particular instance of references which he cites is despicable; every one would condemn it and every one would rejoice if the culprit got his deserts, but does he insinuate that this is a typical example of a common practice? As to the question of salaries, a leading educational agent assures me that notices of vacancies are regarded as confidential and are sent out as private ' communications; the collection of 500 does credit to your correspondent's perseverance. Is there not an influential body known as the Assistant Masters' Association, whose membership is not confined to State schoolmasters, which is always ready to deal with cases of illegality or injustice? All of these cases do not arise in independent schools. The Independent Schools Association and others equally concerned do not exist to bolster up inefficiency; they would welcome sympathetic inspection and are even anxious that unsatisfactory schools should be eliminated; but they claim, in accordance with the report of the Departmental Committee on Private Schools, that private schools deserve a place in the national system of education . . . that there are many which are excellent and the majority are above serious reproach". No one throws stones at a tree which is bearing no fruit, so I suppose even "Artium Magister" is prepared to admit that the tree is not completely barren. I venture to believe that if he knew a little more about its quality, his unsolicited condemnation would be less wholesale.

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4

SIR, Recent discussions concerning religious education have shown that the old difficulty that existed throughout the nineteenth century, though much more moderately expressed, has not died down. Simple Bible teaching on the one hand, and 'definite' i.e. doctrinal religious instruction on the other, still have their respective defenders. The position of the former has been strengthened by agreed syllabuses, and the position of the latter by attempts to bring doctrine down to the child's level, but the two opposed principles are still in evidence. Indeed, if we had to wait until the believers in the two principles had entirely composed their differences, it is hard to see how the religious difficulty could ever disappear from the schools. chief hope of its disappearance comes, not from complete agreement about questions of doctrine, but from the completely unbiased study of the child, the innocent cause of all this turmoil. In a word, the child psychologists come to the assistance of the distracted theologians.

The

Nowhere has the point been put more cogently than by the Bishop of Liverpool, in a recent letter to The Church Times. Dr. David, who in this matter has the advantage of being an old teacher, is well aware that in our time the centre of gravity in all education has changed. The child is the deciding factor, and the child must be taught according to his stage of development. When he is young it is not formulated doctrine that he needs. Doctrine comes later. This, says Dr. David, "has created a preparatory stage on which the churches can build their own full doctrinal instruction later on. Thus the whole question is taken out of the reach of theological discussion and is set where it can be handled by practical teachers in peace ". The editor of The Expository Times has done good service in drawing special attention to Dr. David's letter, and in persuading him to contribute an article which contains a fuller statement of his views. Dr. David suggests that the methods now practised by our best-trained teachers point to an elementary stage of religious instruction into which formulated doctrine should not, and actually does not, enter. He concludes that at that stage the issue between 'simple Bible teaching' and 'definite (i.e. doctrinal) instruction'

"

is no longer a live one". This amounts to saying that the attempt to teach religion to children by means of catechism is futile. The formula is there, but in the teacher, not in the lesson in which he conveys its foundations to the child ". Of course the child may be made to "learn his catechism.” What he will really learn is "words, words, words ". Dr. David would defer doctrines-the things that divideuntil they can be "explained to our young people in the senior classes of Sunday Schools, in Guilds, Bible Classes and Study Circles, at least so far as to make them sincere and intelligent members of the religious body into which they have been born ".

In pursuance of the same theme The Expository Times (April, 1941) draws attention to Canon A. R. BrowneWilkinson's new book The Teaching of the Church Catechism. The author, whose work in the cause of religious teaching s well known, says that his book "is intended to serve the needs of members of the higher forms of secondary schools, students in training colleges and in parochial classes, and their teachers" (I assume that he refers to church secondary schools and training colleges). Thus far The Expository Times approves of the book, because, although a catechism "embodies in intellectual forms the theology of an epoch ", yet it may be of value after the period of childhood is past. The last part of the book, however, leaves the reviewer in doubt whether Canon Browne-Wilkinson is so fully convinced as the Bishop of Liverpool of the unwisdom of making children learn the catechism.

Finally, let it be understood that the question here raised is no quarrel between the theologian and the psy chologist. It is much more important. It relates to a difference between the adult and the child. There seems solid ground for hope that in this matter of the earliest stage of religious training the clergy and ministers of all denominations will do now what they ought to have done long ago -allow a little child to lead them. T. RAYMONT.

