business, or professional. There are 
 teachers who lay the same unwarrantable emphasis upon 
 science teaching. 
 
 The theory put forward here, and which appears to be 
 accepted by the State, is that, with certain modifications 
 to suit special cases, the Secondary School curriculum 
 should up to the age of twelve be quite general in char- 
 acter ; that from this age to sixteen it should continue to be 
 general, at the same time making provision for certain 
 observed tendencies towards mathematical, scientific, and 
 linguistic studies ; and that from sixteen years of age 
 specialisation as usually understood should begin. Thus 
 we find that in a recent memorandum issued by the Board 
 of Education encouragement is given to an organisation 
 which makes the age eleven to twelve the time for begin- 
 ning the first foreign language. English language and 
 literature, geography, history, mathematics, science, and 
 drawing ; organised games, physical exercises, manual 
 instruction, and singing, together with domestic subjects 
 for girls — in fact, all the fundamental aspects of life, the 
 general elements of human thought and activity — are to 
 receive continuous attention until the age of sixteen.^ 
 When this point is reached, a two years' course of ad- 
 vanced instruction in either (1) science and mathematics, 
 (2) classics, or (3) languages and history,^ with instruction 
 in subjects of a general nature, is permissible where ade- 
 quate equipment exists. 
 
 The necessity for a general education until sixteen thus 
 meets with wide agreement. The nature of the pupil 
 seems clearly to point to it ; the close interconnection of 
 all branches of knowledge demands it. The intensive 
 thought upon education during the last few decades by 
 
 ^ " Regulations for Secondary Schools," chapter ii, 
 2 Ibid., chapter viii,
 
 CUEEICULA OF SECONDAKY SCHOOLS 105 
 
 psychologists, educationists, social workers, eminent 
 wTiters of fiction, and last, but by no means least, by 
 teachers and Board of Education experts, has given such 
 confirmation to the principle that it may be regarded as 
 unassailable. 
 
 A principle of so general a nature will naturally allow of 
 valuing application, according to varying conditions. We 
 have seen that in the case of the Elementary Schools local 
 and special conditions affected methods of teaching and to 
 some degree the curriculum itself ; and the same will occur, 
 and to a greater degree, in the case of Secondary Schools. 
 Local advantages and needs will afford the Secondary 
 School teacher means not only of vitalising the curriculum 
 by means of illustrations and examples drawn from the 
 environment, by the inclusion of special problems and 
 special applications of scientific principles, but also of 
 widening the common minimum curriculum in the direc- 
 tion of local conditions and their corresponding interests 
 for the greater number of pupils. We need only instance 
 the Secondary Schools of mining districts or of towns 
 where dyeing is carried on or those of agricultural areas. 
 
 Considerable variety in the curriculum is legitimate. 
 The future occupation, the age at which pupils enter and 
 at which they leave the school, the previous training and 
 the home life, the fact of residence or non-residence in the 
 school, and the individual tastes of the scholars, will all 
 have their effect in the shaping of the scheme of work. 
 
 It will frequently be necessary to give variety to the 
 curriculum by emphasising some portions of it, or by giving 
 more intensive study to one part, while necessarily allow- 
 ing others to proceed more slowly. The average pupil 
 often finds a new subject or branch very baffling and 
 obscure at first, and is consequently discouraged ; hence it 
 is advisable to curtail the period of "gaping," and to get 
 as quickly as the pupil's powers will permit into tha
 
 106 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 smoother waters of familiarity and habit. Moreover, 
 experience shows us that an outburst of energy in one 
 direction entails a diminution of it in nearly every other. 
 
 It is obvious that schools which retain their pupils until 
 sixteen and eighteen years of age will show far deeper 
 differences in their curricula than those schools which the 
 pupil leaves at fourteen. It is for this reason, as well as 
 others, that the head-master of a Secondary School should 
 be entrusted with greater freedom in shaping his curricu- 
 lum than his fellow-worker in the Elementary School. 
 No one can know better than he the local needs and the 
 special function his school is capable of performing ; no 
 one is better situated for observing the developing special 
 tastes and powers of his pupils. Subject, therefore, to a 
 certain degree of supervision with regard to the common 
 fundamentals, he should have authority to frame his 
 scheme of work within the limits already defined. 
 
 The freedom delegated to the head-master should always 
 be circumscribed by enlightened supervision. The abso 
 lute freedom of the "private school" is educationally 
 wrong. It has been said that some of the best and most 
 self-sacrificing efforts for educational reform have origin- 
 ated in such schools, " whose record in this respect com- 
 pares favourably with that of any other class of school."^ 
 This is true, but it is equally true that many such schools 
 have produced a kind of educational chaos and a lack of 
 foundation and balance altogether detrimental to the 
 general educational progress of the country. Under what 
 is now an enlightened central authority and an enlightened, 
 progressive inspectorate, there is room for every type of 
 educational experiment. It must always be remembered 
 that for every experiment which succeeds in proving its 
 worth as a new pedagogic departure, probably ninety-nine 
 
 1 " Educational Roform," p. 197, Be^port of the Ecluoatiopal Reform 
 Council (Teachers' Guild).
 
 CUERICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 107 
 
 fail to do so. There is, therefore, nothing reactionary in 
 the plea that they should be undertaken only after the 
 most serious consideration by the originator, and with such 
 supervisory precautions as may prevent a large number of 
 jDupils suffering shipwreck in the process. 
 
 The curriculum of the efficient Secondary School is 
 often affected adversely by a multiplicity of external exam- 
 inations, the syllabuses of which have been fixed without 
 regard to the special character and function of the particu- 
 lar school. The whole curriculum has been framed to 
 meet the demands of one or more examinations, and the 
 principle of fundamentals has gone by the board. The 
 theory of the head-master's freedom has perished too, and 
 the general loss in educational efficiency is not counter- 
 balanced by a long list of examination successes. Variety 
 in the curriculum caused by outside examinations is gener- 
 ally to be condemned. The curriculum should be planned 
 with both eyes shut to everything which lies outside the 
 lines of natural development, examinations only being 
 used to see that the teaching has been effective or to test 
 whether a pupil is fit to pass on to the next stage in his 
 natural progress. 
 
 The curriculum may also suffer considerably owing to 
 the absence of a proper co-ordination of the various sub- 
 jects. We aim at a very remote and inaccessil^le ideal in 
 trying to produce in our pupils unity of thought ; none the 
 less it is necessary to work in that direction. Growing 
 unity of purpose may lead to some degree of thought unity, 
 and the curriculum should be framed to further both ends. 
 Mathematics, for example, should appear, not as an 
 isolated domain of knowledge, but as an integral part of 
 geographical, scientific, and manual work. Latin should 
 put in a useful appearance in many English and French 
 lessons and in history. Wherever natural connections 
 exist, they should be utilised for the purpose, among
 
 108 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 others, of unifying the " all too naturally departmentalised 
 minds of our pupils." We have already seen that correla- 
 tion of this kind is brought about most fully by means of 
 intelligent methods of teaching, and less fully by the 
 properly arranged curriculum. It is, however, very im- 
 portant in the Secondary School to lay great stress upon a 
 well-co-ordinated curriculum, since the work of a form is 
 not, as in the Elementary School, in the hands of one 
 teacher. The pupil may have four or five or even more 
 masters for different subjects, and unless obvious precau- 
 tions are taken, each of these subjects will preserve an 
 entirely independent existence, thus losing much of their 
 power to produce the unity which gives force and direction 
 to life. 
 
 One of the first great problems which face the education- 
 ist in his endeavour to gain clear ideas and ideals with 
 regard to Secondary School curricula is the question of the 
 continuity of Elementary and Secondary Education. Is 
 it advisable, and if so is it possible, to secure this con- 
 tinuity? The answer to the first query is to be found in 
 our social and national ideals. In a real democracy it is 
 scarcely possible to take up any attitude but that of con- 
 sent. A career open to all the talents, and without un- 
 necessary impediments, is the only logical formula. The 
 idealists have already — and the practical men and women 
 are now following in the same direction — contended that 
 all the children of the nation should receive the same eda- 
 cation up to a certain age, some arguing that this age 
 should be twelve and others fourteen. The gain, they 
 say, would be enormous. Some educationists, in their 
 anxiety to preserve the Elementary School curriculum 
 from undue influence by Secondary School aims, insist on 
 keeping the two distinct throughout. Others, moved by 
 the same anxiety on behalf of Secondary School curricula,
 
 CUKBICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 109 
 
 support the same view. There is Uttle doubt, however, 
 that this reform will become before long an accomplished 
 fact. 
 
 The psychological grounds for it are strong ; for the 
 nature and capacity of normal children up to about the 
 age of twelve do not vary to so great a degree as to requu'e 
 quite different mental food. It is only when the permanent 
 powers are beginning to appear, when the leaving age is 
 approaching and the future career is becoming clear to 
 both teacher and pupil, that any considerable difference in 
 ciurricula is needed. 
 
 As to the ways and means of effecting this continuity, 
 opinions vary, but not to an extent that should paralyse 
 action. The simplest and soundest plan would appear to 
 be to postpone the learning of all languages other than the 
 mother-tongue until after twelve years of age ; to give a 
 good grounding in Nature-study, out of which the sciences 
 and geography would develop naturally ; and to extend the 
 often narrow arithmetic scheme of the Elementary School 
 by including practical mensuration and geometry — a much- 
 needed modification, good for the Elementary School pupil 
 and a preparation for the mathematical studies of Second- 
 ary Education. 
 
 To all who place their confidence in a purely classical, 
 and even to those who put their faith in a scientific educa- 
 tion, the proposal will be unwelcome, but the number of 
 such is now fortunately small. More opposition would be 
 met with from those who believe in the necessity for be- 
 ginning languages early, and cannot, therefore, face with 
 equanimity the delay involved. Some teachers who 
 supix)rt the principle of this reform hesitate over this 
 language difficulty ; Messrs. Norwood and Hope would have 
 French begun by Elementary School pupils of capacity at 
 ten years of age, so that they should not be placed at a 
 disadvantage when entering the Secondary School at
 
 110 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 twelve/ There is, however, no need for this exception ; an 
 ordinary child has no really firm grasp of his native language 
 and its construction before the age of twelve, and until he 
 has will meet with discouragements in the acquirement of 
 a foreign tongue which we have every reason to avoid. 
 Actual results show, too, that pupils beginning the foreign 
 language at twelve are in no way handicapped, and in a 
 very short time have caught up with those who began it 
 at ten. 
 
 The writers just mentioned have suggested a further im- 
 portant step in the process of co-ordinating English edu- 
 cation. They propose such a manipulation of the curricu- 
 lum as will bring the Secondary Schools of the second grade 
 into line with those of the first grade, so as to enable pupils 
 to pass easily from one to the other at any stage below the 
 age of sixteen. A proof of the convenience of such an 
 arrangement might be insufficient; it rests, however, on a 
 firmer basis — namely, the nature and necessities of the 
 pupil. For the ordinary boy and girl two years should be 
 given to one foreign language before beginning another. 
 Here, therefore, the convenient coincides with the natural. 
 
 The only flaw in the scheme seems to be that Higher 
 Grade Secondary Schools require that Latin should be 
 begun before the age of fourteen. INIessrs. Norwood and 
 Hope therefore suggest that the Second Grade Secondary 
 Schools should choose Latin rather than German as the 
 second language to be studied until fourteen. As they 
 point out, this would make a homogeneous scheme feasible, 
 but they fail to show that their preference for Latin is 
 educationally sound. Most of the old phrases about the 
 training value of Latin are used, and Canon Glazebrook's 
 platitudes on the disciplinary values of certain studies are 
 quoted. The writers seem even unaware that the dogma 
 
 ^ Norwood and Hope, "Higher Education of Boys in Eng- 
 Ijind."
 
 CURRICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 111 
 
 of "formal training" has ever been contested. Fortun- 
 ately, the fact that everything does not fit in the scheme 
 constitutes no argument against its general soundness. 
 The age of fourteen is quite early enough for deciding 
 whether the bias is to be on the classical or the modern 
 side, and it may very v^ell be that the Higher Grade 
 Schools are badly advised in beginning Latin at twelve. 
 We give on pages 112 and 113 the complete pro- 
 posals.^ 
 
 The war and the consequent national awakening as to 
 the value of education have given an impetus to sugges- 
 tions for reform in secondary organisation and curricula 
 from many directions. Among these the work of the Edu- 
 cation Reform Council, initiated by the Teachers' Guild, 
 has been of very high value. In dealing with Secondary 
 Schools of the second grade, the Council made proposals 
 with which the present writer is in very close agreement. 
 They divide the school course into three stages — viz., 
 Stage I. (ages about ten to twelve). Stage II. (from twelve 
 to fourteen), and Stage III. (from fourteen to sixteen), 
 and outline a normal minimum curriculum, open to various 
 detailed modifications, to meet varying conditions. See 
 table, p. 114. 
 
 Several valuable qualities characterise this arrange- 
 ment. First of all the curriculum of Stage I. has no 
 foreign language, the time usually occupied by such a 
 study being devoted to a more thorough understanding of 
 and power over the mother-tongue. Secondly, two years 
 elapse between beginning the first and beginning the 
 second foreign language ; this obviates the necessity for 
 that pernicious hurry and overwork which mar Secondary 
 Education so frequently, and permits the deliberate and 
 even leisurely absorption of knowledge and acquirement of 
 
 * Norwood and Hope, "Higher Education of Boys in England," 
 p. 297.
 
 112 
 
 THE CURKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 HIGHER GRADE SECONDARY SCHOOL, PREPARING 
 FOR THE UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 
 Below 
 Course. 
 
 Lower 
 Course. 
 
 Classical 
 Specialists. 
 
 Specialists. 
 
 Average Age 
 of Boys. 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 Divinity 
 English 
 Latin 
 Greek 
 French 
 German 
 History- 
 Geography . . 
 Mathematics 
 Science 
 Nature Study 
 Writing 
 Drawing 
 Manual Train- 
 ing 
 
 Al 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 3 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 |C3 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 1 
 2 
 6 
 
 B6 
 3 
 
 B6 
 2 
 2 
 5 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 2 
 6 
 6 
 3 
 6 
 2 
 2 
 5 
 3 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 }l5i 
 3 
 
 E3 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 }20j 
 
 |d3 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 }22j 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 B4 
 
 B4/ 
 1 E3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 3\ 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 Total periods 
 per week . . 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 Each period has an average duration of forty-five minutes. 
 
 A. Another period will be given to Divinity on Sundays in boarding-schools. 
 
 B. Greek and German are alternative subjects. 
 
 C. A bracket between two subjects means that the periods can be distri- 
 
 buted according to need. 
 
 D. German, instead of French, may be taught in the two top classical forms, 
 
 E. In the last three years, classical boys will give two-thirds of their time to 
 
 classical and one-third to modern history; modem boys the reverse. 
 
 F. History and modem language specialists will have time assigned from 
 
 the periods given to mathematics and science. 
 Civics will be taught in a period taken from an English subject, hygiene in a 
 period taken from science or mathematics.
 
 CUEEICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS/ 
 
 MUNICIPAL SECONDARY SCHOOL, PREPAEING FOR 
 COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY. 
 
 
 Below 
 Course. 
 
 Lower Course. 
 
 Higher 
 Course. 
 
 
 Average Age 
 of Boys. 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 
 Divinity 
 English 
 French 
 German 
 Latin 
 History 
 Geography . . 
 Mathematics 
 Science 
 Nature Study 
 Writing 
 Drawing 
 Manual Train- 
 ing 
 
 1 
 6 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 )A3 
 i 1 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 6 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 6 
 
 \~^ ^ 
 / 1 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 5 
 B6 
 B6 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 
 }3 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 5 
 6 
 6 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 3 
 5 
 5 
 
 5 
 2 
 2 
 6 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 C4 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 4 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 5 
 5 
 5 
 
 5 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 (+2)D 
 
 (+5)E 
 (+2)D 
 
 Total periods 
 per week.. 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 
 
 32 ! 32 
 
 32 
 
 
 Each period has a duration of forty-five minutes. 
 
 A. A bracket between two subjects means that the periods can be distri- 
 
 buted according to need. 
 
 B. Latin and German are alternative subjects. 
 
 C. One of the English periods during the last three years might well be 
 
 devoted to the study of classical history and of classical literature in 
 translations. 
 
 D. Two extra periods to bo assigned to English or to drawing, at the option 
 
 of the boy, in the higher course. 
 
 E. Five extra periods may be assigned to science, as an alternative to 
 
 keeping up a second language in the higher course. 
 Civics will be taught in a period taken from an English subject, hygiene in 
 a period taken from science or mathematics. 
 
 Note. — I have ventured to criticise the above scheme, but I have also tried 
 to express my conviction that it follows, on the whole, sound 
 pedagogic principles, and is not open to the criticism that it is at 
 present impracticable — a criticism which may with some show 
 of reason be levelled against other more radical reforms.
 
 114 
 
 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 SUGGESTED CURRICULUM AND DISTRIBUTION OF 
 LESSON PERIODS. 
 
 
 Stage I. 
 
 Stage II. 
 
 Stage III. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 {About Ten to 
 
 Twelve). 
 
 {About Twelve 
 to Fourteen). 
 
 {About Four- 
 teen to Sixteen). 
 
 Scripture . . 
 
 English 
 
 History 
 
 Geography 
 
 French 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 3 or 2 
 
 1 
 4 or 5 
 2 or 3 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 4 or 5 
 2 or 3 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Second Foreign Language 
 or some alternative 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 5 or 6 
 
 5 or 6 
 
 5 or 6 
 
 Natural Science 
 
 3 or 2 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 Drawing (including Colour 
 
 Work) .. .. _.. 
 
 Vocal Music and Musical 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Appreciation 
 Handwork . . 
 
 2 
 2 or 3 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 2 
 2 
 
 Physical Training . . 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Total Number of Periods . . 
 
 30 
 
 31-34 
 
 35-38 
 
 power so essential to real development. Lastly, the pos- 
 sibility of teaching only one foreign language is envisaged, 
 and a place in Secondary Education is conceded to those 
 possessed of little linguistic ability. 
 
 Every highly civilised nation of modern times has tried 
 to introduce variety into the matter taught in its Secondary 
 Schools. The centuries old practice of putting all pupils 
 through the same machine , regardless of special tastes and 
 pov^ers, is no longer pursued. Considerable freedom of 
 choice now lies before every Secondary School pupil, who 
 can at some time or other choose between classical , modern 
 language, scientific, mathematical, and, later in his school 
 life, historical courses. One characteristic of English and
 
 CURRICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 115 
 
 French as contrasted with German Secondary Schools is 
 that all these varied courses are carried on in the same insti- 
 tution. The encouragement given by the Board of Edu- 
 cation to collaboration between schools, with the view of 
 making full use of special staff qualifications and equip- 
 ment, and the recent introduction of advanced courses for 
 the older scholars, sometimes entailing the transference of 
 pupils to schools specially organised for the purpose, mark 
 a small step in the German direction. 
 
 On the whole, the facts put forward in the last chapter 
 have had considerable weight in the framing of Secondary 
 School curricula. Some schools have provided a general 
 education up to eleven or twelve, introduced a superficial 
 division at fourteen, and begun specialisation in earnest at 
 sixteen. A few have even continued what may be regarded 
 as a true general education up to fourteen. On the other 
 hand, some Public Schools specialise from the beginning. 
 We may disapprove of this system and lament its effects, 
 but it must be remembered that such schools often do not 
 draw their pupils from the locality, but from the country 
 as a whole ; they supply no local needs, and parents need 
 not send their children to them unless they choose. 
 
 When the school drawing its pupils from the neighbour- 
 hood is very large and well equipped, it develops, as has 
 been observed, two or more sides, with different kinds 
 of curricula. We may take the Manchester Grammar 
 School as an example. This school, which fulfils a special 
 function in the midst of a large industrial and commercial 
 population, has a Preparatory, Lower, and Upper School, 
 with pupils varying in age from nine to nineteen. It also 
 admits a large number of scholarship boys from the Ele- 
 mentary Schools at the age of eleven or twelve. In the 
 four preparatory forms, containing boys of from nine to 
 eleven years of age, the curriculum is the same for all, and
 
 116 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 contains, in addition to the ordinary subjects, French and 
 Nature-study. A good grounding in Enghsh is also aimed 
 at. As soon as the pupil reaches the Upper School — that 
 is, at the age of eleven — he must decide which branch of 
 study to follow — classics or modern languages. These are 
 separate from this moment all through the school , no Latin 
 being taught on the modern side until the top form is 
 reached. Thus it is practically impossible for a scholar 
 beginning on the modern side to transfer to the classical, 
 but, on the other hand, it is possible to begin on the 
 classical and transfer to the modern. The study of Latin 
 and Greek appears to be considered of the very highest 
 value, for every encouragement is given to enter the 
 classical side. In advising parents as to their choice, the 
 head-master urges not only the utility of Latin for business 
 and commerce, but the old argument, rather threadbare in 
 recent years, that it is the most logical of all languages 
 and teaches clear and accurate thought. Greek is said to 
 be the most beautiful and dehcate of all languages, and the 
 source and standard of most of the intellectual and artistic 
 achievements of modern Europe. Fortunately, we are not 
 compelled to discuss here these statements, and need only 
 note the fact that, although Latin is regarded as of such 
 intrinsic importance, it does not appear as a subject of 
 study on the modern side. 
 
 The complete scheme of studies is admirably set out in 
 the diagram given on p. 117.^ 
 
 The idea upon which such an organisation is based ap- 
 pears to be that at the age of eleven a boy has indicated 
 which general direction his path in life will take, either 
 towards commerce or the learned professions. If later on 
 it is found that he has mistaken his bent in following a 
 
 1 Arrangfed by Mr. Hope, Head-master of the Roan School and 
 formerly Classical Master at the Manchester Grammar School, through 
 whose courtesy this information and much other has come into my 
 hands.
 
 CtJEBICULA OF SECONDABY SCHOOLS 117 
 
 University Courses 
 
 in 
 Modern Languages, 
 Commerce etc. 
 
 Modern Sixth 
 (Age 17-13) 
 
 4 
 
 Latin OP 
 Spanisln. 
 German, 
 French. 
 
 Mod.Trans.JA 
 (Age 16) (B 
 
 Mod.Fifth.JA 
 (Age 15) (b 
 
 Mod.Fourtm^ 
 (Age 14) (( 
 
 Mod Upper 
 Remove. 
 (Age 14) 
 
 Mod.Third.jg 
 
 Se13) (c 
 
 Mod. Lower 
 Remove. 
 (Age 13) 
 
 MODERN 'matri^ui atiam CLASSICAL 
 I Qinr iMATRICULATlON. SIDE ' 
 
 University or 
 
 School of Technology, 
 courses in 
 Medicine, 
 Engineering, 
 Science, 
 
 A Architecture etc. 
 
 jScience 
 } Sixth 
 KAgplT-ID) 
 
 Math'. 
 Sixth. 
 Age 17- 19) 
 
 Math' 
 Trans. 
 (Age 17) 
 
 Univer'sity Courses 
 
 in 
 
 Classic&,History.Langu3gcs etc 
 
 leading to 
 
 Learned Professions, 
 
 Civil ServiceO^^ Division) 
 
 ^ 
 
 SIDE. 
 
 Upper Claosical 
 
 Sixth. 
 Lov^'er( Age 17-19) 
 
 Classical Trans. 
 (Age 17) 
 
 Classical Fifth 
 (Aje 16) 
 
 n:]Cias5ical Remove^ 
 /3j (Age 15) 
 
 (Classical fourth 
 (Age 14) 
 
 ■) Classical Third. 
 (Age 13) 
 
 [Classical Second. 
 (Age 12) 
 
 (Age 9-11) 
 
 N.B. — The Fourths and all forms above the Fourths constitute the 
 Upper School ; the forms below the Fourths are the Lower School.
 
 118 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 classical line, he can easily change to the modern side by 
 drojDping Greek for good and Latin for a time. In the 
 case of a pupil on the modern side wishing to transfer to 
 the classical, some intensive work in Latin and Greek 
 might perhaps be attempted, but would be extremely diffi- 
 cult. Specialisation in science does not occur until the age 
 of fourteen, and the science side then draws pupils from 
 both classical and modern sides. Real specialisation in 
 mathematics begins at seventeen. Science and mathe- 
 matics both lead towards more specialised University and 
 technological coiurses in medicine, engineering, and 
 science. 
 
 Another principle of first-rate importance finds applica- 
 tion in this curriculum — namely, that tlie basis of all 
 school studies should be linguistic. Both modern and 
 classical sides are fundamentally linguistic in character, 
 science being added later, and in larger doses to the cur- 
 riculum of the former than to that of the latter. This 
 principle has met with very general acceptance by the 
 great body of educational opinion, and is the view held by 
 the Central Educational Authority. 
 
 On the classical side at Manchester Latin is begun at 
 twelve and Greek at fourteen, and on the modern side 
 German is taken up at fourteen. This arrangement fol- 
 lows the common-sense rule that two foreign languages 
 should not be begun at the same time. "Concurrent 
 study of two foreign languages (French and Latin), and 
 sometimes three (Greek or German in addition), before 
 elements of one have been mastered, and often before 
 pupils can read and write intelligently, is one of the most 
 disastrous features of our secondary education."^ 
 
 The practice of allowing time in which to become 
 familiarised with one language before beginning another is 
 now observed in many schools, and affects all pupils except 
 
 1 " Educational Reform," p. 79.
 
 CUERICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 119 
 
 the winners of scholarships who enter at about the age of 
 twelve. At the Manchester Grammar School these pre- 
 smnably bright children, when too advanced in general 
 subjects to be put into a preparatory form, are on the 
 modern side drafted into two Remove forms. Remove A 
 is for the best of these new entrants, who begin intensive 
 work in French and German. In Remove B the others 
 are taught French only. At the end of a year the former 
 pass into the Fifth and the latter into the Third or Fourth 
 Forms. Many Secondary Schools have a somewhat 
 similar organisation, and allow boys who enter at the age 
 of eleven or twelve, both scholarship-holders and others, 
 to begin French and Latin at the same time. This ar- 
 rangement may be the best possible under the circum- 
 stances, but the plan is opposed to all we know of a child's 
 nature and powers of absorbing new knowledge. It would 
 be scarcely a matter for surprise if some of these children, 
 showing precocity at the age of eleven or twelve, but lack- 
 ing the foundation of English grammar, should lose their 
 way among conflicting vocabularies and rules and end in 
 dulness or enfeebled health.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 CURRICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS {Continued) 
 
 We have seen that local conditions, together with the aims, 
 needs, and tastes of the pupils, rightly exert a strong 
 influence upon the curricula of all except the Public 
 Schools drawing pupils from every part of the country. 
 The recognition of the pupils' right to consideration in the 
 framing of curricula naturally leads to a considerable 
 variety of studies. At University College, for example, 
 the boys may be reclassified for almost every subject, and 
 thus to all intents and purposes work to separate time- 
 tables. Clifton Cohege, on the other hand, compromises in 
 an interesting way between entirely separate ' ' sides ' ' and 
 extreme variety, and may be used to illustrate this blurring 
 of the line between classical and modern. The blur is not, 
 however, very pronounced. 
 
 The Upper School , for boys between the ages of thirteen 
 and nineteen, is divided into three sides — the classical, the 
 modern, and the military. The Junior School, for boys 
 between ten and fourteen, prepares for all three sides of 
 the Upper School. A Preparatory School for boys be- 
 tween seven and eleven, and limited to forty-five boys, 
 prepares for the Junior School. In the Preparatory School 
 a grounding is given in the English subjects, French, 
 Latin, and arithmetic. In the Junior School the same 
 subjects are taught, and in the highest classes of this sec- 
 tion Greek is included for those preparing to enter the 
 classical side of the Upper School. Thus before a boy is 
 thirteen years of age he has begun to study three languages 
 
 120
 
 CUEKICULA OF SECONDAKY SCHOOLS 121 
 
 besides his own. The pupils intending to enter the 
 modern side give extra time to mathematics. The Upper 
 School bifurcates at once into modern and classical sides, 
 the modern side including intending candidates for the 
 army, who form a distinct side after they have passed 
 through the Fourth Form. 
 
 Every boy is placed in a form, and follows certain 
 studies with all his form mates. Other subjects are taught 
 in sets— that is, groups of boys chosen from different forms 
 according to their capacity in the special branch. The 
 mathematical sets tliroughout the school and the science 
 sets in the upper half are common to the two sides of the 
 school. 
 
 The following tabular summary shows the general 
 arrangement : 
 
 Modern Side 
 
 Form III. — For})i Subjects. — Scripture, English, History, 
 Geography, Drawing, and Latin. 
 
 Sets. — French, Mathematics, and Natural Science. 
 Form IV. — Form Subjects. — Scripture, English, History, 
 Geography, Drawing, and Latin. 
 
 Sets. — Mathematics, Science, French, Latin or 
 German. 
 Form V. — Form Subjects. — Scripture, English, History, 
 Geography. 
 
 Sets. — Mathematics, Science, French, Latin or 
 German. Specialisation takes place in Mathe- 
 matics, History, or Modern Languages, and Ad- 
 vanced English in some cases is substituted for 
 Science. 
 Form VI. — Scripture. Continued development of the 
 subjects of this side, but more elasticity in their 
 routine. Preparation for University and other exam- 
 inations.
 
 122 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Classical Side 
 
 Form III. — Form Subjects. — Scripture, English, History, 
 Geography, Drawing, and Latin. 
 
 Sets. — Greek, French, Mathematics, and Science. 
 Form IV. — Form Subjects. — Scripture, English, History, 
 Geography, Drawing, Latin, and Greek. 
 Sets. — French, Mathematics, and Science. 
 Form V., Lower. — Form Subjects. — Scripture, English, 
 History, Geography, Latin, and Greek. 
 Sets. — Science or French. 
 
 Modern Language specialists drop Greek for Ger- 
 man. 
 Form V., Upper. — Form Subjects. — Scripture, English, 
 History, Geography, Latin, and Greek. French 
 dropped and German begun. 
 Remissions from Form work to cultivate special 
 tastes for Science, Mathematics, Modern Lan- 
 guages or History. 
 
 From the lowest form of the Upper School, when pupils 
 are about thirteen years old, some amount of choice is 
 offered. There they choose, or it is to be hoped that their 
 parents choose, which main side — classical or modern — 
 they shall adopt. As at Manchester, the school author- 
 ities recommend, although not so strongly, the classical 
 side. In the classical Lower Fifth boys choose between 
 continuing science or French, and in the Upper Fifth 
 special tastes in science, mathematics, modern languages, 
 and history, are given opportunities for cultivation. On 
 the modern side it is very similar. During practically the 
 whole period of Upper School life the pupil may obtain 
 permission to change from classical to modern or vice 
 versa, or to devote more time to some special subject or 
 group of subjects.
 
 CUEHICULA 0'^ SECONDAKY SCttOOLS 123 
 
 This freedom in choosing after minimum requirements 
 are secured is typical of many of the best schools, and is 
 becoming more and more general. The decision is rightly 
 made by the head-master and staff in consultation with 
 the parents. x\nd behind these stands the boy, expressing 
 his desires or demonstrating by his work or unintentionally 
 expressed tastes and needs the direction of his own choice. 
 
 The Highgate School carries the principle of individual 
 choice considerably farther. This school has four divi- 
 sions with, roughly, 120 boys in each — the Junior School 
 (ages nine to twelve) ; the Lower School (twelve to four- 
 teen) ; a Middle School (fourteen to sixteen) ; and an Upper 
 School (sixteen to nineteen). The top of the school is 
 classified as University and Non-University ; the pupils of 
 the former prepare for the University of London and for 
 Cambridge and Oxford ; a minority of the latter prepare 
 for the London Matriculation as a means of entering 
 various professions ; the others, unable for some reason or 
 another to follow the lines just described and constituting 
 about 80 per cent, of the Non-University pupils, are 
 encouraged to pursue their own bent with greater freedom. 
 For these the scheme of study varies according to the boy's 
 special tastes and abilities, his intended career, and the 
 financial ability of his parents to continue his technical or 
 professional education. The "form system" with its 
 form subjects is retained ; at the same time needful 
 elasticity is introduced, and the ordinary boy is not sacri- 
 ficed to the brilliant few. 
 
 Apart from form organisation, there are three group 
 systems in the top part of the school. Group System A 
 consists of Sixth Form boys, all taking specialised work of 
 an advanced kind — classical, modern languages, or scien- 
 tific. The classical is the only homogeneous group, al- 
 though some of these specialise also in French or German 
 or science. The modern section is a composite body, con-
 
 124 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 sisting of pupils specialising in history, modern languages, 
 mathematics, and science. Some others who have passed 
 the University Entrance Examination, and whose education 
 has so far been chiefly literary, specialise in science at a 
 lower standard, for the immediate jDurpose of reaching the 
 Science Sixth. The Science Sixth consists of three classes 
 — future doctors, engineers, and chemists — who work to- 
 gether for about half the time. The unity of the whole 
 form is preserved by common work in English literature 
 and history. 
 
 Group System B covers a very large number of boys 
 from fifteen and a half to seventeen years, some of whom 
 will later reach Group A, and others who will never know 
 a Sixth Form, the latter including boys whose only object 
 is to pass a Matriculation Examination or an ordinary 
 entrance examination for Oxford or Cambridge. These 
 undertake only semi-specialised work, and their scheme of 
 studies is naturally more comprehensive. Group-work is 
 confined to fewer hours, and opportunities are afforded of 
 coping seriously with weak subjects. The boy who goes 
 later to the Science Sixth works intensively at science at 
 the expense of language — that is, instead of three he takes 
 two languages. 
 
 Group System C contains backward boys of from fifteen 
 to seventeen years of age, about 10 per cent, of whom are 
 unusually dull at their studies. For these, the curriculum 
 is narrowed in a way depending on the boys' special needs. 
 A few take one language in addition toEnglish,and all retain 
 some science and some mathematics. The organisation of 
 the group is completed by redistribution into sets ; on the 
 modern side they are reclassified both for Latin and for 
 the second modern language, which is German or Spanish. 
 Redistribution for mathematics and science is at present 
 impossible, owing to the demands such a system of group- 
 ing makes upon the staff.
 
 CUERICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 125 
 
 The College at Bishop's Stortford shows interesting 
 variations, and may be instanced here, although it has no 
 pupils beyond the age of seventeen. The Upper School 
 consists of the Sixth Forms ; the Middle School of the 
 Fifth and Fourth Forms ; the Lower School of the Third 
 Forms ; the Preparatory School of the Second and First 
 Forms. The school prepares for business and professional 
 careers. The form subjects consist of Scripture, English, 
 history, geography, French, mathematics, and natural 
 science ; manual instruction , with a blank between the 
 ages of twelve and thirteen, merges into physics and 
 mechanics ; music and drawing are taught until the age of 
 fourteen and a half is reached. Latin is begun at the age 
 of twelve ; at the age of fifteen and a half, in the Lower 
 Fifth, Greek or German is chosen — a very desirable post- 
 ponement for most boys. In the Sixth Form pupils must 
 choose between Greek, German, and science, but all boys 
 continue to learn some science, which, as Nature-study, 
 physics, and chemistry, is taken throughout the whole 
 school. The Fourth Forms are parallel, as are also the 
 Fifth ; and as the same subjects are taught simultaneously, 
 the boys can be redistributed into sets for all subjects. In 
 the Sixth Forms redistribution takes place for mathe- 
 matical work. There are therefore no "sides." Instead 
 of "sides" the forms are arranged in parallel divisions, 
 the organisation of the time-table allowing of transference 
 when advisable. Pupils have to determine in the Fourth 
 Form between classics and modern languages, but need 
 not decide until the Lower Sixth between modern 
 languages and science. 
 
 The complete time analysis is given on p. 126. 
 
