THE NATIONAL CONTROL OF EDUCATION. 49 



THE NATIONAL CONTEOL OF EDUCATION.* 



By the Right Hon. Sir JOHN E. GORST, F.R.S. 



n^HE invitation of the British Association to preside over the Sec- 

 -*■- tion of Education, established this year for the first time, has 

 been given to me as a representative of that government department 

 which controls the larger, but perhaps not the most efficient, part of 

 the education of the United Kingdom. The most suitable subject for 

 my opening address would therefore seem to be the proper function of 

 National Authority, whether central or local, in the education of the 

 people; what is the limit of its obligations; what is the part of educa- 

 tion in which it can lead the way; what is the region in which more 

 powerful influences are at work, and in which it must take care not 

 to hinder their operation; and what are the dangers to real education 

 inseparable from a general national system. I shall avoid questions of 

 the division of functions between central and local authorities, beset 

 with so many bitter controversies, which are political rather than 

 educational. 



In the first place, so far as the mass of the youth of a country is 

 concerned, the public instructor can only play a secondary part in the 

 most important part of the education of the young — the development 

 of character. The character of a people is by far its most important 

 attribute. It has a great deal more moment in the affairs of the world, 

 and is a much more vital factor in the promotion of national power 

 and influence, and in the spread of Empire, than either physical or 

 mental endowments. The character of each generation depends in the 

 main upon the character of the generation which precedes it; of other 

 causes in operation the effect is comparatively small. A generation 

 may be a little better or a little worse than its forefathers, but it cannot 

 materially differ from them. Improvement and degeneracy are alike 

 slow. The chief causes which produce formation of character are met 

 with in the homes of the people. They are of great variety and mostly 

 too subtle to be controlled. Eeligious belief, ideas, ineradicable often in 

 maturer life, imbibed from the early instruction of parents, the principles 

 of morality current amongst brothers and sisters and pla}Tnates, popular 

 superstitions, national and local prejudices, have a far deeper and more 

 permanent effect upon character than the instruction given in schools 



* Address of the president of the Educational Science Section of the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. Glasgow, 1901. 

 VOL. LX. — 4. 



