UNDUE IMPORTANCE

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 451, 3 January 1934, Page 5

UNDUE IMPORTANCE

! SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS j | British Education Policy OTHER TRAINING DISPARAGED I MEDICAL REPORT ; prp«s Association. —Conyright. j Reed Today, 9.10 a.m. I London. Jan. 2. I The Medical Research Council has ' published a report recording the growth and development of 4300 school children since the war. Investigations suggest that examinations are given undue importance in the British educational system while handicrafts, music, physical drill and training in citizenship, though highly approved in theory, are severely disparaged immediately the first public examination looms on the horizon. A child with examination facility wins a reputation at school. Boys and girls who are good at handicrafts are described as dull or "without ability except in cookery, needlework, music, and drawing." The report classifies the gifts of children under the following physical characteristics: Children with dark eyes, dark hair and long heads are aesthetic rather than analytical, their literary and musical attainments are good, but they-rarely have mathematical or scientific ability. "Getting on" is not their, main ambition. On the contrary, blue-eyed fair haired children have a decided preference for athletics, and often have good organising ability, but no great musical ability.