* * *
We are much impressed by the little sixpenny pamphlet, Natural Science in Adult Education, which the Stationery Office has just issued. It is a report by the very competent laymen on the Adult Education Committee of the Board of Education, who are striving to make better provision for the many grown-up people who want to repair the defects of their schooling. The Committee finds that, while such people attend serious courses in literature, music and the drama and economics, they are by no means so eager as they once were to study natural science. Lecturers of the right kind are scarce ; too many scientists are narrow specialists. It is not always easy to arrange for the simplest experiments. Scientific terminology is alarming, even to the well educated. But the Committee thinks that these diffi- culties can be and ought to be overcome. Science is a humane study. It disciplines the mind. It gives a fuller significance to nature. Its practical importance is ever increasing. If we could all approach our controversies in a scientific spirit, what a very much happier world this
would be !
Previous page
