Meals and Milk for School Children in Scotland. -The importance of maintaining school feeding schemes throughout the year, not only to meet special conditions arising from the war, but also to ensure that the nutrition of the school child may be maintained and even improved, is stressed in a circular issued to education authorities by the Scottish Education Department. The Department address themselves particularly to those authorities whose schools are mostly scattered in rural areas and who have not found it possible to institute far-reaching schemes of communal feeding. The Department now recommend these authorities not to close down their soup kitchens with the advent of summer but to explore the possibility of providing a meal consisting of a thick, well-flavoured vegetable soup accompanied by brown bread; or, as an alternative in the warmer weather, and as supplies of home produce become available, to serve a cold meal of salad, brown bread, milk and fruit (if available). Meals of this kind can play an important part in maintaining the health of the school child; and authorities are urged to consult their domestic science teachers on questions of diet and the proper preparation of food. The Department also point out that the provision of such meals will depend very largely upon the supplies of fresh vegetables which can be obtained locally and most of which can be grown in the school gardens. All possible measures should therefore be taken to increase food production in the school gardens and allotments.

Education in Wales.-During May the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education visited a number of local education authorities in Wales to discuss current problems with their representatives.

The

At the end of his visit, Mr. Ede said he had been greatly impressed by the manner in which the education service had taken the war strain. Local administrators had courageously faced and overcome the difficulties created by the emergency. Despite the language problem, reception of evacuated children had been an outstanding success. school medical services had been severely tested but were carrying out efficiently their routine inspections and treatment for an increased school population. The school meal service was growing in many areas in response to the increased demands caused by the war-time employment of women. Interruptions to the milk scheme had occurred. In most places the supply has been resumed. Elsewhere the situation was receiving continuous attention with the object of removing hindrances to resumption.

Mr. Ede expressed his lively satisfaction with the rural senior schools he had seen. Each had exhibited an individuality that was a striking tribute to the spirit of educational adventure and experiment with which it was being conducted. These schools were using the child's environment and inclinations as the basis of an education which give zest and interest to the school life of the nonacademically minded pupils. The influence of these schools on post-war developments in education would be profound and lasting. Their gymnasia and practical rooms, their large gardens and proper provision for the care of livestock enabled them to cater adequately for a wide range of interests. In them the pupils could reveal aptitudes that would greatly assist teachers in helping individual pupils. The youth movement was now receiving detailed attention and steady expansion might confidently be expected.

In conclusion, Mr. Ede said he had been cheered by the resolute determination with which the Welsh Authorities had grappled with their war-time difficulties. These were being steadily surmounted and at the same time administrators were on the alert for any twist of circumstance which might arise in the present uncertain times. Complacency did not exist. In every area he had found those in charge of the public education service keenly alive to the necessity of constant action to deal with large and small problems in the solution of which there were no precedents to guide

them but which could be handled by the application of experienced common sense.

Education in H.M. Forces.-The Central Advisory Council for Adult Education in H.M. Forces has now issued its first statistical report. It covers the period from October 1, 1940, to March 31, 1941, and is based on reports received from twenty-one of the twenty-three Regional Committees. During the six months under review 10,146 single lectures, 670 short courses of three to six meetings, 1,151 classes usually ranging from six to fifteen meetings, and 2,134 informal activities are known to have been arranged through the agency of Regional Committees. Informal activities include debates, play-reading, educational film shows, art exhibitions, and practical guidance for gardening, hobbies, &c. Regional Committees have given advice to men accepted as members of air crews and placed on deferred service, and many of them have been put into touch with volunteers competent and willing to give postal or personal coaching. The "lone intellectual " in all branches of the Services has been helped by general advisory services. The total number of civilians registered on Regional panels is 3,260, of whom 2,938 have been employed. Local education authorities, voluntary organizations, and libraries have co-operated with the Regional Committees.

