NATURE 



21 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1874 



SIR JOHN LUBBOCK AT BIRMINGHAM 



SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, in his inaugural address as 

 president of the Midland Institute, gave utterance 

 to some wholesome truths which we sincerely hope the 

 Government and people of the country will take to heart- 

 Sir John, as a member of the Schools Commission and 

 of the Science Commission, has had ample opportunities 

 of ascertaining the exact state of our schools and univer- 

 sities as to the teaching of :cience ; and after all that has 

 been said and done, he comes to the unhappy conclusion 

 that, practically, science is ignored in the vast majority 

 of our educational institutions of all classes — elementary 

 schools, endowed schools, and universities. At the same 

 time he is driven to the conclusion that a widespread 

 interest in science already exists in the country. Of this 

 we think anyone can assure himself who looks around 

 and can read the signs of the times. There is undoubt- 

 edly a w-idespread feeling that the present all but univer- 

 sal system of education is inadequate and unsatisfactory 

 and that science must, sooner or later, be allotted a place 

 in all our schools. Notwithstanding this feeling, the fact 

 undoubtedly remains as Sir John Lubbock stated it, that 

 the great fault of our present system of education is the 

 neglect of science ; some few years hence it will be 

 deemed incredible that a boy should be allowed to pass 

 through any good school and yet be entirely ignorant of 

 any one branch of natural knowledge. 



Here, then, on one side exists a craving, becoming 

 more and more defined, in the country, that science be 

 given a place in our educational system, and on the other 

 hand the fact that scarcely anything definite has yet been 

 done to give science an established place in our schools and 

 universities. In most cases where science has been ad- 

 mitted into our schools, it has been only on sufferance as 

 a kind of interloper for which any odd coiner is good 

 enough. In spite of all that has been said recently — 

 again to refer to the address — about the advantage 

 of science, notwithstanding the reports of Royal Com- 

 missions and the action of Parliament, though the im- 

 portance of science is generally admitted, still it is 

 unfortunately the case that, with a few exceptions, it is 

 either entirely ignored in our endowed schools or has 

 allotted to it a space of time ludicrously inadequate, and, 

 indeed, almost nominal. In some cases it is permitted, 

 but only on condition of being taken out of playtime, 

 which is not fair to the boy, and being paid for extra, 

 which naturally does not recommend it to the parent. It 

 is for parents and for the public to say whether 

 this state of things is satisfactory ; and Sir John 

 called attention to it because he thought that parents 

 were in general scarcely aware how little their sons 

 were even now learning beyond the old routine. The 

 present state of matters ought not, therefore, to be 

 tolerated, and the only position in our schools and 

 universities, for the teaching of science, is a position of, at 

 least, equality with all the other old-fashioned means of 

 education. The only principle on which a satisfactory 

 course of education can be constructed is, that it is essen- 

 tial for the well-being of every man and woman that he 

 Vol. XI.— No. 263 



and she should start in life with a well-trained mind and 

 a fair knowledge of the principles and the main facts 

 of everyday life. 



Sir John Lubbock admits the importance of language 

 as a means of education, but he thinks that it has 

 hitherto been given a far too prominent place in our 

 schools, and that the amount of time devoted to linguistic 

 studies is out of all proportion to the results achieved. 

 " We still," he said, " indeed, teach the Latin grammar 

 rather than the Latin language, for a man cannot surely 

 be said to know a language which he cannot speak ; and 

 I cannot but believe that if our children were taught Latin 

 and Greek as they are taught French and German, they 

 would learn them in half the time. Mr. Arnold, in his 

 report on German schools, tells us that it is common there 

 for the master to address his boys in Latin, and for the 

 class to speak Latin in reply. The German boys, he 

 adds, have certainly acquired through this practice a 

 surprising command of Latin." 



It is well known that scholarship in Germany is far more 

 widespread and accurate than in England, and we see 

 that this scholarship is acquired with a much less expen- 

 diture of time. The consequence is, that plenty of time 

 remains in German schools for the teaching of science, 

 which forms so important a part of education throughout 

 that country, and which gives the German a starting- 

 point in life so very much superior to that which the 

 average Englishman has, even when educated at our 

 public schools and universities. No one can deny the 

 increasing importance of a knowledge of science in all 

 departments of human activity, and we fear that if 

 another two generations of boys be allowed to pass 

 through our schools in their present condition, this 

 country will be almost hopelessly behind certain countries 

 on the Cjntinent. This has been recently admitted as a 

 truth by several practical men, whose position as such 

 ought to beof sonte weight with our trading and manufac- 

 turing community. But to this subject we hope to return 

 in an early number. 



In the meantime, it is clear to all who have taken pains 

 to inquire into the facts that a radical reform must soon 

 be made in our present system of education, from the 

 elementary schools upwards ; that a rearrangement of 

 subjects and a reform in methods must be made, so that 

 science may be allotted a place of equal prominence with 

 other subjects, and that Government must begin the 

 reform by insisting that such a change be made in the 

 programmes of all schools under its control. On this 

 point Sir John said : — 



No doubt we had greatly increased the number of our 

 schools and the attendances of the children, but while we 

 had been disputing over the 25th clause and arguing 

 about compulsion, we had somewhat lost sight of the 

 character of the education given ; and he was sorry to 

 say that there was abundant evidence, not only that it 

 had not improved, but even that it had fallen off in the 

 last few years. The present system of payment practi- 

 cally confined the instruction given to reading, writmg, 

 and arithmetic. No doubt a payment of y. per head 

 was nominally offered for any two other subjects, but 

 other grants amounted to iSi-. — namely, 5^. for attend- 

 ance, \s. for music, and 45. each for reading, writing, and 

 arithmetic, which were obligatory. Now, as 15^. was the 

 maximum granted, it followed that if three-quarters of 

 the children pass in reading, writing, and arithmetic, the 



