Simon Bolivar. Address to the Venezuelan Congress. Villegas. El Abencerraje.

Villena

Lebrija: Encina. Selections.

Cervantes: La Ilustre Fregona.
El Licenciado Vidriera

Two of the Novelas Ejemplares.
Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by
F. A. Kirkpatrick, M.A.
Foolscap 8vo. 5s.

Galdós: Trafalgar

Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by
F. A. Kirkpatrick, M.A.
Foolscap 8vo. 6s.

Los Ladrones de Asturias Being the First Fifteen Chapters of La Historia de Gil Blas de Santallida, as translated into Spanish by José Francisco Isla,

from the original French of Alain René Le Sage. Edited by F. A. Kirkpatrick, M.A.

FRENCH

A Manual of French Composition for Universities and the Higher Classes of Schools

By R. L. G. Ritchie, M.A. and J. M. Moore, M.A. Sixth Impression. Demy 8vo. 7s 6d. Supplement,

6s.

Annotated Renderings of 100 passages selected from A Manual of French Composition

By the same authors. Demy 8vo.

IOS.

A Junior Manual of French

The Student's Handbook to the University and Colleges of Cambridge. Twenty-fifth Edition. June, 1926. (Cambridge University Press.)

We have on many occasions directed attention to the excellence of this handbook. The present issue indicates many changes under the new statutes and important modifications in the regulations for the Modern and Medieval Language Tripos and the English Tripos.

The Problem of a Career: Solved by 36 Men of Distinction. Compiled by J. A. R. CAIRNS. (7s. 6d. net. Arrowsmith.) Mr. Cairns has collected in this book an interesting series of essays on the professions, in the wider sense, written by persons of distinction in their own spheres. Most of the essays present in a pleasing way the prospects offered, and at the same time describe the requirements and indicate the disadvantages and difficulties which have to be overcome. We recommend the book to parents and schoolmasters.

The Dying Peasant and the Future of his Sons. By J. W. R. SCOTT. (10s. 6d. net. Williams & Norgate.)

The revival of English village life, though in a form very different from that of the old days, is a visible fact, and corresponding with it is a revival of public interest in rural economics, education, and social life. Many interesting books on the subject have come under our notice, but none more interesting than this which Mr. Robertson Scott has written under the arresting title, "The Dying Peasant." The career of the author is a sufficient guarantee that he knows what he is writing about, and indeed that he writes from first-hand knowledge is apparent on every page.

The Odyssey of a Nice Girl. By RUTH SUCкOW. (7s. 6d. net. Cape.)

Miss Suckow introduces us to life in a small town in midwestern America. Mr. and Mrs. Schoessel are comfortably well off, and strive to give their daughter Marjorie the benefits of what is considered a good education. Her vivid imagination which, whilst still a child, adds glamour to her surroundings, later renders her dissatisfied with the restricting environment of Buena Vista, where life is without excitement or adventure. She tires of the dull routine of church socials; the boys who were her companions at school hold no attraction for her. She yearns for something bigger, for an opportunity to express her ideals and to participate in that wider life wihch she knows exists. Even the War, which affects her friends in various ways, leaves her life practically unchanged, and, to her dismay, she finds herself being gradually drawn into the unromantic society of Buena Vista. A sudden decision takes her out west, and we hear indirectly of marriage and settlement on a fruit farm. We hope that she has found that satisfaction for which her spirit craved, but we are not sure. Miss Suckow writes with sympathy and understanding, and this novel, which is her second, gives evidence of considerable latent power.

"

Old Trades and New Knowledge: Six Lectures delivered before a
Juvenile Auditory at the Royal Institution, Christmas,
1925. By Sir WM. BRAGG. (8s. 6d. net. Bell.)
The appearance in book form of another set of Sir William
Bragg's Royal Institution Christmas Lectures is very welcome,
although this form naturally fails to convey the peculiar charm
of the lectures themselves. To Prof. Armstrong and his pupils,
the didactic methods necessarily adopted in such lectures must
be deplorable; but the critic is disarmed by the author's preface
and must admit that the book is of peculiar interest to all teachers
of handicraft, while he heartily recommends it to all teachers of
science and students of scientific method. Where all is interesting
it is difficult to choose; but the writer would like specially to
recommend Lecture II, on the trade of the smith, and Lecture IV,
on the trade of the dyer. The illustrations are clear and adequate,
but cannot be so effective as the actual models, diagrams, and
apparatus of the popular lecturer. There is plenty of room for
books of this kind which appeal to the strongest instincts of the
intelligent youngster.

