་ are employed and in some of them special qualifications are asked for. These include ability to give story hours and talks, and a knowledge of children's books and child psychology. In a number of libraries various forms of extension' activities are arranged to connect children's interests with books. These include reading-circles, stamp clubs, dramatic clubs, competitions, and exhibitions. Children's librarians visit heads of schools in order to keep in touch with the staff and talk to the pupils about books. Talks to school-leavers' are arranged and jackets of new books are displayed. Ten libraries have some kind of organized provision for adolescents, in the form of either a special collection of books set on one side in the adult or children's library, or a special department for the use of these young people. In few public libraries are books provided for children except in the children's departments, but in 14 systems, school library schemes are in operation. The total number of books in these libraries is 114,760, which is an increase of 27,440 over 1933-4. Just over II million books were issued to children in 1938-910,074,619 from the children's departments, and 940,567 from school library systems. In the modern community the public library is the clearing-house for information and the coordinator of educational activities. Small collections of books are set aside in the library or sent to another centre for the exclusive use of students attending university or Workers' Educational Association classes. More than half the libraries reporting have accommodation which they offer these and similar organizations. Very often no fees are charged, but, where they are, they are usually nominal. Many libraries themselves organize educational activities of more general appeal such as lectures, musical evenings, and film shows; others arrange library clubs, language clubs, wireless discussion groups, and play-readings. Owing to the difference in the nature of the county library systems it is not possible for activities such as those just described to be organized except in the larger branch libraries in urban areas. The primary function of providing books absorbs a larger proportion of the energies of the staffs, not that they would not indulge in these activities if conditions made it possible. The counties included in this report are Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, East and West Sussex. They have a population for library purposes of 3,802,806 (an increase of 12.5 per cent over 1933-4) and spend £147,902 on their libraries this works out at 71d. per head of population. Of this sum £47,653, or 32 per cent of the total is spent on books. The stock of the county libraries is now 1,686,856, which is an increase of 690,560 over the total for 1933-4, and provides 44 books per 100 of population. Registered readers total 724,847 in nine libraries (figures for the tenth were not available). This represents 20.9 per cent of the population served in the nine counties, an increase of 2 over the figure for 1933-4. The issue of books for the ten counties totalled 14,487,635, as compared with 9,441,890 for the year 1933-4. This gives an average issue per reader of 20 books a year. Children's libraries, or collections of children's books, are provided at a number of the new branch libraries in the centres, children are well provided for owing to the facts that the county library systems form a part of the education department, and that the centres are housed in the elementary schools. School libraries are not provided. All the county libraries serve the Workers' Educational Association classes and other adult educational organizations, generally by loans of bulk collections for the whole session; in one county as many as 83 adult education classes are supplied in this way. The service to students is augmented in all but two county libraries by the supply of books to readers direct through a postal service. One library reports issuing over 60,000 books in this way, and another nearly 50,000. AN AN EXPERIMENT IN COLLABORATION N interesting experiment was carried out during the week ending April 4 at Shoreditch Training College. The whole week was spent in the examination of the problems of post-war education. The experiment grew out of J. B. Priestley's last postscript in which frank discussion of the problems which will have to be faced in the world of to-morrow was advocated as the most urgent need of the moment for all serious-minded people. The general topic of the week's papers and discussions was "Ideals and Practice in Post-War Education". Two sessions were held each day, the first from 9.30 to 11 a.m. being devoted to papers by staff and students, and the second from 11.15 to 12.30 to discussions on the problems raised by the papers. Each session was under the chairmanship of one of the students, and each group of students was represented both in taking the chair and also in the discussions. The afternoons of each day were spent in preparation for the following day's topics, and for this purpose two reading-rooms were set out with relevant material. This was not the least valuable part of the experiment. Publishers had been asked to cooperate, and students were able to see and use copies of the Oxford Pamphlets on World Affairs, the Cambridge series Current Problems, the Sheldon Press Christian News Letter Books, the "Searchlight Books", Longmans' British Life and Thought books, Macmillans' War Pamphlets, and a selection of the most recent Pelican books. Files of The Times Educational Supplement, The Journal of Education, and The New Era in Education were also in use, and magazine articles, Board of Education circulars, and Association of Boys' Clubs publications were in demand. The first topic to be discussed was “ Democracy, its Ideals and Demands ". Two contrasted English views were presented in two papers, the first discussing the realist view of Mr. Alderton Pink and the second analysing the challenge to democracy