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Spens (1938) Notes on the text
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The Spens Report (1938)
Secondary education with special reference to grammar schools and technical high schools London: HM Stationery Office
Chapter 3 A brief outline of the more salient features in the physical and mental development of children between the ages of 11+ and 16+
There is a large body of traditional doctrine regarding the physical and mental development of boys and girls between the ages of 11 and 16 or 17. These views represent the cumulative experience and observations of successive generations of parents, teachers, inspectors and administrators. Of late years, however, the accuracy and validity of some of these time-honoured notions about children at the adolescent stage have been called in question by scientific investigators, both physiologists and psychologists. We accordingly regard it as important for the purposes of our present Report to summarise briefly such knowledge as is available regarding certain salient features of the general physical and mental development of children at the adolescent stage. Teachers and parents will appreciate the significance of the inferences that may legitimately be drawn from this brief outline of the basic facts. It is true no doubt that the extent to which teachers may modify their methods to meet the needs of individual children will vary, but the necessity for recognising adequately the general physical and mental characteristics of their pupils during this critical period will justify a careful consideration of such physiological and psychological evidence as is available. It may on a first view be thought that there is a certain lack of proportion in this chapter as between the space devoted to physical and mental development respectively. It must accordingly be emphasised that the conditions to which reference is made in Part I of this chapter, dealing with physical development between the ages of 11+ and 16+, are those which constitute special problems of the age group in question. For instance, dental defects are much more prevalent among children of this age group than postural defects, but dental decay is a problem common to children of all ages, whereas the liability to postural defects tends to increase with the onset of puberty and adolescence. For similar reasons we do not propose to deal with the problem of suitable nutrition. The rapidly growing boy or girl requires relatively more food than the adult whose growth has ceased, but the question of nutrition in the age group which we are considering is substantially the same for all children, whatever their ages, and is a large subject which it would be impossible to discuss adequately in this Report. At the same time we are not unmindful of its importance though the amount of attention which has recently been given to it has perhaps tended to obscure the fact that it is by no means the only essential factor in healthy development. The question of adequate sleep, for example, is always a difficult problem in childhood, but at an age when the boys and girls have begun to imagine that they have practically grown up and are accordingly entitled to follow the practice of adult members of the family, the problem may become one of considerable importance and difficulty. The significance of this stage in the physical growth of boys and girls from the educational point of view 2. We have described briefly in Chapter 2 (1) of our Report on Infant and Nursery Schools (1933) and in Chapter 2 (2) of our Report on The Primary School (1931) the physical development of children from the pre-natal stage up to the age of 11, and have pointed out that the growth of the normal child, at any rate on the physical side, does not proceed at a perfectly uniform rate, but is characterised by fluctuations which some have thought point to an alternation between stages of more rapid development and stages of relative consolidation. The former are commonly described as 'springing-up' periods, the latter as 'filling-out' periods. There is some difference of opinion among anatomists and physiologists as to whether there are two or three periods of each type, but there is general agreement that the stage between the age of 11 and that of 16 constitutes a 'springing up' period and that the succeeding years constitute the final 'filling-out' period. It should, however, be clearly understood that such a division does not imply that growth in respect of height occurs only during the 'springing-up' periods, it merely means that there are certain stages during which such growth takes place at an accelerated rate. The comparatively rapid growth between the ages of 11+ and 16+ and the striking physical development and changes in mental attitude that are taking place in each child by reason of the onset of puberty, invest this period with special interest. As the characteristics of childhood gradually disappear and those of the adult are acquired, the boy or girl for some years displays a constantly changing blend of childlike and. adult qualities, and must in consequence be handled with knowledge, understanding and sympathy. In the age group of children between the ages of 11 and 16 there is a wider range of variation than in the age group of those between 7 and 11, and it is accordingly important that each boy or girl should be regarded and treated as presenting an individual problem. Physical development is a factor which must be taken into account not less than the chronological or the mental age of the individual child. In Appendix V to our Report on Differentiation of Curricula between the Sexes in Secondary Schools (1923) we printed an interesting memorandum by the late Dr JG Adami on anatomical and physiological differences between the sexes. We do not propose in this chapter to repeat, even in a condensed form, the considerations summarised in Dr Adami's memorandum. We only attempt to give a brief account chiefly based on memoranda prepared for us by Professor HA Harris and Professor Winifred Cullis of certain aspects of physical development in children between the ages of 11+ and 16+, which are specially significant at this period and which more or less directly affect their education and training. We summarise here very briefly the physiological facts there set forth which appear to point to certain definite conclusions. Skeletal growth during puberty and adolescence 3. During the whole period of growth each long bone in the human body consists of a shaft and two articular ends separated by an actively growing plate of cartilage. All growth in the length of these bones takes place as the result of proliferation of the cartilage, a portion of which is slowly but steadily converted into calcified cartilage and finally into bone. In this way the shaft increases in length at both ends, but towards the close of adolescence the growth cartilage ceases to develop. On its calcification and replacement by bone the shaft and the ends are closely welded together. Before growth in length is completed, all the joints are especially susceptible to injury from overstrain, and the bones being as yet unknit, are liable to injuries, deformities and damage to the growth cartilage. Furthermore, the areas of actual growth are liable to disease, in accordance with the well known fact in plant and animal life that the growing tissue is especially sensitive to harmful influences. For this reason alone, no adolescent, until calcination is completed, should be allowed to do heavy continuous muscular work either in or out of school, particularly if it involves postural fatigue. The union of the bones described above does not occur at the same time in all the bones. For instance cessation of growth at the elbow occurs at the age of 15 or 16, but at the shoulder growth is not complete till the age of 19. In the same way, the bones of the forearm cease to grow at the elbow about the age of 16, but at the wrist they continue to develop to the age of 18 or 19. It is evident that these characteristics of bone growth in the human organism should be taken into consideration in arranging and planning physical exercises, games, and practical activities (eg in workshops and domestic science rooms) for boys and girls in secondary schools. Great care should be taken to ensure that children do not overtax their strength in the garden, in digging, and wheeling barrows, and at the bench, in planing and sawing. Planing affords a good example of an exercise which requires careful oversight; when benches are of uniform height, small boys may have to adopt a stance in which forcing the planes along causes strain. Some teachers have obviated this by supplying ready planed wood to young pupils; this means that serious exercises in planing have to be postponed to a later stage in the course. Alternatively, a platform might be available for the use of the smaller boys. In the domestic science room there is not the same danger of overstrain from heavy physical operations, but harm may be done to young girls if they spend long periods in unhealthy postures. The curves of the spine: lordosis 4. During antenatal life the embryo is in a position of general flexion, so that the spine presents one continuous curve. In the upper part of the back and in the region of the hips this curve persists in some degree throughout life, but with the development of the erect attitude two compensatory curves develop, namely, convex forward curves in the regions of the neck and of the loins. The curve in the region of the neck is called cervical and that in the region of the loins is known as the lumbar curve; when the latter is grossly exaggerated, the condition is known as lordosis. Extreme degrees of this defect are, however, rare. Lordosis is often associated with poor development of the muscular system and of the abdominal muscles in particular. Children who are undernourished often display an increase of the dorsal curve and also an increased lumbar curve with prominent abdomen. Their cervical curve is not well marked and the head in some