PART I. HUMANITIES.

Transcriber’s Notes

Text printed in italics has been transcribed _between underscores_,

bold face text between =equal signs=. Small capitals have been

replaced with ALL CAPITALS. This text contains characters that may

not display properly with all devices and settings. Superscript

strings are indicated by ^{string}.

Sidenotes are presented [between square brackets] immediately before

the paragraph in which they were given in the source document.

More Transciber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text.

=_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.

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON;

NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY.

WORK AND PLAY IN GIRLS’ SCHOOLS

WORK AND PLAY

IN

GIRLS’ SCHOOLS

BY

THREE HEAD MISTRESSES

DOROTHEA BEALE

LUCY H. M. SOULSBY

JANE FRANCES DOVE

[Illustration]

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

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.

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 _Dorothea Beale_ 1

A FEW PRACTICAL PRECEPTS _Dorothea Beale_ 37

PART I. HUMANITIES.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE GENERALLY--READING, WRITING, GRAMMAR,

COMPOSITION _Dorothea Beale_ 44

CLASSICAL STUDIES _William H. D. Rouse, M.A._ 67

MODERN LANGUAGES _Dorothea Beale_ 94

SPELLING REFORM _Dorothea Beale_ 106

HISTORY AS AN EDUCATIONAL SUBJECT _Dorothea Beale_ 114

TEACHING MODERN HISTORY TO SENIOR CLASSES _Alice Andrews_ 124

THE TEACHING OF ANCIENT HISTORY _Mary Hanbidge, M.A._ 159

TIME-MAPS _Dorothea Beale_ 168

ECONOMICS FOR GIRLS _Margaret Bridges_ 186

ENGLISH LITERATURE _Amy Lumby_ 192

PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION _Dorothea Beale_ 202

PART II. MATHEMATICS.

ARITHMETIC _Dorothea Beale_ 216

MATHEMATICS _Dorothea Beale_ 239

PART III. SCIENCE.

INTRODUCTION--PSYCHOLOGICAL ORDER OF STUDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE

TO SCIENTIFIC TEACHING _Dorothea Beale_ 251

THE TEACHING OF THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES _Charlotte L. Laurie_ 260

GEOGRAPHY _Margery Reid, B.Sc. (Lond.)_ 275

PHYSICS _Agatha Leonard, B.Sc. (Lond.)_ 291

THE TEACHING OF CHEMISTRY

_Clare de Brereton Evans, D.Sc. (Lond.)_ 307

PART IV. ÆSTHETICS.

INTRODUCTION--ART _Dorothea Beale_ 320

PIANOFORTE TEACHING _Domenico Barnett_ 326

THE VIOLIN _Lewis Hann_ 338

CLASS-SINGING _Florence Mosley_ 340

SINGING. TONIC SOL-FA _Rhoda Rooney_ 344

ELOCUTION _Rose Seaton_ 346

DRAWING, PAINTING, ETC. _Pauline M. Randerson_ 348

BRUSH DRAWING _ Mary Farbrother_ 354

PAINTING _Arthur Richardson_ 356

FRESCO _Eadie Reid_ 358

CHINA PAINTING _Minna Crawley_ 360

ART NEEDLEWORK _Minna Crawley_ 361

WOOD-CARVING, ETC. _M. S. Lyndon Smith_ 362

MODELLING _Evangeline Stirling_ 363

SLOYD _Evangeline Stirling_ 366

CONCLUSION--RELATION OF SCHOOL TO HOME _Dorothea Beale_ 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.

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

SECTION I.

INTRODUCTION.

By DOROTHEA BEALE.

[Subject.]

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.

[Education of girls in secondary schools.]

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.

[Aim of education]

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.

[1] 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”.

[as regards the individual,]

“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.”

[as regards the commonwealth.]

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.

[Reforms since 1848.]

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.

[Results physical and moral.]

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 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.

[2] “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.

[Curriculum]

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.

+-------+-----------------+----------------+----------------+--------+

| | Subjects. | A. Under 8 | B. 8 to 12 | Hrs. B |

| | | years. | years. | and C. |

| | | |About 24 hours. | |

| | | | | |

+-------+-----------------+----------------+----------------+--------+

| {| 1. Language. |English reading |Elementary ideas|}=12= |

| {| |and French _v. |of grammar, |} |

| {| |voce_. |French _v. |} |

| {| | |voce_, and read-|} |

| {| | |ing and trans- |} |

| {| | |lation into Eng-|} |

| {| | |lish, learning |} |

| {| | |poetry, dia- |} |

| {| | |logues, etc. |} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| 2. Man {His- |Mythological |Time maps and |} |

| {| ob- {tory. |tales and |epochs in |} |

|I. {| jec- {Litera-|stories from |world’s history.|} |

|=Hu- {| tive-{ture. |history. Learn- |English history |} |

|mani- {| ly. {Art. |ing poetry. |treated bio- |} |

|ties.={| | |graphically. |} |

| {| | |Stories from |} |

| {| | |ancient history.|} |

| {| | |Learning poetry.|} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| | | |} |

| {| 3. Man {Ethics.|Bible stories, |Bible lessons |} |

| {| sub- {Reli- |simple hymns and|selected. Learn-|} |

| {| jec- {gion. |prayers. |ing simple pas- |} |

| {| tive-{Philo- | |sages from New |} |

| {| ly. {sophy. | |Testament, hymns|} |

| {| | |and collects. |} |

| | | | | |

| {| 4. Arithmetic |Arithmetic, |Arithmetic in |}=3 to |

| {| and Algebra. |chiefly with |some cases |}5= |

| {| |concrete |generalised to |} |

| {| |objects. |algebra for |} |

| {| | |older children, |} |

| {| | |for younger |} |

| {| | |still much con- |} |

| {| | |crete. |} |

|II. {| | | |} |

|=Math-{| 5. Geometry. |Simple ideas of |Elementary prac-|} |

|emat- {| |form. |tical geometry. |} |

|ics.= {| | |Many problems. |} |

| {| | |In some cases a |} |

| {| | |beginning of |} |

| {| | |logical demon- |} |

| {| | |strations. |} |

| {| | | | |

| {| 6. {Kinematics. | | | |

| {| {Mixed Mathe-| | | |

| {| {mats., | | | |

| {| {_e.g._, Me- | | | |

| {| {chanics. | | | |

| | | | | |

| {| 7. Natural |Object lessons. |Botany, zoology,|=2 to 4=|

| {| Science. | |astronomy, laws | |

| {| | |of health--in | |

| {| | |succession. | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

|III. {| 8. Physio- |Making map of |Erdkunde, phys- | |

|=Sci- {| graphy. |school and near |iography, | |

|ence.={| |places; modeling|natural phenome-| |

| {| |in clay or sand.|na. | |

| {| | | | |

| {| 9. Molecular | | | |

| {| Science. | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| | | | | |

| {|10. Music. |Sol-fa singing. |Instrumental | |

| {| | |music, singing, | |

| {| | |elocution. | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

|IV. {|11. Drawing, etc.|Drawing with |Drawing and |=7 to 9=|

|=Æs- {| |pencil and |painting. | |

|thet- {| |brush. | | |

|ics.= {| | | | |

| {|12. Plastic Arts,|Modelling in |Various kinds of| |

| {| etc. |clay. Basket |handwork. | |

| {| |making, card- | | |

| {| |board sloyd, | | |

| {| |etc., etc. | | |

| | | | | |

| {|13. Gymnastics, | |Systematic | |

| {| etc. | |drill. | |

| {| | | | |

|V. {| | | | |

|=Ath- {| | | | |

|let- {|14. Games. |Kindergarten |Games. | |

|ics.= {| |games and drill.| | |

| {| | | | |

| {|15. Country | |Field clubs. | |

| {| Excursions. | | | |

+-------+-----------------+----------------+----------------+--------+

+-------+-----------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

| | Subjects. | C. 12 to 16 | D. 16 to 18 | E. Over 18 |

| | | years. | years. | years. |

| | | About 30 | About 36 | |

| | | hours. | hours. | |

+-------+-----------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

| {| 1. Language. |Grammar; in- |French, Ger- |An additional |

| {| |creasing at- |man or Latin.|language, |

| {| |tention to |In some cases|Greek or |

| {| |philology; |one other |Italian. |

| {| |French, with |language. | |

| {| |German, or | | |

| {| |Latin. | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| 2. Man {His- |English his- |English con- |Ancient clas- |

| {| ob- {tory. |tory in |stitutional |sics in the |

|I. {| jec- {Litera-|periods and |history. Spe-|original or |

|=Hu- {| tive-{ture. |corresponding|cial period |translations. |

|mani- {| ly. {Art. |literary |of English. |Foreign clas- |

|ties.={| |periods with |Also of an- |sics and view |

| {| |special |cient or mod-|of European |

| {| |books. Out- |ern. Diffi- |literature. |

| {| |lines of |cult books in| |

| {| |general his- |English. | |

| {| |tory, ancient| | |

| {| |and modern, | | |

| {| |with time | | |

| {| |maps. | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| 3. Man {Ethics.|A gospel. In-|St. John or |Fundamental |

| {| sub- {Reli- |struction in |epistles. |ideas of phi- |

| {| jec- {gion. |the prayer- |Doctrinal |losophy. |

| {| tive-{Philo- |book, etc. |teaching. |Christian dog-|

| {| ly. {sophy. | | |matics and |

| {| | | |ethics. |

| | | | | |

| {| 4. Arithmetic |Arithmetic |Advanced pure| |

| {| and Algebra. |and algebra |and mixed | |

| {| |to quadrat- |mathematics. | |

| {| |ics. | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

|II. {| | | | |

|=Math-{| 5. Geometry. |Euclid I. and| | |

|emat- {| |II., or | | |

|ics.= {| |equivalent. | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| 6. {Kinematics. |Elementary | | |

| {| {Mixed Mathe-|mixed | | |

| {| {mats., |mathematics. | | |

| {| {_e.g._, Me- | | | |

| {| {chanics. | | | |

| | | | | |

| {| 7. Natural |Botany, |Physiology | |

| {| Science. |zoology, |and one or | |

| {| |astronomy, |more branches| |

| {| |laws of |of physical | |

| {| |health--in |science. | |

| {| |succession. | | |

| {| | | | |

|III. {| 8. Physio- |Erdkunde, | | |

|=Sci- {| graphy. |physiography | | |

|ence.={| |or natural | | |

| {| |phenomena. | | |

| {| | | | |

| {| 9. Molecular |Chemistry, | | |

| {| Science. |heat, light, | | |

| {| |electricity--| | |

| {| |in succes- | | |

| {| |sion. | | |

| | | | | |

| {|10. Music. |Instrumental |} | |

| {| |music, sing- |} | |

| {| |ing, elocu- |} | |

| {| |tion. |} | |

| {| | |} | |

|IV. {|11. Drawing, etc.|Drawing and |} | |

|=Æs- {| |painting. |}Some one | |

|thet- {| | |}branch. | |

|ics.= {| | |} | |

| {|12. Plastic Arts,|Various kinds|} | |

| {| etc. |of handwork. |} | |

| {| | |} | |

| {| | |} | |

| {| | |} | |

| | | | | |

| {|13. Gymnastics, |Systematic | | |

| {| etc. |drill. | | |

| {| | | | |

|V. {| | | | |

|=Ath- {| | | | |

|let- {|14. Games. |Games. | | |

|ics.= {| | | | |

| {| | | | |

| {|15. Country |Field clubs. | | |

| {| Excursions. | | | |

+-------+-----------------+-------------+-------------+--------------+

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.

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.

[Silence.]

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.

[Time available.]

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.

[Length of lesson.]

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.

[Order of study.]

[Dietary.]

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 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.”

[3] “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.

[4] _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.

[Class teachers and specialists.]

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.

[Head mistress.]

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.

[Economy of time.]

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

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.

[Economy of time in school.]

(_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 have answered well; but if two

questions in succession are asked of each and are promptly answered,

the whole lesson may be considered to be known. Suppose there is a

French dialogue to be heard, or an exercise has been learned, the

teacher should not read the English; the sentences should all be

numbered, the teacher call the number, and the child read the French

from the English. The sentences in some books are not numbered, and

some dialogue books are so printed, that the French cannot be covered;

these are time-wasting books. A prompt reply must always be given;

since we speak at the rate of over a hundred words in a minute, three

children could say two short sentences each in half a minute. Thus a

class of twenty could be heard in ten minutes, or if the class teacher

is assisting, and takes half the class, five minutes only would be

necessary, and time saved for oral composition, or reading exercises at

sight, or training in pronunciation, etc. Some teachers, if unanswered,

repeat a question. A girl who is not sure will often give an indistinct

reply; one who does this robs her companions; the time of the class

cannot be wasted thus, she must come in the afternoon and say it by

herself; it will generally be found that her vocal powers are improved

by this exercise.

(_f_) In many subjects a so-called written _viva voce_ may be properly

substituted--say six questions written on the blackboard with numbers,

the answers promptly written in class, the papers of different girls

exchanged, the faults underlined and the name of the corrector signed.

The answers can be quickly marked by the class teacher at home. This

has been dwelt on in Miss Andrews’ paper.

If French verbs have to be heard, table should be suspended, and the

teacher point to a tense and a number. Here is a portion of one:--

_Sing._ _Plur._

Indic. Pres. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3.

Imperf.

Passé défini, etc.

Of course this rapid questioning is suitable only when we wish to

ascertain whether a lesson has been learned, not to such _viva voces_

as are dialectic, intended to elucidate a subject and make pupils think.

Note-taking should never be allowed in junior classes; a syllabus

may in some cases be profitably supplied, or the lesson may be an

amplification of a text-book which the pupils have read, or questions

may be set calculated to bring out the main points of the lesson. It

should be an _invariable rule_ that _whatever is written_ is looked

over and corrected; if this is not done, we shall certainly get bad

writing, slovenly work and general inaccuracy. Should this not be

possible without over-working the staff, the _written_ work of the

pupils must be diminished, or the number of teachers increased.

[Corrections.]

The work of correcting is not mere drudgery, and it is essential, not

for the sake of the pupil only, but of the teacher. Without written

exercises she may imagine she is teaching, whilst her pupils are not

learning. A lesson she felt to be good, she will find perhaps has been

ill-adapted to the class, and therefore relatively bad. She will find

she has not emphasised the important matters, she has given a confused

picture in which one fails to see the wood for the trees. There are no

teachers like one’s own pupils if one will learn of them: they convict

us of disorder, inaccuracy, vagueness, etc.

It is important however that the teacher should be spared as much as

possible unnecessary labour and waste of time. It is one of the most

urgent duties of the head mistress to see that the teachers have not so

much to do in the way of correcting, as to stupefy them, and deprive

them of the time required for preparing lessons. The work of correcting

should be reduced as far as practicable for the teacher, and made as

profitable as possible for the pupil.

Suppose the teachers to be free after one o’clock, an hour may be

given in the afternoon to correcting, and one in the evening. Language

teachers, whose preparation is light, might do more, those who give

lectures less; the work of correction must be fairly distributed, and

a junior teacher trained to correct, by taking books first, and having

these revised and given out in class, in her presence by a senior

teacher.

[Giving up books.]

Very strict rules must be made regarding the giving up of books at the

right time by the pupils, and their being returned punctually in class

by the teacher with explanations and comments. The books should always

be in uniform, and some rules, _e.g._, respecting French being red,

German, blue, etc., are very useful. Outside should be a label with the

name of the pupil, the class and the boarding-house. This is important

in the case of derelicts. All corrections should be made in red ink,

and the exercise signed with the initials of the corrector.

[Giving out books.]

Suppose we have a foreign language exercise to be given out. The

teacher should come into class with memoranda of faults which have

commonly occurred, and mention these to the class generally. Faults of

mere carelessness should have a special indication in the book of the

offender, and need not be spoken of further to the class. Each pupil

should, before writing the next exercise, divide the page, write on one

side correctly the sentence in which the fault occurred, underlining

the words that were wrong, but on no account writing the mistakes

again, and on the other explain why it was wrong.

