THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 57

Surely one of the first principles of reform must be
the abolition of the control of science teaching in schools
by those who know nothing about the question themselves,
 and who do not even think it worth while to
consult public school science masters as to the advisability
 and probable effect of their recommendations.
After contemplating the disregard of the claims of
science by the Cambridge Previous Examination Syndicate,
 it is decidedly refreshing to find that the Hebdomadal
 Council at Oxford is genuinely anxious to secure
for science a worthy footing in the educational scheme:
in their enthusiasm, indeed, they propose to make it
impossible for any undergraduate to obtain a degree unless
 he can give evidence of possessing a certain amount
of scientific knowledge.
How best to attain this ideal has not yet been settled,
but it is to be hoped that a compulsory examination in
Science may be avoided and also that the type of Science
necessary may be of a perfectly general nature as previously
 indicated.
Under the present suggestions for reform in public
school education “formal science” is to be an optional
subject for specialization after the age of 16 to 164 years.
To make it compulsory for all university candidates
would not be in the best interests of education generally.
Why should the non-scientific university candidate be
compelled to acquire, so far as he is concerned, a more
or less useless knowledge of detailed Science any more
than a Science specialist be forced to pass an examination
in Latin and in Greek?
Science teachers press for the removal of compulsion
in other subjects rather than for the employment of compulsion
 in their own.
Preparatory schools must work out their own salvation;
public schools must settle their own curricula. The
control of public school education by the universities,