EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 55, 5 March 1918, Page 3

EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE.

THE NEW BRITISH SCHEME,

INTERVIEW WITH MR H. A. L, FISHER.

FROM NURSERY TO UNIVERSITY. (By Edward Marshall, in the London •Observer.) In an interview which, to a layman, 3eems almost like the story of the dream of a new nation, Mr H. A. L% Fisher, [President of the British Board of Education, told me of the new educational scheme which he believes will be the best of all monuments to the men who have fallen in the war "fighting for those ideals which mark the progress^ —that is, the proper education—of the world."

"War," said Mr Fisher, "has stirred men's mind's as well as souls. Universal service naturally leads to the conviction that those who render it are worthy of the best from the community, even as they give their best to the community. One of my friends doing Y.M.C.A. work at the front and coming into contact with incredible numbers .of our British soldiery, tells me how especially determined on a more liveable future is the British soldier. First of all he is resolved, of course, to beat the German ; .the second keynote of his feeling is that we must have a better England after the war. It will be well, for those in power in Government if they fully.realise thi6 general determination. "Obviously the first requirement of a better England must be better education, and, especially, more education for the children of the people. The impulse thrills the Empire. Recently a meeting representing 100,000 workers met in South Wales to pass'resolutions demanding free secondary and university education for everyone who by scholastic efforts shall show real desire for it. Nearly all the trades unions in England have passed resolutions of the sort. The relationships between child labour and child education have been and are being considered with especial care. British children have not been kept out of the elementary school by labour—such institutions have had an 84 per cent attendance ?but, under the system which has existed, a child, before beginning its school day, has been permitted to work three hours at such tasks as delivering newspapers, blacking boots, or carrying parcels. •"Experience has disproved' the theory that such occupations do no harm to school work. Reports from a great number of our elementary school authorities show that school work is very greatly impaired by out-of-school employment, and especially by earlier-han-.-chool hours work. Children who perform it reach school tired, with their minds full of other interests, too often paramount. To me, therefore, it seems obvious that the first' requirement of an efficient elementary, school system must be strict limitation of hours of labour for children under fourteen. Under my Bill no labour will be tolerated under 12, and, on school days, none whataver before 5 p.m. or after 8 p.m. Thus vill be guaranteed freedom from interference by employment. A night's rest .vill intervene between any outside work the child may do and its school day. In Dther words, education -will he first and jmployment second in England. BETER-PAID TEACHERS.

"That improvement is important, but, o my mind, the cardinal reform which the Bill provides is the increase of teachers' salaries. To one who knows .he schools as they have been, it js ap>arent that instructors for them must 'ie recruited from a class mentally and isychologically better than that which las been drawn from in the past, and hat teaching must be made a liberal profession rather than low-grade labour. \Vith this thought in mind we have seured of 'new money' for annual expenditure £3,200,000 for higher salaries md pensions for the. teachers in ele uentary schools, and £433,000 for teachers in secondary schools. '"I believe, and an increasing number of other people are beginning to be.ieve, that education lies at the root of happiness for every people. Worthy education is impossible where inferior teaching forces can be secured where : nferior pay is offered. Where teaching s inferior good government cannot be expected. "That nation which, after the war, •mploys the best teachers with the highist nay and ae a part of the best school will be the best governed and therefore the greatest nation. Of that I am absolutely certain. No people which does not respect education will demand and support good, government, and if there is not a vital impulse running through itp education the people of no nation can be expected to respect it.

