BELL'S FORTHCOMING BOOKS Elementary Trigonometry By C. V. Durell, M.A., and R. M. Wright, M.A. This volume, covering the Matriculation and School Certificate stage, is divided into three parts: I, The RightAngled Triangle; II, The General Triangle and Mensuration; III, The General Angle and Compound Angles. A second volume will be published later, dealing with Higher Certificate and Scholarship work. The authors believe that the principles of Trigonometry are most easily grasped if the numerical work is at first of a simple nature, and the material in Part I has been so arranged that it may be taken very early in the school course. The treatment of Mensuration is fairly complete. Diagrams throughout the book have been used to illustrate examples to a much greater extent than is usual. It has thus been possible to introduce an abundance and variety of examples which make the subject matter interesting without burdening the pupils with tedious and verbal descriptions. VOLUME I, containing Parts I-III, ready shortly. Will also be issued in parts. Heat and Light By E. Nightingale, M.Sc. This book tells in a way which is sure to appeal to students the story of how basic discoveries have been made. As most teachers prefer to arrange their own practical work, important experiments only have been included. Most of the examples are taken from actual School Certificate or Matriculation papers. Fully Illustrated. Ready shortly. Readable Physiology and Hygiene By J. Argyll Campbell, M.D., D.Sc. A thoroughly interesting introductory book on the same lines as the volumes previously issued in this well-known "Readable" Series. Volumes now ready deal with Physics, Chemistry, Mechanics, Electricity, Botany, and Physical Geography. With many illustrations. Ready immediately. The British Empire By A. Wilmore, D.Sc., F.R.G.S. The first volume of a new series Bell's Intermediate Geographies, specially prepared to meet the needs of lower forms in secondary schools, central schools, &c. The books combine the spirit and method of the "New Geography" with the best of the well-tried methods of the older teaching. With maps, diagrams, &c. Ready shortly. About Is. 6d. The Elements By Prof. W. P. Milne, D.Sc., A useful introduction to the subject for those who require a more concise treatment than is contained in the authors' well-known First Course in the Calculus (seventh edition, 7s. 6d.). Ready shortly. Price about 2s. 6d. The Structure of the Atom A First Latin Poetry Book By E. N. da C. Andrade, D.Sc. A thoroughly revised edition of this brilliant and well-known book. It has been brought up-to-date and incorporates the results of the latest work on the subject. New (enlarged) edition. Price about 30s. Selected and edited by John Elwyn James, M.A. A careful selection of the best Latin poetry from Lucretius to Boethius. The editor has added an introduction, full vocabulary, &c. 96 pp. Ready shortly. Elementary Practical Chemistry By E. J. Holmyard, M.A., M.Sc., F.I.C. This new volume in Bell's Natural Science Series is intended for students preparing for the School Certificate and Matriculation Examinations. The author has had in mind the very common difficulty of having to deal with large classes. He has also attempted to select and describe experiments in such a way that they may usually be completed within an hour, or less. The book has been divided into sections, each dealing with a particular type of work, and it is hoped that the formation of a course suited to individual needs will be an easy matter. Ready immediately. 128 pp. 45 figures. Price 2s. G. BELL & SONS, LTD., PORTUGAL STREET, LONDON, W.C. 2 special attention. Until recently a number of children obtained exemption between the ages of 12 and 13, and considerably more than half left soon after attaining the age of 13. Now, all the pupils remain to the end of the term in which they reach the age of 14. The period of elementary education-nine years-is long, uninteresting to many, and insufficient for some, of the children. The lease of school life should be broken two-thirds of the way and renewed under other conditions. Organized in two stages, (I) infants and children up to the age of 11, and (II) children of II and upwards, much might be done to remedy some of the defects of the system. While in stage I there would be the common and simple aim of attempting to enable every child to acquire and to use with intelligence the rudiments of knowledge, Stage II should provide alternative courses of training. Children with an aptitude for school studies should secure advanced elementary