ADDRESS BY THEODORE REUNERT. XVll. 



and coloured classes; and that the other Colonies must sooner or 

 later — and the sooner the better — seriously consider what kind of 

 education it is their duty, no less than their interest, to provide for 

 the four miUious of " other than white " subjects living within their 

 borders. The immediate point I wish to raise, however, is that 

 owing to the large number of native and coloured servants in South 

 Africa, the white population, taken as a whole, are on a higher plane 

 than, for instance, the populations of England and Germany; and 

 that, therefore, a larger proportion of the youth of this country will 

 require to be provided with the higher and highest kinds of educa- 

 tion. I believe this important point is sometimes overlooked in 

 estimating the number of higher schools and colleges required for 

 our boys and girls. We have seen there are 200,000 white children 

 to be educated in South Africa. Of this total number probably one 

 in ten, ultimately 20,000 children, would avail themselves of 

 secondary education, if it were provided ; though at the present 

 time there are jirobably not 10,000 actually receiving this class of 

 instruction. With 20,000 children to draw into secondary schools, 

 and a total of 10,000 teachers required in all the schools (including 

 those for coloured children) it is quite evident that provision must 

 be made on a liberal scale for the increasing number of students 

 who will require or demand a university training. It is a 

 melancholy fact, but one which cannot be ignored, that of the 

 six or seven thousand teachers in Government or Government aided 

 schools in South Africa, nearly half are uncertificated, while only 

 a minority of the remainder possess a university degree. What we 

 should be most anxious about, however, is not the mere title of 

 university, but the qiialit}- of the teaching. Whether this is given 

 in a college of imiversity rank, or in an institution having the 

 power to confer degrees, is a matter of minor importance. " In 

 considering the question," said Sir Richard Jebb, " of the higher 

 education in South Africa, it is well to remember that the social 

 intercourse of young students, under conditions such as a great 

 residential University might provide, is an instrument of education 

 which nothing else can replace. And it might be added that such 

 social intercourse is also an excellent thing for the teachers." 



In some minds the argument for delay takes a slightly different 

 form, and it is asked : Why this untimely haste to provide the 

 most expensive type of education for the rich when the education 

 of the poor has not yet been satisfactorily provided for 1 Surely, 

 there is a serious fallacy underlying such an argument ! A rich 

 man can send his son anywhere he likes in search of the best 

 education the world can offer ; the poor man's son must get it at 

 home, or not at all. And who shall venture to say what we may 

 not be losing by delaying to place the highest kind of education 

 within reach of every boy and girl in the land? Nearly all the 

 great men who have made their countries famous by their achieve- 

 ments or discoveries' in art, literature, and science, have come from 

 the people; seldom from the well-to-do classes. A hundred names 

 could be cited to prove this; but to take one name only, think of 



