June 17, 1909] 



NATURE 



475 



Zurich Canton : 



Age 12-15 \v(>\ ... 9'63 ... 21-24 



Age 12-19 403 ■•• 2-22 ... 6'25 



The foregoing statistics may be compared with those 

 subjoined ; — 



Birlcenhead 6-59 ... 872 ... iS'jl 



Derbyshire 3-53 ... 1-54 ... 507 



Essex 6-II ... 576 ... 11-87 



Exeter 11 -14 ... 1373 ... 24-S7 



Hampshire 685 .. 3-8S ... 1073 



Huddersfield 3-99 ... 3-46 ... 7-45 



Liverpool 4-14 ... 3-70 ... 7-84 



Newcastle-on-Tyne 6-79 ... 5'S8 ... 12-67 



Shropshire 5-9 ... 5-6 ... 11-5 



It will thus be seen that in education we are not yet 

 up to a one-Power standard. 



If, however, we take Edinburgh, where a representative 

 committee has been studying the subject, we find from 

 the committee's figures : — 



Under 12 Age 12 to 15 Over 15 



Higher Grade 0-3 ... 540 ... 1-12 



Secondary 6-36 ... 6-28 ... 3-84 



being 6-82 per 1000 inhabitants for higher-grade schools 

 and 16-48 for secondary schools. These figures are for 

 boys and girls, and only three private schools are 

 included. * 



England has no reason to despair. There is sufificient 

 evidence to show that progress is being made. The West 

 Riding County Council has the following record per 1000 

 inhabitants : — ■ 



1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 igoS-g 



Boys 1-5 .. 1-7 ... 1-9 ... 2-1 ... 2-3 ... 2-4 



Girls ... 0-7 ... 1-3 ... 1-5 ... 1-9 ... 2-2 ... 2-3 



Total ... 2-2 ... 3-0 ... 3-5 ... 4-0 ... 4-5 ... 4-7 

 where, again, the number of girls has greatly increased, 

 a notable augury for the home of the future. 



In the West Riding a large number of pupils go to 

 schools in county boroughs ; this may account for the 

 slower increase in the figures -for boys. If allowance be 

 made for them and for other variations, the average 

 becomes at least 6-2 per 1000, promising, but not yet 

 suiTicient. 



Statistics relating to university education are liable to 

 uncertainty, on account of the presence of the foreign or 

 colonial student. Thus in Switzerland the chief problem 

 of university education is to exclude the Russian un- 

 desirable without offending democratic sentiment. The 

 foreigner who attends a German university does so from 

 belief in its efficiency. .At home let us assume that what 

 we gain by the presence of the non-Britisher we lose 

 hy emigration to the Continent. 



The " Statesman's Year-book " for 1908 gives the 

 following figures for the United Kingdom in 1907 : — 



Oxford and Cambridge 7201; 



Durham 926 



London, including School of Economics 7141 



University Colleges 3081 



Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, 



Sheffield 46S5 



Scotch Universities 7579 



Wales 1301 



Ireland 2066 



a total of 33,984, or about 7-8 per 10,000 inhabitants. 

 In No. 591 of Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Dr. 

 Rose gives the following figures per 10,000 males in 

 Germany : — 



1870 t87^ 1S76 i83i 18S6 1889 i3q2 1897 1000 



8-89 10-03 ii'oS 1 1 73 i3'85 14-39 i3'87 1570 1678 



The returns for Switzerland give per 10,000 in- 

 habitants : — 

 Summer Term 1906 — 



Natives 9-58 ... Foreigners 12-34 (Men S'lo, Women 4-24) 

 Winter Term 1906-7 — 



Natives 10-29 ... Foreigners 12-88 (Men 7-67, Women 5-21) 



The figures for German universities given in " Minerva " 

 NO. 2068, VOL. So] 



for 1907 are classified for winter and summer sessions and 

 for matriculated students and Zuhdrer. Interpolating for 

 omissions we get : — 



Matriculated Total 



students attendance Ratio 



Winter 44,S90 ... 51,045 ... 100:114-5 



Summer ... 45,052 ... 54,137 ... 100:120-2 



Or, on the standard of students per 10,000 inhabitants : — 

 Winter, 8-1 and 9 -28. Summer, 8-2 and 9-84. 



Further figures bearing on university statistics in Germany 

 will be found on pp. 51 and 57 of No. 591 of Diplomatic and 

 Consular Reports. Estimating for university education on 

 the German basis, we should expect to find 44,370 students 

 in Great Britain and Ireland. We have already enumerated 

 33,984 at degree-granting universities. The Board of 

 Education accounts for 2,655 ^' " day technical institu- 

 tions " in England. Let us add half that number for the 

 rest of the United Kingdom, though 1029 of them are 

 known to be under eighteen years of age. At agricultural 

 and veterinary colleges we know there are 630 students. 

 We thus get a total of 38,597, without any allowance for 

 duplicates. 



This is much better than we might expect. The newer 

 universities in the north and the Midlands show the 

 presence of- large numbers of people who believe in educa- 

 tion of a high standard. There is nothing to compare 

 with the 16,000 or more students at German technical 

 high schools, and little to record in commercial education 

 of a high standard, London always excepted ; but there is 

 much promise for the future. 



That we have plenty of people willing to be taught is 

 shown by the official returns. Under the heading " Schools 

 of Art " we find : — 



Men Women 



Day classes 1,474 7,631 



Evening classes 15,887 11,938 



Under " Day Technical Classes" there are S53S students, 

 and under " Other Classes for Further instruction " 

 307,908 men and 207,989 women who qualified for grants, 

 uf whom 90,656 were under fifteen and 163,448 between 

 fifteen and eighteen. 



In dealing with numbers, the author has endeavoured 

 to put a good complexion on the British position. He 

 has touched but briefiy on standards and curricula. He 

 has not overstated the case for the foreigner. The result 

 of all this labour is to leave the impression that the future 

 is promising though the present is deficient. The exist- 

 ence of a crisis in education is being recognised. Local 

 authorities are making schools ellicient ; parents are avail- 

 ing themselves of the opportunities so created ; inspection 

 is telling those most interested whether the work of a 

 school is satisfactory or whether its reputation is only 

 sustained by skilful advertisement. It would be well if 

 the great public schools were to pocket their pride and 

 accept recognition, for that would give a hall-mark of 

 respectability which private schools could not ignore. 



.Amid all this promise there is much to deplore. The 

 English parent does not whole-heartedly believe in 

 secondary education. Of four boys entering a secondary 

 school, only one completes the curriculum. If the parent 

 can be got to see the value of trained thinking power and 

 to resist the enticement of an immediate wage ; if he can 

 appreciate the self-discipline that a steady, self-contained 

 course of education demands ; if he will realise the remorse- 

 lessness of research and ignore the sporting chance of a 

 prize limerick ; if he will value the moral forces which 

 have moulded nations and despise the patriotism of the 

 music-hall : then there is still hope for the nation. We 

 can add one-eighth to the number of our university 

 students without creating an academic proletariate. We 

 can almost double the numbers of our secondary schools 

 without being overstocked. We can open a technical 

 university where now a technical institute exists. And if 

 all this is done, we shall neither be financially ruined nor 

 oppressively over-educated. Whilst much remains for the 

 statesman to do, much also remains for the teacher. If 

 parents will insist on knowing what careers are open for 

 their children on leaving a secondary school, the narrow- 

 mindedness of the teacher must give way. If the public 