The Celebration Bulletin, No. 3: Containing Several Service
Celebrations of Animals (for Different Types of Audience),
a Memorial Celebration of John Howard the Philanthropist,
Correspondence and Discussions. (Is. Russell.)
Board of Education. State Scholarships (England) Tenable at
Universities, 1926. (6d. net. H.M.S.O.)

Board of Education. Statistics of Public Education for the Year
1924-1925. England and Wales. (7s. 6d. net. H.M.S.O.)
Eighth Annual Report of the Industrial Welfare Society for the
Year Ended 30th June, 1926. With Balance Sheet.

The University Bulletin. Supplement to Vol. VI, No. 1: containing Report on Higher Degrees. (6d. Association of University Teachers.)

International Federation of University Women. Report of the Fourth Conference, Amsterdam, July 28 to August 2, 1926. What Dutch University Women do in Holland and the Colonies. (International Federation of University Women.)

The Scientists' Reference Book and Diary, 1927. (3s. 6d. Manchester Woolley.)

Diary for 1927. (University Tutorial Press.)
Residential College for Working Women (Incorporated). Sixth
Annual Report, 1925.

Principles of Text-Book Reform. By Dr. J. H. COUSINS. (Theosophical World-University.)

The Theosophical World-University: Statement of Principles. S.P.E. Tract No. XXV. On Some Disputed Points in English

Grammar. By O. JESPERSEN. (2s. 6d. net. Clarendon Press.) Kent Education Committee. Report of an Investigation of the Free Place Scholarship Examination, 1926, in the County of Kent. By A. BELL. (IS. Director of Education, Springfield, Maidstone.)

An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1927: Containing an Account of the Astronomical and other Phenomena, and a vast Amount of Information Respecting the Government, Finances, Population, Commerce, and General Statistics of the various Nations of the World. By J. WHITAKER. (Complete Edition, 6s. net. Abridged Edition, Is. 6d. net. Whitaker.) An Appeal for a Model Montessori School: An Address Delivered at Studio House, Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead, June 26, 1926. By C. A. CLAREMONT. Organized Publication: A Connected Series of Proposals Relating to the Publication and Record of Scientific and Technical Information. By J. S. PowNALL. (5s. net. Elliot Stock.) After Many Years: A Tale of Experiences and Impressions Gathered in the Course of an Obscure Life. By W. E. HeitLAND. (7s. 6d. net. Cambridge University Press.) Simple Stitch Patterns for Embroidery. By ANNE BRANDONJONES. (2s. 6d. net, paper; 3s. 6d. net, bound. Batsford.) Thebes: The Glory of a Great Past A Little Book for Everybody. (3s. 6d. net. Allen & Unwin.)

Printing and Book Crafts for Schools. By F. GOODYEAR. (10s. 6d. net. Harrap.)

The New Housecraft Book for Girls: Compiled by the Staff at the George Palmer Domestic Subjects Centre, Reading. Edited by C. WILLIAMSON and E. C. MULCASTER. Three Parts. (6d. each. Pitman.)

Laurie's Cyclopaedia of Gifts: Over 2,000 Carefully Collated Suggestions for the Giving of Presents Suited to all Persons Edited, with Notes, by NIYA BECKE. (25. cloth; Is., paper. Werner Laurie.)

and Purses.

Mothercraft for School Girls. By FLORENCE HORSPOOL. Second Edition. (Is. 9d. Macmillan.)

Pictorial House Modelling: A Practical Manual Explaining how to make Models of Buildings. By E. W. HOBBS. (бs. net. Lockwood.)

The Home Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables. By MARGARET
J. M. WATSON. (6s. net. Oxford University Press.)
The Ten-Minute Book—V. Class (or Standard) VII. By ED.

J. S. LAY. (1s. 6d. Macmillan.)

A Varsity Career. By B. D. JONES. (3s. 6d. net. Heffer.) Sunrise in the West: A Modern Interpretation of Past and Present. By A. STOKES. (7s. 6d. net. Kegan Paul.) Practical Social Science: A Laboratory Textbook. By Dr. J. A. LAPP. (75. net. New York: Macmillan.)

For Weal of All: Ten Addresses given at Bedales School by G. Crump. (4s. 6d. net. Heffer.)

Training for Speaking: A Manual of Declamation, with Exercises designed to teach the Student Correct Breathing, BreathControl, and Gesture, based upon the Combined Methods of the French and Italian Schools. By Prof. P. BERTON. (Ios. 6d. net. Harrap.)