instances may be in a 'hang-dog' position. Other forms of spinal curvature: adolescent kyphosis and scoliosis 5. From the orthopaedic point of view, one of the main objections to attendance at school is the dominance of 'compulsory sitting'. Unsuitable arrangements for seating play a part in the production of curved or bent back (kyphosis) and the bent and twisted back (scoliosis), which not infrequently occur in children between the ages of 11 and 16. Mild degrees of curved or bent back arising at puberty are transient, but others persist throughout the adolescent period. This postural defect is unsightly, and although an improvement may be effected, it can seldom be completely rectified. Fatigue plays some part in the production of this condition, the onset of which tends to be insidious rather than sudden. Scoliosis is a more severe deformity than kyphosis since the lateral curvature of the spine is accompanied by rotation of the vertebrae so that one shoulder stands out while the trunk as a whole is lacking in symmetry. Scoliosis is pre-eminently a deformity of puberty and adolescence. These postural defects have their origin to a great extent in a certain lack of tone in the nervous and muscular systems, some of the principal contributory causes being general debility, unduly rapid growth and overwork resulting in fatigue. Sometimes the mental equipment and nervous system of the individual are not fully equal to the task of supporting an erect attitude, though as a rule this weakness will not give rise to a postural deformity unless it is associated with poor muscular tone. Since fatigue plays such an important part in inducing this maladjustment, the importance of adequate rest in a suitable position should receive careful consideration. The remarkable power of the back muscles and the ease with which they can be developed by appropriate exercises, have perhaps tended to obscure the necessity for making more generous provision for adequate rest in school hours. Scoliosis both in boys and girls may be induced or aggravated by carrying on the arms heavy satchels and overcoats to and from school; among girls it may also be caused by their having to take charge of younger members of the family, and to perform domestic duties in the home which involve carrying heavy weights on one side of the body. Parents of girls in secondary schools should not expect of them any undue amount of domestic work in the home. The importance of good posture in the various types of work done in school could be illustrated in several ways. It is probable that sufficient importance has not been attached to the maintenance of good posture in writing. If in the earlier years of school life a faulty posture has been adopted it will not be found easy to correct it during the adolescent stage though that is, of course, no excuse for not making an effort to do so. This difficulty of eradicating an established fault should be borne in mind when a new study is begun. If, for example, boys and girls when learning typewriting do not adopt a proper posture from the beginning, serious effects may ensue at a later stage when it becomes necessary to spend several hours at a time in typing. The risk of adopting permanently an unhygienic posture in typing may he obviated if the work is supervised from the beginning by a skilled teacher, and if appropriate modern equipment is provided for typing as for all class work, eg adjustable chairs and desks of suitable height. (3) Similar considerations apply to the equipment of domestic science rooms, in which stools of variable height, or fitted with adjustable backs and footrests, should be supplied for needlework lessons. In laboratories, too, similar arrangements should be made to meet the needs of pupils of varying heights. The ductless (endocrine) glands and their influence on growth: the thyroid gland: the pituitary gland 6. There are various types of glandular structures in the human body. There are glands producing secretions, which are conveyed by ducts to the place where their influence is to be exerted. The salivary glands afford a good example; they produce substances which having passed through the ducts into the mouth assist in the mastication and digestion of food. The glands of the lymphatic system are of a different type. They are concerned in the production of white blood corpuscles and, by acting so to speak as a bacterial filter, they play an important part in the defence of the body against infection. Of another type again are those structures usually described as ductless glands, the best known examples of which are the thyroid and pituitary. Glands of this type produce secretions which are not conveyed to other parts of the body by ducts, but are absorbed by the blood stream circulating through the glands themselves. These secretions are known as hormones, and when absorbed into the blood stream they are capable of producing general, and not merely local effects. Some of these hormones exercise a potent influence on growth and development. The thyroid gland situated in the front of the neck affords a good illustration. If in childhood the thyroid hormone is not produced in sufficient quantity by this gland, the condition known as cretinism may result. The skeletal growth of the child then almost ceases, and his bones do not increase in length, though they may become thicker. Mental development practically comes to a standstill, so that at the age of 25 or 30 years the person so affected may be a child both in body and mind. If extract of thyroid gland be judiciously administered by the mouth to cretinous patients, a remarkable improvement can be effected. It must not be assumed, however, that under-functioning of other ductless glands can be similarly compensated by oral administration of appropriate glandular extracts. Up to the present such administration in respect of the other ductless glands has been disappointing in its results. The pituitary gland, situated at the base of the brain, consists of two distinct parts or lobes. The anterior lobe is closely associated with growth, and overactivity on its part produces disorders of growth. Such overactivity during childhood may result in an abnormal increase in the length of the limb bones producing the condition known as gigantism. Underactivity of the anterior lobe may lead to arrested development: children so affected are small, fat and lacking in development of the sexual functions. The conditions described above are characteristic of extreme over- or underactivity of the thyroid and pituitary glands, and it should not be assumed that in the absence of these marked features the glands in question are functioning quite normally. For instance, laziness and general sluggishness in a child may be due to a variety of causes, of which undernutrition and constipation are probably the most common, but in some cases a moderate degree of underactivity of the thyroid gland may be wholly or partly responsible. If in such instances there were noticeable physical signs, such as gross aberrations of growth, it would be apparent that the mental sluggishness might have a physical basis, but as these physical signs are rarely evident, the underlying cause of the laziness may be difficult to identify. Another point worth mentioning is that some of the hormones counteract the action of other hormones, so that underactivity of one gland may be characterised not so much by symptoms attributable to that gland as by symptoms indicating the apparent overactivity of another gland, which is in fact functioning normally. A number of morbid conditions, both mental and physical, the causes of which are still somewhat obscure, may eventually be shown to be the result of a lack of balance in the endocrine glands. The genital system: puberty and menstruation 7. The onset of puberty is characterised by well-marked physical and mental changes, most of which are too well known to require description here. These changes are largely due to the activities of some of the ductless glands. For instance the testes, though producing an external secretion, also produce an internal secretion - a hormone absorbed into the bloodstream. The sexual behaviour of a human being reflects one aspect of his or her personality, and there is much to be said for the view that human personality is to a considerable extent determined by the activities of the ductless glands. The profound physical and mental changes which result from removal of these glands, or from defects or disease in them, indicate that the substances which they secrete have a very potent influence on behaviour. Some of the behaviour difficulties which occur in children during the stages of puberty and adolescence, are undoubtedly due to lack of balance in the secretions of the ductless glands. An endeavour should be made to understand these difficulties, and not to treat them as examples of mere naughtiness. It is not for a moment suggested that the individual child should be regarded as free from all responsibility for the consequences of his or her behaviour, or that actions which are antisocial in character should be condoned as the inevitable result of glandular disturbances. To do so would be to deny or belittle the value of self-control. The important point to bear in mind is that self-control is comparatively easy for some children, but very difficult for others, and that such differences may have a physical basis, for which the individual child is not wholly responsible. As a rule puberty occurs at a somewhat earlier age in girls than in boys. The physical and mental changes which then take place may impose a certain amount of strain on growing boys and girls, and for this reason special attention should be directed during adolescence towards the provision of a liberal dietary and well-balanced periods for exercise, rest and sleep. Under such conditions the life of the healthy boy or girl should proceed unaltered through this period of growth. The results of many investigations show that for both boys and girls a normal and active life is the most practical solution for difficulties associated with puberty, As