 The Higher Grade Secondary Schools are thus em- 
 phasising more and more the need of a common basis of 
 knowledge and power, and deferring the moment for 
 final specialisation, with its consequent dropping of some
 
 126 
 
 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 
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 CUEEICULA OF SECONDAEY SCHOOLS 127 
 
 branch study or studies. Wakefield Grammar School and 
 others give science and other general subjects their appro- 
 priate place even on the classical side. At Harrow, al- 
 though the school traditions are overwhelmingly classical, 
 the teaching of science is most efficiently organised. Out 
 of 42 boys in the Sixth Form, 10 are specialising in 
 classics, 9 in history, and 13 in science. At Mill Hill 
 everyone takes not less than two periods per week in 
 science, the subject gradually demanding more time up 
 to six hours weekly for those who are specialising in it. 
 On the whole there is marked progress towards balance in 
 the various schemes of study. 
 
 The ciuTicula of Second Grade Schools differ from those 
 of the First Grade by the omission of Greek. The aim of 
 such schools is chiefly preparation for commercial and pro- 
 fessional careers; many pupils, however, enter the higher 
 branches of industry or leave the Secondary School to enter 
 institutions giving technical training. On the whole, few 
 of the pupils proceed to the older Universities. The scope 
 of the aim of these schools is therefore wide, and their 
 curricula give indications of the endeavour to cover all 
 possible needs. In the schemes of study we find the whole 
 gamut of general and special studies, from Latin to short- 
 hand and typewriting, from Spanish to business methods. 
 The schools under State control have, however, to con- 
 form to certain regulations with regard to curricula, and 
 are not allowed to introduce specialised technical matter, 
 however insistent the demand of mistaken parents may be. 
 
 Without unduly limiting the head-master's freedom, the 
 Board of Education makes certain minimum demands. 
 While allowing for exceptional cases, it makes the grant 
 of financial aid conditional upon efficient instruction in 
 English language and literature, at least one other lan- 
 guage, geography, history, mathematics, science (which
 
 128 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 includes practical work by the pupils) , and drawing ; 
 organised games, physical exercises, manual instruction, 
 and singing, nuist be included for boys, and practical 
 instruction in domestic subjects — needlework, cookery, 
 laundry, housekeeping, and household hygiene — for girls. 
 Languages other than English may be omitted if the 
 instruction in English " provides special and adequate 
 linguistic training." On the other hand, "a curriculum 
 including two languages other than English, but making 
 no provision for instruction in Latin, will only be approved 
 where the Board are satisfied that the omission of Latin is 
 for the educational advantage of the School."^ The re- 
 cently introduced advanced courses for both older boys and 
 girls are valuable from many points of view , although they 
 have met with equally valuable criticism, and will prob- 
 ably undergo great modifications. The freedom of the 
 teacher is further guarded by the regulation that ' ' indi- 
 vidual pupils or special classes may, with the approval of 
 the Board, follow a curriculum varying from the curricu- 
 lum approved for the rest of the school." 
 
 The scheme of work given on p. 129 is typical of what 
 is being done in good Secondary Schools under the con- 
 ditions laid down by the Board of Education. 
 
 It is noteworthy that this scheme shows a steady 
 adherence to the ideal of a general, wide education. There 
 are no separate "sides," the only distinction being that 
 while a number of non-linguistic pupils content themselves 
 with one language other than English, the others choose 
 whether the extra language sholl be Latin or German. 
 No pupils begin Latin until fourteen, and in the case of 
 scholarship boys two years elapse between beginning 
 French and a second language. Waste of energy and 
 discouragement are diminished by regroupings for lan- 
 guages and mathematics, and the sane practice is pm'sued 
 
 * " Regulations for Secondary Schools," chapter ii.
 
 COURSE COMMON TO ALL. 
 
 Form. 
 
 Average 
 Age. 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Special Classes. 
 
 I 
 
 8-10 
 
 English, Geography, His- 
 tory, Nature Study, 
 Music (Drawing, Manual 
 Instruction, Drill (3 
 periods per week). 
 
 
 II 
 
 11 
 
 Above subjects. French. 
 
 
 Ill 
 
 Shell B \ 
 Shell a/ • • 
 
 12 
 12-! 
 
 Above subjects. French. 
 Above subjects. Drill 
 (2 ijeriods). 
 
 
 IV.D 
 
 12 
 
 English, French (inten- 
 sive), Chemistry and 
 Physics, History, Geo- 
 graphy, Music, Draw- 
 ing, Manual Instruc- 
 tion, Drill. 
 
 Scholarship boys. 
 Strong boys 
 drafted into a 
 Remove class, 
 weak into a IV. 
 
 IV.c"! 
 
 IV.B [ 
 
 IV.aJ 
 
 13 i 
 
 English, French, Chem- 
 istry and Physics, His- 
 tory. Geography, 
 MusicjDrawing, Manual 
 Instruction, Drill. 
 
 Regrouped for 
 French and 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Remove c (slow) ^ 
 
 ,, B (medium) / 
 
 A (fast) J 
 
 14 
 
 ALTERNATIVE LATIN OR GERMAN. 
 
 English, French, Latin orlRegrouped for Lan- 
 German, History and guages and 
 Geography, Chemistry Mathematics, 
 and Physics, Music, Includes Non- 
 Drawing, Manual In- linguistic boys 
 struction, Drill. who have 3 pe- 
 
 riods French and 
 1 Science extra. 
 
 V.B) 
 
 V.a/ 
 
 15 
 
 English, French, Latin 
 or German, History 
 and Geography, Chem 
 istry and Physics, 
 Music, Drill. 
 
 VI. Lower Lower ^ 
 
 Transitus. V 
 
 VI. Lower '' 
 
 15-16 
 
 English, French, Latin or 
 German, History and 
 Geography, Chemistry, 
 Music, Drill. 
 
 MatriculationForm. 
 
 VI. Upper . . 
 
 16-17{ 
 
 English, Music, History 
 and Geography, Drill 
 
 129 
 
 Post-matriculation. 
 Specialising at 
 present in Science 
 and Mathematics.
 
 130 
 
 THE CUBEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of giving a course in Nature-study preparatory to chemistry 
 and physics. 
 
 Another type of Second Grade Secondary School is that 
 in which for special reasons no Latin is taken. As already 
 noted, schools of this variety which wish to earn Govern- 
 ment grants must satisfy the Board of Education that such 
 an omission is educationally sound. That it is not unwel- 
 come to the parents is proved by the rapid increase in the 
 number of these schools and in the number of pupils 
 attending them. On this and the following page are given 
 the curricula of two schools of this type. 
 
 TIME ANALYSIS. 
 
 SHOWING THE TIME DEVOTED WEEKLY IN THE DIFFERENT 
 FORMS TO EACH OF THE SUBJECTS OF THE ORDINARY 
 SCHOOL COURSE. 
 
 
 Lower 
 
 Middle 
 
 Upper 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 Forms. 
 
 Forms 
 
 
 Forms. 
 
 
 I. 
 
 II. 
 
 II.A 
 
 III. 
 
 m.A 
 
 IV. 
 
 IV.A 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 
 
 VI.A 
 
 Religious Instruction 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 English 
 
 6 
 
 6} 
 
 7 
 
 6f 
 
 6i 
 
 5 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 3i 
 
 5i 
 
 Geography and History 
 
 n 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 3^ 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2Jt 
 
 2;^ 
 
 3 
 
 French 
 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 ii* 
 
 ^T 
 
 2| 
 
 H 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 -'i 
 
 German 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 n 
 
 2| 
 
 2' 
 
 H 
 
 Mathematics, including 
 
 6 
 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 5i 
 
 4^ 
 
 4| 
 
 H 
 
 4 
 
 H 
 
 4 
 
 Practical Geometry 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2i 
 
 2 
 
 2| 
 
 n 
 
 ^ 
 
 Physics 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 ^ 
 
 ii 
 
 H 
 
 
 iii 
 
 3i 
 
 2i 
 
 Nature Study 
 
 U 
 
 li 
 
 H: 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Drawing 
 
 ■^4 
 
 1* 
 
 li 
 
 H 
 
 li 
 
 ii 
 
 1;^ 
 
 H 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Manual Instruction . . 
 
 1| 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 H 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 H 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Physical Exercises . . 
 
 1,^ 
 
 li 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Vocal Music . . 
 
 H 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 Shorthand 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 Total No. of hours per 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 week 
 
 25^ 
 
 25i 
 
 25^ 
 
 25i 
 
 25^ 
 
 25^ 
 
 25i 
 
 25i 
 
 25i 
 
 26^
 
 CUKEICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 131 
 
 II. 
 
 Form. 
 
 /. 
 
 II.G 
 
 7//.D 
 
 /F.R 
 
 IV.A F.A 
 
 1 
 
 V.c 
 
 English . . . . 1 
 
 8 
 
 9 6 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 6 1 7 
 
 6 
 
 (3 writing) t 
 
 (2 writing) (2 writing) 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 French . . .. ' 
 
 — 1 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 6 i 8 
 
 5 
 
 German . . . . 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 
 4 
 
 5 1 3 
 
 5 
 
 History . . . . 
 
 3 i 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 i 3 
 
 2 
 
 Geography . . | 
 
 3 i 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 — 
 
 2 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 6 8 
 
 8 
 
 Chemistry 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 2 3 
 
 2 
 
 Physics . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 2 3 
 
 2 
 
 Drawing . . . . i 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 — 
 
 2 
 
 Drill 
 
 2 
 
 2 1 
 
 — 
 
 1 — 
 
 1 
 
 Singing .. .. j 
 
 2 
 
 1 1 
 
 — 
 
 — — 
 
 — 
 
 Woodwork . . . 
 
 1 
 
 
 — 3 
 
 2 
 
 ' 2 ■ — 
 
 — 
 
 Form V. a, b and c 
 
 •• 
 
 Until recently prepared for Cambridge 
 Senior Local Examination; now takes the 
 Senior London. 
 
 Form VI. (Lower) 
 
 
 Prepares for London Matriculation Exam- 
 ination — English (6), French (6), Ger- 
 man (6), History (3), Mathematics (8), 
 Theoretical and Practical Chemistry (3), 
 Theoretical and Practical Physics (3). 
 
 Form VI. (Upper) 
 
 
 Until recently prepared for Intermediate 
 Civil Service Examinations and Inter- 
 mediate Science (London); now takes an 
 advanced course under the Board of 
 Education's Regulations. 
 
 Notes. — 1. Forms not shown in above table are II. a and b, III. a, b, and c, 
 IV.B, c, and D. 
 
 2. Form III.d contains the County Scholars and a few bright 
 boys promoted from Form I. 
 
 Note. — With regard to the latter scheme of work, the student will find 
 it a useful exercise to examine critically (a) the periods allotted to mathe- 
 matics; (b) the partial or entire absence of handwork, Nature study, drawing, 
 drill, and singing.
 
 132 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 With regard to Secondary Schools for girls, reference 
 should be made to the different types of cunicula described 
 in Miss Burstall's well-known book "English High 
 Schools for Girls ' ' ; the student will there find a great deal 
 of very valuable information on the subject. It will per- 
 haps be sufficient here to describe briefly two interesting 
 types — one a Day and Boarding School on the lines of a 
 Boys' Public School, and the other a Municipal Secondary 
 School . 
 
 St. Leonard's School, St. Andrews, has 277 scholars, 
 of whom only 17 are day-girls ; it is therefore prac- 
 tically a boarding-school. Pupils are admitted at the 
 age of thirteen, and may remain in the school until nine- 
 teen. The Preparatory School consists of about 100 girls 
 and small boys, who receive instruction in Scripture, read- 
 ing, writing, arithmetic, geometry, algebra, English 
 literature, history, geography, Latin, French, drawing. 
 Nature-study, Swedish drill, dancing, singing, and hand- 
 work. In the Senior School the curriculum covers a 
 course of four years. The Sixth Form is not a form for 
 teaching purposes ; the pupils have completed the ordinary 
 curriculum, and are either preparing for certain higher 
 examinations or receive instruction in the Lower Sixth ; 
 they are also closely concerned with the government of the 
 school. The rest of the school is classified as Low^er V., 
 v., Upper v., and Lower VI., each form consisting of 
 two, three, or even four parallel di\'isions, determined 
 chiefly by proficiency in English subjects. The form sub- 
 jects are Scripture, English, and history, most of the other 
 subjects being taken in ' ' sets. ' ' The Fourth Division in any 
 Form consists of girls who are unable to benefit from the 
 ordinary school course, but are educable if the education is 
 not transmitted too exclusively through the medium of 
 books. For these girls a scheme of study is provided 
 which includes one foreign language, no mathematics
 
 CUEEICULA OF SECONDAEY SCHOOLS 133 
 
 except arithmetic and some geometrical drawing, English, 
 handwork (including wood-carving and modelling), draw- 
 ing, music , Dalcroze eurhythmies, dancing, and gardening. 
 
 The table on p. 134 shows the subjects taught to the 
 greater number of pupils and the average number of hours 
 given weekly to each subject. 
 
 In addition to the subjects shown, Greek is taught to 
 17 and German to 17 pupils, both languages being usually 
 begun in the first year. Latin is taken by 123 and French 
 by 256 pupils. 
 
 The non-literary part of the school, found in V.4, Upper 
 V.4, and Lower VI. s, learn French, but not Latin; arith- 
 metic, but not algebra or geometry ; a little botany, but not 
 physics or chemistry. Forms V.4 and Upper V.4 fill in 
 the free time with ear-training, eurhythmies, elocution, 
 modelling, geometrical drawing, sewing and gardening ; 
 Lower VI. 3 with ear-training and elocution, cookery, 
 laundry, housewifery and dressmaking, shorthand, type- 
 writing and hygiene. 
 
 We may conclude this short account of Secondary 
 School curricula with a description of a large municipal 
 school for girls in which the principle of free advanced edu- 
 cation for those capable of profiting by it receives generous 
 application. The total number of scholars is 540, of 
 whom 175, or 32 per cent., are holders of scholar- 
 ships. 
 
 The Junior School consists of Forms I., II., and III. ; 
 the Middle of Form IV. and Lower V. ; and the Upper of 
 Forms Upper V. and VI. Fee-paying scholars are ad- 
 mitted at the age of ten. Scholarship children at about 
 eleven and a half. The curriculum is so formed that dur- 
 ing the school course each girl studies the ordinary English 
 subjects, at least one foreign language, mathematics, and 
 science (natural, physical, domestic). Before entering rhe 
 Third Forms girls are classified as follows :
 
 
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 134
 
 CUERICULA OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 135 
 
 A. — Girls of good mental and physical development, who 
 may stay five years longer in the school and of whom the 
 best may go on to the University. 
 
 B. — Girls of fairly good ability, who may leave at 
 the age of sixteen. The aim of the majority would be to 
 enter a Training College for Elementary Teachers, or 
 the Civil Service. Some may enter the school in this 
 division at the age of thirteen as Supplementary Junior 
 Scholars. 
 
 C. — Girls of poor physique or of poor previous training 
 or of late mental development. Here domestic science 
 precedes the formal study of mathematics. 
 
 The classification just described is neither rigid nor 
 necessarily permanent ; girls pass from one division to an- 
 other when it is seen to be desirable. 
 
 Division A consists of Upper III., Upper IV., Lower 
 V.A. Upper V (Matriculation), and VI. 
 
 The following table shows the courses followed in the 
 different forms : 
 
 
 rSoripture, English, French, History, Geography, Arith- 
 
 Form I. 
 
 J metic and Practical Geometry, Natural Science, Draw- 
 
 „ 11. 
 
 1 ing, Singing, Needlework, Handwork, Physical Exer- 
 
 
 l cisos and Games. 
 
 
 A. 
 
 B. 
 
 C. 
 
 „ III. 
 
 The above ; Alge- 
 
 The above ; Algebra 
 
 The above ; Gar- 
 
 
 bra and Deduc- 
 
 and Deductive 
 
 dening. 
 
 
 tive Geometry. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 
 „ IV. 
 
 The above ; Latin 
 
 The above ; German 
 
 The above ; Domes- 
 
 
 or German. 
 
 (for some). 
 
 tic Science. 
 
 „ V. 
 
 The above : Latin 
 
 The above ; German 
 
 The above; Alge- 
 
 
 or German, Do- 
 
 (for some). Do- 
 
 bra, Deductive 
 
 
 mestic Science. 
 
 mestic Science. 
 
 Geometry, or 
 Domestic Sci- 
 ence. 
 
 „ Upper V. 
 „ VI. 1 
 
 The above ; Spanish 
 German, or 
 
 
 
 Greek. 
 

 
 136 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 New pupils entering at the age of thirteen, with no 
 knowledge of French, join the German beginners and take 
 no French. 
 
 The table given on p. 137 indicates the number of hours 
 weekly given to the various subjects of the curriculum. 
 
 In this school a tutorial system is employed for the girls 
 of quicker intelligence. When in any particular subjects 
 these pupils make advance beyond their class-mates, in- 
 stead of working ahead or at another subject in the same 
 class-room under the same teacher, they are sent into the 
 hall, where they may read any subject they wish, making 
 use of the library to the extent desired. The subject 
 studied need not be definitely in the school curriculum ; it 
 may, for example, be astronomy, biography, invention, 
 etc. Two mistresses are in charge of this work, acting as 
 tutors, suggesting courses, giving essays, and in general 
 guiding the reading. The system is favourable to the 
 slower girl, whose teacher has more time to devote to her, 
 and also to the quicker girl, who is thus emancipated from 
 a deadening routine and makes a steady advance through- 
 out her course instead of waiting for the end of her school 
 career for an advanced course. Liberal financial arrange- 
 ments, allowing for the purchase of books and for extra 
 teachers, are needed for such a scheme.
 
 • >, -.2 • 
 
 137
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 
 
 The time-table is a symbol of the teacher's self-control 
 and method, the raw assertion of the economic and psycho- 
 logical necessity for regularity and variety in the educa- 
 tional process. It follows as the next step in the organisa- 
 tion of studies after decisions have been reached as to the 
 elements of the curriculum and their relative values, and 
 cannot be intelligently constructed until that formidable 
 question has been settled. The good teacher will not 
 regard the time-table as a task-master, as railway officials 
 do their time-tables. It differs in at least one important 
 respect from a railway time-table in that it has not to be 
 slavishly or meticulously obeyed. If a lesson extends 
 three minutes beyond the scheduled time nothing is lost ; 
 if it finishes for various reasons three minutes before, some 
 gain may even accrue. It is, in fact, a mentor and not a 
 master. Necessary to the teacher, it is equally necessary 
 to the pupil. It reduces the promiscuous picking up of 
 knowledge to orderly acquisition ; it helps to form habits 
 of order which may function in the pupil's after-school 
 studies and perhaps in the general activities of his life. 
 
 The curricula and time-tables of French schools have for 
 many years been entirely in the hands of the administra- 
 tive officials, who at one time could boast that they knew 
 what every scholar in France was occupied in doing at any 
 oiven moment. In England the head-teacher frames his 
 own time-table, subject only to the approval of the inspec- 
 tors of the Local Education Authority, if there are any, 
 
 138
 
 THE ELEMENTAEY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 139 
 
 and of the Board of Education. When, as sometimes 
 happens, he depends overmuch upon his own experience, 
 and makes no use of the trials and faihires of others, calUng 
 to his help none of the proved facts of psychology, he may 
 construct a time-table the value of which is much dimin- 
 ished by his blunders. The object of this chapter is, there- 
 fore, to put before the teacher some of the most essential 
 facts which may help him to perform this part of his func- 
 tion in as scientific a manner as our present knowledge 
 permits. 
 
 Just as the curricula of various types of Elementary 
 Schools vary according to their aims and purposes, so will 
 the time-table. We have seen that for children up to 
 twelve years of age the variation is small, so small that it 
 appeared desirable and even necessary to lay down a 
 general outline of fundamentals. From that age the varia- 
 tions become greater and more numerous, so that it was 
 even found essential to have different types of schools, such 
 as Higher Grade, Higher Elementary, and Central 
 Schools. Moreover, in the ordinary Elementary Schools, 
 after the age of twelve, children need instruction which 
 will vary somewhat according to the type of life they are 
 preparing to lead. 
 
 i\t the present time Elementary Education is organised 
 in the light of the fact that for the great mass of children 
 education is finished at fourteen. When, as will soon be 
 the case, this education is continued up to seventeen and 
 eighteen, the organisation of the Elementary Schools will 
 meet with corresponding changes. We shall, however, 
 deal with things as they are now. 
 
 The first matter which has to be settled is the amount 
 of time to be given to each subject or branch of a subject. 
 This will vary according to the value attached to its nature 
 and its difficulty. Enough has been said in a preceding 
 chapter on the first of these points. With regard to the
 
 140 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 second, it is clear that some subjects, such as drawing and 
 needlework, and in fact nearly all those which involve 
 manual dexterity, require longer periods, partly because 
 the work is far less fatiguing than more purely mental or 
 book work, and partly because the actual outlay of time 
 i:)roduces smaller results, and completion or approximation 
 to completion of the work is desirable for the purpose of 
 comprehension and interest. Such occupations often 
 demand, also, the distribution and collection of a large 
 amount of material and apparatus, and a loss of valuable 
 time and energy would result from placing numerous short 
 periods in the school time-table. 
 
 Lessons involving mental strain or concentrated atten- 
 tion must have shorter periods allocated to them. It is 
 quite true that a skilled teacher, by giving variety of treat- 
 ment and employment, can and does impart instruction in 
 these subjects so as to minimise and even avoid anything 
 approaching mental strain. But the average teacher must 
 always be kept in mind in dealing with organisation if the 
 general success of the school work is to be ensured. Hence, 
 in subjects such as mathematics, grammar, or reading 
 lessons to younger children, frequent and short periods 
 should be the rule. 
 
 The amount of time given to each subject will also vary 
 according to the stage of development and knowledge 
 reached by the pupil. The younger the pupil, the less 
 time will be allotted to work requiring continuous atten- 
 tion. As he develops, such subjects may occupy greater 
 portions of the time-table. More generally, as it is natural 
 for young children's attention to change its direction fre- 
 quently, all the school activities for such pupils should 
 engage shorter periods than those for older scholars. The 
 mechanical will loom larger and the intellectual smaller, 
 but both will involve shorter lessons. 
 
 With these indications supplied by a study of the child's
 
 THE ELEMENTABY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 141 
 
 nature, it is possible to assign an approximate division of 
 time to the many school occupations. Under present 
 regulations the infant department of most ordinary Ele- 
 mentary Schools has twenty-five and the upper depart- 
 ments twenty-seven and a half hours per week at their 
 disposal. 
 
 The considerations which will affect decisions as to the 
 distribution of the lessons over the week's time-table are 
 in general far less difficult than those used when framing 
 curricula. In the latter case, as we have seen, the ulti- 
 mate aim and purpose of education must be considered ; in 
 the former it is largely a question of common-sense expedi- 
 ency — except, however, in one point. Common sense has 
 not been able to fix upon the period during which the 
 mass of school-children are at then" freshest and best. 
 Even experimental psychology speaks on the subject 
 in an uncertain way. Some teachers have cast long- 
 ing eyes upon the time devoted to Bible instruction, 
 and have wished that the early morning hour devoted to 
 it could be used for more difficult subjects, and that the 
 Bible instruction might be given at a time less precious 
 but equally suitable. They assume that the best moments 
 for hard mental work are those of the first hour at school. 
 The general tendency, however, of the results of psycho- 
 logical enquiry has been to cast discredit on this assump- 
 tion, and to place the best period for work somewhat later 
 in the morning. Mental freshness, it appears, does not 
 begin at a maximum and gradually decrease until a mini- 
 mum is reached. The middle of the afternoon may even 
 show superiority over the later parts of the morning. For 
 the complete solution of this problem we still have to 
 await more extensive investigation. In the meantime we 
 may be tolerably certain that for the great majority of our 
 scholars the time best fitted for close mental application 
 is roughly from one and a half to two hours after the open-
 
 142 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 ing of morning school. On the whole, too, the morning 
 work is more valuable than that of the afternoon, although 
 for children there are probably parts of the afternoon, not 
 too near the lunch hour, superior in work value to the last 
 part of the morning. The prevalent uncertainty with 
 regard to this matter has produced the present rough-and- 
 ready rule that the theoretical subjects are dealt with best 
 in the morning and practical subjects in the afternoon, 
 with the further rule, by no means, however, consistently 
 followed, that studies difficult in the sense that they re- 
 quire unusual or prolonged mental effort should be under- 
 taken in the middle part of the morning. 
 
 If he teacher is to do his best work, provision must also 
 be made in the time-table for alternating the easy and the 
 difficult lessons. A series of oral lessons, or even two, 
 given one immediately after the other, involves a strain 
 upon the voice and attention of the teacher which is 
 inimical to the best interests of the class. It is not an 
 altogether rare thing to find a history lesson following a 
 literature lesson, and a singing lesson following the his- 
 tory lesson. The error occurs most frequently in the 
 afternoon lessons, in which the time-table constructor's 
 attention has been directed too entirely to the necessity 
 for easing the strain upon the pupils. In some lessons, 
 too, such as handwork, it has been wrongly assumed that 
 the teacher's part is almost purely passive, but in practice 
 it is found that the teacher, especially the young teacher, 
 finds such lessons a considerable strain. The distribution 
 and collection of apparatus without disorder ; the meticu- 
 lous directions for the work, without which no presentable 
 result is obtained ; and the individual guidance necessitated 
 by the presence of abnormally slow children, all combine 
 in inexperienced hands to make the lesson very fatiguing 
 to the teacher. A singing lesson, again, from a certain 
 lofty point of view, involves no strain ; in practice it may
 
 THE ELEMENTAEY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 143 
 
 mean a theory lesson to an abnormally large class, or 
 choral work with two or tliree classes combined. In the 
 first case the lesson is difficult and exacting, and in the 
 second the numbers involve a considerable tax on the 
 teacher's energy. In the physical exercises, too, the 
 use of the voice fatigues the teacher and makes it diffi- 
 cult to follow on with some other oral lesson. So far as 
 the teacher is concerned, it is probable that afternoon 
 lessons are a much greater strain than morning lessons ; 
 hence great care should be taken that they should be dis- 
 tributed in a way that economises the energy both of the 
 pupils and of the teacher. 
 
 In schools which do not have separate rooms for all the 
 classes some attention will have to be given to the dis- 
 turbing effects of some lessons upon neighbouring classes. 
 A reading lesson, for example, could scarcely proceed 
 smoothly if the next class were engaged in choral singing. 
 A thrilling literature or history lesson might make it diffi- 
 cult for another class to work at arithmetic. The con- 
 structor of the time-table will therefore find it necessary to 
 have before him a plan of the school with the position of 
 the classes marked. 
 
 We will now proceed to give a few examples of school 
 time-tables actually in use.
 
 o 
 o 
 w 
 o 
 
 w. 
 
 < 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 % 
 
 Ph 
 P 
 
 »2 
 H 
 
 < 
 
 :^ 
 
 l-H 
 
 H 
 
 O 
 
 h^ 
 PP 
 -^ 
 H 
 
 d 
 ci 
 
 7 
 
 CO 
 
 Writing. 
 
 11.35-12.0 
 
 Games in Hall. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 11.40-12.0 
 Writg. or Printg.. 
 
 = 
 
 Writing or Comp.. 
 
 Oames'in Hall. 
 Writing or Comp.- 
 
 11.35-12.0 
 Writing. 
 
 Stick-laying. 
 
 Figures or Writg.. 
 
 Stick-laying. 
 
 in 
 
 CO 
 
 .-( 
 
 1 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Comp. or Act Story. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Nature Talk. 
 
 11.10-11.35 
 
 Printg. or Writg. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Nature Talk. 
 
 11.20-40 
 Word-Bg. 
 
 a 
 
 Nature Talk. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Writg. or Comp. 
 
 Nature or Obs. 
 
 10 11.10-11.35 
 '. Nature or Obs. 
 
 Singing. 
 Number. Singing. 
 „ Illus. 
 Games. Word-Bdg. 
 
 11.0-11.20 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 " 
 
 t 
 
 10.45-11.15 
 
 Number. 
 
 10.45-11.10 
 Number. 
 ., Games. 
 „ G. or Illus. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 10.45-11.0 
 
 Nature Talk 
 
 Games in 
 
 Hall. 
 Games in 
 
 Hall. 
 
 10.45-11. 
 Pi,i;adina 
 
 Games. 
 Singing. 
 
 d2 
 
 
 o 
 
 CO 
 
 d 
 
 7 
 
 >o 
 d 
 
 Reading 
 
 9.55-10.20 ilO.20-10.30 
 Reading. Recitation. 
 
 10.15-10.30 
 Singing. 
 
 ' 
 
 Number. 
 
 10.20-10.30 
 Drawing. 
 
 Printing. 
 Nature. 
 
 9.55-10.15 
 Reading. 
 
 = 
 
 9.55-10.20 
 Number. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 o 
 d 
 
 Recitation. 
 Physical Ex.i. 
 
 biiy b'o 
 
 .2— 2 
 
 "Sbg'bc 
 
 ^a-j- a 
 
 1 
 
 ci 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
 = 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Nature Talk. 
 Singing. 
 
 9.40-9.55 
 Singing. 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 Recitation. 
 
 •Bja^BiSa^ SuiBoio pn« gupijei^ I^nij | 
 
 o 
 -)< 
 d 
 1 
 i« 
 
 d 
 
 Texts and Old Test. 
 
 r s 5 
 
 ■a : 
 
 O 
 
 T3 
 
 a 
 a : 
 
 >» 
 
 w 
 
 - 
 
 Hymns in Hall. 
 Te.\ts and New'Test. 
 
 Hymns and New Test. 
 
 9=2 
 
 dd 1 
 
 
 •BI3X«JJ puB 'noi}«j;BTi 
 
 Ja'a: '.^iqoiassv 
 
 •dpOlQ 
 
 A. lA. 
 A. IB. 
 A. 10. 
 A. ID. 
 
 ■^ M O 
 C C u 
 
 l-IW 
 
 OO 
 
 6 
 
 1-1 
 U 
 
 o 
 
 A.IA. 
 A. IB. 
 
 A. lo. 
 A. ID. 
 
 Or. IIlA. 
 Gr. Illn. 
 Gr. IIIO. 
 Gr. IIA. 
 Gr. IIB. 
 Gr. Ilo. 
 
 ■gstno 
 
 rHINCO'"* 
 
 lOtOt^ 
 
 00 05 
 
 o 
 
 rtNCO-* 
 
 lOCDt-OOOSO 
 
 1 
 
 
 "ivaNORi 
 
 1 
 
 •ivasaux 1 
 
 144
 
 Writing or Comp. 
 Games in Hall. 
 Writing or Comp. 
 
 11.35-12.0 
 
 Writing or Figs. 
 
 Design. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing or Print. 
 
 Stick-laying. 
 
 a 
 •m 
 
 Ph 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 •(H 
 
 Writing. 
 Writing or Comp. 
 
 Games in Hall. 
 
 11.35-12.0 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing or Print. 
 
 (iamesinHall. 
 Writing or Comp. 
 
 11.35-12.0 
 
 Design. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Nat. Talk. Drg. 
 
 Writg. or Printg. 
 
 Printing. 
 Writg. or Printg. 
 
 re Talk, 
 'riting. 
 . Lesson. 
 
 10 1 11.10-11.35 
 les.l Singing. 
 
 Recitation, 
 ig. Drawing. 
 Recitation. Orig. Drg. 
 Number. „ 
 
 — _a g-- >-i 
 
 10.45-11.10 11.10-11.35 
 Reading. Drawing. 
 „ Reading. 
 
 Nature or Oba. 
 Gifts III. & Games. Questions 
 IV. Tab. 
 Games in Gifts III. „ 
 
 Hall. & IV. Tab. 
 Number. „ Recitation. 
 
 Writing or Comp. 
 
 Nature Talk. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 10-11.35 
 ire or Obs. 
 nposition. 
 inging. 
 
 Nat. Talk. 
 „ orQstn. 
 
 Nat. Talk. 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 10.45-11.10 11 
 
 Number. Nati 
 
 Coi 
 
 Printing. Number. 
 
 Garnes in , 
 Hall. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Number. 
 
 Number 
 
 10.45-11. 
 Numb. Gan 
 
 ,, or I 
 Numb. 111. 
 Games in 
 
 Hall. 
 Numb. 111. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 10.20-10.30 
 Drawing. 
 Printing. 
 
 Recitation. 
 Singing. 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 .t 
 
 EC 
 
 a 
 
 Number. 
 
 9.55-10.20 10.20-10.30 
 
 Number. Recitation. 
 
 Word-Bdg. 
 
 „ Recitation. 
 
 Reading. Printing. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 10.20-10.30 
 Printing. 
 
 Recitation. 
 Printing. 
 Singing. 
 
 9.55-10.20 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 : 
 
 9.5.S-10.20 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 Topic Drawg. 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 9.40-9.55 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Singing. 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Games. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 Singing. 
 
 9.40-9.55 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Singing. 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 9.40-9.55 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Games. 
 
 •saa!)sjS9a SuiHoxo pun 8u{^1J«HI inuij | 
 
 Texts and New Test. 
 Hymns in Hall. 
 
 Old Testament. 
 Hymns and Old Test. 
 
 ' 
 
 Old Testament. 
 
 Hymns in Hall. 
 Hymns'and New Test. 
 
 "S 
 
 1.-.- 
 
 H 
 
 & 
 a> 
 
 ■3 s - 
 W " 
 = : :.2 
 
 i 
 
 w • 
 
 •sj[9^«j.j puB 'uonsj'jsiSaa ^iqiuoBsy 
 
 
 Gr. IIIA. 
 Gr. IIIB. 
 Gr. IIIC. 
 Gr. II A. 
 Gr. IIB. 
 
 o 
 
 A lA. 
 
 A. IB. 
 A. 10. 
 A. Id. 
 
 Gr. IIIA. 
 Gr. IIIB. 
 Gr. inc. 
 Gr. IIA. 
 
 Gr.IlB. 
 
 Gr. lie. 
 
 A. lA. 
 A. IB. 
 
 A. IC. 
 A. Id. 
 
 ti ti I.; t^ ti (J 
 
 OOOCCJO 
 
 '^iMCO'K 
 
 m •£■ t- 00 03 
 
 o 
 
 rH C-4 « -f 
 
 o<ot~cc o> o 
 
 r-l (M CO I' 
 
 «5 CD t~ 00 0> O 
 
 •ivagaiiaaAv 
 
 •AVaSHUHX 
 
 145 
 
 10
 
 w 
 
 
 
 . cj 
 
 ^c3 
 
 ft 
 
 "S 
 
 a^ s : 
 
 2 
 
 og 
 
 M O 
 
 o p. 
 
 
 CO J- 
 
 CO K 
 
 ^s 
 
 
 S 
 
 ft 
 
 s 
 
 o 
 
 
 ti . . 
 
 
 CO tf 73 6t tt 
 
 
 CO .Sa.s.s 
 
 o a 
 
 1 to_ tf, 60 :; ; 
 
 '* o 
 
 3.25 
 
 Sin 
 
 Worr 
 
 Sin 
 Sin 
 
 21 
 
 
 « 
 
 CO - 
 
 
 hi 
 
 
 
 
 
 o T3 
 
 .2 o 
 
 
 CO ^ 
 
 
 LQ tH 
 
 
 
 eo ^ 
 C8 
 
 .A ^ 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 o 
 
 
 -7|W 
 
 oS3 
 
 o.22t3 
 ■W ® 
 
 goo 
 
 P=^c 
 
 W.2 
 
 SP^ 
 
 S S 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 <!5 
 
 tio C to 
 
 MPh m 
 6m 6 
 
 ■3.S = 
 
 O r^ (D 
 
 . . o 3 c^ 
 
 CO " 
 (N .2 
 
 
 tiW to ci 
 
 O i 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 t3 
 
 d 
 o 
 
 lO 
 
 a . C'^K 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^•2-3» 
 
 M 
 
 3 
 
 
 "^i' 
 
 ,i 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 p; CP5.S 
 
 r-t 
 
 t3 
 
 
 i-t 
 
 T3 S-oS 
 
 Oi 
 
 O 
 
 P^ 
 
 IN 
 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 •Bja;sTSa>i Suisojo puB SHpirej^i fBuij 
 
 TBuoi^do 
 
 •apBiO 
 
 
 i3Si-i-^«tJ -i Mod 
 
 MI-ll-H <! « t> 
 
 ■^^<1 
 
 ■sgvic) 
 
 m» t- oocso 
 
 •AVaNO}\[ 
 
 146 
 
 lO :© I* CO 05 o 
 
 •Avasanx
 
 i 111 I .1 
 
 c« o 
 
 CJ M o . 
 