instruction, including mathematics, a modern language (as an aid to English), and elementary science. Children without any special aptitude for school studies should obtain further teaching in elementary subjects with special attention to learning by doing. Some such re-organization would tend to speed up progress in the earlier stage, stimulate teachers, and rekindle the flagging interest of the pupils. While, therefore, in the domain of education-national, obligatory, and free-there is still much to be done before any impartial critic can rest and be satisfied, the advances recorded could not have been made without the Act of 1902. The future historian, however, will probably regard as a more particularly significant consequence of the Act the advance in the field of education other than elementary. To some extent County and County Borough Councils had prepared the way, by ten or twelve years' administration of the "Residue Grant," in supplying and aiding the supply of technical instruction. There is some obscurity in the earlier statistical and financial returns relating to higher education, but in 1901 the amount contributed by Government towards training colleges, secondary schools, science and art schools and classes, evening schools, &c., appears to have been about half a million. In the same year, Local Authorities expended over three-quarters of a million out of the residue grant, about £ 100,000 out of rates. The total grants in 1924-25 (including the Residue Grant) were nearly six millions, and the contributions from rates just over that total. In 1901, the number of secondary schools aided by the Government was 341 with 35,730 pupils. In 1924-25 there were 1,284 schools on the grant list, and 383 recognized but not aided, the total number of pupils being 414,672. This rapid development of secondary school provision is intimately associated with the conditions under which young people are prepared for the profession of teaching. The abolition of the traditional system of enrolling pupil teachers stimulated-intentionally-the establishment of secondary schools, and reduced-incidentally-the supply of teachers. The change in policy was, in fact, one of the progenitors of the Burnham salary scales. The final step in discounting the process of affording special facilities for the production of teachers, has recently been announced. The boy or girl aspiring to be a pedagogue will remain at the secondary school until the appropriate age for admission to a training college. Opinions differ as to the wisdom of discontinuing the year of student-teachership during which it might be discovered whether the aspirant had any native capacity for practical teaching. However, the change will, at least tend to prolong the period of secondary school life, and provide material for advanced courses. private and preparatory schools not recognized by the Board. Secondary schools are costly to provide and expensive to maintain. They may be regarded as highly efficient pieces of educational machinery designed to perform a particular function. That is, to educate boys and girls for at least five years, and to discharge them with the token of the School Certificate Examination. In view of the demand for the extension of secondary school accommodation, it is pertinent to examine the results of the existing provision. Of the pupils who left the schools in 1924-25, 37.7 per cent attended for not over three years; 63.7 per cent for not over four years, and, Over four but not over five years .. six " " .. 19.2 11.8 5.3 These figures point to the conclusion that the highly efficient piece of educational machinery represented by the secondary school is, under present conditions, failing to a disturbing extent, to perform the particular functions for which it is designed. The reason for this state of affairs is due partly to the quality of the raw material, and largely to the lack of suitable alternatives for those who desire opportunities of further education. It is extremely doubtful whether additional secondary school accommodation can be justified, but, it seems obvious, greater care should be exercised in the admission of pupils, and other, less am bitious, facilities provided for those who are not likely to complete the course successfully. Pupils are now encouraged to enter the schools under twelve years of age. The admission examination may be a reasonably satisfactory test of attainment and also to some extent of ability. But it cannot assess qualities of mind and character, without which the ascertained degrees of attainment and ability