1894. NOTES AND COMMENTS. 253 



Closely connected in purpose with University Extension 

 Associations are two bodies which, so far as we know, did not put 

 forward a claim to be considered in connection with the all-embracing 

 Gresham University. 



The P.N.E.U. 



A NOTE in our last number (p. 238) has, we regret to find, 

 mystiiied several of our readers, who thought we were starting an 

 Agony Column, and who have been racking their brains to discover 

 the hidden meaning of P.N.E.U. and A.W.F.L. We hasten to dispel 

 their deplorable ignorance. 



The P.N.E.U., we beg to inform them, stands for the Parents' 

 National Educational Union, an association intended to educate 

 parents how to educate their children. Parentship is not, we believe, 

 a necessary qualification for membership ; still, many of the members 

 appear to be parents, and are presumably married. Remembering, 

 however, an old saying, we are not surprised to see that many of the 

 lecturers on other people's children have not, apparently, entered either 

 of those blissful states. We ourselves have lately pointed out how 

 much education our educators need (Natural Science, vol. iv., 

 p. 81), and from what we have learned of the work of this association, 

 we are inclined to welcome its endeavours. We understand that there 

 are agencies of the Union in various towns of England, but the 

 leading branch appears to be that of Belgravia, which has for its 

 honorary secretary the Lady Isabel Margesson. This is no im- 

 pertinent patronising philanthropy that forces its way into the homes 

 of the poor with a tract in one hand and a scented handkerchief in 

 the other ; on the contrary, it attacks our great under-educated 

 classes themselves in the gilded ignorance of their own drawing- 

 rooms. Possibly even these parents will resent the intrusion, and 

 ring for the footman to show the P.N.E.U. downstairs ; for these 

 parents bring their children up by second-hand. First the nurses (of 

 various denominations), then the governess, then the schoolmaster ; 

 these are all, as Professor J. R. Seeley has called them, " professional 

 parents," usurping all the more important functions of both father 

 and mother. They do their best, let us admit ; but under this system 

 true education, as opposed to mere instruction, languishes, parents 

 fall into disrepute, sons go to the devil, and daughters revolt. The 

 Parents' Union would remedy this. " It strives," to quote its own 

 leaflet, " to show parents that they cannot, by money payments,, 

 divest themselves of their responsibilities. It endeavours to supply 

 them with knowledge and training for their task, to impress on them 

 the absolute necessity for giving careful thought and study to the 

 subject of education, and to show them that without wisdom and 

 knowledge parental love will be maimed, and unable to rise to its 

 true perfection." 



The Union uses many means to attain this admirable end. A 



