44 CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. [n. 



their opponents the heavy hand of the Minister of 

 Education. 1 



So much for the powers of the School Boards. Limited 

 as they seem to be, it by no means follows that such 

 Boards, if they are composed of intelligent and practical 

 men, really more in earnest about education than about 

 sectarian squabbles, may not exert a very great amount of 

 influence. And, from many circumstances, this is espe- 

 cially likely to be the case with the London School Board, 

 which, if it conducts itself wisely, may become a true 

 educational parliament, as subordinate in authority to the 

 Minister of Education, theoretically, as the Legislature is 

 to the Crown, and yet, like the Legislature, possessed 

 of great practical authority. And I suppose that no 

 Minister of Education would be other than glad to have 

 the aid of the deliberations of such a body, or fail to pay 

 careful attention to its recommendations. 



What, then, ought to be the nature and scope of the 

 education which a School Board should endeavour to give 

 to every child under its influence, and for which it should 

 try to obtain the aid of the Parliamentary grants ? In 

 my judgment it should include at least the following 

 kinds of instruction and of discipline : 



1. Physical training and drill, as part of the regular 

 business of the school. 



It is impossible to insist too much on the importance 

 of this part of education for the children of the poor of 

 great towns. All the conditions of their lives are un- 

 favourable to their physical well-being. They are badly 



1 Since this paragraph was written, Mr. Forster, in speaking at the Birkbeck 

 Institution, has removed all doubt as to what his " final decision " will be in the 

 case of such disputes being referred to him : " I have the fullest confidence 

 that in the reading and explaining of the Bible, what the children will be 

 taught will be the great truths of Christian life and conduct, which all of us 

 desire they should know, and that no effort will be made to cram into their poor 

 little minds, theological dogmas which their tender age prevents them from 

 understanding." 