Furze Cottage,

Carbis Bay, Cornwall.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

SIR, Two articles, both by clergymen, in your present issue, deal with "religious education." Neither of them faces the real difficulty that exists in regard to this question. The Rev. Wallace develops his argument on the basis that religious knowledge must be taught in as thorough and as satisfactory a way as any other subject. But the real difficulty is that religion is not like any other subject at all.

The unique thing about religious knowledge is that educated and informed people are in sharp and fundamental disagreement about it. There is no dispute, in educated circles, as to the main truths of geography or chemistry. Nobody gets hot and bothered because his children are taught the Atomic Theory or because they are taught to disbelieve in phlogiston. But when you come to religion, there is dispute and doubt all along the line, not merely as between Christians and Rationalists, but between different groups of Christians themselves (Catholics and Protestants, Anglicans and Nonconformists, &c.). It is useless to pretend that these controversies have been settled or are ever likely to be.

In a word, the difficulty is that everybody is more or less agreed as to what shall be taught under the heading Physics' or 'Literature' but that nobody is really agreed as to what should be taught under the heading 'Religious Knowledge.'

It might seem that the best solution to this would be to leave the various religious organizations free to teach their own religion as they think fit, without interference or competition from the secular State, more particularly as the established Churches obviously possess ample financial and other means to do so. So long as they are able to insist, however, on having their doctrines taught at the public

(Continued on page 428)

expense, then so long must they be prepared to put up with the limitations of which Mr. Wallace, with every justification from his own point of view, complains.

Mr. Standen warns us against the desire to regiment the mind of a child into that particular point of view which seems desirable ". But, after all, what is teaching the Christian Creed to children but precisely that? Why will clergymen persist in arguing on the entirely false basis that their doctrines are universally accepted? Are they really unaware of the growing number of educated and sincere people who have come to reject those doctrines entirely and of the far greater number who, whilst not definitely rejecting them, have lost all real interest?

The unquestioning acceptance of Christian doctrine is something which can no longer legitimately be taken for granted. Is there any real justification, for example, in teaching children that Christ said a certain thing when we know that the most highly respected Christian scholars have conclusively demonstrated that it is highly doubtful if Christ really said it at all?

Respectable English folk have developed a kind of ostrich attitude to facts which they find unpleasant. And nowhere is this more apparent than in matters of religion. In a world in which the growing knowledge of science, of Biblical scholarship and historical investigation and cultural honesty and candour all combine to question, with increasing insistence, the very fundamentals of the Christian Faith, we still find that the clergy persist in discussing their doctrines and beliefs as if there was not the slightest breath of scepticism or dissent in any part of the whole civilized world! J. STEWART COOK.

Crossways, Osborne Road, Windsor, Berks.

CHILDREN'S READING

SIR, I have been told that requisitions of books for children's reading presented by teachers to public libraries often show a lack of understanding of the interests of children to-day, and knowledge of recent suitable publications. The lists are too frequently compiled from the teachers' recollections of what they read, or were told to read, when they were young. The conservatism which

makes us cling to our own nursery and schoolroom favourites is a harmless enough self-indulgence, but may become dangerous if it causes us, as teachers of English, to miss our great opportunity to guide children's leisure reading. It is probable too that sometimes we foist upon our pupils, not books which we really enjoyed reading, but those which, in obedience to the suggestion of our own elders, we felt we were expected to enjoy.

It may seem too much to be asked, in these days of small leisure, to keep in touch with modern publications, but a stroll through a bookshop, a glance at a publisher's or a library catalogue are often sufficient to give ideas to receptive minds. The county or city librarian is generally a friend in need whose help is not always asked. He has even better opportunities than the teacher of observing children's unsupervised choice.

But the problem goes deeper than lack of leisure. We may ask ourselves whether the future teacher is likely to develop keen and catholic tastes. In the fifth form he takes School Certificate, studying a few set books, often remote from his adolescent experience, and answering questions which require little more than a close knowledge of the text. In Form VI he either takes Higher Certificate English, and acquires information about what other people have written on writers whom he is too immature to appreciate; or he does English as a neglected extra, or not at all. The brief and busy training college period is usually inadequate to counteract the habits of mind already formed, and as a result the teacher starts his career honestly convinced that it is his duty to impose a conventional taste upon his pupils —a taste which year by year becomes more out of date. Thus we get the present state of culture-in school the classics, the good, dull books-out of school the fourpenny novelette.

