Under One Roof For many years the E.S.A.'s Stationery Factory and Printing Works were situated half a mile from the Offices, Showrooms, Book and Dispatch Departments. This involved considerable loss of time and efficiency. At Esavian House the several departments are now housed under one roof. Stationery Factory This economises both time and Quick Accurate Service at lowest prices. Catalogues of all departments sent free to The Educational Supply Association Limited. 171-181 High Holborn London.W.C.l. Scholarships, Official Notices, School Transfers, Partnerships, &c.- An extra fee of ONE SHILLING is charged on advertisements with OFFICE ADDRESS. If a receipt is required for an advertisement under 10s., a post card or a stamped envelope must be enclosed. [Advertisers are reminded that "Letters addressed to INITIALS or to FICTITIOUS NAMES, or to a CHRISTIAN NAME without a SURNAME," at Post Offices are not taken in, but are sent at once to the Returned Letter Office.] All letters respecting Advertisements and Subscriptions should be addressedMR. WILLIAM RICE, THREE LUDGATE BROADWAY, LONDON, E.C. 4. to whom all remittances should be made payable. Orders and Cheques should be crossed, "The Midland Bank, Ludgate Branch." Postage stamps can only be received at the rate of thirteen pence to the shilling. Notice must be given of all remittances through the Post Office from abroad, stating full name and address of the sender; and all Foreign Money Orders must be crossed for payment through a Bank. Date of application of next issue will be found at top left-hand corner of front page. LONDON: MR. WILLIAM RICE, Three LudgATE BROADWAY, E.C. 4. Work and Play Out of School II.-NATURE STUDY: EXCURSIONS AND FIELD N WORK By C. VON Wyss, F.L.S., London Day Training College. ATURE-STUDY is the normal reaction of the young mind to the beauties and wonders of nature. It stands to reason that this reaction can only be complete out in the open where all things natural are in their proper setting, and can therefore be rightly interpreted. Intercourse with nature means enjoyment and leads to an understanding of her ways, thus marking out the way of science. It is the definite aim of nature-study in education to provide the pupils opportunity to realize by actual experience the point of view and method of work of the scientist, thus taking them a little way along one of the main roads of human achievement. The pupils are taken for rambles into the country or they work in field or garden. This provides the fundamental experience of seeing nature as a whole. At once phenomena of special interest claim special attention, arouse curiosity, and call for inquiry. If the inquiry is pursued and the problem solved, the scientific process has been experienced. This entails observation, investigation, and reflection. The whole process may be carried out in the open, but it frequently happens that the experiences and discoveries cannot be followed up then and there, but must await treatment at home, in the classroom, or laboratory. Thus, while life out of doors is an inspiration, presents puzzles and provides actual concrete material for investigation, work in the laboratory should be a process of practical investigation and reflection. While thus determining the relation which exists between nature-study out of doors and in the class-room, it is fully realized that many schools are, for reasons of administration or urban conditions, debarred from organizing fieldwork as an integral process in scientific training. Whereas many schools can only with difficulty and on rare occasions arrange school rambles, the number of schools in which excursions form no part at all of the school programme is rapidly decreasing. We may therefore assume that vigorous and profitable nature-study in the class-rooms has its counterpart in exploration out of doors. On the subject of such field-work, hard and fast lines as to preparation and procedure cannot be laid down. They must be free and joyous, and they must provide the entirely unexpected. They must, in fact, be an adventure. Nevertheless, to refrain from all organization, and to make no preparation means that valuable time is wasted and opportunities are missed. It may, therefore, be profitable to discuss some types of excursions which have been found useful and stimulating factors in nature-study teaching. General Organization of Nature Rambles. Just as in the freedom-loving schools of the present day, the function of the teacher is to prepare for his pupils an environment in which self-expression is possible and opportunity is given to each for the proper exercise of instincts and tendencies that make for good in the life of a community; so the teacher makes preparation for the nature-study rambles. The destination of the party is decided upon, and the exact region covered is also determined. It stands to reason that the teacher must previously go over the ground. It sometimes happens that there is no choice of region, that the school is so situated that only one place with facilities for nature-study can be visited; then