EDUCATION IN ARCHITECTURE
SIR,—Considering that the science of building and planning is so closely connected with, and indicative of, social betterment, could not an active and lasting interest in it be stimulated in those extra one or two years at school provided by the Bill incorporating the raising of the school- leaving age? The large number of new school buildings needed under the plan will provide a great opportunity. For the educational value of being taught in well-designed surroundings is immense, and has already been realised in Sweden. Also it may help to solve the question of intro- ducing former slum dwellers to their new homes by the children demanding certain standards. The value of this last, I believe, has already been tested by experiment, though the transition cannot be just a one-stage process.
It is in the lifetime of the present adult population that the all-important decisions on town and country planning will be taken. This will entail new legislation, which in its turn depends on the support of public opinion, and the existence of public interest. In addition to more information in the Press, over the wireless, and more exhibitions, &c., could not the cinema be used to stimulate people as to the possibilities of reconstruction? There is ample piaterial to work on, such as the great project undertaken in the Tennessee Valley of America, where prefabrication was used so successfully, or in Sweden where the design of schools, interior decoration, and design of furniture has reached such a high standard. Obviously this cannot be done for some time, and the emphasis should be on the re- planning of this country, but to my mind the question remains an important one.—Yours faithfully„
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