PURPOSE IN EDUCATION. 



By Herbert C. Reeve^ M.A. 



{Read, July lo, iyi8.) 



At the present moment there is sitting a Commission which 

 was appointed towards the end of last year by the Transvaal 

 Provincial Council to inquire into the whole of education, in so 

 far as it conies under the jurisdiction of the Council. The 

 appointment of this Commission shows that there is a certain 

 body of opinion which is not satisfied with the system as it stands. 

 Whether the grounds of dissatisfaction of this particular body of 

 opinion is justified, or not, dissatisfaction exists. It is not 

 confined to the Transvaal, but is widespread throughout the 

 world. As a matter of fact dissatisfaction is no novelty, and 

 l)robably it would be impossible to find any period when the 

 education of the time gave entire satisfaction. As, however, the 

 dissatisfaction of the moment is bound to lead to action the time 

 has arrived when inquiry should be made into the fundamental 

 bases of all education, and this paper has l)een written to draw 

 attention to what, in the writer's opinion, has generally been a 

 grave omission when matters of education are under discussion. 



When dissatisfaction with the results of education have been 

 expressed there has generally been a tendency to blame the 

 teacher for such shortcomings as have been found to exist, 

 though, latterly, there has been a disposition to call the system 

 in question as well. That the teacher is blameworthy may. or 

 may not, be true, but the mental attitude which is prepared to 

 indict the teacher is due to a misapprehension of the facts of the 

 case. The tacit presumption is that the teacher is an expert in 

 all matters concerning education. Now this is not necessarily, 

 or even generally, the case. Even when a teacher is an expert 

 this is not due to the fact that he is a teacher, but to his being a 

 citizen. In his particular craft the teacher is only a journeyman, 

 and as such his duty is to have as thorough a knowledge as 

 possible of his tools and a capacity to follow out a plan or design. 

 He cannot be expected to draw up the design itself, any more 

 than this is expected from a journeyman in any other craft. A 

 teacher, in fact, may be expected to be an expert in teaching, but 

 not in anything else. Even the principal of a school only occupies 

 the position of a foreman. The foreman's duty is to see that the 

 design is properly carried out, but he is not expected to draft it. 

 That is the business of the designer, or architect. In education 

 this position is held by superintendents and directors O'f education, 

 and any question of the system falls within their sphere. 



Where a piece of work is faulty, the faultiness may be due 

 either to bad workmanship or to a bad design. It is neces-;an% 

 therefore, to examine both before apportioning the blame. If 

 the faultiness is due to a bad design it is still necessary to make! 



