^32 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION I. 



well as in the examinations held for secondary schools, there 

 would be more conscious reference to educational principles and 

 ideals. The direct work of the professor would be to lecture 

 on the systems, principles, and methods of education, to raise 

 the ideals and help to improve the processes of teachers, to 

 be a representative to state and people of the best thought 

 of the world on the science and art of mental training, 

 (ii.) The practical use of this foundation would be discovered if 

 periodical examinations were held in the subjects connected 

 Avith it. Courses of study might be arranged for teachers 

 who wish to gain a knowledge of the history and theory of 

 their art, and a diploma granted by a university would have 

 an independent value which would command universal 

 recognition. The practical training of a teacher cannot, of 

 course, be undertaken by a university, nor would a certificate 

 of theoretical knowledge in any way attest personal fitness 

 for a profession which more than any other requires natural 

 qualifications. But this much can be sought from our 

 universities, that just as they safeguard the pi-actice of law 

 and medicine by applying a standard of scientific or technical 

 knowledge, so they should provide a test of theoretical fitness 

 for the art of teaching, (iii.) Among subsidiary means of 

 improving secondary education, the universities might offer 

 annual prizes for essays in some branch of educational science, 

 on the lines of independent thought and investigation. More 

 costly, but perhaps more remunerative in the long run, would 

 be the establishment of an annually awarded travelUng 

 scholarship, the holder of which should devote his time to 

 studying foreign systems of education. These are but crude 

 suggestions, and they are certainly not exhaustive. No doubt 

 other and more effective methods might be devised to 

 stimulate higher ambition and more fruitful work on the part 

 of secondary teachers. 



(d.) But the greatest and most necessary reform, to which 

 all other effort should intentionally contribute, is the (eventual) 

 compulsory registration of teachers possessing a certain 

 minimum qualification. Something akin to the Medical 

 Acts in force in some of the colonies is required to afford to 

 the general public some security against scholastic quacks 

 and adventurers. For this reform teachers alone are not 

 sufficient. The force of public opinion acting through 

 Parliament is alone capable of effecting it. In the earher 

 days of these southern lands, no doubt it has seemed a pity 

 in any way to check the supply of educationists, for in one 



