4 / THE Public School System IN RELATION TO THE COMING CONFLICT FOR NATIONAL SUPREMACY V. SEYMOUR BRYANT. M.A. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN RELATION TO I'HE COMING CONFLICT FOR NATIONAL SUPREMACY PUBLISHED FOR THE COMMITTEE ON rHE NEGLECT OF SCIENCE THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IN RELATION TO THE COMING CONFLICT FOR [ ATIONAL SUPREMACY = V. SEYMOUR (BRYANT, M.A. WITH A PREFACE BY LORD RAYLEIGH LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE & 301: STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS Igry os £\ o om | =p o£ a Mm 5 o> JERS O = - 0 a it L v 0 & 20 0 0 MN ed ~~ 00) ~ "YY — — CN — PREFACE ™ ~y THE RIGHT HON. LORD RAYLEIGH, O.M. As having been in the Chair at the meeting called last year to discuss the “ Neglect of Science,” 1 am asked to write a few prefatory words to Mr. Bryant's book. I feel some hesitation in complying, as my educational experience is limited and bears no comparison with that of the Author. But I happen to remember pretty well my own school days, and that I spent a great deal of time over Latin and Greek with quite an average aptitude and application, but with very little result. And I feel sure that most of my contemporaries were in like case. On the general question I had occasion to express my views some thirty-three years ago. In an address to the British Association I remarked — “ From the general spread of a more scientific education, we are warranted in expecting important results. Just as there are some brilliant literary men with an inability, or at least a distaste practically amounting to inability, for scientific ideas, so there are a few with scientific tastes whose imaginations are never touched by merely literary studies, °) a) 0 Ad: EX? rr 0 N. 0 - ~1 0 a 0 \ > ON 00) N ry vi PREFACE BY LORD RAYLEIGH To save these from intellectual stagnation during several important years of their lives is something gained ; but the thorough-going advocates of scientific education aim at much more. To them it appears strange, and almost monstrous, that the dead languages should hold the place they do in general education; and it can hardly be denied that their supremacy is the result of routine rather than of argument. I do not, myself, take up the extreme position. I doubt whether an exclusively scientific training would be satisfactory ; and where there is plenty of time and a literary aptitude I can believe that Latin and Greek may make a good foundation. But it is useless to discuss the question upon the supposition that the majority of boys attain either to a knowledge of the languages or to an appreciation of the writings of the ancient authors. The contrary is notoriously the truth ; and the defenders of the existing system usually take their stand upon the excellence of its discipline. From this point of view there is something to be said. The laziest boy must exert himself a little in puzzling out a sentence with grammar and dictionary, while instruction and supervision are easy to organize and not too costly. But when the case is stated plainly, few will agree that we can afford so entirely to disregard results. In after life the intellectual energies are usually engrossed with business, and no further opportunity is found for attacking the difficulties which block the gateways of knowledge. Mathematics, especially, if not learned young, are likely to remain unlearned. [I will not further insist upon the educational importance of mathematics and PREFACE BY LORD RAYLEIGH vii science, because with respect to them I shall probably be supposed to be prejudiced. But of modern languages I am ignorant enough to give value to my advocacy. I believe that French and German, if properly taught, which I admit they rarely are at present, would go far to replace Latin and Greek from a disciplinary point of view, while the actual value of the acquisition would, in the majority of cases, be incomparably greater. In half the time usually devoted, without success, to the classical languages, most boys could acquire a really serviceable knowledge of French and German. History and the serious study of English literature, now shamefully neglected. would also find a place in such a scheme.” | must own to some disappointment that in a third of a century progress has not been more marked. It is to be hoped that the revival of interest in these matters may draw attention to Mr. Bryant's proposals, with most of which I am in sympathy. I feel sure that he is right in insisting on the teaching of elementary science to all boys, and on the importance of its being very elementary at the beginning. In mathematics’ the earliest teaching should be quite informal, as I believe is now pretty generally recognized. Let us hope that the next generation of English public school boys will have more to show for their time spent in school than could be claimed for ours. RAYLEIGH. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Tue World War is merely preliminary to an even greater industrial conflict in the future : the conclusion of peace will by no means settle the question of the supremacy of nations—that will be decided by a peaceful but a terribly keen competition in the markets of the world. Much is being done in preparation for this at the present time : business men and manufacturing firms are arranging their plans of campaign. Cooperation rather than competition is the key-note dominating the conferences and conversations now taking place between the leading firms of particular industries, and, in the same way, the different industries of this country are combining together as evidenced by the formation of the “Federation of British Industries,” and other trade associations, with tremendous opportunities and possibilities. In the struggle for national supremacy, however, education is the vital factor. The aims of enthusiasts will be rendered abortive if the importance of the rising generation be in any way lost sight of or thought of little account : victory in the industrial conflict will accrue to that nation whose youth has been most efficiently trained. PREFACE The present writer has the somewhat rare combination of several years’ experience in commercial and industrial spheres both at home and abroad, together with ten years’ insight into education and methods at one of the great public schools of this country. An attempt is here made to deal with merely one phase of the great question of education, namely, the early training of those who are destined to become the statesmen and professional men of the future, the leaders of industry and the masters of men. The value of modern preparatory and public school education is estimated, its defects are indicated, and a scheme suggested by which the educational system at present in vogue could be made much more efficient not only for youths in general but for those destined for a commercial and industrial career in particular. Those who advocate a very considerable extension of Science teaching in our Public Schools do not, however, do so solely, or even chiefly, for its value to national industry. We make an appeal on that ground because it is widely and readily understood, but we do not desire to conceal the fact that the chief and great reason for increased attention to Science in Education is that it is the indispensable training of the mind. It is only by a possession of a knowledge of the great facts of Nature that a man can think correctly or arrive at a true philosophy: it is only by a study of the natural sciences that he can cultivate that great quality which is implied in the term “veracity of thought and action”: or by familiarity PREFACE 1 with the experimental methods of the natural sciences that he can assure himself both that there is Truth to be discovered and how to discover it. The modern movement in the direction of allotting to Science its rightful position in the educational scheme is in large measure an attempt to realize the ideals of Huxley. We are under such a debt of gratitude to him for his clear vision in educational affairs and many of us have been so influenced by his life and works that no excuse is needed for reprinting here (with the permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co. Ltd.) his general outline of a boy's education, as- preserved for us in his Essays. The author desires gratefully to acknowledge the assistance of Sir E. Ray Lankester and Professor R. A. Gregory, both of whom have read the proofs and have made many valuable suggestions. The quotations preceding each chapter have been taken from Professor Gregory's most inspiring book, *“ Discovery, or the Spirit and Service of Science”. V. SEYMOUR BRYANT. ESSENTIALS OF A LIBERAL EDUCATION : HUXLEY. 1 take it that the whole object of education is, in the first Place, to train the faculties of the young in such a manner as to give their possessors the best chance of being happy and useful in their gemeration; and, in the second place, to Jurnisk them with the most important portions of that immense capitalized experience of the human race which we call knowledge of various kinds. I am using the term knowledge in its widest possible sense ; and the question is, what subjects to select by training and discipline, in which the object I have just defined may be best attained, I must call your attention further to this fact, that all the subjects of our thoughts—all feelings and propositions (leaving aside our sensations as the mere materials and occasions of thinking and feeling), all our mental Surniture —may be classified under one of two heads—as either within the province of the intellect, something that can be put into propositions and affirmed or denied ; or as within the province of feeling, or that which, before the name was defiled, was called the esthetic side of our nature, and which can neither be proved nor disproved, but only felt and known. According to the classification which I have put before you, then, the subjects of all knowledge ave divisible into two groups, matters of science and matters of art ; for all things with which the reasoning Jaculty alone is occupied, come under the province of science; and in the broadest sense, and not in the navvow and technical sense is which PREFACE xiii we are now accustomed to use the word art, all things feelable, all things which stir our emotions, come under the term of art, in the sense of the subject-matter of the @sthetic faculty. So that we are shut up to this—that the business of education is, in the first place, to provide the young with the means and the habit of observation ; and, secondly, to supply the subject-matter of knowledge either in the shape of science or of art, or of both combined. Now, it is a very vemarkable fact—but it is true of most things in this world—that there is hardly anything onesided, or of one nature ; and it is not immediately obvious what of the things that interest us may be vegarded as pure science, and what may be regarded as puve art. It may be that theve ave some peculiarly constituted persons who, before they have advanced far into the depths of geometry, find artistic beauty about it; but, taking the generality of mankind, I think it may be said that, when they begin to learn mathematics, their whole souls ave absorbed in tracing the connection between the premisses and the conclusion, and that to them geometry is puve science. So I think it may be said that mechanics and osteology are pure science. On the other hand, melody in music is pure art. You cannot veason about it ; there is no proposition involved inil. So, again, in the pictorial art, an arabesque, or a “harmony in grey,’ touches none but the @sthetic Jaculty. But a great mathematician, and even many persons who are not great mathematicians, will tell you that they derive immense pleasure from geometrical yeasonings. Everybody knows mathematicians speak of solutions and problems as « elegant,” and they tell you that a certain mass of mystic symbols is * beautiful, quite lovely”. Well, you do not see it. They do see it, because the intellectual process, the process of comprehending the reasons symbolized by these figures and these signs, confers upon them a sort of pleasure, such as an artist has in visual symmetry. Take a science of which I may speak with move confidence, and which is xiv PREFACE the most attractive of those I am concerned with. It is what we call morphology, which consists in tracing out the unity in variety of the infinitely diversified structures of animals and plants. I cannot give you any example of a thorough @sthetic pleasure move intensely veal than a pleasure of this kind—the pleasure which arises in one's mind when a whole mass of different structures run into one harmony as the expression of a central law. That is where the province of art overlays and embraces the province of intellect. And, if I may venture to express an opinion on such a subject, the great majority of forms of art ave not in the sense what I just now defined them to be—pure art; but they derive much of their quality from simultaneous and even unconscious excitement of the intellect. If I could make a clean sweep of everything and start afresh, I should, in the Jirst place, secure that training of the young in reading and writing, and in the habit of attention and observation both to that which is told them, and that which they see, which everybody agrees to. But in addition to that, I should make it absolutely necessary Jor everybody, for a longer or shorter period, to learn to draw. Now, you may say, there are some people who cannot draw, however muck they may be taught. I deny that, in toto, because I never yet met anybody who could not learn to write. Writing is a form of drawing ; therefore if you give the same attention and trouble to drawing as you do to writing, depend upon it, there is nobody who cannot be made to draw, more or less well. Do not wmisapprehend me. I do not say for one moment you would make an artistic draughtsman. Artists ave not made ; they grow. You may improve the natural faculty in that direction but you cannot make it ; but you can teack simple drawing, and you will find it an implement of learning of extreme value, I do not think its value can be exaggerated, because it grves you the means of training the young in attention and ac- PREFACE cuvacy, which are the two things in whick all mankind are more deficient than in any other mental quality whatever. The whole of my life has been spent in trying to give my proper attention to things and to be accurate, and I have not succeeded as well as I could wish ; and other people, 1 am afraid, are not muck more fortunate, You cannot begin this habit too early, and I consider theve is nothing of so great a value as the habit of drawing, to secure those two desirable ends. Then we come to the subject-matter, whether scientific or @sthetic, of education, and I should naturally have no question at all about teaching the elements of Physical science of the kind I have sketched, in a practical manner ; but among scientific topics, using the word scientific in the broadest sense, I would also include the elements of the theory of morals and of that of political and social life, which, strangely enough, it never seems to occur to anybody to teach a child. I would have the history of our own country, and of all the influences which have been brought to bear upon it, with incidental geography, not as a meve chronicle of reigns and battles, but as a chapter in the development of the race and the history of civilization. Then with respect to wsthetic knowledge and discipline, we have happily in the English language one of the most magnificent storehouses of artistic beauty and of models of literary excellence which exists in the world at the present time. I have said before, and I repeat it here, that if a man cannot get literary culture of the highest kind out of his Bible, and Chaucer, and Shakespeare, and Milton, and Hobbes, and Bishop Berkeley, to mention only a few of our illustrious writers—I say, if he cannot Let it out of those writers, he cannot get it out of anything ; and I would assuredly devote a very large portion of the time of cvery English child to the careful study of models of English writing of such varied and wonderful kind as we possess, and, what is still move important and still Xv xvi PREFACE move neglected, the habit of using that language with precision, with force, and with art. I fancy we ave almost the only nation in the world who seem to think that composition comes by nature. The French attend to their own language, the Germans study theirs ; but Englishmen do not seem to think it is worth their while. Nor would I Jail to include, in the course of study I am sketching, translations of all the best works of antiquity, or of the modern world. It is a very desirable thing to read Homer in the Greek; but if you don't happen to know Greek, the next best thing we can do is to read as good a translation of it as we have recently been furnished with in prose. You won't get all you would from the original, but you may get a great deal ; and to refuse to know this great deal because you cannot get all, seems to be as sensible as for a lungry man to vefuse bread because he cannot get partridge. Finally, I would add instruction in either music or patniing, or, if the child should be so unhappy, as sometimes happens, as to have no faculty for either of those, and no possibility of doing anything in any artistic sense with them, then I would see what could be done with literature alone but I would provide, in the fullest sense, for the development of the @sthetic side of the mind. In my judgment, those ave all the essentials of education Jor an English child. With that outfit, suck as it might be made in the time given to education which is within the reach of nine-tenths of the population—with that outfit, an Englishman within the limits of English life, is fitted to go anywhere, to occupy the highest positions, to Jil the highest offices of the State, and to become distinguished in practical pursuits, in Science or in Art. For, if he have the opportunity to learn all those things, and have his mind disciplined in the various directions the teaching of those topics would have necessitated, then, assuredly, he will be able to pick up, on his voad through life, all the vest of the intellectual baggage he wants. PREFACE xvii If the educational time at our disposition were sufficient, theve ave one or two things I would add to those I have just now called the essentials ; and perhaps you will be surprised to hear, though I hope you will not, that I should add, not more science, but one, or, if possible, two languages. The knowledge of some other language than one's own is, in fact, of singular intellectual value. Many of the faults and mistakes of the ancient philosophers are traceable to the fact that they knew 'no language but their own, and were often led into confusing the symbol with the thought which it embodied. I think it is Locke who says that onehalf of the mistakes of philosophers have arisen Jrom questions about words ; and one of the safest ways of delivering yourself from the bondage of words is, to know how ideas look in words to which you are not accustomed, That is one reason for the study of language ; another reason is, that it opens mew fields in art and in science. Another is the practical value of such knowledge ; and yet another is this, that if your languages are properly chosen, from the time of learning the additional languages you will know your own language better than you ever did, So, I say, if the time given to education permits, add Latin and German, Latin, because it is the key to nearly one-half of English and to all the Romance languages ; and German, because it is the key to almost all the vemainder of English, and helps you to understand a vace from which most of us have sprung, and who have a character and a literature dg a fateful force in the history of the world, suck as probably kas been allotted to those of no other peaple, except the Jews, the Greeks, and ourselves. . Beyond these, the essential and the eminently desirable elements of all education, let each man take up his special line—the historian devote himself to history, the man of science to his science, the man of letters to his culture of that kind, and the artist to his special pursuit.—THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY, “On Science and Art in Relation to Education.” 1882, CONTENTS. PreFace BY THE RiGHT HoN. Lorp RavrEiGH, O.M. AUTHOR’S PREFACE CHAP. I. INTRODUCTION . II. EDUCATION IN THE PREPARATORY ScHooL III. Tue PusLic ScHooL CURRICULUM IV. THe ROLE OF SCIENCE IN THE EDUCATIONAL SCHEME V. THE ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS oF THE PusLic ScHooL SYSTEM. PAGE VI. ConsTrUCTIVE POLICY U1} CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. 1 do think that the study of natural science is so glorious a school for the mind that, with the laws impressed on all created things by the Creator, and the wonderful unity and stability of matter and the Jorces of matter, there cannot be a better school for the education of the mind. —FARADAY. 1 hope that my children, at least, if not I myself, will see the day when ignorance of the primary laws and Sacts of science will be looked upon as a defect, only second to ignorance of the primary laws of religion and morality. —CHARLES KINGSLEY. Scientific thought does not mean thought about scientific subjects with long names. There are no scientific subjects. The subject of science is the human universe ; that is to say, everything that is, or has been, or may be velated to man.—W. K. CLIFFORD. THE word education admits of many interpretations, and discussions and conferences on educational matters are frequently abortive owing to a confusion of ideas as to the true meaning of the term. Book-learning is by no means the most vital part of education ; it should certainly be subsidiary to formation of character, and, whatever the defects of public school education in this country, few will deny that the system in vogue at present probably produces a finer type of character than any other in the world. Character is formed to some extent in the classroom, but to a much larger extent during out-of-school hours, on the playing fields, in the Officers Training Corps, in the houses or dormitories, and during association with older boys and house masters and house tutors. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM But, in addition to and complementary to this, the acquisition of knowledge is of the utmost importance. The struggle for national supremacy in the near future will be so bitter that, to prepare for it, the education of the rising generation must be intensive. The whole system must be put in the melting-pot, the fine metal of useful knowledge discovered, and the dross rejected. Only by a drastic remodelling of the school curriculum will this object be attained. The educated boy of 18 to 19 should have, at any rate, some knowledge of four great matters; his soul, his mind, his body, and the world about him. The study of psychology, fascinating as it is, is not possible during a school career ; religious instruction in its broadest aspects and of the highest orderis. Even greater importance should be paid to this subject than is done at present. If properly dealt with it can be made intensely interesting even to a schoolboy, but occasionally it is taught by those who do not realize its importance and its possibilities. Appreciation of the beautiful in art and music as well as in literature should be inculcated: a school can rarely make expert artists, musicians, and writers, but the majority of boys should be able to appreciate the difference between a sonata of Beethoven and the music of the latest music hall revue, between a pavement picture and a Raphael or Titian, and between a dime novel and « Treasure Island”. For the same reasons that psychology is unsuitable for a school subject so is logic, and although it is still retained as an alternative subject in the additional part of the Previous Examinations at Cambridge it will probably soon disappear from the syllabus. There is an outcry at present for more logical and scientific method in classical and literary studies, but this can be obtained without a formal study of logic. With the development of science in education inductive and deductive processes INTRODUCTION of reasoning will be much more generally understood and applied to other studies. So far as knowledge of the body is concerned a boy before leaving school should have some idea of his own structure, of the laws dealing with his own growth and life and health, the scientific principles of which include such subjects as sanitation, ventilation, and hygiene generally. The fourth branch indicated is by far the widest of the groups as far as schools are concerned : it involves a study of the past as well as that of the present; the language, literature, and polity of the ancients ; the history of the development of nations ; the literature of our own and other countries ; social and industrial problems of modern times and bygone days; the processes of nature generally, and their application through industry and invention for the benefit of mankind. Such is a general outline of a complete education : to what extent this syllabus is being realized at the moment, and how far it is realizable under present conditions will be considered in the following pages. [n connection with the aims of education a conference consisting of approved representatives from the Councils of the Classical, English, Geographical, Historical, and Modern Language Associations, issued the following resolutions which have already been endorsed by the corresponding Mathematical and Science Associations — 1. It is essential that any reorganization of our educational system should make adequate provision for both humanistic! and scientific studies. Premature specialization on any one particular group of studies, whether “humanistic” or scientific, to the exclusion of all others is a serious danger, 3. * The word “humanistic” has unfortunately been applied by some recent writers to indicate those subjects which are not comprised under the terms * natural sciences ” and * mathematics ”’. It is misleading in so far as it suggests that the sciences are not a main part of * humanism THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM not only to education generally but to the studies concerned. in all reform of education it must never be forgotten that the first object is the training of human beings in mind and character, as citizens ofa free country, and that any technical preparation of boys and girls for a particular profession, occupation, or work must be consistent with this principle. 3 During the last two years the public generally have become more interested than usual in education, and the phrase “the reform of education” is constantly used in various publications and in the newspaper press by writers who are unaware of the forward strides made during the last ten years in the tendency of public school education. What is needed is not an initiation of reform but a stimulation of it. In the course of an excellent article which appeared in the “ Spectator ” recently, submitted by a master who had come back to public school education after an interval of ten years, the writer emphasizes this point, and compares modern public school education very favourably with that of the last decade. Despite its general readiness to discuss and criticize education in general, and public school education in particular, the truth of the matter is that the general public, even that section of it which has sons at public schools, knows very little about the subject. On the other hand the schoolmaster, estimating at its true value the worth of general criticism without adequate knowledge, is too apt to ignore the parents’ point of view, which, although frequently unsound, could nevertheless on many occasions be of the utmost value to him, and to the school. In the course of this and succeeding chapters the word co-operation will frequently appear: this is the key-note of all success in education and the closest co-operation between parent and master is not the least important INTRODUCTION factor in the efficiency of the public school of the future. The first annual report of the Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research, recently published, lays stress on two essentials, namely, the necessity of a largely increased supply of competent researchers, and further, the necessity for close co-operation between teachers and industrialists. Although the public schools are far from stagnant there is little doubt that they are not sufficiently progressive, and they stand in serious danger of being left behind in the race. Progress in other directions is so rapid that public schools, although moving forward, are nevertheless rapidly becoming out of date. The comparative conservatism of the public schools of the country, involving lack of touch with progress in the outer world, is almost proverbial. It is due in part to the lack of sympathy between parents and masters, but even more to the fact that governing bodies of our great schools have a general tendency to consider classical scholarship the one and only qualification for head masterships. This tendency is so remarkable, and is so little realized by the general public, that an analysis of the scholastic qualifications of the head masters of the public schools of this country is most enlightening. The head masters of all our great public schools are practically without exception classical scholars. Of the 114 schools represented on the Head Masters’ Conference ninety-two have classical head masters, ten mathematical, seven joint mathematical and scientific, four scientific, and one historical. * An analysis of the numbers of boys under the control of head masters of various qualifications shows the following remarkable figures .— The figures here given are obtained from the * Schoolmasters’ Year Book » of 1g14. 5 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM Under Classical head masters £ ,» Mathematical head masters . . Mathematical and Science head masters Science head masters . . Other qualifications . , Total 28,300 2,200 [,450 1,050 220 33,400 In other words, 82 per cent of boys attending the public schools of this country are under classical domination, whereas only 7'5 per cent of the total number are in schools where the head master has any academic qualifications in science whatever. It would be absurd to lay down the dictum that a master with classical scholarship is thereby unfitted for the responsibilities of organizing a public school which should be closely in touch with modern progress and the outer world; but it will probably not be denied that, speaking generally, a classical head master is much more likely to be out of sympathy with modern national and social problems and industrial movement than a modern one. But when we find that over 80 per cent of the masters on the Head Masters’ Conference are classical head masters, whilst only 135 per cent have received a mathematical education, and that but an insignificant 10 per cent are, even partly, scientists, can we wonder that the Head Masters’ Conference, taken as a whole, is terribly biased in educational ideas, with little if any sympathy towards that type of education which must be essential for national supremacy in the future. Not only does this affect the public schools of this country but it also influences the preparatory schools. A permanent Committee of the Head Masters’ Association exists solely for the purpose of advising preparatory schools as to their curricula, and, at the other end of the educational ladder, we have the ancient universities which have to cater for the public school product. Is it thus a matter for astonishment when we find that out of the INTRODUCTION 21 colleges at Oxford, for instance, there is not a single “head ”’ with any scientific attainments whatever ? The overwhelming domination of classics in the government of the education of the upper-middle and upper classes of this country must disappear before any real reform can ensue: other branches of learning must be adequately represented, and the lump very much leavened by the introduction of modern ideas and modern sympathies before the public schools can be expected to produce the maximum number of efficiently educated young men capable of leading the nation to victory in the coming industrial conflict. There are many in this country who are of opinion that by modernizing public school education we shall be merely copyists of German methods ; methods which are, by some, held responsible for the systematized brutality of Germany in the present war. This opinion is worthless, as it is based on two gross misapprehensions. In the first place, it is open to argument whether true scientific study, involving as it does a search for truth for its own sake, is not in reality more humane than any so-called ‘“ humanistic ” subject. Be that as it may, the subjects taught during school hours have in themselves little effect on character compared with other influences. Secondly, however, the sooner it is realized that the gymmnasien of Germany, at which the whole of the nation, except those trained in the elementary schools, are educated. are even more classical than the most conservative of English public schools, the less we shall hear of the fear that we may become barbarized by the study of Science. A writer to the “ Times Educational Supplement” of 28th September, 1916, in criticizing Sir Sidney Lee’s statement in his presidential address at a conference on the teaching of English, that “there was good reason to believe that the exaltation of the technological 3 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM branch of school and college studies in Germany, to the exclusion or neglect of humane branches had encouraged that systematized worship of brute force, with its inevitable issue in a brutal defiance of the usages of humanity,” has given the following figures from the timetables of the Prussian Ministry of Education. Hours of Teaching in the Gymnasien. Latin and Greek German » » French ‘ y English (optional) History and Geography Gymnastics . . Mathematics . . Science . . This time-table shows clearly that those who are anxious to stimulate the reform of public school teaching at home are just those who wish to avoid German curricula and methods. CHAPTER 1I. EDUCATION IN THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS. There is no alleviation of the sufferings of mankind except veracity of thought and action, and the resolute Jacing of the world as'it is when the garment of make-believe with which pious hands have hidden its uglier features have been stripped off —HUXLEY. A student may possess many examination certificates and yet be only a kind of text-book gramophone. Unless he acquires also the desive to see and do things independently he knows nothing of the scientific spirit which asks for new knowledge gained by individual inquiry. —ProF. R, A, GREGORY. Natural Science is a subject which a man cannot learn by paying for teachers. He must teach it himself, by patient observation, by patient common sense. And if the poor man is rot the rich man’s equal in those qualities, it must be his own fault, not his purse’s.—~CHARLES KINGSLEY. IN the normal course of events a boy before entering a public school passes through a preparatory school: he enters that school at the age of 9 or 10, and remains probably until 13 or 14 years of age. During these years a boy’s mind is probably more receptive than at any other time: the opportunities which a master has are enormous. These opportunities are criminally wasted, and it is difficult indeed to write one’s opinion of preparatory schools in moderate language. Let it here be understood that these remarks and criticisms apply in general rather than in particular: there are some preparatory schools—a very few—in which the type of education supplied to the average boy is a matter of serious concern to the master. These schools are well - [o THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM known to public schoolmasters by their fruits, but they can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand. In the great majority of cases the last thing to be considered by the preparatory school head master is the mental progress of the average boy. Paradoxical as it may seem, however, the preparatory school head master is not, and can scarcely be expected to be, an independent agent in the control of the organization and routine of his school: he exists to satisfy a demand, or rather several demands, and his success depends entirely upon the extent to which these requirements are met and correlated. An analysis of the factors determining the conduct of preparatory schools reveals quite clearly the causes of their inefficiency. The first and obviously predominant consideration of the preparatory school head master is to keep his school full, and in order that he may accomplish this end he has to study carefully what will attract the prospective parent; and further, since public schoolmasters in many cases influence parents in their choice of preparatory schools, it is necessary for him to arrange the school curriculum in such a way as to stand well with the public schools, and to secure as large a share of this influence as possible. A preparatory school head master in discussing this subject with the writer told him that amongst the thousands of questions put to him by the parents of prospective pupils, it was extremely rare for any inquiry to be made as to the education provided. The parents’ demand is for a somewhat advanced type of nursery, and consequently preparatory schools compete with each other in making their institutions as luxurious as possible: boys are mollycoddled to an absurd extent, and although the preparatory school head masters are practically unanimous in their opinion that a harder type of life would EDUCATION IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS 11 be of much greater benefit to the boys, in the face of this demand from the parent we cannot blame them for not being able to carry their opinions into practice. Seeing