came- the ruling principle, and as a 

 natural consequence H.M. Inspector 

 played an inipoi-tant part in directing the 

 education of the schools. The grant for 

 the backward child had to be earned; 

 the slow boy could not be neglected for 

 the sake of his more brilliant classmate; 

 ihe teacher became the slave of the 

 managers, a mere grant-earning machine. 

 As far as real education is concerned, 

 ■education as we understand the term, 

 this system failed to produce the results 

 claimed by its advocates. It created a 

 ■new word, cram— a word that stands tor 

 the negation of all real mental training. 

 Mr. Lowe and his colleagues worked for 

 ten years, firmly convinced that there ie 

 no such thing as a science of edncation. 

 Under a regime of mechanical examina- 

 tions there settled down on the elemen- 

 tary school a monotonous and lifeless 

 nniformity. A subject that could not be 

 examined, and attainment in which could 

 ■aiot be tabulated in examination tables, 

 ^vas until to be included in the school 

 •curriculum. It is astonishing with what 

 persistency the low ideals of the pernici- 

 o-:s •■payment-by-results" system have 

 doniinate'd primary educiation during the 

 last forty years. The worst product of 

 it is the ioO-per-cent. teacher, the man 

 whose horizon is bounded by examiners' 

 fads, and who, by a wise procesis of 

 elimination, manages to a-nticipate an 

 "inspector's questions. 



Another step in advance was made by 

 the committee on education set up iu 

 1871. Huxley was a member of it, and 

 his presence was a sure indication that 

 no effort would be spared to break away 

 from the traditions of the past. He saw 

 tiiat tlie existing forms of education were 

 the mere survivals of the needs of past 

 ages, and that it Avas the duty of the 

 ■committee to make provision in the 

 school for modern modes of thought. 

 Hence, Huxley moved for the formation 

 of ecieuce and art classes in connection 

 with public and elementary schools. In 

 his address he put forward a strong plea 

 for the introduction of lessons in physi- 

 ca' science. "The country could not pos- 

 sibly commit a greater error than in 

 estab.isliiug schools in wliicl. the direct 

 applicatioiiH of science and art were 

 taught before those who entered the 

 clnsses were gi-ounded in the principles 

 of physical science."" He himself showed 

 the way by establishing in his regular 

 classes a system of science teaching, 

 based upon laboratory work by the 

 pupils. "It involved the verification of 

 every fact by each student, and was a 

 training in scientific method, even more 

 than in scientific fact.'" There succeeded 

 an a'ge of activity in the direction indi- 

 cated, the new education of the day being 

 heralded by the publication of a series 

 -of science primere for schools; but the 



promoters forgot again the fact that the 

 emphasis in education must be laid on 

 the teacher, and not on schemes and 

 regulations and text-books. The memoriz- 

 ing of the generalizations of theee text- 

 books was substituted m the Bchools for 

 training in scientific method, as initiated 

 by Huxley. 



In theee colonies we have passed 

 through phases of a similar character. 

 The untrained and uneducated teacher 

 has been a barrier across the path of re- 

 form; the examination fiend has held us 

 tight in his inexorable gi'ip; we have 

 substituted a semblance of knowledge, 

 scientific and literary, for the reality of 

 knowledge itself. Now we are passing 

 through a transition stage ; and we 

 modestly indicate our aspirations by 

 using such epithets as "real," "new.'^ 

 Theie can be little doubt that our 

 primary schools are receiving a baptism 

 of fire; and the changes taking place iu 

 -the foundation stages must affect the 

 secondary schools and the universities. 



It is within the scope of this paper to 

 discu3s only the aspect of this move- 

 ment as it JDcars upon primary work. In 

 passing, however, we may note the 

 gradual changes taking place in the 

 ideals of Univereity education — changes 

 -tending in the direction of making these 

 institutions count for more in national 

 well-being. Public opinion first called 

 into being the University extension 

 movement; and the same force com- 

 pelled the recognition of provi- 

 sion for the higher education of 

 women. These movements, together 

 with the establishment of Univer- 

 sity colleges, with cunicula suited to 

 modern requirements, have had a most 

 vital significance in the furtherance of 

 our national ideals of education. The es- 

 tablishment of technical schools has de- 

 veloped the ideas of all-round education 

 in another direction; and not only so, but 

 has influenced to an appreciable extent 

 primary instruction. a'he cry of these 

 schools has been that their progress is 

 hiampered by the bookish nature of the 

 elementary work; that in some subjects, 

 drawing e.~peciaily, the instruction is 

 most inadequate, and that training in 

 manual aptitudes has been almost entire- 

 ly neglected. The necessity for eo-ca-dina- 

 lion of work in these several stages de- 

 mands a central controlling authority, 

 for without it the several grades are like- 

 ly to work on independent lines; each class 

 of schools indifferent to the needs of those 

 immediately above or below. Secondary 

 education left to the chance of private 

 enterprise, and technical schools, working 

 according to the whims of successive 

 managers, must imply conditions inimical 

 to any system of educational co-ordina- 

 tion. The pupil ought to pass as easily 

 from primary to secondary school, and 



