THE NATIONAL CONTROL OF EDUCATION. 55 



original application of acquired knowledge is best brought out. The 

 acquisition of modern languages was in bygone generations almost 

 entirely neglected. In many schools the time given to this subject is 

 still inadequate, the method of teaching antiquated, the results un- 

 satisfactory. But the absolute necessity of such knowledge in litera- 

 ture, in science and in commerce is already producing a most salutary 

 reform. 



The variety of types of secondary instruction demanded by the 

 various needs and prospects of scholars requires a corresponding 

 variety in the provision of schools. This cannot be settled by a rule- 

 of-three method, as is done in the case of primary instruction. We 

 cannot say that such and such an area being of such a size and of such 

 a population requires so many secondary schools of such a capacity. 

 Account must be taken in every place of the respective demands for 

 respective types and grades of secondary education; and existing pro- 

 vision must be considered. 



It must not, however, be forgotten that a national system of educa- 

 tion has its drawbacks as well as its advantages. The most fatal 

 danger is the tendency of public instruction to suppress or absorb all 

 other agencies, however long established, however excellent their 

 work, and to substitute one uniform mechanical system, destructive 

 alike to present life and future progress. In our country, where there 

 are public schools of the highest repute carried on for the most part 

 under ancient endowments, private schools of individuals and associa- 

 tions, and universities entirely independent of the Government, there 

 is reasonable hope that with proper care this peril may be escaped. But 

 its existence should never be forgotten. Universal efficiency in all 

 establishments that profess to educate any section of the people may 

 properly be required; but the variety, the individuality and the inde- 

 pendence of schools of every sort, primary and secondary, higher and 

 lower, should be jealously guarded. Such attributes once lost can never 

 be restored. 



There still remains for our consideration the second division of 

 higher education, viz., the applied or technological side. It is in this 

 branch of education that Great Britain is most behind the rest of the 

 world; and the nation in its efforts to make up the lost ground fails 

 to recognize the fact that real technical instruction (of whatever type) 

 cannot possibly be assimilated by a student unless a proper foundation 

 has been laid previously by a thorough grounding of elementary and 

 secondary instruction. Our efforts at reform are abrupt and discon- 

 nected. A panic from time to time sets in as to our backwardness in 

 some particular branch of commerce or industry. There is a sudden 

 rush to supply the need. Classes and schools spring up like mush- 

 rooms, which profess to give instruction in the lacking branch of applied 



