Section D.— ANTHROPOLIGY, ETHNOLOGY, EDUCA- 

 TION, HISTORY, MENTAL SCIENCE PHILOLOGY, 

 POLITICAL ECONOMY, SOCIOLOGY, AND STATIS- 

 TICS. 



President of the Section. — J. E. Adamson, M.A. 



THURSDAY, JULY S. 



The President delivered the following address : — 



THE CONTROL OF EDUCATION. 



In this paper I shall endeavour to establish the proposition 

 that the time has come when the control of school education 

 should become a Union function. What is meant by control 

 will appear as the topic is developed. To prevent any mis- 

 understandino-. however, it may be said at the outset that a 

 central authority would not be able to concern itself with any- 

 thing more than general principles and policy. A large measure 

 of administrative responsibility would, of necessity, be delegated 

 to local authorities. There can never be Union control of educa- 

 tion in the same sense as there is Union control of, say, Posts 

 and Telegraphs or Defence. The broad lines of the suggested 

 division of responsibility and function between central and local 

 bodies will appear as we proceed. Nothing more than outlines 

 and frontiers can be indicated, and I should like to say at once 

 that any opinions I may express, so far as they are der'ived 

 from experience, are the outcome of experience obtained in this 

 province of Transvaal. I am not so presumptuous as to express 

 views with regard to other provinces. When I argue for Union 

 control of school education, it is to be understood that I do so 

 solely with a view to the educational welfare of Transvaal. 

 Whether it is desirable elsewhere is for others to say. I fear 

 the topic will not l)e a particularly interesting one for the layman. 

 It is too far removed from what is for him the essential matter, 

 namely, the progress of the individual boy or girl, and the pro- 

 gress of the community. It is a subject of fundamental 

 importance, however, and one which is in a measure pressing ; and 

 I take it that it is the business of this association to endeavour 

 to contribute towards the solution of such problems as they arise. 



The present position with regard to the control of education 

 is by this time well-known and understood, at any rate by all 

 interested in the matter. Under the South Africa Act, school 

 education, that is education up to and including the matriculation 

 standard, is left to the control of the four Provincial Councils ; 

 while colleee or post-matriculation education is controlled by 

 the LTnion Parliament. At the National Convention a horizontal 

 cut w^as made across the educational pyramid. It is common 

 knowledge that this division of function was the result of a 

 compromise dictated largely bv political considerations. Every- 



