Science in National Education 



bread upon the waters, it will return to you, 

 though it may be after many days." 



IV 



No one can candidly investigate the working of 

 the educational system in Germany, or study the 

 prospects of education in America, without coming 

 to the conclusion that it is a vital matter for us in 

 England to put our educational house in better 

 order without further delay. But, for my own 

 part, I hope that we shall attempt to copy neither 

 the German system nor the American, but work 

 out a plan on our own lines. 



Any stiff system of bureaucratic control would 

 probably be impracticable here, and would cer- 

 tainly be injurious to educational development. 

 But it would help to a clearer understanding of 

 the problem if we had a simple classification 

 of schools, in place of the present bewildering 

 confusion. No one can now say at what age 

 " secondary education " begins. No one, looking 

 at an alphabetical list of secondary schools, can 

 judge the standing, or the scope of work, of the 

 great majority of them. For all practical purposes, 

 much of the country is still educationally un- 

 mapped. Do we not need a careful survey of the 

 whole of our educational resources, in the light 

 of the economic needs and social conditions of 

 each district ? In no other way can we judge 

 the possibility of making the work of one grade 

 of school dovetail into the work of another grade, 



113 H 



