1937-05-07 — Page 26

King Gustav V of Sweden, and his son, Crown Prince Adolf, watching manoeuvres of the Swedish Air Force at Stockholm re- cently.

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THE CHINA MAIL FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, MAY 7. 1987

HOW TO DO YOUR

CHILD'S HOMEWORK

Mr. Charles Pearce, a former L.C.C. headmaster, here explains for parents and others, the easy ways of learning used in schools to-day. English

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|OMETHING now must be said about style, that indefin- able, and in 2 sense impon- derable, quality which distin- guishes one writer from another.

It is something which cannot be communicated from without, but which certainly must be cul- tivated from within.

Every great essayist is known by a distinctive form of expres- sion. It is really originality, shining through.

Children never mistake an essay of Dr. Johnson's for one of Ro- bert Louis Stevenson's.

They are also able to detect, even when labels are missing, the products of Addison, Steele, Jef- feries, Lamb, and Birrell (taking a line through English literature since "essays" became the vogue).

Creating Style Subconsciously children may model their efforts somewhat on the style of authors they like, al- though the most we expect is that; as a result of reading the, finest examples in English litera- ture, they shall develop a taste for essay writing.

The creation of a good style will certainly be assisted if the methods outlined in these arti- cles are followed.

The old methods were definite- ly inimical to the development of individual effort and originality.

A subject was announced to the class, which was expected to dilate upon it at once, without any warning, or previous prepar- ation.

Nowadays there is planning ahead, material is carefully col- lected from note-books and en- cyclopaedias, and the wise teacher even expects a rough draft essay only at first.

From this a final copy is made, to which are added the finishing touches, and the element called stule gets a chance.

The modern child has a much better opportunity of developing it, this way.

Humour

In the words of Cobbett (whose centenary we celebrated during the week; but who, in many ways, was 100 years in advance of his time) "the child is taught to sit down to write what he has thought, and not to think what he shall write.

It is in an atmosphere like this that the constituent we know as stule flourishes.

Humour must not be forgotten. It is an ingredient found in the essays of all the best writers.

Lamb, Stevenson, and Birrell abound in wit and epigram.

Authors like Dickens, Carroll, and Barrie are full of waggish- ness and whimsical pleasantries.

Reading them is a direct in- centive to practise the art of be- ing humorous.

We have

known boys writing an essay on Enterprise," for example, to "work in" Dr. Johson's witty a sally that the first man to discover the

when

North Pole Shit, or a Scots-

man sitting on

when writ-

ing on "A Street Market" to at- tack the subject from the angle of the humorous

poem, "The Wind in a Frolic,” where, we learn, "The wind one morn- ing sprang up from sleep, say- ing: Now for a frolic now for a leap" and, among other things, proceeded to play fast and loose with "old women's bonnets, and ginger-bread stalls."

Arithmetic

Here is another novel type of problem which children of eleven have to tackle. It would be im- possible to explain the solution without the aid of diagrams.

Tom cut a square of cardboard into two unequal oblongs, and gave the smaller of them to Fred. Each of them cut his oblong into a square and an oblong.

The two small oblongs thus made were equal to each other. Tom's square was four times the area of Fred's square.

What fraction of the original square was each small oblong?

Solution:

We know Tom's square was four times Fred's.

Represent by a dia-

gram.

If we assume Fred's was 1 square inch, then Tom's must have been 4 square inches. ì.e., the sides must be as 1: 2.

This proportion of the side will be constant-whatever the size of Fred's square. (If it were 4 square inches, then Tom's must be 16 sq. ing., and the sides would be respectively 2 inches and 4 inches; or as 1; 2; and so on).

4

Completed Square

We know Tom's and Fred's squares, added to two equal ob- longs, made the original square of cardboard.-

Let us place them in position in our second diagram, and com- plete the square with dotted lines, remem- Tom's and bering

-Tor

Fred's final squares had sides in propor- tion of 1. 2.

It will be seen that to complete the square we must have sides of 3-units in length. The equal ob- longs will be as long as Tom's square, and as wide as Fred's.

The total area-9 square units (3X3).

Each small oblong square units (2X1).

Therefore, each small oblong is 2/9ths of the original square.

(NOTE-Units may stand for any given lengths).

Opera-tion

A very delicate and important operation was about to be per- formed and all budding young medicos were requested to attend, look, and learn.

The observers' gallery packed. An awesome stillness descended upon the place as the deft hands of the surgeon began the unusual incision. The stud ents watched breathlessly until he at length indicated that the work was done. Then to show their appreciation. of his ing dexterity, the entire house burst into tumultuous applause The surgeon raised his hand for silence, bowed, and as an encor removed the patient's appendix.

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