28 Middle-Class Education. 



The moral training, the cultivation of habits of order, disci- 

 pline, and punctuality — the creation of a sort of esjjrit de corps, 

 which are the very life and soul of our most celebrated schools 

 and colleges — would in this case be absolutely thrown into the 

 background. Apart from other difficulties, which it would be 

 ungracious to suggest, this one consideration appears to me to 

 decide the whole question. 



Let us, then, briefly sum up the advantages that would arise 

 from the adoption of the plan suggested : — 



1. That the requisite machinery is actually in existence, ready 

 to our hand, and requires only a slight modification to render it 

 generally available. 



2. That it is systematic, and might be made to provide educa- 

 tion on a comprehensive plan throughout the country, and that 

 as such it would go far to supersede those isolated and commer- 

 cial schools, which are the bane of the middle classes. 



3. That as support would not be derived directly from the 

 State, the good old English feeling of independence and self- 

 reliance would still be maintained, all necessity for Government 

 interference and inspection avoided, as well as the manifest in- 

 justice of taxing the whole community for the benefit of one 

 special class. By the imposition of a small capitation fee, the 

 schools may in any case be made self-supporting, so far as any 

 extra machinery in the shape of additional masters is required. 



4. That an education approximating and analogous to the great 

 system of public-school education (which for the classes to whom 

 it is confined is confessedly the best for moral, physical, and 

 intellectual training) may be secured to the middle classes. 



5. That from the intervention of the State as a Visitor, rather 

 than an organiser and legislator, the whole " religious difficulty " 

 may be surmounted and the necessity of State inspection may be 

 obviated by making general what is now not uncommon, i. e., the 

 employment of examiners from the Universities to test periodi- 

 cally the efficiency of the schools. 



6. That the children of the middle classes would no longer be 

 educated in exclusive seminaries, but mix with and be trained 

 along with others of their own age, and undoubtedly be improved 

 in every way by associating on equal terms Avith some of those 

 who in social position may be somewhat their superiors. 



7. That this plan is surely better than that of extending 

 upicards from heloio the system already provided for the educa- 

 tion of the lowest classes. 



Lastly, as a corollary to all these advantages, the great exist- 

 ing difficulty of providing efficiently trained masters for middle- 

 class schools is obviated. These endowed classical schools, 

 being already in the majority of instances under the direc- 