it must serve all purposes. Schools more fortunately situated can select a region with special reference to the particular purpose of the ramble. Needless to say, if the excursion entails a train-journey, careful preparations must be made. Cheap tickets can be obtained, and the railway company should be notified so that assistance is given to the teacher in entraining the children safely. Tramway officials are also ready to give practical assistance, if applied to beforehand. The teacher should also see to it that the children bring provisions with them which are suitable in kind and quantity, and can be safely packed away in satchels and baskets or bags. Whatever the purpose of the excursion may be, all children are eager to collect and to bring home treasure. The teacher should bear this in mind, and warn the children against wanton destruction and cruelty to animals, but should also show them how they can collect much desired things within reason and with care. Tin boxes are useful for storing plants, caterpillars, and many kinds of pond animals, a vasculum being specially useful because of its carrying facilities. Advice should also be given to the children as to suitable clothes to be worn on the excursion. Many teachers prepare elaborate note-books for their excursions. These are beautiful and interesting. They ensure that the teacher himself has both intellectual and practical control over the situation, he has envisioned every detail-has therefore made the best possible preparation for the excursion. The book is of great interest and value to the parents and it enlists their sympathy and co-operation. Finally the pupils value the books as a talisman guiding them to the promised land, and as a keep-sake when the happy experience is past. As regards actual contents, the information provided is of necessity scrappy and frequently predicts over-much the happenings and finds, so that the element of surprise is reduced to a minimum. These remarks apply perhaps more to the note-books prepared for the longer school journeys, and serving more general purposes than directing natural history studies. Whether guide-books should be used at all for nature-study rambles or not, depends on the nature and purpose of the excursion. A map or plan of the district should always be supplied, so that the children acquire at an early stage an interest in orientation and relative distances. If these maps are drawn on a large scale they can be amplified during the excursion, recording places where certain plants were found or certain events had taken place. If the ramble is an experiment in botanical survey, the map is an indispensable equipment of every pupil. As the children eagerly collect specimens of animals and plants, they equally eagerly desire to know what they are. This would be an opportunity of letting them acquire some experience in identifying the material. To a very limited extent the guide book may do this. Drawings of leaves of different trees with some indication of relative size, may lead the children to compare and contrast their specimens with the named drawings, and help them to find the name. Similarly, drawings of some of the common flowers or animals that are characteristic of a particular locality may assist in identification. If the purpose of the excursion is the making acquaintance of these things, then such help would be necessary, but if the animals and plants are found incidentally, while some other pursuit is in progress, the drawing would be irrelevant. Types of Nature-Study Rambles. Even if the ramble has some particular purpose in the scheme of nature study, and concerns itself with some particular order of the phenomena, there will always be a wide margin of time and opportunity for the personal and individual interest of the children and for general exploration. It is, therefore, not easy to classify in any logical manner rambles that vary with school, teacher, and locality. Nevertheless, certain types are discernible and these may be discussed separately. I.-Excursions for Purposes of Exploration. The children may be taken to a region with which they are not familiar, and they will wander through it with their eyes open and make as many dicoveries as possible. They have previously studied the map and are prepared to find wood, lane, stream in particular places. They should keep notes of their discoveries in relation to the features in the map, so that they may get the habit of assessing any plants or animals in close relation to their environment. If the class is not too young, valuable data will be collected for the more detailed study of the specimens found with regard to the adjustments they show to the peculiarities of their habitat. Great care must be taken during an excursion of this kind that the children do not gather masses of flowers of one kind which become faded long before the day is over. Similarly any animal specimens must be reasonably housed and not kept at all unless food and other requirements can be supplied during its captivity. During informal excursions of this kind, and indeed in