The nineteenth century, which witnessed the beginnings of systematic public provision for the education. of children, and the beginnings also of the systematic study of child nature, has been justly called the century of the child. The twentieth century, which has so far seen the provision of a national, though as yet an inadequate, scheme of secondary education; which has seen some development of other parallel forms of postprimary education, as well as a sincere attempt to establish a national system of continuation schools, will probably be regarded by the future historian as the century of the adolescent. The social reformer well knows that, though much may be done, and ought to be done, to furnish educational opportunities for the men and women of the present, yet the highest hope of the nation is in its boys and girls. To far-seeing workers in the field of education, whether psychologists, or teachers, or administrators, or statesmen, the problem of the adolescent is the urgent problem of the hour, transcending all others in importance.

Of all this the members of the Consultative Committee were thoroughly well aware. They knew that a great responsibility was laid upon them, and we will say at once that in most essential respects they have risen admirably to the occasion. Passing over the useful historical survey, and the equally useful review of the present situation, we note the Committee's fundamental proposal, which is that education be re-graded. It is

• Report of the Consultative Committee. H.M.S.O., 1926. 2s, net.

in accordance with the facts of child nature that the primary stage should end at the age of 11. Then begins secondary education of one type or another. In this sense there is, even now, secondary education for all," but for the vast majority of children it fails at one vital point, and that is that no definitely fresh start is made in an education of a different type. The present elementary school organization is unsound in principle, and the very word "elementary " is to be excised from the scheme of terminology. The present "secondary school, with its literary and scientific aims, is to be called a grammar school. The essential feature of the proposed new order of things is the creation of schools similar in aim to the present central schools, but to be called modern schools. In thinly-populated areas this type of education is to be represented by senior classes in the existing elementary schools. For the suggested terminology we cannot profess any affection. But the substance of the Committee's recommendations, which is the important thing, seems to us conceived in the very spirit of wisdom. The aims of the different types of school are carefully discussed, as well as the obviously big problems of administration involved in the change of system.

A mere glance at the names of the members of the Committee would have been enough to make one expect the most explicit precautions against a narrow and narrowing sort of curriculum for the new type of school. No one understands better than certain members of the Committee the implications of the saying that man, even the so-called working man, does not live by bread alone. The hours of respite from labour have lengthened, and preparation at school for the occupations of wellspent leisure later on is therefore an indispensable necessity, even when vocational training is the dominating feature of the curriculum.

The one point in the Report which surprises and disappoints us is the definite and unqualified proposal that a new external leaving examination be created for the new type of school. We should have thought that the influence of leaving examinations upon the existing secondary schools constituted on the whole a sufficient warning against fastening a kindred system upon this new type of school. The thought that, let us say, ten thousand pupils, taught perhaps by some hundreds of different teachers, each rightly having his or her individual views about aims and methods, should be prepared for one and the same external test is not an exhilarating one. The purely external examination is, at the best, a clumsy piece of machinery, highly uncertain in its working. The usual plea that it provides a stimulus is put forward by the Committee, which knows perfectly well that good teaching stands in no need of extrinsic stimulus. And it may easily prove little to the purpose to say at this stage that the examination should be voluntary and that the syllabuses should be liberally devised. But what most surprises us is that the vital difference between internal and external examinations is scarcely touched upon. We think that no one who has had good opportunities of watching the effects of both these agencies in schools and in colleges can doubt that the true spirit of education is fostered where the integrity of an internal examination is guaranteed by an external examiner. In other words, we stand by the formulafreedom in teaching. The Committee recites the usual arguments against internal examinations, but those arguments are pitiably invalid as against the principle

of freedom in teaching-the one way of bringing the very best out of the teacher. To adduce as an argument the fact that internal examinations and school records are not rated so highly as certificates and diplomas is only to say that the examination virus is in people's blood and had better remain there.

The President of the Board, with characteristic originality and characteristic haste, has circulated with the Report a letter addressed to the chairman of the Committee. The purport of the letter is that Local Education Authorities need not be afraid that the Board will adopt the recommendation to take steps to

raise the age of compulsory attendance at school. Seeing that the Board is obviously not bound by the recommendations of any Committee, and looking also to the general trend of the Board's recent policy, we think the President's solicitude for the nerves of the Local Authorities must surely be superfluous.