When an arithmetic paper has been set the teacher may read out the

answer, and each girl write W or R. The papers may be then collected,

and it will only remain for the teacher to see whether the method was

good. If not, she can write L W for “long way,” give explanations at

the next lesson, and have the sum done again. Slates should not be

used, nor loose papers, for such exercises.

If the paper is an essay, or answers to questions, the teacher should

make notes of the subjects in which the class generally has gone wrong,

and explain these. She may select specimens of broken figures, bad

grammar, etc., but it is very profitable to read out good specimens;

it is a great help to us to see others succeed, when we have tried

and failed, and there is nothing that many need more than a word of

encouragement to make them feel able to try. One who has done well

may be requested to enter good paragraphs in a book (what I think Dr.

Kennedy called a “Golden Book”) for the benefit of the class, and the

worst writers desired to copy it; this would have done them no good,

had they not tried and failed, but afterwards it helps us much to see

how well another can express what we could not. The teacher may herself

write in the book of the most painstaking pupil, things which she has

failed to make clear, and ask her to copy that into the aforesaid book;

it will do her good and help others. Certain conventional marks may be

agreed on, _e.g._, L would stand for wordiness, C P for commonplace, S

for satisfactory, G for good, Fig. for broken metaphors, etc.

[Apparatus.]

Diagrams and apparatus may be reckoned amongst time-saving things, but

like ready-made toys these may be less profitable to children than

very simple things, which they put together themselves, and the more

they make for themselves, the more they appreciate and profit by the

labours of others. Fergusson, lying on his back with a brown paper roll

for a telescope, and watching the movement of the stars, learned more

than many who are provided with an elaborate orery, and the Edgworths

learned more about the reason of a rainbow from their glass of water,

than many from the lens. As Miss Leonard has said in her paper, many

things are not necessary in teaching elementary science, and it is

a great pleasure to children to make anything for themselves. Here

the kindergarten training will tell. For higher work well-equipped

laboratories are good, but these are an expensive luxury, especially as

new things are being constantly invented.

Physiological models are almost indispensable for class teaching, and

excellent botanical ones are obtainable. A museum in which lessons can

be given, and specimens referred to, is very desirable for natural

science, but children should have their own private ones. Maps of

physical geography should be constantly before the eye, but wall maps

of political and historical geography cannot be so well seen; the

teacher should be able to draw on the board or on paper, maps bringing

out the special features of the lesson. It is understood that no class

on history or geography is given without large maps both of space and

time.[5]

[5] And here let me protest against the mischievous practice of

having a round roller at the bottom, but a flat piece of wood at the

top of maps. They are sure to be rolled on the latter and the map cut

to pieces.

Working models of pumps, archimedean screws, mechanical powers, and

steam engines are within the reach of most, and some simple forms of

orery. There is an inexpensive one with the world inside a glass globe,

on which are engraved a few circles, and this removes the difficulty

which most children feel on seeing a pair of globes.

[Marks, reports, prizes, place-taking.]

In former times when lessons were made less interesting, many ways were

employed to keep up attention. Place-taking, by which each child took

down all above her who failed to answer a particular question. This

was most distracting; and so much depended on accident, that it was

impossible by means of it to arrive at any trustworthy conclusions.

Except for small children it has wholly gone out. The giving of

counters has found more favour on the Continent, but this lends

itself to barter, and anything which fosters the habit of considering

what we can get by knowledge, is destructive of that calmness, that

“wise passiveness” which is as necessary for mental, as for physical

assimilation; it is equivalent to playing games, or running about

during dinner-time. Some record there should be of each exercise, some

“stock-taking” at intervals, and these intervals should for little ones

be short, for time passes more slowly with them. If the head mistress

each week looks over the mark-book in the presence of the class and

the teacher, she is kept in touch with all, comes to know if there are

girls who are wasting their time, and is able to give encouragement or

reproof, and strengthen the hands of teachers. If there are a great

number of lessons returned, she may find that a specialist is making

unreasonable demands; she sees if corrections have been omitted by

the teacher--in fact, notices things which, if left to the end of the

term, might have resulted in considerable mischief. It is undesirable,

however, to take up much of the teacher’s time in adding up marks,

and placing pupils in order of merit; it may be left to individual

class teachers to do as they think best; there is no need in this for

uniformity of practice, and it is always well to give every teacher as

much liberty in following her own methods, as is consistent with the

general management.

In language exercises the number of faults can be written at the end,

and classified as mere careless ones, and those for which there is at

least some excuse--the former being counted double. In these and other

exercises a maximum say of ten marks may be given; in many the teacher

can give only a general estimate, but when returning books, she can

show why she puts a higher estimate on one than on another. In junior

classes the marks may be added, read with comments, and perhaps sent

home each week. A sort of weather chart is used by us in the youngest

classes--showing for each week whether they have risen or fallen in the

number of marks.

[Illustration]

Prizes, in part determined by work done at home, are dangerous, the

temptation to get undue help is great; a conscientious child will

reject such assistance as would be really good for her, lest she should

gain an unfair advantage. Prizes given on the result of examinations,

provided they are given not to the best, but to all who have attained a

certain standard, are less objectionable; we cannot make it too clear

that good may be better than best, and that the only praise we should

desire is to hear: “She hath done what she could”.

Public prize-givings seem to me very undesirable. A terminal report

parents may reasonably look for, and words of blame or encouragement

may be made very helpful to the child. Punishments in the shape

of doubled lessons, lines, etc., are objectionable; if a duty has

been neglected, or badly done, it has to be done at an inconvenient

time--say in the afternoon. A fine may be required for untidiness and

damage--in order to compensate others for trouble and expense, but to

inflict a fine for breaking rules is altogether wrong. At a school

I knew, where this was done, girls would deliberately break rules,

_e.g._, talk at prohibited times, and say they were going to have

“three pennyworth”. Into a matter of right and wrong, money cannot

enter; so also conduct prizes should, I think, never be given; the

proper reward for doing right is a good conscience, and the trust,

friendship, respect of others.

[Use of examinations.]

Having lived through the pre-examination period, and seen the great

evils which resulted from there being no test, I cannot join in the

popular condemnation. There is no unmixed good, and many mistakes,

which we learn to avoid later, are made when a system is new. I

shall regard examinations only from the point of view of their value

educationally. (1) They are useful as a test of what we really know;

preparation for them enables us to find out what are our permanent

possessions; (2) competitive examination compels us to set these in

order, and estimate their relative importance. (3) Examinations tend

to produce presence of mind, mental self-control, (4) to suppress

wordiness and abolish a florid style, and (5) to make us feel the

supreme importance of clearness and accuracy.

Examining is a difficult art, and examiners have to learn their

_métier_. All are not perfect; the process of reading papers is

exhausting, and after reading ninety-nine, an examiner may fail to

appreciate the exquisite thought and philosophic insight of the

hundredth. It is possible he may form an erroneous opinion regarding

some unusual performance--there have been reviewers who failed to

appreciate the early volumes of Wordsworth, Tennyson and Browning;

there are examiners, however, really sympathetic, laborious, and

anxious to see what has been done (which is limited) rather than find

out what has not been done (which is unlimited), and these may give

much help both by their criticisms and their encouragement. It is good

for all of us to have our work tested by a competent critic.

An internal examination, if well conducted, is most valuable, as it can

better follow the work, but on the other hand, many teachers feel that

an internal examination places them too much at the mercy of caprice,

or personal feeling, and hence prefer a central one, such as the

University Locals.

[Regular attendance.]

Schools must insist on punctuality in returning, and no unnecessary

absences should be allowed. Children who are absent cannot follow the

teaching in the next lesson, and laggards demoralise the class and

distract the teacher, who feels she is not understood.

[Rapport with the class.]

In conclusion let me say the teacher must have the power of holding the

class. She must be sensitive to the least inattention, quick to discern

whether it is her fault or that of the pupil, and take her measures

accordingly, acting always upon the wholesome maxim (which should

never be heard outside the common room), certainly never whispered to

parents, that it is always the teacher’s fault, if pupils do not learn.

When she fails to establish the rapport between herself and her class,

she must try to discover the cause of her failure. Young children,

like wild animals, are tamed by the eye, and a class is controlled by

a teacher who sees everything that goes on. If a teacher when using

the board turns away and writes in silence, a restless child is almost

sure to play some amusing trick, and it may take a considerable time

to recover attention. If experiments are performed, the teacher, like

the conjurer, should never cease talking or questioning. If she cannot

manage to do both, she must have an assistant.

[Dress, manner, etc.]

She must avoid awkward tricks. I knew two very distinguished teachers

whose lectures were admirable, but one had a habit of pulling a tuft

of hair, and another would stuff his handkerchief carefully into his

folded hand, and then draw it out again--to the great distraction of

the class. We have all heard of the parliamentary orator and his button.

A study of the _Pedagogical Seminary_ for August, 1897, would be

profitable to teachers careless about externals. The article is called

“A Study in Morals”. The question was put in writing and answered by

twenty-three boys and one hundred and sixty girls: “Reflect which

teachers, from kindergarten to college, you have liked best, and been

influenced most by, and try to state wherein the influence was felt.

Account if you can for the exceptional influence of that particular

teacher. Was it connected with dress, manner, voice, looks, bearing,

learning, religious activity, etc.? Four out of five mentioned the

manner of the teacher as exerting an influence. One in three speaks

of the voice, one in four speaks of dress.” These externals, as we are

apt to call them, are the outcome of the personality, or they would

not exert influence. We must therefore so order our inner being that

manner, voice, dress, should express self-respect and unselfishness,

right feeling, love of order, good taste.

If I were writing a treatise on psychology, I might insist on the

teacher’s gaining an insight into the contents of the child’s

mind--what Herbart calls apperception-masses, but in this short

introduction I can only touch on the subject. I subjoin a short list

of books not too difficult for teachers. I conclude with a few common

rules derived from psychological observation and a few practical hints

for the schoolroom.

A FEW PRACTICAL PRECEPTS.

This is not a treatise on psychology but a practical hand-book for

young teachers. Before entering on the special subjects, it may be

well to say something of the application of the principles which are

familiar to all who are trained, and dwell upon a few of the most

important.

(1) There is the fundamental precept, _awaken interest_. Have you seen

the Medusa spreading its tentacles idly on the waves? Have you watched

the change as it fastens on its prey? So does the mind grasp that which

is suitable for its nourishment. As the intelligence of the child

awakens, it no longer perceives in the lazy, dreamy way in which the

infant is conscious of a light; it apperceives, takes into itself the

object, the word, the thought, and grows thereby.

(2) _Avoid distractions._ The senses and the mind must be fixed on the

subject of instruction. When a bird is to be taught to speak, he is

placed in a dark room, shielded from the distractions of sight, until

the words are acquired, then the use of other senses than hearing is

permitted; so little children require more quietness and isolation than

older ones.

Distractions are not all of sense. The mind is distracted by fear. How

dreadful are the old pictures of the dame, teaching rod in hand, or the

master with his cane; some may remember the music teacher ready to rap

the knuckles, and know how all sense of harmony was destroyed. And it

is so also with the seeking of rewards. I hope place-taking and prizes

and scholarships will one day follow the rod and the cane, and children

be led from their earliest years to feel, what is really natural to

them, that knowledge is in itself a pleasure and a good.

(3) _Proceed from the known to the unknown._ Observe the laws of

association; for this a teacher must be in _intellectual sympathy_ with

her pupils--know and feel by an inner sense, when mind is responding

to mind. I have heard some so-called teachers, who spoke like a book,

who were lecturers; they saw their own thoughts, but not those of their

pupils, and were therefore unable to lead them on. _E.g._, if a sum

was wrong, they would say, “Do it thus,” instead of inquiring into the

cause of the mistake. In questioning they would not try to see into the

child’s mind.

It is more difficult to enter into intellectual sympathy with very

little ones, hence we need specially able teachers for them. It is also

better for class teachers not to change too often, as it takes time to

get into sympathy with a new class. Of course specialists have to do

this; it is one reason why _cæteris paribus_ they are less successful

than class teachers.

(4) Proceed in classifying by noticing first the likenesses, then the

differences--in other words, proceed from the genus to the species.

There are some excellent chapters on this in Rosmini’s _Method of

Education_, translated by Mrs. Grey, p. 15.

(5) _Make lessons pleasant._ This does not imply that the act of

learning should be always easy or amusing. Children like to feel they

are making progress, and a teacher wearies them who is always trying

to be amusing, but does not really get them on. Porridge has a very

plain taste, but for everyday fare even children prefer it to tarts for

breakfast. A London confectioner was asked, if he did not find the many

boys he employed make depredations. “No,” he said, “when first they

come I tell them they may eat what they like; in a few days they make

themselves sick and eat no more.” There was a book called the _Decoy_,

a story mixed with conversations on grammar; children always managed

to get the story without the grammar. They like sums and history for

regular meals, fairy tales for dessert.

(6) _Teaching must be adapted to the mental state of the pupil, and be

just a little above his unassisted intelligence._ It is a worse fault

to teach below than above the powers of the child. I shall never forget

my indignation at having a book given me, which was below my powers,

nor the stimulus of trying to do what was hard. One who was afterwards

a distinguished teacher, told me how the Maurice lectures helped him,

by making him feel there were regions of thought on which he had not

yet entered. Knowledge quite within reach does not promote progress.

A friend who had a night school was told by its members, “We want to

be taught something as we can’t understand”. They meant something they

could not learn without help; they wanted to overcome difficulties.

(7) _Form right habits._ We should as far as possible prevent the

making of mistakes even once. A child when reading the Bible miscalled

the word patriarch, reading it partridge; when an old man, he never saw

the word without recalling his error. Hence we should not give children

misspelt words, or bad grammar to correct, or let them write exercises

before the ear has been cultivated to know what is right. I knew a

music master who would anticipate mistakes, and stop the pupil, saying:

“You shall not play that wrong note”.

On the other hand each repetition of a right action makes it easier,

and the prime work of the educator is to form right habits; these

should become instinctive, and so set free thought for ever higher and

more perfect performance.

(8) _Awaken and sustain the spirit of inquiry._ We need, however, to

be very careful not to ask questions, which the child cannot possibly

answer. This encourages mere guessing, and the habit of deciding upon

insufficient data. We should question the pupils, and build on their

knowledge, but as they get older the _viva voce_ questioning may be

overdone--and for the highest classes it would be simply a distraction.

For these it is well to give questions to be thought out, and answered

in writing. Pascal’s father shut him up alone to find out the

translation of a classical author; there are so many helps now, that

people rely upon them when they might gain vigour by grappling with

difficulties. No intellectual habit is more essential than the habit of

patient, sustained inquiry, that described by Newton when he said: “I

keep the subject of my inquiry continually before me, till the first

dawning opens gradually by little and little to the perfect day”.

(9) _Foster intellectual ambition._ Help the child to feel the joy of

surmounting difficulties, of climbing the heights. This invigorates

the intellectual life. Some can remember how, _e.g._, they grappled

with the dull work of early mathematical study, that they might one

day learn to solve the problems of astronomy, or went through the

labour of learning irregular verbs, that they might read the poetry and

philosophy of Greece.

(10) _Put before pupils the highest ideals which they can appropriate._

These are not the same at each stage of development. The little child

desires first to have something, and this is not wrong. Later it feels

more the need of love, of approbation, and this is a legitimate and

right motive; it is generally his best guide, until he can exercise

himself, irrespective of the outward voice, to have a “conscience void

of offence”. We have to teach him to discriminate voices which are in

harmony with, from those in discord from, that inward voice, and to

make this ultimately his supreme law.

(11) _The ultimate ideal or final cause should be implied in all that

we teach_, _viz._, the attainment of the perfect development of the

individual, through bringing each into harmony with the environment,

the universal, and thereby on the other hand helping to perfect the

whole. For this, wisdom and self-denial and sympathy with the noblest

and the best are to be sought, and above all with the One, the Infinite

Wisdom revealed in Nature, in the world of thinking beings and in the

self-conscious mind. All should feel in their inmost soul what Milton

has expressed:--

How charming is Divine philosophy,

Not harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose,

But musical as is Apollo’s lute,

And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,

Where no dull surfeit reigns.