One can only assert once more the vital importance of choosing the English syllabus in schools and colleges to suit the interest and age of the pupil, and encouraging independent judgment rather than imposing standards of MARGARET DIGGLE.

taste.

Houndshill Guest House, Banbury Road, Stratford-on-Avon.

SCHOOL CHILDREN OF THE U.S.S.R.
By L. S. ELIOTT, M.A.

PERHAPS some of us have been thinking of the school

children of the U.S.S.R. We wonder how they are faring while their fathers and older brothers are fighting, and while the mothers and older sisters of some are engaged in making munitions.

Of the 35,000,000 boys and girls attending school in the vast area covered by the Soviet Republics, a large number of those in the four-year and seven-year schools will be in summer camps under the supervision of teachers, for all who wish have the opportunity of spending the long summer holiday in camp, where sports, craft-work, music and dramatics are organized. The older boys and girls from the three top forms of the ten-year schools are less likely to spend their summer in camp, unless they live far east where war has yet scarcely touched their lives.

Though it is difficult to get direct information about the boys and girls of the U.S.S.R. just now, we can judge from the enthusiasm of Soviet Russia for education and the care of the children, that all will be done that can be to protect the young boys and girls from close proximity with the war. Education has been universal and compulsory since 1930. Hundreds of thousands of schools have been built, many of them very fine buildings architecturally, with cinemas and

theatres attached. There are three types of schools at present-four-year or elementary ; seven-year, which include the four-year course and take pupils three years beyond, called incomplete secondary schools; and the tenyear schools in which a child can receive the whole of his school education. The aim of Soviet Russia is that every school shall become a ten-year school and every child of the U.S.S.R. shall receive the ten-year course. Every effort is being made to reach this goal. Many millions of children between 3 and 7 attend nursery schools, and the provision of these was rapidly increasing up to the outbreak of war. The subjects to be learned, and the hours to be spent on each, and the homework to be done at each stage are laid down exactly by the Council of Commissars of Education, and these regulations must be strictly adhered to throughout the U.S.S.R. with the exceptions of the Republics not speaking Russian as the native language. For these schools Russian becomes the first foreign language. Text-books, apparatus, and all equipment are standardized and provided by the Government. Though these arrangements may seem fettering and possibly repressive to initiative, they have their advantages and in practice do not preclude the human and individual elements which are considered of first importance in the U.S.S.R.

No physical punishment is allowed and very little (Continued on page 430)

punishment of any kind. If a child is a “disorganizer " the teacher must look for the causes. Perhaps the time-table he is following is not suited to his temperament; perhaps his home circumstances are not helpful to his right development. The Dalton Plan, projects, intelligence tests are all forbidden, chiefly because they may tend to lessen the teacher's direct and human touch with each child.

It is the teacher's duty to give the children a happy full life. Excursions, attendance at near-by cinemas, if the school has not one of its own, and attendance at theatres are arranged; dramatics, out-of-school hobbies, and societies are encouraged. Great care is taken of health. Hot meals are provided; there are rest times, and careful observation of the pupils to prevent overpressure.

Great importance is attached to the regular testing of the pupils' progress. Examinations, uniform throughout the country, are set to each grade at the end of the school year. Much trouble is taken to mark the pupil's papers on a uniform plan, and finally the results are scaled as follows: excellent, good, fair, poor, very poor. The pupils reaching only the last two standards do not qualify for promotion, but they are given the chance of being examined again at the end of the holidays, after having received careful individual coaching at a summer camp. Though much importance is placed on these results, they must not involve undue strain. This is laid down in the following instruction. "The examinations must be conducted in an atmosphere precluding all nervousness on the part of the children." Is not this a very human touch? How is it achieved, we wonder?

It will be gathered from the above that very high and

varied demands are made on the teachers. This is certainly true, but it is true, too, that teachers are held in great honour and regard by the Russians, and every effort is made to pay them generous salaries.

THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS OF TURKEY By Major G. M. COOMBS

AFTER the Turkish Bivolution following dee Great

War, the new Republican Government under Kemal Atatürk began to Westernize the nation with almost Draconian discipline.