But our closing note must be one of general satisfaction with the Report itself. Not only teachers, but the educated public generally, are interested in its great theme and are thinking about the problems of the adolescent. This Report should help to heighten their interest and to clarify their thought.

HE review of the year 1926 published in The Times, includes a brief summary of the educational year. This is described as a year of quiet progress and some achievement in all fields, without The Year 1926. "many outstanding features either in legislation or administration." In university education, Oxford and Cambridge passed through the throes of reorganization by Statutory Commissioners and, as The Times curtly observes, the necessary legislation was passed for the reform of the University of London." Reading received its Royal Charter as a University. Several other cities, it might have been added, showed activity in developing their resources for university education with a view to creating new universities. Secondary and elementary education, it is true, offered few outstanding events to record. There is a heritage of controversial questions, some of which may find a solution during the present year. Conditions are favourable, not so much for great developments in education as for better co-ordination and greater efficiency.

A SERIOUS view is taken by the President of the

profession, eminently qualified by education and experience to form sound political views, are to be refused civic rights, by whom, it may be asked, is the country to be governed? In what way does The Times suggest that the exercise of teacher's civic rights should be limited? Are his political views to remain an inviolate secret? If so, it would be well to begin by abolishing the open method of election in university constituencies. There are, of course, degrees of partisanship. We do not think any general indictment can be brought against teachers of extreme partisanship, either to the right or the left. Lord Eustace Percy adopts a more reasonable view on this question. Let the teacher, he says, take an active part in politics-an activity forbidden to High Court judges-" so long as his action is such as will dignify the conception of party government and party membership in the eyes of his pupils." Local politicians could in no way more surely ruin a teacher's influence, he adds, than by encouraging him to appear as a partisan lecturer at local meetings, or involve himself feverishly in the personal controversies and antagonisms of a heated election.

Political Propaganda.

Conference, he gave examples of the attempts to poison the minds of children with Communist theories. The view is undoubtedly held, as the resolutions adopted at the Labour Conference at Margate show, that our schools can be properly conscripted in the propaganda which aims at abolishing the present, and creating a new, order of society. Mr. A. P. Herbert, in a letter addressed to The Times, suggests that the attempt to use the State schools to impart a "proletarian outlook" instead of "bourgeois psychology" should be killed by ridicule. The terminology is certainly formidable, and may induce the children, as Mr. Herbert suggests, to "cackle with weary laughter." Teachers generally will agree that the minds of children ought not to be worried with political theories which they are incapable of understanding.

THE

HE question of the political rights of the teacher raises a different issue. The Times in a somewhat pompous leading article states that the teacher's "rights as a citizen, or, rather, his exercise of Freedom of those rights, is limited by his position, the Teacher. as are the civic rights of the Judges of the High Court." This is extraordinary doctrine. The teaching profession-not yet a branch of the Civil Service-will refuse to accept any such interpretation of its political status, for if the members of a great

The Place of the Secondary School.

Education Conference considered the place of the secondary school in the English educational system. The term "secondary" was used in its current sense, not in the wider signification proposed by the Hadow Report. Mr. R. F. Cholmeley, who introduced the subject, believed that the real business of the secondary school was to train those minds which were capable of receiving their education mainly through books. Miss Stoneman, of the Preston Park School for Girls, wished the secondary school to be above all things a civilizing agency." No such school could afford to neglect the arts. The "practical girl" presented difficulties, but no one wanted to say that her place was not in the secondary school. Mr. W. C. Fletcher believed that we must walk by faith. He thought that the proposed new modern schools would never get a fair chance because they would just imitate the secondary schools. He was emphatically opposed to any tendency to level down. Other speakers, men distinguished in the world of business, believed that the function of the secondary school was to train leaders. The debate was a significant illustration of English methods, which, indeed, were compared, both favourably and unfavourably, during the debate with the methods of France. The adoption of the Hadow Report would of course compel us to reach some conclusion on this difficult question.

Ho tested?

Education.

WOW can efficiency in education be secured and It would be hard to imagine more diverse, but not necessarily contradictory, views than those expressed at the North of EngEfficiency in land Educational Conference. Prof. Campagnac, of Liverpool University, treated the subject with an inspiration which the audience were not slow to appreciate. Taking Locke's definition of education as virtue, wisdom, breeding, and learning," he pointed out that the first three, the most important, may be got but cannot be scientifically tested. Learning, as a commodity, may be both secured and tested, but learning as a temper of mind, though its price be above rubies, cannot be subjected to scientific tests. The real test was the impress made by one mind on another, and the school should be a shrine for the initiated and not a circus." Then came the turn of the business men, who told us exactly what they wanted accuracy, intelligence, loyalty, capacity for self-education, and the ability to translate thought into action. Moreover the business world, if we may judge by the representatives present, is a whole-hearted believer in intelligence tests. There was apparently no recognition that, however valuable such tests may be, they need very skilful interpretation if they are not to be delusive, while the philosophical presuppositions, on which so many of them rest, are not entirely free from suspicion.