The Air Training Corps.-We published in our April 1941 issue an article on The Air Training Corps" by Mr. Wolfenden, the Director of Pre-entry Training. Short courses have now been established at a number of universities for young men who wish to serve as pilots and observers in the Royal Air Force and are likely to be suitable for commissioned rank, and the first batch of students are already at work. Another group of young men is offered the opportunity of taking up these R.A.F. ' godfather' courses in October next, and nominations by headmasters should be received at the Air Ministry by July 20. The men in training take a several months' course of instruction in service subjects as members of the University Air Squadron, and a university course in general subjects in which mathematics, mechanics, and physics are compulsory, and either electricity and magnetism, engineering, meteorology, or navigation must be taken as a principal optional subject. Candidates must be between the ages of 17 and 18.8 on September 1, 1941, and must hold a school leaving certificate or its equivalent, and must be nominated by their present or former headmasters; selected candidates will not normally be sent on a course before reaching the age of 179. During the course they will wear uniform when on parade with the university air squadron. The entire expenses of tuition, board and lodging are met by the Air Ministry. The qualities required are good physique, intelligence, initiative, power of leadership, and keenness to fly.

Youth and the Navy.-The Admiralty has issued particulars of a scheme, to be known as the "Y Scheme of Entry ", whereby young men of 17 and over, even if still at school, may volunteer to enter the Navy, either in the seaman branch or the Fleet Air Arm. The scheme will give to young men the same advantage in entering the Navy as the Junior Training Corps gives to those entering the Army, or the Air Training Corps to those entering the Air Force. Full particulars of the scheme are to be obtained from any combined recruiting centre.

Carnegie United Kingdom Trust.-The main allocations for 1936-40 were for Land Settlement, Social Service, Music and Drama, Adult Education, Museums and Libraries. Lord Lothian's gift of Newbattle Abbey has been adapted and equipped as a residential college for Adult Education at a cost of £18,000 to the Trust. Four special inquiries have been initiated into the problems of young people between the ages of 18 and 25. An emergency grant of

(Continued on page 314)

UNIVERSITY

OF EDINBURGH

The Academic Year begins about the middle of October and ends early in July.

The University embraces Six Faculties, viz.: Arts, Science, Divinity, Law, Medicine and Surgery, and Music, in all of which degrees are conferred. There are many different avenues to the Degree of M.A. (Honours and Ordinary) and the wide scope of the Arts Curriculum permits of the combination of Arts, Science, Medical, Law or Special Studies. The higher Degrees of D.Litt., D.Sc., and Ph.D. are conferred and also the Degree of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) and Bachelor of Commerce (B. Com.). Diplomas in Education, in Actuarial Mathematics, in Social Study, and in English Language are granted. Degrees in Science (B.Sc. and D.Sc.) may be taken in Pure Science, Engineering, Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Forestry, Mining, and in Technical Chemistry. There are also Diplomas in Technical Chemistry and in Agriculture. The Degree of Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) is conferred and also the Degrees of Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and Bachelor of Law (B.L.). In Medicine ample facilities are afforded for Clinical Instruction in various Hospitals in the City, and the following degrees are conferred: Bachelor of Medicine (M.B.), Bachelor of Surgery (Ch.B.), Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), and Master of Surgery (Ch.M.). The following Diplomas are conferred in the Faculty of Medicine: Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, in Public Health, in Psychiatry, in Radiology, and in Tropical Veterinary Medicine. In the Faculty of Music the Degrees of Mus. Bac. and Mus. Doc. are conferred.

The University Staff consists of 63 Professors, over 150 Readers and Lecturers, and 120 Assistants and Demonstrators. Facilities are afforded for research in scientific and other subjects.

Further information regarding Matriculation, Scholarships, etc., may be obtained from the Secretary.

W. A. FLEMING, Secretary to the University.

£5,000 was made to the British Association of Residential Settlements to enable intensified work to be done under war conditions. Grants for 1941 include Central Libraries, £8,000; National Council of Social Service, £5,000; Land Settlement, £3,500; Aid to Music, £22,000 and to Drama, £1,000; Youth Services, £20,000. The grants paid during the period 1914-40 amount to £3,102,801.