leisure moments which occur in all excursions, the teacher can do much to arouse interest and human sympathy by pointing out to the children folk-lore and curious practices that have centred round things and ways of nature. Plants with which cures have been wrought, signs and portends in the sounds and movements of animals, including birdsall appeal to the love of the wonderful and mysterious, which nature calls forth in the young mind. Take, for instance, some dandelions with long stalks; they are the flowers sacred to St. Bride. Make three little slits in the bottom of the stalk and by pressing the bottom of the stalk against your closed teeth the stalk will slit into three long strips. Now fling the flower head with the three strips upon the surface of clear water. The strips will now assume mysterious forms and figures, but only those whom St. Bride loves can read the signs. Bid the children pick blue flowers, and when you have arrived at an ant heap-by preference a heap made of fir or pine-needles by the large horse ant-let the children form a ring round about it. The blue flowers must then be moistened and flung as an offering upon the ant heap. If the gift is acceptable the ants will give a sign. Breathlessly the children wait. Then one after another is made happy; the blue flowers have become red! If, later, the searchlight of science clears up these mysteries, others remain beyond. II.-Excursions Connected with Definite Items in the NatureStudy Syllabus. It may be arranged that the pupils should be taken into the country to study the characteristics of trees. Lessons in the class-room at definite periods of the year are to follow, the purpose of which is to be the study of seasonal changes in trees. Such field work would make the children realize that the tree is a living whole in spite of seasonal change, also that each tree has its characteristics, which are the signs by which it is known. A broad and generous concept of tree-life can never be arrived at, if tree study is confined to the examination of twigs, leaves, flowers, and fruit brought into the class-room. Similarly, the study of fruits and seeds of plants and their dispersal constitutes profitable field-work. Details of structure and mechanism can then be examined in the class-room, and will be appreciated in the light of observations made out of doors. Again, frog-spawn and tadpoles in jam jars, caddis-worms and other larvae in little laboratory dishes, are recognized as creatures of purpose and endeavour only when they are seen in their natural haunt, where their environment stimulates their full and normal development. Excursions of this kind help the children to see life whole and in proper perspective, and their detailed investigations in the class-room will acquire meaning. Excursions of this kind have their preparation in the preceding nature-lessons, and all that is necessary is to bring the children's previous knowledge of the subject to the forefront of their consciousness. Sheets of drawings of leaves of trees, of fruits, of plants common in the particular region, of common pond animals, would assist the children in identification. Excursions for Studying Plant Ecology. This subject is associated with the more advanced work in botany, but very profitable studies of a simple and elementary kind PSYCHOLOGY IN EDUCATION may be carried out by children who are still at the naturestudy stage. The words hedge-row, wood, pond, waste-land, &c., are frequently used, and the inquiry might well be made as to what constitutes a hedge-row. For this purpose an excursion might be arranged. The pupils could be arranged a yard apart along the hedge-row, and be required to find all the different kinds of plants immediately in front of them, to count each kind, and to note their position in the hedge. The conditions of soil, drainage, light, and shade must also be noticed. These data should be brought back to school and utilized later. For the study of wasteland or a common, patches of one square yard may be marked out by groups of pupils and these divided into smaller squares. The kinds and numbers of plants in the small square are determined and the record entered on squared paper, each kind of plant having been designated by some particular sign. Again, factors of the physical environment are noted, and all the data kept for further elaboration. The general method is the same as that which is adopted for ecological survey, but precision of detail, accuracy of results cannot as yet be attained. Preparation for these excursions is of necessity more elaborate. The whole method of procedure must be explained to the pupils, who must be arranged in groups beforehand, each group having a leader and overseer; they must also be provided with the necessary apparatus, including a map of the region. Reviews Psychology Applied to Education: A Series of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Education. By the late Prof. J. WARD. Edited by Prof. G. DAWES HICKS. (10s. 6d. net. Cambridge University Press.) Better late than never" is the saying that naturally