ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS 67

should be possible in every subject for the education of a
boy to be regularly progressive. In very few subjects is
this so, owing to the multiplicity of subjects which a form
master has to teach. Boys who are efficiently taught in
one subject, in which the form master happens to be a
specialist, when they gain their promotion, have their progress
 in this subject arrested, and undue emphasis laid
on a different subject which probably has received scant
attention in the lower form. This system of fits and
starts in all subjects must be replaced by a gradual and
systematic progression in all.
4. Payment of Masters.— As the importance of education
 in national development becomes more and more
recognized, it will be realized that the remuneration and
prospects offered must be such as to attract really competent
 men, the best products of our universities.
8. Broken Staves in the Educational Ladder—The lack
of progressive character in education at a public school
affords many examples of such broken staves; but the
most serious gap is the tremendous gulf between the preparatory
 school and the public school. No organization
exists for any interchange of ideas between preparatory
schoolmasters and assistant masters at public schools
nor is there any correlation between the systems. Whilst
finding his feet at a public school a boy loses the best
part of a year at just the age when life is really beginning
 to grip. In too many cases, unfortunately, this
means lack of interest in his studies which may, and frequently
 does, have permanent effects.
Under the present system this is unavoidable: on arrival
 from a preparatory school a boy is drafted into a
public school form according to “average ability ”. At
a public school the relative degrees of attainment in the
various subjects differ from those of the preparatory school,
with the result that a boy may find himself suitably placed
with regard to any one particular subject whilst in all