AT

T the same Conference Dr. Ernest Barker, in the few remarks he made about the Hadow Report, described it as an educational and social revolution. Its provisions would add, he said, to The Hadow the dignity of the manual worker and Report. at the same time remove the objections, which the speaker had always felt, to the idea of " secondary education for all." He was very emphatic that the "modern" school-i.e. the central school under a new name—should have a new leaving examination of its own, based on a four years' course from II to 15. Mr. Beaumont, of Glasgow, called the attention of the Conference to the fact that Scotland already possessed similar schools, but with a three years' course instead of four years. The "decapitation" of elementary schools which, in many cases, would follow from the adoption of the Report, was strongly opposed by Miss Conway, who believed that to withdraw from these schools the stimulus provided by older pupils would have a very serious effect upon the teachers.

AT

T the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association, the presidential address of Sir Rennell Rodd was heard by a vast crowd, some of whom may

have been attracted as to a " WhisperSir Rennell Rodd. ing Gallery." The president's remarks were not only full of interesting matter for the members of the Association as showing how valuable a retired diplomatist thought their labours, but also full of humorous illustrations. One of the latter referred to a conversation of his with an Italian colleague during his Ambassadorship at Rome. On asking this gentleman what he thought of the young woman of to-day, the Italian wittily replied, "She resembles a bad photograph; too great an exposure, too small a development." He compared the student of France or Germany with his counterpart in English public schools who regards the art of shirking as an

honourable ideal. Sir Rennell, in advocating the later beginning of Latin to the age of 12 or even 13, as on the Continent, repeated the old gibe of Heine, who asserted that if the Romans had had to learn Latin, they would never have had time to conquer the world.

School Certificate. French:

AN eleventh hour resolution of quite an unusual character was brought up at the general meeting of the same Association. The West London Branch wished to express dissatisfaction with the examination of the School Certificate of the University of London in July last. It appears that after the results were issed, the University added II per cent to the marks of those candidates who had not gained a pass in French. This acknowledgment of hardship may have been a mistake in tactics on the part of the University, although Mr. Ripman was probably right in calling it a very plucky act. The teachers do not appear to realize what a great fall in the acquirement of French has occurred in the last twenty years. The examination papers become easier and easier, and examiners have the utmost difficulty in passing 50 per cent of the candidates. The teachers consider the examiners a ferocious race, who desire to fail their best pupils. This is so far from being the case, that examiners frequently spend many more hours than they are paid for in endeavouring to mark the papers in the most indulgent way possible.

THE

'HE cause of this decrease in knowledge is not easy to discover. It may be due to teaching of the Direct Method by inefficient teachers who spend far too much time on endeavouring to And Its secure a so-called Parisian accent in Standard. pupils only capable of Whitechapel or Bradford. Or there may be hours wasted in endeavouring to make boys and girls write essays in French before they have the necessary knowledge of elementary grammar and a sufficiently wide vocabulary. At any rate, it is quite clear that to pass qualifying examinations there is need of more time being given to the acquisition of these two essentials. It is of no avail for extreme Direct Methodists to exclaim that the examinations do not test fairly their teaching; it is evident that translation from and into French is the most essential part of the knowledge that will be useful to 99 per cent of their pupils when they are grown up.

IT

T was always understood that the Order in Council of 1912 constituting the Teachers' Registration Council, provided for the Council a temporary constitution which would be replaced as soon The Teachers' as possible by a constitution of a more Council. democratic character. The War intervened, and we have had to wait nearly fifteen years for the new constitution prescribed in an Order in Council dated December 14, 1926. Reserving criticism of details, we tender our congratulations to the present Council and secretary, Mr. F. Roscoe, on the success of their efforts. Except for university teachers, the principle adopted in the new constitution is direct election of members by registered teachers arranged in categories according to their professional work. The membership has been increased to 51, and the curious anomaly of an external chairman, who need not be a registered teacher, survives. As under the old Order, the only duty assigned to the Council is forming and keeping a register of teachers.