Bath Treasurer, Mr. Crowden, Blue Coat Sekool; and Librarian, Mr. Hellier St. Mark's School, Bath.

A discussion then ensued on various interesting subjects, after which the Rev. C. H. Bromby, Principal of the Cheltenham Training College, read a valuable paper on "School Life and its Periods." The members and friends then adjourned to the lower schoolroom, where dinner was provided, to which upwards of fifty sat down. The afternoon was spent by most of the members in visiting the carpet factory of Messrs. McMichael, after which tea was provided on the vicarage lawn, through the liberality of the respected vicar of the parish, and the meeting shortly afterwards broke up, highly delighted with the day's proceedings.

Several gentlemen and ladies joined the Association as honorary members.

EAST KENT CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOLMASTERS' AND SCHOOLMISTRESSES' ASSOCIATION.

The quarterly meeting of this Association was held at Minster National School, on Saturday, July 3rd. Mr. Goshawk, of Minster, occupied the chair. The proceedings having been opened with prayer, the minutes of the last meeting were read, after which the Chairman called upon Mr. Johnson, of St. Lawrence, Thanet, who gave an interesting lesson on the "Camel." From the tenor of the criticisms which followed, it seemed to give general satisfaction. Mr. Cassé, of Northbourne, then read an excellent and valuable paper on "The Education of the Working Classes," in which he showed-1. Its present condition. 2. The causes which militate against its success. 3. The remedies which might be applied to remove the great obstacles which retard its progress. The consideration of this paper was postponed till the next monthly meeting,

The new, cheap series of "Bailey's Gradatory Copy-books," together with the Home Lesson Table-book," just issued, were exhibited, and very highly approved of.

The next meeting was appointed to be held at Deal, on Saturday, the 11th September.

THE REV. F. TEMPLE ON AWARDING LECTURESHIPS ON SCHOOL MANAGEMENT.

The Secretary of the Committee of Council on Education,

3rd June, 1858.

Sir, We have read with great gratification the following weighty remarks by the Rev. F. Temple, in recommendation of awarding Lectureships on the subject of School Management:

"Another year has still more forcibly impressed me with the expediency of opening the Lectureships now granted to Lecturers in Training Colleges so as to include Normal Masters. At present the Normal Master is supposed to belong in some way to a lower grade than that occupied by the other College officers. Their subjects are worth an extra £100 a year from Government;his is not. The result is that the students are impressed with the notion, of which nothing can disabuse them, that however strong may be the opinion expressed by the Inspector on this part of their work, that opinion is not supported by your Lordships. But a still worse result is, that the best men do not seek the office, but aim rather at being Lecturers in Mathematics or Geography; and the few among the Normal Masters who rise above the ordinary level have no inducement thoroughly to study their subject.

In fact, in this, as in all similar cases, the subject that remains unrewarded is sure to be neglected. And this is at present the case with the subject of School Management."-Rev. F. Temple's Report for 1857, p. 725.

We beg to express to my Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, our strong conviction of the importance of the above considerations, so forcibly urged by the Rev. F. Temple. They exactly express the result of our own experience. And we most earnestly entreat my Lords no longer to withhold from our Normal Masters advantages and privileges, both as regards official standing in the College, and pecuniary remuneration, which are granted to other officers. We would further remark that at present the Lectureships are exclusively granted to the "non-essential" subjects of instruction in the Normal College, viz.,-Physical Science, Geography, History, Applied Mathematics, and English Literature: whereas on those subjects which their Lordships have designated "essential" no lectureships are awarded. We are also of opinion that the importance of a thorough and practical acquaintance with the more clementary subjects of a Schoolmaster's education would be impressed, with advantage, on the minds of students by opening the Government Lectureships to our Teachers of School Management and Method.

We have the honour to be, Sir,

Your obedient Servants,

CHARLES R. ALFORD, Principal of the Metropolitan Training
College, Highbury Park.

DERWENT COLERIDGE, Principal of St. Mark's College, Chelsea.
SAMUEL CLARK, Principal of the National Society's Training
College, Battersea.

A. N. ASHWELL, Principal of the Oxford Diocesan Training College,
Culham.

WILLIAM REED, Principal of the South Wales and Monmouthshire
Training College, Caermarthen.

MATTHEW PARRINGTON, Principal of the Diocesan Training College
Chichester.

WILLIAM DAVID, Principal of the Exeter Training College.
CHAS. H. BROMBY, Principal of the Cheltenham Normal College.
IIUGH GED. ROBINSON, Principal of the York and Ripon Diocesan
Training College.

WILLIAM GOVER, Principal of the Worcester Diocesan Training
College.

ARTHUR RIGG, Principal of the Training School, Chester.

EDUCATION AND CIRCUMSTANCES FORM THE CHARACTER. General states of mind, turns of thought, and fixed habits, which are the consequences of them, arise from education and the circumstances men are placed in. It is a necessary effect of the principles of association, that the mind grows callous to new impressions continually; it being already occupied with ideas and sensations which render it indisposed to receive others, especially of an heterogeneous nature. In consequence, we seldom see any ccnsiderable change in a person's temper and habits after he is grown to man's estate; nothing short of an entire revolution in his circumstances and mode of life can effect it.-Dr. Priestly.

