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is one that is very popular with the children because it is usually well taught, the teachers having at command excellent diagrams and models. Physical geography suffers in many of the schools from no proper idea being given to the children of the way in which the great forces of nature work; and this lack is still more observable in the treatment of domestic economy. Few will grudge a girl some knowledge of this subject, which is simply "food and its preparation, the warming, cleaning, and ventilating of a dwelling, or the rules of health and the management of a sick room, cottage income, expenditure, and savings." The board encourages this subject, and hopes thereby to check those habits of waste which so often impoverish the family of the artisan. The same aim has led us to give instruction in cookery to our mistresses and senior girls. Under the scheme recently adopted by the board, the girls in schools where domestic economy is taken will receive their preparatory lessons from their own teachers, taking a subsequent course in practical cookery at centres in kitchens fitted with the ordinary appliances of a workingman's home.

Thus all the instruction given in our schools is designed to bear dis tinctly upon the future wellbeing of the children, and to make them, so far as the elementary school can accomplish such a result, honest, intelligent, God-fearing citizens. And when it is asked how far we are prepared to go and by what principles we mean to limit ourselves, our answer is that we shall go no further than the code allows and limit ourselves by what seems essential to the elementary training of the young. It is our business not to initiate, but loyally to follow out the lines prescribed by Parliament. Any subject that can be considered extra is specially paid for as such.

Great improvements have been effected in the infants' departments; and the introduction of the first standard for the elder children, where owing to want of room they cannot be passed forward to the main. school, insures their being better prepared when they are able to enterit. The Kindergarten system' is coming to be better understood by the teachers, one of our inspectors saying: "Perhaps the most marked advance during the year is shown in the more intelligent method of teaching adopted in the infants' schools. I attribute this very much to a better understanding of the principles of the Kindergarten; the best infant schools are those where the spirit of the Kindergarten has been infused into the whole teaching of the schools."

PHYSICAL CULTURE.

In the eager discussion of educational questions, it might seem that the physical condition of the young was lost sight of; but it would be Not the English infant school system, but the system founded by Friedrich Fræbel, the system of playful occupation, designed to precede all other elementary training and to prepare the child for regular instruction by exercising all its powers so as to render it self-active.

a mistake to suppose that the board regarded this as a secondary consideration. The constant ventilation of school and class rooms, the ample supply of pure water for drinking, the adaptation of desks and seats, the periods of recreation, the covered and open playgrounds, the drill and gymnastic apparatus, all bear witness to this care; while the recommendation that some of the playgrounds should be made available under certain conditions for children not belonging to the schools, is a strong proof of our desire to make as many as possible sharers of the advantage. We have no reason for thinking that our children are overtaxed by the work of the school or their home lessons; there is greater danger of the strain telling upon pupil teachers, who, in addition to the instruction they give, have to prepare themselves for examinations.

It has been pleasant, year by year, to report the results of the praiseworthy efforts of the London Schools Swimming Club, an institution deserving generous support. It is not in the power of the board to contribute to its funds, but we reap great advantage from its activity in securing in our public parks and baths places where swimming can be taught. Attention having been recently called to the great importance of this art, it may be of interest to state that this club has, without a penny of cost to the ratepayers, taught 7,577 children and teachers how to swim, and that this season there were enrolled 1,600 children, 105 being girls, and 120 female teachers. It need hardly be said. that the suggestion that we should erect swimming baths in connection with our largest schools would carry us far beyond the line of our duty'; but it may be hoped that some encouragement may be given by government to this branch of physical training.

The interest taken by the board in the scholars is further shown by instruction being given by approved lectures in the advantages of temperance and thrift. Though we have established no savings bank of our own, we have given facility for the deposit of money with the National Penny Savings Bank; and, taking forty schools in various parts of London, the number of depositors in 1877 was 9,601; the amount deposited, 3,1127. 1s. 10d.

It has been the work of a committee during the past year to select with great care books for the libraries which are now connected with every school. These are different in each case, and are passed on every six months from school to school and centre to centre through our ten districts, so that a constant and fresh supply of healthy reading is supplied for the use of the elder children.

DISCIPLINE.

It is satisfactory to be assured on all hands, not only by those who take part in the work of the board, but from the testimony of those outside, that the tone and discipline of the children in school are good, and that their behavior in the playground and in the street is perceptibly

improved. The recent discussions on the question of punishment make it important for me to note that our inspectors report corporal punishment as being extremely rare. "It is very gratifying," says one, "to be in a position to state that corporal punishment has been actually abolished in 28 departments in my district; in fact, it has been practically abolished in the great majority of girls' and infants' schools. It ought to be known that the head teacher alone has the power to inflict it, and that every case is reported to the board," and he gives it as his experience that the abolition of corporal punishment generally means the improvement of the character of both tone and discipline.

SCHOLARSHIPS.

With increasing numbers, we greatly lack those rewards in the shape of scholarships which enable parents to continue to promising children the great benefit of advanced instruction. These can be supplied only by private munificence. Within the last year we have received 4 additional scholarships, of which I feel bound to mention 2 from the Drapers' Company, besides 9 already given by that body; making in all 43 scholarships, of which 13 are for girls and the rest for boys. It will thus be seen that we have done our part toward opening the way for girls to secure the honors to which by merit they may be fairly entitled. In the case of our first boy scholar, who is now passing through the City of London School with the utmost distinction, we have an instance of the incalculable advantage such aid may be to those who, in humble life, are endowed with great natural ability. The promise, on the part of the government, of a commission to inquire into and report upon the parochial charities of the metropolis affords a prospect of future help in this direction, though not so speedy as to hinder private benevolence.

