34 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

“I will only add this one observation; that it is to
me perfectly absurd for anyone to allege that a change
in the curricula, and the substitution of emphasis on
English and Natural Science — the study of our own
language and of our own world—will demoralize the
public schoolboys of England. Change your curriculum
as much as you like; it is their ethical and gymnastic
training which tells when it comes to the battle of life,
or to the actual battle at the Front at this moment.”
To come finally to the best test of all, namely, that of
experience. This shows clearly that the boy educated on
the modern side of a public school is as capable of expressing
 his thoughts in language as his confrére on the
classical side ; as a general rule his mode of expression
is much clearer, and the stilted and pedantic style of the
classicist, which is often mistaken for literary ability, is
conspicuous by its absence.
Passing to the modern side of a public school it comes
as a welcome relief to find that recognition of the importance
 of English as an essential and important subject
 in the educational scheme has become much more
general, and more hours are allotted to it than was the
case ten years ago. Strange as it may appear to the
general public the teaching of English satisfactorily is
extraordinarily difficult. A method of teaching which is
generally acceptable to teachersstill has to be discovered,
and methods are still in the experimental stage. Masters
capable of teaching their own language satisfactorily are
very rare indeed : in large measure this is due to the fact
that the English master, who is in nine cases out of ten
also the form master, has no time for reading himself, and
this appears to be absolutely essential. English should
cease to be a form subject; it should be placed on the
same footing as set subjects and taught by experts, and
these masters should be men of letters ; they should have
considerably less hours of school work than masters in