More Books Wanted. In our April number we included a reference to the booklet issued by the National Book Council entitled The Need for More School Books. John Masefield says that the sum spent on running the war for half a day would endow every school library in the land with a wealth of books beyond our dreams and would bear interest in improved intelligence through the next generation." We want more books for schools, more books for the fighting services, more books for the civilian seeking a way of temporary escape from manifold worries, more books for reading-rooms in rest centres and in shelters. Many useful lists have already been published by the Council, and others are in preparation. One just issued deserves special attention. It is called The English Classics. It gives the titles and short descriptions of nearly 2,000 book (including a number of translations of foreign books) published in the four main series-Collins, Everyman, Nelson and World's Classics. None of the books costs more than 2s. 6d. It is surely one of the most helpful guides to reading ever published. It can be obtained from the National Book Council, 3 Henrietta Street, London, W.C. 2. We are glad to note that the children are not forgotten, for the Council's Book List No. 23 bears the title Books for Young People (Four to Fourteen). This list is a complete and highly competent revision of the previous catalogue of the same title. From picture-books and stories to be read to children who cannot yet read we pass to a section for children who have just learnt to read, then to story books for boys and girls of 8 to 11 years, and finally to lists for boys and girls of 12 to 14. These last include stories, history, lives of famous people, travel, natural history, hobbies, and amusements, sports and games, plays to act, and so on. The list costs a shilling, post free.

The Birthday Honours. In the Birthday Honours List we welcome the barony conferred on Prof. Lindemann, Professor of Experimental Philosophy at Oxford, who was last year appointed personal assistant to the Prime Minister. Colonel Le Breton, chairman of the Dorset Education Committee, Prof. Stopford, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University, and Mr. R. S. Wood, deputy-secretary, Board of Education, receive knighthoods, and Mr. J. M. Thomson, secretary of the Scottish Education Department, the C.B. Dr. J. A. Glover, lately Senior Medical Officer, Board of Education; Mr. P. R. Morris, Director of Education, Kent; and Prof. W. Rennie, Professor of Greek at Glasgow University receive the C.B.E. We are glad to note that among teachers honoured are two Headmasters and two Headmistresses of Central or Senior Schools.

British Council's New Chairman.-The Rt. Hon. Sir Malcolm Robertson, G.C.M.G., K.B.E., M.P., has been appointed Chairman of the British Council in succession to the late Lord Lloyd. Sir Malcolm, who is M.P. for the Mitcham Division of Surrey, entered the Foreign Office in 1898 and has served in the Diplomatic Service in Berlin, Peking, Madrid, Bucharest, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, the Hague, the Rhineland, Tangier, and in Buenos Aires, where he was British Ambassador from 1927-29. Sir Malcolm has recently carried out an investigation on behalf of H.M. Government into the organization and personnel of the Foreign Office, and has submitted a valuable report, which is the basis of the important Foreign Office reorganization announced recently by Mr. Eden.

Courses on American History.-The Board of Education are impressed with the fact that British children are much less well informed about the history, life, and achievements of the United States of America than are American

children about the history, life, and achievements of Great Britain. Accordingly, the Board of Education are arranging a number of short courses on the United States of America, their past history and current problems, for teachers in all types of schools. The lecturers at the courses will include Americans of distinction as well as British subjects with wide and recent experience of the United States. Six such courses, each of four or five days' duration, have already been arranged and will be held in London, Oxford, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Leeds, Exeter, and Aberystwyth between the end of July and the beginning of September. Further courses will be arranged later in the year for other parts of the country.

Living in Cities.—An exhibition of town planning has been designed and organized for the 1940 Council, which is a group of specialists working to promote the planning of social environment on a national scale. The designer is Ralph Tubbs, A.R.I.B.A., a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects' Reconstruction Committee and Exhibition Committee, and also secretary of the MARS (Modern Architectural Research) Group. The exhibition is circulated by the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, through the British Institute of Adult Education. Mounted on 26 linen screens, plus 4 transparencies, the material can be either displayed on walls, requiring 160 linear feet of hanging space, or fastened to wooden screens which are available on loan. The transparencies require two floodlights or high-powered lamps. The exhibition may be borrowed for a fortnight, and borrowers are asked to pay £5 5s. towards the cost of transport, posters, hanging of exhibition, and fee for one public lecture. All inquiries regarding the exhibition should be addressed to the Secretary, British Institute of Adult Education, 29 Tavistock Square, London, W.C. 1.

