394 



NA TURE 



[February 25, 1892 



gives him his degree accordingly. I paint the picture in 

 its most attractive colours. And for pupils of a certain 

 type I believe the system to be excellent. But for the 

 large majority I am not so sure ; and I think that under 

 such a system a little independent examination would 

 often act as a considerable surprise both to teacher and 

 taught. 



It seems to me that the fact is often lost sight of that 

 education in all its forms is rather a tedious business. 

 What the teacher has to deal with are not merely the 

 enthusiastic few who march with joy alongside their 

 instructor, and scarcely see the obstacles that bestrew 

 the path, but the large mass, headed at the best with 

 stolid industry in front, to tail off with incorrigible 

 straggling behind. Here the discipline of the examina- 

 tion-room, backed by parental wrath at failure, seems to 

 me well-nigh indispensable. Even in such cases as these, 

 no doubt personal contact with the teacher can do much ; 

 but then the classes must be small. The limit is soon 

 reached when the individual powers of the teacher, how- 

 ever energetic, are reduced to a vanishing quantity. I 

 have found myself that in a class of forty I reached the 

 extreme limit on which I could hope to produce any 

 effective direct impression. Frankly, I do not believe 

 that for large classes, such as might be expected in 

 London, the teacher-examiner system has any merit at 

 all. I think myself that, if the teacher directs and 

 organizes the teaching to the best of his powers, he may, 

 with distinct advantage, leave the testing of the results 

 to other hands. I know that this is what I should prefer 

 myself; and I speak with the experience of a man who 

 has spent, and not wholly without success, some of the 

 happiest years of his life in the work of teaching. 



But I certainly agree that the teacher should have 

 something to say in the business of examining. He 

 does, in London, already have a good deal to say as a 

 matter of fact, but very indirectly. I would remedy this 

 by giving all teachers of University rank a definite status 

 in the University. 



The bare statement of the fact that the University of 

 London is merely an examining body does very inade- 

 quate justice to the work it has accomplished. It has 

 undoubtedly stimulated and disciplined the studies of 

 vast numbers of persons whom the older Universities 

 would never have touched. And it has reacted on the 

 teaching given in London and elsewhere by insisting on 

 a progressively high standard. The educational influence 

 has been consequently far-reaching, and in my judgment 

 not small. This is effected by the schedules or syllabuses 

 which are prescribed by the Senate and from time to time 

 are varied as the progress of instruction in each subject 

 makes change desirable. It is notorious that by this 

 means the University of London has compelled the 

 teaching bodies which send it candidates to develop the 

 efficiency of their methods of instruction. 



I am quite prepared to admit that in theory the 

 machinery by which this result is brought about is not 

 perfect. But in practice, like so much else in this 

 country, it works tolerably well. In some of the evidence 

 given before the Commission it is almost implied that the 

 Senate draws up the schedules itself. But, having been 

 both an examiner and a member of the Senate, I know 

 something of the process. Generally speaking, it is 

 something like this. An examiner finds that an existing 

 schedule is scarcely in touch with the best current teach- 

 ing. He communicates his opinion to the Senate, and 

 suggests alterations. The Senate generally calls to its 

 assistance one or more of the past examiners in the 

 subject, and also any persons of acknowledged com- 

 petence whose judgment will probably lead them to a 

 right decision. The result is that, if the alterations pro- 

 posed by the examiner are found to meet with general 

 approval, they are adopted. In time the process is 

 repeated ; and probably no year ever passes without 



NO. I 165, VOL. 45] 



something of the kind being done. Practically, the work 

 is well done, and the general esteem in which the degrees 

 given at Burlington Gardens are held appears to me a 

 tolerable proof of the fact. 



It is evident that what I have described is accom- 

 plished by what may be called semi-official means. I 

 should prefer myself to have it done by a more definite 

 organization. If Faculties were constituted in the 

 University, the most experienced teachers might meet 

 to settle the schedules in the best possible way. Even 

 then some would probably not be wholly satisfied ; but 

 they would have at least the opportunity of explaining 

 their views to their fellow-teachers, and, if reasonable, 

 it is improbable that they would not meet with some 

 recognition. 



Another very important result would flow from the 

 organization of the Faculties. One of the absurdest things 

 about the proposed Charter is that, apart from medicine, 

 except University and King's Colleges, it ignores the 

 existence of any other educational institutions which 

 either at present exist, or are certain hereafter to be 

 created, for the educational needs of so vast a city as 

 London. A great evil at the present time is the isolation 

 of such institutions. They do not recognize each other's 

 existence or work in any way in conjunction. If their 

 teachers, under the cegis of the central University, could be 

 brought together to confer on educational matters, it can 

 hardly be doubted that instruction in London would be 

 better organized, gaps filled up, and wasteful overlapping 

 obviated. All this might be done without any inter- 

 ference with the autonomy of the separate institutions, 

 and by men exchanging ideas in conference and dis- 

 cussion. 



There is one point on which the new Charter has been 

 attacked with which I do not in any way sympathize. 

 The inclusion of King's College in the proposed Univer- 

 sity is objected to on the ground of its being a denomi- 

 national institution. But in AustraHa and Canada the 

 association of denominational Colleges with the Universi- 

 ties is found a simple and effective solution of difficulties 

 which for a long time will probably be insuperable in any 

 other way. One of the most interesting things in the 

 history of English Universities in modern times has been 

 the removal to them of Nonconformist Colleges. For 

 my part, I can see no possible objection to their being 

 admitted ultimately to full University privileges. If the 

 new University is to be accepted, it is idle to object to the 

 admission of King's College, or to demand that it should 

 abandon its characteristic features as the price of 

 admission. 



To sum up the position. The present University is 

 denounced because it fetters the teaching and is not in 

 touch with it : this turns out to be rather a matter of form 

 than of fact. To remedy this a new Examining University 

 is to be created, on much the same lines as that already 

 existing, which in its turn is to be allowed to go on 

 exactly as before. Surely, in the whole history of the 

 reform of institutions, nothing so futile was ever proposed. 



The real academic need of London is left perfectly un- 

 touched. This is the organization of the higher University 

 teaching. I am more and more convinced that a distinction 

 ought to be drawn between what may be called ante- 

 graduate and post-graduate study. The former, leading 

 up to the ordinary Bachelor's degree, may very properly 

 be left to the Colleges. More than this, without a vast in- 

 crease of endowment and staff, I do not see how they can 

 accomplish. I regard a student who has taken his 

 Bachelor's degree as having learnt the technical language 

 of his study. He may then, in a considerable number of 

 cases, devote himself to original inquiry. And this the 

 University of London encourages him to do, as examina- 

 tion is no longer compulsory for the Doctorate. It may 

 be, and in fact is, obtained by original work embodied in 

 a thesis. I confess I should like to see the University of 