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Animal and Vegetable Substances. By T. E. Dexter. Groombridge and Sons. Mr. Dexter has rendered good service to elementary education in compiling this very useful work. It is in the true sense a manual of "common things" things which, more or less, fall in our way in daily life, and respecting the history and characteristics of which, one may continually hear persons reputed to be well-informed, making enquiries. It is not a book of lessons, but it is to our minds something better-a careful collection of facts sufficiently extensive for elementary purposes, and arranged with good method. It has, moreover, a further recommendation; Mr. Dexter has prepared a Cabinet of Objects, so that the Cabinet and the Book may work together in securing efficient instruction. The Cabinet is already largely patronised by the British Government; the East India Company; and by many commercial and elementary schools.

Minerals and Metals By J. E. Dexter. Groombridge and Sons. This is a companion volume to the one noticed above, and is characterized by the same excellencies.

Prayers for Young Persons. By Rev. B. Jenks. Routledge and Co. The prayers in this little book are for the mornings and evenings of one week, together with a few for occasional purposes. The introduction by the Bishop of Carlisle, and the concluding Hints and Helps for Prayer are very good.

EXTRACT.

STYLE AND LANGUAGE IN TEACHING.

A complaint not unfrequently made against teachers is, that they lack variety and flexibility in their language. It is said that even when the subject of the instruction is understood, the phraseology in which it is conveyed is too often bookish and technical, and that in this way the teaching of elementary schools is not only less interesting, but far less effective than it should be. There is too much truth in these accusations. The most pains-taking and conscientious teachers of course get up the knowledge of their subjects from books; but they often aim only at conveying that knowledge in the language of those books. The best lessons are marred by the too frequent use of technical terms. master learns teaching as a profession, and therefore throws much of his instruction into a professional form. Hence there is a want of life, of vividness, of force, of adaptation to the real needs and comprehension of children, and therefore a want of interest and practical value in a large majority of school lessons.

The

It is not difficult to assign, at least in part, the causes for this state of things. One may be found in the character of the ordinary school-books; which are for the most part, as indeed they ought to be, filled with information put in a concise and condensed form. The language employed in them may possibly be the best language; but it is necessarily technical, often abstruse and unfamiliar. Such phraseology should undoubtedly be learnt by children, but they are too often confined to it. Teachers suppose that if the facts are learnt in book language their work is done, and nothing more is necessary; forgetting that the facts require to be set before a young mind in a great variety of forms, and that at is especially, necessary to translate the language of a school-book into that of ordinary life, in order to make it interesting or even completely intelligible. Moreover, the desire for exactness and precision in statement, which is in itself a commendable thing, often makes teachers afraid to deviate from the phraseology which is used in books, or which they themselves have been accustomed to

use when they studied the subject. The private reading, also, especially of the best and most faithful teachers, is apt to be confined almost exclusively to professional books, or to books whose main purpose is to furnish facts. Thus they are apt to acquire a hard, professional, and unattractive style of expression, which they habitually use, without being conscious that there is anything remarkable or pedantic about it.

The great cause, however, of the prevalence of this evil, is the tendency which exists, in all but persons of the highest cultivation, to do their work mechanically, and to be content with only one way of doing it. Routine is, after all, much easier than an independent or original method. Mechanical teaching, in the words prescribed for us by others, is not absolutely impossible, even when but half our minds are occupied; but the teaching which invests the subject with a new dress, and which presents knowledge in exactly the form best suited to the learners, requires the whole mind. The true reason for the dulness, for the meagreness of language, and for the coldness of style so often complained of in schools, is that teachers do not always give their whole minds to the subject. They do not sufficiently identify themselves with it, nor make it thoroughly their own before they teach; above all, they are content to be the channels by which the words of others are to be. conveyed to a learner's memory, instead of living fountains of instruction, imparting to others what springs naturally and spontaneously from their own minds.

The consequences of the deficiency to which we refer are often shown in many ways. Children feel an interest in their lessons in exactly the same proportion in which those lessons appeal to their own sympathies and to their own consciousness of need; but their attention is languid and their progress slow, when no such appeal is made. Unless the subjects talked about in school connect themselves with the duties of ordinary life; unless the mode of treating them in school bears some relation to the mode in which they are to be treated elsewhere; the learner begins to feel that he lives in two worlds-one in the school-rom and one outside it-and that the language, the pursuits, and the modes of thinking of these two regions are wholly unlike. The one is a world of duty and restraint, the other of pleasure and ficedom. In the one he speaks in a sort of falsetto, and uses words which are not natural to him; in the other, he speaks his own language, and feels at case. Some of this is perhaps necessary and proper; but the worst is, that he too often feels that there is no intimate relation between the two; that the duties of the one have nothing to do with the requirements of the other; and that it is possible to fail in one and succeed in the other. It is not only by the substance but by the style of school lessons that this impression is often unconsciously conveyed, and when once gained, it doubles the work of teaching, and goes far to destroy a learner's interest in his school-work.

If any teachers are conscious that these remarks apply even partially to themselves and their own experience, we may remind them that one or two simple correctives for the evil are in their own lands. We will speak of these in order. and will not apologise to teachers for using in this case the briefest form of expression, the imperative mood.

Study the school-books thoroughly for yourselves. Make yourself completely familiar with their contents, and try to bring as much information as you can obtain from other sources to bear upon their illustration. Do not be satisfied with an explanation of the hard words which occur; but be ready to give a clear, effective, and interesting paraphrase of the entire lesson. You will then be entitled to require answers to your questions in other words than those of the book, and to demand frequent exercises in paraphrasing and varying the language from the children themselves.