+----------------+----------+------+------+---------+----------------+

| Name of Work. | Author. |Pages.|Price.| Pub- | Remarks. |

| | | | | lisher. | |

+----------------+----------+------+------+---------+----------------+

|Psychological |W. Harris | 400 | 6s. |Appleton |An excellent |

|Foundations | | | | |book by the Com-|

| | | | | |missioner of |

| | | | | |Education, |

| | | | | |U.S.A., showing |

| | | | | |the correlation |

| | | | | |of the Philoso- |

| | | | | |phy of Education|

| | | | | |with Psychology |

| | | | | |and Ethics. |

| | | | | | |

|Philosophy of |Rosenkranz| 280 | 6s. |Appleton |Well translated.|

|Education | | | | |Notes by Dr. |

| | | | | |Harris add much |

| | | | | |to its value. |

| | | | | | |

|Handbook of |Sully | 400 | 6s. |Longmans | |

|Psychology | | | 6d. | | |

| | | | | | |

|Education of Man|Fröbel | 330 | 6s. |Appleton |Well translated |

| | | | | |by Hailmann. |

| | | | | | |

|Educational Laws|Hughes | 300 | 6s. |Arnold |Should be read |

| | | | | |by all teachers.|

| | | | | |A very clear ex-|

| | | | | |position of the |

| | | | | |ideas of Fröbel |

| | | | | |and other re- |

| | | | | |formers. |

| | | | | | |

|Pedagogy of |Ufer | 120 | 2s. |Isbister |Not too diffi- |

|Herbart | | | 6d. | |cult for begin- |

| | | | | |ners. |

| | | | | | |

|Herbart and |De Garmo | 270 | 5s. |Heine- |A clear account |

|Herbartians | | | |mann |of Herbart’s |

| | | | | |thoughts and |

| | | | | |application of |

| | | | | |his principles |

| | | | | |by others. |

| | | | | | |

|Essentials of |De Garmo | 130 | 2s. |Heath | |

|Method | | | 6d. | | |

| | | | | | |

|Herbart’s ABC of|Eckhoff | 300 | 6s. |Appleton |Not an easy |

|Sense-Perception| | | | |book. Gives much|

| | | | | |insight into |

| | | | | |Herbart’s theo- |

| | | | | |ries and prac- |

| | | | | |tice, especially|

| | | | | |in mathematics. |

| | | | | | |

|Application of |Mulliner | 360 | 4s. |Sonnen- |Introduction |

|Psychology to | | | 6d. |schein |gives a full ex-|

|Education | | | | |position of |

| | | | | |Herbart’s psy- |

| | | | | |chology. |

| | | | | | |

|Apperception |Lange | 120 | |Isbister |Very clear. |

| | | | | |Suitable for |

| | | | | |beginners. On |

| | | | | |Herbartian |

| | | | | |lines. |

| | | | | | |

|Herbartian |Adams | 200 | 2s. |Isbister |Excellent for |

|Psychology | | | 6d. | |beginners. Full |

| | | | | |of apt illustra-|

| | | | | |tions. |

| | | | | | |

|Primer of |Ladd | | 5s. |Longmans | |

|Psychology | | | 6d. | | |

| | | | | | |

|Leading |Rosmini | 360 | 5s. |Heath |A thoughtful, |

|Principle of | | | | |religious, sym- |

|Method | | | | |pathetic writer.|

| | | | | |Translated by |

| | | | | |Mrs. Grey. |

| | | | | | |

|Vocation of the |Fichte | 130 | 2s. |Chapman |Will kindle |

|Scholar | | | 6d. | |enthusiasm and |

| | | | | |lift the |

| | | | | |thoughts to the |

| | | | | |higher aspects |

| | | | | |of learning. |

| | | | | | |

|Metaphysica Nova|Laurie | 300 | 6s. |Williams |Clear and full |

|et Vetusta | | | |& Norgate|of interest. |

| | | | | | |

|Outlines of |Rein | 200 | 6s. |Sonnen- | |

|Pedagogics | | | |schein | |

| | | | | | |

|Educational |Oscar | 192 | 3s. | | |

|Theories |Browning | | 6d. | | |

| | | | | | |

|Elementary |Baldwin | 300 | |Appleton |Very systematic.|

|Psychology | | | | |Not a book for |

| | | | | |the general |

| | | | | |reader, but for |

| | | | | |the serious stu-|

| | | | | |dent. Many good |

| | | | | |diagrams. |

| | | | | | |

|Psychology |Kirchner | 350 | |Sonnen- |A very thorough |

| | | | |schein |book, suitable |

| | | | | |for those who |

| | | | | |have some knowl-|

| | | | | |edge of philoso-|

| | | | | |phy. |

| | | | | | |

|Psychology Ap- |Compayré | 220 | 3s. |Isbister |Useful and well |

|plied to | | | 6d. | |arranged. |

|Education | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Education as a |Bain | 450 | 5s. |Kegan }|Contains much of|

|Science | | | |Paul }|value to |

| | | | | }|teachers. With a|

|Education |Herbert | 170 | 2s. |Williams}|good deal the |

| |Spencer | | 6d. |& Nor- }|editor is not in|

| | | | |gate }|sympathy. |

| | | | | | |

|L’Education des |Gréard | 300 | |Hachette |A very interest-|

|Femmes | | | | |ing book. |

| | | | | | |

|Rousseau’s Emile|Worthing- | 160 | 3s. |Heath | |

|Extracts |ton | | 6d. | | |

| | | | | | |

|Les Pères et les|Legouvé | 350 | 3s. |Hetzel |Short chapters |

|Fils | | | | |giving in the |

| | | | | |narrative form |

| | | | | |the way a father|

| | | | | |deals with his |

| | | | | |son. Delightful |

| | | | | |reading. |

| | | | | | |

|Hist. Critique |Compayré | 500 | |Hachette |Several volumes.|

|des doctrines de| | | | |Very judicious |

|l’Education | | | | |and interesting.|

| | | | | | |

|Educational |Quick | 330 | |Longmans |Very good. |

|Reformer | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|L’Education Pro-|Necker de | | 7s. | |Three vols. A |

|gressive |Saussure | | | |mine of original|

| | | | | |observation. |

| | | | | |Rosmini depends |

| | | | | |much on it. |

| | | | | | |

|Home Education |Mason | | 3s. |Kegan |A very helpful |

| | | | 6d. |Paul |book for parents|

| | | | | |and teachers. |

| | | | | | |

|Lectures on |Fitch | 430 | 5s. |Camb. |Should be in the|

|Teaching | | | |Univ. |hands of all |

| | | | |Press |teachers. |

| | | | | | |

|Teaching and |Barnett | 420 | 6s. |Longmans |A very valuable |

|Organisation | | | 6d. | |book. Contains |

| | | | | |23 papers on |

| | | | | |different sub- |

| | | | | |jects. |

| | | | | | |

|Aims and |Spenser | 280 | |Camb. |Very good. Con- |

|Practice of | | | |Univ. |tains 12 papers |

|Teaching | | | |Press |by various |

| | | | | |writers. An ex- |

| | | | | |cellent one on |

| | | | | |modern languages|

| | | | | |by the editor. |

| | | | | | |

|Thirty Years of |Miall | 250 | 3s. |Macmillan|A series of |

|Teaching | | | 6d. | |brightly-written|

| | | | | |practical es- |

| | | | | |says, which all |

| | | | | |teachers may |

| | | | | |read with plea- |

| | | | | |sure and profit.|

| | | | | | |

|School and Home |Rooper | 480 | 1s. |Brown |Original and |

|Life | | | | |suggestive. |

| | | | | | |

|Educative |Holman | 530 | 6s. |Isbister |Not too diffi- |

|Psychological | | | | |cult for begin- |

|Foundations | | | | |ners. |

| | | | | | |

|Teaching and |Trumbull | 400 | |Hodder | |

|Teachers | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Religious |Bell | 180 | 2s. |Macmillan|A very good |

|Teaching | | | 6d. | |book. |

+----------------+----------+------+------+---------+----------------+

The Bureau of Education, U.S.A., issues valuable reports each year,

which are presented to the Teachers’ Guild and a few favoured places.

They always contain a great deal of interesting matter.

The _Pedagogical Seminary_, edited by Dr. Stanley Hall, should be

studied by all who desire to keep in touch with the new scientific

methods. No. for Aug., 1897, is specially good.

PART I. HUMANITIES.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE GENERALLY--READING, WRITING, GRAMMAR, COMPOSITION.

By DOROTHEA BEALE.

I propose to treat in order of the different subjects of our school

curriculum. The first of these is language generally.

[Reading.]

As a branch of formal instruction, we begin with reading. A more

aggravating subject of dispute can hardly be found than that which

relates to the teaching of reading. The pure Fröbellian will have none

of it before the child is seven years old, and occasionally children

do come to school unable to read, but with the senses awakened to all

sorts of other relations except that of articulate sounds to written

forms. In spite of the reproaches of those who build the sepulchres of

the prophets, we teach reading when a child seems ready for it, and

maintain that the principles of Fröbel are best carried out when we

improve on his methods, and adapt ourselves to new circumstances; we

urge that the children from intellectual homes are different from the

class of children with whom he had most to do.

[When begun.]

I would not press reading upon infants, nor require the close and

continuous attention that reading implies, but as soon as the appetite

for any special kind of knowledge is shown, we may conclude, on

Fröbellian principles, that the child is fit for it. Our order is: (1)

drawing, (2) writing, (3) reading.

[First lessons.]

The kindergarten child has learned to draw lines, straight and

curved, developing into simple objects and curious patterns--rude

picture-writing, it may be called. We lead on to writing in some such

way as this.

[Alphabet.]

“How did men at first send silent messages to one another when they

were far off? If you wanted a doll, you might draw a picture of one

and send it to mother on your birthday. A man might make a picture

of a fish, and send it to a fisherman with a piece of money, and the

fisherman would understand; or one might want to sell a sheep, and

send a picture to his neighbour; this would be easier than sending the

sheep. In fact, the first letter of the alphabet is a rude picture of

the head of an ox, [Illustration]. People were not particular, as we

see on old monuments, which way the letter stood, and so we have it

sometimes topsy-turvy, sometimes sideways, [Illustration]; this is like

a Greek alpha, [Illustration], [Illustration]. Beth in Hebrew was a

dwelling, two tents [Illustration], Gimel [Illustration], the camel’s

head and long neck. Delta [Illustration], a door. Kappa Κ, a bird with

its wings out. Rho Ρ, a man’s head. But with pictures only it is hard

to make sentences; _e.g._, if you wanted to say, “I have found some

water,” you might draw [Illustration], but you would have to find some

way of showing whether you meant ‘I have’ or ‘I want’; and if somebody

sent you the picture of a man walking, you might not know whether

you were expected to come or to go. It is hard to represent verbs by

pictures, though it is so easy in speaking.”

Some pictures of Egyptian hieroglyphics and explanations will here be

found to interest children much---part of their drawing lesson might be

to copy a hieroglyph alphabet. Then we might enlarge on the need for

words to tell people what to do. Baby says “mamma,” “doll,” “puss,” but

it wants also to say “come,” “give,” “go,” and this cannot be pictured,

so people seem to have tried to represent sounds by drawing a picture

of the mouth making the different sounds.

I suppose the first sound most babies make is a sort of mumbling,

and if they open their mouths we get a sound like _ma_; now in all

languages _ma_ stands for mother, with some slight alterations. What

is M like? Is it not much like a mouth shut up? and suppose you add a

round shape to represent an open mouth you would get something like

picture-writing _ma_. You might put the two side by side, a picture

of a woman and _ma_--the Egyptians often had the two signs. The next

easy sound is _pa_, and this stands in all languages that I know, for

father. How could this be written? If you say _ap_ you will notice a

movement of the lips, which open with a sort of bursting sound. We may

represent that movement by a stroke and put a round after it to stand

for the open mouth P. There is another sound very like P, but not quite

so sharply said. We hear it in _ab_. We can make the stroke as before,

and put the loop lower down, to show that _ba_ is a quieter sound than

_pa_--so shorthand writers make a long stroke for the _b_ and a short

one for _p_ (│_b_ ╷_p_) and put no loop.

Thus we get three lip letters, but we can shut up the mouth in the

middle--half shut it and we get _n_, which is half _m_. The breath

will have to come of course through the nose. We can move the tongue

suddenly from the teeth and get _d_ as in _ad_, and write a stroke

as before, but put a loop representing the open mouth behind it; the

sound nearest to it which we hear in _at_ would have the loop at the

top, [Illustration], as we had in _pa_, but in our alphabet the loop

has disappeared and we have only _t_. In shorthand we write a long

horizontal stroke for _d_ and a short one for _t_. Thus we have three

dentals.

We may also shut up the throat and let the breath go through the

nose, as in _sing_, or we may make the sudden movement quite in the

throat. We could take the bird shape but think of the two strokes as

if pointing down the throat in Κ, and for the softer sound only one

pointer Γ, this was the Greek G. We make it rounder at the bottom

now. For the first of the throat sounds we have no single letter, but

we write an _n_ to show it is a nose letter, and a _g_ to show the

shutting up is to be done in the throat.

So now you see we have got nine letters--three made with the lips,

three with the tongue near the middle of the mouth, three in the

throat. Three are made by sending the breath through the nose, three

are made by a sudden opening and sending the breath through it with

force, and three by sending the breath more gently. The names given

to these different sorts of letters I may now give and the shorthand

signs:--[6]

_Nasals._ _Hard._ _Soft._

Lip letters m [Illustration] p ╷ b │

Tooth letters n [Illustration] t ╴ d ─

Throat letters ng [Illustration] k ‿ g ∪

[6] I give the characters of the script, which is much simpler for

children than Pitman’s.

Reading books published by A. Chrysogon Beale (Sonnenschein) are

perhaps the best for beginners. There are coloured pictures of the

mouth; the deaf alphabet is given, and the words which are not written

phonetically are gradually introduced. Sonnenschein’s books are also

good, and Miss Soames’ _Introduction to Phonetics_.

Thus the child could be taught to observe the movements for

articulation, be interested in early writings, and prepared to look

intelligently at ancient monuments.

In teaching, the sounds of the letters will be given of course, not

their names, and the alphabet will be from the first classified, and a

basis laid for philological study. A shorthand alphabet will be learned

side by side without trouble, and besides this, the pronunciation

will be improved--all this without any over-pressure or giving any

instructions unsuited for a small child.

In a later lesson the meaning of an aspirate should be explained,

and added to each of the mutes; we then get four varieties under the

heads of labial, dental and guttural. The sibilants, which are in some

respects aspirates, may be classified, and the feeble lip aspirate in

_when_ (written in old English _hwen_) should be noticed. The relation

of palatals _l_ and _r_, and the different kinds of palatals, may be

dwelt on.

I give a comprehensive table, founded on one in Professor Key’s volume

on the alphabet. The three horizontal planes give gutturals, dentals

and labials. The front plane the sharp mutes, the back the flat mutes;

the right plane the sharp aspirates, the left the flat aspirates; the

sibilants are classed as dental aspirates and the nasals appended.

Other classifications are noticed in the paper on Spelling Reform.

[Illustration]

The classification of vowels is more difficult, and it may be pointed

out how easily these pass into one another. How difficult it is too for

English people to sustain a pure vowel, _o_, without passing into _u_,

_a_ into _ai_. The vocal triangle as given in Brachet’s dictionary,

adapted from Helmholtz and Brücke, is perhaps most easily understood.