Course in Divinity.-Mr. R. B. Henderson, Reader in Religious Education in the University of Oxford, will conduct a course in Divinity for schoolmasters in Oxford during the week beginning August 4. The cost will be £3 10s., or 5s. for people who provide their own accommodation. Application for particulars should be made to Mr. R. B. Henderson, New College, Oxford.

Courses for Youth Leaders.-Two courses for youth leaders have been organized by the West Riding Education Committee on behalf of the County Youth Committee, the first course from July 26 to August 1, and the second from August 2 to August 8. They will be held at the West Riding of Yorkshire Training College at Bingley. Application should be made to the Secretary of the County Youth Committee, County Hall, Wakefield, Yorks.

Courses in Dietetics.-King's College for Household and Social Science, c/o University College, Leicester, announce that the Course for the University of London Academic Post-graduate Diploma in Dietetics will be resumed in October, 1941. An intensive course in elementary Dietetics, under the direction of Professor Mottram, is being arranged from July 28 to August 8, 1941.

Travelling Scholarship to America. Owing to Treasury restrictions, the English-Speaking Union are able to offer only one scholarship this year. This is the Walter Hines Page Travelling Scholarship, which enables a British woman teacher to visit the United States to study American educational methods. Applications should reach the Education Committee by July 12, 1941. The address is The English-Speaking Union, Dartmouth House, 37 Charles Street, Berkeley Square, London, W. 1.

The House of Cassell.-Messrs. Cassell & Co., Ltd., regret to announce the destruction of their historic premises in La Belle Sauvage, in the City of London. Full stocks of books are available, however, and inquiries will receive immediate attention at the new London Offices. The address is: The Educational Dept., Cassell & Co., Ltd., 210 High Holborn, London, W.C. 1.

RECENT BOOKS FOR COLONIAL SCHOOLS

By Dr. MARGARET READ, Acting Head of the Colonial Department, University of London Institute of Education SPEAKER on problems in colonial education recently

A

startled his audience by telling them that in some colonies the text-books were fifty years behind those in Great Britain, and gave as an example one West Indian colony where he found the children in a geography class solemnly reading that the turnpike roads of England were in excellent condition at the present moment. The criticism implied was not only that the geography book was completely out of date but also that it was entirely foreign to the children, introducing them to the geography of a place they had never seen instead of beginning with their own surroundings. It does seem waste of time as well as educationally unsound for children to begin to learn from a book what they can never see with their eyes. There must be some correlation at the outset of school work between the known-the child's short experience of the world around him-and the unknown-that is, the letters, words, and sentences of the printed page. At a later stage however when the book is the known, that is, when the art of reading is acquired, it can itself be the link with the unknown, with other lands, distant peoples, new ideas and skills.

Happily the text-books at present in use in many colonies are no longer out of date and educationally unsound. Where money is available to purchase new books, publishers are offering considerable choice. It is becoming more and more the rule to base even primers and readers on the children's own area. Series of Malayan and Caribbean Readers have recently been published which carry out this principle. The Malayan Readers' written by H. R. Cheeseman and J. D. Joseph, are intended for the lower and middle classes of English schools in Malaya. The volumes are based on short stories or short informative articles illustrated by pictures, and followed by questions and answers practising the vocabulary used, which is given in tabular form as an appendix. The range of topics widens gradually from the school boy, the rickshaw, the train, the mosque, in Book I, to letter writing, folk tales, and exploring, in Book IV.

2

The Caribbean Readers, whose authors are teachers in Jamaica, begin at the very beginning in two Introductory Books for children learning to read for the first time in what is to be their school language throughout, namely English as spoken in England. These are followed by Books I and II, which, to quote the preface, " touch the child's life at many angles". The Teachers' Manuals accompanying the Readers point out that the stories are meant to bring the interest which a child shows in his out-of-school activities into his school work. These Manuals contain key vocabularies, explanation and enlargement of the story or article, and hints on phonic training. Although the home language of the West Indies is English, it is often of a kind which would not be easily recognizable as the spoken and written English of the British Isles. English teaching in the West Indies should therefore be regarded almost as teaching a foreign language. The sound educational principles of these Caribbean Readers are therefore apparent when they begin with the familiar vocabulary of the child's ordinary occupations and surroundings.