occurs to one when one takes up this volume containing the collected papers on educational psychology written by the late James Ward. The older generation of English students of education can remember when Sully took the place of Bain as their psychological guide. But even in Sully, though he consistently noted "the bond" as well as the distinction," the old doctrine of faculties, with its educational implications, was far too much in evidence. Then came Ward's article on "Education Values," contributed to this Journal in November, 1890. To the few persons who at that time took any interest in the subject, it was something of a bombshell. It blew some of their accepted ideas into the air, and set them building their educational theory afresh-just at the time when university training departments were being established. That article may be commended to the notice of some of the younger psychologists of to-day, who still write at times as if educational ideals were psychological, rather than social and ethical, problems. There is another reason why we welcome the appearance of this volume. To all except the elect, Ward may be said to have made himself only gradually and progressively intelligible. His article on psychology, contributed to the ninth edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" was so condensed that all except the best students of the subject were floored by it, and had again to betake themselves to their less profound but more lucid guides. Not that Ward was at all lacking in lucidity; but he wrote under limitations of space that forbade even a reasonable degree of amplification and illustration. In the great treatise on 'Psychological Principles," published in 1918, and now in its second edition, he elaborated more fully, and of course with modifications necessitated by later thought, the leading ideas contained in the earlier exposition. And now, in this posthumous volume, we have Ward in his brightest and happiest manner, just as he talked to comparative beginners in the subject, and often, as Prof. Dawes Hicks says, for that very reason making clearer and simpler statements of some fundamental points. The lectures included in the volume form a pretty continuous and complete treatment of psychology applied to education. People who are in a hurry about I.Q's and the like must go elsewhere, and probably to America, for what they want. But people who are concerned about secure foundations will jump at this opportunity of hearing what one of the acutest of modern thinkers has to say on the subject. T. R. SIR THOMAS MORE AND THE TUDOR DRAMA Early Tudor Drama: Medwall, The Rastells, Heywood, and the More Circle. By Dr. A. W. REED. (Ios. 6d. net. Methuen.) In this volume Dr. Reed reproduces with a careful eye to unity and continuity various articles by him that have appeared during the last nine years. He has carried out researches at the Record Office, Somerset House, the British Museum, and elsewhere with immense patience and great scholarly ability, and has had the advantage of much encouragement and help from the leading authorities on the period with which he deals. Most ordinary students of English literature have been led to regard the Interlude as the stepping-stone from the medieval miracle and morality plays to the modern drama, and the Four PP (usually attributed to Heywood) as the typical interlude. The order of the names in the sub-title of this volume (a work whose value will be best assessed by specialists) points to other writers contemporary with Heywood, whose names cannot be omitted from a more detailed account of the rise of the drama. In contradiction to some writers who have given to Cornyshe the credit of taking at a leap the transition from the medieval to the modern drama, Dr. Reed maintains, and adduces what seems abundant proof, that to Sir Thomas More and his familiarissimi," the more gradual development must be ascribed. Medwall, the oldest of these, was the author of Fulgens and Lucres," " the most ancient English drama (circa 1490). John Rastell, printer, lawyer, dramatist, was More's brother-in-law; and William Rastell and John Heywood were his nephews. Perhaps the most interesting of Dr. Reed's conclusions is that "the catholicity of mind and the saving sanity of humour that fostered the mingling of piety, scholarship, and unabashed fun in the More household" are abundantly evident in the works of these writers ; so that in a very real sense it is to More that the spirit of the transition is due. If the authority of Dr. Reed's book is established, Heywood and his contemporary play-writers not only retain their importance, but new light is thrown on the versatility of the author of "Utopia." THE EMERALD ISLE A History of Ireland and Her People to the Close of the Tudor Period. By ELEANOR HULL. (185. net. Harrap.) Although several good histories of Ireland have recently been published, there is ample room for this able, wellwritten, and excellently-documented sketch of the island during the period prior to the Anglo-Scottish settlement of the seventeenth century. Miss Hull is