[Illustration]

For those who do not use the alphabet of the _maître phonétique_,

tables such as those of Larousse should be always at hand to hang on

the wall, when French lessons are given. These tables enable one to

draw attention to sounds which English people do not discriminate, or

which offer special difficulty, _e.g._, _ê_, _è_, _é_, _ais_, _ai_,

_ou_, _u_, _eu_, _e_; to the feebly nasalised vowels as in French

_pain_, pronounced Anglice, _pang_; to the formation of the sound

constantly changed by English people into _ou_, when a vowel follows,

_e.g._, _loui_ for _lui_; to the proper pronunciation of _moi_, _mwa_,

not _mwau_; to the addition of a syllable, as in _deer_ for _di_+_r_;

to the attractive power of labial consonants, making _impossible_

_inpossible_, and so on. Systematic teaching saves much time.

For older pupils it is an instructive and amusing exercise to work

out the combinations of two vowels to produce a multitude of mixed or

diphthongal forms; such an exercise will do much to teach delicate

discrimination of sounds, and it is important early to cultivate the

ear and the vocal organs. I append the diphthong table--to read it

proceed from one vowel to another, following the arrow head.

[Illustration]

[Interchange of letters.]

The classification of letters is of the greatest importance as the

basis of linguistic study, and so the matter should early be made

interesting and intelligible, not only for the sake of pronunciation,

but as accounting for, and simplifying a great many rules of grammar,

and enabling pupils to acquire quickly a large vocabulary, when they

begin foreign tongues, by observing such laws as are expounded by Grimm

and Vernier, and thus helping them later to recognise that there is

such a thing as a science of language, something more than a wearisome

list of empirical rules and unreasonable exceptions. Thus reading, if

taught as it should be, conforms to the psychological principles (1)

that we should develop the powers of observation, (2) let the child do

or make something, (3) show the uses of what is produced, (4) plant

some root principles which may grow up and bear fruit in later studies,

(5) associate the different studies with one another. The reason why

teaching is often so dull, is that teachers do not take a large view of

the field of instruction, but work like day-labourers, and adopt that

fatal maxim, you should “throw it all off, out of school hours”. “I

am a gentleman after four o’clock,” said a schoolmaster! Now I should

like those who are going to teach the alphabet to read Max Müller’s

_Science of Thought_ in their leisure hours. It is too ponderous a

volume to buy--660 pages--but it should be in the Teachers’ Library.

There is a most interesting chapter on the origin of roots, which

he traces to imperatives. I need hardly say that the two volumes of

_Lectures on Language_ should be familiar to all, and that the teacher

should work out roots for herself after the model of “Mar”. She must

not, however, bury the important things under a mass of erudition;

the larger her store the more should she be able to select by the

discursive faculty (I ask pardon of Herbart) what is most illustrative

of her subject for the special class: it is very important to know what

not to say.

Melville Bell’s _Visible Speech_ is very instructive reading, and all

should be familiar with _Le Mestr.: Fonetiq_ of Paul Passy. I abstain

from recommending some of the very learned books “made in Germany”.

These are not suited to persons of limited leisure, but are rather for

the Grammarian who said:--

Let me know all! Prate not of most or least,

Painful or easy,

Even to the crumbs, I’d fain eat up the feast,

Ay, nor feel queasy.

If reading is begun early, taught in the way suggested, and the sounds

insisted on, to the exclusion of the absurd spelling, which pretends to

produce cat from _see ay tee_, children seem to get on slowly at first,

but the progress is rapid, when they have once mastered the signs,

_i.e._, as rapid as is possible with our cacography.

In an excursus I have insisted on the great importance of reformed

spelling. It is difficult to get people to agree, but any system,

Soames’ or Pitman’s or Bell’s, would be better than our present

chaos. If Government would give liberty to those who teach a phonetic

system, things would improve, and children would easily read ordinary

characters afterwards. All who write shorthand must spell phonetically.

[Voice production.]

Not only right articulation needs attention, but what is called

voice production. The health of many a delicate girl may be greatly

strengthened by habituating her to breathe as she ought, and the whole

class of what are called clergymen’s throats are in great measure, if

not entirely due to the improper use of the organs of speech. There

will be little difficulty later, if we, from the beginning, make

children stand and breathe rightly, speak and read with due attention

to stops and emphasis, and to those subtle changes of voice on which

expression depends so much.

Children should never be allowed to learn a poem without preparation,

or to memorise it by gabbling it over; as well might we expect them to

become musicians by rattling off pieces unstudied, without regard to

time and accent. At first, the poems to be learned should be repeated

_viva voce_ by the teacher to the little ones. Later, a special study

should be made of anything set to a class, and it should be learned by

the mind, not the ear. In France and Germany a poem is not set until

it has been discussed and explained, points of importance insisted on,

special beauties, etc.

A reading class should not be one in which each girl has to listen to

the bad reading of another. I know no manual so good for the teacher,

and for elder pupils, as Professor Meiklejohn’s _Expressive Reading_.

There are some good remarks in a brief paper by Mr. Birrell in

Barnett’s _Teaching and Organisation_, and I may draw attention to page

131 of Spenser’s chapters on _Teaching_, for all these books should be

in the Teachers’ Library.

From the first, children should learn poetry by heart--poetry suited to

their understanding. A child was heard to drone forth:--

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower

The lowing herd doth to the moon complain.

The reflections of the poet were utterly uninteresting to him; he did

not perceive the absurdity of cows ascending a tower.

I cannot sufficiently deprecate the setting of melodramatic pieces

chosen not for their intrinsic beauty, but to show the power of

execution--to borrow a musical term. The pieces learned need not be all

poetry. Some of Hans Andersen’s Mährchen are excellent. Scenes in which

several can take part help to give animation.

[Learning by heart.]

Throughout their school life children should continue to store

their memory, during the years in which it is easy to learn, with

masterpieces in prose and poetry; because learning by heart was

formerly overdone it is much neglected now. These early acquisitions

are a treasure all one’s life. Familiarity with really good writers is

the first thing necessary for writing well; it is good to let children

write from memory passages learned instead of giving dictation.

[Recitation.]

Looking at the higher aspects, I can hardly exaggerate the importance

of getting children to speak with the understanding and right

expression; for this teachers must make them enter into the meaning of

the writer, realising the imagery, the feelings, the thoughts; this

calls out right emotion, and thus elocution becomes of no small value

as a part of moral training. Plato dwells much on the influence for

good or evil upon the actor who realises the character he represents,

and as Aristotle has said that through the drama one may purify the

soul, so we may help our pupils to feel all the grand music of our

great poets, and to enter with fuller sympathy into the teaching of the

sacred scriptures of the world.

There is an excellent article in the volume of _Special Reports_ issued

by the Education Office by Mr. Dale of Merton College, from which I

give extracts.

“Before the reading of Geibel’s poem on Frederick Barbarossa (the story

of the sleeping kaiser who wakes to grasp the sceptre once more) a

scholar was bidden to relate the fairy tale of the sleeping princess.

“The analysis of the piece into sections was given, each with a brief

title indicating its subject-matter, and the exposition of their

relation to one another, showing it had a distinct purpose and value.”

[Oral composition.]

The practice of composition may begin systematically in quite early

years. Mr. Dale has given an interesting account of the way in which

children are taught orally, and one who attended a Ferien-Kursus at

Jena has explained the matter fully to me. First, the teacher always

insisted upon answers to questions being complete sentences. I quote

once more from Mr. Dale, but the whole article should be read.

“The first division of the subject in the German code is ‘exercises in

_speaking_’; and the careful and admirable training in oral expression

is worthy of special attention. It is of frequent occurrence to hear

a boy when called upon for an answer speak with but little hesitation

for two or three minutes, using grammatical and connected language,

and displaying a vocabulary which might have been supposed to be too

wide for any but adults. This result is the working, primarily, of

a principle which has always lain deep in the German conception of

teaching, and which has been reinforced by the influence of Herbart and

his followers, that in every lesson the child should take an active

part. It is given as a precept to every seminar student, ‘Let the

teacher speak little, the children much’.

“The teaching of composition is one of the most valuable parts of the

work done in the German schools. It is begun at a very early age and

practised steadily throughout the course.

“The composition is conducted by word of mouth. ‘Who,’ asks the

teacher, ‘can give me a sentence to begin the first section?’ One is

suggested, and criticised. ‘Can any one else give me a better?’ The

others then suggest, if necessary with a little help, their variants,

and finally one version is accepted. In the case of the youngest

children this is written on the blackboard. The same process is pursued

with each section till the piece is finished. With the older boys the

blackboard is not used, save for the titles indicating the outline of

each section. The class then writes it out from memory.

“The fundamental presupposition of this method is the inability of

young pupils to compose and think out a series of ideas without

much assistance, even though the subject be a familiar one. Their

thoughts need concentration and guidance, and this help is given them

by the working out of the matter in class. Yet individual liberty of

expression is by no means sacrificed. The sentences are the children’s

own, and for the purpose of good composition the oral method is

invaluable. It proceeds on the sound principle that a child should be

taught to test style by the ear and not by the eye alone. It makes

short work of a lumbering period.

“On the other hand, the activity and interest of every scholar are kept

up by the desire to improve on his fellows, and to have his own version

accepted. Constant practice, moreover, is gained in the art of finding

synonyms, and it affords an admirable opportunity of instruction

in grammar and orthography. Indeed, the practising school at Jena,

following a suggestion of Professor Ziller, removes grammatical

explanations altogether from the reading piece, and transfers them to

the child’s own composition, an expedient which avoids the fault of

defacing the beauty and unity of a poem by picking it to pieces for the

sake of illustration.”

Sometimes a picture is used to form a subject of conversation,

questioning and explanation. Thus is the valuable power of oral

composition formed, a good vocabulary obtained, taste cultivated, and

that respect for the mother tongue which is so sadly wanting in many

English people. Children gain a facility in writing which no dissection

into different clauses, enlargements of predicates, etc., can give.

Rules are introduced with the reasons for such rules, and only at

last a grammar is placed in the pupil’s hands--even as a Euclid is

given when it is all known. I have heard a small kindergarten boy stand

up and give in a clear and quiet way quite a long story which he had

studied. The habit of accurate expression will thus be formed and the

thought become clear, for it is language alone which gives form and

body to thought--gives it “a local habitation to a name”.

In the higher schools, Mr. Dale writes, the practice of oral

composition is continued (p. 573):--

“The practice of oral paraphrase which we saw existing in the

elementary schools here reaches its climax. The scholars are bidden to

prepare a scene or passage of some author, or to read up some period of

literary history at home. The next morning, before the lesson begins,

one of them is called upon to give a summary of what he has read, a

sort of short essay by word of mouth--lasting three or four minutes,

and sometimes even longer. The correctness both of style and matter,

with which this difficult task is performed, needs to be heard in order

to be fully appreciated at its true value. It combines many of the

advantages gained from a debating society with those of an essay. It

cultivates readiness of speech and thought, while, like an essay, by

enabling the teacher to gauge the points on which interest has centred,

it lends him a proper starting-place for his lecture.”

This oral composition tells very advantageously upon the written work,

and could be introduced more generally into English schools; but from

quite early years children should be accustomed to write answers to

questions upon their lessons, or to tell something that they know.

Later, subjects may be given to be thought out or a _résumé_ given of

a lesson; and lastly the pupils of the higher class required to read up

a subject, and write upon it, or compose an essay.

[Grammar taught inductively.]

As regards the formal teaching of English grammar, I shall say but

little. I may instead refer my readers to the long and interesting

paper by Dr. Abbott in the volume edited by Mr. Barnett, and to his

book, _How to Tell the Parts of Speech_. The system he recommends will

form a good foundation for the acquisition of foreign tongues. Pupils

are led to make their own definitions, and in part their own grammar.

A class thus taught French by our present Mistress of Method were

astonished and delighted to find they knew already the chief rules of

their French grammar, when at length it was placed in their hands. It

is impossible and unnecessary to insist upon all grammatical forms

being obtained inductively; life is too short to carry it out in all

its details, and so the tabulation and learning of various paradigms

becomes necessary; but pupils should learn to form them. I am sure

there is much less use in the old-fashioned parsing exercises than is

generally supposed; parsing becomes mechanical; nine-tenths of what

they have to write children know, and need not think about, and when

sentences are given to parse, certain words only should be underlined

for parsing. I first questioned its usefulness when I found at school

that one who was so dull, that we used to regard her as somewhat of an

idiot, always came to the top when we took places for parsing. What

the French call _analyse logique_--classifying all words and phrases

according to their function in the sentence--is valuable.

[Logical and grammatical analysis.]

Mr. Blakiston in his _School Management_ endorses this view, and

recommends the teaching of logical even before grammatical parsing.

Mr. Fearon in _School Inspection_ writes: “What is wanted is to get

as quickly as possible a notion of the structure of the sentence, and

the logical relation of its parts. The teaching of English should be

based on the analysis of sentences. Some may think the teaching of

English grammar by means of logical analysis more difficult than the

old method. I am perfectly convinced from observation and experience,

both as a teacher and as an inspector, that this is not the case. They

are not more difficult than the terms which it is necessary to use in

teaching grammar on the old system. The great point is to make children

have an intelligent understanding of the real things which underlie

them and which they represent.”

Professor Woodward (_Monographs on Education_) writes: “There is

need of preparatory drill in forms and language study, to bring a

child to the intelligent study of construction, but this done, the

analytical method of sentence-study commends itself. Intelligence is

called into play, for the pupil is no longer studying words as words,

but as the expression of thought; memory is subordinate and reason

to the front--nouns, verbs, etc., are in some languages stamped with

distinguishing marks, and can be recognised by their forms, but in

English the power of any word and its influence in the sentence are

rarely dependent on its form; the part of speech cannot be determined

at sight, but by its connection and dependency.”

The analysis of sentences is of course very important in the study of

foreign languages. Hosts of rules about conjunctions, governing moods,

etc., can be discarded if once children can recognise a dependent

sentence. Various models of analysis are given in all good grammars.

Here is a form which has many recommendations as showing clearly the

structure of a complex sentence:--

_Sentence._ _Dependent._ _Principal._

1 The man } { subject of 5

2 who } subj. of 3 } {

3 wrote } pred. of 2 } adjective { extension of 1

4 that letter } obj. of 3 } {

5 said } { predicate of 1

6 that } conj. {

7 he } subj. of 8 } substantive { object of 5

8 would return } pred. of 7 }

9 but conj.

10 he subj. of 11

11 did not pred. of 10

Another matter which should have great attention is the use of tenses.

There is nothing perhaps so difficult for foreigners to acquire as

the power of discriminating tenses. Owing to the want of the present

and future imperfect in French verbs, many children get an idea that

imperfect means past, and few know until they learn Greek that “I

have written” is a present tense. Such a table as this can be used to

contrast languages:--

_Indefinite._ _Imperfect._ _Perfect._

_Present_ I write am writing have written

_Past_ Wrote was writing had written

_Future_ Shall write shall be writing shall have written

The authors of the Parallel Grammar Series have sought to reduce the

time occupied in learning grammar. In one book the general rules only

need be given, and the variations from these rules appear in other

grammars. Thus the tiresome repetitions in each grammar of the letters

of the alphabet--the definitions of the parts of speech of many rules

regarding concords--could appear once for all.

Let me in conclusion quote a portion of the resolutions concerning the

teaching of English passed by the Conference called by the Committee of

Ten.[7]

[7] Report of the Committee of Ten on secondary studies, 1892,

Washington.

“The main direct object of the teaching of English in schools is (1) to

enable the pupil to understand the expressed thoughts of others and to

give expression to thoughts of his own; and (2) to cultivate a taste

for reading, to give the pupil some acquaintance with good literature,

and to furnish him with the means of extending that acquaintance.

Incidentally, other ends may be subserved, but such subsidiary

interests should never be allowed to encroach on the two main purposes.

Though it may be necessary to consider these separately, in practice

they should never be dissociated in the mind of the teacher, and their

mutual dependence should be kept constantly present to the mind of the

pupils.

“If the pupil is to secure control of the language as an instrument

for the expression of his thoughts, it is necessary (1) that during

the period of life when imitation is the chief motive principle in

education, he should be kept so far as possible away from the influence

of bad models and under the influence of good models, and (2) that

every thought which he expresses, whether orally or on paper, should

be regarded as a proper subject for _criticism as to language_.

