THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 27

more apparent than in the teaching of modern languages,
and this is recognized by the Government which has appointed
 a committee to inquire into the methods at present
 employed. Whatever their recommendations may
be' they will prove of no effect unless either the form
system on the modern side of schools is abolished or,
if it be retained, the teaching of French taken out of the
hands of form masters.
In the teaching of science boys are usually grouped
into sets according to their ability in the particular subject,
 and they are taught by masters who have specialized
in the study and, generally, have taken a university
degree in that branch. In this way progressive education
 to a certain extent is possible, although it is sadly
limited by defects in the general school organization.
In many schools also mathematics is similarly taught;
methods, although open to criticism, are to some extent
unified under the head of a department and progressive
instruction is possible.
Promotion to a higher set in such cases depends entirely
 on ability in the particular subject, and a boy is not
passed on to higher work in mathematics or in science
because he happens to possess ability in Latin or in
English. The re-grouping of boys into sets for science
and mathematics is becoming more general in public
schools and it is an obvious and a welcome reform.
In the forms on the modern side of a public school
an extraordinary variety of subjects is taught: Latin,
French, German, English, History, Geography, Divinity
and sometimes Mathematics. The consequence of this
system is that a boy gains his form promotion usually by
ability in one particular subject. This frequently happens
to be Latin, as in many cases a preponderance of marks is
allotted to this subject. ’
Whatever a boy’s best subject may be his education is
more or less progressive in that subject, but in a// other