2o6 



NATURE 



[Al'KIL 15. 1909 



chief reason is the scarcity of students, which leads to little 

 regard being taken of the previous education of a would-be 

 day student. ' 



(3) The undue importance attached to external examining 

 bodies, and the consequent variety of examinations to 

 which the training must be adapted, detract froiii a con- 

 centration of effort and uniformity of purpose.' ' 



(4) The usual management of municipal institutions by 

 a committee, the constitution and policy of ' which may 

 change every year, and which only too often consists of a 

 number of private gentlemen more or less strangers to 

 technical education, is unsound and wasteful. It often 

 stultifies the really enthusiastic teacher by delaying neces- 

 sary and urgent improvements. 



How long will this country continue to leave the manage- 

 ment of so vital a matter as day technical education largely 

 in the hands of amateurs? 



(5) The equipment provided in individual institutions 

 cannot be kept up-to-date, owing to lack of funds and 

 of students. 



All these serious obstacles result in financial wastage 

 as well as educational inefficiency, the latter all the more, 

 as they make it exceedingly difificult for a teacher to find 

 that amount of satisfaction in his work necessary to keep 

 alive his enthusiasm and that of his students. 



Coming to the attitude of the employers of labour 

 toward technical education, it is not altogether surprising 

 to find that little importance, as a whole, is attached to 

 college training. ' 



A comparison of the advertisements for vacant posts 

 appearmg in English and German technical papers will 

 prove this better than anything else. 



Generally speaking, 'there appears to be amongst 

 employers a lack of interest in technical education, and not 

 much willingness to cooperate with technical institutions ' 

 I his impression I have received in numerous conversations 

 and inquiries concerning this subject. Specific, complaints 

 here are fe%y ; I have occasionally heard it stated that, day 

 echnical training is not of a sufficiently practical character, 

 that day colleges not rarely fail sufficiently to impress on 

 the minds of the students the importance of practical 

 experience, and that, thereby, they indirectly make them 

 look down on shop-trained men and unwilling to adapt 

 themselves to the routine of the workshop and to acquire 

 practical knowledge and skill ; that technical teachers are 

 often recruited from the ranks of those day students who 

 have found it too difficult a task working themselves up 

 o a good position in practical life; this, in turn, is said 



nr.nf- ^'^"'m °^ t^"" '°"''g'=' remaining alienated from 



practice. Finally, the statement is sometimes made that 

 too ittle original work, especially such as requires experi- 

 mental research, is carried out by the staffs of day colleges 



My personal opinion as to these points is that none of 

 them IS quite without justification, though specific cases 

 are often exaggerated and unduly generalised. It is 

 certainly a great mistake permitting students to remain as 

 assistants in the college after their final examination, and 

 gradually _ to work themselves up into the position of 

 ecturers in technical subjects, without having ever entered 

 into practical life. 



The main cause for such complaints, however, lies in 

 the fact that even in the technical universities the number 

 of students is not sufficient to permit of a number of 

 specialised experts being appointed in each department as 

 IS the practice in Germany. The professor or lecturer in 

 an English college is expected to deal with a variety of 

 subjects, each of which is a science in itself, and his spare 

 time is very limited. Personally, I think it is surprising 

 that so much original work is done in spite of such adverse 

 circumstances. 



Evening classes stand in greater favour with employers, 

 being considered a necessary complement to the day-work 

 of apprentices. Complaints are made, however, on account 

 of the heavy nervous strain imposed on youths. Only 

 quite recently two cases of nervous collapse' have come to 

 my notice which, according to the doctor, were without 

 doubt due to excessive strain imposed by the college work, 

 which consisted of lectures on three nights a week and a 

 large amount of home-work. Proper cooperation between 

 the employer and the college would have secured the 

 amount of relief during daytime necessary for the physical 

 NO. 2059, ^'OI- 80] 



and mental well-being of the boy. Such .cooperation is 

 absolutely necessary in connection with all evening work. 

 . Coming, finally, to. the general public and its attitude 

 towards technical education, I need hardly refer to the 

 cry heard throughout the length and breadth of the land 

 that the technical schools impose a far too heavy burden 

 on the ratcpiiyer, a burden altogether out of proportion to 

 the work accomplished, both qualitatively and quantita- 

 tively. We hear that cry every day. I am afraid, how- 

 ever, of losing your sympathy altogether when I state it 

 as my opinion that these complaints of the ratepayer are 

 fully justified. I consider some of the figures which were 

 recently published as to the cost of technical education 

 per student-hour are absurdly high, and a conclusive prool 

 of the inefficiency of our present system ; but, apart froiii 

 that consideration, the ratepayer contributes about 75 per 

 cent, of the cost of technical education, whereas it is only 

 just that the bulk of it should come from national sources. 



This list of defects of technical education could be still 

 further . extended, but I have only referred to the most 

 important ones, the majority of which are felt in all 

 technical schools and colleges, and on which I believe we 

 are agreed. . . ... 



Now, I venture to submit to you that all these . defects 

 could be removed by placing technical education . on -a 

 national basis. 



Day technical teaching, to be efficient, must, in my 

 opinion, be thoroughly organised all over the country, so 

 that a limited number of excellently equipped colleges, 

 with a very large number of students and a corresponding 

 nurpber of specialised lecturers in each department, will 

 satisfy' the needs of their correspondingly large districts. 

 That is the secret of Prussia's success; and though many 

 English people, justly proud of their free institutions, may 

 look down on Prussia as a State governed by army officers 

 and policemen, so much they will have to admit, that 

 England not only can, but must and will, learn a good deal 

 from Prussia in regard to the organisation of education. 



May I, for example, refer to the Charlottenburg College_, 

 about which so much was said and written in connection 

 with the founding of the Imperial College of. Science ar\ij 

 Technology ? Very rarely have I found that the English 

 admirers of Charlottenburg understood the real difference 

 between the German and any corresponding British 

 technical college. It is this : technical education b?ing 

 nationally organised in Prussia, there exist only four 

 technical universities in the whole country, with a popula- 

 tion of 38,000,000 people. The average number of day 

 students is about 2500 per day. Charlottenburg, the largest 

 of them, is the technical university, not only for the whole 

 of Berlin, but in addition for a district of some 40,000 

 square miles. The number of its students, which, of 

 course, are all day students, is about 5000, and the most 

 stringent regulations as to their previous training are in 

 force. With such an attendance the State can afford to 

 appoint for each department a number of professors, each 

 of whom is a recognised authority in some branch of that 

 department. As an example I may mention that there are 

 at Charlottenburg not less than seventeen professors and 

 lecturers in electrical engineering subjects alone. 



Instead of this, what do we find in England? The 

 British Government has chosen the easier course of leaving 

 the founding and management of technical institutions to 

 the enterprise of charitable private persons, . corporate 

 bodies, and the local authorities. As a result, there are — 

 not in greater London, but in the administrative County 

 of London only — at least six colleges of university stand- 

 ing and six day colleges recognised by the Government as 

 technical institutions competing with one another, not to 

 mention ten other institutions with day technical classes 

 and eighteen schools of art. Similarly, in the provinces 

 quite a number of lavishly equipped university colleges 

 have been founded, and technical day schools have sprung 

 up like mushrooms, their number now being many times in 

 excess of the well-understood needs of the country. Many 

 of these institutions are in close proximity to and com- 

 peting with one another. 



The educational consequences require no repetition. • You 

 may go through all the defects which we have considered, 

 and you will easily sec that every one of them is directly; 

 attributable, not to lack of energy or ability on the part 