 § -a 
 
 
 
 c3 a '^ ^ 
 
 .2 o tC' 
 
 i3 ^ •a 2 
 
 to C -.1 
 'lie 
 
 O I' 
 
 in 
 
 _o^ o 
 
 C c3 .2 
 
 •■3 
 
 
 a >. 
 
 
 II?. 
 
 OJ3 
 
 •n p. 
 •3S 
 
 
 
 
 
 «o 
 
 C3 
 
 O 2 
 
 
 •B^gJiojx pan 
 
 
 
 ffg" 
 
 . cia> 
 
 
 0-5 
 
 6CC fi 
 
 
 •"g 
 
 ■Sig 
 
 
 
 
 >> 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 
 °nS 
 
 cc 
 
 |o.l 
 
 »- cj cj 
 
 
 oO 
 
 OO 
 
 
 tog be 
 .So.2 
 
 (A 2tZ 
 
 
 tot; 
 
 ts y c . •.a to 
 
 eS 
 O 
 
 
 OD^u .5 
 
 •1^ 
 
 PJ 
 
 i 
 
 as 
 
 
 
 2 §2.2 OT 
 
 ^ Si o 
 '^Pm o 
 
 S3 — 
 
 •§ 
 'D 
 
 . a ^•, OS 2 
 0.2 sW g 
 
 •.S '3 '^ "1 so 
 
 ^ "2 Si a 
 
 ■S s«bc 
 
 •Sills 
 
 bo's bad 
 •s o ?■« r 
 
 rt^O O 
 
 ;?^|2 
 
 ci til ^ 
 •5«3^ 
 
 gSooS 
 
 'M f^ 
 
 B t^ a---> 
 T* *i3 a .*j ^ 
 
 6p5 6 P5dM 
 
 .•3 
 
 -; 2"a 
 
 iM Q a a 
 
 o f^ 
 
 
 •sja'jBiSa^i 3ai90io puB ^uiijjt 
 
 W l«aM 
 
 
 
 
 lenondQ 
 
 
 
 
 •uoHBj^sjiJaa puB iJiqmassv | 
 
 A. lA. 
 A. IB. 
 
 A.IO. 
 
 A. Id. 
 Gr.IIlA. 
 Gr. IIlB. 
 Gr. mo. 
 Gr. IlA. 
 Gr. IIB. 
 Gr. lie. 
 
 A. I,V. 
 A. IB. 
 
 A. IC. 
 
 A. Id. 
 Gr.IllA. 
 Gr.niB. 
 
 Gr. inc. 
 Gr. IlA. 
 Or. IlB. 
 Gr. lie. 
 
 -i b5 6 fji-H 
 o 
 
 KHHH 
 
 OO 
 
 8 Gr.IlA. 
 
 9 Gr. Hb. 
 10 Gr.IIc. 
 
 f-i»ieO'«io«Di-aoa90 
 
 iHM CO -.^loo r*oooso 
 
 "eiwfi 
 
 (5«Dt» 
 
 •Avasawaa^ 
 
 •AvasHOHX 
 
 
 AVUIUj[ 
 
 1 
 
 147
 
 THE ELEMENTAKY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 149 
 
 ANALYSIS OF PRECEDING TIME-TABLE. 
 
 
 
 riME 1 
 
 [N MrtnjTEs 
 
 FOR EACH Grade 
 
 PER Week. 
 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 
 
 
 
 •i 
 
 n 
 
 6 
 
 ■i 
 
 n 
 
 d 
 
 
 ■< 
 
 n 
 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
 !^; 
 
 H 
 
 ►^ 
 
 ►«4 
 
 1-^ 
 
 
 •^ 
 
 »-i 
 
 <t 
 
 "■N 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 1:3 
 
 ►-H 
 
 !-«( 
 
 >~^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 ^ 
 
 K 
 
 
 CQ 
 
 CQ 
 
 OS 
 
 CQ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 cS 
 
 <5 
 
 i;!3 
 
 Cb 
 
 (a) English 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 45 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 45 
 
 Composi- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tion (Oral) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (b) Stories 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 25 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 55 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 75 
 
 (c) Reading 
 
 16.5 
 
 165 
 
 165 
 
 165 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 (d) Recita- 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 60 
 
 55 
 
 65 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 tion 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (c) Word- 
 
 15 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 35 
 
 35 
 
 50 
 
 building 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (/) Hand- 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 110 
 
 110 
 
 120 
 
 110 
 
 110 
 
 95 
 
 writing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Number . . 
 
 160 
 
 160 
 
 160 
 
 160 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 65 
 
 Drawing . . 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 65 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 55 
 
 Observation 
 
 85 
 
 80 
 
 85 
 
 75 
 
 115 
 
 90 
 
 105 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 Lessons 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Physical Ex- 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 105 
 
 125 
 
 110 
 
 130 
 
 ercises 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Singing . . 
 
 95 
 
 90 
 
 80 
 
 95 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 85 
 
 115 
 
 110 
 
 125 
 
 Geography 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 History 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Occupations 
 
 95 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 105 
 
 105 
 
 105 
 
 140 
 
 155 
 
 140 
 
 Scripture . . 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 Recreation 
 
 130 
 
 1.30 
 
 1.30 
 
 130 
 
 130 
 
 130 
 
 130 
 
 155 
 
 1.55 
 
 1.55 
 
 Registration, 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 etc. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total . . 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500 
 
 1,500
 
 
 
 
 II.— TIME-TABLE OF THE BOYS' DEPARTMENT OF 
 
 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 
 
 Class 
 No. 
 
 9.0-0.15 
 
 9.15-9.45. 
 
 9.46 
 
 9.45-10.30 
 
 10.30- 
 10.45 
 
 10.45-11.15 
 
 11.15-12.0 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Old Test. 
 
 
 Atith. 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 ., 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 Drill to 11.15. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 ., 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Drawing. i 
 
 2b 
 
 
 .^ 
 
 
 „ 
 
 
 Drawing to 
 
 11.40. Drill. ' 
 
 g 
 
 o 
 
 3 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 >> 
 
 c3 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Spelling Drill. ; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 to 11.35. 1 
 
 a 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 II 10.15- 
 10.30 
 
 s 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Composition. | 
 Drawing. , 
 Sing. Reading. 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Comp. Spelling. 
 
 
 1 
 
 New Test. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 
 Drill to 11.15. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 
 jj 
 
 
 Organis 
 
 ed Games. 
 
 i^ 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 Science to 
 
 11.40. Drill. 
 
 < 
 
 2n 
 
 ID 
 
 ,[ 
 
 tH 
 
 
 
 >> 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 w 
 
 3 
 
 QJ 
 
 ^1 
 
 Oi 
 
 
 ; fi 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Prac. Science. 
 
 t> 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 Ol 
 
 
 
 (ll 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 H 
 
 5 
 
 cS 
 
 ^ 
 
 be 
 
 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Compo.sition. 
 
 
 6 
 
 (-1 
 
 ■a 
 a 
 
 J, 
 
 
 
 
 
 ClayMoriulling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 7 
 
 " 
 
 a 
 
 
 : 1 Drill. 
 
 
 Clay Modelling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Memory. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 
 Drawing to 
 
 11.35. Comp. 
 
 
 IB 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 ,j 
 
 >> 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 
 2 
 
 a 
 
 II 
 
 O 
 
 ,, 
 
 rt 
 
 Compo.sition. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 » 
 
 2b 
 
 o 
 
 „ 
 
 o 
 
 , 
 
 FM 
 
 Drawing to 
 
 11.40. 1 Drill. 
 
 ir, 
 
 3 
 
 C8 
 
 ,, 
 
 13 
 
 r 
 
 g a n 
 
 i s e d Gam 
 
 e s. 
 
 1^ 
 
 4 
 
 Ut 
 
 
 a 
 
 , 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 English. 
 
 ^ 
 
 6 
 
 0) 
 
 
 rt 
 
 ^, 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Cardboard Work. 
 
 
 6 
 
 CO 
 
 
 Wi 
 
 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 7 
 
 0) 
 
 '• 
 
 S3 
 c8 
 
 1 Drill. 
 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 M a 
 
 n u 
 
 a 1. 
 
 
 
 IB 
 
 ,a 
 
 Memory. 
 
 g 
 
 Arith. 
 
 
 Drawing to 
 
 11.40. 1 Drill. 1 
 
 "4 
 
 2 
 
 a 
 
 Old Test. 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 Drill to 11.5. Ge 
 
 og. to 11.40. Sing. 
 
 P 
 
 2B 
 
 Ol 
 
 
 — 
 
 ,j 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Drawing. i 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 p3 
 
 ,, 
 
 >> 
 
 cfi 
 
 Oral Composition. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 4 
 
 •5 
 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 English. 
 
 n 
 
 6 
 
 II 
 
 S 
 
 „ 
 
 s 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Comp. Reading. 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 ,j 
 
 
 „ 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Comp. Reading. 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Comp. Reading. 
 
 
 1 
 
 New Test. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 
 Hist, and Geog. 
 
 to 11.30. Comp. 
 
 
 in 
 
 
 
 
 „ 
 
 
 Drawing. | Dri 
 
 11. 1 Drawing. 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 Practical. 
 
 
 Readg. Drill. (Scie 
 
 nee to 11.35.1 Drill. 
 
 2 
 
 2B 
 
 
 "< 
 
 
 .. 
 
 w 
 
 Paper Work. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 S 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 C3 
 
 Geog. Notes. Co 
 
 mp. Reading. 
 
 fc, 
 
 4 
 6 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 
 „ 
 
 
 II 1 Drill. 
 
 El 
 
 History. 
 Drawing. 
 Drawing. 
 Drawing. 
 
 Composition. 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 
 

 
 lN elementary school in a poor district. 
 
 
 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 2.0-2.15 
 
 2.15 
 
 2.15-2.50 
 
 2.50-3.20. 
 
 3.20- 
 3.30 
 
 3.30-3.50 
 
 3.50-4.20 
 
 4.20- 
 4.30 
 
 Rec. or Readg. 
 
 
 Hist, and Geog. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Comp. to 2.45. 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Ment. or Prac. 
 Arith. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 
 Rec. or Readg. 
 
 
 History. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 
 Organised 
 
 Games. 
 
 "k 
 
 General to 4.0. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 
 Drawg. to 2.40. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 s 
 
 History to 3.45. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 
 Drill to 3.0. 
 
 Science. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 Science. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Organised 
 
 Games. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 
 Object Lesson. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Aritli. 
 
 
 Object Lesson. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 History. 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 English Gram. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Maps. 
 
 
 
 Hygiene Talk 
 
 
 to 2.30. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 Eng Railways. 
 
 Silent Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 a> 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 
 Hand Train- 
 
 tH 
 
 ing to 3.0. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mrntal Aritii. 
 
 V 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Singina. 
 
 C3 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 m 
 
 History Notes. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Ph 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Games. 
 
 
 :c 
 
 Mental Aritli. 
 
 bo 
 
 Maps. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 o 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 History to 2.10. 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 Tables. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 C3 
 
 Rec. or Readg. 
 
 Hist, and Geog. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 a 
 
 tti 
 
 Alental Arith. 
 
 m 
 
 to 2.30. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 Hist, and Geog. 
 
 of Brit. Empire 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 O 
 
 Org 
 
 a n i 8 e d 
 
 G a 
 
 m e 8. 
 
 
 — ' 
 
 « 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 s 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 H 
 
 T3 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 ■n 
 
 Science to 3.0. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Hist. ) alterna- 
 Geog. / tive. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 ■3 
 
 a 
 
 OS 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 a 
 
 Drill to 2.40. 
 
 Science. 
 
 S 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 cS 
 
 Science to 
 
 C3 
 
 2.40. Drill 3.0 
 
 Poetryto3.20 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 >i 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 W) 
 
 Object Lesson. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 History. 
 
 
 a 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 a 
 
 History. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 0) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 05 
 
 CD 
 
 
 58 
 
 r g 
 
 a n i 8 e d 
 
 G a 
 
 m e 8. 
 
 
 f^ 
 
 « 
 
 
 a 
 
 Ma 
 
 n u a 1 T r 
 
 a i n 
 
 i n g. 
 
 
 
 -< 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 
 History. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 Dra 
 
 wing. 
 
 
 
 Composition 
 
 — 
 
 to 2.40. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Hand Tr 
 
 a i n ing. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 c3 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Maps. 
 
 rt 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 History. 
 
 PM 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 £ 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 
 History. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 SpeU. Hndwk. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Pleading. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 Object Lesson. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 
 Tables. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 Rec. or Readg. 
 
 Science to 3.0. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 D ra 
 
 wing. 
 
 
 
 Composition 
 
 
 to 2.50. 
 
 Hygiene Talk 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 Jvcading. 
 
 
 
 Man 
 
 u 
 
 a 1 and 
 
 Hand a 
 
 nd 
 
 Eye T r a 
 
 i n i n g. 
 
 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 
 Heiilth Talks 
 or Gen. Know. 
 
 Silent Reading. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 Drill to 2.35. 
 
 Colour Work. 
 
 _rt|' 
 
 Si)elling. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 s 
 
 Ta,l>les. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 History. 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Priv. Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 Tables. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 
 Transcription. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Tables. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 151
 
 152 
 
 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 ANALYSIS OF PKECEDING TIME-TABLE. 
 
 {Giving Figures for Classes 1, 3, and 7 only.) 
 
 Subject. 
 
 Class 1. 
 
 Class 3. 
 
 Class 7. 
 
 {Age 13-14). 
 
 (Age 11). 
 
 (Agel). 
 
 Composition . . 
 
 120 
 
 110 
 
 
 
 Composition and Spelling 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 75 
 
 Recitation or Reading 
 
 45 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Reading 
 
 60 
 
 120 
 
 315 
 
 Recitation 
 
 — 
 
 45 
 
 30 
 
 Grammar 
 
 ,35 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Writing 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 120 
 
 Dictation 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 Transcription 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 Spelling 
 
 — 
 
 60 
 
 — 
 
 Composition and Spelling 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 75 
 
 Total 
 
 280 
 
 355 
 
 645 
 
 History and Geography 
 
 110 
 
 160 
 
 110 
 
 Maps 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 — 
 
 Total .. 
 
 140 
 
 190 
 
 110 
 
 Science 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 Object Lessons 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 70 
 
 Total .. 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 70 
 
 Manual Work and Organised 
 
 
 
 
 Games 
 
 215 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 Organised Games 
 
 — 
 
 175 
 
 20 
 
 Modelling 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 Total . . 
 
 215 
 
 175 
 
 50 
 
 Drill 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 75 
 
 Singing 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 Drawing 
 
 145 
 
 110 
 
 60 
 
 Arithmetic \ 
 
 Tables / 
 
 290 
 
 290 
 
 (270 
 \ 60 
 
 Total .. 
 
 565 
 
 535 
 
 545 
 
 Notes. — 1. Class 1b is a group of boys from 11|^ to 14 years of age, collected 
 from the upper standards and regarded as dull, backward, and 
 in many cases troublesome. Class 2b is a similar group of 
 lads from 9 to 11^. 
 
 The head-teacher states that this combing out helps
 
 THE ELEMENTABY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 153 
 
 discipline greatly, and raises the standard of work in the 
 other classes. The view of the writer is that such groups 
 should be regarded as composed of pupils not necessarily dull, 
 but characterised by non-bookish and manual tendencies, 
 and that the "troublesome" do not necessarily fuid their 
 true home in such classes. 
 2. Class 1 is Standards VII. and Ex VII.; Class 2 is Standard VI., 
 and so on to Class 7, which is Standard I. 
 
 We venture to use the preceding time-table and analysis 
 for the pm-pose of indicating what we consider to be certain 
 characteristics which do not appear to the writer to follow 
 true pedagogic principles.^ 
 
 1. The first thing which would naturally strike a 
 student of this time-table is the great difference in the time 
 spent in studying the various sides of English between on 
 the one hand the upper and middle and on the other the 
 lower part of the school. While the lowest class seems to 
 have secured its needed quota, the other classes have 
 come very short of it. Four or five hours per week 
 is not sufficient. Ten hours is a much nearer indica- 
 tion of the true position English should take in the 
 school. 
 
 2. At first sight it would appear that the large amount 
 of time devoted in the seventh class to overcoming the 
 technical difficulties of reading does not find its natural 
 employment by the elder boys in the reading and study of 
 literature. One would expect to find a much larger 
 amount of time given in the higher classes to reaping the 
 fruits of so much mechanical work done in the lower 
 school. 
 
 8. Apparently the lowest class niaiuial training occuj)ies 
 
 ^ The courtesy with which variouH time-tables have been put at ray 
 disposal would be ill-requited if anonymity were not kept, or if I 
 should venture to do more than indicate for the instruction of others 
 where I think errors have been made. In any case time-tables are 
 frequently heirlooms, and not the work of the head-teachers who have 
 80 kindly given mo copies.
 
 154 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 thirty minutes weekly; the third class has none, and the 
 highest the whole of one morning. There is as much or 
 more need that the younger boys should express them- 
 selves in this way. The middle class, again, has con- 
 siderable time allotted for organised games, the lowest 
 only twenty minutes. And a similar discrepancy exists 
 in the case of drawing. 
 
 There is no need to criticise in further detail ; but per- 
 haps sufficient has been said to help the student to a 
 further critical examination for himself. 
 
 We may next examine the time-table on pp. 156 and 
 157 of a school situated in a better-class London district, a 
 school deservedly well known for the excellence of the 
 work done and for its examination successes. 
 
 The table on p. 158 shows the apportionment of time to 
 the various subjects, and allows of easy comparison with 
 that of the preceding school. 
 
 We will note a few of the outstanding features of the 
 following time-table : 
 
 1. The amount of time allotted to EngHsh in Class 1 is 
 not great — only six hours weekly — more, however, than in 
 the previous time-table. The disparity, too, between the 
 time allotted to English in Class 1 and in Class 7 is 
 rather striking. Here the younger children have the 
 advantage in reading, recitation, writing, dictation and 
 transcription, although we should expect to find the re- 
 duction or omission in the top class compensated by a 
 larger amount of literature. It might also be argued that 
 the sixty-five minutes for composition is too little. 
 
 2. The attention given to spelling seems to suggest 
 that great care is taken to give a sound foundation. The 
 effects of this regular work are probably to be seen in all 
 the written exercises. 
 
 3. History and geography in the upper classes are given
 
 THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 155 
 
 more time than is usual, together more than half as much 
 as is devoted to English. 
 
 4. Arithmetic always demands its full quota, and gener- 
 ally gets it. It might be suggested, not in particular 
 reference to this time-table, but in general, that if the 
 arithmetical side of geography, science, manual work, and 
 drawing were fully developed, a corresponding diminu- 
 tion might be made in the time given to the formal arith- 
 metic lesson. 
 
 5. It is refreshing to see that singing receives the atten- 
 tion it deserves. 
 
 6. This digest illustrates, as most Elementary School 
 time-tables do, a peculiarity with regard to views concern- 
 ing handwork. The lower and top departments of the 
 school enjoy the benefits of this invaluable training, the 
 middle of the school does not. This is an anomaly that 
 should soon come to an end.
 
 
 
 
 
 III.— TIME-TABLE OF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (BOYS' 
 
 MORNING 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 lO 
 
 o 
 
 m o lo o in o 
 
 <-l (N IM CO TO T* 
 
 
 lO lO o 
 
 o 
 
 i-HIMOJCOCO^-^lftlAO 
 
 
 o 
 1 
 
 Oi 
 
 o> 
 
 Od O) Gd 03 Od C> 
 
 OS caooooooooooo 
 
 O O -H 
 
 rt rH rn 
 
 ^ " 
 
 rH,-lr-lr-ir-('-<rH,Hi-l») 
 
 
 
 J^^ Geography. 
 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 ~ 
 
 
 
 
 p"? Art and Drawing. 
 
 
 Art 
 
 and Drawing. 
 
 < 
 a 
 
 ■A 
 O 
 
 A 
 4 
 5 
 
 
 
 Hymns 
 
 and 
 
 Repetition. 
 
 ^> Drill. 1 History. 
 
 English. 1 Drill. 
 1 Singing. Maps. 
 
 
 •' 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 •I 
 
 5 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 _ 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 
 o 
 
 >> 
 
 u 
 
 
 S ^ Transcrip- 
 _jS tion. 
 ^ Transcrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Geography. 
 Recitation. 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 » 
 
 » 
 
 < 
 
 Q 
 H 
 
 New 
 
 Testament 
 
 History. 
 
 Theoretical 
 
 Scienc 
 Drill. 1 
 Geography. 
 Geography. 
 Composition. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 English. 
 
 1 Drill. 
 
 English. 
 
 1 llecitn. 
 Recitation. 
 Geography. 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 Dictation. 
 
 " 
 
 Arith 
 Spelling. 
 
 metic. 
 
 > 
 ■< 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 ■e. 
 
 Q 
 
 Old 
 
 Testament 
 
 History. 
 
 Drill. 1 History. 
 
 -cl Geography. Drill. 
 
 ^2 Theoretical Oral 
 
 .'? Science. Compn. 
 
 ^ 1. Geograpliy.l Dictation. 
 
 .>::j Composition. Reading. 
 
 S>- Science. Writing. 
 
 Geography. Writing. 
 
 "Arith 
 Spelling. 
 
 Recitation. 
 Spelling. 
 
 metic. 
 
 < 
 
 « 
 n 
 
 New 
 
 Testament 
 
 History. 
 
 r^ Practical Science. 
 2 Singing. 1 Recitn. 
 '^ Singing. | Recitn. 
 1 History. | Recitation. 
 M Object Lesson. | Drill. 
 ^ Dictation. History. 
 Science. Dictation. 
 
 "Arith 
 
 metic. 
 
 Q 
 
 Old 
 
 Testament 
 History. 
 
 History. 
 1 Composition. 
 1. .Hist. Notes. | Arith. 
 tJH Drill. 1 Science. 
 '-' g Geography. Dictation. 
 2 Oral 1 Science. 
 Comp. 1 
 
 History. Dictation. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Practical Science. 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 Swimming. 
 
 -At the Baths — Mondays, 
 At the Park — Tuesdays 
 
 156
 
 DEPAETMENT) IN A GOOD CLASS NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 o lo o o 
 
 ta o lO o ^ 
 
 o ui o >n o 
 
 ffie^oioioieiNweiiNcocoeoeoeococo 
 
 lO O lO 
 
 o lo o lo o 
 
 iOiOOiO»-Hi-H(M(Mco 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 (a) Practical Science. 
 (6) Singing. 
 
 Singing. 
 Literature. 
 Drawing. 
 Drawing. 
 
 Science. 
 
 Beading. 
 
 Practical Science. 
 History. 
 Reading. 
 Science. 
 History. 
 English. 
 I Drill. 
 
 (a) Arithmetic 
 (6) Drawing. 
 Literature. 
 
 Drawing. 
 Object Lesson. | 
 Handwork. 
 Singing. I 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 I English 
 
 I Geometry 
 
 I 
 Dictation. 
 
 I 
 Reading. 
 
 Exercises. 
 
 I Drill. 
 Composition. 
 I Recitation. 
 Reading. 
 
 I Recitation. 
 
 Recitation. 
 H Theoretical Science. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Singing. 
 History. 
 
 Reading. I History. 
 
 English. I Writing. | Drill. 
 
 Singing. | Composition. 
 
 Drawing. I Reading 
 
 H 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Maps. 
 
 S3 
 
 Maps. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 1 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 a 
 
 ,j 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 Geography. 
 
 u 
 
 " 
 
 Reading. 
 
 H Recitatn. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 I DrUl. 
 Drill. Geography. 
 
 Arithmetic. I History Notes. 
 
 OeoKraphy and Maps. | Singing. 
 
 '. Composition. | English. | Reading. 
 
 B English Exercises. | Dictation. 
 
 English 
 Exercises. 
 
 Oral 
 Compn. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Reading. I Drill. 
 
 DriU. 
 Recitation. 
 
 Reading. 
 History. 
 
 Drawing. 
 Drawing. 
 
 Reading. 
 Dictation. 
 
 Spellg. 
 
 English 
 Singing. 
 
 Reading 
 History. | Drill. 
 
 Drill. I Writing, 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Drawing. | Drill. 
 
 English. I Spellg. 
 
 Singing. | Recitation. 
 
 Drill. I Recitation. 
 Singing. I Spelling. 
 
 English. 
 
 Practical Science. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 History. 
 Composition. 
 Composition. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Practical Science. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Lantern (History or Geography). 
 
 Reading and Recitation. 
 
 Reading and Recitation. 
 
 4.0-4.30; Thursdays, 11.30-12.0. 
 9.0-9,40. 
 
 157
 
 158 
 
 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 ANALYSIS OF PRECEDING TIME-TABLE. 
 
 Age. 
 
 13-14. 
 
 12-13. 
 
 11-12. 
 
 10-11. 
 
 9-10. 
 
 8-9. 
 
 7-8. 
 
 Subject. 
 
 Class 1. 
 
 Class 2. 
 
 Class 3. 
 
 Class 4. 
 
 Class 5. 
 
 Class 6. 
 
 Class 7. 
 
 Prayers and Re- 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 gistration 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Scripture 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 Composition 
 
 65 
 
 75 
 
 SO 
 
 105 
 
 95 
 
 100 
 
 80 
 
 Reading 
 
 65 
 
 65 
 
 s.o 
 
 125 
 
 150 
 
 160 
 
 185 
 
 Recitation . . 
 
 40 
 
 45 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 55 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 Writing 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 60 
 
 Dictation and 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 00 
 
 95 
 
 195 
 
 115 
 
 120 
 
 Spelling 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Literature ) 
 
 45 
 
 45 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 60 f 
 
 English J 
 
 95 
 
 75 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 Total .. 
 
 360 
 
 345 
 
 375 
 
 495 
 
 510 
 
 645 
 
 570 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 History \ 
 Geography / 
 
 210 
 
 220 
 
 200 
 
 ISO 
 
 190 ^ 
 85 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 105 
 
 105 
 
 80 
 
 160 
 
 140 
 
 Science or Ob- 
 
 75 
 
 70 
 
 ject Drawing 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Manual Work 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Handwork . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 Drill .. 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 00 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 Singing 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 75 
 
 75 
 
 Drawing 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 Optional (Lan- 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 50 
 
 30 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 tern, etc.) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic . . 
 
 250 
 
 245 
 
 245 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 Recreation . . 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 Notes. — 1. In this school "English" may be, and usually is, a literature 
 lesson. The lessons denominated "Literature" are those 
 given by the head-teacher. 
 2. The lowest class is Standard II., and the head-teacher states 
 that he does not find the fifty minutes for mental and written 
 work in arithmetic too long.
 
 IV.— TIME-TABLE OF THE BOYS' DEPARTMENT OF AN 
 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN MIXED NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 A.M. P.M. 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 S 't 
 
 ■0 ". 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 CO 
 
 q 
 
 
 
 
 lO 
 
 •* CO 
 
 
 o 
 
 X 1 
 
 
 '7 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 c4 
 
 4 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 ■0 Ttl 
 
 
 si 
 
 =>52 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 S 
 
 ci 
 
 ei 
 
 ■O' CO 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Geog. 11.40. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 Drill 
 
 Hist. 11.30. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 V.A&B 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Geog. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 History. 
 
 (H 
 
 IV. 
 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Gram. 11.40. 
 
 DriU. 
 
 Read. 2.35. 
 
 Music 3.5 
 
 Science. 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 11.10. 
 
 
 
 
 Writg. 3.35 
 
 
 
 III. 
 
 
 ^lusic. 
 
 Geog. 11.30. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 Prac. Arith 
 
 Reading. 
 
 DriU 4.5 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Diet. 4.25 
 
 S 
 
 II. A 
 
 
 Music. 
 
 Geog. 11.40. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Handwork. 
 
 History. 
 
 Music 4.10 
 DriU 4.30 
 
 
 
 
 Read. 
 
 Geog. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 
 Music 3.20 
 
 DriU 4.5 
 
 
 II.B 
 
 
 
 
 
 Handwork. 
 
 Read. 3.35 
 
 Hist. 4.30 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 Sci 
 
 en ce. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 
 11.20. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 Gram. 
 
 Read. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 jj 
 
 Music. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 V.A&B 
 
 
 Head. 
 11.20. 
 
 Sci 
 
 ence. 
 
 ■• 
 
 Arith. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 w 
 
 IV. 
 
 cr 
 
 DriU. 
 
 Read. 11.20. 
 
 Handwk. 
 
 „ 
 
 Comp. 
 
 History. 
 
 & 
 
 III. 
 
 C3 
 
 DriU. 
 
 Read. 11.20. 
 
 Geog. 
 
 ^j 
 
 Science. 
 
 History. 
 
 H 
 
 ii.A : 
 
 - 
 
 Head. 
 11.10. 
 
 Gram. 11.40. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 •■ 
 
 Comp. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 II.B 
 
 u 
 
 Read. 
 
 Gram. 11.40. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Comp. '1 Science. 
 
 
 
 
 
 11.10. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 DriU. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 Arith. 
 
 History. * 
 
 J Reading. 
 
 
 VI. »; 
 
 " 
 
 DriU. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Comp. 
 
 (ieography. 
 
 I Reading. 
 
 t^ 
 
 V.A&B ^ 
 
 L, — . 
 
 DriU. 
 
 Read. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 History. 
 
 Gram. 3.10 ^ 
 
 . Reading. 
 
 -» 
 
 3 
 
 3 *" * 
 
 
 
 
 
 Music 3 35 [ 
 
 
 P 
 
 IV. f 
 
 OJ oc 
 
 History. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Lit. 2.20 
 
 Handwork. T 
 
 Science. 
 
 [^ 
 ^ 
 
 "I- ft 
 
 3 ■" 
 
 Uram. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Lit. 2.20 
 
 Music 3.10 " 
 
 Comp. 
 
 P 
 
 ^ - «J 
 
 
 
 
 Comp. 2.50 
 
 Writ. 3.35 - 
 
 
 
 II.A 7; 
 
 ^ « " 
 
 Read. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 History. 
 
 Lit. 2.50 
 
 Writ. 3.6 
 
 Reading. 
 
 ' 
 
 - - i^ 
 
 
 
 
 Music 2.50 
 
 Diet. 3.35 
 
 
 
 n.B 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Diet. 
 
 Read. 
 
 Lit. 2.3U 
 
 Hist. 3.10 t 
 
 ^ Reading. 
 
 
 73 - 
 
 - -< 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 Hist. 2.50 
 
 Music 3.35 , 
 
 
 
 VII. = 
 
 Gram. 
 
 Sci 
 
 ence. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Geography. I 
 
 Comp. 
 
 
 p 
 
 ^ 
 
 11.20. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 Gram. 
 
 11.20. 
 Gram. 
 
 Compo 
 
 sition. 
 
 » 
 
 History. «. 
 
 Science 
 
 -1 
 
 V.A&B '^ 
 
 3 
 
 Compo 
 
 si tion. 
 
 
 Writ. 3.10 !: 
 Lit. 3.35 
 
 Science. 
 
 p 
 
 
 
 11.15. 
 
 
 
 
 
 P3 
 
 IV. ' 
 
 ^ 
 
 Read. 
 
 Diet. 11.20. 
 
 Geog. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Writ. 3.5 
 
 History. 
 
 P 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Music 3.35 
 
 
 
 III. 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Read. 11.40. 
 
 Music. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Science. 
 
 History. 
 
 
 n.A 
 
 
 Read. 
 11.10. 
 
 iTum. 11.40. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 " 
 
 Uomp. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 II.B 
 
 
 Diet. 
 
 Gram. 11.40. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 1^ 
 
 Comp. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 
 
 11.10. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 VII. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Gram. 
 
 Lit. 
 
 Teat. 
 
 rlistory. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Jrara. 
 
 Dist. 
 
 Test. 
 
 ieograjihy. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 V.A&B 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Geog. 
 
 aead. 
 
 Test. 
 
 Lit. 3.10 
 \lu.sic 3.35 
 
 Literature. 
 
 tH' 
 
 IV. 
 
 
 Comp. 
 
 niram. 
 
 lead. 
 
 Test. 2.30 
 
 Llonip. 
 
 Read. 4.5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Drill 2.50 
 
 
 Lit. 4.30 
 
 
 III. 
 
 
 iram. 
 
 ieog. 11.40. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Test. 2.:i() 
 
 landwork. 
 
 
 
 II.A 
 
 
 
 
 
 Handwork 
 2.36 
 
 
 
 
 
 Diet. 
 
 leog. H.40. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 ij 
 
 laiidwork. 
 
 
 
 II.B 
 
 Diet. < 
 
 Jeog. 11.40. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 „ 
 
 landwork. 
 
 "• 
 
 159
 
 v.— TIME-TABLE OF THE GIELS' DEPARTMENT OF 
 
 MORNING. 
 
 
 SWs. 
 
 9.0- 
 9.10 
 
 9.10- 
 9.40 
 
 9.45 9.40-10.30 
 
 10.30-10.40 
 
 10.40-11.0 
 
 11.0-11.30 
 
 11.30-12.0 
 
 < 
 c 
 
 "A 
 O 
 
 5 
 
 VII. 
 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 III. 
 II. 
 
 La 
 Lb 
 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Homewk. Test. 
 Home Reading. 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 Grammar. 
 Geography. 
 Nat. Study. 
 History. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Singing. 
 Geography. 
 Literature. 
 Literature. 
 
 History. 
 History. 
 Geography. 
 
 < 
 
 s 
 
 & 
 H 
 
 VII. 
 VI. 
 
 V. 
 IV. 
 
 III. 
 II. 
 
 La 
 Lb 
 
 VII. 
 VI. 
 
 V- 
 IV. 
 
 III. 
 II. 
 
 La 
 
 LB 
 
 a 
 >> 
 eS 
 
 Ph 
 
 •o 
 d 
 es 
 
 a 
 o 
 
 c« 
 
 to 
 
 C£ 
 a> 
 P3 
 
 
 a 
 a> 
 
 ID 
 
 o 
 
 9.40- 10.0- 
 10.0 10.30 
 Lit. Sing. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Cookery 
 Recreation. 
 
 or Laundry 
 Homewk. Test. 
 
 Home Reading. 
 
 or House 
 Geography. 
 
 History. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 
 wi f e ry. 
 Geography. 
 
 History. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Geography. 
 Geography. 
 Drill. 
 
 > 
 
 P 
 
 V 
 
 ii 
 3 
 
 ft 
 
 bl 
 
 o 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 t) 
 
 ■a 
 
 d 
 
 CS 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Homewk. Test. 
 Home Reading. 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 Drawing 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Singiug. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 Drawing. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 P 
 
 
 a 
 
 VII. 
 
 VI. 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 III. 
 
 II. 
 La 
 
 LB 
 
 a 
 
 
 d 
 
 M 
 
 c3 
 
 d 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Homewk. Test. 
 Home Reading. 
 
 History. 
 
 Composition. 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 History. 
 Geography. 
 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 Org. Games. 
 
