718 REPORT — 1902. 



be ia to enter the Church, or take up medicine or surgery, or become a soldier, 

 every boy ouoht 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): — 



' 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 experimentally. As a 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 statetnents 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 head- 

 master 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 Hoy al Society made 

 a statement of much the same kind, only stronger, in his annual address. 1 am 

 glad to see that the real value of education in physical science is now appre- 

 ciated ; 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 acquaint- 

 ance with the main facts of the history and geography of the British Empire, 

 ought in future to hold thejirsf 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 Committees would sit 

 and take evidence as to the education of men in the other professions entered by 

 our average boys. It is likely that when an authoritative report is prepared on 

 the want of education of clergymen, for example, exactly the same statements 

 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 ! 



' This Committee recommends for the Woolwich and Sandhurst candidates a 

 reform that 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 v^hom there are so many, who dislike and cannot 

 learn another language are still to be labelled ' 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 ■utility 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 translations. 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 own language ? 



