The Training of English Children
By Lady St. Helier
Education begins virtually in the nursery and there is no better teacher than a nurse who has all the affection of the child, whom she leads naturally and pleasantly step by step to the school-room where the first serious work of instruction begins.
The books of the nursery are numberless; they are of every kind and on every subject; and the child overcomes not only the elementary difficulties of learning to read, but from the beautifully illustrated nursery library he learns the elements of zoology, geography, science, astronomy, botany, and history. The picture-books of animals, flowers, the various countries of the world and their inhabitants, the armies and navies of the world, are shown to him. So that the amount of unconscious knowledge possessed by an intelligent child when it leaves the nursery at the age of five or six years is considerable.
In former years, when learning was more tedious and the methods of imparting it less agreeable, it was quite soon enough for a child to begin to read at seven, but now he is able to do so before that age.
In England, among the upper classes, we do not send a boy to school, unless in exceptional cases, till after he is eight, or even older if he is delicate. On leaving the nursery, he goes to the school-room and receives his education under the supervision of a governess, who also teaches the other children of the family. He begins to learn arithmetic and the rudiments of Latin (which all English governesses teach). The kindergarten system is largely used in the school-room when, as is sometimes necessary, children are sent at an earlier age than five, to learn obedience and habits of discipline, which cannot be observed so strictly in the nursery. In the well-to-do English home the school-room is a delightful spot. It is generally one of the best rooms in the house, chosen for its brightness, its pleasant aspect, and general convenience, and in the lives of most children it is a place of real happiness, and to the girls of the family full of delightful memories.
When a boy goes to a preparatory school, he may have to specialize: if he is going into the Navy, he is generally sent to some school where he is trained mainly for that profession, and prepares for the examination which he must pass before he can be admitted to the Naval School at Osborne. Thence, after four years, if he works well and passes, he is sent to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. The examination for admittance to Osborne is not a severe one for boys of that age. It is held before a board of Naval Officers and its object is to select those boys who are not only above the average in mental attainments, but who are physically and generally qualified for this strenuous ca-
