The Project Gutenberg eBook of Work and Play in Girls' Schools, by Dorothea Beale This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Work and Play in Girls' Schools By Three Head Mistresses Authors: Dorothea Beale Lucy H. M. Soulsby Jane Frances Dove Release Date: June 17, 2021 [eBook #65635] Language: English Produced by: MWS, Harry Lamé and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORK AND PLAY IN GIRLS' SCHOOLS *** Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text. The illustrations may be enlarged for better legibility and visibility by clicking them (may not be available in all formats). The cover image has been created for this text, and is in the public domain. Crown 8vo, price 6s. 6d. TEACHING AND ORGANISATION. With Special Reference to Secondary Schools. A MANUAL OF PRACTICE. Edited by P. A. BARNETT, M.A. CHAPTER I. The Criterion in Education. By P. A. Barnett, M.A., late Principal of the Isleworth Training College. II. Organisation and Curricula in Boys’ Schools. By A. T. Pollard, M.A., Head Master of the City of London School. III. Kindergarten. By Elinor Welldon, Head Mistress of the Kindergarten Department, The Ladies’ College, Cheltenham. IV. Reading. By Arthur Burrell, M.A., Assistant Master in Bradford Grammar School. V. Drawing and Writing. By I. H. Morris, Head Master of the Gleadless Road Board School, Sheffield. VI. Arithmetic and Mathematics. By R. Wormell, D.Sc., Head Master of the City Foundation Schools, London. VII. English Grammar and Composition. By E. A. Abbott, D.D., late Head Master of the City of London School. VIII. English Literature. By the Editor. IX. Modern History. By R. Somervell, M.A., Assistant Master in Harrow School. X. Ancient History. By H. L. Withers, M.A., Principal of the Isleworth Training College. XI. Geography. By E. C. K. Gonner, M.A., Professor of Political Economy in University College, Liverpool. XII. Classics. By E. Lyttelton, M.A., Head Master of Haileybury College. XIII. Science. By L. C. Miall, F.R.S., Professor of Biology in the Yorkshire College, Leeds. XIV. Modern Languages. By F. Storr, B.A., Chief Master of Modern Subjects in Merchant Taylors’ School. XV. Vocal Music. By W. G. McNaught, Mus.Doc. and H.M. Assistant Inspector of Music in Training Colleges. XVI. Discipline. By A. Sidgwick, M.A., Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. XVII. Ineffectiveness in Teaching. By G. E. Buckle, Master of Method in the Isleworth Training College for Schoolmasters. XVIII. Specialisation. By M. G. Glazebrook, M.A., Head Master of Clifton College. XIX. School Libraries. By A. T. Martin, M.A., Assistant Master in Clifton College. XX. School Hygiene. By C. Dukes, M.D., Lond. Medical Officer in Rugby School. XXI. Apparatus and Furniture. By W. K. Hill, B.A., late Head Master of Kentish Town High School. XXII. Organisation and Curricula in Girls’ Schools. By M. E. Sandford, Head Mistress of the Queen’s School, Chester. LO N GMAN S , GREEN , AN D C O. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON; NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY. WORK AND PLAY IN GIRLS’ SCHOOLS W O R K A N D P L AY IN GIRLS’ SCHOOLS BY THREE HEAD MISTRESSES DOROTHEA BEALE LUCY H. M. SOULSBY JANE FRANCES DOVE L O N G M AN S , G R E E N , AN D C O . 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON NEW YORK AND BOMBAY 1898 PREFACE. The book is divided into three Sections, and each of the writers is responsible only for her own part, and yet I hope it will not be merely a composite book; all the contributors are members of the teaching staff of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, or have at some time formed part of it, and now, as then, there is I believe a unity of purpose, which will give harmony to the work. The book is intended to be a practical one, helpful chiefly to teachers in our large Secondary Schools; the limits imposed compel us (1) to deal more with methods than the underlying principles; (2) to isolate more or less the influences of the school from those of the manifold environment, which are at the same time forming the body, mind and character of the child, and which seem to make the school-life of relatively small moment; (3) we have to treat only of a few years of life; for, like the bird of the fable, the soul of the child comes to us often from some unknown region, stays for a while in our banqueting hall, and then passes again into the darkness. Yet I suppose the experience of most of us bears witness to the great importance of the school-life as one of the factors in the “development of a soul”. “The atmosphere, the discipline, the life” of the school is so potent, that the word education has been often limited to the school period, and the pupils of an Aristotle, an Ascham, an Arnold, speak of their teachers as having given them a new life. Our work is not insignificant, and our earnest study must be by instruction and discipline, by what Plato calls music and gymnastic, to promote the harmonious development of the character; to bring our children into sympathetic relations with the noble and the good of all ages; to lead them into the possession of that good land, “flowing with milk and honey,” the spiritual inheritance of humanity. I would fain hope, that one day all teachers will endeavour to spend at least some time, before entering on professional work, in studying the art, the science, the philosophy of education. In this little book we have had to restrict ourselves almost to the first, but we have referred to works which deal with the higher aspects of the subject. I would earnestly press on all my readers, that their own education must never be regarded as finished; if we cease to learn, we lose the power of sympathy with our pupils, and a teacher without intellectual and moral sympathy has no dynamic, no inspiring force. Especially should all teachers be students of psychology, of that marvellous instrument, from which it is ours to draw forth heavenly harmonies. To many a teacher might the words of Hamlet be addressed by her pupils:— How unworthy a thing you make of me! You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass; and there is much music, excellent voice in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak. Do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Though you can fret me, yet cannot you play upon me. Dorothea Beale. [v] [vi] [vii] Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale William H. D. Rouse, M.A. Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale Alice Andrews Mary Hanbidge, M.A. Dorothea Beale Margaret Bridges Amy Lumby Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale Dorothea Beale Charlotte L. Laurie Margery Reid, B.Sc. (Lond.) Agatha Leonard, B.Sc. (Lond.) Clare de Brereton Evans, D.Sc. (Lond.) Dorothea Beale Domenico Barnett Lewis Hann Florence Mosley Rhoda Rooney Rose Seaton Pauline M. Randerson Mary Farbrother Arthur Richardson Eadie Reid Minna Crawley Minna Crawley M. S. Lyndon Smith Evangeline Stirling Evangeline Stirling Dorothea Beale CONTENTS. SECTION I. INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. Edited by DOROTHEA BEALE, Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College; formerly Mathematical and Classical Tutor, Queen’s College, London. PAGE Introduction 1 A Few Practical Precepts 37 PART I. HUMANITIES. English Language Generally—Reading, Writing, Grammar, Composition 44 Classical Studies 67 Modern Languages 94 Spelling Reform 106 History as an Educational Subject 114 Teaching Modern History to Senior Classes 124 The Teaching of Ancient History 159 Time-Maps 168 Economics for Girls 186 English Literature 192 Philosophy and Religion 202 PART II. MATHEMATICS. Arithmetic 216 Mathematics 239 PART III. SCIENCE. Introduction—Psychological Order of Study with Special Reference to Scientific Teaching 251 The Teaching of the Biological Sciences 260 Geography 275 Physics 291 The Teaching of Chemistry 307 PART IV. ÆSTHETICS. Introduction—Art 320 Pianoforte Teaching 326 The Violin 338 Class-Singing 340 Singing. Tonic Sol-fa 344 Elocution 346 Drawing, Painting, etc. 348 Brush Drawing 354 Painting 356 Fresco 358 China Painting 360 Art Needlework 361 Wood-Carving, etc. 362 Modelling 363 Sloyd 366 Conclusion—Relation of School to Home 367 SECTION II., p. 374. THE MORAL SIDE OF EDUCATION. By LUCY H. M. SOULSBY, of Manor House School, Brondesbury, N.W.; late Head Mistress of the Oxford High School. [viii- ix] [x] SECTION III., p. 396. CULTIVATION OF THE BODY. By JANE FRANCES DOVE, of Wycombe Abbey School; late Head Mistress of St. Leonard’s School, St. Andrews, N.B. INDEX 425 Subject. Education of girls in secondary schools. Aim of education [1] as regards the individual, as regards the commonwealth. Reforms since 1848. Results physical and moral. S E C T I O N I . INTRODUCTION. By Dorothea Beale. I have been asked to undertake one section of a book on the education of girls, and to confine myself, as far as possible, to the intellectual aspects of education, leaving to others the task of dealing with the physical and moral aspects. I shall try to keep within the assigned limits—abstain from any systematic treatment of the laws of hygiene, and write no formal treatise on school ethics—but all the intellectual work must of course be conditioned by the necessities of the physical life, and the final cause of all education must be the development of a right character. I am to treat the subject too with special reference to the large secondary schools which have come into existence during the last fifty years, and in doing so, I must dwell briefly upon the changes which have taken place in the ideals and theories regarding the education of girls, which have found expression in these schools, and in the Women’s Colleges. I shall speak of what has yet to be accomplished, for we are still in a period of transition, and I shall consider by what means we may best realise our ideals. Now in education there is always a twofold object. Bacon tells us the furthest end of knowledge is “the glory of the Creator and the relief of man’s estate”—in other words, the perfection of the individual, and the good of the community. In some periods, indeed in pre-Christian times generally, the latter was emphasised,[1] men were to live for the commonwealth; the individual was regarded as an instrument for accomplishing certain work—he was not thought of as an end in himself. Thus even the most enlightened among ancient writers have spoken of slaves, as if they were mere chattels. Our moral sense is shocked by much that we read in Plato and Aristotle, and still more by what the laws of Rome permitted. Christianity on the other hand taught that the primary relationship of each was to the All-Father, the primary duty of each to realise God’s ideal for His children, to become perfect, and by glorifying human nature to glorify God. This was the first commandment, but the second was implied in the first—self-love was not selfish, the love of God descending from heaven became the enthusiasm of humanity. Even Milton writes: “I call a complete and generous education that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously all the offices to the public and private, of peace and war”. “Education,” writes Mr. Ruskin (Queen’s Gardens), “is the leading human souls to what is best and making what is best out of them; and these two objects are always attainable together, and by the same means; the training which makes men happiest in themselves, also makes them most serviceable to others.” “The only safe course,” writes Miss Shirreff (Intellectual Education), “is to hold up individual perfectness as the aim of education.” And so the task of the educator is in the first instance to develop to the highest perfection all the powers of the child, that he may realise the ideal of the All-Father. But the perfection of man “the thinker,” the anthropos, “the upward looker,” can be attained only when as a son he enters into, and co-operates with the Divine purpose in thought and act: therefore to know God and His laws for His children’s education and development, is the beginning and the end. These laws man reads (1) in the world