that parents generally take very little, if any, interest in the educational progress of their boys at the preparatory schools, the energies and capital of the head master are both diverted from their proper channels. The result is that these schools are inefficiently staffed from an educational point of view ; assistant masters are chosen for their social and athletic attainments rather than for any qualifications they may possess as teachers ; the staffs are inadequately paid, and function more as superior nurses than as schoolmasters with unlimited opportunities for the development of mind and character in the pupils. There is not the slightest doubt in the writer's mind, that if an average boy of 10 years of age were sent to a grant-earning county secondary school, for example, he would make as much progress in two years as he would do in four years in the normal preparatory school of this country. Nine out of every ten public schoolmasters would confirm this statement. This means the loss of two years at the most vital stage of a boy’s career. The cumulative consequences to the nation can scarcely be imagined, and, in order that Great Britain may continue to hold its proud position amongst the nations of the world in the future, the question of the conduct of preparatory schools will have to be tackled, and tackled very drastically. Unfortunately, however, the direct loss of two years is not the most serious defect in preparatory school education: far more serious is the charge that these schools stultify the mind, with the consequent production of intellectual apathy. Just as preparatory schoolmasters are absolved to a [2 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM considerable extent for the general conduct of preparatory schools, most of the guilt being placed on the shoulders of the parents; so they are themselves far from responsible for the curriculum of those schools, for this is directly controlled by the requirements of the public school. In 1908 the Head Masters’ Conference, which had been perfectly content to allow matters for many years to drift along placidly in the un-mitigated classical channel as far as preparatory schools were concerned, suddenly awoke to the fact that public opinion was beginning to take a serious interest in education generally. Consequently they appointed a committee to confer with preparatory schoolmasters as toa scheme of studies for schoolboys from the age of 9 upwards. That this decision was not come to with any sincere desire for the modernizing of early education, but rather from a fear that control would pass out of their hands, is suggested by the statement in the report that “the situation is one which no one can say is satisfactory, but also which will before long have passed out of control of us schoolmasters if we allow matters to drift, or if we appear to be incapable of any constructive effort ”. The report of this Committee is worthy of close analysis : let us consider the curriculum proposed :— Greek . Latin French . English . Mathematics . " Scripture and History Geography Before Greek is Begun. After Greek ~ Begun. ours MITTS f time is available :— Drawing , 3 Manual Training rho 281 hour hours 283 hours EDUCATION IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS 13 Since investigation shows, as will be proved later, that drawing and manual training are practically always “extras,” and alternative to cricket and football, we can ignore them as serious subiects in the preparatory school curriculum. Working out the percentage of time allotted to the various subjects, as suggested by the Committee of the Head Masters’ Conference, we arrive at the following results — Dead Languages. Modern Languages, per cent. | per cent. i Before | 2g-7 119 After 406 II'Q Total Foreign Languages, Anglish., Mathematics. Scripture and | History. Geography, Science and Nature Study, per cent. per cent. per cent. per cent.|per cent.|per cent. 416 | 198 | 178 | 119 8:9 0 525 I1.g | 178 | 11°9 5'9 0 Let the average parent ponder over these figures: can he think for one moment that the curriculum as proposed by the Head Masters’ Committee is such as to develop the maximum efficiency in the pupil ? One half the time to be spent on the study of foreign languages and a very large proportion of this even on dead languages! When one realizes that the study of languages in the elementary stages, as at present taught, consists of the learning of vocabulary and the memorizing of grammar, both of which are a drudgery only to the average boy, can we wonder that his intelligence is stultified and mental development arrested just at that period when it should be stimulated ? The training of memory is of the utmost importance at this stage of education, but surely it may be encouraged in far more useful spheres than that suggested by the Committee of the classically-biased Head Masters’ Conference. Although the curriculum as suggested by this report 14 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM is totally inadequate to meet modern needs, it would have been a move in the right direction, but the suggestions were not adopted in preparatory schools, and no encouragement was held out to them by the Head Masters’ Conference to alter their methods. The determining influence on the curriculum of preparatory schools is the attitude of the public schools. Quoting from the report of this Committee :— “Tt is clear that from the practical utility of such a scheme we are bound to rely upon a spirit of co-operation (of good-will, that is, upon the part of all schoolmasters) in working out this scheme.” The manifestation of this spirit of co-operation and good-will has failed to materialize, « , . . The entrance scholarship system, which in the opinion of most preparatory school head masters determines directly or indirectly the whole preparatory school curriculum. . . .” « It would seem then that if the public schools dominate the situation by the requirements of their scholarship examinations. . . .” «, .. It is clear to us that of the forces which control the preparatory schools’ curriculum the Public Schools’ Entrance Scholarship Examinations are by far the most potent.” ... It is no exaggeration to say that the curriculum of all, clever and dull alike, is affected by the demands that we make on the scholarship candidates.” In the face of this reiterated principle it was made abundantly clear to head masters that reform of teaching, as recommended by their own committee, could readily be attained by an alteration in the demand made on scholarship candidates’ by the public schools. The fact that few, if any, public schools during the last eight years have made any move in this direction, clearly proves that if the preparatory schools are to be modern- EDUCATION IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS 13 ized, the stimulus must come from some other direction. The head masters have ‘“ proved themselves incapable of any constructive effort,” and ‘the situation will before long have passed out of control of us schoolmasters * The criticism of the curricula of preparatory schools has so far been destructive: the question may well be asked, “ What is meant by the modernizing of the preparatory school ?” There are many principles to be considered when dealing with the question of the curriculum. The actual subjects taught have very little influence on the formation of character; the method of presentation of the subject to the pupil is all-important here. But in settling the balance between the various branches, we have to bear in mind that in the first place boys at the age when they enter a preparatory school are essentially curious; this curiosity must be both satisfied and stimulated. Secondly, one of the chief objects of education is, or should be, the unfolding of personality, and this consideration must be always kept in the foreground. Further, the danger of lapse into a state of intellectual apathy must be guarded against most carefully. All knowledge which a boy acquires, especially at this stage, should make him all the more anxious to acquire further knowledge : in other words a love of work for its own sake. In this way, and in this way only can any satisfactory progress be made. Bearing in mind these few main principles the following suggestions are offered :— t. Languages.—In the opinion of the Head Masters’ Conference the average boy cannot undertake the study of more than two languages besides English before attaining the age of 13 years without detriment to his general education. At this stage of youth, and under the present method of teaching, the learning of a language in 16 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM its early stages consists mainly in memorizing grammar and learning vocabulary, and anything more stultifying intellectually it would be difficult to impose. In connection with this point it is interesting to know that an increasing number of preparatory schoolmasters are opposed to the principle of compulsion of curriculum by means of examination syllabuses drawn up by those who are both unaware of the difficulties they have to contend with and who are out of sympathy with them. A serious attempt is being made to settle their own curricula, by general agreement amongst themselves, so as to compel the public schools to examine in what they teach rather than to acquiesce in being compelled to teach subjects prescribed for them. One of the points at present arousing much controversy is the wisdom of teaching any Latin at preparatory schools. It is here suggested that the average boy cannot undertake the studv of more than one language, besides English, before attaining the age of 13 years without detriment to his general education, and that this language should be French. No boy can make much progress in any foreign language until he has acquired both a considerable vocabulary and facility of expression in his own. Bearing in mind also the principle of stimulation of interest, the early stages of instruction in French should be entirely conversational and of the simplest possible kind. The direct method in its elementary stages is entirely suitable and is in accordance with the general principles already stated. Boys of 13 years of age may begin the study of another language, Latin, for example, without much danger; and classical masters at public schools would probably generally agree that little if anything would be lost in the way of classical development were the initiation into Latin deferred until this age. EDUCATION IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS 17 English—The neglect of the study of English in preparatory schools is one of the two most serious defects in the curriculum. The figures given on page 20 are surely astounding. Many boys leave preparatory schools with practically no knowledge of English; they have neither read for themselves nor have had read to them any type of good literature ; they have no idea of the construction of an English sentence, and they are quite incapable of writing either a simple description of a common object, or even a letter. The spelling of the average boy of 14 is atrocious, and is perhaps only a fraction of a degree less blameworthy than his handwriting. Quite apart from its intrinsic value in the educational scheme the lack of knowledge of English paralyses a boy's progress in practically every direction, and in any reform of preparatory school education the first point to be considered is the position of English teaching. Mathematics.—In no subject possibly is the stimulation of interest more important than in mathematics. Practical mathematics is most valuable in this direction, and yet there are few preparatory schools which teach it : inquiries made into the teaching of mathematics at thirty preparatory schools did not reveal a single instance, Boys of this age should be taught to handle, measure and weigh, and to draw logical conclusions from their results. Examples given in all branches should have, as far as possible, concrete applications. The number of hours allotted to this subject per week is probably as high as can be arranged, but methods of teaching need considerable modification. History, Geography, and Divinity.— Considering the limited amount of time available for these subjects the results of preparatory school teaching are excellent, especially as far as history is concerned. Boys are interested in the subjects, and generally speaking arrive at the public school quite well grounded in these branches. 18 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM The teaching of geography might with advantage be made more practical. Science.—The whole question of science in education will be dealt with in a later chapter. Suffice it to say here that it is generally agreed on all sides that nothing in the nature of formal science, that is to say a detailed study of chemistry and the various branches of physics, is either possible or desirable in preparatory schools. Nature study, observational work, and an elementary acquaintance with simple mechanical models should, however, be introduced into the curriculum for an hour a week, and time should also be available for the encouragement of boys in their particular hobbies. The spirit of research is latent in most boys and is perhaps nearer to the surface at this age than at any other. Every opportunity should be taken of encouraging and developing this natural instinct. There is a real delight in making a discovery, however trivial, through one’s own observation and manipulation : few things indeed have a higher educational value. Considerable stimulus may be applied in this direction by narrating, in the simplest manner, an outline of the history of some great scientific discoveries such as, for example, the movements of the planets, the shape of the earth, the conservation of mass and of energy, the evolution of the steam engine, etc, etc. It is impossible to specify the best method of treating this most important development—everything depends upon the capabilities and the sympathies of the teacher— but it must receive adequate recognition in some way or other. Drawing.—As far as one can gather about 50 per cent of preparatory schools allot about one hour a week out of the curriculum to drawing. It should be introduced as a compulsory subject in all schools, although the time given to it must necessarily be short. Mucir —The claims of music as a desirable educational EDUCATION IN PREPARATORY SCHOOLS 19 subject seem to be considered more favourably at present than was the case a few years ago. Either vocal or instrumental music should receive direct encouragement by becoming an integral part of the curriculum. Much thought and experiment must be used, however, before deciding on the most advantageous methods to be employed. Manual Training.—In the education of the young the training of the mind should doubtless be paramount. On the other hand, the tendency at present is to ignore the claims of the eye, the ear, and the hand to similar treatment. The development of the limbs and senses must receive more adequate recognition in the future, and this should be closely correlated with brain development. In few schools is manual training compulsory, though in most it is an “extra” and is taken up by many boys. It should be introduced into the school programme. The curriculum suggested by the Committee of the Head Masters’ Conference, the present average curriculum as obtained from statistics of thirty-two preparatory schools with an average number of 50 boys, and a suggested curriculum on modern lines are set out in parallel columns on the next page. Inquiries made from twenty-two young boys at a public school as to which subjects interested them most and which subjects bored them most at their preparatory schools resulted in the following vote :— Most Interesting Subjects. History and Geography : English ” 2 . Mathematics . . Latin . . . . French . . 3 3 5 Elementary Science (Nature Studv. ete.l) Latin French . English . . \Tathematics . History . Drawing Most Boring Subjects. The things a boy likes best are not always by any means those which are best for him, but in order to avoid ‘ These were the only two schools in which science was taught. 20 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM the worst of all evils, that of intellectual stultification, very serious thought must be given as to which subjects arouse most mental interest, and in all considerations as to alteration in educational curricula, this point is worthy of the closest attention. Latin . French . English . ” Mathematics . Scripture } History : : Geography . . Introductory Science Manual Training . Drawing . . Music . . \ If time is available: Drawing . . Manual Training . As Suggested by the Committee of the Head Masters Conference. ‘ Before Greek is Begun.” Hours. 74 x 4 Present Curiculum as Obtained from Average of Thirty-two Preparatory Schools. Suggested Programme on Modern Lines. # Under 13." Hours. Hours. > 5 33 Varies very | 3 hours during which a considerably|boy should be encouraccording tojaged to develop his hobschool. ‘bies or favourite studies. !In cases where Greek is taken before the age of 13 this is practically always done at the expense of mathematics. ? To include practical mathematics. CHAPTER III I'HE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM. They are the salt of the earth, which keeps the world of man from decaying back into barbarism. They ave the children of light. They are the aristocracy of God, into which not many noble, not many rich, not many mighty, are called. Most of them were poor ; many all but unknown in their own time, many died and saw no fruit of their labours; some were persecuted, some were slain, as heretics, innovators, and corruptors of youth. Of some the very names are forgotten. But though their names be dead, their works live, and grow and spread over ever fresh generations of youth, showing them fresh steps towards that temple of wisdom which is the knowledge of things as they are ; the knowledge of those eternal laws by which God governs the heavens and the earth, things temporal and “eternal, physical and spiritual, seen and unseen, from the fall and rise of mighty nations lo the growth and death of moss on yonder moors.