THE EFFECT OF THE WAR ON SOUTH AFRICAN EDUCATION.

NOW

OW that the war in South Africa is to all intents and purposes over, and that with the passing of the martial passion we are better able to consider things on their merits, it should prove interesting and instructive to pass in review some of the effects of the war on the general life of the inhabitants of Cape Colony and Natal. It is impossible to estimate even approximately the loss of human energy which war entails, but a little thought will reveal how widespread and potent must be its damaging effect on all kinds of industry. In many directions no sort of statistical information is available, and the general public will never realise what war has meant to ordinary men--traders and artisans-in the affected areas. But, thanks to the Department of Public Instruction, and especially to the Superintendent-General of Education for Cape Colony, Dr. Thomas Muir, whose report for 1900 is before us as we write, it is easily possible to make clear how much the education of British South Africa has suffered as a direct consequence of the war. Dr. Muir adds to his report to the Colonial Secretary a postscript, which deals entirely with the effect of the war on education in his district, and it is to this appendix we are indebted for the following particulars.

But before proceeding to a detailed inquiry it will prevent misapprehension to point out at once that, from the nature of the country and the circumstances of the war, it was only the districts bordering the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal that were vitally concerned in the question under discussion. While the effects of the war in these school circuits was very great, those in other parts of the large expanse of country, which Cape Colony and Natal include, are quite inconsiderable. There has been little more reason why the schools of the country in the south towards Capetown should be affected than those of our own land— except to a slight degree those schools which, farther north, were near the railway and dependent upon the outlying districts for their supply of children, and the attendance of which was naturally greatly influenced by the dislocation of the railway services. The conclusions arrived at in Dr. Muir's report must therefore be considered as entirely caused by the experiences of schools in the comparatively narrow areas adjoining the enemy's country. If these small districts have affected the total number of schools and the total school attendance of the Colony to the extent which the report shows, it is sufficiently clear how much the education of countries in which hostile armies are engaged is affected.

It appears that statistics are sent in from the various schools throughout the Colony to the Education Office at Capetown four times a year, viz., at the end of March, of June, of September, and of December. The date of the outbreak of war will be sufficiently fresh in the minds of our readers to

make it clear that the statistics for the third quarter of 1899 would just about have been received at headquarters when war began. In fact, these statistics were complete enough to provide the customary supplement to the Government Gazette, which appeared as usual in the middle of November, 1899. This issue of the Gazette consequently gives precise information as to the number of children under instruction immediately before the war.

The summary of the quarter's statistics contained in this November Gazette shows that at the commencement of the war there were 2,674 schools at work, and that 4,505 adult teachers were engaged in teaching therein. The number of scholars on the rolls of these schools was 147,424, of whom 114,842 were in average attendance. Judged from the point of view of the Education Office, what were the first effects of the war? We cannot do better than quote Dr. Muir. "The first indications of change came from the districts adjacent to the western frontier of the Transvaal, and probably the first school known to the Office to be closed was one on the very border, the teacher of which, having early information of invasion, locked his school door and went for safety into the land of the enemy. The railway and telegraph lines were, however, soon cut further south, and large groups of schools were isolated in a moment. One inspector ceased suddenly to send in reports, and it was ascertained some time later that he was shut up in Kimberley. Then the north-eastern frontier became affected in the same way. The December examinations were approaching, and the usual preliminary arrangements with the candidates should have been progressing; but letters and parcels of needlework failed to turn up, and one examination centre after another dropped out of reach. Another inspector, who had stuck doggedly to his work amid excitement and disturbance, ceased to be a correspondent, and was found to be detained in Burghersdorp. A third might have been in Colesberg, but at the time the inspectorship there

was vacant."

These numbers, Dr. Muir points out, are, except in the case of Albert and Wodehouse, practically the numbers of all the schools in these divisions. But since the publication of the statistics it has been found that a few, perhaps ten, of the total number of schools tabulated were really at work almost to the end of December, and that some of the ten were carried on in very trying circumstances, and much to the credit of the teachers concerned - especially the women. So speaks the official document. If we try to imagine, however, the actual state of things during these troublous times, we shall have little difficulty in picturing to ourselves many a deed of heroism in the face of conditions which, in the case of stayat-home people like most schoolmasters and schoolmistresses in this country, would have been far more than sufficient to lead to the conclusion that education was under such conditions quite an impossibility.