of Nature with which science has to do; (2) in human history and institutions; (3) in the hidden life of the soul—of which philosophy and religion and ethics treat. He has to seek first to know truth, to bring his will into conformity with the Divine thought, and then to utter what is true and right in word and deed; only thus will the kingdom of righteousness be set up, and the perfection of the whole—the well-being of the commonwealth—of “man writ large” be secured. The most civilised nations are devoting their best energies to the work of education, realising that upon this depends their very existence —that it is not by starving the individual life, and merging it in the general, but by developing each to perfection, that the common good will be secured. They trust less to the power of laws and institutions, more to the power of a right education—less to external restraint, more to the wisdom that comes of a wisely directed experience. These principles have guided the new movement for women’s education, and those who have followed the changes in public opinion, since people have thought more of each individual as an end in himself, are full of confidence and hope. The reformers said: “Let us give to girls an invigorating dietary, physical, intellectual, moral; seclusion from evil is impossible, but we can strengthen the patient to resist it”. ’Tis life, not death for which we pant, More life and fuller, that we want! Such were, I believe, the feelings and the thoughts of those who initiated just fifty years ago the great movement, which found its first visible expression in the foundation of Queen’s College by Maurice and Kingsley and Trench and others like-minded and less known. This was soon followed by the opening of Bedford College, 1849, and the Cheltenham Ladies’ College, 1853. Miss Buss and her brothers, in association with Mr. Laing, established the first great High School, and Mrs. Grey and Miss Shirreff carried on the movement in that direction; from the Union founded by them grew up the G.P.D.S. Co., while Miss Davies with far-seeing wisdom won over Cambridge professors (amongst whom I may specially mention Professor Henry Sidgwick and James Stuart) to offer the highest culture to women. The leaders had to ask and answer many questions. What direction, what shape should the new movement for higher education take? Should there be two sorts of education for girls and boys? The Schools’ Inquiry Commission had shown that a specially feminine education had not produced very successful results, and the leaders said: Let us give to girls the solid teaching in languages and mathematics and science, which are found to strengthen the powers of boys, and prepare them to do good work of many kinds. If it was objected that women were to rule in the home, and men in the larger world, they argued, that for girls as for boys, the right course was to give a liberal education. The boy does not learn in the school the things which will be required in his future business or profession, but he brings to these the cultivated mind, the power of work, the disciplined will. And the world is more and more recognising that the leaders were right, and schools have arisen in all our great towns. Fifty years ago there were dismal prophecies—an outcry that study would ruin health. Now it is a common remark that there is a general improvement in physique. Women too are more conscious of their responsibilities in the life of the family, as well as in that of the country, especially in social and church life. They feel, that though they may have but the “smallest scruple” of excellence, they must render for it “thanks and use”. Besides, another good has been more and more realised; as Mrs. Jameson, in her beautiful lecture,[2] set forth, girls taught on the same lines, and women who can enter into the subjects of [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [2] Curriculum study and thought which occupy the minds of their fathers, husbands, sons, have more understanding, more sympathy, more power to make the home what it should be; the only healthy intellectual companionship is communion between active minds, and the highest purposes of marriage are unfulfilled, if either husband or wife lives in a region of thought which the other cannot enter. Besides, those many women who remain unmarried can, if well educated, find in some form of service the satisfaction of their higher nature. Surely women trained in good schools and colleges have as wives and mothers shared the labours and entered more fully as companions into the lives of husbands and children. The names of many will occur to my readers, but one cares not to name the living. We see every year at the Conference of Women Workers, that the seed sown in faith has brought forth fruit; that the whole aspect of the woman’s realm has changed since the days of Evelina and Miss Austen. “Communion of Labour.” But none of us may rest in that which has been attained. We ask for the “wages of going on and not to die”. There is earnest endeavour on the part of all engaged in the work of education, which has found expression in such societies as the Parents’ Educational Union, the Child Study Society, and the Teachers’ Guild. Teachers are not content with the school year, but holiday courses are the order of the day, and many are seeking training, and others ask for a year or a term to improve, and books on education are pouring from the press, and some of us, who have gained experience which may be helpful to others, feel bound, though much hindered by the calls of active life, to share those experiences, and say what we can about the ideals, the principles, the methods, which, we trust, have already, in spite of the gloomy portents of years gone by, improved the physical, the intellectual and moral vigour of those who have shared the larger life, entered into the higher intellectual interests, and undergone the strengthening discipline of our large schools. With these preliminary remarks, I enter upon the subject of the curriculum; I have drawn up a table which I shall