CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 73

old by which, without sacrificing the formation of moral
fibre, will at the same time produce men of energy, men
of decision, and men of business.
The classical system does not and cannot produce
this type which is so absolutely and so immediately
essential for the attainment of national supremacy in the
future.
Even if governing bodies, however, begin to realize that
modern education must adapt itself to modern needs, it
will take from twenty-five to fifty years to alter the composition
 of the Head Masters’ Conference sufficiently for
the public school system of this country to be freed from
this classical domination. By that time, however, the
struggle between the nations will have been decided, and
in the educational sphere we shall find that we are once
again too late.
The reformation of the public school system as it at
present exists in the direction of meeting modern requirements
 seems to be difficult if not impossible : the gulf between
 the preparatory school and public school must be
bridged, and the present system of education will not permit
 of this being done. The evils of the house system
and the consequent financial waste and the sapping of
the energies of many of our best masters must be removed,
but on the other hand, the centralization of control can
only take place very slowly, if at all, because of vested
interests,
One is reluctantly forced to the decision that the
public school system cannot be patched to suit the needs
of the present day, and the only remedy-—which is a drastic
one—is to replace the whole system by a new organization.

Such a system, whilst retaining the great advantages
of the present public school as set out in the last chapter,
must also include as its cardinal principles :—
(@) The modernizing of the preparatory school,