Therefore in the transition class (i.e. children over six at lowest) the only addition to the curriculum already set out for the nursery class, would be arithmetic and reading, including writing.  The other differences would be in degree only.  In the junior class (with children over seven at lowest) a desire to know something of the doings of people in other countries, to hear about other parts of our own land, will lead to the beginnings of geography; while with this less imaginative and more literal period comes the request for stories that are more verbally true, and questions about origins, leading to the beginnings of history.

It is very much easier to give the general curriculum than to deal with the choice of actual material, because that is involved largely with the principle of the unity of experience, and, as we know, experiences vary.  The normal town and country child, and the abnormal child of poverty have all certain human cravings in common, and these are provided for in the aspects of life or subjects that have been named—­but this is far too general an application to be the end of the matter; each subject has many sides to offer.  There may be for example the pottery town, the weaving town, the country town, the fishing town, the colliery town:  in the country there is the district of the dairy farmer, of the sheep farmer, of the grain grower and miller, of the fruit farmer, of the hop grower, and many districts may partake of more than one characteristic.  Perhaps the most curious anomaly of experience is that of the child of the London slums who goes “hopping” into some of the loveliest parts of Kent, in early autumn.  And so in a general way at least the concentrated experience of school must fill gaps and supply experiences that life has not provided for.

One of the pottery towns in Staffordshire is built on very unfertile clay; there are several potteries in the town belching out smoke, and, in addition, rows of monotonous smoke-blackened houses; almost always a yellow pall of smoke hangs over the whole district, and even where the edge of the country might begin, the grass and trees are poor and blackened, and distant views are seen through a haze.  There are almost no gardens in the town, and very little attempt has been made to beautify it, because the results are so disappointing.  Beauty, therefore, in various forms must be a large part of the curriculum:  already design is a common interest in the pottery museums of the district, and this could be made a motive for the older children; but in the Junior and Nursery School pictures of natural beauty, wild flowers if it is possible to get them, music, painting and drawing, and literature should bulk largely enough to make a permanent impression on the children.  In a very remote country village where life seems to go slowly, and days are long, children should be encouraged, by means of the school influence, to make things that absorb thought and interest, to tell and hear stories.