EXCURSIONS AND EXAMINATIONS 251 



thing to examiners to find the same absurd error, often stated 

 in the very same words, running through a whole school, 

 except, perhaps, in the case of one or two exceptionally clever 

 lads who have, by reading or experiment, educated them- 

 selves upon the point in question. Now the absurdity of the 

 system is, that the ignorant teacher never has his ignorance 

 pointed out to him, and imputes the failure of a number of 

 his pupils to their stupidity or carelessness, whereas it is 

 really all due to his own ignorance. 



Another evil result of these examinations under a Govern- 

 ment department is, that in order to justify their existence, it 

 is necessary to show a certain considerable amount of success. 

 Hence the " passes " are brought up to good general average, 

 however bad the bulk of the papers may be; and people are 

 deluded by the idea that because a person has passed in 

 Physiography he has a good general knowledge of the whole 

 subject, whereas many pass who are quite unfit to teach any 

 portion of it to the smallest child. My own conclusion is that 

 all these examinations are an enormous waste of public money, 

 with no useful result whatever. Nature-knowledge of the 

 kind referred to is the most important, the most interesting, 

 and therefore the most useful of all knowledge. But to be 

 thus useful it must be taught properly throughout the whole 

 period of instruction from the kinder-garten onwards, always 

 by means of facts, experiments, and outdoor observation, 

 supplemented, where necessary, by fuller exposition of difficult 

 points in the class-room. 



The whole status of the teacher is degraded by the present 

 system, which assumes that any fairly educated person can, 

 by means of a few courses of lectures and a short period of 

 cramming, be qualified to teach these subjects to the young. 

 The real fact is that none can teach them properly who have 

 not a natural taste for them, and have largely taught them- 

 selves by personal observation and study. They alone know 

 the difficulties felt by beginners ; they alone are able to go to 

 the fundamental principles that underlie the most familiar phe- 

 nomena, and are thus able to make everything clear to their 

 pupils. Such men are comparatively rare, but they should be 