 History. 
 
 Composition. 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 Literature. 
 Reading of 
 
 Geography. 
 Recitation. 
 Handwork. 
 Reading. 
 
 P 
 
 2 
 
 EC4 
 
 VII. 
 
 VI. 
 V. 
 
 IV. 
 
 III. 
 II. 
 La 
 Lb 
 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Homewk. Test. 
 Home Reading 
 
 Geography. 
 
 History. 
 Literature. 
 
 History. 
 
 History. 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 Reading. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 History. 
 Literature. 
 
 Reading of 
 
 History 
 Literature. 
 Nat. Study. 
 Nat. Study. 
 History. 
 
 Note. — Teachers specialise in Art and Music, History and 
 
 160
 
 AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN A POOR DISTRICT. 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 2.0 
 
 2.0-2.30 
 
 2.15 
 
 ■ 
 
 2.30-3.0 
 
 3.0-3.20 
 
 3.20-3.30 
 
 3.30-4.0 . 
 
 4.0-4.25 
 
 4.30 
 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Reading of 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 jj 
 
 Reading or 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Reading of 
 Geography. 
 
 ■• 
 
 Knitting. 
 
 Knitting. 
 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 J, 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 J, 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Knitting. 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 .. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Map Drawg. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 
 Literature. 
 
 (H 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 " 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Reading of 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 *J 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Reading or'Geograpliy. 
 
 
 ' Composition. 
 
 2 Composition. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 J, 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 'to Nat. Study. 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 ij 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 Reading of 
 
 
 
 
 <i> i 
 
 
 j 
 
 History. 
 
 
 a 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 rt Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 ,, 1 Composition. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 o 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 ^ , Drawing. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 „ 1 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 *i 
 
 Singing. 
 
 o 1 Singing. 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 ,, 1 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 03 
 
 Literature. 
 
 so i Drill. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Recreation. Oral Compn. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 
 m 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 p, ! Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 „ Literature. 
 
 Reading of 
 Hi8U>ry . 
 
 
 •-* 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 " 1 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 „ Composition. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 -5 
 
 <o 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 ° Drawing. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 „ Literature. 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 C3 
 
 P^ 
 
 Composition. 
 
 o Compo.sition. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 ,, Reading of 
 History. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 a 
 
 ■a 
 
 Composition. 
 
 ■^ 1 Composition. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 „ ' Reading of 
 
 History. 
 
 a 
 
 Composition. 
 
 ^ i Home Readg. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 1 Drill. 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 ." 
 
 a 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 ■^ Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 .. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 o 
 
 >> 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 '^ 1 Needlework. 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Reading of 
 
 Literature. 
 
 T3 
 
 — 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 History. 
 
 
 a 
 
 Xi 
 
 Cookery 
 
 iA 
 
 L a u n 
 
 dry. 
 
 or 
 
 House 
 
 w i f e r y. 
 
 cS 
 
 a 
 
 History. 
 
 u 
 
 Reading of 
 
 Map Drawg. 
 
 Recreation. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 
 e3 
 
 History. 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 <n 
 
 .Veedlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 jj 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 >> 
 
 ^ 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 -3 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 » 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. 
 
 eg 
 
 
 Singing. 
 
 a 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Ment. Arith. 1 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 fri 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 ;V| 
 
 Krdtting. 
 
 Knitting. | 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Reading. 
 
 
 
 Nat. Study. 
 
 
 Handwork. 
 
 Ment. Arith. „ 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 
 
 Silent Readg. 
 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Composition. Recreation. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Liter.iture. 
 
 
 
 with 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Note-mkg. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Map Drawg. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 
 
 ,1 
 
 
 Note-mkg. 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 ij 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 
 
 
 with 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ,, 
 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 ,, 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 Needlework. 
 
 
 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 Oral Compn. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 
 
 SilentReadg. 
 
 Knitting. 
 
 Knitting. | „ 
 
 Handwork. 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 
 
 jj 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Writing. „ 
 
 Org. Games. 
 
 Compo.sition. 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 Drawing and 
 
 i 
 
 Handwork. I „ 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Recitation. 
 
 
 Science. The effect of this is seen in the time-table. 
 
 161 
 
 11
 
 DIGEST OF PRECEDING TIME-TABLE 
 
 Standards. 
 
 (a) English Composition 
 (W.) 
 
 (b) English Composition 
 (Oral) 
 
 (c) Spelling 
 
 (d) Grammar 
 
 (e) Reading (see Litera- 
 ture) 
 
 (/) Recitation (see Litera- 
 ture) 
 
 (g) Word-building (in- 
 cluded in Spelling) 
 
 (h) Handwriting 
 
 (i) Literature 
 
 Arithmetic 
 
 Drawing (Handwork) . . 
 
 Observation Lessons and 
 Nature Study 
 
 Hygiene . . 
 
 Geography 
 
 History , . 
 
 Singing 
 
 Physical Exercises 
 
 Swimming and Organised 
 Games 
 
 Needlework 
 
 Homework, Test 
 
 Domestic Subjects 
 
 Literature IV. -VII. (in- 
 cluding the reading of 
 all books other than 
 History and Geography, 
 also Recitation) 
 
 Scripture 
 
 Recreation 
 
 Registration 
 
 VII. 
 
 80 
 
 235 
 
 200 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 120 
 
 80 
 
 180 
 
 120 
 
 90 
 65 
 
 VI. 
 
 II. 
 
 60 
 
 205 
 
 200 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 135 
 100 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 90 
 70 
 
 V. 
 
 III. 
 
 90 
 
 85 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 65 
 
 135 
 
 100 
 
 150 
 100 
 
 75 
 
 IV. 
 
 IV. 
 
 iir 
 
 85 
 
 280 
 
 250 
 
 60 
 
 55 
 
 65 
 
 135 
 100 
 
 150 
 
 100 
 
 75 
 
 III. 
 
 V. 
 
 90 
 
 105 
 40 
 
 55 
 
 190 
 
 250 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 135 
 
 100 
 
 150 
 100 
 
 75 
 
 IL La. Lb. 
 
 VL I VII. VIIL 
 
 145 75 
 
 20 20 
 
 260 
 30 
 
 50 
 
 270 
 90 
 30 
 
 80 
 
 130 
 100 
 
 150 
 
 100 
 
 75 
 
 345 
 
 25 
 
 50 
 
 270 
 90 
 30 
 
 90 
 
 130 
 100 
 
 150 150 
 
 100 100 
 
 75 75 
 
 Total 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 1,650 
 
 SUBJECTS TAUGHT OFF THE PREMISES. 
 
 Swimming 
 Domestic Subjects 
 
 Remarks (if any). 
 
 Taken by about 60 girls in Stds. IV., V., VL, 
 
 and VII., on Thursday Afternoons in the 
 
 Summer. 
 All girls in Std. VII. attend Cookery, Laundry, 
 
 or Housewifery, on Tuesday Morning, and 
 
 Std. VI. on Thursday Afternoon. 
 
 162
 
 164 
 
 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 ANALYSIS OF PRECEDING TIME-TABLE. 
 
 
 
 Time in 
 
 MlNtTTES. 
 
 
 
 Class 1. 
 
 Class 2. 
 
 Class 3. 
 
 Class 4. 
 
 Scripture . . 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 240 
 
 200 
 
 220 
 
 240 
 
 French 
 
 245 
 
 240 
 
 240 
 
 240 
 
 Science 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 Drawing , . 
 
 80 
 
 75 
 
 100 
 
 90 
 
 Bookkeeping 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Literature 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 80 
 
 Geography 
 
 115 
 
 SO 
 
 120 
 
 110 
 
 History 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 Shorthand 
 
 80 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 • — 
 
 Composition 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 120 
 
 Grammar . . 
 
 35 
 
 70 
 
 35 
 
 75 
 
 Recitation \ 
 Reading / 
 
 35 
 
 1 50 
 
 30 
 
 60 
 
 ^ 70 
 
 SO 
 
 80 
 
 Dictation . . 
 
 40 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 30 
 
 Music 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 60 
 
 Physical Exercises 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 80 
 
 Recreation 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
 Total 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 1,650 
 
 I 1,650 
 
 Notes. — 1. Only the upper section (Classes 1, 2, 3, and 4) of this school is of 
 higher grade. 
 
 2. The absence in the Army of the Science teacher accounts for the 
 
 short period allotted to this subject. The laboratory holds 
 only twenty pupils. 
 
 3. Specialisation has also been much reduced owing to war 
 
 conditions. 
 
 4. The school is rather cramped, and this fact has had its effect 
 
 upon the time-table.
 
 (O 
 
 o 
 
 
 ]flssTtasT(j 0*9 
 
 
 B9X -oE-e 
 
 1 
 
 'looqog AjB(jU9m8ia; Smjnoqqgian c) ^I'c^V •sjaX'CJ j 'ex '9 1 
 
 lO 
 
 •o;)9 'sSop '8n:}BjBdd'B dn ^ov^ -Q-g 
 
 
 in 
 
 •<* 
 
 S § 
 
 T 1. 
 
 OD CD 
 
 :5 ^ 
 
 tb . 
 
 c c .5 
 
 — 5 (N M ■* 
 
 til 
 
 ■3 "^ So 
 
 1 
 
 tib 
 
 -1 -^ 
 £ ^ 
 
 1 
 
 § 
 
 ^ 
 
 .2 o 
 q "^ 
 
 o 
 
 bb 
 
 •S «^ 
 
 bO T* 
 
 M 
 
 O fq 
 
 ?; S -S 
 
 "o 
 
 O PQ 
 
 .s s 
 
 
 
 
 C5P3 J2-. 
 
 
 02 O 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 .-KM CO-* 
 
 
 t-H (N eo ■* 
 
 
 CO 
 
 •UOT!)B9J0a'}J 
 
 o 
 
 •(jsaa 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 
 'looqog jty-uado oij qoiBif uoumd 
 
 
 (M 
 
 •i{sv^ -looqDg ^iB^uaraaia guunoqqgiau o'^ JJIB^ 
 
 
 .c'^jsaa „ JOj sJiuqo oSnBJjy i Bn^juaudd^ dn jjobj 
 
 
 60 
 
 bb 
 
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 O 
 CO 
 
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 P3 
 
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 § 
 
 g -S o 
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 •S9SJ»J9Xa Simi!J'B9ia 
 
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 >— 1 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 
 i- 
 
 ^ 
 
 i4> 
 
 TS 
 
 o 
 
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 CO 
 
 s 
 
 cS 
 
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 o 
 
 
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 •UOI'J«9I09'JJ 
 
 
 
 jd 
 
 -d 
 
 ^ 
 
 J3 
 
 JA 
 
 b 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 ^ 
 
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 <5 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ■1^ 
 
 CO 
 
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 d 
 
 fguaigXq iioq^BOAV Sh^juoao ^uajjiiQ i '^'H'"! '='*' 
 
 ■BIO 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
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 ^•BJJ 
 
 Ci 
 
 •jooqog Jiy-uado o% qajv^ -(jawpiBaja 
 
 i» 
 
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 ■d 
 
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 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 <* 
 
 3 
 
 H 
 
 ^ 
 
 H 
 
 fS 
 
 o8 
 
 10 
 
 JO
 
 166 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 The time-tables of Central Schools will naturally show 
 rather more diversity than those of the ordinary Ele- 
 mentary Schools, since the character of the curriculum 
 would be more influenced and modified by the needs of 
 the district, by the local trades and occupations, and the 
 avocations and social class of the parents. At the same 
 time, the instruction is rightly of a general kind, and on 
 such liberal lines as will afford opportunity for the growth 
 of general culture and will make appeal to any and every 
 power the pupil may possess. 
 
 The head-teacher of a Central School has in his own 
 hands the framing of the cuniculum, and may handle the 
 problem with such freedom as either to differentiate in a 
 pronounced fashion between the commercial and indus- 
 trial aspects or to almost obliterate the distinction between 
 them. He may allot eight hours weekly to French and 
 four to English, or vice versa; he may include or omit 
 shorthand; in fact, his freedom is very considerable. At 
 present this freedom is not entirely an evil, as the Central 
 School is still in the experimental stage, and it is still 
 uncertain what form its curriculum will finally take. 
 Moreover, the head-teachers are presumably the most 
 gifted and experienced from the ranks of elementary 
 teachers, and may be trusted to make good use of their 
 freedom. 
 
 The digest and time-table given on pp. 167, 108, and 
 169 are those of a Commercial Central School for boys 
 drawn from a residential neighbourhood of clerks, business 
 and trades people of A^arious kinds — in other words, from 
 a "respectable" suburban quarter. 
 
 There are many points of interest in the time-table on 
 pp. 170 and 171, a short discussion of which may throw 
 some light on the difiiculties encountered in framing 
 curricula and time-tables.
 
 DIGEST OF FOLLOWING TIME-TABLE. 
 
 
 4:th Year. 
 
 3rd 
 
 Year. 2nd Year. 
 
 \st 
 
 Year. 
 
 Lessons. 
 
 CI. I. 
 
 A. 
 CI. II. 
 
 B. 
 CI. III. 
 
 A. 
 CI. IV. 
 
 B. 
 
 Cl.V. 
 
 A. 
 CI. VI. 
 
 B. 
 CI. VII. 
 
 Scripture . . 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 English 
 
 220 
 
 250 
 
 220 
 
 240 
 
 210 
 
 200 
 
 190 
 
 Mathematics (Arith- 
 metic), Algebra, 
 and Practical 
 Mathematics . . 
 
 400 
 
 320 
 
 370 
 
 400 
 
 430 
 
 380 
 
 340 
 
 History 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 Geography 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 Science 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 Handicraft 
 
 — 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Drawing . . 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 100 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 Singing . . 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 French 
 
 240 
 
 240 
 
 210 
 
 240 
 
 220 
 
 290 
 
 310 
 
 Shorthand and 
 Bookkeeping . . 
 
 160 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Business Routine 
 
 40 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 Correspondence . . 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 40 
 
 30 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Physical Exercises 
 
 50 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 60 
 
 80 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 Notes — 1. Physical Education. — In winter lessons occur three times a week. 
 In summer the swimming lesson takes the place of one. 
 
 2. Singing is taught only in the 1st and 2nd years. The voice then 
 
 begins to break. 
 
 3. Owing to the war, and depletion of Staff, Science is taken only 
 
 during the 1st year (2 hours a week in Laboratory); Manual 
 Training during tlic 2nd year and lird year ; Shorthand, 
 Bookk(3eping, and Typewriting during the 4th year. In this 
 way all pupils receive some training in all those branches. 
 
 4. The Scripture lesson (9.0 to 9.30) is not shown. 
 
 167
 
 VIII.— WAR TIME-TABLE OF A CENTRAL 
 
 
 9.30 10.10 10.50 
 
 ■11.0 11.30 12.0 
 
 4th yr. 
 
 1. Arithmetic. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Geometry and 
 
 Trigonometry. 
 
 3rd /A 
 yr. IB 
 
 2. Man 
 
 u a 1 
 
 Train 
 
 i n g . 
 
 3. Arithmetio. 
 
 French. 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 2ndfA 
 
 4. Metric Arith. and 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 F r e 
 
 n h . 
 
 Mensuration. 
 
 
 
 
 5. French. 
 
 Metric Arith. 
 
 j History. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 1st (A 
 yr. IB 
 
 6. Science or Gramm'ar and French. 
 
 1 Science or Gram 
 
 mar and French. 
 
 7. Metric Arith. 
 
 History. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Music. 
 
 
 1. Mensuration. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 Fro 
 
 n c h . 
 
 
 2. Booldceeping. 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 3. Draw 
 
 i n g . 
 
 French. 
 
 Metric Arith. 
 
 
 4. French. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 ; Physical Exs. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 
 5. Arithmetic. 
 
 French. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 
 6. Algebra. 
 
 Metric Arith. 
 
 Draw 
 
 i n g . 
 
 
 7. Science or Gramm 
 
 ar and French. 
 
 Science or Gram 
 
 mar and French. 
 
 
 1. History. 
 
 French. 
 
 Bookkeeping. 
 
 
 
 2. Shorthand. 
 
 Metric Arith. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Derivation. 
 
 
 3. Man 
 
 u a 1 
 
 Train 
 
 i n g . 
 
 
 4. Arithmetic. 
 
 French. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 5. Geography. 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 F r e 
 
 n c h . 
 
 
 6. French. 
 
 Mental Arith. or 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 G e o m 
 
 e t r y . 
 
 
 7. Science or Corre 
 
 spondence and 
 
 Science or Corre 
 
 spondence and 
 
 
 French. 
 
 
 French. 
 
 
 
 1. Arithmetic. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 F r e 
 
 n c h . 
 
 
 2. Draw 
 
 i n g . 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 3. French. 
 
 Mental Arith. 
 
 Mensuration. 
 
 
 
 4 Algebra. 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 Mensuration 
 
 
 
 5. Man 
 
 u a 1 
 
 Train 
 
 i n g . 
 
 
 6. Science or Corre 
 
 spondence and 
 
 Science or Corres 
 
 pondence and 
 
 
 French. 
 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 
 
 7. Arithmetic. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Draw 
 
 i n g. 
 
 
 1. Arithmetic. 
 
 Business Tr'ning.' 
 
 Physical Exs. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 
 2. French. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 French. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 
 3. Geography. 
 
 History. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 4. Arithmetic. Geography. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Corresp. 
 
 
 5. Geometry. Physical Exs. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 
 6. Arithmetic. Music. 
 
 M e n s u r 
 
 a t i o n . 
 
 
 7. Arithmetic. Music. 
 
 History, 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 168
 
 SCHOOL FOR BOYS (COMMERCIAL BIAS). 
 
 1.30 2.10 2.50 3.0 3.30 4.0 
 
 1. French. 
 
 History. 
 
 Derivation. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 2. Correspondence. 
 
 French. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 3. History. 
 
 Geometry. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 4. Arithmetic. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 History. 
 
 French. 
 
 5. Arithmetic. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 6. History. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 7. Mensuration. 
 
 Mjnsuralion. 
 
 French. 
 
 1 
 
 Derivation and 
 Composition. 
 
 1. Drawing. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 1 Arithmetic. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 2. History. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 1 French. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 3. Shorthand. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 1 Algebra. 
 
 Derivation. 
 
 4. Man 
 
 u a 1 
 
 Train 
 
 i n g . 
 
 5. Mensuration. 
 
 Physical Exercises. 
 
 Correspondence. 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 6. French. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 1 Physical Exercises. 
 
 Derivation and 
 Composition. 
 
 7. Geography. 
 
 French. 
 
 Draw 
 
 i n g. 
 
 1. Algebra. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Physical Exercises. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 2. Geometry to 2.20. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 1 History. 
 
 French. 
 
 3. French. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 4. Histoiy. 
 
 Derivation and 
 Composition. 
 
 Mensuration. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 5. Algebra. 
 
 French. 
 
 History. 
 
 Derivation and 
 Composition. 
 
 6. Arithmetic. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 French. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 7. Geometry. 
 
 Physical Exercises. 
 
 French. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 1. Algebra. 
 
 Correspondence . 
 
 Metric Arithmetic. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 2. French. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 1 Algebra. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 3. Bookkeeping. 
 
 Physical Exercises. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 4. Draw 
 
 i n g . 
 
 Physical Exercises. 
 
 French. 
 
 5. Arithmetic. 
 
 French. 
 
 Music. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 6. History. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Draw 
 
 i n g . 
 
 7. Geography. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 French. 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 1. French. 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 1 Spelling. 
 
 Debate. 
 
 2. Mensuration to 
 
 Algebra. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Debate. 
 
 2..50. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 3. Correspondence. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 French. 
 
 Debate. 
 
 4. Algebra. 
 
 French. 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 6. Arithmetic. 
 
 Drawing. 
 
 Draw 
 
 i n g. 
 
 6. Algebra. 
 
 French. 
 
 Handwriting. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 7. Composition. 
 
 French. 
 
 Handwriting. 
 
 Prose. 
 
 169
 
 170 
 
 IX.— TIME-TABLE OF A COMBINED COMMERCIAL 
 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 R N I N G . 
 
 
 
 
 Class 
 No. 
 
 Std. 
 
 9.0-9.30 
 
 9.45 
 
 9.30-10.30 
 
 10.30-11.0 
 
 11.10-12.0 
 
 
 T 
 
 4c. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 English. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 2 
 
 4t. 
 
 
 
 
 Art. 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 3c. 
 
 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 4 
 
 3t. 
 
 
 
 
 Geography. 
 
 History. 
 
 French. 
 
 ^ 
 
 5 
 
 2(a). 
 
 
 
 
 Science. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 t3 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 2(6). 
 
 
 
 { 
 
 Gardening (Boys). 
 Needlework (Girls). 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Science. 
 
 7 
 
 1(a). 
 
 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 8 
 
 1(6). 
 
 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 9 
 
 1(c). 
 
 
 
 
 
 { 
 
 Man. Tmg. (Boys). 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 DQ 
 
 Dom. Econ. (Girls) 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 4c. f- 
 
 Art; 
 
 Singing. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 2 
 
 4i. <3 
 
 3 
 
 © 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 3 
 
 3c. i 
 
 »> 
 
 -13 
 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 4 
 
 3z. 
 
 5 
 
 00 
 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 5 
 
 2(a).^ 
 
 H 
 
 tiD 
 
 f 
 
 Gardening (Boys). 
 Needlework (Girls). 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 <D 
 
 6 
 
 2(6). 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 English. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 H 
 
 7 
 
 l{a).] 
 
 3 
 
 P5 
 
 { 
 
 Man. Trng. (Boys). 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 Dom. Econ. (Girls). 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 1 (6). c 
 
 3 
 
 ao 
 
 
 French. 
 
 History. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 9 
 
 1(c). 
 4c. J 
 
 3 O 
 
 C! 
 
 
 Science. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 English. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 2 
 
 4t. < 
 
 :> n 
 
 m 
 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 English. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 3 
 
 3c. .. 
 
 ■• 3 
 
 O 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 >> 
 
 a 
 
 4 
 
 3i. ^ 
 
 
 o 
 
 { 
 
 Gardening (Boys). 
 Needlework (Girls). 
 
 Singing. 
 
 French. 
 
 S 
 
 5 
 
 2 (a). ^ 
 
 - .^ 
 
 -d 
 
 { 
 
 Man. Trng. (Boys). 
 
 
 
 -§ 
 
 
 (- 
 
 j3 
 
 Dom. Econ. (Girls). 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 2(6). 
 
 » o 
 
 c3 
 
 
 French. 
 
 English. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 7 
 
 !(«)•• 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 Science. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 8 
 
 1(6). 
 
 w 
 
 CiJD 
 
 
 Art. 
 
 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 9 
 
 1(c). 
 
 s 
 
 C! 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 1 
 
 4c. ^ 
 
 Bookkeeping. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 French. 
 
 
 2 
 
 4i. 
 
 » 
 
 J«l 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 3 
 
 3c. 
 
 >> 
 
 ^4 
 
 
 English. 
 
 Shorthand. 
 
 Geog. 
 
 ^ 
 
 4 
 
 3i. - 
 
 - 
 
 eS 
 
 
 History. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Science. 
 
 "S 
 
 5 
 
 2 (a). J 
 
 s 
 
 § 
 
 
 Art. 
 
 — 
 
 Maths. 
 
 (-1 
 
 6 
 
 2(6) 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 Science. 
 
 English. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 .3 
 
 7 
 
 1(a) 
 
 o 
 
 — • 
 
 
 French. 
 
 History. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 H 
 
 8 
 
 1(6). 
 
 OQ 
 
 c5 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 9 
 
 l(c).^ 
 4c. ' 
 
 OQ 
 
 (3 
 
 { 
 
 Gardening (Boys). 
 Needlework (Girls). 
 
 History. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 1 
 
 Science. 
 
 — 
 
 French. 
 
 
 2 
 
 4i. 
 
 
 
 { 
 
 Man. Trng. (Boys). 
 Needlework (Girls). 
 
 History. 
 
 Science. 
 
 
 3 
 
 3c. 
 
 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 >, 
 
 4 
 
 3i. 
 
 
 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 French. 
 
 13 
 
 5 
 
 2(a). 
 
 
 
 
 French. 
 
 English. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 ;^ 
 
 6 
 
 2(6). 
 
 
 
 
 Art. 
 
 — 
 
 Maths. 
 
 P^ 
 
 7 
 
 1(a). 
 
 
 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Sin.;ing. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 8 
 
 1(d). 
 
 
 
 
 English. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Maths. 
 
 
 9 
 
 1(c). 
 
 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Maths.
 
 AND iNDlJStRlAL SCHOOL (BOtS AND OmLS). 
 
 AFTERNOON. 
 
 1?1 
 
 
 2.0-3.0 
 
 3.0-3.30 
 
 3.40-4.30 
 
 English. Drill. Mathematics. 
 Gardening (B.). Ndlwk. (G.). Drill. Geography. 
 Art. Singing. English. 
 English. Singing. Science. 
 French. History. Mathematics. 
 
 
 French. 
 
 listory. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 Science. 
 
 Man. Tg. (B.). Dom. Ec. (G.). 
 
 listory. 
 
 j^nglish. 
 
 c 
 
 French. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 English. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 Geography. 
 French. 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Singing. 
 Singing. 
 3eography. 
 French. 
 
 Geography. 
 Mathematics. 
 Science. 
 English. 
 
 
 French. 
 
 English. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 «3 
 
 Man. Tg. (B.). Dom. Ec. (G.). 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 bi 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 Science. 
 Art. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 English. 
 English. 
 
 Art. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Bookkeeping. 
 
 Manual Training (Boys). \ 
 
 Domestic Economy (Girls). / 
 
 History. 
 History. 
 History. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 English. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 a 
 
 French. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 
 
 0) 
 OQ 
 
 to 
 
 < 
 
 French. 
 
 Gardening (B.). Ndlwk. (G.). 
 
 French. 
 
 Science. 
 
 Drill. 
 
 Geography. 
 Geography. 
 Drill. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 English. 
 English. 
 English. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Man. Tg. (B.). Dom. Eo. (G.). 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Art. 
 
 English. 
 
 English. 
 
 French. 
 
 Science. 
 
 History. 
 
 History. 
 
 History. 
 History. 
 Singing. 
 Singing. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Science. 
 
 English. 
 (Jeography. 
 English. 
 English. 
 
 
 French. 
 
 Singing. 
 
 English. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 English. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 French. 
 
 History. 
 
 English. 
 
 
 Geography, 30. English, 30. 
 
 English. 
 
 Science. 
 
 (Joography. 
 
 Art. 
 
 Gardening (B.). Ndlwk. (G.) 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Drill. 
 Drill. 
 Singing. 
 Singing. 
 
 History. 
 History. 
 
 Art. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Geography. 
 
 Sci. (B.). Nk.(G.). 
 
 G(>o<^raj)hy. 
 
 (ieography. 
 
 Geography.
 
 172 
 
 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 DIGEST OF PKECEDING TIME-TABLE. 
 
 
 Common 
 
 
 
 
 to Both 
 
 Commercial. 
 
 Industrial. 
 
 
 Sides* 
 
 4 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 2 3 
 
 4 
 
 Scripture 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 English : 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Composition (written )'» 
 
 (oral) [.. 
 Grammar, etc. J 
 
 200 
 
 290 
 
 190 
 
 200 
 
 240 
 
 170 
 
 180 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Arithmetic . . 
 
 260 
 
 220 
 
 210 
 
 230 
 
 220 
 
 230 
 
 202 
 
 History 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 Geography . . 
 
 110 
 
 150 
 
 170 
 
 150 
 
 110 
 
 90 
 
 110 
 
 Science 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 100 
 
 (JO 
 
 G. 110 
 B. 160 
 
 150 
 
 G. 140 
 B.200 
 
 Handicraft . . 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 180 
 
 140 
 
 G. 140 
 B.200 
 
 Drawing 
 
 90 
 
 120 
 
 160 
 
 120 
 
 120 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 Singing 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 French 
 
 240 
 
 240 
 
 240 
 
 250 
 
 180 
 
 180 
 
 G. 120 
 B. 60 
 
 Shorthand and Bookkeeping 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 150 
 
 180 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Physical Exercises . . 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 Correspondence, Gardening, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 or Needlework 
 
 60 
 
 60 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 60 
 
 90 
 
 *~~ 
 
 1. It is to be noted that the Fourth Year of the Com- 
 mercial Course has no manual training, no gardening, and 
 the girls no needlework. 
 
 2. The Science Course includes physics, chemistry, elec- 
 tricity, and magnetism (only a small amount of the latter), 
 and lectures on general scientific topics such as evolution, 
 aviation, the moon, the solar system. 
 
 3. English receives comparatively short shrift because so 
 many other matters have to be crowded in.^ English 
 literature in particular has had small attention paid to it. 
 It is proposed to remedy this by giving less time to less 
 important subjects. 
 
 ^ The head-master who was kind enough to supply me with this 
 time-table is not responsible for it, but has inherited it from a pre- 
 decessor ; at the present time he is engaged in modifying it on lines 
 indicated in the above notes.
 
 THE ELEMENTAEY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 173 
 
 4. History suffers, too, in the same way and from the 
 same reason. More time is to be given to this subject ; and 
 a new syllabus has been drawn up by a specialist teacher. 
 The completed arrangements met almost immediately a 
 blow in the loss of the specialist teacher by promotion. 
 
 5. It is apparently impossible in a Central School where 
 the sexes are mixed to make the difference between indus- 
 trial and commercial sides so marked as in schools where 
 boys and girls are in separate departments. Moreover, 
 it is by no means certain that the distinction should be 
 rigidly kept. At one time this school was wholly indus- 
 trial, yet many past pupils are now in commerce. 
 
 6. Classes have to be partially combined for certain sub- 
 jects ; for instance, in drill the boys of parallel sections 
 have to come together and the girls at another time, the 
 one class taking (on the new time-table) history while the 
 other takes di'ill. 
 
 7. Handicraft presents another difficulty, having to in- 
 clude the work of girls as well as of boys. The boys can 
 only get the time for handicraft which the girls get for 
 cookery and housewifery. A few of the best boys get 
 extra time for this subject; this does not appear on the 
 time-table, and these boys have to miss other work. The 
 head-master of this school would like to see a centre 
 attached to the school for the girls as well as for the boys, 
 so as to ensure adequate correlation between the various 
 branches, and supervision, especially of advanced domestic 
 courses. 
 
 8. French appears in the syllabus for the " industrials." 
 This is unusual, and is probably the result of the accidental 
 presence on the staff of several specialists in the language. 
 Owing to the pressure of other subjects, the time was 
 limited in the third and fourth year to three hours weekly. 
 The present head-master is modifying this arrangement in 
 what seems a very wise manner. This year only the best
 
 174 
 
 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 " industrials " of tlie two last years will take the subject ; 
 that will probably mean about three-quarters of the com- 
 mercial and about one-quarter of the industrial pupils. By 
 working the two sides together and giving extra "handi- 
 craft " to the " non-French " pupils, advantage will accrue 
 to both subjects. It is probable that under a still later 
 reconstruction of the time-table the whole of the ' ' indus- 
 trials ' ' will drop French and devote the time saved to 
 manual work. 
 
 X.— ANALYSIS OF THE TIME-TABLE OF A COMBINED 
 COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRL^L CENTRAL SCHOOL 
 FOR BOYS.* 
 
 
 
 Cotiimercial. 
 
 
 
 Industrial. 
 
 
 Subjects. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4th. 
 
 3rd. 
 
 2nd. 
 
 1st. 
 
 4th. 
 
 3rd. 
 
 2nd. 
 
 1st. 
 
 Scripture 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 150 
 
 English 
 
 340 
 
 330 
 
 275 
 
 SCO 
 
 300 
 
 430 
 
 380 
 
 420 
 
 Mathematics . . 
 
 170 
 
 180 
 
 390 
 
 2fc0 
 
 340 
 
 310 
 
 310 
 
 310 
 
 History 
 
 140 
 
 130 
 
 100 
 
 110 
 
 140 
 
 110 
 
 110 
 
 SO 
 
 Geography 
 
 140 
 
 150 
 
 120 
 
 110 
 
 140 
 
 110 
 
 130 
 
 90 
 
 Science 
 
 70 
 
 10 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 210 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 Handicraft 
 
 — 
 
 ■ — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 140 
 
 140 
 
 MO 
 
 140 
 
 Drawing 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 70 
 
 Singing 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 60 
 
 70 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 GO 
 
 70 
 
 French . . 
 
 240 
 
 240 
 
 255 
 
 290 
 
 — 
 
 ■ — 
 
 — ■ 
 
 — 
 
 Shorthand 
 
 90 
 
 CO 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 Business Routine 
 
 80 
 
 80 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 
 — 
 
 Total 
 
 1,490 
 
 1,490 
 
 1,490 
 
 1,540 
 
 1,490 
 
 1,460 
 
 1,490 
 
 1,480 
 
 The time-table of the small rural school presents difiQ- 
 culties of a kind quite different from those of the large 
 urban school. In the first place, the clas.sification of the 
 scholars will have to be rather of the rough-and-ready type ; 
 the pupils of all classes will show^ wide differences of know- 
 
 * Students are inv'ted to employ their critical powers upon the above, 
 comparing and contrasting, in accordance with the principles ma<J,q ys^ <^^ 
 ia this book, the periods allotted to the different subjects.
 
 THE ELEMENTAEY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 175 
 
 ledge and capacity. In the second place, the smallness of 
 the classes will not allow of a separate teacher for each ; 
 one teacher will have to instruct two or even more groups 
 or "standards" of scholars. In addition, the present 
 administration and organisation of education in the 
 country generally has not been efficient enough to always 
 provide thoroughly efficient teachers or suitably built and 
 furnished buildings. 
 
 The teachers themselves use a nomenclature to describe 
 their internal organisation which is confusing. The term 
 "class" has with them a variety of meanings, sometimes 
 signifying the distinction between the upper, middle, and 
 lower part of the school, sometimes indicating a standard, 
 and sometimes the group of children engaged in doing 
 similar work or receiving instruction at the same time from 
 one teacher. It will conduce to clearness of thought if 
 one terminology is adhered to. Small schools consisting 
 of from 50 to 80 or 100 pupils can be most easily divided 
 into Senior, Junior, and Infant Departments, the Senior 
 consisting of the four top standards (IV., V., VI., and 
 VII.), the Junior of Standards I., II., and III., and the 
 Infant Department of those below the first standard. 
 Sometimes the Senior Department may include Standard 
 III., and sometimes, again, the Infant School may include 
 Standard I. In such schools the staff often consists of 
 three persons — the head master or mistress, an assistant 
 teacher, and a supplementary teacher, the latter usually 
 a young person who has received little or no training in 
 the art of teaching. Occasionally two " supplementaries " 
 assist a head-teacher. The assistant may be untrained 
 and even uncertificated, and it is in no way to deprecate 
 such teachers, who often do good work under this handi- 
 cap, to assert that the position is unfortunate and disas- 
 trous for education. The head-teacher usually teaches 
 the Senior, the supplementary the Middle, and the 
 assistant teacher the Infant Department, this arrange-
 
 176 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 ment allowing more adequate supervision of the weakest 
 member of the staff by the head-teacher. The Senior 
 Department is classified differently for various branches of 
 instruction. For example, in arithmetic there may be 
 four distinct classes, all working at different stages: thus 
 the class here would correspond with what we understand 
 as the standard. For reading and composition and some 
 other subjects the children of the four standards might be 
 classified to form two classes, the teacher giving half his 
 time to one and half to another, the one reading silently 
 while the other has practice in reading aloud ; or one writ- 
 ing composition while the other is receiving instruction in 
 the art of writing English. 
 
 In such circumstances it is obvious that each pupil must 
 receive less direct teaching than the pupil of a standard 
 which has a teacher with no other class to attend to, as 
 in the larger schools. The disadvantages of this are 
 numerous, but in the hands of a capable teacher the pupils 
 often develop habits of self-reliance and independent study 
 which are most valuable in their future life. 
 