may be infertile. There should be a further investigation of ability to profit by the secondary school course at the end of the first three years, and a resolute winnowing. Looking backward, the period following 1902-grievously interrupted by the Great War-added substantially to the ways and means of education, and unquestionably improved its administrative machinery. "The slave stands fit for the labour" but "the Master's mandate is still to seek," the reason is that, as Earl Balfour, I think, once said, changes trouble our complacency; we like our labels old. It may be doubted whether the enlarged educational opportunities have influenced the national attitude of mind, but there is undoubtedly an increasing public interest in, and demand for, education and school training. This may be ascribed partly to the War; it is also largely due to the municipal activity and responsibility in the provision of the service. The danger is, in these days of doles, that people animated by the laudable desire to obtain higher education for their children, tend to rely too much upon the unfathomed resources of the State, and too little upon their own capacity to make sacrifices. Comparing what was with what is, the impressive, and to some extent alarming, factor, is that of the great increment in educational expenditure. The figures for twentyfive years ago and to-day, which I have given, speak for themselves. So many alien circumstances having contributed to their inflation-the far too low conceptions of what was necessary in earlier years and the present difference in the value of money-they cannot be regarded as a correct index of progress or development. Nevertheless (Continued on page 22) OUTING HANDBOOKS TEXTBOOKS FOR OUTDOOR WORK AND PLAY 3s. 6d. net each Airedale, The. By W. Haynes. Automobile Operation. By A. L. Brennan, Jr. Camp Cookery. By Horace Kephart. Illustrated. Fine Art of Fishing, The. By Samuel G. Camp. Fishing Kits and Equipment. By Samuel G. Camp. Illustrated. Fishing Tackle. By P. D. Frazer. Illustrated. Fishing with Floating Flies. By Samuel G. Camp. Fox Hound, The. By R. D. Williams. Illustrated. Fox Terrier, The. By W. Haynes. Illustrated. How to Play Tennis. By James Burns. Illustrated. Intensive Farming. By L. C. Corbett. Illustrated Marine Motor, The. By F. W. Sterling. Illustrated. Modern Golf. By Harold H. Hilton. Navigation for the Amateur. By Captain E. T. 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This book tells, in simple language, the story of twelve famous cities from their foundation up to the present day. Each narrative is told round the main historical events in which the city played a part. There is a useful appendix of exercises and questions on each chapter. ONE TERM GEOGRAPHIES BLACK'S INDIVIDUAL WORK SERIES By ROBERT J. FINCH, F.R.G.S. Large crown 8vo. Cloth. With 44 maps. Price 1s. 6d. EUROPE. Now Ready. THE BRITISH ISLES) Ready NORTH AMERICA Shortly. This series has been written in response to a demand for short textbooks which cover the ground in a term's work and which contain large numbers of exercises for individual work. LISONS ET PARLONS ! COURS DE PREMIÈRE ANNÉE By C. H. LEATHER, B.A., and RENÉ TALLARD, L.-ès-L. Large crown 8vo. Cloth. With 24 illustrations. Price 2s. A new first-year French book, produced by the happy collaboration of two practical teachers. The work is carefully graded, pronunciation is dealt with by the phonetic system, and there are new and valuable ideas for the teaching of grammar, oral French, and poetry. A NEW SERIES OF ENGLISH Another outstanding event of the quarter of a century is the change in the financial relationship between the Central and the Local Authorities. During twelve or thirteen years before 1917 the Government contribution to the rapidly increasing cost of elementary education advanced by 13 per cent, but expenditure out of the rates went up by 56 per cent. The Act of 1918 adjusted some anomalies, and introduced the system of financial partnership. In effect, this was more equitable but in some respects it seemed to constitute a further menace to local initiative and control. Under the system of fixed grants, the Government Department called the tune, and left the ratepayers to pay the piper. Under present conditions, there is a tendency for the Government not only to choose the tune but to appoint the piper, determine where he is to perform, and prescribe the amount of his pay. Until the intervention of the nobleman who now presides at the Board-who has other views-there was a danger of Local Authorities being deprived of even the