SEPTEMBER 25, 1902] 
NATURE 
533 
to average boys he cannot write a letter, he cannot con- 
struct a grammatical sentence, he cannot describe anything he 
has seen. The public-school curriculum is always growing, 
and it is never subtracted from or rearranged. There is one 
subject which ordinary schoolmasters can teach well—Latin.! 
The other usual nine subjects have gradually been added to the 
curriculum for examination purposes ; they are taught in water- 
tight compartments—or, rather, they are only crammed, and not 
taught at all. Our school system resembles the ordinary type of 
old-established works, where gradual accretion has produced a 
higyledy-piggledy set of shops which one looks at with stupe- 
faction, for it is impossible to get business done in them well 
and promptly, and yet it seems impossible to start a reform any- 
where. What is wanted is an earthquake or a fire—a good fire 
—to destroy the whole works and enable the business to be 
reconstructed on a consistent and simple plan. And for much 
the same reason our whole public-school system ought to be 
“scrapped.” What we want to see is that a boy of filteen shall 
be fond of reading, shall be able to compute and shall have 
some knowledge of natural science ; or, to putit in another way, 
that he shall have had mental training in the study of his own 
language; in the experimental study of mathematics and in the 
methods of the student of natural science. Such a boy is fit to 
begin any ordinary profession, and whether he is to enter the 
Church, or take up medicine or surgery, or become a soldier, 
every boy ought to have this kind of training. When I have 
advocated this kind of education in the past I have usually been 
told that I was thinking only of boys who intend to be engineers ; 
that it was a specialised kind of instruction. But this is very 
untrue. Let me quote from the recommendations of the 1902 
Military Education Committee (Report, p. 5) :— 
1 Only one subject—Latin—is really educational in our schools. I donot 
mean that the average boy reads any Latin author after he leaves school, or 
knows any Latin at all ten years after he leaves school. I do not mean that 
his Latin helps him even slightly in learning any modern language. for he is 
always found to be ludicrously ignorant of French or German, even after an 
elaborate course of instruction in these languages. I do not mean that his 
Latin helps himin studying English, for he can hardly write a sentence 
without error. I donot mean that it makes him fond of literature, for of 
ancient literature or history he never has any knowledge except that Cesar 
wrote a book for the third form, and on English literature his mind is a blank. 
But I do mean that as the ordinary public-school master is really able to 
give a boy easy mental exercises through the study of Latin, this subject is in 
quite a different position from that of the others. Ifany proof of this state- 
ment is wanted, it will be found in the published utterances of all sorts of 
men—military officers, business men, lawyers, men of science, and others— 
who, confessedly ignorant of “‘the tongues,” get into a state of rapture over 
their school experiences and the efficiency of Latinas a means of education. 
All this comes fromthe fact, which schoolboys are’sharp enough to observe, 
that English schoolmasters can teach Latin well, and they do not take much 
interest in teaching anything else. It is a power inherited from the Middle 
Ages, when there really was a simple system of education. I ask for areturn 
to simplicity of system. English (the King’s English; I exclude Johnsonese) 
is probably the richest, the most complex language, the one most worthy of 
philologic study; English literature is certainly more valuable than any 
ancient or modern literature of any one other country yet admiration for it 
among learned Englishmen is wonderfully mixed with patronage and even 
contempt. At present, is there one man who can teach English as Latin is 
taught by nearly every master of every school? Just imagine that English 
cuuld be so taught by teachers capable of rising to the level of our literature ! 
I have often t» give advice to parents. I find the average parent exceed- 
ingly ignorant of his son's character or inclinations or ability. He pays a 
schoolmaster handsomely for taking his son off his hands except curing 
holidays. During the holidays, so terrible toa parent, he sees his son as 
little as possible. One question always asked is: Do you think it better to 
have “theoretical” instruction (they always call it by this absurd name) 
before or after an actual apprenticeship in works? Of course, such a ques- 
tion cannot be answered offhand. You tell the parent, to his great astonish 
ment, that you must see the boy himself. Whenat length you see him, the 
chances are that you will find him to be what the schoolmasters are making 
of all our average boys. No part of his school work has been a pleasure tu 
him, and, althcugh he has had ‘to work hard at his books, not one of the 
above three powers is his—power to use booksand to «rite his own language ; 
the language of his nurse, his mother, his mistress that is to be, his enemies 
and friends ; the only language in which he thinks—power to compute and 
a liking for computation—power to understand a little of natural phenomena. 
Honestly I practically never fini that sucha boy has had any education at 
all except what he has obtained at home or from his school companions or 
from his sports. Even his sports are to keep him healthy of body only and 
not at all to cultivate his mental powers. Those old games like ‘* Prisoners’ 
Base,”’ which really developed in a wonderful way not only all the muscles of 
the body, but also the thinking power, are scorned in the public schools. 
