ome.[38]

The establishment in the poorer districts of our great towns of schools
whose education follows the method of the Kindergarten if accompanied by
some system of feeding the child would do much to secure the after
social efficiency of the rising generation, and would by its reaction on
the home-life tend gradually to raise the ideals of the very poor.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] _The Nervous System and Education_, by Sir James Crichton Browne,
_ibid._ p. 345.

[34] _The Nervous System and Education_, by Sir James Crichton Browne,
_ibid._ p. 345.

[35] Cf. on this subject the chapter on "School Nurseries" in _National
Education and National Life_, ibid.

[36] _Suggestions for the Consideration of Teachers_, chap. iii. (issued
by the English Board of Education).

[37] Montmorency's _National Education and National Life_, ibid. p. 143.
The chapter on "School Nurseries" should be read by everyone, and
especially by every Scotsman interested in the education of young
children.

[38] Cf. Charles Lamb's Essay on _Popular Fallacies_.

CHAPTER XI

THE AIM OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL

During the past thirty years no part of our educational system has
received so much attention as the Elementary Schools of the country. If
we compare the condition of things which prevails at the present time
with that which existed previous to 1870, there can be no doubt that a
great advance has been made both in the better provision of the means of
education and in the efficiency of the instruction given. Previous to
1870 a large number of the children of the poor received no
education.[39] Of those attending school many left with but a scanty
knowledge. Now practically every child[40] receives a training in the
primary arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic; and with the gradual
extension of the period during which the child must attend school, it
has become possible to ensure that a larger and larger number of
children leaving our Elementary Schools have received an education which
may be of value for the after-fulfilment of the simpler practical ends
of life. Again, previous to 1870 the school buildings were in many cases
unfit for their purpose; now the Elementary Schools of the country both
in their building arrangements and equipment are as a rule much superior
to the voluntary and endowed schools providing secondary education.
Previous to 1870 anyone was thought good enough to undertake the work of
teaching; since that time