| Description | In this article Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury emphasises the importance of education, expressing her disappointment that education had suffered as a result of the outbreak of the First World War through shortages in teaching staff. Taylor Cadbury argues that the Government ought to provide better support for education, remarking that the children currently in schools were the nation's future citizens who should be well equipped to ensure that England maintained 'her place among the Nations'.
Taylor Cadbury refers to the French emphasis on the importance of education before suggesting improvements to the English education system. She advocates providing more staff and reducing the size of classes in Elementary schools, remarking:
'It is impossible for a teacher to do the best for his class when he has sixty children before him. How is it possible for him to understand their individuality, or to find out their particular bent, limitations or difficulties?'
Taylor Cadbury also argues for the teaching of foreign languages at elementary schools, the extension of the school-leaving age beyond fourteen and the provision of classes to provide continued education for children after they had left school and entered employment. She provides an overview of the Day Continuation schools introduced in England, including details of the curriculum which they offered to both boys and girls.
Elizabeth Taylor Cadbury concludes her article by emphasising the importance of stimulating the imaginative faculties and teaching children 'the ethics of citizenship'. Drawing on the wider context of the First World War, Taylor Cadbury suggests that the ideals of justice and freedom should occupy a central place in the teaching of English history. |