proceed to discuss. I have classed the subjects of education under five heads, and divided the pupils in a general way also into five classes. But before I deal with the practical, let me speak of the ideal. There is nothing so practical as ideas—these are the moving power of all our acts. If what I have said is true, the subject cannot be treated in reference to girls only; not because I would assimilate the teaching of girls to that of boys, but because the teaching of both should aim at developing to the highest excellence the intellectual powers common to both. The teaching of modern science tells us that both pass through the same lower stages, that they may rise into the higher, and all history tells us that men and women Rise or sink Together, dwarfed or godlike, bond or free. So we ask generally what is the Education of Man? Fröbel has rightly emphasised the last word. It is the development of that which distinguishes man from all the lower forms of life “summed up” in him, that can alone be properly called the Education of Man: other creatures can live, as he does, the nutritive or vegetable life, which goes on of itself—other animals live the conscious life, they see and know, but to man alone it is possible to objectify all things by transcending them, and even that lower self, which is part of his dual nature; he is able to know himself both as “I” and “me”; he brings to sensation the formative power of his own thought, makes, as Kant has said, the universe which he did not create. And so man does not merely perceive, but apperceive, takes into his own being ideas, thoughts; combines, associates these,—and indeed it is difficult to speak of these ideas otherwise than Herbart does, as entities, by which the mind grows, fashioning them to its own uses, as the body does, the food on which it lives. Because he can objectify thus, language is possible. Man gives to thoughts, these “airy nothings, a local habitation and a name”; he is able to plan, to project and therefore to form judgments. But if he is related to that world to which the senses reach, he is also in relation, through an inward feeling which we call sympathy, with other “subjects,” able to recognise in others that which he knows in himself as mind; if he finds himself so related to the world of sense, that he responds to its touch, much more nearly is he in relation with other personalities; these he knows, before he recognises objective nature; through other minds his own is educated, and so the humanities take the first place; he enters into relations through the communis sensus with a world of thinking beings. These persons communicate thoughts, specially through (a) language immediate, and through written language. By written speech the limitations of space and time are abolished, and we are able to speak not only of men, but of man, for not only is his physical life continuous, but his mental and moral life through the ages is one. So from language we pass to (b) history and literature and historic act, the record of what men have done and suffered and thought and recorded, not in books only but in all material things; for man the dead live; and as the actors pass from the stage, history, no less than philosophy and science, tends upwards to those higher regions of thought, where we ponder on the (c) mysteries of man’s self- conscious life, on his relation to other minds, and to the One whose offspring we are, and in Whom all things live and move and have their being. The subjects of study then may also be classified under five headings:— I. The Humanities: which have to do with man, known objectively through word and deed, in language and literature, in history and art; subjectively, as in ethics, religion, philosophy. II. Mathematics: embracing three divisions relating to space, number, energy in the abstract—these have to do with necessary truth. III. Science: which rests not on a basis of thought only, but on facts given through sense objectively. IV. Æsthetics: which may be classed under the three heads, as music, painting and the other arts—considered subjectively. V. The exercises suitable for the physical development. It is with the first section that every teacher has to do; though he may be a specialist for science or mathematics or music, he has always to do with man in his manifold relations, he has ever to do with the humanities. It must be the constant study of the teacher to find the best means of developing the powers of thought, of calling forth right motives of action, developing right habits, and so forming noble characters, which is the final cause of all his labours. Ever throughout life he will by study and experience deepen and extend his knowledge, but it is earnestly to be desired that he should have some leisure for definite preparation by the study of education as an art, a science, a philosophy, before entering on his responsible work. In this, as in everything else, only those who have gained the knowledge are really judges of its value. The man who knows no foreign tongue, supposes he understands English, but we know in how poor and faulty a way. A study of the mysteries of our own being, of the fundamental basis of philosophy and psychology, personal knowledge of and sympathy with the great thinkers and philosophers and martyrs of education, must move us to more purposeful and thoughtful and devoted lives, and give us a joy that we cannot feel when we are working blindly and mechanically, without the faith which works by love. HOURS OF STUDY INCLUDING PREPARATION PER WEEK. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] Subjects. A. Under 8 years. B. 8 to 12 years. About 24 hours. Hrs. B and C. C. 12 to 16 years. About 30 hours. D. 16 to 18 years. About 36 hours. E. Over 18 years. I. Hu- mani- ties. - 1. Language. English reading and French v. voce. Elementary ideas of grammar, French v. voce, and reading and translation into English, learning poetry, dialogues, etc. -12 Grammar; increasing attention to philology; French, with German, or Latin. French, German or Latin. In some cases one other language. An additional language, Greek or Italian. 