 Thus the head-teacher of the small rural school has a 
 task in organising the work and framing the time-table 
 unknown to his colleague at the head of a large school, 
 fully staffed by trained men and women. The ability, 
 untiring energy, and patience needed by the rural head- 
 teacher can scarcely be realised, and the degree of success 
 attained by village schools bears witness to the efficiency 
 of the men and women who conduct them. None the 
 less, the State should see to it that the conditions of work 
 undergo a speedy amelioration. 
 
 The time-table on pp. 178 and 179 is that of a rural 
 school consisting of 13 boys, 24 girls, and 21 infants. The 
 Senior School, under the direct instruction of the head- 
 master, consists of Standards III., IV., V., and YT., 
 and for certain subjects is arranged in two classes, com- 
 posed as to Class 1 of Standards IV. (the more advanced
 
 THEELEMENTAEY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 177 
 
 pupils), v., and VI., and as to Class 2 of Standard III. 
 and the backward pupils of Standard IV. The Middle 
 School includes Standards I. and II., and is taught by a 
 supplementary teacher. All the infants are supervised by 
 an uncertificated assistant mistress. 
 
 To work such a time-table as this it is clearly neces- 
 sary to group two, and sometimes three, standards into 
 one class for oral subjects, such as history, geography, 
 Nature-study, and composition. In order that all the 
 pupils of such a class may deal with fresh subject-matter 
 each year — that is, that in every case the course should be 
 progressive — the year's work is made part of a two or 
 three years' syllabus. For instance, the geography 
 scheme for Standards IV., V., and VI. might be as 
 follows : 
 
 First Year. — Europe and the Mediterranean region. 
 Second Year. — Asia, Africa, and America, excluding 
 
 British possessions and the Mediterranean regions 
 
 of Asia and Africa. 
 Third Year. — The British Empire. 
 
 The history and Nature-study syllabuses would be similarly 
 arranged . 
 
 Where the Senior School is divided into two classes for 
 reading, various devices are employed for giving the pupils 
 full occupation and proper instruction. It must be re- 
 membered that such classes are bound to be small, and 
 that when the teacher gives half a lesson period to one 
 and half to another, he may be able to do as much with 
 them in the shorter time as the teacher of a class of forty 
 or fifty pupils who has the whole lesson period at his dis- 
 posal. The most common and natural method of dealing 
 with the conditions is to set one class definite parts of the 
 reader for silent reading, while viva voce reading is taken 
 with the other, and then reversing procedure. 
 
 It will be seen from the time-table that reading is also 
 
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 180 THE CUREICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 taken in combination with composition. Thus Standard 
 III. is writing, while two other classes, one composed of 
 Standards IV. and V. and the other of Standard VI., are 
 having a reading lesson. The composition exercise is 
 carried out by the pupils with little or no help. Mean- 
 while, for the first twenty minutes, Standards IV. and V. 
 are reading aloud individually and Standard VI. is read- 
 ing silently, using dictionaries and making notes of any 
 difficult words. In the last ten minutes IV. and V. read 
 silently and use their dictionaries, while VI. are tested as 
 to their knowledge of the subject-matter and read aloud. 
 In the next lesson Standards IV., V., and VI. write 
 composition, while Standard III., which has not yet over- 
 come the technical difficulties of reading, have a full half- 
 hour of instruction in this subject. Definite chapters or 
 parts of chapters are thus read and prepared silently. If 
 the work is finished before time, the pupil can read the 
 library book kept under his desk. 
 
 The lesson dii'ected to class correction of composition is 
 combined with dictation, and here, again, the work of 
 correction is necessarily undertaken by the pupils more 
 independently than is done in larger schools. By means 
 of a number of symbols and letters, the type of mistake is 
 indicated in the margin of the book, and each pupil cor- 
 rects his own errors while the other class is doing the 
 dictation exercise. 
 
 In this way the various combinations, such as reading 
 and geography, reading and recitation, are carried through 
 in spite of the apparent difficulties. 
 
 The arithmetic lesson merits a closer examination. At 
 first sight it would seem almost impossible for one teacher 
 to carry on four different arithmetic lessons at the same 
 time, and, indeed, only by the most skilful organisation 
 can it be done. The general plan governing all the sub- 
 jects is first to draw up a yearly scheme of work, then to-
 
 THE ELEMENTAEY SCHOOL— TIME-TABLES 181 
 
 divide it into terminal sections, and finally subdivide each 
 term's syllabus into weekly schemes, generally arranged 
 at each week-end in readiness for the work of the follow- 
 ing week. By this means each teacher knows exactly 
 what piece of work belongs to the day and to the par- 
 ticular lesson, and no time or mental energy is wasted at 
 the moment of beginning a lesson. 
 
 The arithmetic work, in accordance with this plan, is 
 laid out in such a way as to make it possible to supervise 
 four classes at the same time. A week's work is here ap- 
 pended, taken from a well-organised rural school of fifty- 
 nine pupils. It will be seen that actual instruction 
 alternates for the different classes : 
 
 Outlines of Arithmetic for Week 
 
 Monday. 
 
 Standard III. — Practical Work (I, i, J by paper folding). 
 Additional and Subtraction of ^d., |d., |d. 
 
 Standard /F.— L.C.M. Exercises 34 A and B. Find 
 L.C.M. of 9, 15, 25. 
 
 Standard V. — Fractional Values. Exercise 37B. Ex- 
 press £2 3s. 7Jd. as decimal of £5. 
 
 Standard VI. — Accuracy Test. Exercise 44, i. Class 
 Lesson on Proportional Division. 
 Mental based on work set. 
 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Standard 7//.— Problems (J, J, I)— e.g., | of £2 10s. ; i of 
 £3 4s. ; I of £1 6s. 8d. 
 
 Standard IV. — Class Lesson. Blackboard work by 
 scholars (H.C.F. and L.C.M.). 
 
 Standard V. — Fractional Values. Exercise 37C. Ex- 
 press ^ of £1 as fraction of 1 J- of £3}. 
 
 Standard VI. — Accuracy Test. Exercise 44, 2,
 
 182 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Standard III. — Problems (J, |, i). Example : How 
 many hom^s in J day? How many in f day, f day, 
 i day? 
 
 Standard /F.— Examples in L.C.M. Exercise 340. 
 Exercise 34 (a), 1. 
 
 Standard V. — Class Lesson. Vulgar and Decimal Frac- 
 tions. 
 
 Standard VI. — Accuracy Test. Exercise 44, 3. 
 Mental for all classes based on work set. 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Standard III. — Problems. Exercise 30C. Class Lesson 
 (:jd., od., :|d.). Multiplication and Division. 
 
 Standard /F.— Problems in H.C.F. and L.C.M. worked 
 on blackboard by scholars. 
 
 Standard V. — Problems (Fractions). Exercise 37D. 
 
 Standard VI. — Problems in Proportional Divisional Divi- 
 sion. Exercise 45 A, 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Standard III. — Problems. Four rules in £ s. d. Exer- 
 cise 31 A. 
 
 Standard /F.— Problems in H.C.F. and L.C.M. Exer- 
 cise 35 A and B. 
 
 Standard V. — Class Lesson. Blackboard work by 
 Scholars (Vulgar and Decimal Fractions). 
 
 Standard VI. — Accuracy Test. Exercise 44, 4. Class 
 Lesson in Proportional Division. 
 Mental work based on v/ork set for each class. 
 
 This scheme was drawn up after school on Friday, 
 November 23, and carried out, exactly as drawn up. during 
 the week endino- November 30, 1917.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 OTHER ELEMENTS OF SCHOOL ORGANISATION 
 
 In the large Urban Elementary Schools of England the 
 head-teacher is usually at the head of a department ; in 
 Germany and America he generally governs the whole 
 school. The v/ider his sphere of authority, the smaller his 
 personal influence tends to become ; the more he becomes 
 an official, the more he ceases to be a teacher. In French 
 Secondary Schools the head-master, or proviseur, is little 
 more than business manager. In England tradition and 
 educational aims have given rise to a conception of the head 
 of the school which is almost in complete opposition to 
 Continental and American ideas. We regard the personal 
 influence of the head-master as vital to the welfare of the 
 school ; some schools even limit the number of pupils for 
 this reason. In the case of large Secondary Schools, efforts 
 have been made to retain the element of personal influence 
 by establishing School Houses, with miniature head- 
 masters at the head of each. The older the pupil, the 
 greater the value we attach to the influence upon him of the 
 person wielding the greatest influence in the school. Even 
 the City Elementary School we do not consider too large, 
 or its pupils too young, to make this contact between the 
 pupils and the head-master impossible or imnecessary. The 
 frequent visits of the head-master to class-rooms are a 
 special feature of English Elementary Schools. Some of 
 the German Primary Schools are so large that it is prac- 
 tically impossible for the principal to know what goes on 
 in the class-rooms, and altogether beyond his power to know 
 
 183
 
 184 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 any considerable number of pupils at all intimately or to 
 exert a directly personal influence. 
 
 A peculiar difference in the relation between head and 
 assistant masters exists between the Elementary and the 
 Secondary Schools of our own country. The head-teacher of 
 an Elementary School usually supervises his teachers much 
 more, and yet has less power over them, than the head of a 
 Secondary School. The former can secure a certain degree 
 of efficiency from incapable or lazy teachers by constant 
 personal supervision ; the latter can achieve the same end 
 by the menace of dismissal. The former, especially if a 
 person with ideas, interferes much more in the methods of 
 teaching used by his staff than the latter, who seldom 
 worries how the subject-matter is being taught. Thus, in 
 the Elementary School we frequently find uniform methods 
 adopted from the bottom to the top of the school ; in the 
 Secondary School uniformity is frequently absent. This is 
 contrary to what we might expect, for the teachers of the 
 Elementary School are often thoroughly trained men and 
 women, while numbers of Secondary School teachers work 
 by the light of Nature. The Elementary head-teacher 
 lives much more among his class-teachers — to such a 
 degree, indeed, that his temperament and moods are felt 
 by them as constant elements of the environment, elements 
 which largely contribute to make their lot pleasant or 
 unpleasant. 
 
 The amount of actual supervision of the teaching varies 
 considerably. In some Elementary Schools the head- 
 teacher rarely visits the class-room ; in others he is in and 
 out very frequently, rarely leaving the teacher to his own 
 devices for long. These two extremes are both bad, in that 
 they do not secure the best work, and the' best course is, as 
 nearly always is the case, the middle one. Every body of 
 co-operative workers needs supervision, if for no other 
 reason than that co-ordination may be secured ; but no
 
 OTHEE ELEMENTS OF OEGANISATION 185 
 
 workman can do his best when subjected to constant inter- 
 ference. 
 
 There is Httle doubt that the government of the school 
 by the head-teacher should be of a democratic and not of an 
 autocratic type. Co-operation should be the keynote. 
 The ten or twelve periods a week of teaching which every 
 elementary head-teacher should reserve to himself may 
 help to promote the idea of co-operation and diminish that 
 of mere direction. Some devote these hours of teaching to 
 one class, others to one subject. If the former plan is 
 pursued, the head-teacher's influence is concentrated with 
 good effect, especially if he teaches the highest class of the 
 school. If the latter plan is followed, his influence is felt 
 throughout the school, and his activity, when efficient, 
 serves as an example to both teachers and scholars. 
 
 This example will be particularly useful to the young 
 teacher who has just left the Training College, and who 
 therefore has had, at most, about a year of teaching experi- 
 ence. Occasionally the head-teacher acts as if this young 
 person has had the experience which twenty or more years 
 ago fell to the lot of the pupil-teacher. The case is very 
 different, however. The year of the student teachership is 
 quite insufficient to form a teacher out of the boy or girl of 
 seventeen, and the six weeks of practice possible in the 
 Training College are ludicrously inadequate for carrying 
 the process of development far. Moreover, many of those 
 entering the schools from the Training Colleges have not 
 been student teachers, and hence have had only twelve 
 weeks' experience of teaching. Under these circumstances 
 the head-teacher's duty is clear. He has to help, advise, 
 and encourage, and, in fact, train these young teachers. 
 They have ideals and some theoretical knowledge of the 
 principles of teaching, but little first-hand acquaintance 
 with the art. The treatment of these neophytes will make 
 or mar their career, and incidentally contribute to or
 
 186 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 diminish the efficiency of the school , The same training by 
 the head-master is needed in the case of student teachers 
 who are receiving their first training in the Elementary 
 School. 
 
 Under present conditions the head-teacher has to frame 
 the curriculum for the whole school. If he is well advised 
 he will secure the collaboration of the whole of his staff in 
 this work. He has also to see that each teacher plans a 
 scheme of work for that part of the curriculum allotted to 
 him, showing the parts of the syllabus and the number of 
 periods to be devoted to them. He must also keep himself 
 ail courant with regard to the work actually completed, so 
 that he may be in a position to test progress and to suggest 
 necessary changes. The written record of completed work 
 kept by every class teacher will give this knowledge. 
 
 Classification of the pupils will demand the head- 
 teacher's close attention. When a new pupil is received 
 into the school it is necessary to discover for what class his 
 attainments and abilities most nearly fit him. To some 
 extent it is the same kind of " fit " which the ready-made 
 suit provides, but some knowledge and skill are necessary 
 to achieve even this rough-and-ready adaptation. The suit 
 finally takes something of the wearer's shape, but the child 
 has to shape himself to the class, and the result is often a 
 distortion. His development may be retarded and even 
 arrested in many directions if the business of classifying 
 has been bungled. It is of little use to ascertain what class 
 or standard he was in in his last school, or what is his age. 
 It will be necessary to test him in a few fundamental 
 matters, especially in those where lack of knowledge would, 
 if he is not correctly placed in the school, necessitate indi- 
 vidual teaching. Arithmetic is usually chosen as the test, 
 not because it is more important than any other funda- 
 mental, but because no progress would be possible to a child 
 backward in the subject without individual teaching. In
 
 OTHER ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATION 187 
 
 the lowest classes of the school this is almost equally true 
 with regard to the power to read. In most of the other 
 branches of knowledge ignorance is no such bar to progress. 
 Hence the task of classification is by no means difficult . No 
 doubt cases arise which require special treatment, as, for 
 example, when a very bright child shows that he is behind 
 in arithmetic owing, perhaps, to prolonged absence from 
 school, or to his last school having a very different syllabus. 
 In such a case a very little intensive teaching may enable 
 the pupil to find his proper level in the school. 
 
 It is permissible to place a pupil in one class for one sub- 
 ject and in another for others— in other words, to reclassify 
 for special subjects. The Board of Education confers full 
 freedom of reclassification, but accompanies the permission 
 with words of advice. If the head-teacher makes extensive 
 use of his freedom it will be necessary to frame a time-table 
 in which the same subject is taken at the same time 
 throughout the school. One evil result of this plan is that 
 it becomes impossible to make use of the special talents of 
 members of the staff. Thus he will compromise and seek 
 as far as possible to adjust the two opposing tendencies. 
 
 Where a pupil shows special capacity or unusual back- 
 wardness he will be placed for that subject in a class suited 
 to him, returning to his own class for all other subjects. It 
 will be conceded, however, that in many instances oppor- 
 tunities for developing a special capacity and even for deal- 
 ing with backwardness in one particular direction can often 
 be found in the class to which such a pupil belongs. It is 
 evidently undesirable to complicate school organisation by 
 any work but quite necessary changes of this kind. The 
 sectional work which is coming into prominence will do 
 much to render reclassification superfluous and will be pro- 
 ductive of nothing but good so long as its employment as a 
 method of teaching is not pushed to the point of increasing 
 the teacher's burden.
 
 188 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 An excellent plan has been adopted in many schools to 
 meet the case of those pupils who consistently show lesS' 
 than average mental power, whose ability to gain informa- 
 tion from books is small, and who therefore require quite 
 different treatment from the average child. The head- 
 teacher, partly from his own observation and partly fromi 
 reports by the class teachers, discovers these children and 
 places them in remove classes. All those found in the 
 lower part of the school are placed in one, and those in the 
 upper part in another class ; some large schools have been 
 able to aiTange for three such groups. These children 
 are carefully watched, and where the more concrete teach- 
 ing is effective, the pupil is removed and put in an ordinary 
 class suited to his development. The primary side of the 
 " Mannheim system," in which the school consists of three 
 types of classes — the normal, the backward, and the 
 mentally deficient — is an extension of this idea. Entering 
 the school at the age of six, the pupils spend the first school 
 year under the charge of one teacher, who classifies them 
 into normal and backward. At the end of a year the 
 former pass into the next higher class, proceeding ordinarily 
 through the eight standards at the rate of one per j^ear ; 
 after reaching the fourth standard, the best of them are 
 drafted into the Secondary Schools. The latter spend an- 
 other year in the same class, and if after this time they still 
 give evidence of very slow development, they are placed in 
 the department consisting of six graded classes of backward 
 children. A further sifting discovers those who are really 
 mentally deficient, and these are removed to a department 
 consisting of four classes. Scholars who are cases of merely 
 late development and who finally make good are regularly 
 retransf erred to the department for normals. 
 
 Quite as important as the classifying of the pupils is the 
 classifying of the members of the staff. Teachers exhibit 
 just as many divergencies of character, ability, and taste 
 
 ]
 
 OTHEB ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATION 189 
 
 as other people, so that there is at least as much need to 
 see that they are suited to their particular spheres of work 
 as there is in the world of business and industry. Some 
 find then- greatest opportunity in the lowest, others in the 
 middle, and others in the top classes of the school. There 
 is no question of rank or status involved. In the upper 
 departments of the Elementary School it may be taken for 
 granted that certain teachers are better adapted to deal 
 with children of from seven to nine or ten, and others with 
 those of from ten to fom'teen years of age. As, however, 
 no staff will exactly resemble any other, the sound judg- 
 ment of the head-teacher will always be needed for allocat- 
 ing individuals to their proper posts. 
 
 The question is complicated by the desirability of making 
 the best use of special gifts or special knowledge of mem- 
 bers of the staff. One may be gifted in mathematics or 
 history, another in art or handwork ; one may be musical 
 and possess the power of conducting large combined classes 
 for choral work, another may be particularly interested in 
 physical training. Not every subject requires a specialist, 
 even in the top classes of the school , nor is it good for chil- 
 dren to have very many teachers ; it is, on the contrary, 
 best for them to keep the same teacher for most subjects, 
 and in a mental world, which is characterised by instability 
 and flux, to have a permanent personality around which 
 their ideas may circle and develop steadfast associations. 
 Moreover, it is good for them that one person should know 
 them well ; training of character can make little or no pro- 
 gress when it is left in the hands of what are really " visit- 
 ing teachers" — teachers unfamiliar with the children 
 through spending so little time in their company. In the 
 ordinary Elementary School it is therefore better that one, 
 the class teacher, should take the bulk of the work with the 
 same class, but that special gifts in singing or drawing and 
 English literature should be utilized by allowing the
 
 190 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 specialist to teach his subject in several classes. Speaking 
 generally, this procedure should be adopted only in the case 
 of art subjects — that is, in subjects where no amount of 
 appHcation on the part of the teacher can compensate for 
 the lack of a certain kind of imagination or power of artistic 
 expression, whether manual or oral. Where such defi- 
 ciencies occur, and no organisation of the kind suggested is 
 present, very great harm to many children may result. 
 The tiny spark of appreciation and of artistic expression 
 may be quenched, and the higher pleasures which make 
 life worth living for ever missed. 
 
 Thus we see limits set to specialising by teachers in the 
 Elementary School, and the head-teacher has to distribute 
 his staff in the best possible way within these limits. On 
 the whole, the plan which appears to harmonise best with 
 the many facts involved is the following. The teacher best 
 suited to the lower classes might begin with Standard I. 
 and carry his class forward year by year until they reach 
 Standard III. or IV. ; then he might begin again with a 
 new set of children in Standard I. A similar procedure 
 might be adopted with the teacher most suited to the older 
 children. It is almost invariably advisable to place the 
 young teacher who enters the school from the Training 
 College with the lowest class and allow him to progress up 
 the school. In this way he is less severely taxed at the 
 beginning of his career, and the head-teacher has the best 
 opportunity of discovering his special gifts and deficiencies. 
 Occasionally in the lower, and generally in the upper 
 classes, two or perhaps three subjects might be placed in 
 the hands of specialists. The special courses follov^^ed by 
 Training College students in certain selected branches of 
 study render this possible and even imperative. 
 
 Many schools are at the present time, and will be to a 
 growing extent in the immediate future, faced by another 
 problem closely connected with that just handled. The
 
 OTHER ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATION 191 
 
 steadily diminishing number of men teachers has necessi- 
 tated the employment of women teachers in many boys' 
 schools, and it is therefore becoming increasingly important 
 to gain clear ideas of the bearing of such a fact upon 
 education. 
 
 Under the economic and social conditions of the present 
 day the nature and needs of the girl of from six to eleven or 
 twelve years of age do not seem to be radically different 
 from those of the boy. The age of puberty, which with 
 girls frequently begins at twelve, and the economic condi- 
 tions, which have hitherto demanded some degree of 
 specialised preparation for after-school life, are said to indi- 
 cate that this stage of life is the latest moment for provid- 
 ing them with teachers of their own sex. Against this 
 conclusion it might be urged that there is nothing in the 
 approach of adolescence which calls for this separation, but 
 rather the reverse, and, further, that the separation, if at 
 all necessary, should only be partial, and that the man's 
 influence should supplement the woman's. With regard 
 to the so-called specialised preparation for life, a large body 
 of opinion has declared against the introduction of such 
 studies, and for their postponement until the Continuation 
 School is reached. Moreover, recent sudden changes in 
 our national life are giving us altogether new conceptions 
 of woman's nature, needs, and powers — conceptions which 
 may involve the admission of the necessity for the man's 
 influence on girls of all ages. Both Elementary and 
 Secondary Schools are still far from this point of view. 
 The latter, even when boys and girls are under one roof 
 and under the government of one principal, still preserve 
 practically distinct organisations. 
 
 Such an arrangement would not necessarily be recipro- 
 cal ; that is, it would not therefore follow that women should 
 teach boys of all ages, either partially or entirely. 
 
 There is little doubt that the English boy is more
 
 192 THE CUBBICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 exuberant and obstreperously curious than the girl, that his 
 demand for real and personally interesting work is more 
 keen, and that he is less content with monotony and routine 
 than the girl. He has a greater zest for adventure and 
 creative work, a spirit more intolerant of a superimposed 
 order and routine ; he needs a firm hand and a dkecting 
 mind which is broad and catholic to respond to his own 
 actively outreaching mind. The man teacher, owing to 
 the general conditions of male life, has at present a broader 
 and more intimate knowledge of life than his hitherto 
 sheltered colleague of the other sex. It therefore follows 
 that as a general rule the man should teach, at any rate, the 
 older boys, and indeed, if the facts stated are true, it would 
 be stimulating if the benefits enjoyed by the boys were, so 
 far as practicable, shared by the girls. 
 
 The question of the sex of the class teacher is one of the 
 most important and serious which we have to face, and is 
 one to which as yet we have no absolute answer. Economic 
 conditions in America have resulted in almost abolishing 
 the male teacher, but as yet it is impossible to gauge the 
 effects. Curiously enough , the woman teacher in Germany 
 has made no headway in the Primary Schools, where there 
 are only 18 women to 100 men. Here, again, we have no 
 means of estimating the training effects of this arrange- 
 ment, as at present it is impossible to disentangle the ele- 
 ments of the problem, and we are forced to rely on merely 
 a priori considerations. The tendency towards elimination 
 of the man teacher is very strong in this country. Facing 
 this fact, and confining our attention to the narrow issue 
 of allocation of the staff, we conclude that the woman 
 teacher will in general find her largest opportunities and 
 perform her best work with girls and with the younger 
 boys. 
 
 The supervision of the promotion of pupils from one class 
 to another is another duty of the head-teacher. Its proper
 
 OTHEE ELEMENTS OF OKGANISATION 193 
 
 performance is a matter of interest to both pupil and 
 teacher, and therefore, in different ways, both should have 
 a voice in the decision. The natural progress and develop- 
 ment of the pupil depend almost entirely upon the sound 
 judgment of his educators, and it needs but little reflection 
 to see that promotion, to be beneficial, must be carried out 
 with due regard to the limited powers of the class teacher 
 to deal adequately with a class consisting of pupils of 
 diverse attainments and powers. In short, the child's 
 future possibilities of service and the teacher's of an un- 
 harassed existence hang here in the absence. 
 
 In the old evil days of examination on Code requirements 
 each scholar remained one year or longer in the same class. 
 If he failed to reach the required examination standard he 
 had to remain another year working at the same syllabus, 
 so that it was not at all a rare thing to find a pupil remain- 
 ing several years in the same standard, and who was likely, 
 unless a miracle happened, to remain there until he was old 
 enough to leave school. 
 
 There were two great evils attEiched to this system. The 
 bright child who was able to master the work of the class 
 in a much shorter time than the rest was condemned to 
 mark time mentally, not entirely because of the necessity 
 of remaining a year in the class, but because, owing to an 
 iniquitous Government grant system, his teacher had no 
 time to pay proper attention to scholars who were certain 
 of passing the annual examination. Nowadays it would 
 be possible to cater, at least to some degree, for such chil- 
 dren by working the class in sections, or by the use of 
 private study and independent work, both of which were 
 formerly unknown in the larger schools. The possibilities 
 of individual work are, however, limited, and experience 
 has shown that the difficulties involved will not allow full 
 justice to be done to the needs of such children. The old 
 system took no heed of individuality ; regimentation was 
 
 13
 
 194 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 the order of the day ; the child's personahty was lost sight 
 of in the class ; special powers, special needs and tastes, 
 received little or no attention. Any system of promotion 
 on such lines is clearly to be condemned. 
 
 The other evil was the bad effect of the system upon the 
 backward. The examination used to decide the question of 
 promotion was confined almost completely to book know- 
 ledge, and took hardly any account of manual powers and 
 first-hand knowledge of man and Nature, so that many a 
 child who had powers and tastes other than those adopted 
 as educational standards was adjudged backward and re- 
 fused promotion. Or perhaps a pupil was weak in arith- 
 metic and suffered a similar penalty. All these so-called 
 backward, stupid children were condemned to be left be- 
 hind in the forward march of their fellows, and to find 
 themselves working among children younger, and often 
 much younger, than themselves. The effects of this treat- 
 ment must have been disastrous ; discouragement must 
 have produced a state of mind quite antagonistic to progress 
 and to effort. No one can compute how^ many lives have 
 been stunted or distorted by the system. 
 
 To-day there is need to guard against error of a contrary 
 kind. There is a very strong tendency to promote too 
 rapidly. Directly a bright child has been through the work 
 of his standard, and even before he has been through it, he 
 is frequently promoted to a higher one. The general test, 
 if one may call it a test, is : Has he been through the new 
 rules in the arithmetic syllabus of his class? Arithmetic 
 has many sins to answer for, and the over-emphasis of its 
 value as a test of mental efficiency is not the least. But 
 far more dangerous than the mistake as to the value of 
 arithmetic as a standard of measurement is the mistake as 
 to what constitutes real knowledge. There are several 
 stages before real knowledge and power are reached. 
 There is first the merely superficial acceptance of an idea ;
 
 OTHEB ELEMENTS OP OKGANISATION 195 
 
 then comes about a gradual insight into its import ; then 
 ownership or practical experience of the idea, followed 
 finally by the transformation of the idea into power or 
 habit/ Herbert Spencer summarises the four stages 
 epigrammatically as the transformation of fact into faculty. 
 In modern hurry and bustle we tend to overlook the neces- 
 sity of this process, and to imagine that the pupil is ready 
 to attack new worlds before he has consolidated his pre- 
 vious and precarious conquests. Most teachers have 
 grasped this conception ; some from reflection upon the 
 child's natm'e, and others from the experience they have 
 had in trying to develop the knowledge and power of pupils 
 who have failed to master the fundamental ideas without 
 wliich progress is slow and painful. Unfortunately, the 
 necessity of making the numbers in the classes more 
 approximately equal in order to comply with Board of 
 Education Regulations with regard to size of classes has 
 induced various Local Education Authorities to exert pres- 
 sure upon the head-teachers to promote rapidly. The 
 result has been not only an intolerable strain upon the 
 class teacher, but a calamitous undermining and destruc- 
 tion of the essentials of real development. Not only has 
 the teacher to lose his pupil at the very moment when he 
 obtains a glimpse of the reward of his efforts, but he is 
 constantly, sometimes every three months, faced with a 
 fresh batch of arrivals, to whom he has to give intensive 
 teaching in the midst of his duties to the happy average 
 pupil, and whom he has to pass on as swiftly as possible to 
 still higher domains. Unhappy is the bright child sub- 
 jected to too frequent promotion, and unhappy the teacher 
 who is the victim of this mistaken system. In France, 
 Germany, and America promotion is never carried on in 
 this reckless fashion. A year is regarded as the normal 
 period that a child should spend in one class. 
 
 * See L.C.C. Memorandum on Homework in Evening Institutes.
 
 196 THE CURBICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 The difficulty of the position in England is accentuated 
 by a really enlightened view which has been carried too far. 
 We have noted the bad eifects resulting from retaining the 
 backward child in the same standard among children much 
 younger than himself. This procedure is now rarely fol- 
 lowed. It is now generally considered that after a year's 
 work in one standard he should be promoted. Hence the 
 teacher is confronted not only with a very heterogeneous 
 class, but one which shows very wide divergencies, from 
 the extremely backward to the very bright. His work is 
 therefore of a most arduous and harassing kind. This 
 additional difficulty could be removed by the formation of 
 "remove classes," referred to in an earlier part of this 
 chapter. 
 
 There is always danger of dogmatising in all such ques- 
 tions ; every case should be considered on its own merits. 
 The decisions as to promotion must be made by the head- 
 teacher, and should be influenced by considerations of fair- 
 ness to both pupil and teacher ; no rigid rules can be laid 
 down. None the less, principles are of little value unless 
 they are capable of application to the majority of cases. It 
 may therefore be suggested that the normal procedure should 
 be that of annual promotions for the mass of school chil- 
 dren, with occasional half-yearly promotions for those who 
 show some special degree of intelligence and power. 
 
 A great difficulty would be encountered even by the 
 bright child should he find that his new work does not dove- 
 tail with his recent work because the class into which he 
 has been promoted has half completed its syllabus for the 
 year. Unless some plan is evolved to avoid this, he will 
 have to catch on with work which is six months ahead of 
 him. The plan which meets with fairly general approval, 
 and one which is not a makeshift or mere expedient, as it 
 is based on a sound principle, that of revision, is to arrange 
 the scheme of work in each class in such a way that the
 
 OTHEE ELEMENTS OF OEGANISATION 197 
 
 greater part of the year's syllabus is worked through in the 
 first six months, the smaller part, with a thorough revision 
 and amplification of the work of the first part, being" taken 
 in the last six months. The course of a very bright pupil 
 misht thus follow some such direction as is shown below : 
 
 Standard I. 
 
 1 Standard II. 
 
 Standard III. 
 
 Standard IV. 
 
 Standard V. 
 
 Ap^\ to 
 Sfpt., 
 1917. 
 
 Sept., 
 
 1017. to 
 
 Apr., 
 
 IfllS. 
 
 Apr. to 
 1 Sept., 
 
 : 1017. 
 
 Sept., 
 1917, to 
 Apr., 
 
 1918. 
 
 Apr. to 
 
 Si'pL, 
 1918. 
 
 Sept., 
 191S, to 
 Apr., 
 
 1919. ' 
 
 1 
 
 Apr. to 
 
 Sept., 
 1918. 
 
 Sept., 
 1918, to 
 Apr., 
 
 1910. 
 
 Apr. to 
 1919. 
 
 Sfpt., 
 
 1919, to 
 
 Apr., 
 
 1920. 
 
 Two- 
 thirds 
 of sylla- 
 bus. 
 
 One- 
 third of 
 sylla- 
 bus 
 and re- 
 vision. 
 
 Two- 
 ; thirds 
 of sylla- 
 bus. 
 
 One- 
 third of 
 
 sylla- j 
 
 bus 
 and re- 
 vision. 
 
 Two- 
 thirds 
 of sylla- 
 bus. 
 
 One- 
 third of 
 sylla- 
 bus 
 and re- 
 vision. 
 
 Two- 
 thirds 
 of sylla- 
 bus 
 
 One- 
 third of 
 sylla- 
 
 1)US 
 
 and re- 
 vision. 
 
 Two- 
 thirds 
 of sylla- 
 bus. 
 
 One- 
 third of 
 sylla- 
 bus 
 and re- 
 vision. 
 
 Thus, if he begins in Standard I. at seven years of age, 
 he is ten on completing" twelve months in Standard V., 
 and probably at this stage either passes for a short period 
 into Standard VI. or proceeds at once to a Secondary 
 School. By some arrangement of which the above is only 
 one type the bright pupil may find it less difficult to pick 
 up the new work in each class without hurry or discourage- 
 ment, and the normal pupil obtains that which is so vital 
 to him, the opportunity of going frequently over old ground 
 without encountering mere repetitions. 
 
 The promotions, whenever they take place, will depend 
 upon three factors — the teacher's knowledge of the child's 
 capacity, the daily work, and examination results. The 
 class examinations will, however, have other objectives 
 besides that of determining promotion. They will be 
 employed to estimate, not only individual, but class pro- 
 gress ; to discover, not only individual, but class defects, 
 and thus make it possible to remedy both. The school
 
 198 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 curriculum is, or should be, a co-ordinated whole, of which 
 the syllabus of each class is an integral and related part. 
 It is evident that a curriculum may be excellently planned, 
 but badly carried out. Hence it will be one of the head- 
 teacher's most important duties to ascertain by means of 
 periodic examinations whether, and to what degree, each 
 class is fulfilling its task in relation to the curriculum as a 
 whole. And' it is to the interest of every class teacher that 
 this testing process should be strictly carried out, since the 
 aims of each will be rendered possible or seriously hindered 
 according as the work of the teachers in the classes below 
 has been thoroughly or imperfectly done. There is 
 scarcely anything more calculated to bring about lack of 
 unity between the members of a staff, with disastrous con- 
 sequences to the tone of the school, than the feeling that 
 some have not contributed their proper quota of energy or 
 thought towards satisfying the demands of the curriculum. 
 Hence a head-teacher who acts with justice and reasonable- 
 ness will always find support for his criticism and structures 
 in the acquiescence of his staff. There is, of course, no 
 need to press the point that criticism should always be 
 tactful and generally impersonal, that written comment 
 upon the teacher's work should always be expressed in 
 moderate terms and shown to the teacher concerned. 
 With fair play on both sides there should be no grounds for 
 friction. When, however, a school is plagued with a lazy 
 or careless class teacher, the head-teacher must exercise 
 every legitimate power he possesses to obtain better work ; 
 when a staff has an unreasonable head, each member has 
 at least the right to preserve specimens of periodic class 
 work to combat incorrect deductions made from the results 
 of an examination on unfair lines. These are, it is to be 
 hoped, very unusual conditions, and, no matter what 
 measures may be taken, the efficiency of the school is 
 bound to suffer,
 
 OTHEB ELEMENTS OF OKGANISATION 199 
 
 The examinations should be held two or three times each 
 year — under ordinary circumstances at the end of each 
 term. In the lower and middle classes of the Upper 
 School it would be sufficient if the written examination 
 were confined to arithmetic and composition, with an indi- 
 vidual test of progress in reading ; the testing of the re- 
 mainder of the school subjects might well be conducted as 
 an oral class examination, from the results of which a fairly 
 accurate estimate of the work done could be obtained. In 
 the upper standard written answers would be required in 
 other subjects, since one of the aims of school training is 
 to give our pupils the power of expressing themselves. 
 Nevertheless, the power of the older children to express 
 themselves orally should be carefully noted, and regarded 
 as an important part of the examination. 
 
