from [he latter to tho Univcrbitj', as he 

 cloee from oue class to another under a 

 system oi' absolute freedom of classitioa- 

 ticn. 



Tlie movement in the last fifteen yeara 

 (ci wards the betterment of conditions of 

 •eaucation during tho years of plasticity 

 has centred round the teacher himsell. 

 Every otfort is being made to make him 

 t'lfi.cient, and, given such etticiency, all 

 juinor details of echool organisation and 

 managrnient may well bo left to his 

 judgment. Dr. Butler, noting the effect 

 of training on the primary school teach- 

 eia of America, and comparing the tone 

 ol the schools under such men with that 

 of secondary schools taught by untrained 

 men, boldly asserts: — "Perhaps no 

 secondary school or college in America 

 can show teaching to compare, in mastery 

 of scientific method and in technical skill, 

 with the best teaching to be seen in many 

 of the public elementai'y schools, parti- 

 cularlj' in the Western States. f u con 

 sequence of this, we may safely assume 

 that pupils fresh from tiie vigorous, in- 

 tellectual, and moral growth of a well- 

 conducted elementary scnool will turn 

 aside with disgu.-^t from the machine 

 methods and dull, uninspiring cla.ss-exer- 

 ciiNES of our average academy. The new 

 educational lite-blood is flowing most 

 freely and vigorously in the veins of the 

 elementary ttacher.'" What, we ask, is 

 the essential element of such trainiiig? 

 The teacher is primarily dealing with 

 mental processes and mental growth; 

 hence it is essential that all Ms train- 

 dug shoufd be based on accurate know- 

 ledge of the nature of such mental pro- 

 ' ce^-ses — in other words, his training must 

 be grounded in psychology. Is reading, 

 ■writing and arithmet:ic the objective of 

 the schoolroom? Ko; if it were so, any- 

 body could take a book in hand and hear 

 lestons. But when we consider that the 

 master's business is to train heads to 

 think accurately, hearts to feel sympa- 

 thetically, and hands to do what is right, 

 the difficulties of his work become appar- 

 ent. It is one O'f the most pleasing fea- 

 tures of the recent advance in method 

 that psychology, hitherto a battle-ground 

 for the warring theories of useless philo- 

 sophies, has become the most intensely 

 interesting of all practical sciences in its 

 .application to the theory and practice of 

 education. No teacher worthy the name 

 can now neglect the study of such books 

 as Lloyd Morgan's "JPsychology for 

 Teachers," James's ''Talks to Teachers," 

 and Jolin Adams' "Herbartian Psychol- 

 cgy." The study of the science of psy- 

 .chology has taught teiachers to lay the 

 emphasis on the development of the 

 .pupil and not on the learning of sub- 

 jects. In the words of Adams, the master 

 needs to know more about John than 

 about Latin. As soon as teachers begin 

 .to examine their work from the point of 



view of psycho logical method, they lose 

 faith in the formaliiims of tradition. Ne- 

 cessity forces the duty upon them of 

 iidapting themselves to all the various 

 aptitudes of the individual pupils in their 

 Classes. In other words, they are led to 

 think not only of a class of children, but 

 also of individual children, diverse in 

 <li/sposition, in aspiration, in attainment, 

 in menial capabilities. The problem set 

 before tho teacher in this view of educa- 

 tion is not at all an easy one to nolve. 



Under such a view as this can a school- 

 master's work be mean, cramping, nar- 

 rowing? Is it not rather the most dith- 

 cult, the most broadening, the most up- 

 lifting work a man can engage in? An 

 archbishop was once asked, "What kind 

 of a man is lidward Thring?" The arch- 

 bishop was about to poke the fire. He 

 paused, and, holding out the poker, said, 

 "Why, he was this kind of a man. if 

 he were poking a fire, he would make you 

 believe that the one thing worth living 

 for wa.s to know how to poke a fire pro- 

 perly!" Read the life of the great 

 master of Uppingham, and it leaves this 

 impression on the reader that there is 

 one supreme thing to do in the world, 

 namely, the management and training ot 

 boys. Such work reciuires all the energy 

 and enthusiasm of the best men; it re- 

 quires nothing short of the devotion of 

 one's whole manhood. There is nothing 

 small, nothing narrowing in it. These 

 who speak of the narrowness of the 

 schoolmaster's work have never been true 

 teachers, have never seen such at work ; 

 they have never known the divine en- 

 thusiasm that glows in the minds of 

 those who are shaping the life and the 

 character of a nation's youth. Thring's 

 leading principle was that the dullest 

 and most uninteresting boy was as pre- 

 cious in his eyes as the most brilliant. 

 "Give every boy due attention, " said Kus- 

 kin, "but 'spend most time on the bril- 

 liant ones." Edward Thring would pro- 

 bably reverse that. At Eton he had seen 

 boys massed in large cla.fsas, and all the 

 teaching directed towards the brilliant 

 ones intended foT the honours cf the 

 Univei'sity. This struck him as the great- 

 est defect of the school. Small classes 

 for the teacher, and not more than 30 

 boys under the care of one master in a 

 boardmg-house, were two of the principles 

 he carried out witb iron determiuatian. 

 To be successful, each class-master and 

 each house-master must individualize. 

 Boys must be taken as units, each with 

 his separate distinctive life: noi: in 

 masses as parts of a great educational 

 machine. One of his maxims was : "The 

 teacber deals with latent powers; he does 

 not hammer in a given task." 



Under one aspect a teacher's work is 

 visible, and capable of some degree of 

 classification; under tho psychologic-aJ 