Even to the unimaginative reader these numbers of closed schools cannot fail to graphically indicate how vitally the teachers of South Africa were affected by the outbreak of war; but, when the statistics showing the numbers of the children turned out of school by the progress of the events of the campaign are studied, the impression one receives grows in vividness to a degree which is well nigh painful. On the 30th of September, as has been already stated, the average attendance of children at school was 114,842; at the end of the second quarter of the next year, 1900, it had decreased to 110,483; that is to say, some 4,359 children were no longer at school. The missing children were divided among the different school divisions in the following proportions:

But already something has been done to remedy these ill effects. Inspectors and teachers have both been busily engaged ever since relief came to the affected districts. The schools of Burghersdorp were perhaps the first to get to work again, a result largely due to the extraordinary energy of the Inspector for the district. The greater difficulties experienced by the British seem to have delayed the work of resuscitation in the Kimberley circuit. Taking the colony as a whole, by the end of the first quarter of 1900 forty-four of the closed schools had been reopened, and by the end of the second quarter, fifty more. There were conse. quently some hundred and twenty-one schools still to be dealt with on June 30th, 1900. But during

these six months sixty additional new schools had been opened elsewhere, so that there were actually only sixty-one schools less on June 30th, 1900, than on the same date of the previous year.

Dr. Muir gives it as his opinion that very probably the third quarter of 1900 added the sixtyone schools to the list of working schools. These, the report explains, would be either new schools or some of the old ones reopened. In any case the net result comes to this-that the number of schools on September 30th, in the two years 1899 and 1900, was as nearly as possible the same.

The careless reader will probably ejaculate at this stage, "Then why make remarks about the ill effects of the war, if at the end of a year the number of schools in working order had experienced no diminution?" Such an exclamation is only possible to those who leave out of consideration the normal rate of growth-growth educational, that is of a colony like the Cape of Good Hope.

To take the question of the number of schools first. During the year preceding that in which the war broke out, from October 1st, 1898, to September 30th, 1899, the increase in the number of schools in British South Africa reached one hundred and thirty-two, and this number was, Dr. Muir reports, smaller than that of the school year 1897-98. In view of these facts, the importance of the stationary number of schools on September 30th, 1900, assumes a different complexion entirely. The number of schools, instead of showing the normal rate of increase, remains stationary. That is to say, as a result of the war, there are at the present time something like one hundred and fifty schools fewer in the colony than there should be, even supposing, though there seems no reason for doing so, that the normal annual rate of increase had not been maintained. The same results, though more pronounced, are shown when one examines the numbers of scholars in average attendance in September of the years 1899 and 1900.

It has been seen that there were 4,359 children lost to the schools between September, 1899, and June, 1900. Or, looked at in another way, in order that the number of children in average attendance on September 30th, 1900, should be the same as on the same date of the previous year, an increase of 4,359 children during the three months, JulySeptember, was necessary. Dr. Muir thinks the statistics for this quarter, when ready, will show that the increase was actually accomplished. But even so, a whole year's work will have been lost, for another section of the report shows that from the third quarter of 1898 to the same time in 1899 there was an increase in the average attendance of 7,261 children. Hence, as there has been an upward tendency in the annual increase of average attendance up to 1899, there should have been in September, 1900, an increase of about 8,000 children, instead of the stationary number which the optimism of Dr. Muir leads him to adopt.

Many other interesting details are to be found. in the postscript to Dr. Muir's report. For example, the railway schools, even in the undisturbed

districts, suffered very severely. The two schools at Modder River and the schools at Norval's Pont, Stromberg and Burghersdorp, were, of course, actually closed; but owing to the presence of military camps at such places as Naauwpoort and De Aar, and owing to the derangement of the train service which made it impossible to put down and take up children at stations at times to suit the school hours, the attendance fell almost in every instance.