regards menstruation, in a well-arranged school curriculum no change should be necessary for the average girl. It is assumed that attention is given to the avoidance of constipation, the provision of baths, and of a special compartment with hot water and an adequate supply of towels for ensuring a scrupulous personal cleanliness at all times. If real pain be experienced, the help and advice of a doctor should be obtained. It is a useful practice also, where the school medical staff (as is usually the case) includes a woman doctor, that she should hold occasional meetings with women teachers and parents for general advice and discussion, and for the purpose of ensuring that all necessary appliances are available. Acute rheumatism and its after effects 8. It seems desirable to lay stress on the fact that the age group which we are considering is a particularly healthy one (4) and that the majority of boys and girls between the ages of 11+ and 16+ give little cause for anxiety as to their health and general physical development. This warning is particularly necessary before referring to acute rheumatism and its after effects. The incidence of these conditions falls comparatively heavily on the age group now under consideration, and it has been calculated that in 1934 16 per cent of all deaths occurring in England and Wales during the age period 10 to 15 years were due to rheumatic fever or to heart disease arising from it. This percentage was higher than that from any other single cause. Our knowledge of the causation of rheumatic fever is incomplete, but it is important for parents and teachers to realise that so-called 'growing-pains' may in some instances be a manifestation of the disease in a subacute form. Teachers and parents may also play a most helpful part by ensuring compliance with medical advice as to the physical activities which may safely and appropriately be undertaken by a child who has had an attack of rheumatic fever and has then returned to school, possibly with a damaged heart. Medical inspection and treatment in grammar schools 9. So far as medical inspection and treatment for pupils in grammar schools are concerned, the powers and duties of local education authorities for higher education are set out in Section 80 (2) of the Education Act 1921 (5), and in Grant Regulations No. 19 (Statutory Rules and Orders, 1925, No. 835). Such authorities must provide for the medical inspection on certain occasions of children and young persons attending various specified types of institutions for higher education, and may provide for the medical inspection of children and young persons attending other types of institution. They may also make such arrangements as may be sanctioned by the Board of Education for attending to the health and physical condition of pupils attending institutions for higher education, and in the exercise of this power a few authorities offer to all pupils in grammar schools the same facilities for treatment as are available for children in public elementary schools. Other authorities provide for grammar school pupils one or more types of treatment, while other authorities limit such facilities to pupils who have previously attended public elementary schools. The fact that some authorities do not provide any treatment for pupils in grammar schools is, in our view, a matter for regret. When the power to provide medical, including dental, treatment for the children in 'secondary' schools was first given by the Education Act of 1918 to the local authorities, treatment of children in the elementary schools was still in an early stage of development. The legislature may well have hesitated to impose the treatment of grammar school pupils as a duty before the older and more formidable task of treating the public elementary school children had been well advanced. During the past 20 years, however, the medical services in the public elementary schools have reached a high state of efficiency; and, in the meantime, the practice of providing treatment for visual, dental, and orthopaedic defects, and for minor ailments, for grammar school children under the same conditions (6) as for those attending the primary and modern schools, has become common. (7) In view of the fact that in most areas more than 80 per cent of the children in the local grammar schools have received their previous education in the public elementary schools, we are strongly of opinion that this practice should now be made universal. We consider that the work of the medical officers who inspect pupils in grammar schools might be made more fruitful in its results if a wider scope of inquiry were undertaken. To some important matters, such as the proper arrangements for seating the children, and the disposition of periods of work and of intervals for games and for rest in school, we have already referred in this chapter. There are also other matters to which hitherto comparatively little attention seems to have been given, eg the possible effect on children's health of certain activities out of school hours, such as domestic duties in the home and lengthy journeys to and from school; the provision of midday meals in school; the arrangements for drying and changing clothes and boots. These are all questions which merit special attention from school medical officers in consultation with the teachers. In particular, there is the question of school dinners. The arrangements made by the local authority for midday meals, planned on a healthy dietary and supplied at a moderate cost, in many of the newly-established modern schools, have not only proved to be beneficial to the children physically, but have also provided for them an educational and social experience of great value. The charge for these meals has been within the means of the majority of parents. (8) We think it desirable that pupils in grammar schools which are either maintained or aided by the local authority should also be able to obtain midday meals at a moderate charge, and that in arranging the dietary of such meals the school medical staff should he consulted, as already is the case in some areas. The charges mentioned in the illustrative footnote do not allow for a margin of profit and are minimum charges. In some schools it may be necessary or desirable to charge more. If such facilities are to be extended to grammar schools generally, adequate dining rooms and labour-saving kitchens will be necessary, and the arrangements for the meals must be placed under expert supervision. The planning of the dining rooms and kitchens should accord so far as possible with the Board of Education's Suggestions for the Planning of New Buildings for Secondary Schools. (9) We are of opinion that tactful and sympathetic inquiry is especially needed in the case of many children who undergo added strain on account of poverty or unfavourable housing conditions, or by reason of undue pressure exercised by ambitious parents. The head mistresses of grammar schools for girls have repeatedly called attention to breakdowns among pupils drawn from poor homes. Such breakdowns may in all probability be attributed to the combined effects of undernutrition or unsuitable nutrition, of home duties performed out of school hours, and of the lack of adequate facilities for private study and recreation. It is probable that no single factor is responsible, but the cumulative effect of these unfavourable conditions may easily impose too heavy a strain on the adolescent. The suggestions of the school medical staff may the more readily be acted upon, where close contact with the parents of the pupils is maintained by periodical conferences, parents' days and parents' associations. We regard the question of physical and mental fatigue in boys and girls between the ages of 11+ and 16+ as one which merits special attention, and we would suggest that medical officers should be encouraged, in consultation with the teachers, to consider and report on any evidence of physical or mental strain occurring in the course of school work (including homework). (10) Thus will suitable data be provided for research, and appropriate measures may be devised to obviate or relieve physical or mental strain which may be due to games, travel or school work. The results of such inquiries, if they were given at some length in the annual reports of school medical officers, would provide the Board of Education with much valuable information on a subject about which comparatively little seems at present to be known. In this context one matter of purely administrative detail is important. Means should be taken to ensure that, so far as possible, teachers are enabled to refer suspected cases of strain, whether mental or physical, to school medical officers as soon as they are observed, instead of waiting for a routine inspection. In recent years a great advance has been made in devising schemes of physical education, and syllabuses of suitable exercises have been published by the Board of Education and other authorities. The physical training colleges for both men and women teachers have assisted to bring this important subject into conformity with the most recent physiological research as it affects the growing boy and girl; and those grammar schools which have appointed suitably qualified teachers from these training colleges have shown the improvement which can be expected from a well-constructed scheme of physical education. This is the more encouraging, because much remains to be done which the pooling of experience will help to achieve. In view of the increased attention which is rightly being devoted to physical education in its various aspects, we would suggest that systematic inquiries should be undertaken with a view to ascertaining what physical exercises and games are most appropriate for boys and girls at successive stages between the ages of 11+ and 16+ in schools of different types (11), with special reference to the peculiar needs of day pupils who have to travel considerable distances to and from school. (12)