Think now how sucha boy is handicapped if we pitchfork him into works 
where itis nobody's duty to teach him anything, or send him to college, 
where he cannot understand the lectures. Of course, if heis very eager to 
be an engineer he will, by hook or by crook, get to understand things. | 
have met some such men—clever, successful engineers in spite of all sorts of 
adverse circumstances—but the best of them are willing to admit that they 
are, and have always been, greatly hurt by the absence of the three powers 
which I have specified. And if this has been so in the past, when the 
scientific principles underlying engineering have been simple, how much 
more so isit now, when every new discovery in physics is producing new 
branches of engineering ! 3 
NO. 1717, VOL. 66] 
cd 
‘The fifth subject which may be considered as an essential 
part of a sound general education is experimental science ; that 
is to say, the science of physics and chemistry treated experi- 
mentally. Asa means of mental training, and also viewed as 
useful knowledge, this may be considered a necessary part of the 
intellectual equipment of every educated man, and especially 
so of the officer, whose profession in all its branches is daily 
becoming more and more dependent on science.” When 
statements of this kind have been made by some of us in the 
past, nobody has paid much attention ; but I beg you to observe 
that the headmaster of Eton and the headmaster of St. Paul’s 
School are two of the members of the important Committee 
who signed this recommendation, and it is impossible to ignore 
it. Last year, for the first time, the President of the Royal 
Society made a statement of much the same kind, only stronger, 
in his annual address. Iam glad to see that the real value of 
education in physical science is now appreciated; that mere 
knowledge of scientific facts is known to be unimportant compared 
with the production of certain habits of thought and action 
which the methods of scientific study usually produce. 
As to English, the Committee say : ‘‘ They have no hesitation 
in insisting that a knowledge of English,!as tested by composition, 
together with an acquaintance with the main facts of the hisiory 
and geography of the British Empire, ought in future to hold 
the /s¢ place in the examination and to be exacted from all 
candidates.” The italics are mine. It will be noticed that they 
say nothing about the practical impossibility of obtaining teachers. 
As to mathematics, the Committee say : ‘‘ It is of almost equal 
importance that every officer should have a thorough grounding 
in the elementary part of mathematics. But they think that 
elementary mechanics and geometrical drawing, which under the 
name of practical geometry is now often used as an introduction 
to theoretical instruction, should be added to this part of the 
examination, so as to ensure that at this stage of instruction the 
practical application of mathematics may not be left out of 
sight.” As Sir Hugh Evans would have said, ‘‘It is a very 
discretion answer—the meaning is good”; but I would that the 
Committee had condemned abstract mathematics for these army 
candidates altogether. 
This report appears in good time. It would be well if Com- 
mittees would sit and take evidence as to the education of men 
in the other professions entered by our average boys. Itis likely 
that when an authoritative report is prepared on the want of 
education of clergymen, for example, exactly the same state- 
ments will be made in regard to the general education which 
ought to precede the technical training ; but perhaps a reference 
may be made in the report to the importance of a study of 
geology and biology as well as physical science. Think of the 
clergyman being able to meet his scientific enemies in the gate ! 
Thanks mainly to the efforts of a British Association Com- 
mittee, really good teaching of experimental science is now 
being introduced into all public schools, in spite of most per- 
sistent opposition wearing an appearance of friendliness. In 
consequence, too, of the appointment of a British Association 
Committee last year, at what might be called the psychological 
moment, a great reform has already begun in the teaching of 
mathematics.” Even in the regulations for the Oxford Locals 
for 1903, Euclid is repudiated. It seems probable that at the 
end of another five years no average boy of fifteen years of age 
will have been compelled to attempt any abstract reasoning 
about things of which he knows nothing; he will be versed in 
experimental mathematics, which he may or may not call inen- 
suration ; he will use logarithms, and mere multiplication and 
division will be a joy to him; he will have a working power 
with algebra and sines and cosines ; he will be able to tackle at 
once any curious new problem which can be solved by squared 
1 This Committee recommends for the Woolwich and Sandhurst candidates 
areformthat has already been carried out by London University. No dead 
language is to be compulsory, but unfortunately some language other than 
English is still to be compulsory. Those boys, of whom there are so many, 
who dislike and cannot learn another language are still to be labelleu 
“uneducated.” Must there, then, be national defeat and captivity before 
our chosen race gives up its false academic gods? We think of education in 
the most slovenly fashion. The very men who say that wftiity is of no 
importance are the men who insist on the usefulness of a knowledge of 
French or German. They say that a man is illiterate if he knows only 
English, although he may be familiar with all English literature and with 
other literatures through translaticns. The man who has passed certain 
examinations in his youth and never cares to read anything is said to be 
educated. The men of the city of the Violet Crown, were they not 
educated? And did they know any other than their o.n language? 
2 Discussion last year and report of Committee, published by Macmillan. 