2. Man objectively. - History. Literature. Art. Mythological tales and stories from history. Learning poetry. Time maps and epochs in world’s history. English history treated biographically. Stories from ancient history. Learning poetry. English history in periods and corresponding literary periods with special books. Outlines of general history, ancient and modern, with time maps. English constitutional history. Special period of English. Also of ancient or modern. Difficult books in English. Ancient classics in the original or translations. Foreign classics and view of European literature. 3. Man subjectively.- Ethics. Religion. Philosophy. Bible stories, simple hymns and prayers. Bible lessons selected. Learning simple passages from New Testament, hymns and collects. A gospel. Instruction in the prayer-book, etc. St. John or epistles. Doctrinal teaching. Fundamental ideas of philosophy. Christian dogmatics and ethics. II. Math- emat- ics. - 4. Arithmetic and Algebra. Arithmetic, chiefly with concrete objects. Arithmetic in some cases generalised to algebra for older children, for younger still much concrete. - 3 to 5 Arithmetic and algebra to quadratics. Advanced pure and mixed mathematics. 5. Geometry. Simple ideas of form. Elementary practical geometry. Many problems. In some cases a beginning of logical demonstrations. Euclid I. and II., or equivalent. 6. - Kinematics. Mixed Mathemats., e.g., Mechanics. Elementary mixed mathematics. III. Sci- ence. - 7. Natural Science. Object lessons. Botany, zoology, astronomy, laws of health—in succession. 2 to 4 Botany, zoology, astronomy, laws of health—in succession. Physiology and one or more branches of physical science. 8. Physiography. Making map of school and near places; modeling in clay or sand. Erdkunde, physiography, natural phenomena. Erdkunde, physiography or natural phenomena. 9. Molecular Science. Chemistry, heat, light, electricity—in succession. IV. Æs- thet- ics. - 10. Music. Sol-fa singing. Instrumental music, singing, elocution. 7 to 9 Instrumental music, singing, elocution. -Some one branch. 11. Drawing, etc. Drawing with pencil and brush. Drawing and painting. Drawing and painting. 12. Plastic Arts, etc. Modelling in clay. Basket making, cardboard sloyd, etc., etc. Various kinds of handwork. Various kinds of handwork. V. Ath- let- ics. - 13. Gymnastics, etc. Systematic drill. Systematic drill. 14. Games. Kindergarten games and drill. Games. Games. 15. Country Excursions. Field clubs. Field clubs. I have mentioned at the close of the introduction some books not too large or difficult which will be helpful to those who desire to begin the serious study of the subjects included under the general heading of pedagogy. In the table (p. 10) I have arranged courses of study and grouped pupils according to age, but only for those called B and C have I attempted to give the time each week, which might be allowed on an average for serious study. I think the Bs generally and the Cs almost always should follow a fixed course, though some variation should be permitted to the Cs. The Ds and Es should take special directions, dropping some subjects and giving much time to others. Under the head of B, I have given what is perhaps the nearest approach to the normal type in my own school. Those who do not learn music, can of course take an extra language, or otherwise cultivate a special subject; those who are but slightly pervious to mathematical ideas are allowed to drop Euclid, after having done enough to profit by the wholesome discipline of writing out propositions say up to Euclid I. 26. These may perhaps add another musical instrument or some manual work. [11] [12] [13] Silence. Time available. Length of lesson. Order of study. Dietary. The principle I would insist on is that our curriculum should, to use a sensible figure, be pyramidal, having a broad base and narrowing; the total cubic content might be the same each year, but in proportion as the subjects taken were fewer, there would be greater depth. Thus the Cs would specialise to a slight extent, the Ds should do so still more, and the Es have found out their vocation, so that for these last no time-table can be given. In drawing up a time-table I have given only the general lines, and assigned an average time for each section; the case of every individual must be separately considered, and there should always remain some hours of leisure—in the highest classes I have arranged for school work about eight hours out of the twenty-four. If we give four hours to meals and outdoor exercise, and eight to sleep, we have a margin of four hours—a considerable amount of time, if multiplied by six; part of this may be given to general reading, part to social and family life, but for the growing and developing mind there must be time for solitude, for entering into the secret chamber, and listening for the voice heard only in the stillness. We read much in praise of “Eyes” and much in dis-praise of “No-eyes,” but there are times when great thinkers are blind to outward things, and deaf to earthly voices; it is at such times there rise before the mind’s eye ideals which fashion the whole life. I am sure that in these days the young lose much for want of more quiet on Sundays. There may have been over strictness in the past—there is now a surprising ignorance of the Bible and the grounds of faith. The silence rules of a good school tend to produce a spirit of repose, and a library where no speaking is allowed is a help. Rules which hinder idle talk in the bedrooms are a great boon to those who find the value of quiet at the beginning and end of the day, and I earnestly hope that the excitement of the playground may never supersede the country rambles which have been fruitful of spiritual health to many of us. In considering how I shall best make this small volume of use to teachers in high schools, I propose to adopt the following plan. First to treat of a few general matters which belong to organisation and the methods of management—e.g., distribution