NOTE: Part II of this chapter is based on a Memorandum prepared for the Committee by Professor Burt. The general character of adolescence 10. Adolescence, or the transition from the status of childhood to that of an adult, is not a sudden change occurring at a definite period. In primitive communities the initiation ceremony is fixed for a certain age and is completed in a few days or weeks. But among civilised races the real introduction to adult life has become more and more delayed and protracted; and, partly as a result, partly perhaps as a reason of this, the psychological process of adolescence takes place gradually and at a comparatively late age. Nevertheless, the belief that adolescence is an abrupt event with well marked characteristics still survives and, until the beginning of the present century, was accepted by the majority of psychological writers. More recent research, based on the accumulation of first-hand observations, the study of private diaries, and the measurement of mental capacity by means of quantitative tests, has shown that this opinion is erroneous. Puberty is now regarded not as a sudden interruption overtaking all children at the same age, but rather as the culmination of a slow process of growth which has been steadily proceeding from birth at varying rates in different individuals. Furthermore, many of the new characteristics of children at the adolescent stage which were formerly attributed to the effects of some mysterious internal revolution taking place at about the age of 14, are to a great extent induced by external changes in the scholastic, economic and domestic conditions of the individual child. For instance, children attending public elementary schools leave school at the age of 14+ and this is accordingly the age at which they become comparatively independent of their parents and wholly independent of their teachers. Since these external changes occur at varying ages in different social classes, the mental phenomena of adolescence vary even more than the physical. In part, mental changes, like physical, are doubtless the result of an internal development; but the view adopted as to the character and modifiability of this development will largely depend on the view taken of its ultimate cause. Two explanations have been advanced. (i) Till about 1910, most psychologists had assumed that a large and miscellaneous group of innate tendencies, dormant during earlier childhood, awaken and rapidly become active at adolescence. These tendencies were regarded as habits inherited from past generations. On the assumption that the development of the individual recapitulates the evolution of the race, it was supposed that the final phase of adolescence must repeat in minuscule the final stages in the history of mankind during the transition from the prehistoric to the civilised era. More detailed knowledge of physical and mental inheritance has, however, made it difficult to reconcile this view with what is known about the mechanism of reproduction; and closer study has shown that the supposed parallel between the developmental stages of the child and the culture epochs of the past is far less close than previous speculations had assumed.Mental characteristics 11. Until about 30 years ago it was commonly assumed by psychologists and educationists that the salient feature in mental development was the successive emergence of specific intellectual faculties - sensation, movement, speech, memory, imagination, reasoning - each appearing at fairly definite periods in the child's life. It was held that all these faculties could, and should, be trained as they emerged. Thus the main function of the infant school was conceived to be the training of the senses and of the power of speech and movement; the task of the primary school for children under the age of 11 was to train their memory and to rely on this for the acquisition of the fundamental subjects. Inasmuch as reason and imagination were not supposed to mature until adolescence, the special function of the secondary (grammar) school was to train the rational and imaginative faculties through literature, languages and mathematics. It was supposed that at this stage the mind could best be developed by a basic education of a humanistic type providing a general foundation of culture, applicable to every child without regard to individual differences or to subsequent specialisation of careers. The theory that the mind is composed of distinct intellectual faculties each in a separate organ of the brain and maturing at fairly specific periods has now been generally abandoned. Moreover, careful research has thrown a good deal of doubt on the view that the mind as a whole and its several faculties can be trained merely by exercising them. Education rather consists in developing specific habits, memories, ideas, forms of manual and mental skill, intellectual interests, moral ideals, and a knowledge, not merely of facts and conclusions, but also of methods. Furthermore, the application of mental tests to children at successive years of school life has shown that intellectual growth in general and in its more specific aspects is not spasmodic, but remarkably uniform up to the time that development ceases. Memory and the power to reason steadily improve from a very early age, and mental development in every direction is continuous. Even when individual children appear to display new talents or special gifts at a fairly definite date, it is probable that such changes are the outcome of emotional rather than intellectual causes, being due to the acquisition of new interests rather than to the emergence of fresh aptitudes. For administrative and other reasons, it may be advisable to transfer children from one school to another at the age of 11 and generally to delimit instruction into separate phases; nevertheless, education, like mental development, should form one continuous process, and the education of the adolescent child should be the culmination of all that has gone before. Intellectual characteristics: general intelligence 12. From the point of view of modern psychologists the most noticeable feature of the period after the age of 11 on the intellectual side is the gradual retardation and ultimate arrest in the development of 'general intelligence' (13), or in other words, in the maturing of those measurable capacities which have hitherto evolved at a fairly uniform speed and in close association with one another. Certain qualitative changes in the child's personality, particularly the apparent emergence of specific aptitudes and interests, become noticeable after the age of 11, though these may probably be attributable more to temperamental and environmental causes than to any spontaneous ripening of fresh capacities. Intellectual development during childhood appears to progress as if it were governed by a single central factor, usually known as 'general intelligence', which may be broadly described as innate all-round intellectual ability. It appears to enter into everything which the child attempts to think, or say, or do, and seems on the whole to be the most important factor in determining his work in the classroom. Our psychological witnesses assured us that it can be measured approximately by means of intelligence tests. General intelligence, if assessed in this manner, is seen to increase fairly steadily up to the age of about 12, but thereafter the speed of increase begins perceptibly to decline. From the age of about 16 further growth in general intelligence, as shown by performance tests, appears to be very small, and this early completion of intellectual maturity is probably due to the same causes as the completion of physical development. Psychologists are confident that there are wide individual differences in the development of general intelligence. For instance, there is evidence to show that the abler child continues to develop, though at a comparatively slow pace after puberty, till later than the average child. The less able child, and still more the mentally deficient child, comes earlier to a final stage in the development of general intelligence. We were informed that, with few exceptions, it is possible at a very early age to predict with some degree of accuracy the ultimate level of a child's intellectual powers, but this is true only of general intelligence and does not hold good in respect of specific aptitudes or interests. The average child is said to attain the effective limit of development in general intelligence between the ages of 16 and 18. Our psychological witnesses explained that this statement, which is sometimes misunderstood, does not imply that older boys and girls stop learning or that their acquired attainments, as distinct from their innate capacity, do not continue to increase. The child's general intelligence, which has been increasing up to the age of about 16 to 18, has, in the view of modern psychologists, then practically attained its maximum. Increase in individual differences Modern psychology insists on the wide individual differences that are noticeable in intellectual and emotional characteristics. One child differs from another far more than is generally supposed, and the notion that every normal child follows the same general course of development is mistaken. (14) Since the ratio of each child's mental age to his chronological age remains approximately the same while his chronological age increases, the mental differences between one child and another will grow larger and larger and will reach a maximum during adolescence. Thus a child who is a year backward at the age of 4 is more likely than not to be two years backward at the age of 8 and still more backward at the age of 15. In general, minor differences, which were hardly noticeable in the infant school, will be distinctly observable in the primary school, and by the age of 11 will have increased so much that it will no longer be sufficient to sort out different children into different classes. Different children from the age of 11, if justice is to be done to their varying capacities, require types of education varying in certain important respects. Special intellectual capacities 13. Little is yet known about the