—CHARLES KINGSLEY. THE function of the public school curriculum is twofold : it should in the first place ensure that every boy receives a thorough grounding in the classical and literary studies and sciences generally : this work, of course, should begin at the preparatory schools. Secondly, and quite subsidiary to the main motive, it should afford to the older boys some possibility of developing those subjects which specially appeal to them, but this limited specialization should not be permitted before the age of 16 or 163 years. The evils of early specialization are universally admitted. The Master of Trinity, for twenty-five years Head Master of Harrow, has described early specialization as being “the giant bully of all our tribe,” and the Classical Head Masters’ Conference has more than 22 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM once pointed out in the strongest terms the evils of early specialization ; but unfortunately have not put their theories into practice. Early specialization, nevertheless, still remains as the predominant factor in the public school system, and is unfortunately directed into that channel where, for a very large majority of those who have to suffer it, it is utterly useless and without recompense. As has been pointed out in the last chapter, the curricula of the preparatory schools are influenced, quite naturally, to a predominating extent by the Entrance Scholarship Examinations to public schools. The only subject which pays in these examinations is classics, and in few, if any, cases are they allotted on general knowledge. At present the cleverer boys at the preparatory schools are tempted to neglect the subsidiary subjects taught there, in order to specialize on the more paying subjects, namely, the classical ones, Having attained a certain proficiency in them they are unlikely to wish to change to others, about which they know little, or to be allowed to do so if they wish. Thus the most clever boys are bound down to classics quite early in their lives. The clever boy in most cases has no chance to discover his true bent, or to be allowed to develop it even if he does. We see here the evils of early specialization in the most pronounced form. Public schools are, as a rule, divided into two sides— classical and modern. On arrival from the preparatory school the boy is drafted to one or the other. In practically no case is the boy’s own bent considered ; for what opportunity has he had of discovering it? Very rarely also does the parent exercise a determining influence ; usually he doesn’t bother about it and, when he does, he is content to let the decision rest with those whom he thinks are experts; namely, either the preparatory schoolmaster or the public school authorities, THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 23 The result is obvious: all the cleverer boys are of course earmarked for the classical side, and the average boy is also allotted to this department as being, in the view of most head masters, the only type of education which is of any value. Only those boys who show no sign of any development along classical lines, that is to say the dullards, are privileged to go on to the modern side. Consequently we find in our great public schools the large majority on the classical side and the residuum, of considerably lower ability, on the modern side. As soon as a boy reaches the classical side of a public school he becomes entirely a specialist, and his general education is completed at the age of 13 or 14. So far as his education, in the narrow meaning of the word, is concerned the majority of boys might just as well not be at a school at all, for certainly not more than 10 per cent ever reach the stage of real appreciation of the language and literature of Greece and Rome. The general public has no conception of the terrible waste of the finest material in the world which is taking place in the workshops of the public schools. Let us examine the curriculum of the boy on the classical side of a public school: the figures on the next page are taken from the routine of the classical side of one of our best-known and most modern public schools. The figures from the routine of our great and ancient public schools would show even greater specialization, Can anyone pretend for a moment that education on these lines is of any use whatever to the great majority who, in spite of this specialization, never become classical scholars, and fail to get any pleasure or benefit in after life to compensate for the drudgery of the classroom ? Owing to a recent amalgamation of the classical and modern sides these figures are not now applicable, 24 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM Subjects in Hours per Week (including Prerarations) but excluding Sundays. 2 123 °e T, o 3 5, - Ww oe o . 2 So B88 ; TE) 5 55 | 2% = |E85 ¢ 5 7 mw o or: = «<9 = el 8 | w | 5 | gg f |a8| Ll z Be ex | 3 gg a | 3 28 | 3 wd u To > FE a o - 30 o o nm VI 17g V 171 IV 16x | 111 j15'10 II 152 I lig Special Work 27 3 + mil 233 22% 20% 214 4 nil atl 52 od E il | I oy ot 2 <2 51 2 <3 on nil 2 y 3 The truth of the matter is that the classically educated boy is, and obviously must be, imperfectly educated. The large number of boys to whom classics makes no appeal are intellectually stultified, and the education they receive is actively deleterious to them. Is it wonderful that the very small percentage who eventually make something of the subject tend to become in many cases narrowminded. If it were not for influences outside the classroom the effect of such education on character would be serious indeed. The favouritism towards classics is not only shown in the hours allotted toit in the routine, but the modern side staff is cut down and overworked in order to provide for this favoured clique. In the school above referred to the average number of boys in a classical form is eleven ; the average number of boys in a modern side form is thirty ; science sets are made up of twenty-four boys, and mathematical sets of twenty ! The value of a classical education may be as great as that in any other branch of knowledge, but the value of a general education is infinitely greater. All education THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 25 should be non-specialized, and on general lines up to the age of 16 at least, and no division into modern and classi. cal sides should be made until then. Only after a boy has attained a certain knowledge of many branches can his true bent be discovered. Specialization may then take place to whatever extent may be desirable, classical or otherwise, and the master will have the delight of developing boys of ability along their special bent, instead of the drudgery of forcing unwelcome knowledge into unwilling minds as at present. The evils of specialization at an early age are most marked in the direction of classics. The modern side of a public school manifests this danger also, but in a different direction—specialization of a particular branch is certainly avoided here, but specialization within the branch is noticeable in most subjects, and must be eradicated if a comprehensive general education is to be acquired by all. In the case of science, for example, the usual method of teaching adopted is the instruction of classes in logical courses in heat, light, magnetism, electricity and chemistry, more or less treated in water-tight compartments. So long as instruction in science was ouly given to those destined for a scientific career the adoption of sucha method was understandable, although such formal teaching was probably introduced at too early an age with the consequent disregard of a general knowledge of natural phenomena. Since science, however, is now becoming regarded as an integral part of a general education, it must be recognized that courses designed for specialists are totally unsuited to the average boy. In a few schools, indeed, reform is at present actively proceeding along these lines, and public school science masters are busily engaged in putting their own house in order to meet the present demand for the introduction of science into the general curriculum. 26 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM This specialization within the limits of the subject itself is also apparent in the case of mathematics: the tendency is to treat all boys in the lower forms of public schools as if they were potential university scholarship candidates in that subject. The function of mathematics in a scheme of general education should be essentially utilitarian ; the teaching should be based to a much larger extent on practical work, and the examples given should, to a considerable degree, have concrete applications. Mental gymnastics, so dear to the heart of the pure mathematician, should be reduced to a minimum until the age when specialization may commence without detriment. Such reform would be of inestimable benefit to the average boy, and the candidate for university scholarships would lose nothing by the change. The tendency to limit the teaching of a subject to a detailed knowledge of a particular section is probably less noticeable in the case of history than of most other subjects. Most boys leave public schools with a good general knowledge of the whole course of English history, and have not been restricted to an intimate acquaintance with any particular period; but why not widen the study still further? A general education should certainly include a comprehensive sketch of ancient history as well as modern; of other nations as well as of our own. The relation of cause to effect in the history of the Empire cannot be appreciated without taking into consideration the contemporary history of other lands, and, although this would entail a less detailed knowledge of our own history, the general principles of national development would appear in their true light, and after all that is the chief educational value in a study of this subject. In no group is the failure of the public school system THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 27 more apparent than in the teaching of modern languages, and this is recognized by the Government which has appointed a committee to inquire into the methods at present employed. Whatever their recommendations may be' they will prove of no effect unless either the form system on the modern side of schools is abolished or, if it be retained, the teaching of French taken out of the hands of form masters. In the teaching of science boys are usually grouped into sets according to their ability in the particular subject, and they are taught by masters who have specialized in the study and, generally, have taken a university degree in that branch. In this way progressive education to a certain extent is possible, although it is sadly limited by defects in the general school organization. In many schools also mathematics is similarly taught; methods, although open to criticism, are to some extent unified under the head of a department and progressive instruction is possible. Promotion to a higher set in such cases depends entirely on ability in the particular subject, and a boy is not passed on to higher work in mathematics or in science because he happens to possess ability in Latin or in English. The re-grouping of boys into sets for science and mathematics is becoming more general in public schools and it is an obvious and a welcome reform. In the forms on the modern side of a public school an extraordinary variety of subjects is taught: Latin, French, German, English, History, Geography, Divinity and sometimes Mathematics. The consequence of this system is that a boy gains his form promotion usually by ability in one particular subject. This frequently happens to be Latin, as in many cases a preponderance of marks is allotted to this subject. ’ Whatever a boy’s best subject may be his education is more or less progressive in that subject, but in a// other 28 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM subjects the continuity is entirely broken owing to boys either finding themselves trying to assimilate instruction in a particular stage before they are ready for that stage or else finding themselves compelled through missing their form promotion to recapitulate the programme of a subject which they may know perfectly. There is no subject that this pernicious system hits more hardly than that of modern languages. The first cause of failure consequently is in the system of form promotion, and the second cause lies in the fact that rarely have form masters anything like a sound education in this subject ; at any rate, the degrees of attainment vary considerably. The ideal is that no master should teach more than two subjects at most, and it is unreasonable to expect that all form masters should possess facility in two modern languages or even in one. At any rate they cannot be obtained. The result is that a boy finds himself, for instance, in a form taken by a master who speaks French fluently, and employs what is known as the direct method, that is to say, that the whole of the instruction is given in the language studied. It takes the boy about a term to get the hang, 50 to speak, of this, to him, novel method, and he then gets promoted to a form whose master is an eminent classical or history scholar, and who cannot converse fluently, or perhaps cannot converse at all, in the particular foreign language. He is then set to learning page after page of irregular verbs, his development along linguistic lines is arrested, and by the time he reaches another form master, whose subject is that particular language, he has forgotten all he learnt, and has to start all over again. Can we wonder at the small percentage of boys leaving a public school who can converse in a foreign language when we examine the system of education? And yet under a suitable organization all boys should be able to converse freely in at least one foreign language before THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 29 they leave school. At the Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth, for example, where the teaching of foreign languages is systematized, the average time spent on a foreign language is five hours a week (including preparations). At the conclusion of four years cadets leaving the college can converse with considerable fluency in the language, All conferences on methods of teaching foreign languages are futile under the present system for, even if modern language masters could settle on which of the many various methods of teaching is the ideal one, form masters generally would be incapable of teaching on those lines. The only remedy is to abolish the form system on the modern side of public schools or, at any rate, to withdraw modern languages from the form scheme of work, to organize boys into French sets or German sets throughout the school, taught by masters conversant with the subject, and to make the schemes and methods of promotion progressive according to ability. Possibly in no other subject have such rapid strides been made in recent years as in teaching Geography, thanks in great measure to the activities and successful endeavours of the Geographical Association. In many public schools geography is now taught by specially trained masters, and, owing to the influence which the Geographical Association has exerted on examining bodies, the papers and syllabuses are so framed that schools have been compelled to some extent to teach this subject on modern lines. Much yet remains to be done, however, for in no subject is a sound training in educational methods more vital. This is essential, for those now teaching the subject on modern lines themselves learnt it on the old system, and have had to acquire a knowledge of the subject, 30 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM its aims and its educational value. Geography no longer consists of an enumeration of the capes on the coast line of America, nor in being able to memorize the various departments in France with their respective capitals. It now has a high educational value, and, in the same way that natural science, if properly taught, should study the relations between individuals and their environment, so modern geography does concern itself with the influence of environment on national characteristics and character. A general education is not complete unless it has inculcated some knowledge of the nations, industries, and climate of the various countries of the world, and more particularly of the British Empire. It should be taught by an imaginary series of travels or expeditions to different parts of the world. From an imperial point of view this subject, sympathetically taught, is especially valuable. In no subject is reform more urgently needed than in the teaching of English. The neglect of this study in the preparatory schools of the kingdom has already been commented upon, but the scant attention paid to English on the classical side of the public schools is a serious matter indeed, and is open to considerable criticism. Conversations with many classical masters tend to show that this neglect is the natural consequence of two generally accepted opinions both of which modernists hold to be utterly fallacious. The first of these two opinions is, that by a study of the classics a boy learns indirectly as much English as he requires during a school career. The second is, that without a classical education we are unable adequately to express our ideas in our own language. Sir Edward Schifer has criticized the latter statement in the following words :— “The absurdity of this contention is obvious at a time THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 31 when we are commemorating the 300th anniversary of the author whose immortal works were written under all the disadvantages of the possession of small Latin and less Greek. Perhaps it is unfair to adduce as an example so transcendent a genius as Shakespeare. He, one feels, even with a complete classical education, would still have succeeded in bewitching the world with his wonderful imaginings, and in inspiring his characters with the attributes and sentiments which his puny fellow mortals have marvelled at for 300 years, and will doubtless continue to admire as long as the world continues to exist. Nevertheless, if Shakespeare had gone through a course of Eton and Oxford, the language his ideas are clothed in would certainly be different, and 1 imagine that there is not even the most classical of our opponents but is thankful that he escaped. “1 am content, however, to leave Shakespeare on his pinnacle—unattained and unattainable —and to recall the name of one, John Bunyan. Has anyone amongst the polished eighteenth-century essayists written in a purer style than the bravely obstinate tinker’s son of Elstow, whose literary studies were mainly confined to the Bible? “Or to take an instance from our own times, was there ever a finer speaker than John Bright, ‘the great Tribune,” whose utterances, couched in simple, vigorous English, passed, if you will excuse the Teutonic pun, like the Herzian waves, straight from his own heart to that of his audience ? “ And is there not another great writer and speaker, of whom we are, many of us, proud to have been the disciples; who without the advantages of a classical upbringing was pre-eminent amongst nineteenth-century authors for his faultless diction and for the direct and terse enunciation of his thoughts? Needless to say I refer to Thomas Henry Huxley.” 