706 president's address — section j. 



subjects are studied, must frequently determine methods. The expres- 

 sion is still heard that certain studies should be retained in the 

 curriculum for the simple and only reason that they supply the 

 student with a mental discipline, as if mental power produced in the 

 study of one subject were equally available in dealing with other and 

 unrelated subjects. To regard the value of a subject from this point 

 of view is to disregard the thought-content of it, and it is this which 

 entitles it to a place in the school course. The value lies in the 

 subject itself; in the manner in which the subject-matter when 

 acquired enables the possessor to react to the conditions of his en- 

 vironment. It is this consideration that in recent times is moulding 

 the instructional work of schools and colleges, so that the student 

 may be saved from a devotion of his energies to that species of fruit- 

 less study by which he can, as Bacon expressed it, " out of no great 

 quantity of matter, the infinite agitation of wit,, spin cobwebs of 

 learning, admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no 

 substance or profit." The term " mental discipline" is still vaguely 

 used to justify the making of a classical language an indispensable 

 subject for either matriculation or graduation in some of our 

 Universities, igiioring the fact that, in the case of many students, the 

 content of the study contributes in a very small degree to fit 

 them for their future career. One of the most hopeful signs of 

 change in educational thought is seen in- determining the value 

 of a study, not by the mental gymnastics it affords, but by the prac- 

 tical use to which it can be put by the student. 



TRAINING OF TEACHERS. 



The growth of a science of education has made teaching a 

 profession, and the training of the teacher an absolute necessity. 

 There is, perhaps, no change affecting educational administration more 

 marked than the change of attitude with regard to qualifying the 

 teacher for his work. On this question public opinion has had to be 

 led by those who have thought most on the subject, since the question 

 is not one that appeals to the popular imagination. The State that 

 waits for the expression of opinion through popular agitation on this 

 subject is sure to be left behind. It is a question in which statesman- 

 ship consists in leadership. The mass of popular opinion is not suffi- 

 (CieBtily well informed on the real needs of the case to initiate a move- 

 ment of this kind. Progi'ess here depends on leaders. 



But in most civilised countries the question has now been deter- 

 mined, and normal schools and training colleges are rapidly increasing 

 in number. The problem now is not whether teachers should be 

 trained, but how they should be trained. 



PRIMARY EDUCATION. 

 Primary education is gradually shaking itself free from the 

 defects that have reduced its effectiveness in the past. Under ordinary 

 conditions, eight years of a child's life are spent in this stage of his 

 education, and the question arises, whether the r.esults usually evident 

 at the end of this period are commensurate with the time and labour 

 that have been devoted to them. It has to be recognised that no 