character and development of those more specific intellectual capacities which are more or less independent of general intelligence. In the main, it seems probable that their development is comparatively uniform. Motor capacities From the age of 11 to that of 14, both boys and girls increase steadily in muscular strength; on the other hand, muscular dexterity or skill improves in a more irregular fashion and towards puberty there is frequently a definite deterioration in nicety of control. This is doubtless due in part to physical causes. The child's bones are growing at rather different rates and often he seems to be developing not only too rapidly for his strength, but also too rapidly for neatness and precision. It is probable that this deterioration in nicety of control is also partly due to nervous or emotional causes. There is a definite increase in nervous and emotional instability at early adolescence and this shows itself, among other ways, in a temporary decline in neuromuscular coordination. Fingers may lose their deftness, indeed the symptom that is most often observed by teachers at this stage is a passing wave of apparent slovenliness in handwriting and drawing. The growing boy suffers most in this respect; the growing girl usually in a lesser degree. The boy's voice not only breaks, but becomes less delicately controlled. Sensory capacities 14. Vision Our witnesses told us that between the ages of 11 and 16 there appears, as a rule, to be little or no change in the sense organs themselves. Myopia, or short sight, appears to become more common, and this fact was formerly attributed primarily to continued close work at school and to intensive preparation for examinations. In fact, however, the primary cause for the change in the shape of the eyeball inducing myopia is not known, but there can be no doubt about the importance of early attention to myopia when it is detected. (15) The child's use of visual perception no doubt generally improves during this period, but such improvement depends chiefly on the development of intelligence and the increasing range of interest and knowledge. The power to observe is influenced by interest, vocabulary, and a specific knowledge; and by increasing these, skill in observation in particular fields can be improved. It is doubtful, however, whether observation in general can be cultivated by training, except by inculcating an ideal of accurate and systematic observation for its own sake. Such habits, instead of improving frequently seem to deteriorate between the ages of 11 and 16. This deterioration is sometimes ascribed to the predominantly literary character of the traditional curriculum. It may however be due largely to temperamental changes, since certain children during adolescence become more self-absorbed, and consequently pay less attention to their surroundings. Hearing The power of listening seems to improve in much the same way. There appears to be a definite progress in the ability of the ordinary child to concentrate on pure hearing with little or no aid from the more concrete sense of sight. During adolescence the child becomes more capable of appreciating abstract music. It would seem that lessons on the sounds of speech may at this stage have a definite influence on his pronunciation. Attention 15. Our witnesses pointed out that the most striking development in mental power during the school life of ordinary children is the increasing scope of their attention. They not only become capable of concentrating for longer periods, but also in a single effort of attention become able to grasp statements and problems of increasing length and complexity. The development of attention seems to depend mainly on the development of 'general intelligence'. This increasing range of concentration has an evident bearing on the organisation of the timetable and on the length and complexity of the tasks that may appropriately be set. Lessons may be longer, and in general the pupil may reasonably be expected to listen and to think continuously for longer periods. Memory 16. This development in the scope of attention brings with it a corresponding increase in capacity to learn and remember. It is sometimes supposed that children have better memories than adults, and that a boy of 10 may have a better memory than a boy of 14. (16) Apparently mere mechanical retentiveness in memory usually reaches its maximum by the age of 11, but the power of intelligent recollection goes on increasing. Older children are therefore less disposed to rely on mere memorisation. They dislike drudgery and drill, and accordingly mechanical repetition is less appropriate for pupils above the age of 11. They prefer to base their power of recollection on interest and comprehension, in other words, on ability to grasp and reason out afresh the essential facts for themselves. Thus, the mechanical accuracy of the memory of a child above the age of 11 may at times fall short of what the teacher is tempted to require, but on the other hand his memory for the gist or substance considerably expands. Imagery 17. Our witnesses pointed out that not only the strength, but also the type of memory seems definitely to change after the age of 11. Up to that age most children grasp and remember things best if they are conveyed in the form of a vivid mental picture. They are also helped by motor imagery - the memories of movement. In fact, up to the age of 11 the average child's memory is concrete rather than verbal. By the age of 11 this concrete type of thinking tends to give place to inner speech. This may be partly due to the fact that at these stages the ordinary education has become more and more verbal. As the result of listening, reading and trying to express himself through speech and writing, the pupil has now acquired the capacity to formulate his ideas to himself more concisely in language instead of thinking in the old inadequate fashion by means of mental pictures. However, as adolescence advances there is often a revival in the vividness of imagery. (17) For instance, girls' compositions about the age of 13 sometimes become highly picturesque and even fanciful, and boys of the same age, if encouraged, can sometimes produce remarkable efforts in verse and story writing. There is, accordingly, both a possibility and a need for training and disciplining the imagination at this stage. In addition to these changes in reproductive imagination, as it is sometimes called, changes which up to the present have been but little investigated, are taking place in the child's creative or interpretative imagination. At this stage the child often sees or feels in an object elements which are not in strictness present but the importation or imputation of which deepens and widens the significance of what is there. Thus, for instance, the sight of a bed of daffodils in flower may evoke thoughts and emotions based on association with Wordsworth's famous poem. Reasoning 18. It is still often assumed even among teachers that reasoning is a power which only emerges towards the period of adolescence, but as we have shown on pages 42 and 43 of our Report on The primary school (1931), recent researches have thrown considerable light on the process of reasoning and indicate that even in young children under the age of 11 the processes of deductive and inductive reasoning can be traced in a rudimentary form. Reasoning is essentially dependent upon the power to perceive relations and to relate those relations to each other, so as to form a coherent and consistent system. Our witnesses pointed out that by the age of 9 or 10 the average child can deal to some extent with spatial relations. The power to argue logically about time relations develops rather later. Causal relations are not clearly understood, as a rule, till about the age of 13 or 14. It is largely owing to their increased power of dealing with verbal concepts that older children become more capable of abstract thought and inference. Our witnesses were disposed to think that the reasoning capacities of children are rather underestimated by current methods of education. Children can be taught to argue quite logically if they are given concrete problems that are simple and within their range of interest. They are, however, unable to deal with problems that are at all complex or involve a number of successive steps until they have acquired some practice in setting out abstract ideas and relations in words or in symbols upon paper. Logical reasoning must not be regarded as a specific faculty, but rather as a technique that can be taught. At present children often accept their conclusions and beliefs on the strength of suggestion from their teachers or on the authority of textbooks. Ideas of proof and of systematic discovery and experiment are still to a great extent foreign to the ordinary pupil. Hence the importance of attempts to encourage systematic and accurate thinking in all types of school. Furthermore, it is most important to ensure not only that a child learns to think in a calm and dispassionate way within the limits of this or that 'subject', but that he should realise the need for disciplined thought in every field. Having regard to this evidence, we urge that children should, so far as possible, be trained at school to think and reason for themselves in order that they may be in a position as adults to examine carefully and appraise in a judical [judicial?] spirit the many forms of mass suggestion which will inevitably meet them in later life. While we fully recognise that it is desirable that children should be encouraged to reflect about political, social and economic problems, we think on the whole that their capacity to deal effectively with these problems in later life can best be trained on the one hand by encouraging them to think objectively about problems which arise in the ordinary life and work of the school and on the other hand by inculcating the need for a similar attitude in later life. The habit of independent judgement may be fostered by providing them at school with suitable opportunities of thinking and reasoning for themselves. Formal