Thus every lesson should become a part of the pupil’s training in

English. There can be no more appropriate moment for a brief lesson in

expression than the moment when the pupil has something which he is

trying to express.

“In addition to this incidental training, appropriate special

instruction in English should form a part of the curriculum from the

beginning. This special instruction may be considered under three

heads: A. _Language and composition._ During the _first two years_ at

school, children (under eight) may acquire some fluency of expression

by reproducing orally in their own words stories told them by their

teachers, and by inventing stories about objects and pictures.

“In the _third school year_ children should begin to compose in

writing; they should copy and write from dictation and from memory

short and easy passages of prose and verse.

“The subjects assigned should gradually increase in difficulty. (The

paraphrasing of poetry is not to be commended.) Pains should be taken

to improve the child’s vocabulary by suggesting to him, for the

expression of his thoughts, better words than those he may himself have

chosen. He should also be trained to perceive the larger divisions of

thought which are conventionally indicated by paragraphs. The teacher

should bear in mind the necessity of correctness in the formation of

sentences and paragraphs.

“Compositions and all other written exercises should receive careful

and appropriate criticism, and the staff of instructors should be large

enough to protect every teacher from an excess of this peculiarly

exacting and fatiguing work.

“B. _Formal or systematic grammar._ Not earlier than twelve years of

age the study of formal grammar, with drill in fundamental analysis,

may be taken up. It should not be pursued as a separate study longer

than is necessary to familiarise the pupil with the main principles.

Probably a single year will be sufficient. Subsequently, although

grammatical analysis may properly accompany reading and the study of

composition, it should not be regarded as a separate subject in the

curriculum. The teaching of formal grammar should aim principally

to enable the pupil (1) to recognise the parts of speech, and (2)

to analyse sentences both as to structure and as to syntax. Routine

parsing should be avoided.

“With regard to the study of formal grammar the Conference wishes to

lay stress on three points: (1) a student may be taught to speak and

write good English without receiving any special instruction in formal

grammar; (2) the study of formal grammar is valuable as training in

thought, but has only an indirect bearing on the art of writing and

speaking; and (3) the teaching of formal grammar should be as far as

possible incidental, and should be brought into close connection with

the pupil’s work in reading and composition. These principles explain

the considerable reduction recommended by the Conference in the amount

of time allowed to this study.

“The best results in the teaching of English in high schools cannot

be secured without the aid given by the study of some other language.

Latin and German are especially suited to this end.

“Every teacher, whatever his department, should feel responsible for

the use of good English by his pupils.”

One would like to say much on the study of language generally, and not

only of its mere formal elements--of the “fossil poetry” to be found in

figures of speech; of the metaphors which express the same thought in

different languages. I give the names of some useful books, but there

are many other good grammars.

+----------------+----------+------+------+---------+----------------+

| Name of Work. | Author. |Pages.|Price.| Pub- | Remarks. |

| | | | |lishers. | |

+----------------+----------+------+------+---------+----------------+

|Lectures on |M. Müller | 1100 | |Longmans |Indispensable. |

|Language | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Lectures on |M. Müller | 660 | |Longmans |Full of |

|Science of | | | | |interest. |

|Thought | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Philology |Peile | 100 | 1s. |Macmillan|Excellent. May |

| | | | | |be used as a |

| | | | | |class-book for |

| | | | | |children. |

| | | | | | |

|Etymological |Skeat | | 7s. |Clarendon|Very necessary |

|Dictionary | | | 6d. |Press |for language |

| | | | | |teachers. |

| | | | | | |

|Etymological |Brachet | | |Clarendon|Introduction |

|Dictionary | | | |Press |specially good. |

| | | | | |Required by all |

| | | | | |who teach |

| | | | | |French. |

| | | | | | |

|English Past and|Nesfield | 450 | 3s. |Macmillan|Very good for |

|Present | | | 6d. | |upper classes. |

| | | | | | |

|English Grammar |Hyde | 150 | 1s. |Crosby |Suggestive for |

| |Clarke | | | |the teacher. |

| | | | | |Contains much |

| | | | | |that is inter- |

| | | | | |esting. |

| | | | | | |

|Comparative |Sayce | 400 | |Trübner | |

|Philology | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Primer of |Sweet | 120 | 1s. |Clarendon| |

|Phonetics | | | 6d. |Press | |

| | | | | | |

|Visible Speech |Bell | 80 | 2s. |Volta |The large book |

| | | | |Press, |costs about four|

| | | | |Washing- |dollars. |

| | | | |ton | |

| | | | | | |

|Ecriture phoné- |} | | | | |

|tique |} Passy | | 1s. |Firmin |Clear and easy. |

|Les sons du |} | | 6d. |Didot | |

|français |} | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Phonétique des |Victor | | 5s. |Heelbronn|Somewhat diffi- |

|deutschen | | | 6d. | |cult. |

| | | | | | |

|Introduction to |Soames | 280 | 3s. |Sonnen- |A very useful |

|Phonetics | | | 6d. |schein |introduction, |

| | | | | |adapted to |

| | | | | |English, French |

| | | | | |and German. |

| | | | | | |

|Expressive |Meiklejohn| 360 | |Holden |Very good. Con- |

|Reading | | | | |tains a suitable|

| | | | | |selection. |

| | | | | | |

|Plea for Re- |Pitman | | |Pitman | |

|formed Spelling | | | | | |

| | | | | | |

|Spelling Reform |Gladstone | | |Pitman | |

| | | | | | |

|How to Teach |Stanley | 40 | 1s. |Heath | |

|Reading |Hall | | | | |

+----------------+----------+------+------+---------+----------------+

Amongst English grammars I may mention those by Morris and Mason,

various books by Dr. Abbott, and the Parallel Grammar Series. There

are good grammars, too numerous to mention, suitable for school use.

CLASSICAL STUDIES.

By W. H. D. ROUSE, M.A., formerly Fellow of Christ’s College in

Cambridge, and a Master at Rugby School.

[Aim of a girl’s education.]

It were idle to expect that classics can be studied with the same

thoroughness in girls’ schools as in boys’. Girls’ schools have grown

up with other traditions; music and drawing and modern languages have

so long been the staple of a girl’s education, that it is perhaps too

late now to make any radical change. Nor is it clear that even if

possible, it would be well to substitute classics for these subjects.

If the object of girls’ education be, as many think, not so much to

turn out finished scholars as to give an intelligent and sympathetic

interest in life, this can be better achieved by grafting classics upon

the existing curriculum, than by ousting other studies for the sake

of these. Nevertheless, there will be many whose aim it is to give

themselves to teaching as a profession, and some who are scholars born,

and willing to spend their life in research and study. A good school

must provide for these; and we have to consider how to combine the

interests of both classes. The result will naturally be a compromise:

the average pupil getting less than the average boy gets, while the few

specialists will need to make up for lost time, and to compress their

work into a shorter period than is usually given to it. The object of

teaching will be the same in any case: a mastery of the matter perfect

as far as it goes; and at the outset, the methods will be much the same.

[Importance of Latin in all schemes of higher education.]

It is scarcely necessary to insist on the value of Latin for every

educated man or woman. It is not only valuable as a thorough training

of the mind, in close reasoning and unremitting attention; nor only as

opening to the student a literature of great interest: it is actually

useful in a practical way. It is the key to all the Romance languages;

Latin once mastered, French and Italian, Spanish and Portuguese are

brought within easy reach. Almost all that has then to be learnt is

the grammar of these languages; for the body of the words is already

familiar. Certainly much study and practice will be needed before these

languages can be spoken; but is it nothing to be able to read? Men

who are preparing for the Civil Service in India learn Sanskrit; not

because the Government is interested in the training of their minds,

but because this is the key to the spoken dialects of India. As this

dead language is practically useful in learning Hindi or Bengali, so

Latin is practically useful in learning Italian or French. Then again,

the grammatical drill is much more rigid and effective in teaching

Latin than in teaching French, Italian, or even German. The relation

of action to object, the subordination of thought to thought, the

dependence of an oblique statement, all become clear to the mind in

English or French when they have been made clear to the eye by Latin.

Nor must we forget that without Latin no one can really understand

English, especially the English of such writers as Milton and Bacon.

And besides these advantages, Latin has a direct use in several

professions, which are now or may yet be open to women: in medicine,

in the law, in letters; and even in business a knowledge of it, as

already pointed out, will enable any one to become fit for foreign

correspondence with far less difficulty than otherwise.

We will assume, then, that Latin will be begun even in girls’ schools

early enough (say at thirteen or fourteen) to get through the grammar,

without undue pressure, by the time the specialist will wish to begin

Greek. There may be at that time a certain amount of work yet to get

through which a boy of the same age would have done; but this will

have to be done more quickly, that is all. It must not be slurred or

neglected, certainly; but the student will probably find that the work

progresses at a rather quicker rate than might be expected, because the

mind is already better trained and stored than is usual at that stage

of the study.

[The right method of teaching a language.]

[(1) Grammar.]

[To “learn by reading” not sufficient.]

The right method of teaching a language may be put in a nutshell:

grammar, reading, writing and conversation should go side by side. For

convenience, and because of the importance of the subjects, grammar and

exercises in composition will naturally have special times assigned

to them; but they should never be left out of sight. No construing

lesson ought to be done without some grammatical drill, or without a

few sentences of conversation, which is in fact composition in brief.

The importance of grammar can hardly be overestimated; and the first

thing the learner must understand is that the skeleton of the language,

the inflections, have to be known by heart. A knowledge of cognate

languages may help, and comparative tables of forms may help both

intelligence and memory, but in the end it all comes to the same thing:

however the pupil may have learnt them, he must be prepared to say off

his declensions and conjugations from memory in the usual tabular form.

There are, in this slipshod age, those who affect to despise precise

knowledge, such as geographical names and facts, historical dates,

and the paradigms of a grammar. “Learn by reading” is their motto in

language; a most false and pernicious principle, as I can testify

from sad experience. It has been my lot to learn one or two languages

sufficiently well to enable me to read in them, and I grieve to relate

that in these I shirked the drudgery of the grammar. The result is that

although a certain amount of grammar has soaked in, I cannot yet read

without a manual by my side. The most such a method can do is to give

the general sense of a sentence; but it often fails to do even that,

inasmuch as the general sense of a sentence is made up of the precise

sense of its parts. Exactness in understanding is not to be had without

paying the price, and the price is an exact knowledge of grammar.

The rottenness of this system is shown when it comes to writing; and

the productions of these empirics might well make Quintilian stare

and gasp. Thus, however the grammar may be taught to begin with, the

class should always have handy some book containing just the facts of

the language, arranged in the usual fashion, and not encumbered with

exercises. They will need this in the end, and they may as well have

it at the beginning. The most useful books of the kind are Kennedy’s

_Revised Latin Primer_ (or Postgate’s _New Latin Primer_, which is in

some respects better, notably in the marking of quantities) and Abbott

and Mansfield’s _Greek Grammar_. If no book of exercises is used, it

is hardly necessary to say that these books cannot be learnt straight

through from cover to cover. Indeed, the very first pages of both are

unintelligible to beginners. In that case the teacher must himself

select what is to be learnt; and the tables which follow (pp. 87-8) are

meant to assist in this.

[(2) Reading to be begun as soon as possible.]

As soon as the pupil is able to understand a simple sentence, he should

begin to use some reading book. One of the most satisfactory Latin

readers I have had to do with is Abbott’s _Dux Latinus_; some of the

books err in not being simple enough in the structure of the sentences.

Equally good and more easy to work with are the cheap _Single Term

Readers_ of Messrs. Rivington. The sooner the pupil can be put on to a

genuine classical author, the better. _Eutropius_, _Nepos_ or _Phædrus_

is better suited for beginners than _Cæsar_; _Cæsar_ will come next.

Stories from _Ovid_ may follow, and some of _Cicero’s_ lucid and

interesting narrative; the best selection is that of Walford (Clarendon

Press). _Virgil_ may be well begun in Allcroft’s _Story of Æneas_

(Blackie). Once the pupil has attained this stage, further selection

should be easy; only, be it said, too many notes spoil the scholar.

The student will be able sooner to tackle an author in Greek than

in Latin, because of the greater simplicity of the language. In a

very short time he ought to pass on to the excellent Clarendon Press

_Easy Selections from Xenophon_, or some adaptation of stories from

_Herodotus_, or parts of _Lucian_. He may then take one of the Rugby

_Scenes from Greek Plays_ (Rivingtons), and the easier parts of

_Thucydides_, as edited in Rivington’s _Middle Form Greek Readers_.

[Construing.]

[(3) Conversation.]

[How to be used.]

[Its great advantages.]

In the construing lesson, the teacher will of course try to give each

pupil a small portion to translate; and with a class of twenty-five

this can easily be done in three quarters of an hour, leaving time

for questions. He will then go through the passage himself, asking a

question or two now and then to rivet their attention; and then one and

another should be called upon to decline or conjugate as many of the

words (regular as well as irregular) as can be got into the time. It

is needless to insist that constant practice is necessary in grammar

and parsing. In this manner the accidence will be kept fresh in the

mind, and at last (it is to be hoped) firmly impressed upon it. But one

most important aid to learning is so often neglected, that it will be

necessary to speak about it rather fully. This is conversation. First

let me say that nothing is meant resembling the method of Gouin. What

may be the merits of that method in the case of French or German, it is

needless to ask here; but I am confident that a syntax and accidence

so elaborate as those of Greek could not possibly be taught by that

method in any reasonable time, and I do not believe they could be so

taught at all. Simple conversation can be begun as soon as the pupil

begins to read. We will suppose the reading book contains the sentence,

_Post triduum Cæsar equitatum ad Labienum misit_. The teacher will

ask, _Quid fecit Cæsar_? and the pupil must be made to answer, at

first by prompting if necessary, _Misit equitatum Cæsar_. The next

question may be, _Ad quem misit equitatum_? the reply, _Ad Labienum

misit equitatum Cæsar_. Other questions may be got out of this short

sentence; such as _Quis misit_? _quid_? _quando_? The class should be

made to give always a complete sentence in reply. At first they may

have the book open before them; but so soon as they are used to the

sound of the words, they should be made to shut the book and answer

from memory. Five minutes at the end of a lesson is not much to give,

and it is surprising how this kind of thing quickens interest and

memory. The pupils find the advantage when they sit down to write their

exercises, for now the words and constructions come quickly into the

mind. Moreover, they will find that they have learnt unconsciously the

difference in emphasis which position makes; for it will be observed

that in the simple answers given above, the words which answer the

question, and are therefore the most important, come first in the

answer. The teacher should ring the changes on his reading exercise in

this way, until after a term or two he will be able to begin talking

to them on other subjects: such as the weather, the pictures on the

walls, the pupils’ dress, their inky fingers, anything that occurs to

him. He must take every opportunity of dropping in the accusative and

infinitive, a phrase of purpose or consequence, or the like; and thus,

without much trouble, these bugbears will be got rid of. If a pupil can

answer no more than _Nescio quid dicas_, it is something that he uses

the subjunctive in a dependent question.

[A difficulty met.]

But it will be asked, where are the teachers to be found who can do

this? The answer is, that it is perfectly easy to learn, and only needs

practice. The teacher will have his own book open before him, and need

not go beyond its words till he has gained confidence; then by degrees

he will do it more and more easily, and in a while talking will come

quite naturally to him. In more discursive conversations, it is true,

some preparation will be necessary, but it is quite worth the while.

There are one or two little books that teachers will find useful,[8]

but they will best make their own collections. A few hours’ reading

will give an ample store of colloquialisms from Plato, Aristophanes and

Lucian, from Plautus, Terence, and Cicero’s letters. It is not a bad

plan to compile lists of colloquial sentences, say a hundred, and make

every pupil learn them by heart.

[8] _Sprechen Sie Attisch?_ Ioannides: Koch, Leipzig, 1889. _Sprechen

Sie Lateinisch?_ Id. Sargent, _Greek Prose Composition_. Blackie,

_Gr. Conversation_.

