716 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION J. 



taken in popular estimation has drawn the youths of highest talents 

 within its circle, and set a mark upon its competitive examinations as 

 the aim of the ambitious and talented. Yet the arguments adduced 

 by Macaulay in favor of adopting this method of appointment expose 

 the cardinal defect of the examination system. Sir George Trevelyan, 

 in his " Life of Macaulay," quotes Macaulay's justification of the 

 system which he instituted. " It is said, I know, that examinations 

 in Latin, in Greek, and in mathematics are no tests of what men will 

 prove to be in life. I am perfectly aware that they are not infallible 



tests ; but that they are tests, I confidently maintain 



Whether the English system of education be good or bad is not now 

 the question. Perhaps I may think that too much time is given to the 

 ancient languages and to the abstract sciences. But what then ? 

 Whatever be the languages, whatever be the sciences in any age or 

 country which it is the fashion to teach, the persons who become the 

 gi'eatest proficients in those languages and those sciences will generally 

 be the flower of the youth ; the most acute, the most industrious, the 

 most ambitious of honorable distinction. If the Ptolemaic system 

 were taught at Cambridge instead of the Newtonian, the senior wrangler 

 would, nevertheless, be in general a superior man to the wooden spoon. 

 If instead of learning Greek we learned the Cherokee, the man who 

 understood the Cherokee best, who made the most correct and melodious 

 Cherokee verse, who comprehended most accurately the effect of the 

 Cherokee particles, would, generally, be a superior man to him who 

 was destitute of those accomplishments. If astrology were taught at 

 our universities, the young man who cast nativities best would generally 

 turn out a superior man. If alchymy were taught, the young man 

 who showed most activity in the pursuit of the philosopher's stone 

 would, generally, turn out a superior man." The competitive system 

 of examination is associated with a uniform type of teaching, no matter 

 whether it be modern or ancient. It tends to perpetuate former-time 

 methods, and to discount divergences from a stereotyped plan. The 

 centralised system of external examination tends to a uniformity which 

 retards the progress of improved educational methods. The ideal in 

 teaching, however difficult of attainment, is the antithesis to this, 

 namely, to reach the mental faculties of the individual. England has 

 in recent years given us an example in decentralisation. When I was 

 a, student that famous examining body, the University of London, 

 stood out prominently as granting by its degrees a hall mark very 

 generally coveted. No proof of training was required, but merely the 

 satisfactory accomplishment of an examination held by examiners 

 whose merit it was to be otherwise absolutely ignorant of the candidates 

 who came forward, Germany was looked askance at with its multitude 

 of degree-conferring universities. But what is the position to-day ? 

 Quite otherwise. Numerous universities have arisen in variou^s centres 

 in England, each conferring its own degree, and with this advantage, 

 that a known type of training corresponds to each degree. The same 

 decentralisation has been secured in the establishment of secondary 

 and technical schools throughout the length and breadth of England. 



