EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS. 275 



solicitor, and many go straight from school into city life as men of 

 business; and nearly all of them suffer from the lack of intellectual 

 and moral stimulus during these later years of their school life. 



Now many of these boys could without difficulty pass the entrance 

 examination to the university at sixteen or seventeen, if well and care- 

 fully taught; and I have long held the view that such boys would 

 greatly benefit by going to Oxford or Cambridge at the age of seven- 

 teen, or even sixteen, if suitable arrangements could be made. It was 

 with this conviction in my mind that I published a scheme showing 

 how this experiment might be tried about twenty years ago. The in- 

 terval has confirmed me in the opinion that it would be a distinct gain 

 to many boys to take advantage of such a scheme if made available. 

 They would go out into the world from the university at the age of 

 twenty far better equipped and prepared for life, both as regards knowl- 

 edge and interests, tastes and character, than by going straight from 

 school at nineteen. 



And looking to my own University of Oxford, I see no reason why 

 such younger students should not be safely received. There are at 

 least three colleges in that university which would find it easy to adapt 

 their arrangements so as to secure this. Each of these colleges has a 

 hall in connection with it, well suited for the residence of a college 

 tutor who might have special charge of these younger students, resid- 

 ing in the hall during their first year with somewhat stricter rules as 

 to ordinary discipline and liberty, but in all other respects exactly on 

 a par with the senior undergraduate members of the college. 



On the subject of the day school, as compared with the boarding 

 school, a subject which has not hitherto received the attention it de- 

 serves, I may venture to repeat here what in substance I have said on 

 other occasions. Many parents are so situated that they have no 

 choice in the matter; but to the educational inquirer it is a question 

 of much interest and importance. The boarding school is admitted to 

 excel in turning out strong, self-reliant, sociable, practical men of 

 affairs, men who have learned by early experience not to think or make 

 too much of small injustices, to rough it, if need be, with equanimity 

 and cheerfulness, and to count it a man's part to endure hardness in a 

 manly spirit. It is a fine type of character which is thus produced, 

 at its best; but the best is not always seen in the result, and the sys- 

 tem too often produces an undue deference to public opinion, a spirit 

 of moral compromise and a loss of moral enthusiasm. The human 

 soul in its finer parts is a very sensitive thing, and I do not think the 

 barrack life of an average boarding school is always the most favor- 

 able for its healthy growth. 



As I look back over the school days of my own pupils I feel that 

 those of them had, on the whole, the best education who grew up as day 