At the beginning of the period of reconstruction, education was in a chaotic state. Only a skeleton system of rudimentary character was in use by the Ministry of Education, and nearly all instruction had a religious objective. Moslem theological colleges (medressés) gave training which was both obscure and out of date, and taught in Arabic and Persian. In the villages, the schools were controlled by the Mosques, and the instruction was of the most elementary character. The larger towns and cities depended on foreign schools, with their diverse systems. A large proportion of the population was illiterate.

The Republic, in its reorganization of the country, succeeded, in the space of fifteen years, in creating a new uniform, lay, and modern educational system. Religious schools have either been abolished or fitted into the State pattern, and the medressés replaced by the theological faculty of the University of Istanbul. Generally, the Continental European practice is followed, but it has been modified to suit the needs of a young progressive country, of isolated districts of Anatolia, large cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, and Smyrna, and to meet a new demand for trained industrial personnel for the fast developing manufactures.

Primary education, free and compulsory, starts at the age of 7, and continues for five years. This period is, however, cut down to three years in the peasant villages. A further three years' course follows in the Middle School, and then another of similar length in the lycée, where, in the last year, the literary and scientific branches of the curriculum are differentiated. The primary schools are co-educational, as a general rule. There are two Universities, at Istanbul and Ankara, and a third will shortly

The

be functioning at Van near the Iranian boundary. faculties comprise economics, liberal arts, science, law, theology, and medicine, with attached colleges of dentistry and pharmacy. At the middle school, lycée, and university stages, institutions exist for specialized training in Government service, engineering, commerce, forestry, agriculture, and the trades.

The difficulties in developing this complete scheme have been enormous. In the initial stages, there was a dearth of teachers, buildings, books, and trained administrators. The Training Colleges and University of Istanbul were unable to provide adequate staff for the schools, and it was necessary to call in graduates of the school of civil servants (Mülkiye). Foreign professors were employed in the universities and research institutes, and graduates of the lycées in the primary schools. The shortage of teachers, though less acute, still persists.

Buildings presented another problem, and schools are still overcrowded. Many are housed in old structures adapted for the purpose. New buildings have, however, been constructed in large numbers in standardized types. Some of the recently built Institutes of Higher Education, such as the Agricultural Institute and the Ismet Inonu Institute for Girls at Ankara, are models of educational architecture, and splendidly equipped.

and libraries when, in 1928, Kemal Atatürk suddenly Great difficulty was experienced in the provision of books abolished the Turkish script and replaced Arabic by Latin characters. The immediate result was to make the educated

population illiterate. Newspaper proprietors were faced with the loss of their reading public. This they overcame by reducing newsprint, using large characters, and illustrating by pictures. It was a matter of re-educating the adult population. It took five years for the circulation to recover, but to-day over 100,000 copies of journals are sold in Istanbul alone. Once the newspapers in the new script had made headway, school text-books followed, and, subsequently, scientific treatises and literary works. The change of script not only facilitates the acquisition of the Turkish language by foreigners, but also helps Turkish students themselves to learn Western languages. Particularly has it helped the Turkish people to break with a Moslem tradition which for so long retarded their development. The Turk is now identified as a European.

In the great campaign against illiteracy, the small isolated villages of Anatolia for long proved a big stumblingblock. The difficulty was eventually overcome by giving special courses to peasant conscript soldiers as well as to civilians, and then sending them out to found the village schools. Owing to the necessities of the work on the landfor the majority of the people are peasants - the minimum course in the primary schools in the country districts was reduced to three years.

The curriculum in all schools is a uniform one, and comprises instruction in the Turkish language, literature, history, geography, and civics. The medium of instruction in these subjects is of course Turkish, and the Ministry of Education appoints the teachers. Other subjects can be taught in a foreign language. English, French, and German are the major Western languages learned in the middle schools and the lycées. Many foreign schools still exist, maintaining their position by the excellence of the language instruction.

The Turkish Government in 1934 began a five-year plan of industrialization to develop the resources of the country to enable it, as far as possible, to be economically independent of foreign countries. Textile, cellulose, glass, chemical, and mining industries were established, and a great demand for trained industrial personnel was experienced. Foremost was that for engineers. First, the Military College of Engineering at Istanbul was reorganized, and controlled by the Ministry of Public Works. On the conclusion of the six-years' course, graduates are taken into (Continued on page 432)