NA TURE 



313 



THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 1! 



LORD ARMSTRONG ON TECHNICAL 

 EDUCATION. 



LORD ARMSTRONG, in his article in the July 

 number of the Nineteenth Century, brings forward 

 ideas which, he tells us, have long been incubating in his 

 mind, and which he believes to be in accord with those of 

 many employers of labour who, like himself, are engaged 

 in manufacturing pursuits affording scope for the applica- 

 tion of technical knowledge. A more unfortunate exposi- 

 tion could not have been addressed to the public at a time 

 when so many are earnestly striving to impress upon the 

 nation the importance of scientific training to the well- 

 being of the people. It is not that we do not cordially 

 fcgree with Lord Armstrong in many of his remarks ; 

 what we object to is the indefinite and vague character of 

 $iis judgments generally, and the want of logic which 

 characterizes many of his criticisms and recommenda- 

 tions : in every paragraph almost we recognize that we 

 $,re reading the words of a true representative of that 

 remarkable genus, the " practical " Englishman, who un- 

 doubtedly has been the glory of his race in the past, but 

 threatens to be its destruction in the near future. But so 

 outspoken a refusal to recognize the altered conditions of 

 the times, by one who occupies the highest position 

 among engineers, unfortunately affords clear evidence 

 that we are making but little progress towards " organiz- 

 ing victory " in that great industrial war of which Huxley 

 spoke in his memorable and incisive letter to the Times 

 early in 1887, in words of deepest import, which un- 

 questionably should serve to guide us pace Lord Arm- 

 strong's avowal : " As to whether our commerce is 

 to be saved from the effects of foreign competition 

 by a wide diffusion of technical knowledge, I have no 

 faith in any such safeguard." In contrast with this is 

 Huxley's emphatic warning : — " I do not think I am far 

 wrong in assuming that we are entering, indeed have 

 already entered, upon the most serious struggle for exist- 

 ence to which this country has ever been committed ; and 

 the latter years of the century promise to see us embarked 

 in an industrial war of far more serious import than the 

 military wars of its opening years. On the east, the most 

 systematically instructed and best informed people in 

 Europe are our competitors ; on the west, an energetic 

 sffshoot of our own stock, grown bigger than its parent, 

 nters upon the struggle possessed of natural resources 

 :o which we can make no pretension, and with every 

 irospect of soon possessing that cheap labour by which 

 hey may be effectually utilized." Surely we shall elect to 

 bllow Huxley's advice offered to us in the sentence, 

 'Many circumstances tend to justify the hope that we may 

 lold our own if we are careful to organize victory," and 

 ve shall not be content to rely on a sufficient number of 

 ielf-educated men of genius being spontaneously forth- 

 :oming to supply the nation's needs : indeed there can be 

 10 doubt that in the course of a generation or two — if we can 

 naintain our existence unimpaired so long — every effort 

 nil be made to develop the faculties of each member of 

 he community as fully as circumstances will permit ; but 

 inless some grievous reverse of fortune should lead the 

 Vol. xxxviii. — No. 979. 



nation suddenly to realize its position, we sadly fear that 

 the cause of educational progress has too many lukewarm 

 adherents, holding views similar to those expressed by 

 Lord Armstrong, for it to make much immediate 

 progress. 



Lord Armstrong says very truly that, although there is 

 at the present time a great outcry for technical education, 

 very few people have any distinct idea of what they mean 

 when they use that term, or any definite opinion either 

 as to the class of persons who will be chiefly benefited 

 by it, or as to the time of life at which it ought to be 

 acquired. Speaking of the meeting recently held at the 

 Mansion House respecting the scheme for establishing 

 Polytechnic Institutes in London, he remarks also that 

 the speeches then delivered were rather vague and inde- 

 finite as speeches on technical education generally are ; 

 and he points out that, by using the more comprehensive 

 phrase secondary instead of technical education, Lord 

 Salisbury avoided the troublesome but not unnecessary 

 task of framing a correct definition. But it may with equal 

 truth be said of Lord Armstrong that he, like most writers 

 on technical education, is indefinite and vague ; and 

 he also makes no attempt to give a definition of 

 technical education. In fact, his article is nothing 

 more than a discursive essay on the subject of popular 

 education generally, excluding moral and religious 

 questions. 



The vagueness which characterizes the utterances of 

 most speakers and writers on technical education is un- 

 doubtedly the outcome of the peculiarly English practice 

 which permits men to speak with authority who have no 

 claim whatever to be heard on the subject, and which 

 leads us to put aside those who really are experts as of no 

 account. The work has fallen almost entirely into the 

 hands of philanthropists and politicians, and inquiries 

 into the subject have been handed over to men whose 

 qualifications for the work in too many cases would have 

 been regarded in any other country but England as 

 lamentably insufficient. At the recent meetings at the 

 Society of Arts and the Mansion House there was a con- 

 spicuous absence of nearly all those who are known to 

 have been most active in carrying on the real work of 

 technical education and who are able to speak from ex- 

 perience. Yet, if the public are to be properly informed 

 and guided, and if the politicians are to be instructed in 

 their duties, it is imperative that others besides the orna- 

 mental and amateur members of the body of technical 

 educators should be summoned to assist in the movement. 

 The Times, in a recent article on Lord Hartington's 

 speech at the meeting of the Association for the Pro- 

 motion of Technical Education, has very properly called 

 attention to the importance of an accurate definition of 

 the term technical education, pointing out that if it means 

 that kind of education which bests fits a man both 

 mentally and bodily for technical pursuits requiring skill 

 and intelligence the proposition that technical education 

 is a good thing is self-evident ; but that if it means a 

 particular method of imparting knowledge on technical 

 subjects then it is open to many of the criticisms passed 

 on it by Lord Armstrong. Probably the majority of the 

 public are at present of opinion that to technically 

 educate a youth is to teach him his business — that 

 technical education is the modern equivalent of the now 



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