as C. Delisle Burns sees it. These papers were followed by a picture of the contemporary Nazi school system and the defence of its underlying philosophy from the Nazi point of view. A most lively discussion followed in the second session of the day, and after the formal adjournment of the session an informal discussion was held in the afternoon at the students' request, when the problems were again talked over for an hour and a half. The The second day's sessions developed the topic, Ideals of Educational Reconstruction ". The ideals and suggestions of the Spens Report were the charge of the first speaker; the growing concern for reconstruction and the formulation of ideals, which are so noticeable a feature of the educational journals of the past three months, came next; and the third paper of the day was a tutor's attempt to picture post-war education and estimate the results of the tremendous experiences of to-day. The discussions that followed were significant in that students were anxious to formulate their own ideals for the education of the future, and to bring other people's suggestions to the touchstone of their own experience, limited though it be, rather than to accept ready-made opinions from others whose world was possibly far removed from their own. It is perhaps significant that a suggestion from a young idealist that (Continued on page 188) education should be continued to the age of 21, and that every man should obtain his education in a variety of schools, of varying grades and bias, and set in varying districts-urban, rural, industrial, sea-side-captured the imagination of the whole company, and received full discussion throughout the sessions of the week. The Training College problem was next discussed. Pictures of the colleges of a generation ago were given to provide an historical background for a discussion; a vivid picture of personal experience of a university teachers' training department was given by one of the tutors; while a third paper presented the various criticisms of the present training college system that have been offered since the January Conference of the National Students' Union. Discussions were again full of interest. Two dangers inherent in the training college system were noted time after time the danger of unreality which is bound up with the preparation of a young man at so early an age for a career that can be successful only if he has some knowledge of and contact with the world of business and industry, and the danger of looking at our teacher problems through an academic study of psychology rather than being able to live alongside little children from whom we might learn the deep truths of education. "Youth Service and the Teacher was the subject of Thursday's work, and a series of five short papers covered past achievements, present difficulties, and future possibilities. A tutor first gave a picture of the inception of three boys' clubs in which he had played an important part. One of the students followed with his experiences first in scouting, then as a leader in a boys' club, and finally in youth organization work in his home district. A short paper on Circular 1529 was followed by a statement of the scope of the new Air Training Corps especially as it has developed in Shoreditch and in our own building. The last paper presented the work in the provinces during the past three months with special reference to the Suffolk experiment. The following discussions showed that most of the students have appreciated the urgency of this appeal for teacher service, and indeed the College has its own scheme for its own boys' club which shall serve both the lads of the district and provide training of this vital kind for our young teachers. The concluding topic of the week was "The Schools of To-morrow". The problem of the extra year was discussed with special reference to the Chesterfield experiment; the American view of educating for democracy and the practice evolved in America were compared with our own systems; the future of craft teaching in the schools was a topic relevant to the advanced work which Shoreditch does in this direction; while the last speaker discussed the views of Herbert Read in his pamphlet, To Hell with Culture. The week's conferences were highly successful. Problems vital to the work of us all as teachers have been lifted out of the lecture-room and presented as the personal concern of each thinking man; valuable experience in public speaking and procedure has been obtained; books, pamphlets, and articles have been used, and students have been introduced to the important contributions of the Press at the present moment; and, perhaps most important of all, staff and students have contributed to and benefited by a common pool of reading, experience, ideas, and ideals which will be of lasting benefit. THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS CORRESPONDENCE SIR,-The discussion on the public schools, as Mr. Unmack found, has become so extensive that those who now wish to join in are obliged by lack of space to make many debatable assumptions. In this case the assumptions are: 1. That boarding public schools of the £100 to £200 per annum type are worth saving. 2. That this will necessitate aid from public funds, involving a wider basis of recruitment. 