European Educational Systems The New Education in Europe. Frederick - WIMani Roman.

. (Routledge. 18s.) Second Edition enlarged.

TEN years after the establishment of the League of Nations it is beginning to be widely realized that education is the

surest road to international understanding. These two volumes are symptomatic of the interest that is being taken in the comparative study of educational systems and of the efforts that are being made to bring together those who in different countries have devoted themselves to problems of teaching our educational affininistration.

Dr. Roman describes his book in the sub-title as " an account of recent fundamental changes in the educational philosophy of Great Britain, France and Germany " ; but the contents of the volume hardly bear out the description. This second edition of a work originally published in 1923, includes new chapters on the Scandinavian countries, Austria, Italy and Russia, and it is in the three last-nameditathet than in the three countries principally studied, that the recent

changes- have, teen most " fundainental." The bulk of the book serves rather to emphasize, as any well-informed study of Great Britain, France and Germany must do, how the

educational systems of those countries have grown out of special social and political conditions in each case, and how little, on the whole, they have been affected by movements outside

their own borders. National education, in fact, like demo- cracy itself is, prima fade, an anti-international influence,

emphasizing the hirportance of local desires, local traditions and local interests. In the Middle Ages and at the Renaissance

when culture was confined to an elite, the seats of learning were easily open to general European influences. Erasmus was first and foremost a scholar and only secondarily, if at all, a Dutchman. But the fact that the University of to-day, besides being a home of knowledge, which is necessarily inter-

national, is alsb the apex of the pyramid of national education, has inevitably entailed a subtle alteration in its 'character and outlook. Internationalism in the sphere of culture sig-

nifies to-day, pace Mr. H. G. Wells, not the promotion of a uni- formity, like the Christian classicism of the Middle Ages, but the promotion of understanding and co-operation between national cultures and of the free circulation of ideas and

practical suggestions.

For this purpose these two volumes are excellently adapted, the one by its individuality and the other by its variety. Dr. Roman is unmistakably an American. He has strong views, as, for instance, on social equality, on landlordism, on clericalism; on drinking and Smoking, which give a tang even to the most serenely descriptive pages of his book. His conclusions are clearly based on careful observation of a large number of institutions of every type, and he has never allowed himself to be taken in by paper descriptions in official or other documents.

The book is somewhat unequal ; some of the sections, notably those on Sweden, Norway and Finland, are very meagre. The editing also leaves something to be desired, part of the book having been left as it was written in 1923, and the rest brought up to date. On the whole, however, it is a remarkable feat to have brought within the covers of a book of moderate size such a large and well-digested mass of information regarding the European countries.

For the British reader the two most interesting chapters in the book are probably those on Great Britain and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. As regards England, the writer is vividly aware of the existence of the " two nations," con- trasting the less than twenty-five thousand boys educated in the sixty " Public Schools " of " first rank " with the six million schoolchildren in England and Wales. " The unconscious dOinination of the Public Schools over the teachers and School Authorities of the Cbuncil Schools," he writes, " is probably much greater than would appear from

any list of specific notings that one might make. A long series of interviews with teachers, school administrators and the people generally, has revealed how deeps is the awe felt towards the English Public School." He notes that the AcitywItartstnlisiortiet:1,868 .showed that one out of every

two hundred and five people in Scotland, as compared with one out of every thirteen hundred in England, attended a , public secondary school. He speaks bitterly of the practical abandonment of the Fisher Act, but pays a tribute to the great advance made in recent years, especially in regard to medical care and teachers' salaries.

• His visit, to Russia has evoked his admiration for the genuine effort that is being made to " liquidate illiteracy " and for the Puritanical earnestness of the young Communists. But he sweeps away as nonsense most of what has been written as to the pioneer work carried on in the Soviet " experimental schools." " it is well-nigh inconceivable," he writes, " that any great amount of experimental work could be carried on anywhere in Russia. The people are poor. They lack school houses and, equipment of the most essential type." " What is desired is a country where speech and press are free. Furthermore, the lowest possible accepted minimum must be a guarantee of the results of one's • own individual toil. Russia affords none of these things, yet without them no real experimental work could ever be carried on." On the other hand, we are told a delicious story of how a deputation of young Conununists called upon Bukharin and extracted from him a promise to give up smoking. They called again three Months later to make sure that he was keeping his word We have left but little space to deal with Dr. Boyd's admirably edited summary of the papers and discussions at the Elsinore Conference of the New Education Fellowship. As Sir Michael Sadler remarks in his stimulating introduction, the N.E.F., as it has come to be called, is " the most highly vitalized body which exists in the world for the investigation of new methods of teaching and for .the.recording of. experi- ence." The Elsinore Congress of 1929 was undoubtedly the most successful and representative yet held and this record of its proceedings is of permanent value. English readers will perhaps be particularly interested in the discussion on Examinations following upon the report of the Examina- tions Enquiry Committee set up by the Fellowship on the initiative of Sir Michael Sadler, who pleads for further enquiry into a problem which is perplexing educationists throughout the advanced countries by "a small independent well-equipped scientific body able to look into the matter from all sides."

ALFRED ZIMMERN.