NATURE 



671 



IHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 



1916. 



SCIENCE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND 

 THE CIVIL SERVICE. 



FROM the welter of the billows which have 

 recently beaten about the place of science in 

 education, in the columns of the periodical Press, 

 two main points stand out, namely, those of the 

 dominance of classical and literary teaching- in 

 our great Public Schools, and its influence upon 

 the older universities and the public Services. 

 Our political leaders and administrators of State 

 departments are in the main trained in these 

 schools, where vested interests preserve the prime 

 places in the curriculum for ancient learning, and 

 scientific subjects are discouraged for students 

 who hope to obtain university scholarships or ap- 

 pointments in the highest ranks of the Civil 

 ^'■rvice. 



The position of affairs has been stated clearly 

 in correspondence published in the Observer dur- 

 ing the past few weeks, particularly with refer- 

 ence to the undue proportion of open scholarships 

 allotted to classics at the older universities. 

 There is no question as to the facts, but Dr. A. E. 

 Shipley and Mr. H. A. Roberts attempt to justify, 

 or rather to explain, them by standards of attain- 

 ment. They point out that the award of scholar- 

 ships depends upon the ability of the candidates 

 presenting themselves, and assert that real ability 

 is found much more rarely among those who offer 

 scientific subjects than among the candidates who 

 have selected classics. "No candidate," they say, 

 " in natural science who reaches the necessary 

 standard of ability is likely to be rejected. But the 

 supply of candidates of sufficient ability is not so 

 great as it should be." 



This is especially true of candidates from the 

 great Public Schools, and it is with this deplorable 

 condition of things that we are at the moment 

 most concerned. In a recent year, according to 

 Dr. Shipley and Mr. Roberts, in one of the 

 greatest of such schools, excellently equipped for 

 scientific studies, less than 2 per cent, of the boys 

 in the higher forms were giving special attention 

 to science, and only one or two of these were of 

 sufficient ability even to appear as competitors in 

 any scholarship examination at the universities, so 

 that "the contribution of this great school to the 

 scientific ability of the country was less than one- 

 fifth of I per cent, of the total numbers of the 

 school." 



We should have supposed that such facts as 

 these would be sufficient to condemn the present 

 NO. 2416, VOL. 96] 



system, and to induce advocates of reform to make 

 the most strenuous efforts to alter it. The " Con- 

 verted Classic," to whose remarks the letter by 

 Dr. Shipley and Mr. Roberts was intended as a 

 reply, asks pertinently why the universities thus 

 submit to the dictation of the Public Schools as to 

 the relative value of science and classics instead 

 of themselves prescribing subjects, and by limit- 

 ing the awards to classics to induce the head- 

 masters to give adequate attention to science. 



"The study of classics," he adds, "is a luxury, 

 and should be treated as such ; the study of science 

 is a real and present necessity. Classical training 

 tends to produce the official ; scientific training 

 tends to produce the man of initiative and action — • 

 the creator. Which of the two types is the more 

 necessary at the present time? Let, then, higher 

 education take the initiative; let the 'Varsities 

 force the schools, for in their hands, to a great 

 extent, lies the remedy." 



It is not at all certain that the headmasters of 

 the Public Schools would adopt a new attitude 

 towards science even if the universities limited the 

 number of classical scholarships in the manner 

 suggested ; for most of the pupils sent up are not 

 scholarship candidates. The result of the action 

 would, however, encourage the development of 

 scientific work in the State secondary schools, and 

 the end would be that these schools would secure 

 the science scholarships, while as regards the cur- 

 rent of modern needs the Public Schools would be 

 in a backwater. They may be content to occupy 

 that position, but there is no reason why a pre- 

 mium should be placed upon their unprogressive 

 methods. What we have to get rid of is the idea, 

 naively expressed by a correspondent in the West- 

 minster Gazette a few days ago, that the classical 

 studies of the ancient schools and universities 

 should be reserved for men who are to occupy the 

 highest branches of the public Services. The as- 

 sumption that classical languages and literature 

 are essential to the education of people who are to 

 control our affairs, and that a knowledge of 

 science is not needed in this capacity, is respon- 

 sible for the chief defects which have to be reme- 

 died if we are to compete successfully in peace or 

 war with other leading nations. A truer view is 

 that no one should be entrusted with the adminis- 

 tration of affairs of State who has not received a 

 scientific education, and that classical learning 

 should be considered as an intellectual hobby. 



As things are at present, it pays far better to 

 study classics than science, if a post of importance 

 in the Civil Service is the proximate or ultimate 

 end. The examinations for Clerkships (Class I.) 



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