[A practical test.]

It may be worth while saying that the writer has tested this method,

and found it practicable with young and old. Moreover it has been

applied, within his knowledge, to the teaching of Russian, a language

hardly less difficult than Greek; and it is found possible, by

combining conversation, reading, writing and learning by heart, to

teach even obtuse persons how to read an ordinary novel or newspaper,

to write a social or official letter, and to converse on ordinary

topics, in three months, although before they began this course they

knew not even the Russian alphabet.

[(4) Composition.]

For Latin composition the teacher can hardly do better than begin with

Abbott’s _Via Latina_; for Greek, Ritchie’s _Practical Greek Method_ is

to be recommended, though not so unreservedly. What books are best to

follow up with may be seen from the lists given below. But after all,

it is not books that teach, so much as the teacher; and he had better

fix on the subjects that are to be taught at each stage, and select or

make the exercises necessary to teach them.

[Practical hints for teaching it.]

Every exercise will of course be corrected, and the pupil should

never pass on without having written out a correct translation of the

exercise himself. If it is practicable, the best thing is for him

to be told his mistakes, and then to rewrite the exercise, doing it

again and again until it is right. But if time permits not this, the

teacher may do a good deal to encourage self-help by going round the

class whilst they are writing, and underlining all mistakes, which the

pupils are then to correct, if they can. As soon as possible, pieces

of continuous prose should be done as well as sentences; and this can

be begun quite early, in fact after a couple of terms’ work. The same

plan of underlining mistakes may be followed with these; but it will be

found advantageous, as the work increases in difficulty, to give more

and more often fair copies of the teacher’s, or by some other competent

person. In all composition it is useful to dictate the fair copy, and

then to give a few minutes for the class to learn it. The class should

then be called up, the copy taken away, and the English should be

translated _viva voce_. Of course any reasonable translation will be

accepted; it is not meant that only the very words of the copy given

will do. Let the old pieces be done over now and again at sight; and

the results cannot fail to be good.

[Type-sentences to be learnt by heart.]

Most of the exercise books have explanations prefixed to each exercise,

with examples. All such examples, or at least one of each construction,

should be learnt by heart. The same should be done with the syntax

rules of any grammar which may be in use. These should all be so well

drilled into the pupils, that when a rule is given, or a heading, or

(for beginners) the English meaning, the pupils should be able to

reel off the example without hesitation. A certain portion of syntax,

or of the exercise book, or both, should be set for each stage; and

the classes which are studying that part of the subject must learn

these, and keep up the old work. The reading book will give plenty of

opportunity to ask for these quotations, and it should constantly be

done. The oftener the pupil repeats his example of the instrumental

ablative, or whatever it may be, the better he will know it; and he

cannot know it too well. The pupil should be tested and kept up to the

mark by regular grammar papers, at least twice a term.

[Unseen translation.]

Unseen translation should be commenced as early as possible, and form

part of the regular work. Beginners can try some unprepared piece out

of their reading book, which they must do on paper, and without help,

except that they will use the vocabulary. As soon as the pupils are far

enough on to use a dictionary, some special book of unseens should be

taken, such as Jerram’s _Anglice Reddenda_. The use of helps can be

gradually discontinued, until the pupil is weaned from them altogether.

This can be done by forbidding dictionaries, and giving the meanings of

the more unfamiliar words, fewer and fewer by degrees.

[Repetition.]

As soon as the pupil has begun to read a verse author, repetition

should be begun, and never afterwards discontinued. Verse is easier

to learn, so with verse we begin; but pieces of prose for learning

should be set later. It is useful to make the repetition a part of the

terminal examination, and to have every word of it written out. A Greek

play and a book of Virgil should be chosen (say the _Medea_, or the

_Œdipus Tyrannus_, and the IVth or VIth _Æneid_), together with the

_Heroides_ of Ovid, and if time allows, one of the speeches against

_Catiline_ and a _Philippic_ of Demosthenes. These can be divided into

portions, a portion for each form or class, and it should be understood

that this has to be learnt during the term and kept up afterwards. The

examination will simply consist in writing out all the portion learnt

during the term, and all the old work, if any. As the work will always

be the same, the older pupils will soon get to know it perfectly. The

system here recommended has been used in one great school for perhaps a

quarter of a century, and the results have been excellent.

[Methods of work more advanced.]

[What is to be aimed at.]

[Use of notes and other aids.]

We will now suppose that the accidence and syntax are fairly well

known, and that the pupil is ready to read a book of Virgil or a speech

of Cicero, Euripides or Demosthenes, without serious difficulty. The

methods followed will not change; they will merely be applied more

widely. The grammar will need to be kept fresh by the same means as

before, and the study will be made more intelligent by use of the

comparative and historical methods;[9] construing will be done in the

same order, but some style will be expected; composition will be worked

by means of correction and fair copies, but the pieces chosen will be

harder, and here, too, style will be more attended to; conversation

will by this time have become easy and interesting, and will cover a

wider range of ideas. The aims of the teacher at this stage must be

to teach self-reliance, and to direct the student more and more to

illustrative reading. It is advisable at this stage to do part of the

work without the aid of notes. The class is reading, we will suppose,

a book of Horace’s Odes, and one of Cicero’s speeches. He should have

a complete text of Horace, and the proper volume of Cicero’s works

(or the whole), with no notes at all; from this he should prepare the

work for the first time of doing. Difficulties he must make out as

best he can, with the aid of grammar and dictionary, some dictionary

of antiquities (_Rich_ for beginners, _Smith’s_ large one for older

students), Gow’s _Companion_ and the pictorial _Atlas of Antiquities_.

For revision, he should be given notes dictated by the teacher, or

some edition with printed notes in it. The class work should be done

with the utmost care and exactness, and parts of the author committed

to memory: side by side with this should go more discursive reading,

especially for the older students. They should be encouraged (and

at last expected) to read more of the author by themselves, and to

bring difficulties to the teacher, who ought now and again to test

their progress. Thus the curriculum of the latter part of the school

work will consist of a portion of all the chief authors to be read in

school, and as much more as possible of the same authors read out of

school.

[9] Lindsay’s _Short Historical Latin Grammar_. For Greek there is

none such as yet, but notes may be given from Giles’ _Manual_, or

King and Cookson (see lists below).

[Illustrative works.]

The pupil should also be directed to illustrative works which will

serve to quicken his interest in any author. The excellent series of

_Ancient Classics for English Readers_ contains an account of each

author, with extracts translated; and well do I remember my interest

in the _Xenophon_ of this series, when quite a boy. Passages might

be read to the class from some book of travels; _On the Track of the

Ten Thousand_, if Xenophon be the author; _Travels or Explorations in

Egypt_, if Herodotus; and so forth. The reader of Cicero could not fail

to be interested in Boissier’s _Cicero and his Friends_; the Latin

poets are well illustrated by Sellar’s _Roman Poets of the Republic_

and of the _Augustan Age_. Symonds’ _Greek Poets_, Mahaffy’s literary

and historical books, Champagny’s _Les Césars_, Girard’s _Education

Athénienne_ are only a few out of many books which make the old days

live again, and add to the literary appreciation of a learner.

[Translations.]

The elder pupils in their private reading must be taught the proper use

of translations. It is not to be expected that they will do without

them entirely; but they should have access to the best, in a school

library or elsewhere, under some direction at first and afterwards at

discretion. If they are clearly shown that it is their interest to use

them only where their own honest efforts have failed, or as models in

the case of books they have already done, most of them will be sensible

enough not to abuse their liberty. The pupil will gain much, too, by

reading some of the old translations of the sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries. From North’s _Plutarch_, Hobbes’ _Thucydides_, Holland’s

_Livy_, and other such, the learner will gain a new idea of what the

English language can do, much to the advantage of his style. Nor is

there the same danger in giving pupils these books as in allowing them

the free use of modern translations. They reproduce the spirit rather

than the letter, and are of little use as “cribs”.

[Style.]

[Lectures and demonstrations.]

When the pupil has learnt how to write correct Latin or Greek, it will

be time to pay some attention to style. The pieces chosen should at

first be definitely historical, oratorical, philosophical, or dialogue,

according to the author being at the time studied; in the last stage,

these should be given one after the other, unless any weak point

needs strengthening. It is useful now and again to give lectures and

demonstrations in composition to a class. Each will be provided with

a copy of the English, and the teacher then will get to the heart of

it, state its thoughts in the sequence and subordination as simply as

possible, and finally translate it bit by bit, using the blackboard

to record each step. Questions may be asked or anticipated, and the

various renderings suggested should be weighed and discussed. In this

manner the beginner sees how a trained mind works, and is helped to

guide his own. Good examples of the method may be seen in Sidgwick’s

_Lectures on Greek Prose Composition_, Postgate’s _Sermo Latinus_, and

Sargent’s _Primers_.

[Verse-writing.]

[Its value.]

So far nothing has been said of verse composition. Much obloquy has

been poured on this of late years; and it may be admitted that formerly

too much time was given to it. But in spite of all that objectors can

say, there is no manner of doubt that verse-writing is a practice of

very great value. No one really pretends that it can make poets (the

common sneer); all that is claimed for it is, that it is valuable as a

mental gymnastic and in training the literary sense. Prose-writing can

teach the power of words, but only verse their subtler associations;

prose teaches the effect of position upon emphasis, but verse makes

clear that there is such a thing as literary form. Most people never

realise the rhythm of a piece of prose; its more striking faults may

offend or its merits unconsciously please, but why these please or

offend it would be beyond their power to say. But the dullest boy

or girl who has learnt how to piece together an elegiac couplet,

understands that this particular kind of composition is regulated by

definite bounds, and cast in a _form_, the variations of which are

limited. His ear becomes attuned more or less to rhythm, and this

first step may be used to lead him on to the comprehension of literary

form in other kinds. I do not say that he will never learn the lesson

without writing verses, but that this is the easiest way to teach it;

and I would apply the same principle to English or any other language.

Some incidental advantages follow at the same time; not the least

that the pupil understands the metre of the poets he reads. He will

not learn this equally well by scanning. To have full effect the act

of scanning must be unconscious; that is, the reader must take in

words, meaning and rhythm at the same time without effort. So far as

my experience goes, those who have not learnt how to write verses

never read poetry in this way, but the scanning (if done) is done by

a conscious effort, which draws off the mind from the poetry. Let

the class, then, as soon as they begin to read a verse author, do a

term’s work or two on elementary exercises in metre (I will not say

verse-writing) from Penrose’s _Latin Elegiac Verse Composition_. The

time will not be wasted, as has been shown, even if no more is done.

Those who wish to go further in Latin verse cannot do without a skilled

teacher, for no books exist which can help him much. Demonstrations on

the blackboard can teach a great deal at this stage; but nothing can

be done by the pupil without learning a great deal of Latin verse by

heart. Greek verse is easier to compose than Latin, and may be begun

quite late. Nearly all the elementary books on Greek verse are useless

without a teacher, and need constant supervision and help; perhaps I

may be pardoned for mentioning a little book called _Damon_, since

this is the only one wherein the learner is led on by steps graduated

close one after the other. Pupils may go straight from this book to the

rendering of pieces of English verse, but both Sidgwick’s and Sargent’s

books on Greek verse will always be found useful.

[Pronunciation of Latin and Greek.]

It is necessary now to say something about the pronunciation of Latin

and Greek. The reformed pronunciation is strongly to be recommended.

This is simply set forth in a pamphlet published by the Cambridge

University Press,[10] and for Latin is practically that given in the

first pages of the _Latin Primer_. The sole advantage of pronouncing

Latin and Greek words as if they were English, is that the learner need

learn nothing new. But this is far outweighed by the disadvantages; and

after all, the pupil has begun to learn French or German, and so is not

struck dumb at being called upon to pronounce _i_ as _ee_. The main

disadvantages are these: (1) Confusion of _s_, _c_, and _t_, as _Ceres_

with _Seres_, _cedit_ with _sedit_; (2) Confusion of quantity, _mensīs_

(abl. pl.) with _mensĭs_ (gen. sing.), _mālum_ (“evil”) with _mălum_

(“apple”); (3) Difficulty of pronunciation in many words, especially in

Greek, as παύω when the first syllable is made to rhyme with _law_; (4)

Loss of much beauty in the sound of the languages.

[10] _The Reformed Pronunciation of Greek and Latin_: Arnold and

Conway. 1895. IS.

[The accent in Greek.]

[To be taught as far as practicable.]

In one point, however, I differ from the authors of this pamphlet--that

is, on the question of Greek accentuation. It is generally agreed that

the Greek accents must be learnt, and rightly so, for many interesting

linguistic points turn on them; but it is also the invariable practice

not to try to pronounce them. But there is really no reason why most

of them should not be pronounced. The Greek accent, as is well known,

was a musical intonation; the acute[11] denoting a rise in the tone,

the circumflex a rise followed by a fall, _i.e._, a kind of drawl.

The circumflex can always be pronounced with ease; so can the acute,

when final; so can the great majority of internal accents. It is

just as easy to say ἐλΕΙποντο as ἐλειΠΟΝτο. The only cases of real

difficulty are words like φέρηται, άνθρωπος, where a long vowel follows

an accented syllable. These might be waived for beginners, but these

are few compared to the rest; and even to pronounce the accent and

quantity in these is not very difficult, especially with the reformed

pronunciation. This plan has been tried, and found to work fairly, with

young boys from twelve to sixteen.

[11] The grave on finals, when written for acute, is practically the

same.

[Value of old English translations.]

There is a means by which the classical teacher may be greatly

helped, and that is if the general course of studies in the school

be so arranged, that good English translations of the classics

form a fair proportion of the English authors read. Many of these

translations are themselves English classics, such as Chapman’s and

Pope’s _Homer_, North’s _Plutarch_, Dryden’s _Virgil_ and _Juvenal_.

Others there are in plenty, no less excellent than these, if less

known--Phaer’s _Virgil_, Holland’s versions of _Livy_, _Suetonius_,

_Plutarch’s Morals_, and many other works; Hobbes’ _Thucydides_,

Barnard’s _Terence_, Echard’s _Plautus_--indeed there is hardly a

classical author of repute who did not find a worthy translator in the

Elizabethan age. A few of these are accessible in cheap reprints,[12]

and if there were a demand for any of them a reprint would appear at

once. By reading these the children will become familiar with the

subject-matter of classical authors before they have to translate

them; and they will also have made acquaintance with some fine works

of literature, many of which (such as North) are interesting from

association with Shakspere. When Roman or Greek history comes in the

regular historical cycle, some of these books might well be read along

with them.

[12] Messrs. Dent & Co., in the Temple Classics, have brought out

Chapman, and intend to include North and others.

[Models and illustrations.]

The last thing to be mentioned is the use of models and illustrations.

There is almost no limit to the number of such things that can be had;

the real limit is the depth of the teacher’s purse. But the schools

ought to provide these things for use; it is too much to expect that

teachers should spend their sparings and savings in educational plant.

Any money spent in this way is amply repaid by the interest added to

the work. Classical teachers ought to have at their disposal lantern

slides illustrating classical life and history, wall pictures and maps,

photographs and models. Slides may be hired from the Hellenic Society,

or bought through the Teachers’ Guild;[13] for wall pictures there are

two excellent series, those of Cybulski and Launitz. Of photographs

there are thousands. The wise teacher will travel and collect them;

but for those who will not, one or two addresses of photographers are

given below,[14] with the names of some useful works. The pictures can

be kept in the school library, and hung up for the term when they will

be useful. For the photographs, frames with movable backs are most

to be recommended, as the pictures can then be changed at will. The

teacher should talk about them, and question his class, and (as already

suggested) they may form a topic of Latin or Greek conversation.

It is astonishing how much children will learn from these things.

In addition, it is highly desirable that each pupil should have his

pictorial atlases as he has an atlas of geography.

[13] There is a large collection in the Guild Museum, Gower Street,

London. Here also models may be seen.

[14] See p. 93.

[Recapitulation.]

[Weak points to be strengthened.]