training and transfer of training 19. According to the traditional view commonly known as the doctrine of 'formal training' or 'mental discipline' the effects of mental exercises are of general application. This doctrine, in the form in which it was commonly held, is closely associated with the now abandoned doctrine of separate mental faculties which is briefly discussed in Section 11 of this chapter. (18) It was believed that if children practised one of their mental capacities on some specific subject such as mathematics or Latin, that particular capacity as a whole was developed and thus its efficacy in respect of any subject on which it might be exercised in future was thereby improved. For example, it was assumed that, if a child learned mathematics and thereby trained his powers of reasoning, he became more logical in dealing with problems not only in other subjects of the traditional curriculum, but also in the affairs of daily life. It will be seen from Chapter 1 and particularly from the passages on the curriculum in the Reports of successive Royal Commissions such as the Public Schools Commission (1864), the Schools Inquiry Commission (1868) and the Royal Commission on Secondary Education (1895), (19) that this view of certain subjects such as Latin and mathematics as mental disciplines for training the powers of reasoning and so forth, was implicitly assumed. (20) However, during the last 30 years the doctrine of formal training, like the doctrine of the faculties with which it was so closely associated, has been subjected to severe criticism both by practical teachers from the point of view of general educational experience and by psychologists on the basis of the results obtained by systematic researches. We have printed as an Appendix to this Report a Memorandum specially prepared for us by Professor Hamley which sets out the views now held by leading psychologists regarding transfer of training. (21) We make here, however, an attempt to summarise the current views on formal training. It should be pointed out at the onset that much of the apparent disagreement between theoretical psychologists and practical teachers is due to the fact that they are not dealing with precisely the same problem. The psychologists in their experiments have been concerned rather with the theoretical issue, and have eliminated as many irrelevant conditions as possible. The teachers, on the other hand, are thinking rather of the total and concrete effect and take into account, at any rate unconsciously, the emotional element in the situation. The effects of training may undoubtedly in some sense be transferred, but it has become evident as a result of systematic research that the amount of such transfer is smaller than teachers and educationists were formerly accustomed to assume. The question at issue is accordingly not 'Does such transfer occur?', but rather 'Under what conditions does transfer occur and what is its comparative amount?' When the field of training is very different from the field to which it is desired to transfer the training, there is no doubt that the amount of transfer is much less than would be the case if the field of training and the field of testing were similar. What is sometimes called direct training is more productive than indirect training, and specific training is more productive than general training. Incidentally the effects transferred may be unfavourable as well as favourable. In earlier psychological work the identical or transferable elements on which stress was principally laid, were elements of mental content, i.e. sensory elements, similar images, similar ideas and so forth. It is now recognised that abstract ideas and principles, rules and method, maxims and conduct, schemes and patterns of work may also be transferred. Lastly attitudes and ideals may be transferred so as to become operative in another field from that in which they were originally acquired. The mere presence of common or identical elements does not necessarily make for transfer. In fact the precise conditions facilitating such transfer are rather obscure. One condition however seems important. If the trainee is conscious of the common elements and also conscious of the fact that they are transferable, he is more likely to make such transfer. Unfortunately the most important principles that require to be transferred are too complex to be stated explicitly and too numerous to be described to the pupil in full. Nevertheless, without any such explicit formulations children often acquire a consciousness of the basic principles and consciously transfer them from one field to another. Nevertheless, mere grasp of the principles even combined with the knowledge that they are transferable, will not in itself assure transfer. In general it seems important that the pupil's knowledge should be active knowledge. A boy may write better English if he has discovered the principles of English composition for himself than if he has merely learnt these principles from a teacher or textbook. This does not necessarily imply that the pupil is to make the discovery unaided. The skilful teacher should be able so to arrange situations that the need for the principle involved and eventually its basic character are gradually brought home to the child as a result of active work. The earlier psychologists, who maintained that there was no transfer without identity of materials, overlooked the fact that identity of method might be an even more important factor. If therefore transfer be aimed at, more stress should be laid upon method than on mere results. It seems probable that in stressing the importance of consciousness of the transferable elements contemporary psychologists frequently overlooked the wide prevalence of unconscious or incidental learning. For instance, most English children have learnt to speak English without being conscious either of the grammatical rules or of the wide transferability of those rules. It seems probable therefore that without any explicit consciousness of their character the child's mind gradually builds up mental patterns (sometimes called Gestalten, shapes or forms by modern psychologists) which it correctly applies without knowing that it is doing so. This especially holds good in matters of aesthetic taste. It seems probable that a great part of the final elements of a liberal education are as a rule acquired in this incidental and unconscious fashion. Unconscious training and incidental learning must operate in school as elsewhere, but as so little is known about its conditions, the most satisfactory method must be, in general, to make the child conscious, so far as possible, of the method which he is to pursue and apply. Psychologists who have explored the problem of transfer of training have been interested primarily in intellectual experience and there is accordingly little experimental evidence as to whether the results of emotional experience are transferred in similar fashion. The newer psychoanalytical schools of psychologists think that such transference of emotional experience may take place on a large scale. The organisation of emotional experience must depend on elementary processes of much the same character as those that are operative in the organisation of intellectual experience, and most of them are subject to the same laws. Just as there is an association of ideas, so there is an association of emotions, not only with each other, but also with ideas with which they have been connected. Further these associations probably result in complex mental patterns or systems which tend to function as a whole. These emotional patterns, which are variously described according to their character as 'complexes' or 'sentiments', are probably best described for ordinary purposes as interests. If one of these organised interests be aroused by some fresh stimulus, it will tend to react as a whole and conduce to a transfer of training. In other words, if an emotional interest has been built up in association with one subject, it may, under appropriate conditions, be transferred and lead to an interest in another subject. Such interest may be either favourable or unfavourable. For instance, it has been frequently observed that the attitude which a pupil takes up towards his first teacher of a new subject may influence his attitude to that subject for the rest of his school life. If he dislikes the teacher, he may dislike the subject. On the other hand, if he likes the teacher, he may become an enthusiastic student of the subject. In fact the intellectual and emotional aspects of mental life cannot be separated. The conditions of laboratory experiments on transfer of training are usually such as to eliminate, as far as possible, any potent emotional stimulus. In school, on the other hand, the emotional aspects of the learning process may be of great importance. This is doubtless one of several reasons why teachers have always been disposed to believe in the transfer of training on a more extensive scale than that which is usually revealed in typical laboratory experiments. The following quotation from a section written by Professor Cyril Burt in the Report on Formal Training, published by a special Committee appointed by the Education Section of the British Association in 1929 summarises the present view of psychologists on transfer: 'The current view can be summed up as follows: Transfer of improvement occurs only when there are common usable elements, shared both by the activity used for the training and also by the activity in which the results of that training reappear. The more the influenced and the influencing activities resemble one another, the greater the influence is likely to be. Practice in subtraction will improve accuracy in division, because the latter involves the former, but it may have little or no effect on accuracy in multiplication. The study of Latin will aid the study of French, because many French words are derived from Latin roots, and because many of the methods of work used in learning Latin - eg the use of a dictionary - will also be required in learning French. 