limited powers they were permitted to exercise after 1902. But it is the failing of all Boards, whether Central or Local in their dealings, to adopt or to endeavour to sustain the parental attitude. The Board in authority says of its constituents, “They needn't trouble themselves about anything: I will think for them. I am their perpetual parent. Such is the disposition of an all-wise Providence." Personal Paragraphs THE President of the Board of Education has appointed Mr. H. W. Cousins, headmaster of the Brampton County Secondary School, Cumberland, to be a member of the Consultative Committee, in the place of Mr. S. O. Andrew, headmaster of Whitgift School, who has resigned for reasons of his health. Mr. Cousins is a contributor to this Journal, and, as headmaster of a rural grammar school, he has done much to advance the movement towards giving a biological trend to school education. He has also rendered valuable service to the special Committee of the Educational Science Section of the British Association on Training for Life Overseas. MR. W. R. BOWER, head of the Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the Huddersfield Technical College, and a Past President of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions, retired at the end of last term, after holding his present post for thirty years. The College Authorities are now creating separate departments of Physics and Electrical Engineering. The new head of the Physics Department will be Mr. H. Lowery, M.Sc. (London), Lecturer in Physics at the Bradford Technical College and formerly Assistant Lecturer in Physics in the University of Manchester, who has published several papers on spectroscopic and other subjects. Mr. W. M. Wilcox, B.Sc. (London), now Lecturer in (Continued on page 24) Stories from Chaucer. 2s. Selections from the Morte D'Arthur. 2s. 6d. The Adventures of Beowulf. 1s. 9d. Tales from the Faerie Queene. 2s. 6d. Hakluyt's English Voyages. Edited by E. E. SPEIGHT, B.A., F.R.G.S. With an Introduction by Sir CLEMENTS MARKHAM. 3s. Stories from the Northern Sagas. Edited by A. F. MAJOR and E. E. SPEIGHT, Complete Educational Catalogue sent Post Free on application. LONDON: ENGLISH SOCIAL REFORMERS By GEORGE GUEST B.A. Headmaster of St. Paul's School, Bournemouth. These biographies deal either with great historical characters treated especially in connexion with their influence on the social life of their time or with great inventors, economists, and philanthropists. The subjects include among others, Wycliffe, Caxton, Gresham, Law, Jethro Tull, Arkwright Stephenson, Cobbett, Cobden, Howard, Raikes, Lancaster, Robert Owen, Florence Nightingale. TEMPLE HOUSE, E.C.4, and 46 FARRINGDON STREET, Е.С. 4 Univ. Corr. Coll. Students WERE SUCCESSFUL gaining 35 PLACES IN HONOURS Free Guides TO MATRICULATION, INTERMEDIATE ARTS, BACHELOR OF ARTS, INTERMEDIATE SCIENCE, BACHELOR OF SCIENCE. Any one of these Guides or a Special Prospectus for Economics, Engineering, or Self-Education Courses may be had Post Free from THE SECRETARY, University Correspondence College, 14 BURLINGTON HOUSE, Cambridge. THE SEED. 7. GERMINATION AND DEPTH OF SOWING. 8. HOW WATER BEHAVES IN THE SOIL (I). 9. HOW WATER BEHAVES IN THE SOIL (II). 10. HEAT AND THE SOIL (I). 11. HEAT AND THE SOIL (II). 12. INDEPENDENCE OF THE YOUNG PLANT: How ROOTS BE- 13. STUDY OF THE SHоот. 14. How BRANCHES ARE DE VELOPED BUDS. 19. THE BREATHING OF PLANTS. 20. THE FLOWER. 21. THE FRUIT. 22. WHAT PLANTS CONTAIN. 23. How PLANTS OBTAIN THEIR FOOD. 24. WHAT IS DONE WHEN SOILS ARE DEFICIENT IN PLANT 25. CHEMICAL FERTILISERS. 26. THE EFFECTS OF LIME ON SOIL AND PLANT. 27. ROTATION OF CROPS. 28. How THE WEATHER AFFECTS PLANT-LIFE. MODERN SCHOOL GEOMETRY Parts 1 and 2. By A. MACGREGOR, M.A. Part 1, 1s.9d. Part 2, 2s. In one volume, 3s. 6d. Follows the New Sequence, and covers a 2 or 3 years' Course in Geometry. The Principal Feature-By means of simple Research Exercises the discovery of each geometrical truth is made before the formal proof of the Theorem is reached. A selection of Riders follow the Theorem for Practice in applying the truths learned. Part 3. By J. W. FULTON, M.A., B.Sc. Part 3, 2s. Parts 1, 2, and 3 in one Volume, 4s. 6d. Part 3 completes a course of study in Plane Geometry for Secondary Schools. Great care has been taken with the arrangement of the formal proofs and with the selection of the many Numerical Exercises and Theoretical Riders associated with the Theorems. Prospectus of any of the above Books free on application to MCDOUGALL'S EDUC. CO., LTD., 8 FARRINGDON AVENUE, LONDON, E.C.4 |