highly qualified for her task as historian of Ireland; her knowledge of the native language is perfect; her acquaintance with the vernacular literature extensive; her familiarity with both the land and the people most intimate. Above all she is singularly free from political prejudice, and is able to write as a scientific observer concerned only to find out the truth. The general effect of her presentation of the facts respecting medieval Ireland is the complete dissipation of the legend industriously inculcated by such writers as Mrs. J. R. Green and Dr. D'Alton, that there was once a golden age in Ireland, and that the country was an earthly paradise until the English appeared. Miss Hull holds no brief for the English, and she does not hesitate to lay severe blame upon the "officials who intervened between the English Crown and the Irish people." But she gives overwhelming evidence that for ages before any alien domination was established in the land, the tribes were torn by factions, that civil wars raged incessantly, that treachery and murder were rife, that poverty and vice were general, that ignorance and superstition prevailed. She shows how vast and complex was the problem which faced Henry II and his successors in the administration of this turbulent appendage to their empire. The root difficulty, she makes clear, was the fundamental difference between the whole civilization of Ireland and the mental outlook of its people and the civilization and mental outlook of the Normans and Angevins. She concludes that the alien administrators did their best at first to govern Ireland justly and well, but that at last, baffled and irritated by constant failure and incessant rebellion, they abandoned in despair all attempts at conciliation, and resorted to severity. Miss Hull's judicious and equitable narrative should do much to foster an understanding between English and Irish students. It should enable English readers to realize the strength of Irish national feeling, and to perceive how grossly it was offended by the well-meaning measures of the medieval English administrators. It should equally reveal to Irish readers the just grounds for English resentment at interminable turbulence and unmitigated abuse, and should show how much good work the English rulers did for Ireland in almost intolerable circumstances. A number of appendices conclude the book. Particularly valuable is the first which treats of the famous Bull Laudabiliter of Pope Adrian IV. Although it is unpleasant to the Irish to know that it was a Pope who originally handed them over to Angevin government, Miss Hull shows that there is no valid ground for doubting the authenticity of the Bull. A. D. GODLEY': THE OXFORD CALVERLEY Reliquiae. By A. D. GODLEY. Edited by C. R. L. FLETCHER. 2 volumes. (18s. net. Oxford University Press.) That the late Mr. Alfred D. Godley was a prolific writer, these two volumes alone would testify, and yet these are but a small part of his works, published and unpublished. An Irishman by birth, Godley was educated at Harrow and Oxford, and shortly after his student days he settled in Oxford, and in 1910 was appointed Public Orator in his university. His boyhood gave little promise, intellectual or physical, of the scholar and the Alpinist that he afterwards became; for he seemed singularly unambitious, and was then too puny to distinguish himself in athletics. But he was a great reader, and had a natural gift for languages. Though like the Happy Warrior he would not "lie in wait for wealth, or honour, or for worldly state," honours, at least, came ultimately to be showered on the shy, retiring Don; and contributions from his wealth of humour (which a somewhat lugubrious cast of countenance would not have suggested), and his ready pen were eagerly sought after by editors and journalists. He may rightly be called the Calverley of Oxford. Alike in politics and in university policy, he was strongly conservative. His sympathy with Ireland was keen, yet he was convinced of the incapacity of the Free State for selfgovernment, and held that neither priests nor politicians could be efficient leaders of the Irish peasantry. His one hope for Ireland lay in the leavening of the South by means of union with Ulster. He fought stoutly for compulsory Greek, and poured scorn on soft options in university curricula. As for students avid of easy courses, complacently " Afar from here [he] saw them fly, The first volume is full of clever satire in English, Latin, and Greek verse and prose, with an occasional serious and noble poem, such as England at War" (1900). But on reading page after page of satire on university topics that have a tendency to recur, one can scarcely help applying to Godley what he humorously said of Wordsworth, that he had gone on writing poetry so long he could not stop. In the second volume, which consists mainly of prose selections, while this lighter vein is by no means absent, his more serious writings form a pleasing contrast. Naturally there are articles on Greek subjects, but also some excellent lectures on English