General emotional characteristics 20. We shall now attempt to describe briefly the emotional characteristics of boys and girls at the period between the ages of 11 and 16+. We consider it, however, important to emphasise that our witnesses assured us that many boys and girls, probably indeed the great majority, pass through this period of development without any serious emotional disturbances. The most salient characteristics of puberty are changes not so much in intellect or aptitude, as in character and temperament. The simpler or primary emotions seem to be most directly affected, and these are now known to be closely dependent on glandular secretions. It is accordingly not surprising to find that the final maturing of the glandular system should be accompanied by noticeable changes in feeling and impulse. The teacher at this stage will probably be confronted with rather difficult problems in the conduct and attitude of his pupils. In dealing with children under the age of 11 the teacher's main task has been to adapt the curriculum and the methods of teaching to the immature intellect of his pupils. Now any such adaptations must more and more take into account peculiarities of feeling and emotional reaction. The main changes may be described in a single generalisation; all the primary emotions are intensified, but not to an equal degree. First of all, the maturing of the organism gives rise to a marked reinforcement of the sex instinct. The sex instincts are present in an inchoate form in small children, but at puberty these interests are temporarily reinforced. The changes in the sex organs themselves, and their immediate anatomical and physiological consequences, inevitably attract the child's attention; they arouse a secret curiosity, and directly or indirectly may lead to repressed feelings of alarm or disgust. Sometimes these new interests are furtive and concealed; sometimes they are only too evident. This is perhaps the main justification for what is called sex-enlightenment either at or just before this stage. Injudicious efforts, however well meant, may aggravate the very tendencies they are intended to relieve. It accordingly seems desirable that such instruction should not be given by itself, but should arise incidentally, out of the ordinary course of lessons on botany, natural history, physiology, hygiene, and social life. With a few individuals a private and personal talk may be advisable. But it is most important to realise the wide differences between one child and another both in detailed knowledge and in specific emotion, and the dangers which may arise, if every pupil be treated alike. Social impulses 21. Another change at this period which is closely associated with the changes already described is the rapid development of the social impulses or instincts. A good illustration is afforded by the changes in spontaneous play. By the age of 10 or 11 children are less individualistic in their play, and begin to take more notice of others. Competition rather than cooperation is the ruling motive; rivalry and the element of competitive skill predominate. Towards the age of 12 or 13 boys tend to play more and more in groups and they willingly join in team games, and, if left to themselves, form cliques and bands. The same tendency is evident in girls. The period of early adolescence is accordingly the most appropriate time for organising cooperative work, in classrooms and outside, and for enrolling boys and girls as members of some team or club, if this has not previously been done. In the classroom itself these social impulses can be usefully guided and controlled by developing a spirit of class unity, centring round the work of the class or form. Self-assertion and submission: pride and humility 22. Two further instincts of great importance usually develop in boys and girls at this stage, namely, self-assertion and self-submission, and corresponding to them two emotions which may be roughly identified with pride and humility. As a cause or as a consequence of the new desire for social contacts, both these impulses are strongly reinforced at this period. Parents and teachers cannot expect at this stage the same degree of blind obedience or frank confidence that they have hitherto received, and to demand it may be to induce the opposite effect. Children must be treated more and more as equals and as adults, though their experience and self-control are still insufficient for them to be allowed the full privileges of adult freedom and responsibility. Much tact is accordingly required in those who have to deal with children at the 'awkward age'. As far as possible, outlets should be provided for these new impulses, and in school every reasonable opportunity should be afforded for initiative and independent work. Curiosity and other self-assertive impulses 23. Another impulse or group of impulses for which outlets should be provided, is that which may loosely be described as curiosity. This, if thwarted, may give rise to tiresome behaviour. The adolescent often desires to pry into life, to experiment with existence, and to explore the world and its ways. At the same time, these impulses may clearly offer a powerful handle for intellectual instruction. If curiosity be encouraged rather than repressed, then the pupil's own insistent questions and inquiries may often furnish valuable hints for the lines which school instruction and school methods may usefully follow. This is an additional reason for applying a heuristic procedure within reasonable limits to the principal subjects of the curriculum. Other self-assertive impulses are often more or less reinforced at puberty, for instance, what is sometimes called the instinct of pugnacity. A characteristic which often disturbs both parents and teachers and which appears to be a secondary consequence of these self-assertive tendencies, is an outer hardness of attitude towards other persons, amounting at times almost to definite cruelty. An incident which would prompt either a younger or an older person to sympathy and sorrow, will often elicit at the time nothing but apparent indifference from adolescents. This seeming callousness in general represents merely a temporary phase. In various other ways there will probably be minor disciplinary difficulties both in and out of school with children at this stage. Some children seem to go through a definite phase of petty crime or vice particularly towards the end of this period, and most of these offences should be treated primarily as symptoms rather than as sins. Depressive emotions 24. All the emotions, inhibitive as well as aggressive, are strengthened at this period of development. The instincts and feelings briefly described above show themselves more or less openly, but there are others which manifest themselves in less obvious ways and whose presence can only be dimly surmised from a general knowledge of the psychology of children at this stage. Side by side with the self-assertive display of power and vanity there is often present a secret feeling of humility, and a tendency to follow a lead rather than to take it. The boy venerates some hero; the girl manifests an admiration for a mistress. Children of both sexes are now apt to develop fresh fears, fresh sorrows, a new sense of inferiority and fresh capacities for disgust. These inhibitive feelings frequently produce moods of depression. Feelings and desires being driven inwards are sometimes apt to become morbid. Some children become shy, reticent, and awkward, and this in itself may produce a neurotic state. Further, social conditions and more especially fears as to their own future or the future of the family must necessarily aggravate any such tendency. It is to be noted in this context that a mood of self-assertion may frequently be followed by a mood of lethargy and indifference. The apparent inconsistencies of adolescents 25. It is just because these opposite groups of impulses are simultaneously reinforced that the adolescent appears such a bundle of contradictions. At one moment he seems bashful; and at the next moment aggressive; at one moment a coward; and at the next an audacious rebel. Sometimes his apparent shyness may hide a repressed ambition or pride; and often an exaggerated vanity or show of self-conceit may compensate for hidden feelings of personal incompetence - a sense that he is unequal to the new responsibilities of life. The essential characteristic of adolescence, therefore, is the strong intensification of emotional energy with a tendency to mental disorganisation as a temporary result. The child's impulses towards action are for the time being stronger than his powers of intelligent control. The overflow of these excessive animal spirits often leads to frequent collisions with authority at home, at school, or elsewhere, and, even within his own mind, the inequality of the two conflicting forces