32 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM That the narrow-minded and presumptuous opinions referred to are not held by all classicists is true, but they are tenets of the classical schoolmaster, and that is the stumbling-block in the way of reform. The late Professor Henry Sidgwick, one of our most profound classical scholars, held that classics are the great impediment to a literary education. The present Poet Laureate indeed contends that “ our present methods of classical education, being unscientific, are actively pernicious ”. The true relation of a classical education to a study of the English language and literature has been enunciated most clearly by Dr. Macan, the President of University College, Oxford. Is it too much to hope that those classicists who believe in the perfection of their own methods, and in the self-sufficiency of a classical education to the neglect of all other studies, may read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the following quotation from a speech made by this eminent classical authority on 3rd May, 1916?! «There is one point of view which I, as a Hellenist, as one who has devoted forty years to the study of ancient history, and especially Greek history, should like to put before this meeting. 1 think that the men of science at the present day, and those who, like ourselves, are demanding an extension of scientific education in this country, are working in the true interests of Hellenism, and in the spirit of Ancient Greece. To do so would be to follow the example of the Ancient Greeks. To do so would be to adopt their spirit, even if we dropped a certain amount of their letters. «There were four elements in the education of the Greek Ephebi, or undergraduates, of the palmy days of the Periclean University. The first was gymnastic, or 1 Conference on the Neglect of Science held at Burlington House. The full report of the proceedings is published by Messrs. Harrison & Sons, price sixpence. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 33 the cultivation of the body by games or manly or martial exercises. The second was the study of nature, or natural science as then understood; and I need not in this assembly labour the point for, after all, the Ancient Greeks were the fathers of modern science. The third was—not the study of Ancient Babylonian, not the study of Pheenician, not the study of Egyptian, or Syrian, or any other foreign language, but it was the study of Greek and Greek literature, 2» primis of Homer. That is a good example for us; but we should be applying it, not by studying Homer, but by studying Shakespeare. “The fourth element in the education of those blooming young Athenian undergraduates was the inculcation of reverence for the gods. “Now those should be the lines upon which our public school education should be run at present; and to a great extent, or, at any rate, in regard to the first and last, the gymnastic and the reverence for the gods, there is really very little to be desired in the practice and theory of our public school education at this moment. “ But if we want to reform our education in the true spirit of the Greeks and of Ancient Greece, then we must make an alteration in our curriculum. We must make English, and a knowledge of English and of English literature and facility in the use of it, one of the corner stones ; and, if a building has two corner stones, then the other corner stone must be the study of the world in which we live. On those lines I think we shall be really paying the greatest homage to the Ancient Greeks. “1, personally, of course, am not in the least afraid of the disappearance of interest in the Greek language and literature in our midst, even if our curriculum is reformed. It can stand on its own merits. It is too deeply ingrained in our own literature and in science itself, It is too much wrapped up in our religion ever to disappear from the general course of studies. 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 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 33 other subjects to allow of their reading widely, and to permit of careful and analytical correction of essays and similar written work. Up to the present the development of the mind in a general educational scheme has been exclusively considered : the development of the body and of the senses must also form an integral part of a general education. Science is the subject which forms the connecting link. First in importance perhaps comes the training of the eye, in as far as the development of the faculty of observation is considered. This is essentially a branch of Natural Science, and as such is considered in a later chapter. The senses of smell and taste are also developed in the chemical branch of science, and are applied to the detection of various forms and classes of matter. The proper use of the ear and voice is inculcated by a study of music, and this in some form or other must find a place in the general curriculum. Voice production is most valuable, not on musical grounds alone, but also as a valuable aid to physical development as far as the lungs are concerned, and also as a most useful asset to every member of the community, and especially to those who are destined to become public speakers or who may eventually be drafted to those professions where a good word of command is essential. All boys should have an opportunity at some stage in their career of being trained in this direction. The co-ordination of hand and brain needs careful training, and this may be acquired through many channels; instrumental music has the great advantage of developing the training of the ear at the same time. Drawing teaches the transference of mental pictures through the hand on to surfaces where they may be recorded : not only has it in this way a purely educational value. but it 36 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM also finds valuable practical applications in science, engineering, architecture, and other professions. The main principles to be studied are few in number. When these are once acquired only practice is necessary for the average boy to be able to represent his mental pictures graphically with a certain degree of accuracy. Sufficient time must be allotted for these principles to be acquired. Handicraft work also, whether in wood or metals, must find a niche somewhere : the expression of ideas in the form of solid objects made by the hand is complementary to their representation on paper, and is even more valuable than drawing for it develops the power to use Nature's materials for the benefit and for the pleasure of mankind. To what extent handicraft should be introduced depends largely on conditions: many schools have engingering shops where a considerable amount of dexterity is acquired : other schools again are of opinion that specialization to such an extent is detrimental, and confine their energies to woodwork, but by far the larger number ignore it altogether as far as the curriculum is concerned. Whatever form may be considered desirable is a secondary point : the important thing is to secure, in any change of curriculum, a position for this important subject, and to save it from being relegated to the inferior position of an extra subject. The question of religious instruction has been left till last in this résumé of the public school curriculum, not because it is by any means the least important, far from it, but because, speaking generally, the methods adopted by public {chools are as satisfactory as one can reasonably expect. The defects of the modern system so far as the curricula of preparatory and public schools are concerned, THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 37 and in as far as they are apparent to a schoolmaster, have been pointed out, and in this connection it merely remains to examine the chief obstacles in the way of reform. These seem to fall into four classes: in the first place we have the conservatism of head masters, of which perhaps sufficient has already been said. Even admitting their anxiety to keep abreast of modern progress, their classical training has been such as to render their best efforts futile : they have no understanding of modern problems, no sympathy with scientific and industrial progress, their own education has been too highly specialized, and in addition to this their specialization has been too much in one direction to permit of their viewing any problem except from the narrowest of standpoints. The second great obstacle is the bugbear of examinations. Weare abject slaves to this tyrant, and unless this bully be seriously maimed—it is probably impossible to kill him-——progress will be extraordinarily slow and extraordinarily difficult. At the present time, in every type of school, on modern and on classical sides, we are simply teaching in accordance with a syllabus on the narrowest and most restricted lines. Education is reduced to a mere cram, and, apart from classical subjects, there is scarcely sufficient time to cover the syllabus in any subject for any examination even by intensive cramming. True education is not possible along these lines; principles are generally neglected in favour of the mere acquisition of isolated facts: this results in the active development of stupidity in the unfortunate victims who have to submit to such a system. However ideal it may be, the abolition of examinations seems to be impracticable, and in connection with this point it may well be remembered that, after all, examinations are an excellent test of rapid concentration of thought—a valuable asset indeed, If the medicine is 38 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM carefully dispensed and given in small doses it acts as an excellent stimulant, but given in excess it is an active poison, and becomes a narcotic to the mental system. The condition of each patient should be carefully diagnosed ; the medicine should not be taken out of one blue bottle, but prescriptions should vary according to the diagnosis. Instead of the present universal system of definite compulsory subjects for all candidates in examinations a much freer choice should be possible: not *‘ uncontrolled options” indeed, any more than a free choice of drugs by the patient. American education has shown us the failure of that system, but some principle of compensating groups in which a high standard in certain subjects will compensate for a low standard in others. Again, patients are prescribed for by doctors who have not diagnosed the case, and unfortunately, in addition to this, the same patient is attended by many doctors all acting without knowledge of the conditions, and usually without consultation with each other. The moral is obvious—reduce thenumber of examining boards: if possible let examining powers be vested in a single authority, and insist that this specialist shall not prescribe without consulting the local doctor who has had charge of the case, and who is represented in this simile by the public or preparatory schoolmaster himself. Under the present system it is not to be wondered at that progress is so slow, but rather that so many patients survive at all. The general principle at present in force is the influencing of curricula by means of examination syllabuses, compiled by those who have no intimate knowledge of the conditions and difficulties of the lower rungs of the educational ladder. Preparatory schools, for example, should themselves settle the type of education they consider most suited to the boys they teach. Consultation and co-operation with public school head masters is both THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULUM 39 essential and also of the utmost value. The final decision should, however, be in the hands of the preparatory schoolmaster, and both the common entrance examination to public schools and the scholarship examinations should be controlled by them, since it is generally admitted that the whole curriculum is determined by the syllabus of these examinations. In exactly the same way why should the type of education given in public schools be entirely controlled either by the universities or by the multitudinous examining boards who know little about the conditions existing in such schools? The examining boards for Responsions and the Previous, and for all school leaving examinations, should be composed largely of public schoolmasters: scholarship examinations should be run on similar lines. In order that the curricula of schools should be developed along satisfactory lines, the teacher, as a class, must be the examiner: the totally unwarranted compulsion by means of a syllabus designed by an external body must be abolished, and the universities and professions should accept the public school product as it is turned out. There is little doubt but that the higher rungs of the ladder would be the gainers and not the losers by such a revolution. Thirdly, we have the difficulty of the staff: we are told that even if other obstacles were removed it would be impossible to secure the teachers necessary for a sound general education, for no master should be engaged in teaching more than two subjects. This objection to reform is probably unsound, at any rate so far as this country is concerned ; for the whole history of the nation, and especially our recent experience in the world war, have shown clearly that whenever a demand appears in any direction the supply is usually sufficient for it within a short period of time. Doubtless for the next few years there will be difficulties in regard to supply, but those 40 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM difficulties will progressively diminish in the years succeeding the conclusion of peace. If, however, education is the vital factor in national supremacy, it is of the utmost importance to secure a supply not only sufficient in quantity but also of the required high standard. The teaching profession must be sufficiently attractive to secure from the universities their very best product, and this leads us to the fourth obstacle, namely, that of finance. The salaries and prospects of the assistant masters at our public and, more especially, at our preparatory schools must be considerably improved, and this involves the expenditure of large sums of money. The terrific financial waste under the present system, however, is much greater than the necessary increase of expenditure on school staffs. The extent of this financial waste is indicated in a later chapter on the advantages and defects of the public school system, and later still a scheme for economizing this waste is suggested, and one which will double the staff available for any particular public school without increasing the expenditure at all. The last two obstacles to reform under this scheme will thus to a considerable extent disappear. CHAPTER IV. 'HE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN THE EDUCATIONAL SCHEME. L value in a scientific mind, most of all that love of truth, that care in its pursuit, and that humility of mind which makes the possibility of error always present more than “any other quality. This is the mind which has built up modern science to its present perfection, which has laid one slone upon the other with such care that it to-day offers to the world the most complete monument to human reason. This is the mind which is destined to govern the world in the future, and to solve the problems pertaining to politics and humanity as well as to inanimate nature. It is the only mind which appreciates the imperfections of human yeason, and is thus careful to guard against them. Itis the only mind that values the truth as it should be valued and ignores all personal feeling in its pursuit, —PRor. H. A. RowLAND, In my laboratory I find that water of Lethe which causes that I forget everything but the joy of making experiments.~ROBERT Bovre, One use of physical science is that it gives definite ideas.—S1r Humprry Davy. THE general characteristics of the public school curricutum have already been considered, but the position of science in such a scheme has purposely been deferred. The subject is of such supreme importance from the point of view of national supremacy that it merits. particular attention: a separate chapter is therefore devoted to its consideration, The subject has been so widely discussed in the press [rom every possible standpoint, except from that of teachers of the subject in our schools, that it may be of public interest to know the attitude of the public school science master towards all suggestions of reform, In this Tv 42 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM connection the views expressed are not merely the personal views of the author, but they represent as nearly as possible the views of most of those teaching science in our great schools. Minor details may still be at issue, but the general principles here laid down may be taken as the basis upon which public school science masters are endeavouring to raise a superstructure worthy of the subject they represent. As is inevitable in a press campaign, a plethora of nonsense has been written by those who have dashed into print and, frequently, controversy without really understanding or attempting to study the points at issue. This is true of both sides, and has proceeded from two misconceptions. It is essential that these misconceptions be abolished before we understand what the problem really is. The first misconception is due to the very unfortunate terminology “humanistic” and “scientific”. The representative Conference of the Classical, English, Geographical, Historical, and Modern Language Associations admit the misleading nature of this false distinction. In response to the invitation of the above-mentioned * humanistic associations,” the Public Schools Science Masters’ Association have cited the following two needs which they consider that science exists to meet :— t. Search for truth. « Imaginative power indicates new fields in which further knowledge of truth may be revealed ; its subsequent establishment depends upon accurate observation, with constant recourse to nature for confirmation. The one aim of natural science is, in fact, the search for truth based on evidence rather than on authority. Hence the study of the subject implies accurate observation and description and fosters a love of truth. The special value of natural science in the training of mind and character lies in the fact that the history of the subject isa plain record of the search for truth for its own sake.” THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 43 2. Utility. “There are certain facts and ideas in the world of natural science with which it is essential that every educated man should be familiar. A knowledge of these facts assists men (2) to understand how the forces of nature may be employed for the benefit of mankind, (4) to appreciate the sequence of cause and effect in governing their own lives, and (¢) to see things as they really are, and not to distort them into what they may wish them to be. It is the business of natural science in education to bring this knowledge within the range of all.” True scientific education therefore is not only essentially “humanistic,” but it is difficult to see that any subject can surpass natural science as a ‘humane ” study. The mistaken idea that scientific education means subordinating all other issues to a mere mechanical interpretation of life and activity must be eradicated: indeed, this is the very one point that modern scientific teachers are continually combating. So far as schools are concerned, however, and so far as the formation of character is considered, the actual subjects studied in the classroom are to all intents and purposes immaterial. Does anyone suggest for one moment that the