274 



NATURE 



[July 23, 1903 



elusion that our domestic horses have had a multiple 

 origin — have sprung from at least two perfectly distinct 

 sources — we shall probably subsequently come to the 

 further conclusion that our big-headed, big-jointed 

 horses, with well-marked chestnuts on the hind legs, 

 are more intimately related to the wild horse than the 

 small-headed, slender-limbed varieties without chest- 

 nuts on the hind legs ; that, in fact, the heavy horses, 

 whether found in Europe, Asia, or Africa, and Prze- 

 walsky's horse have sprung from the same ancestors. 



HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN 

 GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY.^ 

 T T .M. Consul at Stuttgart, Dr. Frederick Rose, 

 -*^ has rendered excellent service to the cause of 

 technical education by the admirable reports which 

 he has from time to time sent to the Foreign Office; 

 but no previous report of his presents such a clear 

 view of the extent of the provisions for technical 

 education in Germany and of the nature of the 

 services which the technical high schools render to 

 the nation as does the one recently, published by the 

 Foreign Office. 



Dr. Rose is not a mere blind enthusiast for educa- 

 tion, unable to see the ether factors which have made 

 for the commercial progress of Germany. On the 

 contrary, he gives due weight to the system of pro- 

 tection, the orderly habits inculcated by the universal 

 system of military service, and other matters which 

 contribute in this direction ; but after doing this he is 

 still compelled to recognise the great part played by the 

 German technical high schools in the industrial 

 development of the nation. 



The object of this article is to compare the condition 

 of technical education in the United Kingdom with 

 the condition in the country with which Dr. Rose 

 deals ; unfortunately, the comparison is one calcu- 

 lated to_ give Englishmen little satisfaction. 



In this country we have a fairly large number of 

 technical institutions with many thousands of students ; 

 indeed, in numbers only, it is probable that we should 

 compare not unfavourably with our German cousins. 

 But when we look more closely into the statistics we 

 find that in most of these institutions the majority of 

 the students are attending evening classes only, and 

 that of this majority a very large number are en- 

 gaged in work of an exceedingly elementary character. 

 If one considers the day students and restricts oneself 

 to those who are above the very low minimum age of 

 fifteen, it Is found that, counting not merely the 

 technical institutions, but also the universities and 

 university colleges, the total number of day students 

 for the United Kingdom amounted in 190 1 to less 

 than 4000. The corresponding total for the German 

 Empire was. In 1902, nearly 15,000. 



These figures, as they stand, are sufficient to show 

 how very backward we are in this country in the 

 matter of higher technical education ; but, when we 

 bring into the comparison the ages and previous 

 education of the students of the two countries, we 

 see that the above figures by no means adequately 

 show how far we are behind the foreigner in the matter 

 of training. For it must be remembered that, with 

 very few exceptions, all students In German technical 

 high schools commence their studies when they are 

 not less than eighteen years of age, and after passing 



' " Report on the German Technical High Schools." By Dr F. Rose, 

 H.M. Consul, Stuttgart. (No. 591, Miscellaneous Series of Diplomatic 

 and Consular Reports.) 



Since this article was written, Lord Rosebery's letter has appeared, fore- 

 shadowing the es'ablishment of a technical high school approximately on 

 the Berlin scale in London. But the writer lets the article stand ; for one 

 such institution will scarcely suffice for the ultimate needs of the metropoli; 

 alone. It may be hoped, however, that similar developments will occur in 

 our other great centres of population. 



NO. 1760, VOL. 68] 



with credit a nine years' course of Instruction in 

 secojidary schools. We may estimate that of the 4000 

 students over fifteen in institutions in the United 

 Kingdom providing technical education in the day- 

 time, at least 1400 — probably considerably more — were 

 under eighteen ; this reduces us to 2600 students to 

 compare with the 15,000 of Germany. 



Nor Is this all ; for, while the majority of the German 

 students pursue their course of study for at least three 

 years, and In many cases for four. In this country 

 only a very small proportion proceed beyond two 

 years; thus It was found that in 1901 there were about 

 400 third or fourth year students taking complete day 

 courses In engineering in the whole United Kingdom ; 

 at the same time there were in the Berlin Technical 

 High School alone more third and fourth year students 

 of engineering than in all the universities and colleges 

 of the United Kingdom put together ; moreover, none 

 of these German students were under twenty, while 

 our figures could only be obtained by counting every 

 student of this standing over seventeen. 



To what must we attribute our great Inferiority in 

 this respect? In the first place to the condition of 

 secondary education in this country ; secondly, to the 

 fact that German and American manufacturers believe 

 In technical education, while many of their competitors 

 in this country are still bUnd to its advantages ; and 

 thirdly to the fact that, while our Government con- 

 tributes with liberality to elementary education, it is 

 exceedingly parsimonious in its dealings with higher 

 education. 



First, then, let us look at the question of secondary 

 education. Dr. Rose's report gives an adequate Idea 

 of the splendid character of the preliminary training 

 w^hlch young Germans receive before they enter the 

 technical high schools or other higher institutions in 

 Germany. The secondary schools to which he refers 

 are accessible to children of Intelligence all over the 

 Empire; they are carefully graded so as to overlap one 

 another as little as possible, and every inducement is 

 given to parents to allow their children to pursue a 

 complete course of study. The leaving certificates of 

 these schools confer upon children the right of entry 

 to the universities and technical high schools, while 

 they also form a starting point for those who wish to 

 enter the more important branches of the State service, 

 and confer the right to escape part of the compulsory 

 military training. We may hope that In this country 

 the new education authorities will improve our 

 secondary education. Is it too much to expect that 

 the Government may issue a leaving certificate con- 

 ferring similar privileges to the German one, and 

 taking the place of the medley of university local, 

 Board of Education, Army, Navy, and Civil Service 

 examinations, and many others, which now hang like 

 mill-stones round the necks of the teachers in secondary 

 schools. 



The problem how to make British manufacturers 

 believe In technical education Is one which is slowly 

 solving itself, and within the recollection of the present 

 writer an improvement in this direction has taken 

 place. That the improvement has not been more rapid 

 is partly due to the fact that In this country the irn- 

 perfectly trained student has been over-confident in his 

 own powers to an extent only explicable by consider- 

 ing the shortness and Imperfection of his training. 

 The half-educated, college-trained youth has thus often 

 become a laughing-stock in the shops ; he has given 

 his opinions freely, and they have not infrequently been 

 wrong. 



In some of the best technical Institutions we are 

 altering all this ; our students are made to understand 

 that the preliminary training they receive is only a 

 preliminary training, enabling them to acquire more 

 complete knowledge later, but not entitling them to 