and economy of time, corrections, marks, etc. Then to deal with the subjects of the curriculum in order, in a series of papers by myself and my colleagues. In Part I. I have written first of language generally, embracing reading, speaking, grammar, composition, foreign tongues. It will be clear to all that I could not possibly, in the few pages assigned to each subject, treat the matter exhaustively, but I hope I may strike out some lines of thought which will be helpful, and the lists of books may assist teachers in their studies. In most subjects I have been able to get a few papers from members of my staff, past and present. Under the head of Language I have one from Mr. Rouse, a most able teacher, who had many years’ experience with our elder pupils, specially those reading for classical honours in the University of London. In History and Literature I have papers by Miss A. Andrews, Miss Hanbidge and Miss Lumby, the very successful teachers who take these subjects in the London and Higher Cambridge class; there is also a paper on Economics by Miss Bridges. In Part III. I have papers by four specially able and experienced teachers—Miss de Brereton Evans, D.Sc. Lond., Miss Reid, B.Sc. Lond., Miss Leonard, B.Sc. Lond., and Miss Laurie. In Part IV. I have a number of short papers by members of our teaching staff. Section II. has been assigned by the publishers to another hand, and for that I am not responsible. Upon the basis of this classification, I have drawn up a table showing how the methods of teaching these subjects will vary with the age of the pupil, and what is, I consider, the best order of subjects. I have also added some chapters on various subjects—as Spelling Reform and the Relation of School to Home. Before proceeding further it will be best to consider what is the amount of time at our disposal for school teaching. The division of the year into three terms of about twelve weeks, consisting of five or six days each, is so generally adopted that we may take that for granted. The years of school life are at the utmost about ten—in the case of most girls far less. For day schools in large towns, attended by pupils from considerable distances, two attendances are impossible, and the morning has to last from about 9 or 9·30 to 1 or 1·30. Of the four hours about three and a half are available for lessons, the remaining half- hour being taken up with the general assembly for prayers and a brief interval for recreation; but these twenty-one or twenty-four hours are not spent, as parents are apt to imagine, in poring over books, but are varied by lessons in gymnastics, drawing, singing. Some pupils in large towns remain to dine at the school, and have afternoon teaching in accomplishments. In small towns they return. Thirty hours a week should, I think, be the limit of time given to study for girls of school age. Students fully grown may study six hours a day. Eight should, I think, not be exceeded by any. In arranging the time-table, several things have to be considered. (1) A, the youngest children, would have no lessons of more than half an hour, and not more than two hours of definite instruction, the remainder being occupied with games, drill, singing and various hand occupations. Those under eight would have a larger proportion of these last, and perhaps attend for a shorter time. The elder children can have a reading lesson before the general assembly, and the little ones might leave half an hour before the morning closes. If they wait for elder sisters, amusements may be devised. (2) In the case of all, an endeavour should be made to place those studies which make the heaviest demands on the attention as far as possible in the early morning hours. (3) The lessons for Sections B and C would average about fifty minutes, some being thirty minutes, others an hour, the drawing lesson being perhaps longer, whilst religious instruction following upon prayers would occupy half an hour, as would drill and singing. (4) Care should be taken to vary the subjects, so that if possible two lecture lessons should not follow one another, nor two on language, nor two mathematical lessons. We have next to consider the order of study, what subjects are best adapted to the state of development of the child, or in what different ways the same subject may be treated to make it suitable at different ages. In this matter fatal mistakes are still made.[3] Happily the teachings of educational reformers have brought before us the evils of the neglect of psychological principles. We are shocked when we hear of mothers ignorant of physiology, feeding infants on bread and tea, and giving soothing syrups; we recognise the danger of too many sweets, and of cigars for growing boys—these have their parallels in the mental dietary. But it is not so much giving wrong things as the deprivation of right things at the right time that is fatal. It is wonderful how much unwholesome food can be disposed of by a vigorous child—there is a fit of sickness and it is gone; but we see in the adult bodily framework, the stunted skeleton, the decaying teeth, etc., the effect of starvation during years of growth. To deprive the child of the mental food and exercise necessary for his development at each period of his growth is a fatal error, the consequences of which are irreparable. This has been forcibly put by Dr. Harris, Chief Commissioner of Education, U.S.A. Speaking of the prolongation for man of the period of infancy required for his development, that he may be adapted to the spiritual environment of the social community into which he is born, he writes: “Is it not evident that if the child is at any epoch inured into any habit or fixed form of activity belonging to a lower stage of development, the tendency will be to arrest growth at that point, and make it difficult or next to impossible to continue the growth of the child into higher and more civilised forms of soul-activity? A severe drill in mechanical habits of memorising, any overcultivation of sense-perception in tender years, may arrest the development of the