TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 863 



a more fraction of iis students. The middle grades of teclinological instruction 

 tiuirer from a similar defect. ]>oys are entered at tecliuical institutions whose 

 only previous instruetion has been at elemeutarj^ schools and evening classes ; 

 whose intellectual faculties have not been developed to the requisite point ; and 

 who have to be retaught the elements to fit them for the higher instruction. In 

 fact there is no scientific conception of what this kind of instruction is to accom- 

 plish, and of its proper and necessary basis of general education. 



Yet this is just the division of Higher Education in which Public Anthority 

 linds a field for its operations practically unoccupied. There are no 

 ancient institutions which there is risk of supplanting. The variety of the 

 subject itself is such that there is little danger of sinking into a uniform and 

 mechanical system. What is required is first a scientific, well-thought-out 

 plan and then its prompt and effective execution. A proper provision of the 

 various grades and types of technological instruction should be organised in every 

 place. The aim of each institution should be clear ; and the intellectual equip- 

 ment essential for admission to each should be laid down and enforced. The 

 principles of true economy, from the national point of view, must not be lost sight 

 of. Provision can only be made (since it must be of the highest type to be of the 

 slightest use) for those really qualified to profit by it to the point of benefiting 

 the community. Evening classes with no standard for admission and no 

 test of efficiency may be valuable from a social point of view as providing 

 innocent occupation and amusement, but they are doing little to raise the tech- 

 nical capacity of the nation. So far from ' developing a popular demand for 

 higher instruction ' they may be preventing its proper growth by perpetuating the 

 popular misconception of what real technical instruction is, and of the sacrifices we 

 must make if our people are to compete on equal terms with other nations in the 

 commerce of the world. The progress made under such a system would at first 

 be slow ; the number of students would be lew until improvements in our systems 

 of primary and secondary instruction afforded more abundant material on which 

 to work ; but our foundation would be on a rock, and every addition we were able 

 to make would be permanent, and contribute to the final completion of the 

 edifice. 



It is the special function of the British Association to inculcate ' a scientific 

 view of things ' in every department of life. There is nothing in which scientific 

 conception is at the present moment more urgently required than in National 

 Education ; and there is this peculiar difficulty in the problem, that any attempt to 

 construct a national system inevitably arouses burning controversies, economical, 

 religious, and political. It is only a society like this, with an established philo- 

 sophical character, that can afford to reduce popular cries about education (which 

 ignore what education really is, and perpetuate the absurdity that it consists in 

 attending classes, passing examinatiou.s, and obtaining certificates) to their true 

 proportions. If this Associatiou could succeed in establishing in the minds of the 

 people a scientific conception of a National Education System, such as has already 

 been evolved by most of the nations of Europe, the States of America, and our 

 own Colonies, it would have rendered a service of inestimable value to the 

 British nation. 



The following Papers were read : — 



1. The Orfjanisation of Secondary Education. 

 By Sir Henry E. Roscoe, F.Ii.S. 



2. The Mechanism for Education in Scotland. By John Adams. 



In Scotland the .School Board system is universal. The whole country is 

 divided up into School Board areas. It is true that there are a number of Volun- 

 tary schools throughout the country, mainly connected with the Episcopalian 