general type as exhibited in the old days by the midshipman from H.M.S, “ Britannia,” or at the present time by the naval cadet passing out from Dartmouth, where the education is essentially scientific, is the least whit inferior to that of the average public school boy of the same age? Rather the reverse, when we consider the high standard of our senior service. Character is mainly formed by influences entirely outside the classroom, and we need fear no demoralization as a result of the change of curriculum. The second serious misapprehension is that scientists desire that the study of their particular subject should 44 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM oust the study of other subjects, and more especially Greek and Latin. No charge could be more unjust : all that public school science masters are anxious to obtain is a postponement: of any specialization, especially as far as their own subject is concerned, up to the age of 16 or 164 years. Until that age has been reached they hold that all education should be general, so as to avoid the evils of early specialization which are so generally admitted. After that age a system of united and progressive specialization should be permitted, but science masters claim no privilege which they are not prepared to grant in equal degree to all branches of learning, classical as well as modern. They are anxious to postpone the study of formal science until the age of 16 or 164 years of age, but are equally opposed to specialized classics until the same age, Indeed, so far as modern literary and historical studies are concerned, they are strongly of opinion that the time allotted to them in the curriculum of a general education is far too short: to shift the balance in this direction is at least as important in their own minds as to secure a footing for a favourable consideration of their own claims. Having removed these two general and serious misunderstandings there is one point which is of the utmost importance and needs to be emphasized. It is not clearly understood that the public school science master has to cater for two classes. In the first instance, it is surely manifest that no boy can be considered completely educated unless he has some knowledge of his own structure, of the natural laws relating to his own life and environment, of the manner in which scientific knowledge may best be applied for the benefit of mankind in general, and of the cause and effect of general natural phenomena. Such knowledge should be in the possession of every educated person, and consequently THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 45 should form an essential part of a general education. The inculcation of the value of science in national development should be universal, and the adoption of scientific method in all branches of learning would become more general, and would be to the manifest advantage of all subjects. Secondly, we have the scientific specialist to provide for, not only the theoretical and pure scientists but also those who pursue practical industrial and applied science, For this class specialization is necessary. Instead, however, of beginning the study of “formal science ” at the age of 14 to 144, this should be deferred until 16 to 164, but should then be made much more intense than it is at present. The allocation of twenty-five hours a week to the scientist—as, by the way, is at present given to the classicist— would be more than is desirable ; but, after the specialization age has been reached, a boy should have the opportunity of devoting from ten to fifteen hours a week to this subject should he intend to adopt a scientific profession. In order to avoid endless confusion these two aims must be kept entirely separate and distinct : they will therefore be considered separately. A. The Position of Science in the Scheme of General Education.—The lack of elementary scientific knowledge by our statesmen and rulers has been directly responsible for the loss of tens of thousands of lives and of millions of pounds during the last three years. One cannot expect our lawyer statesmen to be expert scientists, but the criminal waste of life and of resources would have been avoided had public school education in the past been based on general lines which would have inculcated scientific method in organization, an elementary acquaintance with the guiding scientific principles in our 16 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM leading industries, and an appreciation of the value of scientific knowledge. The facts which have been adduced in support of this serious charge are innumerable: a few of the most striking may perhaps be adduced as evidence. (a) For many months after the commencement of the war in 1914 the importation of lard into Germany was allowed to proceed without interruption. When eventually sufficient pressure was brought on the Government to stop this traffic, it was pleaded by them that the fact that glycerine (the basis of many explosives) could be produced from lard was of recent discovery. Apparently not a single member of the House of Commons present at the time had sufficient chemical knowledge to dispute this statement, although anyone with the most elementary knowledge of the history of chemical manufacture would have known that the production of glycerine from oils and fats was discovered as long ago as 1779, and has been the basis of an enormous industry ever since. Owing to this ignorance we permitted the importation of thousands of tons of fats to Germany which were directly used for the production of nitro-glycerine and other explosives. For the thousands of lives lost as a result of scientific ignorance in this war we must hold our system of education directly responsible. (6) All scientific men in this country again viewed with absolute dismay the laxity of the Government in relation to the question of making cotton contraband. In spite of all efforts made by scientists, and especially by the late Sir William Ramsay, the Government took no steps whatever in the matter, although practically every ounce of cotton allowed to pass into Germany was used for the production of explosives. Such collective scientific ignorance was again directly responsible for thousands of lives, and for the indefinite prolongation of war costing six or seven million pounds a day. One THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 17 of our “statesmen” said it was no use stopping cotton because the Germans had plenty of wool ! (¢) Another chemical compound essential to the manufacture of 80 per cent of the explosive material made in this country prior to 1914 is acetone. The great importance of this compound in the manufacture of explosives was impressed on the Government again and again for years before the outbreak of war, This had not the least effect, and the outbreak of war found us dependent upon Germany for a supply of this essential chemical, The result was consequently that our chemists immediately had to set to work to find new explosives which should be independent of this compound : these fortunately have been now discovered, but the * big push” planned for the spring of 1916 could not take place owing to the insufficient supply of munitions, a fact which has in all probability delayed the conclusion of peace by at least a year—a loss, in direct expenditure alone, of £2,000,000,000. Can one require further justification for the reformation of general education on a scientific basis? In the whole history of the development of the munition production of this country the same lamentable ignorance has been the cause of countless delays, the effect of which is too obvious to emphasize. (d) So far as explosives are concerned one other instance may perhaps suffice. Many explosives, and especially high explosives, such as tri-nitro-toluol and similar compounds, are manufactured from by-products in the production of coal gas. Coal may be carbonized in retorts under varying conditions of temperature and pressure so as to afford a great variety of percentage in the products obtained. A Government with a single member having scientific knowledge would have surely realized the importance of 48 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM investigation of this subject, and manufacturers of coal gas should have been encouraged to develop their plant and conditions upon lines which would produce what has been proved in very fact to be the life-blood of this country. Of course nothing was done, and we cannot wonder at it seeing that the scheme of public school education has been such as to entirely eliminate science from the curriculum of those who are destined to become placed in positions of authority. (¢) Take again the question of aviation which is essentially scientific, mechanical, and mathematical. Could we expect our classically trained rulers to appreciate its necessities and possibilities in a European conflict ? What are the facts? We have it on the authority of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu that the year before the war Germany spent £7,000,000 on aviation, whilst during the same year we bad difficulty in getting £500,000 for the same purpose. Such criminal neglect has resulted in a loss of two years in gaining aerial supremacy, and we have gained it eventually on the Western front, not through the efforts of our rulers, but mainly by the intrepid and noble character of the officers and men of the Royal Flying Corps. (f) Again, the horrible delay in providing our men at the front with suitable steel shrapnel-proof helmets is a scandal which is in the minds of all. Since our ministers knew nothing whatever about the properties of steel one might have imagined that the production of such helmets would have been left by them to a committee of experts. Instead of that it was put into incompetent hands, and the fact that every day’s delay meant a corresponding loss of hundreds of lives seemed to be entirely ignored. To multiply instances is redundant: the moral to be drawn is, not that all Government officials should be experts, but that our general system of education should THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 49 be such as to give every one some idea of the value and possibilities of science, and some appreciation of its supreme importance in national affairs, The instances given above refer of course mainly to war, but the importance of scientific recognition is a hundred times more important in peace: the coming conflict for national supremacy subsequent to the conclusion of peace will result in a crushing defeat for the British Empire, unless our system of education is drastically reformed upon modern lines. The remedy is to have a perfectly general education for all up to the age of 16 to 164 years; in this general education an elementary knowledge of science would be instilled, its value and possibilities would become recognized, and it would be realized that the advancement of scientific knowledge is vital for our very existence. To what an enormous extent we are dependent upon science at the present day would then be appreciated, and when specialization at the age of 16} took place, we should find a large proportion of the able and intelligent boys adopting the science side of the public school for a more detailed and formal study of the subject. The present system whereby go per cent of the clever boys at preparatory and public schools are earmarked quite early in their careers for a purely classical education would then be abolished : all would receive, in addition to other subjects, valuable scientific instruction both in facts and in methods, and at the age of 16 to 164 specialization would begin. It surely cannot be denied that such a system would be of advantage to all studies, to say nothing of providing a much higher type of scientific specialist than is possible under the present regime. [t may conceivably be urged that since science is going to prove such an important factor in national development, why not copy the example of the classicist and specialize at the age of 12 or 13? The first answer 50 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM to this is, that, for any subject, premature specialization is disadvantageous to mental development generally and even to progress in the specialized subject itself. In no subject is this more true than in science, where a broad outiook on the world in general is absolutely essential. The second reply is that until a boy has reached the age of 16 to 164 years, in most cases his true bent cannot be ascertained, and before specialization should be allowed to take place this stage must be reached. So far as «formal science” is concerned, public school science masters wish to concentrate upon material which is likely to prove plastic and capable of development rather than, comparatively speaking, to waste their energies upon those who really have no interest in or ability for a detailed study of the subject. Probably public school masters in other branches of the school curricula would wish to be similarly placed. At any rate, in the case of any boy taking up science seriously, nothing would be lost, and much would be gained by the postponement of formal science until the suggested age for specialization. The division of branches of natural science into watertight compartments before the general foundations have been laid, and the teaching of detail at the expense of general principles is a thoroughly bad system which must be carefully avoided. Training in observation and the study of nature should begin as soon as a child is out of the nursery : at any rate it must become a subject included in the preparatory school curriculum. Interest so aroused at an early age is practically always permanent, and as far as “general science” at public schools is concerned there should be the closest co-operation with the preparatory schools, for the success of this course depends to a large extent upon the stimulation of interest at a time when the mind THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 51 is most ‘receptive. “ General science” should continue throughout a boy’s career at school, not only for its intrinsic value but also for the valuable training afforded in habits of observation, accurate deduction, forecast, classification, and organization. The development of scientific method would be an advantage in every direction. During the years that a boy is at a preparatory school the “collecting mania” is exhibited in its most violent form. This tendency might be employed to very great advantage, and should be diverted from useless to useful purposes. Moths, beetles, flowers, grasses, minerals, etc., all lend themselves for this purpose, and habits of observation and classification are thus acquired. Appreciation of the beautiful comes quite naturally, and this in itself is an aid to the formation of character. Without attempting to compile a syllabus, the following headings may serve to indicate the nature of work which is possible at the preparatory school :— I. Very elementary astronomy, movements of the celestial bodies, shadows, eclipses, the seasons, cause of night and day, etc. [Taught by direct observation and by simple models. ] 2. Tides, differences in fresh and mineral waters leading up to ideas on buoyancy and density. 3. Trees, flowers and fruits. Study of growth, cause of growth, effect of external conditions on life and health of plants. 4. Bird life and habits, Ants, bees, wasps, butterflies, and moths. Marine life: fishes and whales. 5. Causes of simple natural phenomena, sich as clouds, thunder, lightning, mists, rain, dew, hail, snow, etc, Much of this can be illustrated by simple experiments, many of which can be carried out by the boys themselves. 6, Development of the mechanical faculty. The 52 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM majority of boys of preparatory school age are particularly receptive of mechanical ideas. Much valuable instruction can be imparted by means of “Meccano ” and similar devices. This not only introduces ideas on stresses and strains, leverage work, etc., but affords practice in manipulation and develops the inventive faculty. 7. Although no formal treatment of any branch should be attempted, much interesting and useful work can be done with a cell, wires, small light bulbs, and toy motors, especially in conjunction with “ Meccano”. 8. Carpentry. Training in handicraft is in itself of advantage, but this subject should be so taught as to develop a boy's initiative as much as possible. Much of the apparatus needed for models and simple experiments to illustrate the branches already considered may be made by the boys themselves in the workshop, 9. Photography ; both as an illustration of the possibilities and value of scientific knowledge and as a means of recording work done. 10. The knowledge of the mysteries of life and reproduction is usually concealed from a boy as long as possible, and the acquisition of such knowledge as a shock is exceedingly dangerous to morals. Such knowledge should be acquired by a boy gradually, and this may be led up to perfectly naturally by a study of fertilization in plants, and of reproduction in the lower forms of animal life, During the first few terms at a public school such of the above suggestions as have not been dealt with at a preparatory school should receive adequate treatment, and, as opportunity affords, ideas on the following subjects should be introduced :— I. Principles of heat and light as far as they affect daily life. Colour and the spectrum. 2. The great facts of chemistry. THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 53 3. Conservation and transformation of energy. 4. Engines, turbines, dynamos, etc. 5. Elementary technical electricity. 6. Principles and use of optical instruments. 7. Outlines of industrial chemistry. 8. Elementary ideas in biology and physiology, especially with a view to inculcating the principles of sanitation, ventilation, and the preservation of life and health. 9. Mechanical systems. 10. Map-reading and simple surveying. Employing the compass. 11. Woodwork. 12. Physiography. At a later stage in the public school career, the following might be introduced with advantage :— 1. Fundamental ideas as to evolution, 2. The history and philosophy of science. 