The writer has now pointed out what, in his opinion, is the place which

Latin and Greek should take in a girl’s education, and the methods

best calculated to teach them. If in these there is not much that is

new, they are at all events such as experience has proved to be sound.

One or two points may be indicated which are apt to be weak in girl

students, and must therefore be specially guarded against. They are apt

to be shaky in grammar, and they seem to have less mental self-reliance

than boys. As regards those who learn late, they must go over the

same ground; for no teacher and no book, no not if angels wrote it,

can point out a royal road to learning. These late-learners bring to

the task a mind already more or less trained, and so they will get on

faster; but let them beware of trying to get on too fast. They must

make up their minds that grammar has to be learnt, and work at it with

a will. If they have already done half of the drudgery by learning

Latin, as here recommended, their task will be not easy indeed, but

not beyond their powers; and even if both Latin and Greek are begun

late, they need not even then despair. I have known several, both

men and women, who have begun late and ended with success, even with

distinction; although it must be admitted that these were persons of

exceptional powers. But it is of the utmost importance that the most

capable teachers should have charge of the late-learners. The greater

the difficulty, the greater need for a teacher who has his subjects

at the ends of his fingers, who can see a short-cut, and is able to

judge how much of the preliminary work can safely be shortened, or even

omitted for the time. When skill in the teacher meets with will in the

taught, between them they may remove mountains.

SUGGESTED SCHEME OF WORK IN SIX PARTS.

LATIN.

_Grammar._ _Composition._

1. Parts of speech and elements: 1. Simplest sentences: statement,

regular nouns and adjectives: question and answer.

_est_, _sunt_, and how to form 3rd

sing. and pl. pres. indic. first

conjugation, given the infinitive

present.

2. Commonest pronouns: present 2. Cases of agent and instrument,

indic. of _sum_, and how to form time and place: _quam_ with nom.

3rd sing. and pl. of all four and acc., abl. of comparison: a

conjugations, given the infinitive few common prolate verbs: simplest

present. relative sentences and _cum_

temporal.

3. Pronouns and cardinal numerals: 3. Ablative absolute, and a few

active of the four conjugations: more case usages: accusative with

_sum_: meanings and case of a few infinitive: use of _se_, _suus_,

common prepositions. _ipse_: double questions:

factitives in active, prolate

verbs: relative sentences, with a

hint of finals: commands and

prohibitions: causal, concessive

and temporal sentences.

4. Ordinal numerals: passive of 4. _Quisquam_, _quisque_,

the four conjugations: a few _quivis_, etc. (meaning): chief

common irregular verbs. case usages: factitives: common

verbs with dative: dependent

questions: accusative with

infinitive, tenses distinguished:

simple finals, pos. and negative:

simple consecutives: verbs of

hindering and fearing.

5 and 6. Deponents, impersonals, 5. _Utor_ and other verbs with

irregular verbs: fill up gaps (add various cases: all case usages:

_e.g._, the rest of the numerals). gerund and gerundive: some

impersonal verbs: final and

consecutive sentences: conditions

begun.

6. _Quisquam_, etc., use and

idioms: participles: _nunquam_,

etc., causal, concessive, temporal

and other conjunctions:

conditions: _obliqua_.

GREEK.

_Grammar._ _Composition._

1. Regular nouns and adjectives: 1. Concords (including that of

article: εστιν and εισιν: how to neuter plural): article in direct

form 3rd sing. and pl. pres. predication: simplest sentences,

indic. of verbs in -ω given the statement, question and answer:

infinitive present. simplest meanings of cases:

meanings of απο, εις, εν, εξ, μετα

(gen.), συν.

2. Some irregular nouns: cardinal 2. Article with demonstrative and

numerals: comparison of with adjectives of position:

adjectives: commoner pronouns: αυτος: simplest meaning of the

ειμι, with active of λυω. General tenses: accusative with

rules for accent in its dependence infinitive: some further particles

on quantity. of question and emphasis.

3. Numerals: ειμι, λυω: a few 3. Genitive absolute: agent and

irregular nouns. Accent of nouns instrument and other case usage:

and verbs (general rules). infinitive with verbs of command

or request: commands,

prohibitions, wishes (opt.): ἱνα

and its sequence: double questions

and further formulæ.

4. Contracted verbs: parts of a 4. ὁπως with fut. indic. ὡστε: all

few irregular verbs: accent of final constructions: verbs of

nouns and verbs (special rules) fearing: δια, νατα, μετα, παρα,

and contracted syllables. προς, ὑπο.

5. Verbs in -μι: οιδα φημι: parts 5. Accusative and nominative with

of commoner irregular verbs. infinitives: use of participles

with certain verbs: consecutive

and temporal constructions: simple

indirect statement and question:

the conditions begun.

6. Irregular nouns and verbs: fill 6. The cases, tenses, participles

gaps. Revise with Goodwin’s and prepositions: idioms, such as

_Grammar_. καιπερ ἁτε ὡς: conditions: all

rules of _obliqua_.

BOOKS.[15]

[15] V is added to those which have vocabularies; K means key.

The writer wishes it to be understood that this is not an exhaustive

list. These books he has either tested by use, or has good grounds

in the experience of others for the judgment given of them; but

there are many others of the same kind, and there is often little to

choose between them. The publishers whose books are given below are:

Camb. Univ. Press, Clarendon Press, Blackie, Dent, Grevel, Isbister,

Longmans, Macmillan, Murray, Rivingtons, Seeley, Trübner.

LATIN: GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION.

_Public School Lat. Primer_ (or Postgate’s _New Lat. Primer_, in some

respects a more useful book) should be kept at hand, if only for

reference and revision. Abbott, _Via Latina_ (v), 3/6; excellent.

Morris, _Elementa Latina_, with _Tripertita_ as an exercise book,

followed by Mansfield’s _Lat. Exercise Book_; a good series for very

beginners, but the exercises need supplementing. Allen, _Rudimenta

Latina_ (v) 2/6; belongs to a complete series, the other books

being an _Elementary Latin Grammar_, 2/6, a _First_ (v), 2/6, and

a _Second Latin Exercise Book_ (v), 3/6. The last named is an

excellent book for teachers, who may learn much from it, but I have

found it dull and difficult for the learner. Ritchie, _First Steps

in Lat._ (v), 1/6; also one of a series, with _Ex. in Lat. Prose

Comp._ (v), 2/6, and _Easy Continuous Lat. Prose_, 2/6,[16] _Latin

Clause Construction_, 1/6, a _First Lat. Verse Book_ (v), 2/-,

and a Reader _Fabulæ Faciles_ (v), 2/6, with _Imitative Lat. Ex._

(v), 1/6, based upon it. These are good books, and I prefer them

to Allen’s after using both series: the explanations are clearer,

and there are more sentences. Macmillan’s _Latin Course_ (v), two

parts, 3/6 and 4/6; good. It has an advantage in the large number of

exercises. England, _Exx. in Latin, Syntax and Idiom_ (v k), 2/6;

a companion to Roby’s _School Latin Grammar_. Rooper and Herring,

_Primary Lat. Exx._ (v), 3/6; specially adapted to the _Revised Lat.

Primer_. North and Hillard, _Lat. Prose Comp._ (v), for the middle

forms, 3/6; carefully arranged and progressive from phrases and

sentences to continuous prose. Champneys and Randall, _Easy English

Pieces for Translation into Latin Prose_, 1st and 2nd series, each

1/6; excellent, and can be used with a sentence book as soon as the

elements are mastered. More advanced Grammars: W. M. Lindsay, _Short

Historical Lat. Gr._, 4/6; excellent. This is mainly philological. H.

J. Roby, _School Lat. Gr._, 5/-; good. Not philological.

[16] See below, Champneys.

For Idiom and Construction in the higher stages:--

Bradley, _Arnold’s Lat. Prose Comp._ (v), 5/-, and _Aids to Writing

Latin Prose_, 5/-, with full explanations; the former has sentences,

the latter continuous prose. Abbott, _Lat. Prose through Eng. Idiom_,

2/6; is a most useful little book for committing to memory. This

should be used with one or two forms or sets in addition to the

stock books. Jerram, _Latine Reddenda_, 1/6; useful collection of

miscellaneous sentences. Books of chosen English: Holden, _Foliorum

Centuriæ_, 8/-, for Gr. and Lat. prose; the standard collection.

Wilkins’ _Manual of Lat. Prose Comp._, 4/6. Sargent and Dallin,

_Materials and Models for Lat. Pr. Comp._ (k), 6/6; with references

for each piece to portions of Latin authors on similar subjects; a

useful book. Potts, _Passages for Transl. into Lat. Prose_ (k), 2/6.

Nettleship, _Passages for Transl. into Lat. Prose_, with a valuable

introduction. Postgate: see below.

Most useful for teachers, advanced students, or private students:--

J. Y. Sargent, _Lat. Prose Primer_ (v), 2/6; most of the pieces are

carefully analysed, and the steps by which the sense is mastered and

then translated are shown in detail. It is a companion to Sargent’s

_Easy Passages for Transl. into Lat._ (k), 2/6. Potts, _Hints

towards Lat. Pr._, 3/-; perhaps the most useful of all manuals on

Latin prose style. Postgate, _Sermo Latinus_ (k), 2/6; interesting

and instructive. Ramsay, _Lat. Pr. Versions_, with the English,

5/-; excellent models. Meissner’s _Lat. Phrase Book_, 3/6; phrases

and quotations classified and indexed; a most useful book. Roby’s

_Lat. Gr._, two vols., 9/- and 10/6; indispensable. W. M. Lindsay,

_Lat. Language_, 21/-; indispensable to those who study Latin from

the comparative standpoint. His _Short Historical Lat. Gr._ will,

however, be sufficient for less advanced students.

VERSE.

Manuals by Penrose (elegiacs); Morice (same, more advanced), and

Lupton (lyrics): Holden, _Foliorum Silvula_ (the best anthology).

READERS.

There are numbers of elementary readers, and there is really little

to choose between them. The most useful set seems to the writer to

be Rivington’s _Single Term Latin Readers_, 8d. to 1/4 each. With

notes, exercises and vocabularies. These are sets of three books for

each of six terms, each book containing enough for a term’s work, and

each set having the same standard. Others in common use are: Morice,

_Loculi_, 2/-; Abbott, _Dux Latinus_, 2/-, adapted to _Via Latina_;

Ritchie, _Fabulæ Faciles_; Bennett’s _Easy Lat. Stories_, Hardy’s

_Lat. Reader_, etc. Teachers and private students may learn much from

Abbott’s _Latin Gate_.

GREEK: GRAMMAR AND COMPOSITION.

Abbott and Mansfield, _Primer of Gr. Gr._, 2/6, or with Syntax, 3/6;

is perhaps the most convenient as a collection of facts. A _Primer of

Gr. Ex._, 3/6, has been compiled to go with it. Ritchie’s elementary

exercise books can be recommended. Ritchie and Moore, _Practical

Gr. Method for Beginners_ (v k), 3/6. Ritchie, _First Steps in Gr._

(v), 2/-; exercises need to be supplemented. Jackson, _First Steps

to Greek Prose Comp._ (v k), and _Second Steps_ (v k), 1/6 and 3/6;

are useful exercise books. Macmillan’s Greek course: _Easy Ex. in

Gr. Accidence_ (v), 2/-; _Easy Ex. in Gr. Syntax_ (v), 2/6; _Second

Gr. Exercise Book_ (v), 2/6; companions to Rutherford’s _Greek

Grammar_. They are almost exclusively exercises, and very full.

Jerram, _Graece Reddenda_ (v), 2/6; a collection of miscellaneous

sentences. Sidgwick’s _First Gr. Writer_ (v k), 3/6; easy continuous

prose, may be used along with any book of sentences. Following this

comes his excellent _Gr. Prose Comp._ (v k), 5/-, and then the pupil

will be able to dispense with crutches. Both have clear and useful

introductions. Arnold’s _Gr. Pr. Comp._ (v k), 3/6, ed. by Abbott,

has useful exercises in idiom.

More advanced, and to be used as soon as the accidence is mastered,

is Goodwin’s _Gr. Gr._, 6/-, new ed., excellent; or his _School Gr.

Gr._, 3/6. To the advanced student Goodwin’s _Gr. Moods and Tenses_,

second ed., 14/-, is indispensable. Much may be learnt from the

_Gr. Gram._ of Goodwin, 6/-; Rutherford, 3/6; and Sonnenschein.

Collections of chosen English: Holden, _Foliorum Centuriæ_; Wilkins,

_Manual of Gr. Prose Comp._, 5/-; Sargent and Dallin, _Materials

and Models for Gr. Prose Comp._ How to tackle a piece of English,

see Sidgwick’s _Lectures on Gr. Prose Comp._, and _Lectures on the

Teaching of Composition_, 4/6. Sargent’s _Gr. Prose Primer_ (v k),

3/6, is stimulating.

VERSE.

_Damon: A Manual of Gr. Iambic Verse_ (v k), by Williams and Rouse,

2/6. Holden’s _Foliorum Silvula_ (the best anthology). Help may be

obtained from the Greek verse books of Sidgwick and Morice (v k),

(v), Sargent (v), and Kynaston (v), 4/6.

READERS.

Rivington’s _Single Term Readers_ (v), like his Latin readers, 9d.

each; recommended. Heatley, _Græcula_ (v k), 1/6, for beginners.

Sidgwick, _First Gr. Reading Book_ (v), 2/6: 100 easy stories, with

some grammar. Rushbrooke, _First Gr. Reader_ (v), 2/6; Bell’s _Second

Gr. Reader_, 3/-; Murray’s _Fourth_ (specimens of dialects), 4/6, and

Abbott’s _Fifth_ (Homer and the dramatists), 4/6. Macmillan’s _Gr.

Reader_, stories and legends, 3/-. Mayor, _First Gr. Reader_, 4/6.

The student had better pass on as soon as possible to some such book

as the following: _Xenophon, Easy Selections_, Philpotts and Jerram.

_Herodotus, Battle of Marathon in Attic Prose._ _Herodotus, Tales

from, Atticised_, Farnell, 1/6. _Arrian: Selections_, Walpole, 1/6.

_Lucian: Extracts_, Bond and Walpole, 1/6. The next step will be to

selections from the _Attic Orators_: Rivington’s _Middle Form Greek

Readers_, 1/6 each; Plato’s _Crito_ or _Apology_; Sidgwick’s _Scenes

from Greek Plays_.

GREEK AND LATIN: UNSEEN TRANSLATION.

Jerram, _Anglice Reddenda_, three series, 2/6, 3/-, 3/-. Reid,

_Transl. at Sight_, 2/6 each part. Spratt and Pretor, _Transl. at

Sight_ (k); an extremely good selection of difficult passages.

Models: Jebb, Jackson and Currie’s _Translations_, and Fox and

Bromley, _Models and Exx. in Unseen Translation_.

ANTIQUITIES.

Gow, _Companion to School Classics_; indispensable. Schreiber,

_Atlas of Class. Antiq._, 21/-. Anderson, _Atlas to Homer_, 21/-.

Rouse, _Atlas of Gr. and Rom. Portraits_, 1/6 each part. Macmillan’s

_Manuals of Antiq._, 5/- each. Murray, _Handb. of Gr. Archæology_,

18/-. J. Harrison, _Mythol. and Monuments of Early Athens_.

Middleton, _Remains of Ancient Rome_. Lanciani, _Ruins of Ancient

Rome_ and other works. Schneider, _Das Alte Rom._ (Pictorial atlas

with maps; excellent.)

COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AND TEXTUAL CRITICISM.

P. Giles, _Manual of Phil._; the best handy manual. Henry, _Comp.

Gram. of Gr. and Lat._ King and Cookson, _Introd. to the Comp.

Gram. of Gr. and Lat._, 5/6. Lindsay, _Short Hist. Lat. Gram._,

5/6. More advanced: Brugmann, _Compar. Gram. of the Indo-Germ.

