THE ECONOMICS OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION 369 



and just in itself, but that it gave the pupils a desirable control 

 over the subjects taught and the method of teaching them. 



Thirdly, he held that the only other forms of control over the 

 teacher which suggested themselves to him were inadequate. 



It follows directly from the first of these points that those 

 who desire University education should pay for it themselves. 

 This opinion was expressed before the necessity for scientific 

 and technical education was appreciated, and, indeed, before 

 either science or technology had reached the point at which such 

 education could be given on the scale to which we are now 

 accustomed. 



It is, however, certain that the fees or " honoraries " of the 

 students cannot provide the laboratories and apparatus without 

 which scientific education cannot be carried on. In the case of 

 University Colleges, site, buildings, and initial equipment must 

 be provided from other sources, and, even then, it is still 

 necessary to supplement the highest fees which can safely be 

 charged with donations and subscriptions from public and private 

 funds. When all this is done, the fees are still too high for the 

 pockets of students from the poorer classes, who have to be 

 assisted by the remission of payment or by bursaries. 



At the present time, therefore, it is simply not true that 

 institutions for the higher education of youth can furnish from 

 fees a revenue sufficient for defraying their own expense. The 

 last report on University Colleges shows that at Cardiff the 

 whole of your capital and nearly three-quarters of your general 

 income are derived from extraneous sources. The students pay 

 only one-fourth of what is spent on educating them. 



The fact is that Smith did not, and could not be expected to, 

 foresee the great cost of modern scientific and technological 

 education ; a form of education which is vital to the prosperity 

 of the community as a whole, but which involves so great an 

 immediate outlay on the part of the student that none but the 

 comparatively wealthy could avail themselves of it. Nor had 

 he fully grasped the importance which modern opinion rightly 

 attaches to giving ability, wherever it is found, every chance of 

 development. I believe I am right in saying that, according to 

 the statisticians, the children of able parents are themselves able 

 to an extent which is far above the average; but that the number 

 of parents who are not specially endowed is so great that the 

 total number of their progeny who display remarkable gifts is 