 In drawing up the questions to which answers are re- 
 quired, the collaboration of the teacher should be invited. 
 This may be done by arranging that some questions should 
 be set by the class master or mistress, others by the head- 
 teacher. The whole examination should be treated with 
 ceremony calculated to impress without terrifying the chil- 
 dren with its importance, and as a piece of juvenile respon- 
 sibility foreshadowing the more serious responsibilities of 
 after-school life. 
 
 If the head-teacher does not himself mark the papers, he 
 should at any rate study them with the greatest care, for 
 only by this means can he become fully aware of the exact 
 points where weaknesses occur. He will not be surprised 
 at finding deficiencies and defects, but will see in them 
 opportunities for exercising just that function his office 
 exists to fulfil. When the work has been marked and 
 assessed, he has two duties to perform — viz., to help the 
 individual children to correct their mistaken notions, and 
 to help the teacher to remedy general weaknesses. He 
 will therefore see that the children study their owp cor^
 
 200 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 rected answers, and that general faults are dealt with 
 either by himself or the class teacher. He will also set 
 apart a special time for discussing with his staff points of 
 weakness disclosed by the examination results. Tact and 
 sweet reasonableness, combined with perfect frankness and 
 fearlessness, are valuable qualities at this juncture. They 
 are not only valuable, but indispensable. The relation 
 between head and class teacher is not that of employer and 
 employee, for in the former case each is equally interested 
 in the processes and results of the teaching. Everything 
 depends on the maintenance of happy relations between 
 the two. Collaboration rather than command should be 
 the keynote of their relations. Hence the importance of 
 selecting men and women as head-teachers who possess 
 character and intuition in handling their fellows. 
 
 The question of homework scarcely arises in the Ele- 
 mentary School. In institutions for higher education, 
 however, and especially in Secondary Schools, it becomes 
 of prime importance. Up to the age of twelve or thirteen 
 five and a half hours' instruction each day should be suffi- 
 cient ; more than this would probably result in diminished 
 energy and bad health. If instead of large doses of home- 
 work certain parts of the school time were regularly set 
 apart for independent work and private study, the scholar 
 would not be deprived of the valuable training such indi- 
 vidual work provides. If homework must be given in 
 addition to this, it should not occupy m,ore than about three- 
 quarters of an hour per day. 
 
 The head or house master has the duty of supervising the 
 organisation of homework. When, as is usual, a pupil has 
 several teachers, each dealing with his own special subject, 
 there is almost certain to be overpressure unless one person 
 has the task of co-ordinating all the homework set. This 
 individual has the function of seeing that the whole of the 
 homework does not take even the slow members of the
 
 OTHER ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATION 201 
 
 class more than an agreed upon time. It is difficult to 
 say what this time should be, and it will, of course, vary 
 with the age and development of the scholar concerned. 
 It is tolerably certain that far too much homework is 
 usually given, involving a strain which should be entirely 
 absent if a boy or girl is to grow into a healthy, happy man 
 or woman. 
 
 All attempts to induce the pupils to declare how long 
 they have taken over their work fail for obvious reasons. 
 Few children will make frank declarations with regard to 
 this matter, and should not be expected to. It would be 
 far better to determine upon a low minimum, and let all 
 additions be perfectly voluntary and partake of the nature 
 of hobbies. Home life and influence are so vital to the 
 education of the young that nothing should be required by 
 the school which might force the child to isolate himself 
 from the family for the greater part of each evening, as is 
 so often the case. If mental health and efficiency are 
 valuable things, then the head-teacher or some responsible 
 person has a most important piece of supervising work with 
 regard to homework. 
 
 Co-ordination of effort is of the highest importance, and 
 if this is to be secured to the fullest possible degree, fre- 
 quent interchange of thought must occur between the mem- 
 bers of the school staff and between the latter and the head- 
 teacher. This is a point the value of which in English 
 Elementary Schools is often underrated. The hard-worked 
 teacher is naturally unwilling to make a further drain upon 
 his time by remaining after school hours to discuss school 
 problems, and the head-teacher generally appreciates this 
 point of view. It is not too much to say that in many 
 schools nothing worthy of the name of a conference ever 
 takes place. It ought not to be impossible to incorporate 
 the conference as an integral part of the school organisa- 
 tion. Au occasional rally for a few minutes around th^
 
 202 THE CUEEIOULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 head-teacher's desk is of Httle use. The various problems 
 are too difficult and of too serious a nature to be solved in 
 this offhand fashion. The German teacher has to consider 
 it part of his ordinary duty to appear periodically at school 
 at an abnormally early hour, prepared with a written state- 
 ment of his views upon ai practical problem of school work. 
 In England the relations between the class and head- 
 teacher are different, and what succeeds in Germany by 
 means of enforced meetincfs mi.fjht in England succeed by 
 means of a more or less social function. The informal dis- 
 cussion of the actual school problems around the tea-table 
 might be productive of most beneficial results, and the 
 social character of the function would prevent the teacher 
 from feeling that he is giving up too much of his time to 
 business. 
 
 That head-teachers of the three departments of a school 
 should frequently confer needs no emphasis, but that the 
 class teachers should do so is rarely considered necessary. 
 And yet, if there is to be any real continuity in the mental 
 life of the child, there must be a corresponding continuity 
 in curriculum and methods from the lowest grade of the 
 Infant Department to the top classes of the Girls' and 
 Boys' Departments. 
 
 It is very desirable, too, that the staffs of schools which 
 are related geographically or through common aims should 
 communicate regularly. The schools contributory to one 
 Secondary or Central School ; those training the children of 
 a particular social class ; those engaged on some special 
 work — for example, the Higher Grade, Higher Elemen- 
 tary, and Central Schools — can be thoroughly efficient 
 only so far as they act in collaboration. Many most valu- 
 able educational secrets lie hidden in quiet class-rooms, and 
 are never known for the common good. It is true that 
 head-masters of such gi'oups of schools do meet in confer- 
 ence, but this is quite insufficient. It is even more im-
 
 OTHER ELEMENTS OF ORGANISATION 203 
 
 portant that the teachers themselves should see more of 
 one another and interchange ideas. 
 
 The conferences of teachers organised by Local Author- 
 ities, and in which inspectors frequently take part, are 
 extremely valuable, but fall short of full usefulness owing 
 to two great defects. In the first place, just the very 
 teachers who most need their influence fail to attend, and, 
 in the second place, the meetings are generally too large 
 for getting full practical value out of them. The effect is 
 generally stimulating, but transitory ; they do not solve the 
 problems which actually face the ordinary class teacher. 
 
 Every educationist would agree that the more the 
 teachers confer and discuss and suggest in well-organised 
 conferences, the better for education. But the utility of 
 the big conference depends to a very large degree upon the 
 regular functioning of the small conference between the 
 head-teacher and the members of his staff. So important 
 is this that educational authorities should provide every 
 facility for it ; the head-teacher should have the power to 
 give a certain number of half-holidays a year, or to curtail 
 the afternoon session in order to set the teachers free for 
 this purpose. The larger conferences, such as those 
 organised by the Local Educational Authority, should not 
 take place during the recognised school vacations. As 
 school hours and work are organised at present, the teacher 
 needs every minute of the short holidays for recuperation 
 and rest, and ought not to give up a week or even a day to 
 attend educational conferences. If school hours were 
 shortened , if enforced and unnatural promotions of pupils 
 no longer occurred, and classes were reduced in size to fair 
 proportions, then attendance at such conferences might be 
 expected. In any case, attendance can never become com- 
 pulsory in this country ; it is therefore only by means of 
 lightening the teacher's burden, and by ameliorating the 
 conditions of service in every possible way, that he will iri
 
 204 THE CUERICDLA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 the mass be brought to view his work less as a giving of so 
 much labour for so much, or generally for so little, salary 
 than as a profession in which he is collaborating, on cordial 
 terms, with all that is most enlightened and sympathetic 
 in the community. He may then feel that he is no longer 
 an overworked and underpaid servant , but an active partici- 
 pant and co-partner in the highest form of social work — 
 work for which he is willing and ready to sacrifice pleasure 
 and leisure, even to the extent of attending teachers' con- 
 ferences.
 
 CHAPTEE Xl 
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 
 
 Psychologists and educationists tell us that human char- 
 acter is what it is largely as a result of the social system ; 
 that nine-tenths of our thoughts and activities spring from 
 and are directed, consciously or unconsciously, upon our 
 communal life. Man is primordially a social animal. The 
 reasoning power in which he sees himself differentiated 
 from other animals took root and underwent development 
 in the soil of the social instincts. He is almost entirely 
 what he is as a result of the influences of family, city, 
 national and international influences. 
 
 The aim, consciously held or not, of all school education 
 is to fit the children to play a useful and worthy part in the 
 life of the community as it is constituted at the time. If 
 the Government is an autocracy, the aim will be to teach 
 passive obedience to the rulers ; fear, which is the motive 
 ])ower of the despotic Government, must become the motive 
 j)Ower in the school. If the ruhng power is a limited 
 monarchy, the ideals of honour and the desire for honours 
 and prizes nmst be the pivot of school government. In a 
 true democracy the inculcation of virtue in its widest sense 
 will he the basis of its education, and the ideals of equal 
 opportunity and social usefuhiess will be seen in every part 
 of school life. The great mass of schools in a democratic 
 country will naturally be public schools mirroring the 
 community which has brought them to birth. But it is- 
 essential to progress that a large amount of freedom for 
 experiment should not only be tolerated, but enconraged.- 
 
 205
 
 206 THE CUBEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 In America and in England this freedom exists in full 
 measure, and some advantage has been taken of it ; neither 
 France nor Germany has enjoyed this freedom to anything 
 like the same extent. 
 
 The chief experiments have been made in the sphere of 
 cun-icula, but there has also been a very large amount of 
 experiment in that of school government. While the great 
 mass of teachers has been content to follow the general 
 track and adopt the simple method of humane but auto- 
 cratic government, many have sought to find forms in 
 which the pupil could learn to guide his conduct by means 
 of an inner monitor, by the self-imposition of prohibitions 
 and commands. 
 
 Professor Dewey has pointed out with great clearness 
 one very common error in our methods of discipline and 
 government. We all admit the necessity, he says, of pre- 
 paring the pupils for the social life aw^aiting them, for the 
 performance of social duties, and yet our school government 
 is of a kind that seems to assume a non-social condition of 
 things. We put the children in separate desks ; they are 
 rarely allowed to speak to one another ; solitary or, as we 
 misname it, independent work is strictly enforced ; in fact, 
 apart from school games, none of the school occupations 
 is co-operative. How, then, he asks, can these methods 
 train a child for his future activities as a member of society ? 
 
 Some seek to give this training for citizenship by teach- 
 ing what is called " civics." But a very cursory examina- 
 tion of human nature shows us that no theoretical instruc- 
 tion is capable of producing the man of action, and that the 
 full realisation of the importance of responsible social action 
 is not the result of talk, but of action. To train for effi- 
 ciency in social life as a whole, the entire school life must 
 be made use of ; not some single branch of knowledge such 
 as civics, nor any amount of hortatory counsel, can touch 
 the fringe of this great pm'pose, but an organisation of all
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 207 
 
 school work and play is needed, the employment of every 
 subject of the cm'riculum, and the socialising of every child 
 activity so far as child nature will allow. 
 
 To rely upon the teaching of civics as a preparation for 
 the social duties is to overlook the complexity and many- 
 sidedness of life, and to ignore the fact that all this com- 
 plexity is be found in germ within the walls of the school 
 and playground. Even if this is not entirely true — if some 
 adult duties do not appear in embryo in the school society — 
 yet, since our educational aim includes not merely prepara- 
 tion for a future life, but assistance in living the actual 
 present life, and since the actual life of the child is social 
 to its core, it follows that the school should be organised 
 through and through on the lines of purposeful co-operative 
 activity. 
 
 This does not mean mere management by the pupils of 
 their own disciplinary matters, sometimes called self- 
 government, although with the growing power of reason 
 and sensitiveness to co-operative purposes in school life the 
 government should fall more and more into the hands of 
 the class or school. The young child, ignorant of the 
 grounds for the restrictions and positive commands forced 
 upon him by adults, cannot be allowed to play fast and 
 loose with matters so vital to himself and the stability of 
 society. In a later part of the chapter we shall deal more 
 in detail with the subject of self-government. In the 
 meantime we wish to lay stress upon a means of educating 
 for conmmnity life which has been much neglected and 
 even ignored. The daily and hourly work of the school is 
 the means to the end in view ; all other means, such as 
 instruction in "civics" and self-government, high-sound- 
 ing though they may be, are of subsidiary value. The 
 common task is the natural centre of activity in which the 
 future responsible co-operative activities must find their 
 source.
 
 208 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 There is no need to demonstrate that school games, even 
 when organised and conducted by the teacher, as will often 
 be the case with infants, cultivate the spirit of give and 
 take, and suggest the co-operative purpose and unity of 
 effort required in the actual and future life of the child. 
 When these games are spontaneously suggested and carried 
 out by the class themselves, we approach the higher type 
 of social group activities. But when the pupils in the 
 course of their development begin to organise and manage 
 then' own sports, appoint their own officials, and as a group 
 act independently of their educators, we obtain a state of 
 things almost identical with the conditions of adult com- 
 munal life. One important element of the latter is the 
 choice of good leaders and the possibility of real success or 
 real failure. Hence games have for long been regarded in 
 England and America as an admirable and essential source 
 of training. The Public Schools of England have been 
 remarkably strong on this side, and have been able, pos- 
 sibly owing in some degree to the training afforded in the 
 leadership of games, to furnish a supply of men whom 
 native races naturally came to regard as born rulers. It is 
 true that many native races are easily impressed by almost 
 any type of white man, but the main contention as to the 
 part played by the Public School is largely true. It is 
 none the less true that the powers developed on the playing- 
 fields — the spirit of fairness and esprit de corps and the con- 
 centration of mind on a common purpose — are more suited 
 to the comparatively simple task of ruling half-civilised 
 l>eoples than to the immensely complicated one of adminis- 
 trating and governing a highly civilised and progressive 
 community. And there is little doubt that in this direc- 
 tion the Public Schools have been less successful. Using 
 restraint in language, we may venture to assert that the 
 Public Schools have in the past neglected the work side 
 
 and concentrated all their energies on the play side of social
 
 SCHOOL GOVEENMENT 209 
 
 life. Co-operation for serious purposes has never been 
 developed, and, after all, it is a serious matter to live. 
 Perhaps human nature will never be able to envisage two 
 aspects of life in anything- like perfect proportion, but it is 
 at any rate the duty of the schools to try to do so. 
 
 Hence we are drawn back once more to find the main 
 sources of social education in the work of the school. While 
 not neglecting opportunities offered by games, we must 
 utilise the arithmetic, geography, history, manual, and all 
 other serious work of the school, in the service of social 
 training. 
 
 We have seen that the school tradition of separate and 
 independent work, with all suppression of intercommunica- 
 tion and exchange of ideas, is a mistake. We shall try 
 not to fall into the contrary error of giving too large a place 
 to group work at the expense of that individual and inde- 
 pendent thought and initiative which is vital to the growth 
 of knowledge, will, and character. But the true teacher 
 will, even in such work, always take up the position that 
 the products of the children's minds and hands are the 
 result of society's care and thoughtfulness, and that there- 
 fore they should be used for the benefit of the social fabric. 
 Knowledge gained or power acquired should be freely and 
 gladly passed on to others ; our pupils shall tell the others 
 the valuable facts they have discovered from reading and 
 study ; their class explanations and statements shall not be 
 merely for the teacher's ear and satisfaction, but shall be 
 used as a living means of conveying information of worth 
 to their class-mates. A class is often wholly occupied in 
 trying to give the answer which shall merely satisfy the 
 teacher. Natural enough, perhaps, but it is the least im- 
 portant aspect of the process. The children know very 
 well that the teacher knows the answer, and therefore their 
 responses lack almost entirely the spontaneity which cliar- 
 acterises intercourse in real life. Adopt the other attitude, 
 
 14
 
 210 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 and the social training becomes evident at once. This 
 type of work is much more common in xA.merica than any- 
 where else ; even among American teachers we find the 
 same free co-operative spirit exhibited in the institution of 
 visits to other schools to see other teachers at work. There 
 is very little of the dog in the manger attitude among 
 American teachers. In this way only shall we succeed in 
 training children to use their gifts and knowledge with a 
 full sense of responsibility to the community. 
 
 We have no space in a book of this sort to deal in detail 
 with the way in which problems arising in all the subjects 
 of the school curriculum can be treated as material to which 
 the whole class can contribute, either as individuals or as 
 groups temporarily formed for the special purpose. Dr. 
 Scott, in his work on " Social Education," gives numerous 
 examples drawn from various school subjects of the way 
 in which the ordinary work of the school can become a 
 splendid means of training for the communal life which 
 awaits every child. What we all need is a conversion of 
 attitude. Most of us put ourselves into a position of oppo- 
 sition to our classes, not always, but frequently, by disre- 
 garding the socialising factors involved in all acquisition of 
 knowledge and power ; we succeed in conferring the know- 
 ledge or power upon individuals with a certain degree of 
 friction, because the deepest of all instincts, the social, 
 and the most appealing incentive, the altruistic, have been 
 imperfectly used. And this conversion of attitude takes 
 place directly we have seen the need for it, and must in 
 smaller or gi'eater degree affect our teaching. 
 
 The teacher's purpose, while it does and should play 
 its directing and controlling part, must generally, and 
 especially with younger children, remain unknown to the 
 pupils. Too frequently it is not only in opposition to, but 
 usurps the place of the joint purpose of the class. Some- 
 times this opposition is admittedly present, as when the
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 211 
 
 teacher decides what the child shall learn, and makes him 
 learn it. It cannot be denied that this condition of things 
 is sometimes necessary, but that it should be the regular 
 atmosphere of the class-room is altogether a false notion of 
 school activity. Sometimes the opposition is at first 
 obscured, as when the teacher catches the spontaneous 
 interest of an entire class by beginning a story, and either 
 ends with a moral or evolves a point of grammar or a word- 
 building lesson somewhat clumsily out of it. Sometimes, 
 again, the skilful teacher, in accord with a law of interest, 
 succeeds in interesting his pupils in a problem which is 
 real to them, and then tries to take them through the 
 necessary drudgery involved in attaining a scientific solu- 
 tion when! they would have been quite content with a more 
 empirical treatment of it, in attaining which they would 
 have continued to give spontaneous interest. Professor 
 Dewey often appears to go far beyond the purposes of his 
 [jupils and to inflict upon them long processes of instruction 
 and activity in which their initial purpose is early lost 
 sight of, with the resulting loss of acquired interest in the 
 steps of the process which lead to the aim first envisaged. 
 This method of decoy is often not without its value, but it 
 labours under many disadvantages, not the least of which 
 is that the loss of reality entails the destruction of the 
 socialising force involved in all school work which is recog- 
 nised as being of intrinsic value in itself. 
 
 Wherever the teacher has to deal with pupils or students 
 not yet mature enough to be able to pursue a desired end 
 tlu'ough happy and unhappy work, through congenial and 
 uncongenial and often numerous stages, he must, if he is 
 not to lose the socialising effects of the training, let it be 
 clearly seen that the work taken is real work, necessary to 
 complete living. The young bootmaker or butcher occu- 
 pied in a Continuation School will miss the most valuable 
 part of his training — which is education for citizenship — if
 
 212 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 his occupation and the part it plays in the work of the 
 world, its relations with other trades, and the contribu- 
 tions from all other sections of labour and coinmerce, are 
 not made the basis of his work in the school. The appren- 
 tice " sees the master or journeyman, whose rival he will 
 become later, taking trouble to develop all the powers 
 which will eventually make him a good fellow-workman. 
 He sees the whole guild, trade association, factory insti- 
 tute, taking a lively interest in his own self. He sees and 
 feels in the many regulations a loyal subordination of the 
 individual to the majority. It would be astonishing if no 
 vigorous germs of solidarity were to spring from these rela- 
 tions — at least, among the most efficient pupils. The 
 development of that greater form of public spirit which we 
 call love of country is only possible under these condi- 
 tions."^ 
 
 Dr. Scott describes another form of co-operative work 
 which, under favourable conditions, is capable of general 
 employment. In fact, many schools have already adopted 
 something which closely resembles it. Three half-hours a 
 week were granted the pupils of a Grade III. (eight to nine 
 years of age) class to carry out individually or in groups any 
 piece of work they might choose to plan. One condition 
 was that what they began they must complete. Most of 
 the pupils fell into groups and undertook the execution of 
 varied plans. Some constituted themselves into a print- 
 ing group, because one of the boys possessed some neces- 
 sary materials and a little knowledge. The latter they 
 increased by application to people capable of giving in- 
 formation. Others formed a farmer group, a firemen 
 group, a Wild West group, a battle group, an arts group, 
 a reading and dramatic group. When completed, the 
 products were brought to the notice of the whole class, 
 members of which commented upon and asked numerous 
 
 ^ Kerschensteiner, " Education for Citizenship," p. 68.
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 213 
 
 questions about their various aspects. The amount of 
 eager research and labour spent upon these various projects 
 and the practice in collaboration and leadership involved 
 in them were certainly invaluable means for promoting the 
 civic feeling of responsibility and common purpose. 
 
 It was found that the self-imposed problems were nine 
 times out of ten problems drawn from real life, just as 
 adult gToups set themselves to solve in co-operation the 
 problems of their social existence. The chief reason why 
 only a portion of the school work can be conducted on these 
 lines lies in the fact that they lack system and proceed 
 along the zigzag com'se followed by the race. The short- 
 circuits which could be obtained by systematically arranged 
 knowledge or by well-graded steps in technical skill are 
 impossible. Such a method, if used without discrimina- 
 tion, would result in the loss of even that degree of unity 
 of thought and purpose which we aim to make the posses- 
 sion of the average child. 
 
 If this system of socialising the school work could be 
 ideally carried out, there would be no need either for 
 rewards or punishments. The success of the work, the 
 intense pleasure of dealing v/ith real tasks co-operatively, 
 would constitute the only reward needed. 
 
 The failure of the task undertaken, the disappointed 
 hopes, would never require any further penalty, and the 
 question of order and discipline would scarcely enter in at 
 all. Class management would be shorn of all its disagree- 
 able oppositions and frictions, and a busy, eager little com- 
 ]iiunity would appear in the place of an aggregate of chil- 
 dren ripe for distraction and mischief. 
 
 This ideal state, unfortunately, cannot be realised. 
 Children and teachers are full of inipeii'ections. Perfect 
 })lans by the teacher would encounter lazy, indifferent 
 children, classes of very varied powers; perfectly homo- 
 geneous classes and normal children would encounter the
 
 214 THE CUKEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 ordinary human teacher who makes mistakes, and only 
 sometimes is aware of it. In addition to these eternal 
 elements of imperfection, large classes, ill-timed promo- 
 tions, the examination habit, and a thousand and one other 
 unfavourable conditions, render the ideal unattainable. 
 But if we are only aware of the direction in w4}ich progress 
 lies; if, in other words, we grasp the idea of school life as 
 communal and preparatory for citizen life, our work as 
 teachers must at least be on the right lines and heading for 
 the right goal. 
 
 Many teachers have already grasped this idea, and amid 
 great difficulties are working out plans for school govern- 
 ment on the lines indicated. A few quotations are here 
 appended from an account by a London head-teacher,^ 
 descriptive of some of the means adopted to give the mass 
 of pupils a training in self-government, self-help, and co- 
 operation : 
 
 " As a means to the end," he says, " one tries to foster, 
 with alertness of mental outlook, alertness of body, ability 
 and willingness to undertake a task and to carry it on with- 
 out constant supervision, a habit of accepting responsi- 
 bility." 
 
 "The itinerary of a literary ramble through Dickens's 
 London was drawn up and carefully annotated with ex- 
 planations and quotations ; a map was starred and num- 
 bered to correspond with sections of the itinerary, and the 
 whole account was typed and bound in the school by a 
 group of boys interested." 
 
 " On Dickens's birthday last year the boys' collections 
 were massed into a Dickens Exhibition. It contained 
 over 500 exhibits, and was freely visited by the girls and 
 by pupils of the Evening Institute." 
 
 "One class has organised a reading club which buys 
 magazines and books. The boys use the School and Public 
 
 * Mr. A. Linecar, late of the L.C.C. Oliver Goldsmith School,
 
 SCHOOL GOVEENMENT 215 
 
 Library, and the class-room is open at certain times, with- 
 out restriction or supervision, to be used as a reading-room. 
 The Pubho Librarian is a good friend to the school, and is 
 always ready to give help or advice to individuals or groups 
 of boys seeking special knowledge." 
 
 " At times a class prepares a play, and a dramatic repre- 
 sentation is given by the upper part of the school every 
 year. There is a school choir and orchestra, which have 
 given many school and one or two public performances. 
 These groups of pupils, together with the football, 
 cricket, and swimming clubs, are encouraged to organise 
 and manage then- own affairs with as little help as 
 possible." 
 
 So far we have discussed class government as if it were 
 class work, and, indeed, these two cannot be kept apart. 
 The idea that one may be a bad teacher but a good discip- 
 linarian, while it contains an element of truth, is, viewed 
 properly, false. The teacher's function is quite different 
 from that of a policeman. Severity used as the chief means 
 of securing good order and even good work must be con- 
 demned, and the teacher who resorts to it regularly has no 
 title to be in the profession. Severity can only produce 
 an unwilling slave or an independent spirit in revolt ; it can 
 never produce a true social unit. 
 
 We shall not confuse severity with control. The former 
 is only one means of securing the latter, and one to be used 
 only as a last resort. Good social habits must be initiated 
 by all legitimate educational means. Habits are vital to 
 adjustment, and in helping to form them, the teacher has 
 to steer between the two opposite dangers of slavish 
 obedience and anarchy. The habits he induces, such as 
 punctuality, obedience, resti'aint in movoinent and speech, 
 good manners, will at first be mere habits, enforced by 
 every type of influence the teacher has at his disposal, even
 
 216 THE CURBICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 to the point of extreme severity. A& the pupil develops he 
 must gradually be brought to see the reasons for certain 
 demands made upon him, for the restraints that are placed 
 upon him. The social view of the matter is the only one 
 that can satisfy his intellect and heart — the need of re- 
 straint and self-control for the good of the class, the need 
 of law and order for the sake of the common good. When 
 this stage is reached, severity is almost obsolete, and where 
 it is necessary the teacher will have such support from the 
 class as a whole as will make the punishment almost a 
 religious ceremony.^ 
 
 When the age of reason has been reached, or, more defi- 
 nitely, when the pupils are developed enough to be able to 
 understand why in general the teacher makes laws and 
 regulations, this cordial support must be obtained, other- 
 wise the social training is a failure. Teacher and class 
 must pull together in this matter. According to Mr. 
 Thistleton Mark, the American teacher succeeds in achiev- 
 ing this. He says that "the typical American teacher 
 has a habit of getting behind the will of the child instead of 
 confronting it."^ In England much still remains to be 
 done, both in Primary and Secondary Schools, to develop 
 the notion of the common as opposed to the individual 
 good. In spite of theoretical, moral, and civic instruction 
 in French schools, the French teacher has not succeeded 
 
 ^ The following illustrative case is given by Dr. Scott. " A case of 
 discipline had arisen, and the teacher said to a certain boy : ' Well, 
 there is no doubt that I shall have to punish you.' The boy replied in 
 the presence of the class : ' Oh j^es, punish me ; 7/ou are always down 
 on me.' This touched the teacher, and, being human enough to flare 
 up, he said impulsively : ' I'll leave it to the rest if you don't deserve 
 it. More than that, I'll leave the class entirely to itself in deciding. 
 I'll turn my face to the wall, and they can vote without my seeing 
 them ; and I'll never ask a boy how he has voted.' The vote was 
 reported to the teacher as unanimously in favour of the boy's being 
 punished. At this point the boy broke down completely, and through 
 his tears said : ' Well, it must be right since everybody says so.' " 
 
 ^ Board of Education Special Reports, vol. x., part 1, p. 44.
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 217 
 
 in inducing this willing co-operation either between his 
 pupils or between himself and them. 
 
 And now we come to what has too generally been re- 
 garded as the real problem of school government. The 
 question as to how far the children themselves should or 
 can take a hand in the school government — in executive 
 and even in administrative functions — has in recent years 
 come into the foregi'ound. The problem is not unim- 
 portant, but in comparison with the much broader problem 
 of transforming school studies into co-operative social 
 activities it is insignificant. Self-government in varying 
 degrees may be introduced into the school, but it cannot 
 succeed in taking permanent root without growth in 
 socialised self-control. 
 
 How far, then, if at all, shall the pupil help in the 
 governing functions? The question has been answered in 
 the Secondary Schools by the prefect system. Dr. Arnold 
 of Bugby began a new epoch in Public School education by 
 infusing a new spirit into the school, and one of the instru- 
 ments of which he made great use was the plan of govern- 
 ment by prefects. "Finding that the older scholars in 
 such a society already wielded authority over the younger, 
 he legalised this authority, placing responsibility on those 
 whose attainments and character fitted them to bear it, and 
 approving a period of service as ' fags ' for those who were 
 younger."^ 
 
 The prefectorial system of the Secondary School is so 
 well known that it is unnecessary to describe it. The sys- 
 tem does not by itself produce good school government, 
 for some schools employing it fail altogether to achieve 
 anything like the character training we have described. 
 Occasionally under prefect government there is a marked 
 absence of esprit de corps, of the feeling of responsibility, 
 
 Findlay, " The School," p. 234.
 
 2i8 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of self-control, of " tone " generally. The policy of merely 
 transforming police duties from the teacher to an oligarchy 
 of pupils does not strike the highest note in the harmony 
 of co-operative unity and socialised self-control. The 
 spirit of opposition to authority may and often does exist 
 under the prefect system, just the same as when teachers 
 keep the government entirely in their own hands. 
 
 Attempts have been made to introduce the system into 
 ElementarS^ Schools. Some head-teachers have experi- 
 mented oh their own initiative ; in some cases, as in War- 
 wickshire,^ the Local Education Authority has caiTied out 
 
 ^combiiffed -ex'periment in a number of schools. Mr. 
 
 ^febury claims that a prefect system furnishes the 
 jaratus for bur pupils to acquire the high ideals which 
 
 ive existed as traditions in our Public Schools — 
 
 " (1) By throwing the responsibility for good conduct 
 
 on the pupils themselves. 
 ' ' (2) By making ' the common good the common 
 
 care.' 
 " (3) By utilising to the fullest extent the influence 
 
 of personal example and responsibility to all 
 
 around us for our actions and conduct. 
 " (4) By appealing to higher motives and ideals. 
 " (5) By providing opportunities for definite practical 
 
 teaching in manners and morals." 
 
 The difficulty of the Elementary School pupils' youthful- 
 ness and of the often unfavourable nature of their home 
 influences and general environment is met by limiting 
 responsibility and by giving systematic teaching. Before 
 
 ^ The Warwickshire County Council has published an excellent 
 account of its experiment with, the prefect system, written by Mr. W. 
 Jewsbury, M.A., Headmaster of the Gleecote Boys' School. Those 
 acquainted with the pamphlet will recognise that it has been drawn 
 freely upon in the above.
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 2i§ 
 
 introducing the prefect system the ground is prepared by 
 weekly addresses by the head-teacher upon various ethical 
 and social aspects of child life, and at a favourable moment 
 the idea of government by themselves is suggested. At fu'st 
 the prefects are selected by the head-teacher and staff, but 
 when the pupils have come through experience to under- 
 stand what such government involves and what qualities 
 are needed the election is handed over either to the whole 
 school or to the top classes. The senior prefect is chosen 
 by the prefects themselves. In the schools of Warwick- 
 shire the prefects are classified according to their duties as 
 district, school, class, and reserve prefects, the number 
 of prefects varying, although it is considered better to have 
 a large number in order to widen the distribution of 
 responsibility as much as possible. 
 
 The system as actually at work in a London school is 
 briefly as follows : The prefects are nominated, subject 
 to veto by the head and class teacher, from the highest 
 class only, by the pupils of that class. All boys through- 
 out the school vote, and the chief prefect is elected by the 
 whole body of prefects. Their duties consist in the general 
 supervision of the conduct of children when outside the 
 class-room, when out of teaching hours, and when outside 
 tlie school ; they supervise cloak-rooms and outside of&ces ; 
 they take the names of late-comers and bring them to 
 " Snails' March " at the close of school ; and they have the 
 right to make suggestions for the good of the school. They 
 have no jurisdiction insida the class-room, nor do they 
 undertake purely " monitorial " duties. Among the privi- 
 leges they enjoy are the wearing of the school badge on a 
 special blue cloth shield ; they support the head-teacher, 
 facing the school at general assembly, and the chief pre- 
 fects proj)Ose and second votes of thanks to distinguished 
 visitors. As disciplinary ineasures they may send any 
 child to the late line and compel detention for disobedience
 
 220 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 or slackness, but every pupil has the right to come to the 
 head-teacher at once and state his case if dissatisfied. 
 They may summon delinquents before a full prefects' meet- 
 ing, and they may finally recommend the head to cane or 
 give lines. The prefects meet each week and draw up a 
 report to be read to the whole school, and once a week they 
 meet the head-teacher in his room to discuss general 
 matters.^ 
 
 It is scarcely to be doubted that in its best form the 
 prefect system is a great improvement upon the old auto- 
 cratic system of school government. Those who have 
 tried it assert that it develops the prefect's own character, 
 creates a sense of school honour among the other children, 
 and smooths the whole work of the school. The effect 
 upon the prefect's character will, however, be good or bad 
 according as the principles of good school government are 
 rightly or wrongly conceived and applied by the head- 
 teacher, staff, and prefects. The latter may develop into 
 spies or bullies or prigs ; or, by seeking popularity, exhibit 
 and develop a weakness of character harmful equally to the 
 school and to themselves. 
 
 How does the prefect system affect the general mass of 
 children? That, after all, is the most important question. 
 We are told that ' ' they have quickly learnt to respect and 
 obey, especially where they themselves elect the prefects; 
 they regard them as the guardians of the school honour, 
 and come to share their care for that honour ; the weaker 
 ones look to them for protection ; and every boy with ambi- 
 tion looks to the day when he will be a prefect himself, and 
 honours the post accordingly. That wholesome deference 
 to older boys, the embryo hero-worship, which is thought 
 to be the slow product of Public School tradition, shows 
 
 ^ My thanks for the above account are due to Mr. G. G. Lewis, of 
 EUerslie Koad School.
 
 SCHOOL GOVERNMENT 221 
 
 itself suddenly and without effort in schools without a past, 
 and where the heroes are children of twelve and thirteen 
 only."^ 
 
 Sir Robert Baden-Powell refers to the prefect system 
 being tried in Warwickshire as similar in principle to the 
 Boy Scout movement, and believes that it may solve some 
 of the chief difficulties of character-training in the Elemen- 
 tary Schools. He says: "In the Boy Scout movement, 
 therefore, we have always had as our aim the development 
 of character in each boy. Our system for inculcating this 
 is, inter alia, to put responsibility on to the shoulders of the 
 boy, to take him seriously, and to expect a great deal of 
 him. We effect this by making the ' Patrol ' of six boys 
 our unit for work, under the permanent command of one 
 boy with the rank and badge of ' Patrol Leader,' assisted 
 by a ' Second ' of his own selection. The Patrol Leader 
 is held responsible for all that goes on in his Patrol. The 
 results have been successful beyond expectation." 
 
