Our elementary school curriculum must be made to include the study of the sciences as a matter of course and not as special subjects. Unfortunately, public opinion is still lamentably absent on this point. An ex-Prime Minister is not ashamed to state publicly that he is ignorant of science, and the majority of those who have received what is known as a "liberal" education could not intelligently explain the ringing of an electric bell or the action of their own hearts. This deplorable neglect of science is sadly handicapping us as a nation in every department, and it is a notable fact that the majority of recent scientific discoveries have been made in other lands. In "Riches and Poverty," 1905, I mentioned the following as especially notable: X-Rays, Germany; Radium, France; Synthetic indigo, Germany; Artificial Silk, France and Germany; Incandescent gas light, Germany; Wireless telegraphy, Italy. Since then the English Channel has been crossed by a flying machine—from the French side. I notice that Mr Andrew, in the report already referred to, while acknowledging that science was generally treated excellently in the German schools, obtained a "vague impression that rather much was attempted." Is that vague impression to be wondered at, in view of the pitiable condition of science teaching in the United Kingdom?
As a matter of fact, nothing is more fascinating to the average child than the science-lesson. The child is instinctively a scientist; its mind is ever searching for the reason of things, and the average British parent is every day through his ignorance of science compelled to evade the simple but very reasonable inquiries of his offspring. It should be our object at the school to encourage the child's wonderings, and to do what we can to cherish the wise habit of wondering. The savage at least wonders when he sees a locomotive. The average "educated" citizen has long ceased to wonder either about the science that moves his train or the science that lights his house.
It is easy to understand how well the two guiding principles of German teaching fit the study of science, or of nature-knowledge, to use the terminology of the Charlottenburg curriculum. The material aim of the course is to give the pupil knowledge of nature in a form suited to his grasp, including, be it observed, the laws of health. Then there is the formal aim—to train the pupil's powers of observation, and to develop his powers of thinking, and to awaken his sympathy with plant and animal life and admiration for the beauty of Nature. At Charlottenburg Natural History is taught under the three sub-divisions A. Botany, B. Zoology, and C. Anthropology. Under the third is taught animal physiology, the laws of health, and first aid in cases of accident. In connexion with Botany, school excursions for the study of plant life are organized. I can imagine no more useful discipline for a town dweller. In the domain of physical science, the pupils are led on to the knowledge of Nature's laws and to the causes of common things. Particular attention is paid, Mr Andrew tells us, to such phenomena or principles as are of importance in domestic, industrial and commercial life—those of domestic life applying to the girls, the latter two to the boys. Light, heat, magnetism, electricity, mechanics, sound, chemistry and mineralogy are taken. Experiment is largely employed, and the apparatus used is adequate and admirable, in this respect being a striking contrast to the mean outfit which is usually considered good enough in the United Kingdom. The reflection is forced upon one that, in the region of foreign competition, with which this work is not concerned, they will be formidable antagonists, these scientific German children, in the time to come.
In connexion with the teaching of hygiene in schools we can do much to encourage abstinence from intoxicating liquors. If in the study of physiology the harmful effects of alcohol upon the kidneys and other organs is made clear to the children, a very wholesome fear of "drink" will be bred in them.
The little we are doing in the way of teaching domestic economy and cooking to girls needs much strengthening. These subjects should be compulsory in the highest classes of all girls' schools. There is perhaps no other country in which poor women are so ignorant of cooking as in the United Kingdom. There is no simple national dish which every one knows how to make, and it is rarely that poor Englishwomen can make a decent soup or have any idea of the proper cooking of vegetables.
As a preliminary to the abolition of child labour under the age of 16, the introduction of the principle of compulsion in connexion with continuation classes is badly needed. The children are now set free at the most dangerous period of their lives, and nothing but good could arise from compelling their attendance at classes which, in the case of girls, should deal with infant and domestic hygiene, cookery, and dressmaking, and in the case of boys with science, technics and languages.
In 1908 I introduced into the House of Commons a measure to establish compulsory day continuation schools in England and Wales. The Bill was prefaced with a memorandum which pointed out:
"According to the census of 1901 there were in England and Wales about 4,600,000 persons of both sexes between the ages of 14 and 21 years. According to the reports of the Board of Education the number of pupils aged 15 to 21 years attending day and evening continuation schools of all sorts is only about 387,000."
The Bill itself was as follows:
1. This Act may be cited as the Continuation Schools Act, 1909.