NOTES ON EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 138, 5 March 1908, Page 5

NOTES ON EDUCATION

|- .(By Socrates.) MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS. ~ Tho urgent necessity for the systematic mcdical inspection of schools is amply demonstrated in. an interesting article on School Hygiene in tho "Crucible." The 'writer is-Dr. Alico Johnson, medical officer :of tho Lambeth Poor School and assistant, medical inspector under the London County 'Council: She gives tho following account of tho condition of .tho children examined by licr in a school situated in; a well-to-do healthy suburb of London. The children's ■parents, were, sho says, mostly City clerks and prosperous tradespeople:— ; ; ,"I examined tho children at tho beginning !df" the autumn term. There were lit'ty-six I examined and took the past history from tho parents of fifty-three. Out of these fifty-threo children seventeen ■or just one-third wore physically or mentally defective. , I give tho list, as it is instructive : nine were suffering from enlarged tonsils and adenoids, which render them deaf, dull, liable to bronchitis and checked growth; twelvo. were 1 deaf in varying degrees; six 1 had defective visions; two were suffering / from chorea 1 (St. Vitus's Dance) in a mild form, and wero shown to me because they' had distracted their . teacher, who, though aii able and experienced person, had punished them several times, mistaking their fidgetiness and irritability for naughtiness',. whereas it was entirely due to their physical condition; ono was mentally deficient; thrco had very bad tcotll that required. immediate attention, as tho swallowing of the decaying products from their teeth au<l tho nori-chow'inf* of their food had mado them anaemic; six had discharging 'eats',"'which' rendered them anaemic, and tho" smell from the discharge was offensive to tho class., These six cases of discharging. ear* could easily have been cured had tho': adenoids, which 1 wore the exciting causo .of'-'.tlio discharge, been'removed. None of those-.' seventeen children would have benefited , fully by the teaching provided for them unless their ailments were treated. In the case of tho mentally' deficient' child, sending him to be taught in,a special school provided for these children was the only way of'imparting knowledge to him." ,

V^/AN,EXPENSIVE UNIVERSITY. ,\Lorrl Curzon recently made a strong appeal fbr funds for Oxford University. His remark's are tho subject of a searching criticism by Mr. W. It. Lawson, who finds tlie \ total annual revenue of Oxford to be ovor"£800,000. Tho average cost of board, lodging, and teaching at Oxford is £150. Tho;' 1 corresponding'total (allowing £60 for board .'and lodging) at. Berlin is £'J2, and at Glasgow or ; Edinburgh'is uiider £70. Yet Berlin lias 367 professors, and Oxford only 56 ! He closes "with a vivid contrast between Sir Thomas More's cold and hungry fellowscholai's and tho' present day ' Heads and fellows with their £306,000' a year.

.•■Another .writer, Mr. A.- E. ' Zimmern, states that Oxford "necessary college expenses,, including tuition fees, range from £100 to £130 for the academic • year" of less than six mouths; At' Hulm&-\ Hall, Manchester,': the- students pay an .inclusive feo of £63 a ( year for board; lodging, and tuition, and ■ at the new "Wantage Hall at Reading, Which "will, closely resemble -an Oxford College in its architectural arrangements, Itho fees aroto bo fixed on the same scalc,'..tho'academical year in both eases being .longer .than at Oxford. This is a very large 'dilforenco,' but it is not all ;■ for it nius't bo • remembered that Hulmo Hall and Wantage' Hall are self-supporting, whereas the: Oxford Colleges, whero'living is nearly twice as dear, aro all of them endowed, some of them :very;heavily endowed.' .