 Important differences exist, however, between the pre- 
 fect system and the Boy Scout movement — differences 
 which may produce quite dissimilar results. The Boy 
 Scouts are a voluntary association, and are conscious, 
 within limits, of the purpose of their association. Their 
 activities are of such a kind as throw responsibility upon 
 every member of the Patrol, give constant occasion for co- 
 operation, and at the same time demonstrate the need for 
 and the value of both responsibility and co-operation. A 
 Patrol of six or eight boys is very different from a class of 
 forty or fifty, and affords many opix)rtunities for every 
 member of the unit to undertake some work valuable to the 
 Patrol and to the community. 
 
 Unless the school can reduce these differences by means 
 
 * Pamphlet by Mr. W. JowRbury and the Director of Education, 
 Warwickshire County Council.
 
 222 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of social training of the kind described in an earlier part of 
 this chapter ; unless it can give to its pupils clear ideas of 
 the school as a society, and develop the ideal of co-opera- 
 tion, it will never find in any prefect system the success 
 which has followed the Boy Scout movement. It will be 
 necessary to imitate Sir Robert Baden-Powell's plan more 
 closely, and combine the prefect system with the Boy 
 Scout movement. The groupings for co-operative work 
 already described are probably the means by which this 
 may be done. 
 
 We all have to guard against the imperceptibly progTes- 
 sive transference of our affections from the end or aim to 
 the instrument or means. The more complex and organ- 
 ised the means, the greater the danger that this may occur. 
 The prefect system is nothing more than one tool among 
 many for the accomplishment of the highest work which 
 can be undertaken — the training of character. A school 
 may possess all the mechanism involved in such a system, 
 and yet may fail in achieving this training. Only when it 
 is kept living and fresh by the highest ideals and the most 
 liberal views of what constitutes character can it be re- 
 garded as valuable. Only when it is found accompanied 
 by other means such as those already described can it fulfil 
 its proper function. 
 
 The prefect system seems to fall short in that the great 
 mass of pupils receive little training in social co-operation. 
 They often do not elect the prefects, who are imposed upon 
 them by the head-teacher. They have no elective, no 
 legislative, no executive functions, and often find in the 
 prefect system nothing but a change of masters. When 
 the prefects are popularly elected, and are made respon- 
 sible, not only to the head-teacher, but also to their con- 
 stituents, the corporate feeling is much more pronounced. 
 Attempts to give form to this ideal of self-government have 
 been made by admitting all the older scholars to a share in
 
 SCHOOL GOVEENMENT 223 
 
 both executive and legislative functions ;^ from an exten- 
 sion of such experiments v^'e might come to realise what 
 wonderful educational results may follow from trusting 
 our pupils by conferring upon them a real measure of self- 
 government. 
 
 In endeavouring to secure such valuable results, we must 
 seek to work within the limits imposed by the nature of the 
 child. Attempts to make school life closely resemble adult 
 communal life have broken down usually just because 
 the two can never be alike. The serious reality of the 
 struggle to live and to make progress should not be brought 
 into the school. The head of the school and the few regu- 
 lations he makes exist to protect the pupils from the results 
 of their serious mistakes, and to anticipate and ward off 
 disastrous failures. Hence we shall always recognise the 
 wide difference between school and society, and shall not 
 try in the school to do more than prepare for the greater 
 and graver functions of adult life. In another respect, too, 
 we shall follow the child's nature. The consciousness of 
 individual responsibility should not be forced too early ; it 
 is a very gradual growth, only finding its full development 
 in manhood and womanhood. Hence the pupil's share in 
 school government will begin in a small way, but with the 
 growth of self-control and of informed ideals will be 
 gradually and correspondingly increased. Facts are be- 
 ginning to reveal, however, that the child is much more 
 capable in this direction than we have hitherto supposed. 
 
 Many Secondary Schools have supplemented the prefect 
 system by that of the house system. Where this is done, 
 the whole school is divided longitudinally into sections 
 varying in number according to the size of the school. 
 
 * The student should acquaint himself with the stones of " The 
 Little Coiiiinonwealth," the American Rcliool City, and the George 
 Junior Republic, and of the experiment described in " An Experiment 
 in Educational Self- Government," by James Simpson. Liverpool : 
 Henry Young and Sons, Ltd.
 
 224 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Each section consists of pupils of all ages ; thus each house 
 resembles a school within the school. The members of 
 each house are encouraged to promote the interests of their 
 house in every possible way, the older members by assist- 
 ance in both work and play to the younger, and the younger 
 by obedience and loyalty to the older. Within each house, 
 therefore, there is a great deal of valuable co-operation and 
 a certain amount of training in social duties ; but the great 
 principle upon which this system rests is not that of co- 
 operation : it is rather the principle of competition which 
 gives life to the whole organisation. The spirit of rivalry 
 between the houses generally predominates over the spirit 
 of co-operation within each separate house ; stories of school 
 life have always emphasised this feature ; teachers have 
 encouraged it, and it is only within recent years that the 
 co-operative side has begun to receive the attention it 
 deserves. It must be admitted that within the separate 
 houses excellent training has been given ; but the full value 
 of such training can never be realised so long as so much is 
 made of competition and rivalry. The circle of human 
 beings to which a constant loyalty is encouraged should be 
 an ever-widening one — the family, the gToup, the school, 
 the town, one's native country^and where such groups 
 are kept small and self-contained and the wader groupings 
 are ignored, social training must become narrow and result 
 in narrow sympathies. It cannot be denied, however, that 
 the house system may be worked in such a way as to escape 
 these disadvantages and to afford excellent training for 
 after-school life.* 
 
 ^ Editor's Note. — The house system is in operation in some 
 Elementary Schools — e.g., in Southampton — and is foimd to work well.
 
 CHAPTEE XII 
 OTHER SYSTEMS AND TYPES OF SCHOOLS 
 
 1. Scottish 
 
 Scottish education has a generally excellent reputa- 
 tion. To a large extent this reputation is deserved, 
 and the reasons for this are to be found in the character 
 and history of the people. The Act of 1696 is regarded 
 as the Magna Charta of Scottish education. By this 
 Act landowners were compelled to provide a school in 
 each parish and to pay the teacher a fixed salary. One 
 important reason for the low state of education in England 
 before 1870 was to be found in the lack of power to impose 
 local rates for education, and thus to develop the feeling of 
 local responsibility. In Scotland the landowners have been 
 subject to school rates for more than two centuries. By 
 the Education Act of 1872, known as the Young Act, the 
 Scottish Education Department was created, and the coun- 
 try divided up into School Board areas. Here, again, Scot- 
 land was thoroughly prepared to uieet the changes. There 
 was no question, as in England, of rivalry between Volun- 
 tary and Board Schools ; the schools had for many years 
 been entirely free from any religious difficulty. In England 
 the intolerance of all parties produced friction and pre- 
 vented development. 
 
 The Scottish educational system comprises Primary, 
 Intermediate, and Secondary Schools. Primary Educa- 
 tion is compulsory between the ages of five and fourteen, 
 
 225 15
 
 226 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 and was until recently under the control of School Boards/ 
 supervised and guided, as in England, by the Education 
 Department. Primary Schools are organised as Infant and 
 Juvenile Departments. The Infant Department gives a 
 two years' course, in which the elements of reading, writ- 
 ing, and arithmetic are taught. The school hours are 
 shorter than in England, being generally from 9.30 to 12 
 and from 1.30 to 3.15. The Juvenile Department has 
 three divisions — the Junior and Senior Divisions and the 
 Supplementary Course. The Junior Division deals with 
 a period of three years ; the Senior with one of two or three 
 years. At the age of twelve or thirteen a boy or girl may 
 pass the ' ' Qualifying ' ' examination , which allows him or 
 her to pass on to Supplementary Courses. It is perhaps 
 here, during the last two years of Elementary School life, 
 that Scottish education shows a marked superiority over 
 that of England. The "marking time" so frequent in 
 the top classes of the English Elementary School is, in 
 Scotland, unknown. Comparatively few children leave 
 school without the qualification mentioned. At this point 
 some enter an Intermediate or Higher Grade School, while 
 the remainder attend the Supplementary Courses. The 
 pupil may now choose a commercial or industrial course ; 
 in the case of pupils of rural schools an agricultural, and of 
 girls a household management course. The usual subjects 
 pertaining to commerce or industry are taught, but the 
 essential subject in every case is English. Large grants 
 are paid to these Supplementary Courses, a state of things 
 offering a strong contrast with that existing in English 
 higher elementary education. After two years the pupil 
 leaves with a merit certificate detailing subjects he has 
 studied and the proficiency he has attained in each. Em- 
 ployers and the Scottish people generally hold all these 
 
 ^ By the Act of 1918, the School Boards were abolished and the 
 Local Education Authority's administrative area much widened.
 
 OTHER SYSTEMS 227 
 
 leaving certificates in great estimation ; hence the certifi- 
 cates are generally carefully considered in appointments to 
 posts in the commercial and industrial world. 
 
 The Secondary School system shows far greater uni- 
 formity than that of England, and the schools are in a 
 much truer sense the people's schools. There is, speaking 
 generally, nothing which corresponds with the great Public 
 Schools in England or with the clean-cut social distinctions 
 which appear in English education. Neither are these to 
 be found in Scottish University education, which is every- 
 where open to the talent and industry of all social classes. 
 In England, without valuable scholarships, it is almost 
 impossible to study at the older Universities ; in Scotland 
 University courses are within the means of almost 
 everyone. 
 
 The Boarding School in Scotland is rare ; it would appear 
 that the Scotch people attach great value to home training. 
 In the Non-Boarding Schools the sexes are usually mixed, 
 except where organisation can be made efficient without it , 
 as in the large towns, and in the special commercial, indus- 
 trial, and other courses necessitating separation. 
 
 The Intermediate School offers a three years' course of 
 study, which includes one language other than English ; 
 the Secondary School, with its course of five or six years, 
 takes the pupil up to the age of seventeen or eighteen. 
 
 In England the curricula of Secondary Schools are to a 
 considerable extent controlled by a large variety of exam- 
 inations ; in Scotland a Leaving Certificate of the Scotch 
 Education Department serves the useful purpose of pro- 
 ducing a great degree of uniformity without interfering 
 with the freedom and individuality of the schools. The 
 " Qualifying " examination, as has been seen, is taken at 
 about the age of twelve. The earliest moment for the 
 Intermediate examination is at the age of fifteen, thus en- 
 suring that the full three years' course has been followed.
 
 228 THE CUERICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Some Scotch educationists are opposed to this restriction, 
 as preventing the brilliant pupil from going forward as 
 quickly as he might. The post-intermediate stage extends 
 from the age of fifteen to seventeen or eighteen, and is com- 
 pleted usually by the examination for the full Leaving 
 Certificate. English and history count as one subject, and 
 are compulsory. One other" language besides English, and 
 either mathematics or experimental science, must be taken. 
 The other subjects may be selected at will from an of&cial 
 list. Head-masters and teachers are always consulted 
 before the Certificate is granted or refused. 
 
 The Training Colleges for teachers have followed much 
 the same lines of development as those of England. 
 Scotch Universities have training departments and under- 
 take pedagogical com'ses. Both England and Scotland, 
 however, notwithstanding the fact that the University- 
 trained teacher is fairly common in the Primary Schools, 
 are behind Germany in their zeal for a thoroughly trained 
 teaching profession, and there is still a large percentage of 
 untrained teachers in both countries. 
 
 Scotland owes much to her teachers, to their capacity, 
 industry, and independence of spirit. " To the very last 
 the independent Scottish dominie refused to be bound by 
 the courses of study of the Pevised or any Government 
 Code." The Scottish people, too, have taken an immense 
 pride in the education of their schools and Universities. 
 Teachers and people have created an atmosphere of sym- 
 pathy out of common ideals, and work together in enviable 
 harmony. 
 
 2. American 
 
 The Federal Government of the United States does not 
 administrate and has no supervision whatever over the 
 education of the country. The National Bureau of Edu- 
 cation at Washington is scarcely anything more than air
 
 OTHEK SYSTEMS 229 
 
 office which collects educational information and statistics 
 and makes them known to the public. It has no body of 
 inspectors ; it issues no codes, memoranda, suggestions or 
 regulations, but leaves these matters entirely in the hands 
 of each Federal State. Each State formulates its own 
 laws with regard to education. The great outstanding 
 feature of American education is its management by Local 
 x\uthorities. Each city or county elects its own School 
 Board ad hoc, which nominates a Superintendent who 
 exercises almost despotic power. The schools of every 
 city and county are supported by local taxation, with an 
 occasional grant from the State in the case of necessitous 
 areas. This supervision by the Local Authority covers 
 Elementary, Higher, and University Education. The 
 tendency in recent years with regard to the School Boards 
 has been to reduce the number of members and to with- 
 draw the elective power from the taxpayers, transferring it 
 to the Mayor or chief officials of the area. There is no 
 law, as in England, that women should sit on these School 
 Boards, although it is frequently the case that they are so 
 appointed. The American people, conscious of the cor- 
 ruption which often exists in municipal and political affairs, 
 has endeavoured to withdraw education from such evil 
 influences. This accounts for the tendency just mentioned 
 and the almost despotic powers of the Superintendent. 
 
 American education, so far as the Public Schools are 
 concerned, is entirely free, from the Elementary School 
 to the University. To a large extent it is also co-educa- 
 tional, although there are many schools in which boys and 
 girls are taught separately. 
 
 The system throughout the whole of the States shows 
 wonderful uniformity, not, as we have already seen, by 
 7'eason of the existence of laws enacted by the Federal 
 Government, but as a result of cotnmon agreement and 
 general consensus of opinion. The Middle and Western
 
 A 
 
 230 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 States have founded their educational systems largely in 
 imitation of those of the Eastern and longer established. 
 For the masses of American school-children the Public 
 Elementary School provides instruction between the ages 
 of six and fourteen or fifteen. For childi'en below the age 
 of six there was, until recently, scarcely any provision. 
 There is now a growing feeling that the years from four to 
 six need educational supervision, especially in the case of 
 the children of parents who have to leave home daily for 
 work. Hence there is a rapidly increasing number of 
 Kindergarten Schools, although at present the number of 
 children receiving instruction at this early age is far smaller 
 proportionately than in England. In the Public Elemen- 
 tary School the first four classes are called Primary Grades, 
 and the last four Grammar Grades. As in England, large 
 numbers of children do not complete even the full Elemen- 
 tary School course. Pupils who have passed through the 
 full course may then graduate and pass into schools giving 
 Higher Education. The High Schools provide a four 
 years' course, extending from the age of fourteen to 
 eighteen ; and here, again, the number of pupils who drop 
 out before the four years are completed is very considerable. 
 It must be remembered that in America the word 
 "Public " signifies belonging to and controlled by the State. 
 In England, as we have seen, it has quite a different mean- 
 ^ ing. The Public Schools, large Private Schools, and 
 Colleges of England are represented in America by the 
 "Academies," and much that can be said of English 
 Public Schools can also be said concerning the American 
 Academies. The latter are, for the most part, residential ; 
 the State High Schools are generally Day Schools. Ac- 
 cording to Sir Michael Sadler, there are signs of reaction in 
 America against the idea of a Government or Municipal 
 monopoly in the supply of Secondary Education, and he 
 himself is in favour of such private effort and initiative,
 
 OTHEE SYSTEMS 231 
 
 combined with some sort of State supervision. The High 
 Schools of America are a direct outgrowth of the Ele- 
 mentary Schools, and provide post-elementary instruction. 
 The Academies, on the other hand, contain pupils of 
 Elementary School age, and deliberately prepare for future 
 College life. The High Schools do not make this their 
 objective, but give an education which is more or less com- 
 plete. It is true that many thousands of pupils pass from 
 them to higher forms of education, but the main aim of the 
 High School is to prepare for practical life. It is also 
 probably correct to say that the High Schools cater for the 
 average pupil, and the Academies pay greater attention to 
 the brilliant pupil. Pupils who desire to continue their 
 education pass from the High Schools and Academies to 
 the "College," which provides a four years' course, from 
 eighteen to twenty-two, or, if desirous of becoming a 
 teacher in a Public Elementary School, they may proceed 
 to the Normal School, following there a two years' course, 
 the first of which is largely academic. From the College 
 the way is open to the State University, thus taking the 
 pupil up to the age of twenty-five. Many Americans con- 
 sider that this "ladder of education" is unduly long, and 
 that it might be beneficially shortened. Behind this view 
 there are strong economic reasons why a young man should 
 enter upon his professional or business career at an earlier 
 age than twenty-five. 
 
 Strictly speaking, the American College undertakes 
 undergraduate work leading to a degree, and the University 
 both undergraduate and post-graduate work. It is hence 
 possible for many High School students to omit the Col- 
 lege course altogether, and to pass direct from the High 
 School to the University. By this means the economic 
 difficulty involved by a too prolonged education is obviated. 
 College and University education is sometimes entirely 
 free. Wherever fees are charged, they are so small that
 
 232 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 they cannot be regarded as a hindrance in obtaining the 
 highest education the country provides. 
 
 There has been in recent years a remarkable impulse 
 towards technical training of all kinds, especially that suit- 
 able for the period between the ages of fourteen and seven- 
 teen. Commercial education, which is much older than 
 industrial, now occupies a very prominent position. The 
 regular "Business Schools," which are in private hands, 
 at present contain the greater number of pupils. The 
 Public High Schools giving commercial education are, 
 however, making great headway. In addition, commer- 
 cial education is given in Private High Schools and in the 
 Academies, in Normal Schools, and in Colleges and Uni- 
 versities. There are now more than 2,600 Commercial 
 Schools, with a roll of nearly a quarter of a million pupils. 
 Economic pressure and the large growth of towns on the 
 one hand, and on the other the ideal of providing a prac- 
 tical education, have brought about an equally great de- 
 velopment of the industrial schools; these, again, are 
 mostly in private hands. 
 
 The Technical Colleges are of three kinds : entirely 
 private foundations, foundations which are partly private 
 and partly subsidised, and those connected with Colleges 
 and Universities. The conditions of entrance are not uni- 
 form, but in general a High School certificate or the 
 passing of a special examination gives right of entry. The 
 course is generally one of four years, the first two being 
 party professional and partly general, the last tvv'o years 
 entirely professional. The degree of Bachelor of Science 
 may be obtained on the completion of the course. 
 
 The Normal Schools, in which the Elementary School 
 teachers are trained, differ in some important respects from 
 the Training Colleges of this country. There is no com- 
 mon certificate which gives the right of teaching in every 
 part of the country, as is the case in England. The
 
 OTHEE SYSTEMS 233 
 
 licences to teach which are granted are very frequently 
 valid only in the town or district which controls the 
 Normal School. As a rule, candidates for the Normal 
 School must possess a High School diploma. The 
 "Teachers' Colleges" are primarily for the purpose of 
 training Secondary School teachers, and for those under- 
 taking educational administrative work. In many cases 
 they provide a post-graduate course, leading to the degrees 
 of Master and Doctor of Pedagogy. In others it is an 
 undergraduate course, completed by the degree of Bachelor 
 of Pedagogics. The Teachers' College, Columbia Uni- 
 versity, is probably the greatest and most efficiently 
 furnished and staffed institution of its kind in the world. 
 
 In America we thus find a real system of education, 
 I'emarkable for the large amount of uniformity which exists 
 over such a large area. The description given naturally 
 overlooks various points where the system shows irregu- 
 larities and incompleteness; where it is good, it is very 
 good ; where it is bad, it is also very bad, and outside the 
 Eastern and Middle States and California the educational 
 system exhibits many serious deficiencies in its actual 
 working. One general feature we find lacking. Since 
 large numbers of American children finish their education 
 with the completion of the Grammar Grades, it would 
 appear that there is a real necessity to provide such children 
 with an education in some way different from that pro- 
 vided for those passing into the Public High School. In 
 our own country, to meet this state of things, we possess 
 Higher Grade, Higher Elementary, and Central Schools, 
 and there is a growing feeling in America that some more 
 suitable preparation should be given to such pupils in the 
 last three or four years of the Elementary School course. 
 
 In, addition to the above scheme there are large numbers 
 of evening schools, and the free lectures given to persons 
 of all ages are extremely well attended.
 
 234 THE CUREICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 3. German 
 
 The object of German education is, or before the war 
 was, mainly to secure and maintain the pre-eminence of 
 the State. By imposing a system — organisation and cur- 
 ricula — by excluding freedom of initiative, and training the 
 nation in obedience to the State, this aim was approxi- 
 mately achieved. No chance of deviating from the system 
 was allowed; the State controlled all forms of education, 
 and, within the limits of its narrow aim, was thoroughly 
 efficient. 
 
 The Central Authority is the Ministry of Public Worship 
 and Education, with three departments — one for Uni- 
 versity, Secondary, and Technical Education, one for 
 Elementary and Middle Schools and Training Colleges, 
 and another for Public Worship. Prussia is divided into 
 fourteen Provincial School Boards, chiefly for higher 
 education, and into thirty-seven counties for lower educa- 
 tion. The Local Authorities are School Committees, 
 which in the towns delegate their powers to School Com- 
 missions, bodies analogous with the English school man- 
 agers. District and Local School Inspectors supervise, the 
 former frequently and the latter generally being clergymen. 
 
 In Prussia about 3 per cent, of the children attend 
 Middle and 7 per cent. Secondary Schools. In spite of 
 these facts, about 25 per cent, of the money grants goes to 
 Secondary Education. 
 
 Primary School Education begins at six, and is not com- 
 pulsory beyond the school year in which the age of fifteen 
 is reached. The education of children below school age 
 is mostly in philantlu'opic hands. The creches take 
 children up to the age of three for a small fee, and older 
 infants of parents who go out to work are received into 
 day homes, where food but no instruction is provided. 
 Kindergarten Schools are attended by children belonging
 
 OTHEE SYSTEMS 235 
 
 to a better social class, and their purpose is educational ; 
 there is a slowly-growing tendency to give these schools 
 official recognition and support. In most schools the 
 sexes are mixed, although co-education is, on the whole, 
 regarded unfavourably. School medical inspection is per- 
 functory, especially in rural districts, and treatment is 
 provided by voluntary associations and by the public 
 clinics. 
 
 Elementary Education in Germany aims at producing 
 citizens who shall be religious, patriotic, and obedient to 
 authority, and the realisation of this ideal is sought in a 
 curriculum containing religion, German (including gram- 
 mai-), geometry, and arithmetic; history, geography, and 
 the elements of natural science, singing (but little theory 
 or sight singing), drawing, physical training, and needle- 
 work for girls. Manual training is rarely undertaken. 
 Primary Education is complete in itself, and cannot be 
 used as a stepping-stone to Secondary Education. The 
 way is blocked by the early preparation needed for entrance 
 to a Secondary School. 
 
 The Middle Schools of Prussia correspond to our own 
 Higher Elementary Schools, and as reorganised in 1910 
 mark the attempt to cope with the new necessities of indus- 
 ti ial and commercial life. There is no scholarship system, 
 or, indeed, a plan of any kind to obtain the right kind of 
 pupil ; anyone can attend such a school on payment of the 
 fees, which are usually less than half those of Secondary 
 Schools. These schools please few ; they are insufficiently 
 distinct from the Elementary Schools. There are Con- 
 tinuation Schools which prepare much more thoroughly for 
 the future occupation ; the reformers see in them another 
 obstacle to their hopes of Secondary Education for all ; and 
 owing to various reasons the Middle Schools are little more 
 than a means by which a slight social distinction is con- 
 ferred upon the parents sending children to them.
 
 236 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 The thoroughness with which Germany has insisted 
 upon training its teacliers is one of the most remarkable 
 features of the German system. After the completion of 
 the Primary School Course, the candidate for the teaching 
 profession enters a Priiparanden-Anstalt for three years, 
 afterwards passing into the Training College proper for 
 another three years. He then obtains a Provisional Certi- 
 ficate as a result of a leaving examination, and begins his 
 work as a teacher, for the first year without salary, for the 
 second as a Hilfslehrer with a minimum salary of £40. 
 There is then, or later, a second examination, after which 
 he becomes recognised as a full-fledged teacher. If chance 
 places him in a University town, he may find oppor- 
 tunities of studying for an examination which will allow 
 him to teach in the Mittel-Schule ; and even for the Eektor 
 examination, which may finally lead him as far as the 
 County Inspectorate. If this chance fails him, he is left 
 to pursue his career with the elementary equipment pro- 
 vided by a German Training College, and handicapped by 
 six years of isolation from the general life of the nation. 
 
 Secondary Education is as thoroughly organised as 
 Primary; in fact, the State has given greater attention 
 and care to the training of its future officials, clergymen, 
 business and professional men, than to that of the prole- 
 tariat. The education of the middle and upper classes is 
 much more liberal and varied, although the general method 
 of giving information by word of mouth and then demand- 
 ing its reproduction is prevalent everywhere. The course 
 of development by which the Gymnasium, or purely clas- 
 sical school , lost its monopoly of Secondary Education and 
 the exclusive right of entry to the Universities is of great 
 interest, and must be known in order to understand 
 German education of to-day. Secondary Schools may now 
 be classified as those providing a nine years' or a six years' 
 course, from the age of nine to eighteen or nine to sixteen.
 
 OTHEB SYSTEMS '237 
 
 All the schools of the first type may pass their pupils on to 
 the University. The three types of such schools are : The 
 Gymnasium, giving a purely classical education ; the Eeal- 
 gymnasium, combining the classical and the modern, and 
 teaching Latin, but not Greek ; the Ober-realschule, having 
 a purely modern course of study, consisting of modern 
 languages, mathematics, and science. Corresponding with 
 these three types are the schools with six-year courses — 
 the Progymnasium, the Eealprogymnasium, and the Eeal- 
 schule. No provision is made whereby pupils may enter 
 Secondary Education at an age later than nine ; hence the 
 decision in this matter and with regard to the type of 
 Secondary Education has to be made far too early, and the 
 decision is practicahy irrevocable. In recent years there has 
 been a strong tendency to postpone the age at which Latin 
 is begun, with the result that various German States have 
 permitted the foundation of Keform Schools — Keform- 
 gymnasien and Beformrealgymnasien — in which the study 
 of French is begun at ten and of Latin at thirteen. In 
 the Reformgymnasien of the Frankfort type Greek is not 
 begun till the age of fifteen. 
 
 The training of Secondary School teachers is very 
 thorough. After a full course at a nine-year Secondary 
 School and three years at a University, the candidate takes 
 a written and oral examination which includes the subject 
 of pedagogy. One year is then spent at a Training 
 College or Secondary School recognised for the purpose ; 
 following this is a Probationary year as a teacher in a 
 Secondary School, in which eight or ten hours' per week 
 teaching, without salary, is done. Instruction and 
 criticism accompany this work. The provincial examin- 
 ing body may now recognise the candidate as suitable for 
 appointment. 
 
 Most States liave a system of compulsory continuation 
 education up to the age of seventeen or eighteen, thus
 
 238 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 possessing" the enormous advantage of providing the means 
 for consoUdating and carrying forv^'ard the instruction re- 
 ceived in the Elementary Schools, and of supervising that 
 most difficult period of life called adolescence. The Con- 
 tinuation Schools of Munich are v^^ell worth special study. 
 Taking an intermediate position between Continuation and 
 Technical Education are the Gewerbeschulen. There 
 are also large numbers of Lower and Higher Commercial 
 Institutes, Technical, Agricultural, and Art Institutes, 
 and in addition a system of very efficient Commercial High 
 Schools. 
 
 4, French 
 
 The French system of education, considered as one of 
 the prime factors in the production of the wonderful 
 culture and creative activity of all types which charac- 
 terise the France of to-day, is worth close study. We 
 cannot, however, do more than indicate in this short 
 account its salient features. 
 
 The organisation of French education offers the best 
 example of centralised administration. The Minister of 
 Education is responsible to Parliament for the administra- 
 tion, conduct, and curricula of every type of school in the 
 country — University, Secondary, and Primary. Each of 
 these divisions is in charge of a Director, who in his turn 
 is responsible only to the Minister. Consultative Com- 
 mittees assist both Minister and Directors ; and ' ' General 
 Inspectors" act as intermediaries between the Minister 
 and the Local Authorities. 
 
 The whole country is divided into seventeen educational 
 districts, called Academies, all but two having their 
 centres in University towns. The head of the University, 
 called the Rector, supervises all types of education in his 
 own Academy, and is assisted by one or more Academy 
 Inspectors. In the local control of Primary Education
 
 OTHER SYSTEMS 239 
 
 the Rector shares his powers with the Prefect, concerning 
 himself with general matters rather than with detailed 
 organisation and supervision. A Departmental Council, 
 consisting of the Prefect, Academy Inspectors, Du-ectors 
 of Training Colleges, elected members, a body of Primary 
 teachers, and two Primary Inspectors, deals with the 
 Elementary Education of each department. The smallest 
 educational unit is the Communal School Commission, 
 consisting of the Mayor, the Primary Inspector, and dele- 
 gates from the IMunicipal Council and Canton. 
 
 Primary School Education is compulsory between the 
 ages of six and thirteen. There are Ecoles Maternelles, 
 open from 7 in the morning until 7 at night, for infants 
 whose mothers go out for daily work. These schools make 
 little or no pretence to be of the kindergarten kind, and 
 their atmosphere is one of work; reading, writing, and 
 number are taught, and emphasis is laid upon the estab- 
 lishment of good physical and moral habits. Classes 
 Enfantines form the link between the Ecole Maternelle 
 and the Primary School. Where no Ecole Maternelle 
 exists, they fulfil the educational function of both. Where 
 neither of these types exists, the Elementary School may 
 admit children at the age of five. 
 
 French Elementary Education recognises three stages 
 — the Lower Course , from seven to nine ; the Middle , from 
 nine to eleven ; and the Upper, from eleven to thirteen. 
 The latter is often non-existent, as an examination suc- 
 cessfully passed at the end of the Middle Course excuses 
 further attendance. The full Elementary School Course 
 is sometimes followed by a further year of more advanced 
 work in a Supplementary Course (Cours complementaire) ; 
 in the towns this may be replaced by a full two or three 
 years' course in a Higher Primary School. The subjects 
 of the curriculum of the ordinary Elementary School are : 
 Moral instruction, civics, the mother-tongue, history and
 
 240 THE CUKKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 geography, elementary science, arithmetic, drawing, sing- 
 ing, manual training (needlework for ghls) and physical 
 training. Moral instruction is the French substitute for 
 religious teaching, and in the hands of an inspking teacher 
 may be formative of ideals and character, but with a feeble 
 teacher and no Bible as a textbook becomes a drab affau\ 
 Civic instruction is given in close correlation with the 
 moral, and tends often to become equally ineffective, the 
 analysis of civic facts and duties being begun too early. 
 The teaching of the mother-tongue is the most striking 
 feature of French education, and merits the study of all 
 English teachers. Manual training is limited to work 
 with paper and cardboard. 
 
 The Higher Primary Schools of France correspond to 
 the Middle Schools of Germany and the Higher Elemen- 
 tary and Central Schools of this country. The number 
 of pupils enjoying this higher education, which prepares 
 them to enter Trade and Technical Schools, or to take 
 higher rank in industrial occupations, is not large. There 
 is very keen competition for entry, and the number of 
 scholars accepted is always far below the demand for 
 places. The course extends over three years, as in 
 England, with a further extension, sometimes, of one 
 year. Examinations take place at the end of each year, 
 those failing giving place to others. As in other countries 
 of Europe and in America, many leave before the comple- 
 tion of the full course, and thus fail to derive full benefit 
 from it. In the first year the curriculum is common to 
 all. The other years provide a general industrial, com- 
 mercial, or agricultural course of instruction. 
 
 Each Department of France possesses a Training 
 College for men and one for women. These Ecoles 
 iNormales are under the control of the Rector of the 
 Academy, and each has a Director or Dhectress at its head. 
 The entrance examination is competitive, the candidates
 
 OTHEK SYSTEMS 241 
 
 being between sixteen and eighteen years of age, and hold- 
 ing the "brevet elementaire." The Training Colleges of 
 France do not supply nearly sufficient teachers for the 
 Primary Schools; the numbers are made up by contribu- 
 tions from the various types of higher educational institu- 
 tions. The training course is one of three years. At the 
 end of the second year an examination is held, success in 
 which confers the "brevet superieur." After the con- 
 clusion of the full Training College course and two further 
 years of teaching, success in another examination gives 
 the "Certificat d'aptitude pedagogique," entitling to full 
 recognition and appointment. In addition to the ordinary, 
 there are two Central Training Colleges, which prepare 
 for teaching in the Ecoles Normales. 
 
 The Secondary School is for all practical purposes quite 
 independent of the Primary. The French educational 
 system resembles the German in having no ladder of 
 education reaching from the Elementary School to the 
 University (as there is in America and to a degree in 
 England), and there is in France little or no demand for 
 the "common school." The organisation of Secondary 
 Education is throughout the country on similar lines ; its 
 different types of instruction, corresponding to the different 
 "sides" of our own schools, being found in one and the 
 same institution. The Lyc^e is provided and maintained 
 by the State, the College by the municipality; in other 
 respects the differences are insignificant. 
 
 At the head of the Secondary School is the Head-master 
 or Proviseur, who is assisted in matters of discipline by 
 the Censeur, and in matters of management by the 
 Econome. The Proviseur does very little teaching, and 
 on the whole has very little knowledge of what goes on in 
 the class-rooms in the actual work of teaching. The 
 Secondary School Course is divided into two cycles, the 
 first of which consists of classes 6, 5, 4 and 3, the second 
 
 16
 
 242 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 of classes 2 and 1 and a Philosophy and Mathematics 
 Class. The school which prepares for the Lycee proper 
 contains a Preparatory Division having a two years' 
 course, and an Elementary Division, also of two years. At 
 the age of eleven the French boy may enter the first cycle 
 of the Lycee proper. In the second cycle, begun at the 
 age of fifteen or sixteen, he may select one of four courses 
 — the Latin and Greek course, Latin and Modern 
 Languages, Latin and Science, Modern Languages and 
 Science. All the other subjects are common to the four 
 groups. The whole of French Secondary Education is 
 directed towards the passing of the Baccalaureat examina- 
 tion, which gives admission to professional courses at the 
 Universities and to Polytechnics. The first part of this 
 examination is taken after Class 1, which is called the 
 Rhetoric Class, the second part after the year of Philo- 
 sophy and Mathematics. 
 
 Secondary Education for girls has lagged behind that 
 for boys. While the last few years have seen great 
 developments in the education of girls, French public 
 opinion and educational authorities still tend to underrate 
 its importance and necessity. The number of Lycees and 
 Colleges for girls is comparatively small. Such schools 
 provide a course of five years, with sometimes an extra 
 year to give opportunities of qualifying for entrance to 
 Training Colleges for Secondary Teachers. There is no 
 study of the classical languages, and an Englishman is 
 struck by the almost total absence of sports. 
 
 The training of Secondary teachers offers a very strong 
 contrast with that of Germany. In France the practical 
 side of the training has been rather neglected. In the 
 Higher Normal Schools, where this tr'aining is carried on, 
 a three years' course is given. Candidates enter by means 
 of a competitive examination, and after two years are 
 examined for the Certificat d'Aptitude in Secondary
 
 OTHEE SYSTEMS 243 
 
 teaching. The third year is spent in preparation for the 
 examination known as agregation, which corresponds 
 roughly to the standard of the London M.A. degree. 
 Only a limited number are admitted each year to this 
 examination. 
 
 On the whole, it must be said that the French charac- 
 teristic of logical consistency has produced in its educa- 
 tional system a centralisation of organisation and a uni- 
 formity in type of school, curricula, and methods, which 
 is bound to hamper progress. On the other hand, the 
 thoroughness and enthusiasm with which administrators 
 and teachers have laboured to achieve the national ideals 
 have done much to mitigate the natural effects of work- 
 ing" within these nan;ow limits.
 
