516 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



economical results, is to be allowed free play, some social arrange- 

 ment must be made by which all may start in life with an approach 

 to equality of opportunities." 



Two years later this term was used and popularized by 

 Mr. Benjamin Kidd in his " Social Evolution," and is now 

 often used with approval by political and social writers, 

 most of whom, however, do not appear to see all that it 

 implies. The term includes all that is contained in 

 Spencer's principle of social justice, and as it is much 

 shorter and more expressive, it is well adapted to become 

 the watchword of social reformers. Let us then see what 

 its full application would really mean. 



Equality of Opportunity is absolute fair play as between 

 man and man in the struggle for existence. It means 

 that all shall have the best education they are capable of 

 receiving ; that their faculties shall all be well trained, 

 and their whole nature obtain the fullest moral, intellec- 

 tual, and physical development. This does not mean that 

 all shall have the same education, that all shall be made 

 to learn the same things and go through the same train- 

 ing, but that all shall be so trained as to develop fully all 

 that is best in them. It must be an adaptive education, 

 modified in accordance with the peculiar mental and 

 physical nature of the pupils, not a rigid routine applied 

 to all alike, as is too often the case now. 



It further implies that during this period of thorough 

 education every endeavour shall be made to ascertain how 

 the special faculties of each can be best .utilized for the 

 good of society and for his own happiness, and thus will 

 be determined the particular work, both bodily and mental, 

 to which each youth shall be trained, subject always to 

 the demand for workers in the various industries or 

 occupations. 



Yet further, equality of opportunity requires that all 

 shall have an endowment to support them during the 

 transition period between education and profitable em- 

 ployment, and to furnish them with such an outfit as their 

 special avocations require. 