As for the teachers, it would seem that the majority of them moved outside the fighting lines; and, curious to say, in two instances a sufficient number of their pupils moved with them to make it worth while to continue school work. As has already been indicated, however, some of them stuck to their posts with pleasing heroism, and in several instances the public has been indebted to them for very interesting diaries of events. In not a few cases, unfortunately, especially in the north-eastern districts, male teachers were implicated in the rebellion, and have not since been heard of in their districts.

School buildings suffered to a considerable extent. The Wesleyan Mission School at Mafeking was totally destroyed, the fine class-room of the Kimberley Poor School was seriously damaged by a shell, and of several small rural schools only the bare walls remained. Often when the buildings escaped the furniture and fittings were destroyed. On the whole, however, the loss in this way is not so great as might have been anticipated.

The material damage sustained by the Education Department during the war can be repaired easily and within a limited time; it remains to be seen how much can be done to bring back prosperity to the schools which have been cleared of their pupils, and to found new schools in sufficient numbers to compensate for the loss of a year's progress. It is earnestly to be hoped that men of all parties will unite towards attaining an end so eminently desirable.

TYPICAL SCHOOL TIME-TABLES. III.-NORTH LONDON COLLEGIATE SCHOOL FOR

GIRLS.

E have given two typical time-tables of

W large public schools for boys, one a boardWE

ing school, the other a day school. This month we print a scheme of work in a large public day-school for girls. We are glad to take this opportunity of thanking Dr. Sophie Bryant, the headmistress, for permission to do this, and also for the trouble she has taken to present the timetable in a form suitable for publication. There will probably be no difficulty in understanding the abbreviations, but to prevent any misapprehension those in which any choice of interpretation seems possible are appended. It should be pointed out that the lessons are of from forty-five minutes to an hour in length, with the exception of drill, which lasts half an hour. The addresses shown are delivered by the headmistress, and generally take about twenty minutes.

IV. The number of lessons that can be devoted to the subject each week.

One of the most important requirements of any syllabus which is to be followed through a whole. school is that it should be continuous, so that each boy, during his school life, may work through a logical sequence of experiments without any abrupt changes or breaks. This does not implyi that the same ground should, in no case, be gone over a second time; a more or less empirical knowledge in the earlier stages may well be added to and deepened by further investigations when the mind is more developed.

While the whole syllabus is drawn up with a due regard to continuity, it should be planned in such a way that a boy entering the school in a higher form than the lowest should be able, from his previous experience, to pick up the thread and work with other boys who have entered the school at an earlier age. This is essential, as a new boy is not, as a rule, placed in a particular form because of his attainments in science, but is generally judged by the standard he reaches in other subjects. This furnishes an additional reason for a certain amount of repetition in the subjects of the syllabus. It cannot be denied that in many cases the previous training of the new boys does not count for very much, as in most secondary schools the majority of them are drawn from either elementary or private schools. In the former case, owing to the size of the classes where science is taught at all, it is impossible to have any training for younger boys in practical work, a necessary condition for a successful course of natural science; while in the latter case the accommodation for practical work is often very poor. Exception must be made in the case of boys who have previously been in a higher-grade or organised science school, as their training has usually been very good.

The factor which is least important, except to boys in their last year or two at school, is the probable occupation in after life. If a boy receives a thorough grounding in the principles underlying one branch of science and in accurate scientific methods of thought, he will be able to apply his knowledge later on to other branches without much difficulty.

The most important factor in determining the

GkGreek; Ger German; Hydros Hydrostatics; Fr French; Lit- Literature; Physiog Physiography; Mech Mechanics Physiol Physiology; Adrs Address; Boty Botany.

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Lat or Ger Draw

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scope and character of a science syllabus is that of the time that can be spent on the various subjects. In organised schools of science very often as many as six hours a week are allotted to their study, but in other schools where science is only regarded as one of many subjects, not more than three hours can be spent on it, except by boys in the higher forms who have begun to specialise. Two results follow from this: (1) that only one branch of science can be taken up during the school year, it being obviously impossible to attempt more; (2) that the science master must endeavour to call in the services of his colleagues by correlating his work with theirs, his chief collaborateurs being the teachers of drawing, mathematics, and geography.