literature that contain many refreshingly original views. His Commendatory Speeches (in Latin) were made on occasions when he presented for honorary degrees such men as Joffre, Haig, Paderewski, and BadenPowell. The Alps satisfied him (as he said they did W. P. Ker) as great literature satisfied him. He paid nineteen visits to Switzerland, climbed the great peaks, and with characteristic modesty and humour and only after much persuasion, delivered several fascinating addresses to the Alpine Club. Subjects of general interest such as these, will make an appeal to readers other than Oxonians who are likely most to appreciate topical allusions in these delightful volumes. No reader can fail to note the knowledge, care, and good taste with which Mr. Fletcher has done his editorial work. PEACE EDUCATION. - The International Bureau of Education of Geneva is convening a conference to be held at Prague on April 18 and 19, 1927, on the following theme: "What the School can do for Peace." The Bureau has been encouraged to take this decision, and guided in the choice of Prague as the seat of the conference, by various considerations, especially by the desire to have the ideas and methods of peace education discussed in Central Europe, now that they have attracted the attention of numerous educationists in Great Britain (notably in Wales), France, and Germany and furnished at Geneva itself the main theme of a remarkable conference held last summer; and by the wish to benefit by the large number of teachers who, in Czecho-Slovakia and Saxony, have in their knowledge of Esperanto-a very valuable medium of intellectual and spiritual fellowship. The conference has been planned chiefly, but not exclusively, for elementary and secondary school teachers. A detailed programme will be mailed in due time to all persons sending their name and address to the International Bureau of Education, 4, Rue Charles Bonnet, Geneva. Minor Notices and Books of the Month CLASSICS The Culture of Ancient Greece and Rome: a General Sketch. By F. POLAND, E. REISINGER, and R. WAGNER. Authorized Translation from the Second German Edition (1924) by J. H. FREESE. (21S. net. Harrap.) If this book could have been produced at the equivalent of its price in Germany-twelve marks-it might have had a good chance of being used in schools, for there is great need of a wellillustrated and comprehensive handbook to the classics, to replace separate volumes on literature and antiquities. At a guinea it should be a useful addition to libraries who do not possess the more expensive Cambridge Companions to Greek and Latin Studies. This volume has distinct merits of its own. The "get-up" is excellent, and it presents in readable and attractive form a vast amount of information about every aspect of Greek and Roman civilization, and preserves a happy balance between outline and detail. The illustrations are numerous and in most cases well produced, and we welcome a tendency to break away from the usual sequence of illustrations which occur in this kind of work. The Youthful Victor (p. 180), the bronze figure (opp. p. 190), and the Hildersheim Bowl (p. 250), are comparative novelties. The Writers of Greece. By Prof. G. NORWOOD. The Writers of Rome. By J. W. DUFF. One Volume. (7s. 6d. net. Oxford University Press.) By binding together the two volumes in The World's Manuals" devoted to Greek and Latin literature, the Clarendon Press has made what should prove a very serviceable history of ancient literature for the upper classical forms of schools. The sketch of Greek literature (142 pages) ends with Theocritus, that of Latin (109 pages) with Tacitus, and within those limits only the most important authors are considered. Prof. Norwood, who is responsible for Greek literature, by restricting himself to a brief introductory outline and twelve writers, has secured enough space to write at some length on them. His treatment throughout is fresh and stimulating. In the cases of Aeschylus and Sophocles he might have gained more space for a general appreciation of their art by omitting to analyse each extant play. There is an excellent section on Pindar. Prof. Wight Duff treats Roman literature by sections and is compelled to include more authors; but he has avoided overcrowding his pages with names, and has introduced a good many translations to illustrate his characterizations. The binding, paper, and printing of the book is delightful and there are many charming illustrations of antiquities and classical landscapes. Leaves of Hellas: Essays on Some Aspects of Greek Literature. By M. MACGREGOR. (12S. 6d. net. Arnold.) Five of the ten essays of which this volume is composed are devoted to Greek tragedy, two of the most interesting being those on the Ajax and Philoctetes of Sophocles; of the latter play Mr. Macgregor very justly remarks that "we are listening not so much to a tragedy as to the echo of a tragedy." A vigorous appreciation of Pindar is very welcome, for he is in general too easily dismissed in books on Greek literature, and no one is more necessary to a full understanding of the