ENGLISH . EDUCATION. ~; ,In his.. prosidciitiax aildress to' the North of Englaha Education.Conference,' which met at S&offieldv "recently,'.! Professor M. E. Sadler reviewed'tho change which had come oyer tlio spirit of English education' during tlio last ten' years;- and touched upon tho chief; difficulties which now'retard its progress, and upon the points in which improvements aro especially needed. Tho chief defects ;in English elementary education were tho large classes in' many ; schools, which mado individual teaching inmost 'impossible;. tlio Overcrowded curriculum; tho too early age .'at which the • majority , of '• tho children left .school; tho half-time system in the toStilo- district's;:and tho vtendency in largo schools (established for, reasons cf economy) to burden , the' head teacher with ad.minis-, trativo hud- clerical duties -'which absorbed; oriergy that was needed for educational' in'flueuco among tlio pupils. Multitudes - 'of children' suffered in health from insufficient sleep. More handwork and. individual study were . needed in 'tlio higher classes of many elementary,' " schools; • . Day 'continuation. :schools, with courscs'of study_of a practioal but ■intellectually stimulating kind, would further tho! interests of English 'industry and lessen tlio alarming .pcrcentago of young men among-' .tlio unemployed. •In nearly all English schools the teaching of th 6 mother toiiguo was poor. Tho intellectual vigour of our higher secondary : education was ' impaired by premature specialisation in classiand especially-'by ;tho, too early of Greek. Tho higher education of , girls and women was dispro-portionately-concerned . with the -'recruiting of tho teaching profession. ,It-was desirable to; provide more courses 4 of training which would prepare women 'for' administrative posts and for a wider range of social service..But the 'welfare of any educational system depended chiefly upon tho alert efficiency and pastoral gift of tho ( teachcrs. . t At present most teachers could .not look forward to a : suitablo compctcnco in. middle life. Tlio prospects of men teachers in' riiiddlo secondary, schools were lamentable, and called for, inimediato improvement.-'

"A Neurotic system of.scholarship. "Speaking rcccntly at Sheffield, at tho North'of England Education Conference,' Professor. /Marl;. Wright, of Newcastle-on-Tyno, referred to tho sad tragedies in training .colleges of- boys' and girls who, under the nourotic system of Scholarship, had wasted all their strength' in' attaining examination •success, only to find themselves utterly 'unsuited to the work of. teaching,, and that fch'oy nuist begin at eighteen, years; of ago another career, . . • ' *.

, THE MANNHEIM SCHOOLS. •Mr. A. J. Pressland, F.Ii.S.E., recently read a paper to . the Edinburgh Educational Institute on the subject, "Educational' Experiment in South Germany;" He said that in South Germany uniformity had liot yet stifled' initiative, and red tape was opt obstructive. Tlio speaker reviewed the chief characteristics. of the towns -of South Gcruiahy,' indicating the features which were worth serious study jby a visiting inspector, namely The commercial schools of Frankfort, the trade schools of Munich, ; the application of science to; the industries and of scientific method to commerce in. Zurich, the training of the teacher ' of continuation classes in Carlsruhe and Stuttgart, and the classification of primary pupils according to ability -in Mannheim. . From the three experiments. bearing most nearly' on Edinburgh.''.'needs—the organisation of trade schools in Munich, co-operation of public and:private bodies in Basle; anil.the organisation of the primary schools in Mannheim—the lecturer' selected the latter for detailed discussion. At Mannheim the school authority* consisted of twenty-three members;'. five of-them , are clergymen, five are teachers (one the Director of Education), two are mothers of past or present pupils, the school doctor, another ordinary practitioner, arid nine members chosen by the Town Conn-' oil. It would be noticed, lie said, that the paid, expert was a member, of the Board, not merely an .official; the official fcould give his opinion only when it,was asked; the momber could give his opinion when he liked. The reorganisation of the Mannheim schools, begun in 1901 by. Dr. Sickinger, was rendered necessary by the inability of primary pupils to pass the entrance examjnation to secondary schools. Tlio new organisation intcrposes'a class of'pupils between the average class and the weak-minded clasn. This class of dullards contains about 10 per edit, of' the total number , in attendance, and.re.more instruction in manual-work ans?

less in book learning. In Mannheim it, has been pronounced n success, and the Mannheim system has been copied in thirty, other largo towns. But hostile, critics are not wanting, and the Icctnrer "gave quotations from some of their views, concluding with the statement that much'depended on local temporament, and that what suited an enterprising town like Mannheim might very well fail in another town of easy-going respectability.