Separate provision has to be male for special classes. Thus, half time scholars are received and taught in two convenient centres, and with marked success, as is seen by the high attendance recorded. In Bethnal-green, out of 470 on the roll 436 are in average daily attendance, and in Stepney 130 out of 150. It is proposed to open a similar school in Southwark.

DEAF AND DUMB CHILDREN.

Of deaf and dumb children we have an attendance of 134 at four centres, and a fifth is about to be added. These are taught for the most part upon the oral system, but the board is carefully observing the results of experiments in this and the more familiar system of signs. The same may be said with regard to the instruction of the blind, some forty of whom are at present under the care of a special teacher.

VAGRANTS AND NAUTICAL TRAINING.

It is not, however, the blind or dumb who give us the greatest care, but the vagrant class. It is perhaps vain to hope for a much larger

1 An association of drapers, founded in the year 1735. This company is widely known for its liberality in supporting its own needy members, and for its large contributions to educational purposes.

measure of success in dealing with this class so long as the dwellings of the poor remain what they are. Our visitors have to work daily in places of which it has been said that "an army of apostles would be beaten by the ordinary conditions of life in these back slums." Yet these men and women have succeeded in scheduling the houses and drawing the children to school, but only to have to return day after day to these "lazar houses of modern life." It can, however, no longer be said that the streets of London are infested by large numbers of "children for whom nobody cares, until they commit crime and become an active danger to the community." The names of all are known to our officers and registered by them, and their training in the arts of crime is successfully hindered. The children of prisoners under sentence, who are generally illegitimate, are at once dealt with and placed beyond the reach of evil associates, in schools of industry, where they are fitted for honest work and a virtuous course of life. The returns of the industrial schools1 in England and Wales show that of the boys who are rescued 82 per cent. do well and 81 of the girls; while 4 per cent. of boys and 10 of girls are doubtful. Our own returns are somewhat more favorable. We have taken off the streets up to midsummer last 8,508 homeless and destitute, orphan, and lawless children. Of these 1,038 have been restored to friends or put into situations, while 4,162 have been sent to industrial schools and training ships, the rest being referred for supervision to various local officers; in a few cases the magistrates have been obliged to discharge children, owing to the lack of vacancies in industrial schools at the disposal of the board. Our school at Brentwood is quite full with 104 boys, who remain, as a general rule, up to the age of sixteen; while on board the Shaftesbury and other training ships round the coast are 449 boys who are not treated as criminals, but trained like children of happier antecedents; their condition being the subject of periodical inspection. In addition to these, there are 293 children who have been sent to sea or otherwise provided for. A question was asked at the close of the session in the House of Lords which makes it necessary for me to explain that in purchasing a training ship we acted under powers given us in working the industrial schools act, and that our reasons for procuring a vessel of our own were the great distances to which children had to be sent when they were distributed in ships all round the coast, the difficulty of exercising due control and inspection, and the costliness of the plan. Hence, the admiralty having been unable to grant us the loan of a vessel, the Nubia was purchased from the Peninsular and Oriental Company, named by resolution of the board the Shaftesbury; and now, after being properly fitted for 350 boys, she

In England the name "industrial school" is usually restricted to a school or training ship for neglected children, and for those whose insubordination or other bad habits the school managers have reason to believe may be cured by a few weeks or months of firm and humane discipline. The training in manual labor or industrial pursuits constitutes a prominent feature of the plan of instruction of these institutions.

lies in her moorings off Grays. If it be urged that the cost of a three years' training in an industrial school or on board ship is great, we have two replies: (1) that to leave these children to grow up in crime would cost the country ten times as much; and (2) that, with a view to reduce the outlay where possible, we have sought to provide a special school for truants and unmanageable boys. For this purpose we have had prepared, with the sanction of the government, a school at Homerton, designed to meet the case of lads, chiefly fatherless, whose insubordination we had reason to believe might be cured by a few weeks of firm and humane discipline, thereby avoiding the needless expense of sending them to an industrial school for a term of years. Technical objections, however, having been raised, an application is now before the home secretary to certify it as an ordinary industrial school; it being understood that it is to be reserved for cases arising under section 12 of the new act.

DECREASE IN JUVENILE CRIME.

The acknowledged diminution in juvenile crime in the metropolis, of which I spoke last year, may fairly be traced in part to our withdrawal of so many children from the streets. In the whole of London, the number of arrests on suspicion of children under sixteen was, in 1877-'78, 294 boys and 60 girls, being the smallest number for simple larceny within the decade. From the governor of the county jail at Newington I learn that the prisoners between the ages of 5 and 14 received during the past 8 years have gradually diminished from 367 in 1870 to 146 in 1877, while the governor of Holloway jail informs me this week that juvenile crime has been brought, so far as his observation goes, to a minimum, there being in his charge but one girl of school age. We do not indeed suppose instruction will, in itself, suffice to work moral reformation; yet it is noteworthy how closely ignorance and crime do keep together. In 1877 there were arrested 75,250 persons who could either not read and write at all, or could do so only with great difficulty; while only 2,732 were arrested who could read and write well.

COST OF THE SYSTEM.

The great heads of our current expenditure are school maintenance, which for the year ended March 25 last required a sum of 245,3561. 78. 1d., the operation of the compulsory by-laws 26,6231. 17s. 8d., and industrial schools and training ships 23,152l. 12s. 3d. Office expenses were under 4 per cent. of the total expenditure, and legal expenses, connected chiefly with acquiring sites, less than 1 per cent. This is apart from the interest on and repayment of loans, and the capital expenditure incurred in the erection of permanent schools. As some misunderstand ing has been caused by our proposal to provide a working capital by borrowing from the Metropolitan Board of Works a sum to be repaid in fifty annual instalments, it may be well to quote the reply sent by the

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