438 TECHNICAL EDUCATION X vn 



not done under conditions of pecuniary success or 

 failure, it is apt to be too amateurish and specula- 

 tive, and that it does not prepare the worker for 

 the real conditions under which he will have to 

 carry out his work. In any case, the fact that the 

 schools are very expensive, and the fact that they 

 are accessible only to a small portion of the popu- 

 lation, seem to me to constitute a very serious 

 objection to them. I suppose the best of all 

 possible organisations is that of a school attached 

 to a factory, where the employer has an interest in 

 seeing that the instruction given is of a thoroughly 

 practical kind, and where the pupils pass gradually 

 by successive stages to the position of actual 

 workmen. Schools of this kind exist in various 

 parts of the country, but it is obvious that they 

 are not likely to be reached by any large part of 

 the population ; so that it appears to me we are 

 shut up practically to schools accessible to those 

 who are earning their bread, and in such cases they 

 must be essentially evening classes. I am strongly 

 of opinion that classes of this kind do an immense 

 amount of good ; that they have this admirable 

 quality, that they involve voluntary attendance, 

 take no man out of his position, but enable any 

 who chooses, to make the best of the position he 

 happens to occupy. 



Suppose that all these things are desirable, what 

 is the best way of obtaining them ? I must con- 

 fess that I have a strong prejudice in favour of 