3. That this wider recruitment is, in any case, desirable, and no effort should be spared to make the reinforced schools as efficient and harmonious as possible. I only propose to discuss these last two points, efficiency and harmony. EFFICIENCY The efficiency of a school depends largely on its teaching staff. Public schools, however, are almost entirely staffed by amateurs who have had no professional training and know little of the theory of teaching or learning. The ablest (excluding those rare birds, the born teachers') can teach able boys efficiently, and less able boys fairly so. The less able amateurs teach no one efficiently, and their class-room influence is often small. The least able generally conceal their inefficiency beneath a rigid uneducational technique which does positive harm, especially to able boys. If the public schools are to assume the responsibility of training an élite drawn from all sections of the community, only the best teachers will be good enough. A good honours degree and a year's post-graduate teaching course should be the normal qualification, with subsequent attendance at holiday courses when taking up fresh subjects or reviving old ones. One way of ensuring this would be to establish two scales of pay for new-comers, one for those with professional qualifications and a lower one for those without. This should improve the prestige of the profession by discouraging half-hearted entrants. HARMONY Harmony in the schools will depend as much on the relations of the masters with their boys as on the relations of the boys with one another. The masters' professional training, which will have included a practical study of the national system of education, together with its social and economic background, should enable them to welcome without embarrassment or reserve all who are entrusted to their care. The attitude of present public schoolboys to the new recruits will not be ungenerous, but the two groups will be shy of one another, and it will take more than the tact of enlightened masters to produce harmony. This half of the problem can be tackled at once, by providing practical courses in citizenship for as many boys as possible. Excellent up-to-date text-books exist, such as The A B C of Local Government or Citizenship through the Newspaper. This book knowledge can soon be made alive through visits to the Assizes, Quarter or Petty Sessions, County Council or County Borough meetings, newspaper offices, art, technical, or senior schools, A.R.P. Control Centres, &c., and by inviting such people as probation officers, police superintendents, sanitary inspectors, and billeting officers to talk about their work. The local weekly newspaper will become increasingly interesting and will often suggest new subjects for study and discussion. Before long the boys may well discover and wish to develop new ways of assisting in the local war effort. Much can thus be done to bring the hitherto isolated public school into closer contact with its neighbourhood, to dispel wrong ideas of class-distinction and privilege, and to establish a healthier social outlook among the boys. The professional training of public school masters must inevitably be postponed until after the war, but the elementary training of boys in citizenship outlined above can be given more efficiently in war than in peace time. All that is needed on the part of the teacher is a little imagination (Continued on page 190) BELL BOOKS A NEW GEOMETRY FOR SCHOOLS By C. V. DURELL, M.A. ... STAGE A, IS. 8d. STAGE B, 5s. (also in parts). Together, 6s. "Mr. Durell's new books once again put the author well into the lead in the field of geometrical teaching. ... A great advance. . . . Extraordinarily well planned and graded. . . . Admirably set out The exercises are very carefully selected and graded and offer ample scope for all types of pupils. . . . Examples for oral discussion before the exercises are attempted are a welcome feature. . Excellent textbooks for all School Certificate candidates."-MATHEMATICAL GAZETTE. ... ... IMPERITIS 2S. By A. S. C. BARNARD, M.A. Introduces the reader to a number of passages of several different Latin authors, after first preparing the ground for their appreciation. Problems of syntax and idiom occurring in them are first studied, and illustrated by sentences. By the plan adopted the pupil should be able to tackle passages of the Roman writers with more speed and confidence, and therefore with more enjoyment. MAN By A. H. HANSON, B.A. 3s. 6d. A thoroughly interesting and well-illustrated introduction to History, admirably adapted to the needs and capabilities of lower forms. "Teachers requiring an introductory course should certainly inspect this competent book. The material appears to us to be admirably selected and the treatment very interesting.. It should be in great demand.”—THE A.M.A. MODERN EUROPE, 1789-1939 By A. E. ECCLESTONE, M.A. With 17 sketch-maps. 3s. 6d. ... A concise, yet fresh and attractively written book. Designed primarily as a one-year course for School Certificate, the author, who is an experienced teacher and examiner, has aimed rather at brevity and simplicity of treatment than at comprehensiveness. A HISTORY MASTER writes: "An admirable book; the text interesting and clearly written; the maps not cumbered with irrelevant detail; the summaries most useful for examination purposes, and finally excellently balanced.” EVERYDAY BIOLOGY By G. PUGH SMITH, Ph.D., B.Sc. 3s. 9d. "A welcome book . . . for children of 12-15 years of age. . . . Well illustrated, and contains many valuable practical hints and instructions for pupil and teacher . . . It relates the teaching of biology to everyday life in an excellent and courageous manner.' -SCHOOL SCIENCE REVIEW. INSPECTOR HORNLEIGH L'Inspecteur Hornleigh sur la Piste Kriminalkommissar Hornleighs Erlebnisse Edited by E. SCHAERLI. Is. 6d. each Two fresh and stimulating readers adapted from the well-known B.B.C. feature. Both the French and German readers contain eight of Inspector Hornleigh's cases but the episodes are different in each book. A WORLD GEOGRAPHY By A. R. BARBOUR SIMPSON, M.A., B.Sc. Fully illustrated. The British Isles. 2s. 4d. Asia. 2s. 9d. Americas, Africa and Australasia. 