 CHAPTEK XIII 
 
 ORGANISATION AND CURRICULA UNDER THE 
 ACT OF 1918 
 
 The Education Act of 1918, known popularly as the 
 Fisher Act, represents the cumulative effect of years of 
 quiet growth among the people of the conviction that 
 education is a vitally important matter to the material 
 prosperity of the nation, and this conviction was greatly 
 quickened during and because of the war. The working 
 classes have become alive to this notion, and rightly see in 
 it the only secure foundation for their industrial and 
 political freedom. The world of business has long been 
 demanding improvements in both Elementary and 
 Secondary Education of a kind about which their ideas are 
 both obscure and conflicting. The Board of Education 
 has been in a position, and has made excellent use of its 
 position, to guide public and even professional thought 
 into proper channels, and, probably more important than 
 all, various associations, for the most part connected with 
 the teaching profession, but including men and women not 
 in its ranks, have laboured unremittingly to bring about 
 an organisation of education corresponding to their in- 
 formed ideals. The recent Education Act is the result. 
 
 Organisation of education is not everything, and when 
 an excellent organisation exists for the purpose of securing 
 to the nation merely material success among keen inter- 
 national competitors may produce unenviable results. The 
 ideal of social efificiency tends to take the more visible form 
 
 244
 
 THE ACT OF 1918 245 
 
 of industrial and commercial efficiency, and, unless we 
 look beyond this to ideals of character and brotherhood, 
 will land us in the grossest materialism. Nevertheless, 
 the connection between the material and the spiritual is 
 close ; just as better housing is Hkely to diminish the drink- 
 ing habit and crime in general, so a better status for the 
 teacher and a more efficient education for the pupil are 
 likely to be conditions favourable to mental and spiritual 
 development. The extra care which under the Act is to 
 be given to the health of the children, and the greater 
 attention which is to be bestowed upon the last years at 
 the Elementary School, are examples of this improved 
 organisation ; but in the long-run everything will depend 
 upon the teacher, his ideals and methods of using the new 
 and better material means now at his disposal. 
 
 In the Education Act of 1918 striking progress has been J 
 made towards the establishment of a national system. It "^JT .^ 
 becomes now the duty of Councils of every County and ''^^^ 
 County Borough to provide ' ' for the progressive develop- ^^ 
 
 ment and comprehensive organisation of education in 
 respect of their area." No doubt such Councils are 
 already attempting with varying degrees of success to do 
 this ; but their efforts are in future to be supervised more 
 closely and co-ordinated more thoroughly with the work 
 of other Councils. Each Council, therefore, "may and 
 shall, when required by the Board of Education, submit 
 to the Board schemes showing the mode in which their 
 duties and powers under the J^Mucation Acts are to be per- 
 formed and exercised." By calling upon the Education 
 Authority to produce its own schemes, the Board of Edu- 
 cation encourages variety and initiative, and avoids the 
 uniformity which is such a striking characteristic of the 
 French system. These "schemes" will, if liberally 
 treated by the ContntI Authority, do much to vitalise 
 education throughout the country.
 
 246 THE CUBRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 A further step towards unification is taken by the Act 
 in that it gives power to two or more Local Education 
 Authorities to combine if they wish with respect to any 
 of their powers under the Education Acts, and to delegate 
 any of those powers, except that of raising a rate, to a 
 joint committee or a joint body of managers. This they 
 may do without the express sanction of the Board of Edu- 
 cation, But a still further step in the same direction may 
 be taken. If two or more Councils apply for permission, 
 the Board of Education may ' ' by scheme provide for the 
 establishment and (if thought fit) the incorporation of a 
 federation" for administering educational matters "v/hich 
 it is necessary or convenient to consider in relation to areas 
 larger than those of individual Education Authorities." 
 It is possible that this section of the Act may pave the way 
 to the gradual formation of federations which will tend to 
 affiliate an increasing number of Local Education Authori- 
 ties, so that finally the whole country may be divided into 
 a comparatively small number of educational administra- 
 tive areas, resembling closely the "provincial associa- 
 tions " which appeared in the Bill as first introduced. A 
 University would probably become the home and head- 
 quarters of each great federation. Obvious advantages 
 would result from such a sequence of events ; it might even 
 end in the Board of Education delegating most of its 
 detailed supervisory duties to the federations, and itself 
 becoming an institution resembling in essentials the 
 National Bureau of Education at Washington. Whether 
 these consequences ensue or not, it is certain that co- 
 ordination and economy of effort will be gTeatly facilitated 
 ^j the formation of such federations. 
 
 In dealing with the recipients of education the Act is 
 astonishingly wide in its scope. No great needs of life 
 are neglected ; body and mind both receive increased atten- 
 tion, and the former comes more into the foreground ; out-
 
 THE ACT OF 1918 247 
 
 of-schooi activities come at last within the purview of the 
 educator ; play takes a position it never held before ; health 
 is regarded as of fundamental importance, and sickness is 
 compulsorily dealt with ; infancy, childhood, and adoles- 
 cence are at last envisaged as an unbroken sequence of 
 progressive development. 
 
 Attendance at school is made compulsory until the age 
 of fourteen, and Local Education Authorities may by 
 by-laws extend this compulsory period to the age of fifteen. 
 The half-time system is abolished, no exceptions being 
 permissible between five and fourteen. Where the raising 
 of the school age involves hardships upon parents, the 
 Local Education Authorities are empowered to provide 
 "maintenance." Hitherto the Elementary School has 
 been handicapped in its efforts to use efficiently the last 
 year or two of its pupils' school life. Many children cease 
 attendance on some ground or other at thirteen ; others gain 
 scholarships to Secondary, Trade, Central, and Higher 
 Grade Schools. So large a number are withdrawn in 
 these waj^s that the top classes are often very small, and 
 have for economy to be combined under one teacher. The 
 result has been seen in the " marking time" so common 
 a feature in the top classes of the Elementary Schools. 
 Larger senior classes will now give the teacher an oppor- 
 tunity of dealing with these scholars more adequately, and 
 he will be still further assisted by other provisions of the 
 Act which we may now note. 
 
 Under the new Act further restrictions arei imposed 
 upon the employment of children of school age. No child 
 under twelve may be employed at all ; a child of the age of 
 twelve or upwards shall not be employed on any Sunday 
 for more than two hours, or on any school-day before the 
 close of afternoon school, nor on any day before 6 o'clock 
 in the morning or after 8 o'clock in the evening. A Local 
 Education .\uthority may, however, under certain condi-
 
 248 THE CUEEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 tions, permit a child to be employed for one hour before 
 and one hour after school. All this is to the good, but 
 does not go nearly far enough. If the reader cares to 
 calculate, he will find it is possible for a child between the 
 ages of twelve and fom'teen to spend the usual '2n\ hours 
 per week in school and in addition 26 hours and even 
 longer in some form of employment. Moreover, the Act 
 allows the child to work 86 hours per week during holidays. 
 If the suggestions of the Committee on Wage-Earning 
 Children are listened to, modifications of this section of the 
 Act will be made which may mitigate some of the evil 
 results ; but something more than modifications are re- 
 quired — drastic changes are needed. For the moment we 
 merely note that the Act marks progress, and does some- 
 thing to facilitate the school training of the older scholars. 
 The Nursery School has long been the aim of many re- 
 formers who regard the present Infant School or Depart- 
 ment as an institution attempting to pursue clashing 
 ideals, the lower section taking infantile home pursuits 
 and happy natural activities as the media of education, the 
 upper devoting much of its energy to formal education and 
 bookish occupations. In the lower part of the Infant 
 School the children are treated as babies ; they play, talk, 
 do what is natural for them to do, sleep, and in general 
 lead a thoroughly ideal home life. In the upper part their 
 play becomes more of a drill ; formal exercises in number 
 and reading are substituted for instruction hidden in 
 games and natural occupations; home surroundings, such 
 as chairs and tables, give place to desks and the bondage 
 they bring with them; in fact, the infants' heaven sinks 
 somewhat suddenly below the horizon. This change is 
 inevitable, but it has frequently been questioned whether 
 one institution can satisfactorily carry out two such 
 different types of education, and the Nursery School, 
 already proved to be a successful experiment in private
 
 THE ACT OF 1918 249 
 
 hands, will probably become the general organisation for 
 providing the training which at present is given in the 
 lower classes of the best Infant Schools. The aim will 
 be, not to provide formal instruction, but to do what can 
 be done to produce healthy, well-nourished, physically 
 robust, mentally alert, happy infants. So long as the 
 education of these infants is in the hands of suitably 
 trained and competent persons, the transfer of functions 
 to Nursery Schools should be beneficial, but the Draft 
 Regulations recently issued seem purposely framed to 
 allow the work to get into incompetent hands. If 
 ' ' women of sufficient general education , who have proved 
 their practical capacity in other forms of service," and 
 young persons of the " supplementary t-eacher " type, are 
 to be officially considered as desirable persons for expert 
 work of this kind, the Nursery School will never efficiently 
 perform the educational and social functions expected of it. 
 It will now be the duty of a Local Education Authority 
 " to make or otherwise to secure adequate and suitable 
 provision by means of Central Schools, central or special 
 classes, or otherwise," of "practical instruction suitable 
 to the ages, abilities, and requirements of the children," 
 and courses of advanced instniction for older scholars and 
 for children who remain at such schools beyond the age 
 of fourteen. It is to be presumed that the brightest 
 pupils — at any rate, of those who find their chief means of 
 development in books — will, as now, be transferred to 
 Secondary Schools at about the age of twelve ; that many 
 of those remaining in the Element;) ry School will develop 
 their individuality and powers best under courses of in- 
 struction which emphasise manual activities ; and that 
 some of the others will receive benefit hitherto denied them 
 from advanced instruction of a kind suited to their special 
 powers. Implicit in these proposals is the possibility of 
 achieving Elementary School traditions, and of reproduc-
 
 250 THE CUEKICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 iiig in the Elementary School the atmosphere and feeling 
 which exist in the upper forms of every good Secondary 
 or Public School. 
 
 Under the Act it becomes obligatory for all young per- 
 sons — that is, those between the ages of fourteen and 
 eighteen — to attend Continuation Schools for 320 hours 
 in each year. Dming the first seven years after the 
 "appointed day," the attendance will be compulsoi^y only 
 for those between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and 
 the number of hours may be reduced to 280 if the Local 
 Education Authority so resolve. The hours so used must 
 be taken from the employers' time, with a margin to allow 
 of recuperation. The Continuation Schools will be of 
 three types — those entirely under the control of a Local 
 Education Authority or of several acting in co-operation ; 
 those the establishment and maintenance of which are 
 "secured" by the Local Education Authorities — for 
 example, by the help of voluntary bodies and individuals, 
 but which are nevertheless under the control and direction 
 of a Local Education Authority ; and private Continuation 
 Schools, entirely provided, organised, and maintained by 
 unofficial bodies or individuals. In the latter class of 
 school fees may be charged, in the two former education is 
 free. This permission for individuals and unofficial bodies 
 to found and carry on Continuation Schools will probably 
 result in flexibility and variety of curricula, and in valu- 
 able experiments that will demonstrate which lines the 
 education of adolescents should follov/. The State has 
 thus come to see the urgent necessity for some form of 
 training which shall aim at a preparation for manhood 
 and womanhood, and which shall bridge the dangerous 
 gap, known as adolescence, between child and adult life, 
 the period of storm and stress, when circumstances largely 
 decide whether a boy is to become a citizen or a hooligan, 
 a social unit or a rebel.
 
 THE ACT OF 1918 2S1 
 
 The mere provision of continuation instruction with 
 compulsion to be present when it is given will not re- 
 generate the nation ; everything will again depend on the 
 teacher, whether he is a person of sound education, with 
 experience of life, of wide and liberal views, and, above 
 all, whether he possesses ideals and sympathy. The anti- 
 cipated immediate supply of any sort of teachers for these 
 schools is ludicrously inadequate ; yet so important is this 
 matter that every incentive should be offered which might 
 appeal to the type of man or woman required. An in- 
 exorable law — that status and remuneration must be high 
 to attract the best men and w^omen — governs almost 
 universally the choice of profession, preaching and teach- 
 ing not excepted, and through neglect of this law almost 
 any sort of person has often been, and will still be, able 
 to enter the profession and do his or her share in retarding 
 the intellectual and moral growth of the community. The 
 country is but ill-prepared to make this section of the Act 
 a means of regenerating the community. Few Local 
 Education Authorities have as yet advanced far with their 
 task of obtaining and training teachers for the work of the 
 future Continuation Schools. 
 
 Nothing is said in the Act with regard to the training of 
 these teachers. One point seems clear : they must not 
 be trained on the same lines as are teachers of Elementary 
 Schools at present. They are to teach young men and 
 women wlio are out in the industrial and business world, 
 mixing with all sorts and conditions, bearing responsi- 
 bilities, and earning their own living. Hence for instruc- 
 tors of such pupils the secln.-ion of nn ordinary Training 
 College and particularly of a rc;^i(lciitial college is out of 
 the question. Everything possible should be done to give 
 them full opportunities of meeting and mixing with all 
 types of men and women, in Universities, polytrchnicK, 
 workshops, factories, offices, and foreign countries. Only
 
 262 THE CURBICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 by these means will it be possible for them to establish 
 living and fruitful contact with this new kind of pupil. 
 Formal instruction will naturally play its part in the new 
 teaching", but will be only one element of it. Hitherto the 
 training" of teachers has not unnaturally emphasised this 
 side, but we shall be compelled by the new conditions to 
 change onr methods. The Continuation teacher will seek 
 less to furnish the memory with useful information than 
 to stimulate new interests, to train his judgment, and 
 create a desire to use it fairly. He has also to make in- 
 struction attractive ; if he cannot do this, he will have 
 failed completely. His pupils will neither listen nor pre- 
 tend to listen ; will show respect neither for him nor his 
 subject. While there are means of making the Element- 
 ary School child listen, however bored, and assume an 
 appearance of respect, there will be none in the Continua- 
 tion School but interest. 
 
 In many other directions the duties and powers of the 
 Local Education Authorities have been extended, and 
 especially valuable to the nation are the duties and powers 
 connected with the maintenance of health and the treat- 
 ment of sickness. Local Education Authorities " may, 
 with the approval of the Board of Education, make ar- 
 rangements to supply or maintain or aid the supply or 
 maintenance of — 
 
 ii 
 
 (a) Holiday or school camps, especially for young 
 
 persons attending Continuation Schools ; 
 (h) Centres and equipment for physical training, 
 playing fields . . . school baths, school swim- 
 ming-baths ; 
 " (c) Other facilities for social and physical training 
 in the day or evening." 
 
 The Boy Scout and the School Journey movements — the 
 latter almost entirely in the hands of teachers — have
 
 THE ACT OF 1918 253 
 
 taught the value of hohday and school camps ; Elementary 
 School teachers have demonstrated what can be done 
 educationally by means of the swimming-bath ; and the 
 Central Authority now officially recognises these activities 
 and encourages their general adoption. If good use is 
 made of the power to make grants for these purposes, 
 sufficient experience may soon be gained to justify still 
 wider applications of the principle of open-air educa- 
 tion. 
 
 Much is done in the Act to discover and deal with 
 disease. By the Education (Administrative Provisions) 
 ^ct of 1907 it became the duty of every Local Education 
 Authority controlling Elementary Education to provide 
 for the medical inspection of the children ; they were also 
 empowered to make arrangements for attending to health 
 and physical condition — that is, for giving medical treat- 
 ment. They were thus obliged to provide inspection, but 
 the provision of medical treatment was optional. By the 
 Act of 1918 the latter becomes obligatory. The duties and 
 powers of Elementary Education Authorities prior to the 
 Act of 1918 with regard to medical inspection and treat- 
 ment are under the Act extended to Local Education 
 Authorities controlling education other than Elementary. 
 Thus medical inspection of Secondary and Continuation 
 Schools becomes obligatory, medical treatment optional. 
 These powers may be exercised by Local Education 
 Authorities with respect to "children and young persons 
 attendmg any school or educational institution, whether 
 aided by them or not, if so requested by or on behalf of the 
 persons having the management thereof."^ "By this 
 Section it becomes possible for the whole of the children 
 and young persons in the country, no matter what kind of 
 school or educational institution they may attend, to be 
 
 » Education Act of 1918.
 
 254 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 brought under the provisions for the medical inspection 
 and treatment of children and young persons attending 
 schools provided by the Local Education Authority."-^ 
 
 It also becomes obligatory for each Local Education 
 Authority to ascertain what children are physically defec- 
 tive or epileptic, and to make provision for them siinilar to 
 that made for mentally defective children under the Ele- 
 mentary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) 
 Act of 1914. 
 
 It is impossible in a short survey of the Act to do more 
 than barely mention the chief changes it introduces, and 
 we shall have to be content to finish our summary by allud- 
 ing to three other features which may in the future lead to 
 very important developments. 
 
 Paragraph 23 states that " with a view to promoting the 
 efficiency of teaching and advanced study, a Local Educa- 
 tion Authority, for the purposes of Part II. of the Educa- 
 tion Act, 1902, may aid teachers and students to carry 
 on any investigation for the advancement of learning or 
 research in or in connection with an educational institu- 
 tion, and with that object may aid educational institu- 
 tions." Such a provision may have as one of its most 
 important results the establishment of schools for carrying 
 on research work in pedagogy as distinct from psychology. 
 
 Local Education Authorities under the Act of 1902 had 
 powers conferred upon them ' ' to provide or assist in pro- 
 viding scholarships for, and to pay or assist in paying the 
 fees of, students ordinarily resident in the area of the 
 council at schools or colleges or hostels within or without 
 that area." Under the Act of 1918 these powers are 
 extended, and include a power to provide allowances for 
 maintenance. Thus no poor child will find his future 
 handicapped by the inability of his parents to maintain 
 
 1 "The Education Act— with Notes," p. 70. Published by the 
 National Society.
 
 THE ACT OF 1918 255 
 
 him at a Secondary School to which he has won a 
 scholarship. 
 
 Finally, it becomes obligatory for persons responsible 
 for schools and institutions not in receipt of grants from 
 the Board of Education to fiu^nish to the Board the name, 
 address, and a short description of the institutions in a 
 prescribed form, and any other particulars which may be 
 prescribed by regulations. This will provide a national 
 register of all schools and educational institutions, which 
 may in time play a part with regard to education similar 
 to that which the registration of the population played with 
 regard to the war — that, namely, of calling upon some or 
 all of such educational institutions to undertake some 
 definite function in the education of the people.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY * 
 
 I. HISTORY AXD DESCRIPTION 
 
 Adamsok: Short History of Education. 
 
 Balfour, Grahajm: Educational Systems of Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 BiRCHENOTJGH : History of Elementaiy Education. 
 
 BiNNS: A Century of Education. 
 
 Board of EorcATiON: Educational Statistics. 
 
 The Course System in Evening Schools (Pamphlet 19). 
 
 Annual Reports. 
 Creasy: Technical Education in Evening Schools. 
 Holman: English National Education. 
 
 Hughes and Klemm: Progress of Education in the Centuiy. 
 Jacksox, Cyril: Outlines of Education in England. 
 Lawson, W. R.: John Bull and his Schools. 
 LoNDOX Cou:n'ty Council: Organisation of Education in London. 
 
 Handbook on Central Schools. 
 Newton, A. W. : The English Elementary School. 
 Norwood and Hope: Higher Education of Boys in England. 
 Reconstruction, IMinistry of: Labour Conditions and Adult 
 
 Education. 
 Sadler and Beard: Continuation Schools in England, etc. 
 Teachers' Encyclopaedia: vol. v., on Continuation, Higher Grade, 
 and Open-Air Schools. 
 
 II. SECONDARY EDUCATION 
 
 Adamson: Pioneers of Modem Education, 1600-1700. 
 
 Barnett: Teaching and Organisation. 
 
 Burstall: Girls' High Schools. 
 
 Leach; English Schools at the Reformation. 
 
 DE Montmorency, J. E. G.: The Progress of Education in England. 
 
 State Intervention in English Education. 
 Sandiford: Comparative Education. 
 
 Watson, Foster: English Grammar Schools to ICGO (see also other 
 sections). 
 
 * Additional references for more detailed points will be found in most of 
 thtj books in this list. 
 
 257 17
 
 258 THE CURRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 III. BUILDINGS, FURNITURE, EQUIPMENT 
 
 Barnett: op cit. 
 
 Bray: School Organisation. 
 
 Clay, F.: Planning of School Buildings (Teachers' Encyclopgedia, 
 
 vol. v.). 
 Crowley: Hygiene of School Life. 
 Kerr: Care of the School Child. 
 Lyster: School Hygiene. 
 O'Shea: Dynamic Factors in Education. 
 Porter: School Hygiene and the Laws of Health. 
 Report of the British Association on the Influence of School Books 
 
 on Eyesight, 1912. 
 
 IV. THE CURRICULUM 
 
 Adams : Evolution of Educational Theory. 
 
 Adamson: op. cit. 
 
 Abler: Moral Education. 
 
 Atkins and Hutton: Teaching of Modern Foreign Languages. 
 
 Bagley: Educational Values. 
 
 Ballard : Curriculum of Elementary Schools (Teachers' Encyclopaedia, 
 
 vol. v.). 
 Board of Education: The Course System (Pamphlet 19). 
 Bryant, S. : Educational Ends. 
 Dewey: School and the Child. 
 
 School and Society. 
 
 Educational Essays. 
 Findlay: The School. 
 
 Principles of Class Teaching. 
 Griggs: Moral Education. 
 Gunn: The Infant School. 
 
 Hantjs: Educational Aims and Educational Values. 
 Hayward: The Primary Curriculum. 
 Heck : Mental Discipline. 
 Holmes: What is and What Might Be. 
 Horne: The Philosophy of Education. 
 MacCunn: Making of Character. 
 MoNTESSOBi: Montessori Method; Montessori Advanced Method (and 
 
 Board of Education, Pamphlet 24). 
 Murray and Brown-Smith: The Child under Eight. 
 Nunn: Education, its Data and First Principles. 
 Plaisted: Early Education of Children. 
 Raymont: Principles of Education. 
 Rein: OutHnes of Pedagogics. 
 Sleight: Educational Values and Metliods. 
 Spencer : Education.
 
 BIBLIOGEAPHY 259 
 
 Tagore: Shantiniketan. 
 
 The University of JVIanchester Press: Outline of Educational 
 
 Courses. 
 The Journal of Experimental Pedagogy (Longmans, three times a year). 
 
 V. HANDWORK 
 
 Ballard : Handwork as an Educational Medium. 
 
 Dearborn: Motor-sensory Development. 
 
 Nunn: The Play Motive (Reprmt from the Educational Times). 
 
 Report on Teaching of Handicraft (L.C.C., P.S. King and Co.). 
 
 Toichers' Encyclopa?dia: vol. ii., Article on Educational Handwork. 
 
 VI. TRAINING OF TEACHERS 
 
 Board of Education: Regulations for the Preliminary Training of 
 
 Teachers, etc. 
 
 Training of Women Teachers for Secondary Schools. 
 Brown, J. F. : Training of Teachers for Secondary Schools in Germany, 
 
 and the U.S.A. 
 Darroch: Place of Psychology in the Training of Teachers. 
 Murray, Gilbert: An Educated Nation (Conference of Educational 
 
 Associations, 1917). 
 RoscoE, F. : Teaching as a Profession. 
 Teachers' Encyclopaedia: Articles on Training of Teachers, vol. viii. 
 
 VII. ORGANISATION (INTERNAL) 
 
 Adamson: Practice of Instruction. 
 
 Bagley: Classroom Management. 
 
 Barnett: Teaching and Organisation. 
 
 Bray: School Organisation. 
 
 Collar and Crook: School Management. 
 
 Report of L.C.C on Internal Examinations in Elementary Schools. 
 
 Skrine: Pastor Agnorum. 
 
 Thompson, D'Arcy: Day Dreams of a School Master. 
 
 VIII. DEVELOPMENT AND THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF 
 EDUCATION 
 
 Adams: Spirit of Youth in the City Streets. 
 Chrysostom, Brother: Personality and Education. 
 Cronson: Pupil Self -Government. 
 Dewey: Democracy and Education. 
 
 Schools of To-morrow. 
 Donaldson: The Growth of the Brain. 
 Deummond: Introduction to Child Study.
 
 260 THE CUKEICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Hall, G. S.: Adolescence. 
 
 Youth: its Education, Regimen, and Hygiene. 
 Hughes: The Making of Citizens. 
 
 The Democratic Ideal in Education. 
 
 School Training. 
 Johnson: Problems of Boyhood. 
 Kerschensteiner: Education for Citizenship. 
 Lane, Homer: The Little Commonwealth. 
 INIackenzie, R. H. : The Boy Scout Movement. 
 Macmillan, M. : The Camp School. 
 Mark, H. T. : The Unfolding of Personality in Education. 
 MtrMFOiiD: The Dav.-n of Mind. 
 Murray and Brown-Sihth: The Child under Eight. 
 Nunn: Education, its Data and First Principles. 
 O'Shea, M. v.: Social Development and Education. 
 Rowe: The Physical Nature of the Child. 
 Sandiford: Comparative Education. 
 
 The Mental and Physical Life of School Children. 
 Scharlieb: The Hope of the Future. 
 Scott, Colin: Social Education. 
 Slaughter: The Adolescent. 
 Sully : Studies of Childhood. 
 Teachers' Encyclopaedia : vol. iii., Burstall, S. A. : On Co-Education; 
 
 vol. X., Mackenzie: On Scout Movement. 
 Woods: Co-Education. 
 Welton and Blandfoed : Moral Training through School Discipline. 
 
 LX. OTHER SYSTEMS 
 
 Adamson : Practice of Instruction. 
 Burstall: Impressions of American Education. 
 Farrington: Public Primary School System of France. 
 
 French Secondary Schools. 
 Gibson: Education in Scotland. 
 Hughes and Klemm: Scotch Education. 
 Moore: Fifty Years of American Education. 
 Oliphant: lYench Schools. 
 
 Paulsen: German Education — Past and Present. 
 Pressland: Education in Germany. 
 Sandiford: Comparative Education. 
 Smail: Trade and Technical Education in France and Germany. 
 
 (Pamphlet L.CC) 
 Teachers' Encyclopaedia: vol. vi., Education in U.S.A. 
 Winch: Notes on German Schools.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Academies, American, 230 
 
 — French, 238-239 
 
 Acts, Board of Education, 24 
 
 — Defective and Epileptic Children, 
 254 
 
 — Education (1870), 3 
 (1902), 3 
 
 (1918), 5,244-255 
 
 — Endowed Schools, 22 
 
 -^ Necessitous Board Schools, 7 
 
 — Provision of Meals, 7 
 
 — Public Schools, 21 
 
 — Taxation (Customs and Excise), 
 26 
 
 — Technical, 26 
 
 — Voluntary Schools, 7 
 
 — Young, 225 
 Ad hoc Bodies, 8 
 Adult Schools, 27-29 
 Age of Entrance, 39 
 Aims of Education, 58-68 
 Arithmetic in Rural Schools, 181- 
 
 182 
 Army Schools, 28-29 
 Arnold, Dr., 217 
 Art Subjects, Specialisation, 190 
 
 B 
 
 Backward Child, Tlie, 18, 188, 190 
 Baden-Powell, Sir Robert, 221 
 Bell, Dr., 6 
 
 Bishop's Stortford College, 125-120 
 Board of Agriculture, 1, 23 
 
 — of Education, Functions of, 8 
 Boarding Schools, 22 
 
 Scottish, 227 
 
 Boy Scout Movement, 221-222 
 British Schools, 6 
 
 — and Foreign School Society, 6, 
 31 
 
 Buildings (Elementary), Accommo- 
 dation, 40, 50 
 
 of German Schools, 40, 183 
 
 Class Rooms, 43-44, 50, 51 
 
 Colouring, 45 
 
 Hall, 41 
 
 Lighting, 44 
 
 Main Room, 52 
 
 Types of, 42-43 
 
 Ventilation and Heating, 45- 
 
 48 
 
 Buildings and Equipment (Secon- 
 dary), 53-56 
 
 Bursars, 32 
 
 Burstall, Miss, 132 
 
 Business Schools, American, 232 
 
 C 
 
 Capitation Grant, 
 Charity Commissioners, 22 
 Child Study, 75-83 
 Childhood, 79-83 
 Class, Meaning of, 175 
 Classes Enfantines, 239 
 Classes, Open Air, 19 
 Classification of Pupils, 186 
 
 — of Staff, 188-189 
 Clay, Mr., 46 
 
 Clifton College, 120-123 
 Cockerton Judgment, 25 
 Co-Education, American, 229 
 Colleges, Working Men's, 27 
 
 — Training, Elementary, 30-35 
 
 Secondary, 35-36 
 
 Colleges, 20, 241 
 
 Commissions, Lord Clarendon's, 21 
 Taunton's, 21 
 
 — Bryce, 23, 24 
 Conferences, 201, 204 
 Consultative Committee, 7 
 Continuation Schools, 27-30, 250 
 
 261
 
 262 
 
 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Continuity of Education, 108-113 
 Contributory Schools, 13 
 Co-operative Activities, 207-215 
 
 — Societies, 29 
 
 Courses of Study, Secondary School, 
 
 111, 130. 131 
 Curricula. Principles of. Elementary 
 
 57-74, 84-100 
 Secondary, 101-137 
 
 D 
 
 Department, Size of, 39 
 Draught Board, 46 
 Dumville, Mr., 100 
 
 E 
 
 Ecoles MaterncUes, 239 
 
 — Normales, 241-242 
 Education, Elementary, Historical 
 
 Sketch of, 6-7 
 
 — Secondary, Modern Development 
 of, 21-24 
 
 — Higher Types, 20-36 
 Education Act (1870), 3 
 (1902), 3 
 
 (1918), 5,244 fE. 
 
 — Department, 7 
 
 — Reform Council, 111 
 
 — Systems, Scottish, 225-228 
 
 American, 228-233 
 
 German, 234-238 
 
 French, 238-243 
 
 — Values, 58-74 
 
 Elementary Schools (types), 3, 4-8, 
 10-15,18,19,51,249 
 
 Fatigue of Teacher, 142, 143 
 Field Club, 29 
 Formal Training, 59-61, 110 
 Free Education, 7 
 
 Furniture (Elementary), 37 fE., 44, 
 48-49 
 
 G 
 
 Garden School, 39 
 Glazebrook, Canon, 110 
 Government of School, 205-224 
 
 Professor Dewey on, 206 
 
 — by Pupils themselves, 207, 217- 
 
 224 
 Governors of Secondary Schools, 9 
 
 H 
 Hall, Stanley, 75 
 Handicraft Centres, 51 
 Handwork, 73, 77-78, 82-83, 173 
 Harrow School, 127 
 Head Teacher, duties of, 183-204 
 
 American and German, 183 
 
 Elementary and Secondary, 
 
 compared, 184 
 Herbartians, 61 
 
 High Schools, American, 230-233 
 Highgate School, 123-124 
 Holiday Camps, 252 
 Home Secretary, 1 
 Homework, 200-201 
 " Hoppers," 46 
 House System, 183, 223-224 
 
 Imperial College of Science and 
 
 Technology, 27 
 Individual Sufliciencj', 66 
 Infancy, 76-79 
 Intermediate Schools (Scottish), 
 
 225-227 
 
 James, William, 77 
 
 Junior County Scholarships, 15 
 
 Juvenile Department (Scottish ), 
 
 226 
 
 K 
 Kindergarten Schools, American. 
 
 230 
 German, 234-235 
 
 Ladder of Education (American), 
 231 
 
 Lancaster, Joseph, 6 
 
 Liberal Education, 91-92 
 
 Local Education Authority, Con- 
 stitution of, 7-8, 244 ff. 
 
 — Government Board, 1 
 
 London Education Authority, 8 
 (note), 15 
 
 Lycie, 241 
 
 M 
 
 Managers, School, 7-8 
 
 Manchester Grammar School, 115- 
 
 119 
 Mannheim Experiment, 18, 188
 
 INDEX 
 
 263 
 
 Manual Work, 12 
 Mark, Thistleton, 216 
 Matter and Method, 95-100 
 Mechanics' Institutes, 27 
 Medical Treatment, 7, 253 
 Mentalfreahness, 141-142 
 Mentally deficient, 7, IS 
 Middle Schools (Prussia), 235 
 MiU Hill School, 127 
 Montessori, Dr., 75. 7S 
 Municipal Schools, 27 
 — Girls' School, 133-137 
 
 N 
 National Bureau of Education, 228 
 National Society, 6 
 Normal Schools'( American), 232-233 
 Norwood and Hope, 22,109-110, 112- 
 
 113 
 Nursery Schools, 248-249 
 
 Organisation of Rural Schools, 
 174-182 
 
 Payment by Results, 7 
 Physically Defective, 17, 18 
 Playground, 39 
 Plenum System, 46 
 Polj-technics, 27 
 Prefectorial System, 217-220 
 " Primary," 9 
 Promotion, 192-197 
 Proviseur, 183,241 
 Pupil Teacher, 33-35 
 
 R 
 
 Reclassification of Pupils, 187 
 
 Register of Schools, 255 
 
 — of Teachers , 7 
 
 " Remove " Classes, 188 
 
 Resefirch Work, Educational, 254 
 
 Sadler, Sir Michael, 230 
 
 St. Leonard '.s School, 132-133 
 
 Scholarships, 15 f. 
 
 Science and Art Department, 25 
 
 — Schools, 25, 103 
 
 Scott's Social Education, 210 fE. 
 Secondary Schools, First and Second 
 
 Grade, 24 
 
 Municipal, 24 
 
 Prepfiratory, 23 
 
 Public; 22 
 
 Self -Government, 217-224 
 Settlements, 29 
 Social Training, 205-224, 252 
 Societj- for Promoting Christian 
 
 Knowledge, 6 
 Speciali&t Teachers, 94-95, 189- 
 
 190 
 Spencer {" Education "), 6, 67, 90, 
 
 195 
 State Aid and Control, 1, 3, 6, 14, 
 
 27, 65 (see also Acts) 
 Student Teacher, 32, 33, 185 
 Sunday Schools, 27 
 Supplementary Course, Scottish, 226 
 
 French, 239-240 
 
 Sj'stems of Education other than 
 
 English, 225-243 
 
 Teachers' Colleges, American, 233. 
 
 Technical Schools, 13, 25-28 
 
 Time Tables of Elementary Schools, 
 138-182 
 
 of French Elementary Schools, 
 
 138 
 
 time allotted to subjects, 139, 
 
 153-154 
 
 length and distribution of 
 
 lessons, 140 ff. 
 
 of Infant Department of 
 
 large school, 144-147 
 
 of Boys' Department of Ele- 
 mentary School, 150-159 
 
 of Girls' Department of Ele- 
 mentary School, lGO-161 
 
 of Boys' Department of Higher 
 
 Grade School, 163 
 
 of Open-Air School, 165 
 
 of Central School (Com- 
 mercial), 168-169 
 
 of Mixf^d Department, Central 
 
 School (Commercial and In- 
 dustrial), 170-171 
 
 of Rural School, 178-179 
 
 Tobin's Tubes, 46 
 
 Trade Schools, 13, 16, 17
 
 -264 
 
 THE CUKRICULA OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Training Colleges, 30-36 
 
 Scottish, 228 
 
 (foreign), 232 3. 
 
 — of Continuation School Teachers, 
 283 
 
 U 
 
 University College, 120 
 
 — Extension, 29 
 
 — Tutorial, 29 
 
 Universities, 27 
 
 Values, Educational, 58-74 
 
 W 
 Wakefield Grammar School, 127 
 War Office, 1 
 
 Warwickshire Prefect System, 218 ff. 
 Wells, H. G., 2 
 " Whiskey Monej'," 26 
 Women Teachers, Employment of, 
 191-192 
 
 of Germany, 192 
 
 Workers' Educational Association,29 
 Working Men's Clubs, 29 
 Works' Schools, 28 
 
 Y.M.C.A.,27 
 
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