66

sprung from "the people": their progress is, indeed, hindered by systems of "Training" which, to a quite appalling extent, hold still by the shell of ancient rules from which the spirit has departed: but, in spite of all, they are the friends of children, and they know the needs of their young brothers and sisters. The zeal with which they have taken up Manual Training and Kindergarten occupations is proof that they will be ready to go further when the door is opened for more thorough reforms.

We have not attempted in this chapter to enter into as much detail as in the previous chapters, except on those points which need emphasis in connection with the special aim of these classes. Much that has been said there would only be repeated here, if we had sketched a complete scheme of studies. Our special purpose has been to lay all possible emphasis on the standpoint from which these closing years are to be regarded, and to indicate the main changes in curriculum which the adoption of this standpoint involves.

CHAPTER X

THE HIGHER ELEMENTARY (HIGHER PRIMARY) SCHOOL

That which the school ought to develop, before all things, in the individuals whom it trains is, as has often been said, the man himself, that is to say, heart, intelligence, conscience. Nothing could be more true; but, it must never be forgotten, at the same time, that, if the individual is afterwards to be a manual worker, whether in the fields or in the workshop, the first and best safeguard that our schools can give, for the morality of the man, is to create in every scholar an aptitude for, and a liking for, that labour by which he is to live.-LE BLANC. Quoted from Special Reports on Educational Subjects, Education Department, 1897, on the French System of Higher Primary Schools, by R. L. Morant. The whole article is of the highest value in connection with the topic of this chapter.

§ 1.-MUCH in these chapters will appear to the casual reader to be waste of words, for they contain many novel proposals outside what appears to be possible in the current practice of the schools. Nevertheless, it may be asserted with confidence that nothing is here suggested which is visionary : illustrations might be offered, if space permitted, of places where these proposals are being carried out, and the real task which the present writer has set himself is, not to sketch a theoretic system of his own, but rather to collect together suggestions offered from a variety of sources, and then to bring these

1

together into a systematic body of thought. Thus, with reference to the topic now before us, the "Higher Elementary School" is a term which has only just been adopted by Government, and it will take time before the idea underlying this type of school is understood by the nation at large; nevertheless, it is accepted on the Continent as an indispensable feature of a national scheme of education; and if in England the same thing has not been done under that name, something similar is found in most large towns, where Schools of Science or Technical Schools have been established.

Let us reconsider the essential aim of this type of school (Chapter IV, p. 111). It is designed to cover a four years' Course, receiving children from the Primary School at about eleven years of age, and parting with them about the age of fifteen. They are separated from their comrades in the Primary School, because either their own ability, or the design of their parents, holds out the hope that they may enter upon employments requiring more intclligence and skill than those followed by the pupils whom we have considered in the previous chapter.

The scheme of study will therefore be governed by three considerations :-(1) It is a sequel to what has gone before: the curriculum must start where we left off in Chapter VIII, and any school of this type is bound to plan its course of study in close association with the ground already covered by the Primary Schools of the neighbourhood (Sequence). (2) It is presumed that pupils enter this type of school because they are more capable and more likely to make rapid progress than the children who are left behind in the Primary School (Child Nature). (3) The curriculum of the last two years must be 1 Vide Preface.

especially planned with a view to future callings in life (Equipment). This last demand seems to offer difficulties, since the older our pupils become the more varied are the callings which are open to them, and the distinctive demands made by these various callings are both more pressing and more specialised. The differences, however, at this period are greater in appearance than in reality. If we make a list of all these employments, we shall find, that, for the purpose in hand, they fall into two main divisions: (a) the mechanical and scientific (workshop); (b) the official and mercantile (counter and desk). The foundation required for the one is to be sought in mathematics and science, with workshop practice; for the second in modern languages and in "commercial subjects." And, further, since all these employments are associated together as a part of the entire industrial life of the community, they must not be kept too rigidly apart: that is to say, the pupil who "specialises " for office life ought to know something of mechanical pursuits also; and the skilled artisan will be all the better for some acquaintance with accounts.

Hence, our scheme of study should be fairly clear. During the first two years all pupils will take the same Course, which will be wholly directed towards "liberal" studies, but also will prepare the pupil for the next two years, during which parallel classes will need to be established. In half of these special attention will be paid to scientific pursuits, while in the other half modern languages and commercial pursuits will take the chief place.1

To make this more definite, let us suppose that we

1 The type of Higher Elementary School established by the Board of Education just now in England ignores specialisation for commerce entirely.

have some thirty-three periods of study to allot during We might divide as follows:

each school week.

First and Second Years :

9 to Humanities and English Language.
3 to Science.

6 to Mathematics.

:

6 to French, or other foreign language (not
and-only one language can be attempted
with thorough success).

6 to Arts of Representation and Production.
3 to Recreation, including Music.

Third and Fourth Years :

(a) Scientific Side

6 to Humanities and English Language. 12 to Science and Mathematics.

3 to French.

9 to Drawing and Workshop Practice.
3 to Recreation and Music.

(b) Commercial and Civil Service Side-
9 to Humanities-including Commercial Geo-
graphy.

9 to French and English Languages.

6 to Commercial Studies (Bookkeeping, Shorthand, etc.).

6 to Mathematics and Science (including Commercial Arithmetic).

3 to Recreation and Music.

§ 2. The Course for the First Two Years is wholly one of general education, and should differ only slightly from the course pursued during the same stage of school life in the Secondary School.

We have discussed this Course of Study in Chapter XI, §§ 3 to 9. It is there planned as extending over four years instead of two, but that discussion will serve as an indication of principles for the selection of Material in these first two years of a Higher Elementary School.