4s. 6d. The British Isles section, already in its fourth edition, has achieved a wide reputation. Of the new volumes, the SCOTTISH EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL says, "These two books have many of the attractive features of The British Isles by the same author. Here the same wise and thoughtful selection of materials is apparent. A most intelligent use has been made of the sketch-map. . . . Another noteworthy feature is the stress that has been rightly placed upon economic aspects." Fuller details gladly sent on request to the publishers G. BELL & SONS, LTD. :: PORTUGAL STREET :: LONDON, W.C.2 and initiative. The willingness of busy officials and organizers to co-operate may surprise him: it will certainly prove a great encouragement both to him and to his pupils. E. H. N. W. SIR,-The two articles in your April number, by Professor Clarke and the Warden of Radley, exemplify strikingly the two sides of the problem of education in the modern world. : Professor Clarke writes of the "demand for something much more specific and professional; for a training that has in view well-organized and usable knowledge focused upon the demands of a professional function in an increasingly technical order. The demand will grow in emphasis and the old leisure' . . . will tend to disappear." The Warden of Radley looks forward to a curriculum based on the study of the Bible, enabling us to understand the origins and meanings of our civilization . . . and to think about fundamental things ". PUBLIC AND PREPARATORY SCHOOLMASTERS IN CONFERENCE SIR, From April 7 to April 9 a representative body of public and preparatory schoolmasters held its third annual conference. Some of us arrived, I think, with the feeling that the times had got rather beyond us, and that there would be little which could be usefully discussed. We were wrong; the discussions could with profit have lasted to the end of the week. Others were convinced, indeed, that important changes were close at hand, but viewed such changes with anxiety and foreboding. These were authoritatively told that the value of our system was fully recognized, and were sent away in great measure comforted. Many were ignorant, dubious, or frankly despairing of the Board of Education's present and future attitude toward us; they were bidden to be of good cheer and were assured of a sympathetic and generous co-operation. A summary of the resolutions passed appears, I believe, elsewhere in the Press. But I should like here to deal with the particular belief expressed by us that our system of boarding schools provides a very valuable environment for the development of religious education, and I am convinced that what is expressed and implied in the two following observations is of vital importance if we are to make good that boast. (i) We listened to an exhortation by the Bishop of Oxford that we should subordinate the teaching of Christian ethics to the teaching of Christian doctrine, and that we should be prepared equally to subordinate our own systems of worship to a closer co-operation with the parish church as a social focus. Most of us, I assume, would not question the desirability of such a change if it would point the way to a truly Christian society, beyond remarking that an inspired leadership in ethics, plus an inspired conduct of communal worship in a school chapel, has led many at least as far along the road to the integration of a Christian character as has an uninspired exposition of doctrine, plus an equally uninspired conduct of communal worship in a parish church. Some few of us (myself among them) had also the opportunity of hearing a short and sharp tirade directed by the Headmaster of Felsted against those who attempt the teaching of doctrine not without earnestness and conviction, but without knowledge of their subject. Though this begs, I think, the question, let us not for the moment attempt a defence. Let us by all means put our house in order, and let us place ourselves under competent instruction so that we may be qualified for this important task. (ii) I do not believe that the world can any longer blind itself to the vast importance of an understanding of psychology. This science, after a story of patient research which would surprise many of its detractors, has emerged from its infant stage, and is now crying aloud for fuller recognition. True, it is still rent by schisms, but the Hormic or Conative psychology is, I think, gradually establishing its claims to supremacy. The tenets of this school represent far more than an analysis of function and behaviour; they are nothing less than a reasoned exposition of the whole life of man. They pretend to no esoteric mystery; they are established on a comprehensive basis which admits of a variety of independent methods in the treatment of practical educational problems. Lastly, at no point do they conflict with religion; rather do they enrich it. Any opinion still prevailing to the contrary is usually, I think, due to a failure to recognize that one of the main functions of Hormic psychology is to explain how a character can be so integrated as to direct itself to the loftiest possible ideal. It should be part of the function of the Church to present the Christian religion in such a way as to make fullest use of this explanation. As a corollary, if members of the teaching profession are to be trained in the expounding of doctrine, let the clergy on their part consent to undergo fuller training in the principles and applications of modern psychology. Upon a liaison between (i) and (ii) above depends, I submit, a fine opportunity, educationally and socially, for Christianity in the future. There remains much that will still be controversial, and there will be grave difficulties still to be faced. T. F. POWELL. Hill Crest, Penrhyndeudraeth, FOUR LATIN AUTHORS SIR,-In a friendly notice of my Four Latin Authors in the March Journal of Education, your reviewer suggests that I am wrong in saying that " patria can have its first a either long or short ", and asked if I mean that "it sometimes sounds like the a in mater ". I will not venture to say how it was sounded, but three well-known quotations from Latin poets will perhaps suffice to show that it was certainly sometimes scanned long. The first instance is an adjective. tu patria nobis suppeditas praecepta. Lucretius III, 9. quaerit patria Caesarem. Horace, Odes IV, 5, 16. Umbria Romani patria Callimachi. Propertius, I, 4 (5), 64. |