3. The importance of science in daily life and in national development, The extension of science teaching in schools will meet with considerable opposition from many non-scientific masters. One strong line of argument which will be used, is that young boys are already overburdened with subjects, and if a reform is necessary it is in the direction of reducing, rather that increasing, the number of subjects that a boy takes during his first two years at a public school. To avoid this overtaxation of a boy’s energies, no marks should be allotted to ‘general science,” at any rate in the lower forms of a public school. The subject, if properly taught, is such an entrancing one that rapid progress will take place without the artificial stimulus of marks, which unfortunately seems necessary in duller subjects. The addition of science to the curriculum should therefore be welcomed by boys as a relief from the drudgery of other subjects rather than as an additional burden, 34 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM There should be the closest co-operation between the masters at schools who are engaged in teaching different subjects and the most intimate correlation of the subjects themselves, So far as science is concerned, this relation should be most carefully developed in the direction of English and of mathematics. New boys coming to public schools often show quite a surprising lack of ability to describe simple objects and phenomena. Science masters urge that more attention should be given to this at the preparatory schools. On the other hand the value of descriptive work in science as a means of giving training in the writing of English, should not be lost sight of by the science masters. The correlation of science and mathematics is of the highest importance, and the inter-dependence of the two subjects is not realized by head masters: indeed only those who have received a scientific training can appreciate to what an extent progress in science is dependent upon a suitable mathematical training. Conferences between associations have led to little if any practical changes; conferences between the mathematical and scientific staffs of schools have usually been similarly abortive. Although the two groups should be kept separate and distinct the heads of departments must be chosen who will work together in a spirit of co-operation and good-will. B. The Position of Science in the Scheme of * Specialized Education” —On attaining the age of 16 to 164 years specialization to a limited degree should be permitted and this specialization should be progressive. For those adopting science as a profession it should now be made possible for boys to spend from twelve to fourteen hours a week at the study of formal science” up to the age of 17-174 and thereafter from eighteen to twenty hours a week. I'HE ROLE OF SCIENCE 35 The subjects suitable are as follows :— (@) Chemistry. (6) Electricity and magnetism. (¢) Heat and light. ‘d) Biology. [Alternative to (¢). The course of general science will ensure the acquisition of elementary ideas in both. ] Agriculture. {Alternative to (a), (8), and (¢).] Engineering. {Alternative to (a), (4), and (¢).] (2) Practical mathematics and mechanics. (f) The teaching of these various branches should be more or less on the lines at present adopted in public schools, with the important exception that the teaching generally should be on more technical lines than at present; more attention should be paid to the possibilities of practical applications of the knowledge gained and research work should be encouraged. With increased facilities for the teaching of the subject, and with the additional number of hours allotted, such a development would be possible. The paralysing influence of external examinations upon school curricula has been dealt with in a previous chapter : until this control is abolished the best efforts of those anxious for reform will be entirely nullified. This is so tremendously important from the point of view of scientific progress that no apology is necessary for referring here to the attitude of our two ancient universities to the present movement in the direction of scientific development in modern education. At Cambridge the Previous Examination Syndicate have put forward recommendations for a change in the 36 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM conditions of entrance, whilst at Oxford the Hebdomadal Council are also recommending new regulations. Let us take the proposals of the Cambridge Syndicate first. They suggest that the examination should consist of three compulsory groups :— 1. Languages.—Two languages to be compulsory. 2. English.—Including History and Divinity (or an alternative). 3. Mathematics and Science. ““ A paper shall be set in each of the subjects :— “(1) Arithmetic and Algebra, (2) Geometry, and (3) Physics and Chemistry or Experimental Mechanics. ‘“ A candidate must take the two mathematical papers, and may take the paper in experimental science. A pass in the group shall be determined by the aggregate marks obtained on the papers taken.” Such a syllabus shows clearly the value that the great and ancient University of Cambridge attaches to the value of science in general education! Science certainly receives some recognition, and doubtless the Syndicate considers that the Cinderella “ Science” should be grateful for any morsels, however small. Unfortunately these morsels are not only devoid of nutriment but are indigestible. What will be the effect of such proposals on the teaching of science in schools? The clever boy will be able to get sufficient marks in mathematics alone to qualify in the group, and consequently will not trouble to take up science. The dull boy will be passed over to the science department in order to cram up sufficient science to get the required number of marks in the group. The energies of public school science masters will thus be employed in doing useless work, because for this type of boy « formal science” is frequently unsuitable: no time will be available for the valuable work which really is their function. THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 57 Surely one of the first principles of reform must be the abolition of the control of science teaching in schools by those who know nothing about the question themselves, and who do not even think it worth while to consult public school science masters as to the advisability and probable effect of their recommendations. After contemplating the disregard of the claims of science by the Cambridge Previous Examination Syndicate, it is decidedly refreshing to find that the Hebdomadal Council at Oxford is genuinely anxious to secure for science a worthy footing in the educational scheme: in their enthusiasm, indeed, they propose to make it impossible for any undergraduate to obtain a degree unless he can give evidence of possessing a certain amount of scientific knowledge. How best to attain this ideal has not yet been settled, but it is to be hoped that a compulsory examination in Science may be avoided and also that the type of Science necessary may be of a perfectly general nature as previously indicated. Under the present suggestions for reform in public school education “formal science” is to be an optional subject for specialization after the age of 16 to 164 years. To make it compulsory for all university candidates would not be in the best interests of education generally. Why should the non-scientific university candidate be compelled to acquire, so far as he is concerned, a more or less useless knowledge of detailed Science any more than a Science specialist be forced to pass an examination in Latin and in Greek? Science teachers press for the removal of compulsion in other subjects rather than for the employment of compulsion in their own. Preparatory schools must work out their own salvation; public schools must settle their own curricula. The control of public school education by the universities, 38 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM and the determination of the preparatory school timetable by the common entrance and scholarship examinations of the public schools, must be replaced by the closest co-operation between the authorities concerned, allowing each, nevertheless, freedom of action in its own sphere. [f the principle of a general education for all up to the age of 16 to 164, with limited and progressive specialization after that age be conceded, then there should be what one might call a passing-out examination at that stage set by a central authority, either the Board of Education, or the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations Board, or preferably a committee of public school masters themselves. A certificate obtained in this examination should be accepted as a guarantee of a reasonable standard of general education, and the universities should accept this in lieu of their present entrance examinations. Before specializing a boy would have consequently left this Examination behind him ; he would be free during his last two years at school to develop his own special bent untrammelled by the spectre of the Previous Examination or Responsions continually ahead of him. Such a reform would be of inestimable advantage to education generally, not only of the individual boy, not only in the public school, but also in the universities themselves Finally we come to the question of staff. Head masters often have little idea of the amount of time required for devising and arranging demonstrations and practical work. In the better-equipped schools it is usual to have laboratory assistants to do the more menial work connected with science teaching, but in some schools this has to be done by the science master. The duties of a science master frequently include :— 1. Actual teaching ; about twenty-five hours a week, THE ROLE OF SCIENCE 50 2. Correcting written work and preparing lectures and apparatus. 3. Organizing the laboratories (and sometimes cleaning them). 4. Assisting in the general discipline of the school. He may be— 5. A house master. It would be an advantage if he could be— 6. Engaged in research into the principles of education. 7. Engaged in scientific research. Most of these activities are desirable; it, surely, is obvious that the time devoted to actual teaching should not be curtailed. This can only be done by increasing the number of teachers of Science. The amount of Science done in the schools must be increased also, and the size of classes is often too big as it is. Sixteen boys (on the average) are as many as one man can deal with effectively in the laboratory. A considerable increase of expenditure on the science side of a school is consequently necessary, and the money must be found. There are many directions, however, in which financial wastage occurs in schools, and these will be indicated later. The necessary money can probably be found without placing any additional burden on the parent. CHAPTER V. THE ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. When men are striving for the discovery of truth in its various mani. festations, they learn that it is by correcting the mistakes of preceding investigators that progress is made, and they have charity Jor criticism. Hence persecution for difference of opinion becomes an absurdity, The labours of scientific men are forming a great body of doctrine that can be appealed to with confidence in all countries. Such labours bring people together, and tend to break down national barriers and restrictions. The scientific creed is constantly growing and expanding, and we have no fears but rejoice at its growth. We need no consistory of bishops, or synod of ministers, to tell us what to believe. Everything is open to investigation and criticism —PROF. AsaPH HALL. SUCH a large proportion of the foregoing pages has been devoted to adverse criticism that it is with a sense of relief that one has an opportunity to emphasize the advantages of a system which, whatever its failings may be, has produced a fine type of manhood in the world. = Although the system of education, in the narrow sense of the word, needs drastic reform, there can be little doubt but that all that goes towards the formation of character is eminently desirable. It will repay us if we try to analyse this so as to discover the points in the public school system which are the essentials in the formation of character, and which must be retained in any scheme of reform. The factors tending to the formation of character are so diverse, and are so difficult to trace, that only a few of them can be indicated here. The first salient point to 0 ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS 61 be recognized is that most of them operate outside the classroom, and consequently the boarding-school system from this point of view is decidedly preferable to the day school system. Of course the boy loses home influences to a certain extent, but, however desirable home influences may be, the cultivation of a wide outlook upon life, and the advantages of the association with other boys and with masters is so important, that to some extent home influence must be limited in order to secure the most desirable result. In any case home influences are predominant for three months in the year during a school career, and too much of the apron-string is, after all, undesirable, What, then, are the factors which tend towards the formation and development of moral fibre? First and foremost athletics and games are of the utmost importance, and any reformed public school which minimizes this importance will be doomed to failure. Only those who have had experience in the training of youth can estimate at its true value the importance of athletics in this connection, The healthy rivalry of house and dormitory matches in both cricket and football, and the playing of the game on the recreation fields, are the finest possible training for the bigger game of life. The parrot cry of the undue attention paid to athletics at our big public schools is based on ignorance and misapprehension. Second only to the importance of athletics is the part played by the Officers Training Corps in this relation. Never possibly in its history has the Government spent money to better advantage than in fostering this movement. The Officers Training Corps was formed as recently as 1908, and yet within a few months of the outbreak of war in 1914 no fewer than 20,000 officers had been supplied through this organization. When the history of this war comes to be written, it will be 62 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM proved that the organization of the new armies would have been almost impossible had there not been this reserve of public school men trained, and efficiently trained too, to take their part as junior officers in His Majesty's Forces, The main value of the Officers Training Corps however, paradoxical it may seem, does not lie in its military aims. For the majority of boys leaving a public school success or failure in after life depends to a large extent on their ability to control men. In no department of school life is this taught except in the Officers Training Corps, although it is acquired to a certain extent in other spheres. A junior division Officers Training Corps with an establishment of two companies, that is to say comprising 480 cadets, has approximately fifty non-commissioned officers, who are employed not only in controlling but in actually instructing squads, sections, or platoons. The lance-corporal of, say, 16 years of age gains experience rapidly, and, as promotion ensues, his command increases in size and importance. Long before a boy attains a position as a dormitory or school prefect he has acquired self-confidence and the power of control, and house masters and tutors lock upon the school corps as the most valuable training ground for their own lieutenants of the future. Discipline and Initiative in school life are to a large degree antagonistic terms, and one of the most difficult tasks a head master has to perform is to so adjust school life as to preserve the necessary balance between the two. The whole training of the Officers Training Corps from the cadet officer down to the junior private is such as most efficiently to combine these two, for the successful soldier is the one in whom both these qualities are developed in the highest degree. To quote from “ Infantry Training,” 1914 :— “The objects in view in developing a soldierly spirit ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS 63 are to help the soldier to bear fatigue, privation, and danger cheerfully ; toimbue him with a sense of honour; to give him confidence in his superiorsand comrades ; to increase his powers of initiative, of self-confidence, and of self-restraint ; to train him to obey orders, or to act in the absence of orders for the advantage of his regiment under all conditions; to produce such a high degree of courage and disregard of self, that in the stress of battle he will use his brains and weapons coolly and to the best advantage; to impress upon him that, so long as he is physically capable of fighting, surrender to the enemy is a disgraceful act; and finally to teach him how to act in combination with his comrades in order to defeat the enemy. . . .” .. . The privileges which he inherits as a citizen of a great empire should be explained to him, and he should be taught to appreciate the honour, which is his, of serving his King and his country.” These are not mere words, they are the definite aims of the Officers Training Corps, and an organization with such high ideals is worthy of the most active encouragement, not by any means merely from a militarist standpoint, but from the point of view of development of that fine type of character which is necessary for national supremacy in the future times of peace. Much of the value of an Officers Training Corps depends upon its voluntary basis, the necessary discipline is consequently submitted to willingly, for a cadet may resign his membership at any time. Participation in such an organization is indeed looked upon as a privilege, but once it is made compulsory the subject becomes a part of the school curriculum, and the opportunities of the master-officer are consequently seriously impaired. These opportunities to a large extent are dependent on the fact that in the school corps a master has an opportunity of becoming thoroughly acquainted with quite a 5 [ £{ 64 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM different side of a boy’s life to that exhibited during school hours. The Officers Training Corps system must be maintained, stimulated, and developed in any reorganization of the public schools. The “fagging’ system in vogue at most public schools is, again, a most valuable assistance to the formation of character. The contention that it encourages bullying is devoid of foundation, for whatever may have been the case in the old days, a decade or a quarter of a century ago, and contrary to general belief, “bullying ” is now practically non-existent in our great schools. Wherever it does exist in a minor degree the victim in most cases deserves it and is eventually the better for it. At any rate the advantages of the system far outweigh its possible abuses. It is the finest thing in the world both for the pampered, high-born youth who is brought up in the lap of luxury, and for any boy who is eventually to be served by others, to know something of the other side of the picture. The “fagging” system is perfectly controlled at the present time, and both the “fagger » and the “fagged” obtain great benefits from it. Afterall it is the germ of the whole system of master and man, which, for good or evil, is a permanent feature of our social organization, and the more one experiences this system, even in its most rudimentary form, the better. At the conclusion of this war, economists tell us, the relation of capital to labour will be an extremely difficult problem. Mutual understanding between the © prefect” and the “squealer ” at a public