Languages_ (translated). The standard work. King and Cookson,

_Principles of Sound and Inflexion_, 18/-. Lindsay, _Lat. Language_,

21/-. Prellwitz, _Etymolog. Wörterb. der griech. Sprache_; good.

Wharton, _Etyma Græca_ and _Etyma Latina_. Thompson, _Gr. and Lat.

Palæography_, 3/6.

ILLUSTRATIVE PICTURES AND MODELS.

Cybulski, _Tabulæ quibus antiquitates Græcæ et Latinæ illustrantur_

(Köhler, Leipzig). Wall pictures, coloured, 4/- or 5/- each. An

excellent series. Launitz, _Wandtafeln zur Veranschaulichung antiker

Lebens und antiker Kunst_. Through Deighton Bell, Cambridge. Casts:

Brucciani, Covent Garden (catalogue).

Models: Inquire at Museum of Teachers’ Guild, Gower St., London.

Slides: the same. Field, _Cat. of Lantern Slides for Fyffe’s History

of Greece_, 6d. _Roman_ catalogue preparing. Catalogue of the slides

in the Loan Collection of the Hellenic Society.

Photographs, etc.: Catalogue of _English Photographic Company_, S.

C. Atchley, Place de la Constitution, Athens. A very full and cheap

collection. Mr. Atchley is well known to the writer, and strangers

need have no hesitation in writing and sending money direct.

Photographs are sold by _German School_ at Athens.

The following Greek photographers have good collections: _Rhomaïdes

Frères_, Rue de Niké, 24; _Constantin Athanasiou_, Rue d’Hermès, 6.

Catalogues. The Levant: Bonfils & Co., Beyrout, Syria; and local

photographers at Constantinople, Smyrna, Jerusalem and Cairo.

Purchases should be made through some one on the spot. Italy: Sommer

e Figlio, Largo Vittoria, Napoli: photographs and models. Collezione

Brogi, and the Stabilimento Fotografico Moscioni have large choice.

Museums. London: Stereoscopic Company, Clarke & Sons, Mansell & Co.

Berlin: the Museum publishes a few (catalogue). Paris: Girardon,

15 Rue Bonaparte. Munich: Bruckmann, Verlagsanstalt für Kunst (see

below).

Publications. _Denkmäler der Griech. und Röm. Skulptur_: Brunn &

Bruckmann, Munich. Magnificent plates. _Griechische und Römische

Porträts_: Arndt & Bruckmann, Munich. _Einzelverkauf_: photographs

of sculpture (Bruckmann), separately about 6d. each. _Classical

Sculpture Gallery_: Grevel & Co. 12/- a year. Cheap reproductions of

all the chief works of sculpture, ancient and modern. _Bilder zur

Mythologie und Geschichte der Griechen und Römern._ Hoppe-Graeser,

Vienna.

MODERN LANGUAGES.

By DOROTHEA BEALE.

First a few words on the order in which languages should be taught. I

do not think that we should make a change for the better as regards

girls’ education, were we to substitute Latin for French, placing that

subject first in order of time. It seems to me best to begin with

French, a language etymologically related to our own, and having a

simple grammatical structure.

[Order of language teaching.]

Secondly I prefer to take German, the grammar of which approaches more

nearly to the classical models, whilst the inflections are easier to

learn than the French; its etymology too not only throws much light

on our own, but is more transparent, which makes it a medium, perhaps

as valuable as Greek, far more valuable than Latin, for showing the

refinements of language, the poetry and philosophy fossilised in

speech. Thus those only take up the classical languages who have some

linguistic power. Girls who are unable to master the difficulties of

the grammar will never encounter them, and as the languages gradually

increase in difficulty, we can better fit the means of education to

the power of the pupil. The classics form, it is true, a key to modern

tongues, but on the other hand modern tongues lead up to Latin and

Greek, and I believe this order is equally logical and answers better

with girls; it is something to open to them the literature of France

and Germany, something to teach them languages, so that they shall find

the study (as they generally do) one of interest. At any rate there are

four stages at which we can leave behind those unable to continue their

march, and who, if we tried to bring them further, would form only a

crowd of stragglers. Those who have a good knowledge of one or two

modern languages will have no great difficulty in taking up Latin or

Greek say at fourteen or fifteen. They will have a large etymological

store, which will make it easy to acquire the vocabulary, and they will

have to study only the differentia of the grammars of the different

languages--may we not rather say dialects?--of the Indo-European stock.

Nearly all syntax rules will be already known, and a Latin Grammar in

which the principles are brought out, may take the place of one written

for young boys in whom the grammatical faculty is rudimentary--in which

dogmatic rules only abound; dogma should as far as possible yield to

principles, which are intelligible and interesting to elder girls,

and this will help them over the necessarily considerable labour of

learning the inflections. Perhaps few will attain the minute exhaustive

scholarship of which some minds are capable, but many will read with

keen enjoyment; some girls who have begun late have taken high places

in university examinations.

Much has been recently written on the subject of modern languages;

in the books edited by Mr. Barnett and Dr. Spenser, just published,

to which I have frequently referred, are excellent papers. I shall

therefore make my remarks on the subject very brief. In the first is

an excellent paper by Mr. Storr, and Dr. Spenser has written a paper

of about fifty pages, giving a full account of the modern system of

teaching.

It is time that some reform took place. The Oxford Local Examiners

of 1896 reported the French as phenomenally bad. In 1897 nearly half

the seniors failed. I have tabulated the answers to the few questions

set by me to pupils entering over twelve, and I find, taking some two

hundred, that not one in ten knows the regular verbs, and scarcely any

write very simple sentences without egregious faults.

[Only oral teaching at first.]

The first teaching in modern languages should certainly be oral. In

the kindergarten, French and German songs and simple sentences may be

taught in the lowest forms. Supposing that children begin about seven

or eight, it seems better they should not see written French at first.

If they have learned the alphabet, as I have suggested in a former

paper, they will take some interest in the new sounds of French and

might read from a phonetic transcription.

[Phonetic alphabet.]

There are good papers in the (August and September, 1897) _Journal

of Education_ on this subject by Mr. Ware, Mr. Kirkman and Mons.

Passy, which I commend to my readers. I give a few extracts. Mr. Ware

writes: “In Germany, every teacher has to render himself capable of

teaching pronunciation, and results prove that he succeeds. In various

German training colleges, there are courses of lectures on phonetics

applied to the study of foreign languages. It was owing to the success

attending the introduction of phonetics in the French teaching in

certain German schools that I was finally induced to try them in the

earliest stages of French teaching at Bradford. The results have

exceeded my expectations.”

This is confirmed by Mr. Bearder of Nottingham. He writes: “Though I

have not used the method in such a thorough and systematic manner as he

has done at Bradford, still the results are such as to convince me that

I am entitled to support Mr. Ware in his refutation of one argument,

letting alone others, which the opponents of phonetic teaching

continually bring forward, that time is wasted in learning the two

modes of spelling”.

[Common errors.]

If it is not possible to get the reading taught phonetically, using the

international alphabet, the use of the tables of Larousse will be a

great help. In any case pieces which are learned by heart, dialogues,

etc., should be repeated in the class after the French teacher, before

the children see the book. Few English people have ever learned to

distinguish the sounds of the final syllable in the imperfect and

_passé défini_ or the future and the conditional or the gradual opening

of the sounds as we pass through _e_, _é_, _è_, _ê_. Very few pronounce

_u_ properly when it precedes another vowel--_lui_ is pronounced

_looee_. Very few observe that a labial nasal before another labial is

changed into a dental nasal, thus not _impossible_ but _inpossible_,

and nearly all say _leer_ for _lee_ + _r_. Children are taught to read

so unsystematically, that if they are told these things they forget

them, and waste time in repeating easy sounds, instead of working

at the hard ones. Children should not be set to learn verbs, etc.,

without having first repeated them and practised the sounds with their

teachers. When they do begin to read, the sound-table should be hanging

up, and should be referred to, that they may correct their errors

themselves. These pronouncing lessons should go on in a room alone,

so that children may speak together in imitating the teacher; then

she should single out individuals for different sounds; but the whole

class should never sit round, as is the custom in some schools, and

hear each of their companions read in succession a piece of French with

true British accent. If they listen, their time is worse than wasted;

if they do not, they get habits of inattention. The attention must not

be wearied, and if two or three sounds are acquired each week, the

whole will very soon be mastered, and time saved for the repetition of

poetry, for _viva voce_ composition, etc.

[Translation.]

When children begin to read, we should spare them as much stupefying

dictionary work as possible, but it is not well to let them learn the

vocabularies of the book without comment, and they should be led from

their past knowledge to discover the meaning, and as far as may be, get

at the root meaning of unknown words, and see the underlying figure.

Thorough work is much quicker in the end. Pascal’s father left his son

with a Latin book, and no dictionary, to find out the translation. This

may be a counsel of perfection suited only to a Pascal, but there are

not many words of which children could not discover the meaning. Much

more translation from French into English should be got through than

is usual; children ought soon to be able to read at sight. Time need

not be wasted by hearing all that has been prepared, but each could be

called on to translate one sentence, and then translation go on at

sight.

[Vocabulary.]

The pupil should have a small note-book in which each new word is

entered. This book should be divided into three columns: the first will

contain the word in its general form; the second the root of the word

with its etymological meaning, if known, or any cognate by which it may

be remembered; the third column, the primary and principal secondary

meanings. Every noun should have the article before it; these should be

learned and repeated before the next translation lesson. The teacher

may also give groups of words, derivatives of the root, and by this

means a copious vocabulary will be in a short time acquired--the words

once grasped will not be forgotten. The enthusiastic teacher will

probably have to put a check on his zeal, for if he is led off too far

into etymologies, he will get through no translation. After a little

the pupil should begin to prepare alone, and to make his own word-book;

every translation should begin with the inspection of this book by the

teacher and by the hearing of the words.

[Exercises.]

Since the acquisition of correct habits is the main thing in learning

languages, we should before all things prevent the acquisition of

wrong ones, by letting pupils speak, and write exercises before their

ear and eye have been trained. They should not be allowed to speak a

language carelessly, to “pick it up,” as the phrase is, incorrectly.

A most pernicious practice is it to set girls to speak a foreign

tongue together. The evil habits acquired cannot possibly be undone in

subsequent study. I knew a master of languages who refused to give

lessons to those obliged to speak thus. He could not, he said, in a

few hours a week, correct the bad French learned during the remainder.

Learning bad French, however, is one of the least evils connected with

this practice. Anything deserving the name of conversation is banished

where it is strictly enforced, and so the mind is dwarfed and stunted,

and when girls leave school, they are often found unable to talk except

upon trivial subjects, and unable to express themselves like rational

beings in any language.

I quote from the rules of the _maître phonétique_:--

[Re-translation.]

“Le maître fera étudier les phrases les plus uselles, des textes

suivis, dialogues, descriptions et récits, aussi faciles, aussi

naturels et aussi intéressants que possible. Il enseignera d’abord la

grammaire inductivement, comme généralisation des faits observés: une

étude plus systématique sera réservée pour la fin.”

The translation book must be made the basis of teaching, and the ear

familiarised with the correct form by the learning of good French, the

rules as far as possible being found inductively. Thus the children

will observe the changes in _mon frère_, _ma mère_, _mes frères et mes

sœurs_, and be able to make a table. Life is too short to find out all

grammar, and so we shall eventually have recourse to collections of

grammatical forms, but this need not be done until a good deal has been

discovered by means of sentences formed for the purpose.

Easy passages should be translated into English and back into French

according to Ascham’s method. This should precede the writing of

exercises, which may, however, be read at sight in class. Children

should repeat verbs interrogatively and negatively with pronouns

in their places, so that the ear may be trained before the rule is

discovered. Fassnacht’s books are good. Mrs. Bell’s books too are

useful for children to learn instead of ordinary dialogues. It is

impossible for them to speak in a natural way, when they are merely

giving abstract sentences, but they can hold short conversations with

one another in an animated way, and these can be taught _viva voce_ in

daily lessons.

[Composition.]

Monotony should be avoided, and occasionally instead of setting an

exercise, it is well for the teacher to relate a short story, and let

the children repeat what they can, or write what they can remember; but

in all these things we must avoid as much as possible wasting their

time by making them listen to one another’s mistakes.

Exercises may be written and a grammar used later, but if the teacher

economises time, there will remain enough in each lesson to prepare

pupils for the writing of the next exercise and to warn them of

mistakes they would otherwise be likely to make. I need not repeat here

what I have said under the head of corrections and time saving (see p.

28, introduction).

[Philology.]

Finally as regards grammatical rules. There are doubtless many forms

which must be learned, and rules which we must treat as arbitrary,

because we can see no reason for them, but the more reasons we can

show, the more interesting will language become, and the easier to

learn. Thus children are glad to discover that the terminations are

not mysterious letters for which there is no reason, but the remnants

of pronouns put on at the end--that in the French future we get the

same as the English, “I have to write,” only “have” comes after, and

in the conditional, “I had”. They need not then learn these tenses,

only notice the abbreviations. The survival of the _t_ in _a-t-il_

and many other things will enliven the grammar lesson. Peile’s

delightful _Manual of Philology_ and D’Arcy Thomson’s _Day-dreams of a

Schoolmaster_ are suggestive, but of course the more a teacher knows

of philology, the more interesting she can make her lessons, and one

versed in the subject should be found in every school.

[Rationale of rules.]

The never-ending rules for the past participle may be at once disposed

of by just showing children that the participle being an adjective must

agree with the word it belongs to. If I say, “I have written a letter,”

of course “written” belongs to letter and therefore it must agree. We

need not make them think about whether it is subject or complement.

The only curious thing they have to notice, is that it does _not_

agree when the word it belongs to comes after “have”. Is it because

the thought of the act of writing is more present to the mind when we

say, “I have written a letter,” and we do not think of the letter as

written, whereas when the letter is objectified to our gaze, being

represented by a pronoun, we think of it rather as a letter written?

The learning of a third language will present less difficulties. If

the language is German we can, by a few simple etymological laws, get

command of a copious vocabulary in a short time. The declensions offer

some difficulty at the outset, chiefly on account of the adjectives.

But the phonetic change is made in order to avoid the repetition of

the harsh sound _s_, _m_, _r_, and therefore when this occurs in a

preceding pronominal adjective, it is dropped or softened in the

second adjective; thus the ear guides, and we have not to think about

the forms; one has only to notice that in the oblique cases it is

weakened to _n_, and in the plural it is always _n_.

The order of words offers difficulties too, and we have a complicated

construction. We have to fix our attention on the functions of words,

as we did not in a simpler language, for a whole row of words goes to

make up an adjective, and dependent sentences are constantly taking the

place of simple words. Insight there must be to see what are dependent

sentences, and then the whole paraphernalia of rules about certain

conjunctions which require the verb to be sent to the end vanish too

and we move freely.

Another difficulty is the different uses of prepositions. In English we

go “through” the street, in German “on”. We go “through” a town, the

Germans “over”. Let the difference of the conception be realised, and

the prepositions will come right.

[Literature.]

It is a great pleasure to those approaching maturity to study a

language made for metaphysics. We cannot read German without finding

everywhere fossil poetry and philosophy, and the rolling periods and

the grand verse stir our soul like a trumpet, and we know that we hear

the voice of an heroic people, who speak a language and think thoughts

akin to our own.

Latin does not attract perhaps in the same way; the military precision

of the Latin classics has its charm. I feel strongly that Latin should,

however, properly come after German, specially for girls. There is a

pestilential atmosphere in the Campania, and one needs to have one’s

moral fibre braced by the poetry of the Hebrews and of England and

Germany, if one would remain unaffected by writings saturated with

heathen thought.

Those who are able to spare time and strength for Greek, and love

poetry in all its forms, will delight indeed in the “Wine of Hellas,”

and with the enthusiasm which they will bring to a new study they will

surmount in a short time obstacles which would have delayed them for

months, when they had less knowledge of co-ordinate forms, less taste,

less insight, less joy in wrestling with problems and searching into

mysteries. If there is not time nor talent nor inclination for all,

then I would say prefer Greek to Latin.