56 RELATION OF HIGH SCHOOLS TO TFXHNICAL COLLEGE. 



There are other claims for literary studies proper ; it is 

 advantag-eous that the eno^ineer should discern not only what is 

 commercially possible, but what is artistically impossible ; that 

 cheapness and nastiness often o[o hand-in-hand. Also cultural 

 studies which prevent a man beings a pri^ keep him likewise from 

 becoming a beast; the rational enjoyment of leisure is of import- 

 ance to the eng-ineer, since he is often lonely in a distant country 

 with a vicious climate; the man who can master a g-ood book is 

 master of himself. Thus the hig'her technical education must not, 

 in i)ractice, no matter how good it may be in theory, aim at pro- 

 ducing a finished and specialised animal instead of a plastic, well- 

 informed and broad-minded man. It is no more possible to pro- 

 duce a useful specialist in turbines, wireless telegraphy, or anv 

 other branch of engineering at the age of 22 than it is to produce 

 a first-class brain, ear, or eye specialist. The latter would be 

 counted ludicrous, but the former is often expected. 



It is doubtful whether a successful engineering education for 

 a community can ever be adequately covered by any set pro- 

 gramme or syllabus. Within certain limits the man of superior 

 ability and the necessary common sense, who essays to earn his 

 livelihood in one or other branch of the engineering profession, 

 will do so, no matter how poor or how unorthodox his preliminary 

 training may have been. Given sufficient incentive, the world 

 will always produce its Stephensons, Watts, Trevithicks, Kelvins, 

 Nasmyths, Ericssons. Corlisses, Simenses and llolleys. We can, 

 however, widen the limits of possibility and remove the handicap 

 of an insufficient educational foundation by providing some better 

 scheme than has hitherto obtained. There is another very cogent 

 reason for all this, and one which did not exist in the days of 

 these earlier inventors whom I have named, that is, international 

 competition. A colonial possession is more open to the clever 

 foreigner than the older countries. Thus, if it be desirable that 

 we train our own young men ourselves for the highest posts that 

 the engineering profession has to offer, it is essential that both 

 high school and university technical college should keep educa- 

 tional pace with not only British institutions but with Continental 

 ones in addition. 



The warning has been sounded by engineers themselves in 

 no uncert--in way. In November, i<^)Ot,, the Institute of Civd 

 Engineers, London, ajjpointed a special committee " To consider 

 and report ... as to the best method of training . 

 Engineers." A summary of the recommendations made bv that 

 Committee, as far as concerns the preliminarv or prej^aratorv edu- 

 cation necessary for engineers, is given later on.* Again, we have 

 another warning in the recommendations of the Im|)erial Con- 

 ference on Technical Instruction held at Berlin in igio. We 



* Report : Education and Training of Engineers. Proceedings : Insti- 

 tute of Civil Engineers. Volume CLXVI, part iv, 1905-1906, page 159. 