school will help the embryo employer to appreciate the men’s point of view more satisfactorily. The association between officers and men in the trenches, and on service generally, will doubtless do much to ease future controversies between employer and em- ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS 65 ployed: the British officer does look after his men, and gains in very many instances their love and their respect, On his side, however, he gets to know those serving under him and can appreciate their views. Mutual misunderstandings are consequently lessened, and it is to be hoped that this rapprochement between classes on the field of battle may persist in the industrial life of the nation in the future At a public school there is little opportunity of introducing economics into the curriculum: there is, however, an institution in most of our large schools, namely, the school mission, which is employed to this end, and the value of which it is hard to overestimate. Boys are encouraged to see for themselves what life on the ‘margin of starvation” really means, self-sacrifice to many of them becomes a practice rather than a theory, and the mutual understanding between the classes thus engendered can be productive of nothing but good. The possibilities of a school mission are beyond estimation. The actual giving of money, although necessary, is of little real use : the value lies in active investigation which invariably engenders sympathy with those less fortunately placed, and they, on the other hand, have their exaggerated ideas as to the “idle rich” very much modified. By this means the ill-feeling between classes may be effectually countered. Perhaps, however, the most important tendency for good which is existent at a public school is the influence which the tutor and house master exerts over his pupils in a hundred and one different ways during out-of-school hours. Of course there are bad house masters as well as good, this is true of every sphere of life, but to a preponderating extent tutors at public schools live practically solely for their boys. The general public, and those who have no real insight into public school life, have no conception of the extent of this self-sacrifice. but their 66 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM reward is in the results obtained. Tens of thousands of old public school boys in this country owe their success in life entirely to such influence; they themselves know it well, and they would corroborate this statement unhesitatingly. England does not know, and cannot possibly appreciate, what she owes to this numerically small body of her citizens, and the careful selection of suitable men for these most responsible positions is fully recognized by head masters as perhaps the most important duty they have to perform. The value of tradition, the encouragement of esprit de corps which directly engenders patriotism, must not be forgotten, and there are many other fine points in the public school system which are of the utmost value, which cannot possibly be ignored, and which must be both retained and developed in any future reformation upon modern lines. The defects of the public school system, as they appear to one who has knowledge of the working of the organization, are numerous. Some of them have been indicated already, but it is convenient to group the most important of them together and to consider each very briefly in detail. t. The Size of Forms and Sets.—The reduction of the numbers taught collectively involves, of course, an increase in the staff, but this must be arranged. Twentyfour boys (on the average) in a form, and sixteen boys (on the average) in a set, is as many as one master can deal with effectively. 2. Early Specialization.—The evils of early specialization are generally admitted and need no emphasis here. This defect is most marked by far on the classical side of our schools, but is also apparent in other subjects, especially in the case of scholarship candidates. 3. Lack of Progressive Character tn Education. —It 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 68 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM others he is either in advance of the stage reached by the public school form, in which case he simply marks time and incidentally learns to be idle, or else he is below that standard, in which case he is attempting to acquire knowledge in a subject in which he has not been sufficiently well grounded. Seeing that either one or other of these disadvantages must occur in the majority of subjects with frequently permanent ill effects, the extremely serious nature of this defect becomes obvious. A similar gap occurs in the transition from public school to university education, but since this is a defect to be adjusted by the university authorities rather than by the public schools there is no occasion to discuss it in detail. 6. The Examination System and Teaching to Syllabus.— Some of the deadly tentacles of the examination octopus have already been noted. The multiplicity of examinations, the variety of syllabuses, and the fact that most schools depend to a large extent on examination results for their reputation, tend to make the whole system adopted one of mere cram, the teacher is so ‘“cabin’d, cribb’d, and confined” that freedom of development on true educational lines becomes quite impossible. 7. Methods of Teaching.—1t is impossible to deal with a criticism of methods of teaching in a brief résumé of this nature. The outstanding features which cry aloud for readjustment, are the variety of systems upon which modern languages are taught even in a single school, the present haphazard methods of teaching English, the nonrealization of the importance of scientific method in all branches of education, the lack of co-operation and correlation, especially between science and mathematics, and the teaching of science itself upon too narrow a basis. 8. Opportunities of Self-Realization.— The methods at present in vogue tend to treat a boy as a mere machine, ADVANTAGES AND DEFECTS 69 A large quantity of indigestible meat is introduced into the hopper of a boy’s brain, the handle is turned, and a more or less unsavoury sausage is the result. No opportunities, or at least very few, are given to a boy to develop along his own lines, or to render the discovery of his particular bent at all possible. The development of hobbies and the encouragement of individual inclinations has another great advantage, in that a boy is much more ready to undergo the drudgery, which to a certain extent is necessary in all subjects, if he has had some vision, however imperfect, of the sunshine beyond the gloom of the valley. 9. The House System.— A public school is usually organized into a dozen, more or less, houses scattered in different parts of the school grounds. Each house is self-supporting, has its separate organization for servants and commissariat, and to all intents and purposes acts as a separate school except in as far as actual teaching is concerned. These houses are controlled by house masters, who as a rule are appointed by seniority irrespective of other qualifications. Fees are paid by the parents direct to the house master, the house master pays the college a tuition fee for each of his boys, and makes what profit he can from the balance. The objections to this system are so glaring that they need indicating rather than emphasizing. (2) The cost of maintenance of 500 boys under central control, on the dormitory or cubicle system, with one organization of servants, and feeding, with common changing rooms, baths, and common rooms generally is far less than that of catering for ten separate units of fifty boys each, even if the responsible house master is a clever business man. The direct waste under the house system at a public school runs into thousands of pounds in the course of a year, 70 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM (4) In most cases, however, the house master is not and cannot be expected to be trained in this direction, and in most cases he has no natural ability in this sphere. A further financial waste is the result. Consequently money which should be available for school purposes is completely lost. A substitution of central control and organization for the decentralized houses at a public school would result in such a saving that the money required for the adequate staffing of a school, and for increased salaries to assistant masters, would at once be available. (c) Apart from the financial question entirely, however, the house system has another serious defect, for it practically converts the masters concerned into superior hotel-keepers. Their value as far as school teaching is concerned must and does depreciate in marked degree. The true duties of a schoolmaster are so important that it is essentially unsound to sap their energies by making them restaurant proprietors. Remove this burden from them, they immediately become more efficient from an educational point of view, they are available for more hours of school duty, and one of the difficulties in the adequate staffing of a school is thus mitigated. CHAPTER VI. CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY. All things by immortal power Near or far Hiddenly To each other linked are, That thou canst not stir a flower Without troubling of a star. —FRANCIS THOMPSON, Scientific truth is objective and not subjective; it must be open to all eyes and not a vision limited to the consciousness of one mind. The distinction between this kind of truth which we can all examine for ourselves if we wish, and the truth which is a matter of personal conviction, is fundamental.——ProrF, R, A. GREGORY. Scientific inquiry, though it be pre-eminently an intellectual effort, has need of the moral quality of courage—not so much the courage which helps a man to face a sudden difficulty as the courage of steadfast endurance. —SIR MicHAEL FOSTER. THE main directions in which reform must take place in order to make our public schools thoroughly efficient training grounds for the battle of life and for the international competition of the future, have now been indicated : it remains for us to consider whether they can be sufficiently modernized, and, if they can, whether the conservative factors at present dominating the situation will permit of these reforms taking place. In the first instance no satisfactory remodelling of the whole institution is possible under a classical regime and there seems little likelihood of this retarding influence 72 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM being removed or even modified. In spite of the outcry for educational change in the press, by men of business, by educational authorities, and by scientific associations, the appointments made to head masterships of public schools during the last year have without exception been given to classical scholars. The present system of public school education is actively pernicious from a national and from a business point of view. One has only to look at the governments of recent years in order to form an opinion as to the unsatisfactory nature of modern education as a training for the rulers of the country. The “wait and see” attitude, “ the talk and do nothing unless forced to” principle, and the total inability to take a strong and definite line of action, or to apply business methods in any sphere whatever, is a direct result of the exclusively classical education of the public schools of this country. And yet, after such an example, we are perpetuating this mode of education by confirming the system in the new appointments above referred to. Classical education produced statesmen in the last century who were worthy of the name. Those days are long past, however: the world has moved forward, competition both national and international, has become exceptionally severe, industries have developed, scientific progress has been extraordinarily rapid, and relations between capital and labour have become acute. A statesman needs to view problems from an entirely different and much wider platform than was necessary half a century ago: classical education is not suitable for the development of the qualities necessary to make efficient statesmen to-day. What is true in the case of rulers of the nation is equally true of leaders in nearly every other sphere : men of high character indeed are produced by the present system, but this is not sufficient. A new method must replace the 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, 74 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM (8) Continuity between preparatory school and public school education, This is only possible by an interchange of staff between the two schools. (¢) Centralization of the public school on the dormitory or cubicle system. (d) Provision of a general education for all up to the age of 16 to 164 years of age. After this age all should have a freedom of choice of limited specialization in either classics, or modern literary studies, or in science and mathematics. (¢) Maximum of freedom from external examination. (f) Provision of a suitable staff ; no master to be employed in teaching more than two subjects, (¢) The closest co-operation between (i) The parent and the school. (if) The head master and his assistant masters. 4iii) The heads of the various departments themselves. : {%) Adequate payment of assistant masters so as to ensure obtaining the best possible type of man for this most important sphere of national development. #2) Inculcation in all pupils of the duties and privileges of citizenship. (2) Freedom from Government control. (J) The Board of Governors to consist in large proportion of scientific and business men. Such a scheme as above outlined involves a central public school, say of 500 boys, fed from a surrounding group of five preparatory schools of 100 boys each. So far as the boys are concerned there will be no intercourse whatever between the preparatory schools and the public schools, but the buildings and grounds will be adjacent so that the same staff can deal with both senior and junior departments, The result of this is that double the number of masters are available for each, so that the question of the adequate provision of experts in CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 75 individual subjects is considerably simplified. In addition to this the essential point of continuity is secured. There would be one central dining-hall, chapel, gymnasium, baths, and workshops for both senior and junior divisions, different times being allotted for them, In this way the expensive large buildings would be occupied to double the extent that they are at present at our great schools, resulting in financial economy, coupled with the provision of much better accommodation than is possible at any isolated preparatory school, On passing from the preparatory school houses to the public school dormitories there would be an entire regrouping, so that the advantages of new associations, which is a feature of the present preparatory and public school system, would be retained. The following plan (p. 76) may serve to illustrate this suggestion: it has no architectural - claims, and the possibly objectionable symmetry is of course entirely unnecessary. The illustration must be merely taken as diagrammatic. The cloisters and passages, as well as the times of the school programmes, can easily be arranged so as to preclude any associations between the two divisions of the school. “The waste in a teacher’s workshop is the lives of men.” This statement of the late Dr. Thring, one of the outstanding head masters and organizers that the educational world has been fortunate enough to possess, needs emphasizing at the moment. The lives of men, potentially great men such as England needs now more than ever, must be most carefully preserved, and the thousands of conferences, the hundreds of letters in the newspaper press, the scores of books on the subject are of no avail. What is required is action and immediate action. The statements of fact in the foregoing pages are based 76 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM fn pa wr Eo [SE o Hs F D: 2 ‘0 G o Vip %, Gc - ,. “% \ 7 ’ o A Cc D 5 : G 7 G 2 Pe A 7 A — L Ta ~~ N 0 a i A Gymnasium, 1 Middle Cloisters (for Senior Sch.). '} Drill Hall and Armoury. { Outer Cloisters (for Junior School). -> Chapel, + Dining Hall. ' Great School. Kitchens. Inner Court and Cloisters. _ Service and Quarters. Middle Court, O Changing Rooms. Grounds and Gardens. P Outer Drive. P.S. Preparatory Schools in own ground. L. and W. Laboratories and Workshops. M.Qs. Masters’ Quarters, H.M.H. Head Master's House. L. to VIII. Dormitories and Cubicles for Senior School with classrooms and lecture rooms on ground floor. CONSTRUCTIVE POLICY 77 on evidence carefully sifted and collated, and may be depended upon as accurate. On the opinions expressed and suggestions offered different estimates will be placed : those scholastic authorities who are opposed to change, and are satisfied that the classical type of education now predominant is the “ be all” and “end all” of training of youth, will naturally be opposed to most of the views already stated. It is, however, confidently hoped that, amongst the general public into whose hands this book may fall, there may be some who not only agree with the general tenets of a reformed education, but may be sufficiently impressed by the vital importance of education in the coming conflict for national supremacy that they feel urged to take some action in the matter. Although the reformation of education as pictured in the preceding pages is universally desirable, it is to business men that an appeal is here urgently made. For England to retain her proud position amongst the nations of the world her industrial progress must be predominant: the training which the sons of business men receive at our great public schools is insufficient to qualify them for their future responsibilities. For the youthful training of the naval officer the Admiralty decided that the public school system was not sufficient. They therefore introduced the Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth, with education on modern lines to suit their own requirements. These two colleges have been conspicuously successful : in spite of a considerable specialization in engineering, seamanship, etc., the cadet who leaves Dartmouth at 164 years of age is undoubtedly much better educated generally than his contemporary at any of our great public schools. Although his classical training has been neglected it seems to have had little deleterious effect on his character, and the high standard at present exhibited in our senior service is unequalled in the world. 78 THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM Let business men and our industrial princes found an educational establishment on similar modern lines: the money so invested would render a remarkable return, not to be estimated in monetary values, but which would be exhibited in the progress of the nation, and in the maintenance of that high standard to which she has already attained. 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