Hellenic spirit. The other papers deal with Hesiod-here the author has disappointed us by turning aside from a little-explored country to the familiar landscape of Virgil's Georgics-with Plato as a source of social and historical knowledge, and Lucian. It is to be regretted that we have no English edition of this author. The volume closes with a pleasant essay on the dog in Greek literature and anecdote. The Classics. By the Rt. Hon. LORD HEWART OF BURY. (Is. 6d. net. Manchester University Press. London: Longmans.) Test Papers in Latin: For the Use of Candidates Preparing for School Certificate, Matriculation and Similar Examinations. By C. G. M. BROOM. (25. Pitman.) Système de la Syntaxe Latine. By Prof. A. C. JURET. (10s. 6d. net. Paris: Société d'Edition: Les Belles Lettres. London: Oxford University Press.) EDUCATION Educating for Responsibility: The Dalton Laboratory Plan in a Secondary School. By Members of the Faculty of the South Philadelphia High School for Girls. (6s. New York: Macmillan.) In 1921, when English educational journals were full of Miss Parkhurst and the Dalton plan, and many schools were enthusiastically experimenting with it, the present writer found it very difficult to find an American teacher who had heard of it. The prophet's own country was slow to appreciate the plan, but this book shows that one large high school of 2,000 girls has adopted it whole-heartedly after three years' experimentation. The introductory chapters discuss the underlying principles and the organization of the school; the later chapters give detailed assignments in each subject of the curriculum. A careful bibliography mentions most of the English publications on the subject. Schoolmastering: Essays in Scholastic Engineering. By S. S. DRURY. (5s. 6d. net. New York: Macmillan.) Of the public or State-controlled schools of America we have no lack of information. But of the problems and management of American private schools little is known, at any rate in this country. Yet, as Mr. Drury tells us, these schools are attended by a million scholars, and are served by 75,000 teachers. We are indebted to Mr. Drury for a lively introduction to the subject, based upon twenty-one years of experience in private, or, as he prefers to say, independent schools. What he has to say about trustees, headmasters, alumni, masters' meetings, donors, and a dozen other topics, is the more interesting because he seems to know nothing of that craze for statistics which, on account of the immensity and the quick growth of the system, pervades American literature on State-controlled education. The Orientation of College Freshmen. By H. J. DOERMANN. (13s. 6d. net. London: Baillière, Tindall & Cox. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.) There is a marked tendency in American education to "curricularize" activities which in England are left to the students' voluntary initiative. As in so many other matters, the leaders in both countries would do well to watch and learn from one another-even from one another's mistakes. Mr. Doermann, who is Dean of Administration in the University of Porto Rico, has here provided a study of the freshman's needs such a study as may cause our own university authorities to reflect upon the manner in which boys and girls fresh from school find themselves face to face with a new set of problems when they reach college. Probably American universities and colleges tend to do too much for the student, whereas we do far too little. Mr. Doermann's study may serve as a reminder that the problems of university education are not systematically faced in our own country. The Life We Live and other Studies: Being the Adult School Lesson Handbook for 1927. (Limp Covers, Is. 6d. net. Cloth Boards, 2s. 6d. net. National Adult School Union.) A strong committee of Adult School leaders and others has drawn up this scheme of study for the year. The subjects vary from "The Clothes We Wear " and " Knowing Your Own Town," to The Dawn of Humanity," Africa," and Imagination and Will," and on each subject there is an excellent list of references, followed by notes on the lesson and hints for leaders of the classes. In spite of the care given to the preparation of the course, it lacks unity, and suggests a very hasty survey of too wide a field. Used with freedom and discretion by a good teacher, it would form the basis of some stimulating lessons for adolescents as well as adults. The First State Normal School in America. The Journals of CYRUS PEIRCE and MARY SWIFT. (15s. net. Harvard University Press. London: Oxford University Press.) The Place of Play in Education. By Dr. M. JANE REANEY. With Seventy-four Games Arranged by AMY WHATELEY. (3s. 6d. net. Methuen.) Statistique Intellectuelle de la France: Tableaux relatifs à 'Enseignement public, aux Bibliothèques, aux Spectacles, aux Publications, préparés sous les Auspices de l'Institut International de Coopération intellectuelle et de l'Institut de Statistique de l'Universite de Paris. Année, 1923-24. Par TATIANA BERESOVSKI-CHESTOV. (35 fr. Paris: Les Presses Universitaires de France.) |