590 



NA TURE 



[October i i, 1906 



plan of procedure and to inquire how far tliis is likely 

 10 meet tfie prevailing needs. Enthusiasm, unless 

 well directed, is not enough. British educational 

 endeavour has too often proved unproductive because 

 of its haphazard character, and instances are extant 

 where in neighbouring countries better results have 

 followed a smaller expenditure of money and trouble, 

 because each new development has made an addition 

 to a carefully conceived plan. The policv of muddle 

 is, at all events, fatal in education. 



There must, in the first place, be an intimate con- 

 nection — a close association throughout, indeed — 

 between the systems of elementary and secondary 

 education on one hand, and the colleges and universi- 

 ties on the other. The trinity of grades must form 

 an organic whole dominated by the same ideals, 

 imbued from base to apex with the same spirit of 

 earnest thoroughness, where at every stage the 

 learner must be taught to be content with nothing 

 short of the best. A boy's opportunities for progress 

 should be limited only by his natural aptitudes; and 

 brains, wherever found, must be regarded bv educa- 

 tional administrators in every district as a national 

 asset to be trained, developed, and sharpened to their 

 full extent. How far this is from being the case at 

 present many recent articles in Nature and other 

 contributions to current literature have shown. Not 

 only is the amount of preliminary training received 

 by boys seeking admittance to college insufficient, but 

 the kind of education they have received is unsuit- 

 able. 



The principal of the Manchester Municipal School 

 of Technology, who is particularly well qualified to 

 speak on this subject, wrote in an article (School 

 WorU, April) published this year : — 



" Those who are familiar with the standards of entrance 

 to our advanced schools and colleges of science know only 

 too well how low are the standards of admission. What- 

 ever may be the ' face ' requirements of matriculation, the 

 actual marks required for a pass are extremely low, neces- 

 sarily so in the present state of our secondary education. 

 It is further well established that the average time actually 

 spent in the secondary schools is not much, if any, more 

 than a third of that required in German and Swiss schools 

 of similar rank — in short, either the pupils go in too late 

 or they finish too early. In any event, they leave without 

 an adequate training, alike in respect of both time spent 

 and subjects studied. Moreover, the age of admission to 

 our universities and specialised schools of applied science 

 is two years below that of similar institutions on the Con- 

 tinent. In these circumstances, how is it possible that 

 the output, in respect of the quality of the students, can 

 rival that of foreign institutions? " 



Commenting upon the kind of secondary education 

 given in this country, a writer in Nature of March 

 23, igo5 (vol. Ixxi., p. 487), states: — 



" The custodians of English education are still actuated 

 by mediaeval ideals. The entrance of the student of science 

 to the older universities is still obstructed by an obsolete 

 and ludicrous test in Greek. There is a tendency even yet 

 among those in charge of our Department of Education 

 to discourage and hamper the instruction in science in our 

 elementary and secondary schools." 



I^ord Strathcona did well to emphasise in his 

 address at the .'Aberdeen graduation ceremony the 

 stimulating influence which Scottish universities have 

 had upon the schools of that country, for it is 

 especially to the improvement of the type and standard 

 of English secondary education that attention must 

 be at once seriously directed if full advantage is to 

 be iTiade of English universities and technical colleges. 

 We have arrived at the stage when the pressing need 

 iis neither suitable buildings nor qualified teachers — 

 NO. 1928, VOL. 74] 



these we have in a more abundant measure than is 

 necessary to meet present needs — but students suit- 

 ably prepared and thoroughly grounded in the funda- 

 mentals of a sound secondary education. The number 

 of day students in our technical schools and colleges 

 is still ridiculously small, and too many of those in 

 attendance are reaping little benefit, because they lack 

 habits of serious study and the acquaintance with 

 fundamental principles they should have acquired at 

 school. It is in this direction that immediate improve- 

 ment is required. In Germany, to quote an example 

 of what can be done, the secondary schools are turn- 

 ing out youths trained to think and to reason, trained 

 in the methods of acquiring knowledge, and inspired 

 with an earnest desire to study the subjects necessary 

 to enable them to occupy positions of cominand in 

 their country's industrial army. But the German boy 

 is, as a matter of course, allowed to remain at the 

 secondary school to the age of eighteen or nineteen, 

 and parents willingly make the necessary sacrifice, 

 having learnt how abundant in later years is their 

 reward. In some way or other, if we are to compete 

 on anything like equal terms with other nations, we 

 must import a spirit of greater earnestness into our 

 secondary schools, allow our boys to remain in them 

 longer, and adjust our curriculum to modern needs. 

 The British boy, if rightly directed, has no superior 

 in ability, earnestness, and intelligence generally, and 

 it is little short of criminal to handicap hiin with an 

 antiquated course of study and a curtailed school 

 career. 



But it is not only the bonds which connect the 

 secondary school with the university which must be 

 drawn closer and strengthened ; the systems of 

 elementary and secondary education must be rendered 

 more interdependent. Our capacity-catching mach- 

 inery has improved in recent years, it is true, but it 

 is far from perfect ; and the endeavours made to open 

 a way for boys of exceptional brain-power in the 

 elementarv school, through the secondary school, to 

 the university, have been spasmodic and not in 

 accordance with a carefully thought-out scheme. In- 

 discriminate scholarship giving has in many cases 

 resulted onlv in the manufacture of surplus clerks 

 and ill-trained schoolmasters, and the absence of clear 

 aims and a definite policy as to what education is 

 expected to accomplish for these exceptional boys has 

 resulted in waste of money, loss of opportunity, and 

 a growing disbelief in the efficacy of higher educa- 

 tion. Instead of benefiting our industries and 

 strengthening the hands of our manufacturers, our 

 educational muddling has given rise to discontent, 

 whereas a policy of clear thinking and the application 

 of the methods of science to educational problem- 

 would have produced a well-balanced and judiciously 

 graded system of national education — capable of pro- 

 viding the country with trained workers for every 

 sphere of activity. 



Equally striking would be the effect on the uni- 

 versities themselves if such a coordinated scheme of 

 education could be brought into being. Instead of 

 the glorified boarding-school type which at present 

 functions as a university, where young men continue 

 to plav games and practise " good forin " to the 

 exclusion of serious work, all our universities would 

 be institutions filled with well-trained youths earnestly 

 intent upon acquainting themselves with the triumphs 

 accomplished bv modern research, and upon fitting 

 themselves in their turn to extend the bounds of 

 knowledge. 



Lord Strathcona in his address at the graduation 

 cereiTionv also wisely insisted upon the national 

 character of the Scottish universities, and brought into 

 high relief a feature which should distinguish all 



