III THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE (a) SCIENCE[1] HUXLEY’S axiom that science teaching in the schools should be of the nature of ‘common information’ is of use in defining our limitations in regard to the teaching of science. We find another limitation in the fact that children’s minds are not in need of the mental gymnastics that such teaching is supposed to afford. They are … Continue reading A Philosophy of Education Volume 6 Book 1 Chapter 10 Section 3a

II THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN f) ART THERE are few subjects regarded with more respect and less confidence in our schools than this of ‘Art.’ Of course, we say, children should have their artistic powers cultivated, especially those who have such powers, but how is the question. The neat solution offered by Southp.214Kensington in the sixties,—freehand drawing, perspective, drawing from the round, has long been … Continue reading A Philosophy of Education Volume 6 Book 1 Chapter 10 Section 2f

II THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN (e) LANGUAGES English is rather a logical study dealing with sentences and the positions that words occupy in them than with words and what they are in their own right. Therefore it is better that a child should begin with a sentence and not with the parts of speech, that is, he should learn a little of what is called … Continue reading A Philosophy of Education Volume 6 Book 1 Chapter 10 Section 2e

II THE KNOWLEDGE OF MAN (d) COMPOSITION COMPOSITION in Form I (A and B) is almost entirely oral and is so much associated with Bible history, English history, geography, natural history, that it hardly calls for a special place on the programme, where however it does appear as ‘Tales.’ In few things do certain teachers labour in vain more than in the careful and methodical … Continue reading A Philosophy of Education Volume 6 Book 1 Chapter 10 Section 2d