produces unstable or unbalanced conduct. If his unbalanced attitude be treated with tact and sympathy, the wild irresponsible behaviour usually disappears as the child settles down towards the close of adolescence. Self-consciousness 26. In many cases it is only slowly and painfully that the child begins to group these new impulses around definite aims and ideals. Most of the new aptitudes which appear to emerge at this stage are really the indirect effect of fresh interests in new aspects of life, interests in poetry, painting, music, or in biological or physical science. In the same way, the religious and philosophical problems which so often exercise the adolescent mind may probably be due more to temperamental than to intellectual changes. This is accordingly a very appropriate time for implanting fresh and wholesome interests and for bringing the child into contact with persons and subjects which may serve as desirable centres round which these emotions may crystallise. The most important interest at this stage is the child's own interest in himself. The remarkable changes that are taking place within him and the consciousness that he will soon be expected to play his special part as a responsible and independent adult, constantly tend to focus his thoughts upon himself. The novel contacts that his instincts now impel him to make with other children of his own age continually bring home to him his social potentialities, both good and bad. He becomes sensitive to criticism and is often his own severest critic. For instance, children at this stage are sometimes so critical of their achievements and so impressed by external standards that their own attempts at creative work in literary composition or music or drawing tend to decline and in some cases almost to disappear unless care be taken carefully to bridge the gap from childhood to adolescence. Thus a new and very varied self-consciousness is one of the most salient features of adolescent boys and girls and provides one of the most ready means for moulding their moral character. Environmental influences 27. The changes described above are not due wholly to a spontaneous internal development - to the maturing of fresh capacities or impulses. They are, in large measure, the natural reaction of children to the impending change in their position. A large number of the children concerned will shortly be leaving school. They know that this will be the case and that they will probably soon be able to earn their own livelihood, and that their daily life will then no longer be controlled and supervised by their parents and teachers. They expect to have a new and sudden access of freedom. They are accordingly tempted to become impatient and try to accelerate this culmination by showing some independence in advance. At the same time, they are probably secretly apprehensive as to whether they will really be able to shoulder the responsibilities entailed by an independent life, and so they are led to reassure themselves beforehand by making a few experiments. The outcome of these factors in the situation is that many of the traits described above are characteristic of what may be called the pre-independent phase in social development rather than of any definite age. Professor Burt suggested to us that it might be instructive to draw up a character sketch of the typical adolescent boy or girl such as might be compiled from Dr Stanley Hall's work on Adolescence (1904) or the publications of his successors in the same field, and present it for their comments to masters or mistresses whose experience was limited to pupils whose education terminated at a particular age. Teachers in central and senior schools would probably say that such a sketch aptly described children about the age of 13. Masters and mistresses in grammar schools, in which most of the pupils would be remaining up to the age of 18, would probably say that it was a tolerably accurate portrait of a child of 17. Heads or tutors of colleges in which the undergraduates remain in statu pupillari till they take their degrees, would probably say that such a character sketch was a just description of a youth or girl of 19 or 20. Furthermore, the degree of control and supervision exercised by parents varies greatly from one family to another. Many parents find it difficult to realise that their children are almost adults. Partly by force of habit, partly because they unconsciously resent the implication that they themselves have aged, they may continue to treat a son or daughter who is as tall and intelligent as themselves as still a child. It is important to add that the proper treatment of the adolescent youth or girl demands not only understanding on the part of the teacher and sympathy between the home and the school, but also a wise attitude on the part of the parent, and harmony in the home. What has been said in this chapter emphasises of necessity the special factors which arise in adolescence and affect the character. We desire, therefore, to conclude with two observations. First, faults of character do not cease to have a moral significance because they are aggravated by these factors. Secondly, even at this age among the most serious and aggravating conditions are others not specially connected with adolescence, eg heredity, environment, the social milieu.
Footnotes (1) Based on the Memorandum by Professor HA Harris, printed as Appendix II to our Report on Infant and Nursery Schools (1933). (2) Based on the Memorandum by Professor HA Harris, printed as Appendix II to our Report on The Primary School (1931). (3) This has been recognised and suitable desks have been designed. (4) For the years 1921-30 the death rate for England and Wales at ages 10-15 years was only 1.6 per 1,000 - a rate lower than that recorded for any other age group tabulated by the Registrar General. (5) Section 80 (2) of the Education Act 1921, runs:
(6) The conditions are: (a) that there is no obligation to accept the treatment offered by the authority; (b) that the parent should pay such amount not exceeding the cost of the treatment as the authority may determine, unless the parent is unable, by reason of circumstances other than his own default to pay the amount. (7) At present over 130 authorities in England and Wales provide some form of medical treatment for children in grammar schools. (8) The charge to the parents is frequently as low as from 1s [5p] to 1s 5d [7p] a week for five two-course meals. The experience of one county authority, where the charge is 1s 5d a week, may be of interest. Dining rooms and kitchens (suitably equipped both for cooking and washing up, with larder and pantry) are provided in all new modern schools; the original equipment also is supplied by the authority. The salary of the school cook (part-time), together with that of any necessary assistants, is met by the authority, and the girls attend by turns in small squads to receive additional practice in the preparation and service of meals; there is no separate charge made against the dinner account for fuel. The authority supplies 1,800 meals a day in 20 modern schools. Of the receipts, 75 per cent is expended on food; and the remainder covers the cost of laundry, and the replacement of equipment, leaving a credit balance of about £800 per annum. If the payment to the cook and her assistants were included, the cost of the meals at present prices (1937) would be 1s 9d [9p] a week.
(9) Board of Education: Educational Pamphlet, No. 86, Suggestions for the Planning of New Buildings for Secondary Schools (1931). (10) cf. Recommendation 18 in Chapter 4 of our Report on Differentiation of Curricula between the Sexes in Secondary Schools. (1923). (11) Thus, for some children the more strenuous games, such as hockey and rugby football, may be found altogether inappropriate, or unhealthy at certain stages of their growth. The inclusion of certain acrobatic feats as part of a regular course in physical training may be found similarly inadvisable. (12) cf. Recommendation 19 in Chapter 4 of our Report on Differentiation of Curricula between the Sexes in Secondary Schools. (13) See our Report on Psychological Tests of Educable Capacity (1924), Chapter 2 and Appendix IX. (14) cf. Quintilian Institutio Oratorio II. 8. 7. 'Nam proprietates ingeniorum dispicere prorsus necessarium est.' (15) See page 15 of Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Problems Relating to Partially Sighted Children. (1934). HM Stationery Office. (16) See the discussion of memory in children under the age of 11 in our Report on The Primary School (1931), Chapter 3. (17) The cinema probably exercises considerable influence, both good and bad, on the imagination of many children at this stage. (18) See also Appendix IV. (19) See pp. 27-9; pp. 31-5; pp. 57-61. (20) See Appendix IV. (21) See Appendix V. 
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