The Oxford University Press has brought out two Story Readers to go with Books II and IV of the Oxford English Readers for Africa. Seven African Tales (3d.) is based on folk

1 Nelson's Malayan Readers. By H. R. CHEESEMAN and J. D• JOSEPH. (Book 1, Is. 3d. Book 2, Is. 4d. Book 3, Is. 5d. Book 4, Is. 6d. Look and Read. Part 2, 11d. Nelson.)

a The Caribbean Readers. By A. J. NEWMAN and P. M, SHERLOCK. (Introductory Book 1, Is. Introductory Book 2. Is. 4d. Book 1, Is. 6d. Book 2, 1s. 9d. Teachers' Manual for Introductory Books 1 and 2, 2s. 6d. Teachers' Manual for Books I and 2, Is. net. Ginn.)

tales from Central and East Africa, and is illustrated with black and white drawings which have more than a touch of humour in them. Parable Plays (8d.) are dramatized vesions of the Bible parables of the Ten Virgins, the Debtors, the Talents, and the Good Samaritan. Both these Readers are suitable for class work and dramatic presentation, but they are not in the category of "something to read at home". They should however appeal to African children who regard folk tales as essentially something to tell, with as much dramatic sense as possible, and who are brillant at dramatizing Bible stories.

The Regent Readers are intended, like the Caribbean Readers, for children whose speech is English, but they are not based on any particular area, and it is suggested that they can be used in either the West Indies or West Africa. Simon and Sally, in Book I, look African and are familiar with dogs and cats, hens and goats, and a house and school among palm trees and mangoes. The action in the Readers is based on the activities of the children, of their parents and teachers, and of the domestic animals. The approach is that of the sentence method, associated first with pictures and later with expression work.

Among books for teaching English to foreign children, one course is based on ear-training, one on pictures, and a third is more advanced, adding another 500 words to the previous vocabulary used in Book I. The Teaching of Oral English by H. E. Palmer' is a guide to teachers on method, and is an exposition of the Oral Direct Method.

We pass apparently to less controversial ground when we leave English teaching for history and geography. Yet here it is useful to reflect on the place of history and geography teaching in the curriculum of primary schools; on the use of history and geography books as Readers; and on the relative value of giving children an intensive knowledge of their own area and country as compared with introducing them to the large world outside their ken through the medium of the printed page. I suggested at the beginning of this article that books might be at a later stage in school life the link between the known and the unknown. It is my experience in Africa that, once the struggle to read is overcome, books about familiar subjects and people and affairs cease to be as alluring as those which are a magic carpet flying to unknown lands and peoples, or as those which act as a searchlight on dimly understood events and ideas. Both these kinds of book-magic carpets and searchlights are illustrated by the Empire at Work series which I can imagine being seized upon eagerly by boys and young men in Africa who are thirsty for information of every kind. Book IV9 of Tropical Africa in World History is a searchlight book, telling in Part I the story of the growth of modern industry and its effects on Africa, and in Part II the growth of the British Empire from 1783 to the years preceding the present war. The thumb-nail sketches of Stalin and Hitler and Mussolini will be widely appreciated

Regent Readers for Young Children. By K. B. COOPE. (Introductory Book, 4d. Three Packets of Picture Cards for Beginners, 3d. each. Book 1, 5d. Book 2, 6d. Book 3, 8d. Teacher's Book, Is. 6d. United Society for Christian Literature.)

An English Course for Foreign Children. By I. MORRIS. Book 1, Alternative Edition. (Is. 6d. Macmillan.)

English for Foreigners. By J. CARO. (5s. net. Hirschfeld.) • Essential English for Foreign Students. By C. E. ECKERSLEY. Book 2. (3s. Longmans.)

The Teaching of Oral English. By Dr. H. E. PALMER. (25. Longmans.)

8 The Empire at Work. I Cocoa and Chocolate. By P. REDMAYNE and T. MAULL. (9d.) 2: Rubber and its Many Uses. By H. MCKAY. (10d.) 3: Our Letters in the Post. By G. A. CAMPBELL. (9d.) 4: The Story of Gold. By Dr. M. BURR. (Iod.) (Oxford University Press.)

• Tropical Africa in World History. Edited by T. R. BATTEN. Book 4: The Modern World. (2s. 6d. Oxford University Press.)