soul, form a mechanical method of thinking, and prevent the further growth into spiritual insight—especially on the second [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [3] [4] Class teachers and specialists. Head mistress. Economy of time. plane of thought, that which follows sense-perception, namely, the stage of classifying or even the search for causal relations, there is most danger of this arrested development. The absorption of the gaze upon the adjustments within the machine, prevents us from seeing it as a whole. The attention to details of colouring or drawing may prevent one from seeing the significance of the great works of art.... To keep the intellect out of the abyss of habit, and to make the ethical behaviour more and more a matter of unquestioning habit, seems to be the desideratum.” “The logical order of a good course of instruction,” writes Compayré (Psychology Applied to Education), “must correspond to the chronological order of development of the mental powers.” “If,” writes Herbert Spencer, “the higher faculties are taxed by presenting an order of knowledge more complex and abstract than can be readily assimilated, the abnormal result so produced will be accompanied by equivalent evil.” Tradition furnishes those who have made no formal study of the subject of mental growth with some empirical rules for a healthy dietary,—as Mr. Barnett has shown,[4] or our children would fare badly; but the evils of misplacing subjects in the order of study, of neglecting to teach the right subjects at the right time, and of partial starvation, are too apparent. Let me conclude with an illustrative anecdote—an object lesson. At school I always kept caterpillars; they were regularly fed, and seldom failed to come out in perfect condition. Once some “woolly bears” escaped; they were found after a few days, and again provided with ample food; but it was too late, they came out with only rudimentary wings. Teaching and Organisation, p. 5. But not only have we to provide the right subjects at the right time, we have to consider how the manner of teaching the same subject may be adapted to the age of the pupil. In an excellent Report on the Schools of St. Louis some years ago, Dr. Harris expounded the spiral system. In studying say botany in the lowest class, the children would learn to observe the forms of plant life, and become familiar with the main facts of classificatory botany, the observing power being chiefly called into action. Then the subject would be dropped, and taken up years after from the physiological point of view, when the learners would be able to understand the chemical changes, the process of development, etc., as they could not in earlier years. Similarly all Herbartians know how the teaching of history proceeds from the mythological story, through biography to history, and some of us have seen the bad results of giving little children formularies which have no meaning for them, instead of seeking to develop in them through the discipline of home, and Bible teaching regarding the lives of the good, feelings of filial trust and reverence and obedience. For examples of this I may refer to Miss Bremner’s book on the Education of Girls. In the accompanying time-table I have endeavoured to make a double classification in reference to the subjects taught, and the age of the learners. In discussing it I shall continue to use the word faculty, in spite of Herbartian protests, meaning thereby the power of doing certain special acts, which vary in character. We have the power of directing our attention to the objects of sense, or of withdrawing it from these, and becoming conscious only of the working of our own mind; we have, i.e., the faculty of observation and of reflection; by the use of the word faculty—etymologically, the power of doing—we need not dismember the Subject, but think of the One person as acting in different ways. Part I., the humanities, should throughout the whole course be represented in all its branches; to it belong specially the cultur- studien. I think of some miserable starved specimens of girls I have known, fed upon an almost unmixed diet of either classics or mathematics; their physique had suffered, and they had no mental elasticity, their one idea being to win scholarships: they did this, but never flourished at the university, for want of all-round culture. Others I have known, who thought they could be high-class musicians by practising their fingers, without cultivating their minds; the results were lamentable; whereas those who gave half the time to music and half to cultur-studien, did more in the limited time. Is not the overwork of which many complain later, due to the too undivided work at one subject during the undergraduate period at the university? Mathematics relieves the strain of classics; specialising may be comparatively harmless to the full-grown man, but the child-specialist will grow up deformed. Shall teaching be by class teachers or by specialists? Once every teacher was expected to take all the subjects with her class, now the tendency is towards specialisation. In junior classes the class mistress has many advantages over the specialist, for she knows what the children can do, the character and difficulties of each, and can adapt her teaching to her pupils. In any case she must exercise control over specialists, each of whom is inclined to think her subject the most important. She can get hold of children, and exercise a stronger influence than an occasional teacher, and the more subjects she teaches, the more intimate will be the relation to her pupils. On the other hand, it is not good for children to be shut up to one personality, though it is not well for them to be under too many, and there ought always to be one predominant; for this reason special arrangements are made in some boys’ schools for a tutor to follow the boy’s career all the way up the school. A class teacher too can correlate the different subjects, and make one help the other; being always at hand, she can give such help as is needed at odd times, to bring up