NURSERY SCHOOLS. "The school programme under the new system will include: — "First. Nursery schools for children between the ages of three and six. It s almost certain that these nursery schools will be small institutions in which much sleep- and much play will be combined, with very little Toutme. instruction ; but the play will be educationally organised, and the sleep will be under those conditions which will help the children to become strong and healthy men and women. In these schools will be no desks ; they will be equipped with eote" and tables, and, so far as possible, they will be arranged so that their pupils may spend much time in the open "Attendance at these schools will not compulsory, for we wish children with good homes to remain in them till six years of age; but in the crowded districts, where mothers are generally employed, such nursery schools will be very beneficial, especially as, under careful medical supervision, they will be inspected daily and guarded carefully against such infections as measles. Thus we hope that we shall be able to give a multitude of children from three to six years old who, at present, are denied it, a solid foundation for such good health as will enable them to take any advantage of our later educational plans. "There is the first stage : a good physical foundation, as much open air as possible, teachers who will be partly nurses, •gymnastic training of all available kinds, schools in clo"e contact with the children's homes and mothers. THE CHILD UP TO FOURTEEN. "Now comes the second period: "Chiidren from six to fourteen years of age will be cared for in the elementary schools. The child's elementary school life will be roughly divided into two periods, one .from the. age of six to that of twelve' devoted mainly to the acquisition of. educational rudiments, and the other from the age of twelve to

that of fourteen, when further and J more elaborate training will be given, j in, say,, literature, foreign languages, handwork, housecraft (for girls), and general handicraft for boys, both of J •he later treated rather as methods than as subjects. .Music will be offered to both sexes. "The third period requires full time in the secondary schools. By grants the board now aids nearly a thousand such institutions giving general secondary education. "This year we shall establish two examinations, one for secondary school pupils roughly sixteen years old, and one for pupils of about eighteen. We are hopeful that we may be able to get these examinations accepted as credentials, not only for entrance into universities-, but for entrance into various professions. "This mieht tend to relieve the country of the great embarrassment of many institutions, and we find several professions agreeably disposed toward the idea. We have a grant of £50,000 with which to finance the examinations, and believe them likely to supply the country with two good and thoroughly reliable teste for its sixteen and eighteen year old youth. "One of my predecessors, Mr M henna, passed a'regulation requiring that every secondary school aided by the board must provide free places > for elementary school pupils up to 25 per cent of its total number of pupils. This gives us from our elementary to our secondary schools a highway broader than exists elsewhere, I think. Institutions which accept grants from the State must make thie provision of onequarter of their places for elementary school pupils, and thus many private institutions will be affected, most of those in 1 England in fact, save Eton, Harrow, and a few others. "The majority of such institutions have no great endowments, do not especially cater to the aristocracy, and are assisted locally and by the State. Under the Bill a boy or girl leaving the elementary schools at fourteen must attend a secondary school at least eight hours a week for forty weeks, or, in some other way, be under direct educational influence to the aggregate of 320 hours each year. This attendance may be distributed so as to suit the convenience of its industry, if the pupil is employed. Thus the pupil is carried on. in general, to the age of eighteen. "Part of this training will be physical, so. for the first time in our history, general supervision will be exercised not only over the basic health, but over the physical fitness, of our citizens up tp_ the age of eighteen. Literary, historical, general, and vocational training, also will be given, vocational training dominating during the last two years.

OUR LOST ART OF MUSIC. "I hope that music will find a place, but this has not been settled. ■ Personally I regard music as important in all education. There is no way in which the Germans are so far in advance of the other nations of the world as in their general diffusion of musical knowledge and taste. It has helped them even in this war. "I believe <such knowledge to be a great solace to industrial populations, who, when overstrained, can take refuge in really fine music. We have neglected music sadly, although we were a musical people in the seventeenth century. How or why music suffered so suddenly an eclipse among us I am at a loss to undertand. We have a great volume of wonderful folk-songs, and if our people have but slight encouragement we soon ehall be a musical nation" again. I believe that through social [ and musical education as parts of the continuation system in evening schools we ehall raise our whole population to a I higher standard within a few years. "Now let us consider the relationships between popular education• and industry, remembering that it is through its industry that every nation lives-. We human beings are such creatures of habit that we have come to regard the exploitation of children and young people in industry as a primal necessity of industry's, and therefore of the nation's, prosperity. I submit that this is wrong. "Youth ought not to be subjected to industry. A nation thrives, not through the industry of it« youth, but through that of its adults; and adult industry will be perfect only in those cases in which the adult is properly developed—in other wordi. in those cases in which the adult's childhood had been guarded and nurtured rightly. .--.••