The correlation with drawing may be maintained through the lower forms, but it is inadvisable that it should be continued in the middle forms, as it could then consist merely of outline drawings of apparatus. It seems better to limit it to the representation of the various objects examined during the earlier period when the youngest boys are engaged in nature study.' At the beginning of the study of physical science and mathematics the correlation between the teaching of the two subjects is very close, but at a later period the points of actual contact become fewer, mathematics being regarded rather as an instrument than as a cognate subject. Until a boy begins to specialise in some one subject, an acquaintance with elementary algebra and arithmetic will carry him through a great deal of his physical science, always supposing that this is studied experimentally with a view to acquiring a knowledge of principles rather than a facility for working out numerical examples. To justify this assertion, which, it must be remembered, only applies to boys in the middle forms under the age of 15, it is necessary to consider the subjects taken up. In physics, measurements of length, area, and volume, elementary mechanics, hydrostatics, and heat are generally regarded as the most suitable for beginners." A knowledge of the four rules and of proportion in arithmetic, with algebra up to simple equations, is necessary for this. For the subject of chemistry an acquaintance with proportion, including percentages, is enough. The subjects of light, electricity, magnetism, and sound are better reserved for subsequent study, though in each subject important laws can be discovered without the aid of any but elementary mathematics. That correlation is possible between experimental science and physical geography is obvious, seeing that such processes as distillation, solution, decantation, and crystallisation, which are carried out in the laboratory on a small scale, are continually going on in nature on a very much larger scale.

The following syllabus has been drawn up for a

1 See "Nature Study in Elementary Schools" (Wilson). And "Nature Study in Schools": an address by Professor Wilbur S. Jackman (Journal of Education, February, 1900).

See, for instance, the Syllabus of Elementary Science adopted by the Headmasters' Association.

secondary school of 200 boys, where 10 is the entrance age, and 17 the maximum leaving age. The number of lessons allotted to the subject each week is three, except in the case of a few boys in the highest form who intend to take up engineering or some kindred occupation, and naturally spend a great deal more time in the study of physical science. It is found that very few boys. enter the school at ten years of age, the lowest class having an average age of about ten and a half. half. This class is merely preparatory for the next higher, and there are therefore five school years to be devoted to science before specialisation is begun.

FIRST YEAR. Average Age 11.

Nature Study.-Boys of this age are unable to undertake the systematic study of either physics or chemistry, and nature study seems to be best fitted to train them in observation, and in such abstract reasoning as they are capable of. They are naturally attracted much more by animate than by inanimate nature. The great difficulty in this subject is the untrustworthiness of the weather, as the study must be, to a very great extent, undertaken out of doors. It is very disappointing to the teacher, when he has prepared a lesson on climbing plants, for instance, to find that the weather is unfit for work out of doors. Another diffi

culty is the length of time taken by the experiments. If a small boy plants seeds and has to wait for the shoots to appear above the ground, he is inclined to forget all about them in the interval, during which many other things have been occupying his attention.

The discipline is not a very serious matter, as the boys, for work in the garden, are divided into batches of five, each one presided over by a monitor, who is usually keen enough in exercising his privileges. With regard to practical work in school, it is obviously not so easy to arrange matters in this way, as the boys need individual attention and are very young. The difficulty can, in some measure, be obviated by allowing the boys to work in pairs, care being taken in the choice of partners, and by seeing that plenty of work is provided for them. It still, however, remains, to a certain extent, and it is difficult to see any way in which it can, with a limited staff, be got over, as a class, which is not too large for any other subject in the curriculum, cannot be divided in the one subject of natural science.

It is inadvisable to draw up a syllabus in nature study, to which the teacher rigidly adheres, owing to the variable character of our climate, but the following gives an idea of what is done :

The School and its Surroundings.-Examination of wood and stone. Of soil and gravel. Comparison of soil of garden with gravel of playground. Time needed for water to disappear from each under varying conditions. Difference between soil on surface and that underneath. Difference between ordinary soil and soil which has been heated.

Connection between Vegetable life and soil.-Food of plants. Loosening of soil. Digging. Worms. Frost. Food taken up in liquid state. Plant grown from seed, food being supplied.