laggards, and generally bring the intellectual to act upon the moral. On the other hand, a specialist can attain to greater excellence, throw more life into the subject, keep up with new discoveries and methods; the best plan is perhaps for the class teacher, at least in junior classes, to hear and help to bring home to her pupils the teaching of specialists; this is desirable with some foreign teachers, who fail to understand the exact difficulties of English children. It can, however, only be done when the staff is large. The case is different with upper classes, which should be taught almost entirely by specialists, though there should be always some one person responsible for each class. There seems to be a great difference between the kind of influence and control exercised by a Head Master, and a Head Mistress. The government of a boys’ school approaches more nearly to a republic, of a girls’ school to a constitutional monarchy; whilst classes and teachers change for the child each year, the head mistress is permanent, and follows each through all the classes, knowing her in all her phases. She reads marks, gives encouragement and admonition, and is in immediate relation with the other controlling influences, parents and teachers. Then—owing possibly to the fact that many women have not degrees—the head mistress permits herself to criticise and advise her teachers in a way that no young master fresh from the Honour Schools would permit. “I hear you go and listen to your teachers,” said the head of an Oxford College to me—his face, on my admitting it, expressed more than his words. Again, the head mistress considers herself responsible for good order in every class, whereas in boys’ schools the entire responsibility seems to rest on the individual master; this must always be the case to a certain extent; head mistresses try to avoid indiscipline by insisting on the training of teachers, and resorting to various devices, e.g., a junior teacher is made assistant to a senior, and entrusted with a class of her own, only when she has shown herself able; or—until she has well grasped the reins—she is set to teach in a large room in which there may be the head mistress and some other teacher capable of overawing the restless; or if she is a specialist the class teacher may be in the room. If the class is insubordinate owing to the bad teaching they get, there is of course no alternative but to change the teacher, or to improve her. Here let me touch on some of the chief perplexities of modern teachers. Professor Miall (Thirty Years of Teaching) writes: “No one can write on education without insisting on new subjects; and yet the old claims are not relaxed. We must have science in several branches, modern languages (more efficient than heretofore), drawing and gymnastics, but [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] Economy of time in school. Corrections. Giving up books. classics and mathematics and divinity must be kept up and improved. Increased hours are not to be thought of, fewer lessons, shorter lessons, and not so much home-work, are the cry. More potatoes to carry, and a smaller basket to carry them in.... I believe the problem is not an insoluble one after all.” The remedy, or perhaps I ought to say rather the mitigation of the teacher’s difficulties, is to be found in four directions. (1) In increasing the number of school years. The well-trained kindergarten child comes with an interest in lessons, a power of attention, a considerable amount of knowledge, and a clear understanding of much that formerly children knew nothing about, so that we gain time at the beginning. (2) Then if girls come earlier to school and stay later, if we have a girl from eight to eighteen, we can give many things in succession, which we once had to attempt simultaneously, when girls came “to finish” in a year, or at most two years. (3) If the hours are shorter, we can get more work done than was the case when children were wearied out with long hours; when I began my teaching life at Cheltenham, children came back sleepy for two hours of afternoon lessons, and returned to do home work, when they should have been in bed. (4) Better methods economise time, but this matter is so important that I shall insist on it at some length. (a) First let me beg a teacher to think how easy it is to waste half an hour in one minute. You have thirty girls before you and you say: “Now, girls, I am going to give you a lesson, and you must be very attentive,” and so on for one minute. Let every teacher use as few words as possible. Let there be no preambles, no repetitions: “Now, my dear child, I wonder whether, if I asked, you would be able to tell me at once,” etc. Let the question be direct. “As I have said just now,” then do not say it again. Wordiness must be avoided. We all know how wearisome it is to hear the same thing repeated in the same or different words. If we see this in a book, we skim; if it is done in lesson or lecture, we let our thoughts wander. Children do the same. I once heard a mistress of method recommend teachers to repeat themselves! (b) Learn what not to say, e.g., a name that you do not want remembered. I knew some boys who were set to learn the names of the “Do nothing” kings; the memory must not be loaded with useless luggage. (c) In giving a dictation, some teachers will habitually repeat twice; the consequence is that many do not listen the first time, and a third repetition is often asked for. Let it be understood that the sentence will be given distinctly, and not repeated. (d) In English dictations do not ask that every word should be written, but emphasise those required—“Each separate parcel was received”. “I did not perceive his meaning.” “He did not succeed in persuading her to secede.” (e) If a lesson has been set, we must ascertain that every one has learnt it, but there should be no questioning round and round a class. If a question and answer take one and a half minutes in a class of thirty, the whole time is gone, and the teacher has no distinct impression of which pupils hav...