April 14, 1910J 



NATURE 



207 



supply of skilled workmen, is of the greatest national 

 importance, and is a problem the solution of which, in 

 view of international industrial competition, becomes daily 

 more pressing. It is only natural, therefore, that ex- 

 pressions of discontent with the present conditions, and 

 suggestions for improvement, should be heard from many 

 sides ; they come, not only from the educationists, but also 

 from the employer, the representatives of the working 

 classes, and the ratepayers, and with especial force from 

 the social reformer ; finally, we hear from Cabinet 

 Ministers themselves that legislation on the subject is 

 under consideration. 



If we proceed to analyse the expressions of opinion, as 

 revealed during the last twelve months in special papers, 

 presidential addresses, reports and discussions, too 

 numerous to refer to individually, there is a clear indica- 

 tion that, barely concealed under a superficial diversity 

 of view-point, the ideas have already crystallised round two 

 fundamental principles which are certain to form the basis 

 of all future constructive work. 



These are : — (i) There should be a thoroughly organised 

 system of technical education, leading up from the primary 

 and secondary schools to the technical school, and having, 

 as its crown, the technical univ^ersity, every stage of the 

 system being in intimate contact with the next, so far as 

 possible without overlapping, and the educational work 

 must be carried out in the closest possible cooperation with 

 tlie employer. (2) This system should be a national one ; 

 that is to say, the Board of Education should not only 

 inspect and supervise the individual institutions, but should 

 ensure proper coordination ; extend by law the leaving age 

 for children, when and where necessary ; enlist by all 

 available means the cooperation of employers, and intro- 

 duce a uniform system of examinations and degrees ; and 

 it should, from its exalted position, watch the working 

 of the system, comparing it with that of other nations, and 

 generally employing and developing the powerful weapon of 

 technical education in the interests of the industries and 

 the progress of the nation as a whole. 



I take it as being agreed upon that the scientific leaders 

 of industry require much more complete training than the 

 rank and file of the industrial army, chiefly the additional 

 training of strict scientific accuracy, of research, and 

 originality. That in view of the numbers to be dealt with 

 in both sections, respectively, there must be a laige number 

 of schools for the rank and file in close contact with local 

 industries, and a small number of colleges for the officers. 

 This means decentralisation in the case of lower technical 

 schools, and centralisation for the technical universities. 

 I have dealt in a previous paper with the Prussian 

 technical universities (Nature, April 15, 1909, vol. Ixxx.. 

 p. 205). How does Prussia attend to the needs of the rank 

 and file? There were, in igoq, 23 national engineering 

 schools, 24 national building schools, 7 national art and 

 artisan schools, and •? State-supported municipal technical 

 schools of different kinds, including 6 textile schools and 

 7 higher textile schools. Most of these institutions do no 

 evening work, and the students pass through systematic 

 courses extending over several years. During this time 

 they are not in contact with practice, except that the 

 building students, making the best of climatic conditions, 

 frequently work in summer and study during the winter 

 months, and that other students sometimes do practical 

 work during the summer vacations. Generally speaking, 

 however, the students are not in contact with practice. 

 I also incline to the view that there has been too much 

 centralisation in this branch of technical education. As 

 a conseauence, there is a lack of intimate contact with 

 local industries, and insufficient amalgamation of theory 

 and practice. Furthermore, most of these schools do not 

 really train skilled workmen and artisans, but what may 

 be termed the non-commissioned officers of the industrial 

 army. The courses are somewhat expensive, and, through 

 the almost complete absence of a system of scholarshios, 

 they cater more for the middle classes than the working 

 classes, .'\nother defect, and a very serious one in my 

 opinion, is the absence of systematic cooperation between 

 these schools and the technical universities, whereby 

 students of exceptional abilitv would be sent up to the 

 latter. 



NO. 21 1 1, VOL. 83] 



In England the corresponding educational work is over- 

 whelmingly carried on in evening classes, and, though in 

 principle I am in the fullest agreement with those who 

 object to all evening work and wish it transferred to the 

 day, I cannot but admire the magnificent work now done 

 under the course system in evening schools, and the most 

 valuable and unique features of the same. What are they? 

 It is, first and foremost, the intimate and continued con- 

 tact of the students with practice which infuses their daily 

 work with heightened interest derived from the application 

 of their studies, and, on the other hand, reacts on the 

 teacher and makes the courses, though they must remain 

 theoretical, yet of a thoroughly practical nature and best 

 suited to the needs of the local industries. It is, secondly, 

 the complete elimination 6f the bitter disappointment which 

 many day students, in proud possession of first-class 

 certificates and diplomas, now experience when they find 

 that they cannot secure any suitable employment. This 

 " sandwich " or " half-time " system, which we so justly 

 condemn when it is applied to primary education, is, in 

 my view, the ideal system for the training of the industrial 

 rank and file. I am therefore of opinion that those who 

 desire to see the present evening work abolished, and the 

 day schools developed on the German lines, are very ill- 

 advised. Whatever we do, let us retain the great feature 

 of the English principle, that is, the concurrent training 

 in factory and school. Let us make the present evening 

 courses much more efficient by establishing proper coopera- 

 tion with the employers, and by reducing the hours of 

 labour, so that it becomes possible gradually to shift the 

 centre of gravity from the evening to the day. Thus we 

 shall obtain all we are striving for without losing the 

 great features I have emphasised, as well as the truly 

 democratic spirit of the present system and its hold on 

 the masses of the population. In advocating progress in 

 this direction, we shall work in harmony with the 

 enlightened employer and with the trades unions, and we 

 have on our side the powerful influence of the social re- 

 former as expressed in the reports of the Poor Law Com- 

 mission. Indeed, the President of the Board of Educa- 

 tion, in a reply to a deputation from the Trades Union 

 Congress only a few days ago, indicated that legislation 

 on these lines — including the raising of the leaving age 

 and technical classes during daytime in cooperation with 

 employers — is under consideration, and it remains to us to 

 insist that the Bill shall be speedily produced and placed 

 on the Statute book in a shape which conforms with our 

 views. 



We must convince employers that the developments 

 which are shortly to take place are first and foremost in 

 their own interests, and we should insist that definite 

 -provision be made in the promised Bill for an advisory 

 board to be attached to each technical school, such board 

 to have subcommittees representative of the chief local 

 industries and trades ; but there is a further, and, if 

 possible, more important point to be considered. The 

 technical school, as thus firmly established by law, must 

 not be an isolated unit in our educational system, but it 

 must be a link in a complete chain. It must join at the 

 bottom with the secondary school, especially with the 

 technical secondary laid down as a desideratum in our 

 resolutions of last year, and it should lead up to the 

 technical university above. It is the need for an organic 

 connection of the ordinary work with the highest form of 

 technical education on which I wish to lay particular 

 stress. No better form can I imagine for this link than 

 that of a comprehensive and national scheme of mainten- 

 ance scholarships, by means of which the students of 

 exceptional ability and enthusiasm are lifted up and 

 trained to be the scientific leaders and original 

 workers. 



What would be the cost to the nation of such a scheme? 

 Assuming 250 national scholarships to be awarded annually, 

 tenable for four years, \-alue 75/. per annum and free 

 tuition, we arrive at the trifling expense for this highly 

 productive scheme of 75,000?., about one-thousandth part 

 of what we spend every year on unproductive armaments. 

 Surelv, looking at it from a business jxjint of view, no 

 sounder investment could be imagined, and there is little 

 doubt that if the nation would institute this magnificent 



