TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 577 



and as it is quite certain that, with justice to other and no less im- 

 portant branches of education, nothing more than the rudiments of 

 science and art teaching can be introduced into elementary schools, 

 we must seek elsewhere for a supplementary training in these sub- 

 jects, and, if need be, in foreign languages, which may go on after the 

 workman's life has begun. 



The means of acquiring the scientific and artistic part of this train- 

 ing already exists in full working order, in the first place, in the classes 

 of the Science and Art Department, whicli are for the most part held 

 in the evening, so as to be accessible to all who choose to avail them- 

 selves of them after working-hours. The great advantage of these 

 classes is that they bring the means of instruction to the doors of the 

 factories and workshops; that they are no artificial creations, but by 

 their very existence prove the desire of the people for them ; and, 

 finally, that they admit of indefinite development in proportion as 

 they are wanted. I have often expressed the opinion, and I repeat it 

 here, that, during the eighteen years they have been in existence, 

 these classes have done incalculable good ; and I can say, of my own 

 knowledge, that the department spares no pains and trouble in try- 

 ins: to increase their usefulness and insure the soundness of their 

 work. 



No one knows better than my friend Colonel Donnelly, to whose 

 clear views and great administrative abilities so much of the success- 

 ful working of the science classes is due, that there is much to be 

 done before the system can be said to be thoroughly satisfactory. 

 The instruction given needs to be made more systematic, and espe- 

 cially more practical; the teachers are of very unequal excellence, 

 and not a few stand much in need of instruction themselves, not only 

 in the subjects which they teach, but in the objects for which they 

 teach. I dare say you have heard of that proceeding, reprobated by 

 all true sportsmen, which is called " shooting for the pot." Well, 

 there is such a thing as "teaching for the pot" teaching, that is, 

 not that your scholar may know, but that he may count for payment 

 among those who pass the examination ; and there are some teachers, 

 happily not many, who have yet to learn that the examiners of the 

 department regard them as poachers of the worst description. 



Without presuming in any way to speak in the name of the de- 

 partment, I think I may say, as a matter which has come under my 

 own observation, that it is doing its best to meet all these difficulties. 

 It systematically promotes practical instruction in the classes ; it 

 affords facilities to teachers who desire to learn their business thor- 

 oughly ; and it is always ready to aid in the suppression of pot-teach- 

 ing. 



All this is, as you may imagine, highly satisfactory to me. I see 

 that spread of scientific education, about which I have so often per- 

 mitted myself to worry the public, become, for all practical purposes, 



VOL. XII. 37 



