836 REPORT— 1902. 



the serious v/ork of tlie world -will fall upon tlieir occupants. In other words, special 

 provision must be made for scholars : they must not be allowed to monopolise 

 attention and set the pace to the detriment of the majority. When Carlyle made 

 the statement that we had in our islands a population of so many millions, mostly 

 fools, he stated what is only half a truth. Ho failed to realise that the foolishness 

 is very largrelj' begotten of neglect and want of opportunity, not innate. Our 

 schools mostly fail to lind out the intelligence latent in the great majority of their 

 pupils, and give it little chance of developing by ofl'eiing them a varied diet from 

 which to select. During a long experience as a teacher, I have over and over 

 again seen weaklings develop in course of time into strong men when they have 

 been properly encouraged and an opportunity at last found for tlie exercise of their 

 * talents.' The Briton is in this respect a most mysterious creature : you never 

 know when it is safe to call him a fool. All are agreed that the mistakes in the 

 recent war were not due to lack of intelligence but to lack of training. There 

 can be no doubt of that. All who have taught in our colleges will, I am sure, 

 agree with me that tlie material sent up from the schools is in substance magnifi- 

 cent but too often hopele.ssly unfit to benefit from higher teaching. The thing.^ 

 said of those who enter for the military profession are as nothing in comparison 

 with what could be said of those who enter for the professions generally. If our 

 young people fail to show intelligence in later life, it is as a nde because the 

 conditions under which we place them in earlier life are not only such as to leave 

 their intelligence undeveloped but — what is far worse — such as to mar their ability. 

 The best return we can make to those who did such magnificent service in the 

 late war will be to take to heart the real lessons taught by the mistakes : to 

 see to it that their children and their successors generally are trained in a happier 

 school than that in which they were placed. 



E.xamiuing bodies at the present time do not appear to realise the full measure 

 of their responsibility. To examine well is at all times a difficult task, far more 

 difficult than to teach well. The examiner wields a large measure of authority 

 and it is imperative that he should exercise this wisely. Examiners should there- 

 fore be chosen with extreme care and with due regard to their fitness for the 

 work; but this too rarely happens : the choice falls too frequently on specialists 

 with little knoAvledge of educational requirements and possibilities. The examina- 

 tion of boys and girls is far too often put into the bands of those who have no 

 real knowledge of the species and little sympathy with its ways. 



There are three courses open to examining bodies — to lead, to maintain them- 

 selves just abreast of the times, to stagnate. As a matter of fact, the last is that 

 almost invariably chosen — a syllabus, when once adopted, remaining in force 

 year after year. Consequently, examinations tend to retard rather than to favour 

 the introduction of improved methods of teaching. It is impossible to justify a 

 policy which has such results. The evil effect of examinations would be less if 

 the syllabus were abolished and the limits of examinations very broadly indi- 

 cated ; this is done in some cases and might be in all. The incompetent examiner 

 and teacher are not in the least helped by the conventional curt syllabus, but the 

 liberty of action of the competent examiner and teacher and their desire to effect 

 improvements are materially limited by it. The competent examiner should 

 know what is a fair demand to make of a particular class of students and should 

 be in a position to take count of the advances that are being made ; the com- 

 petent teacher should be able to do all in his power to make the teaching effective, 

 and be secure in feeling that his efforts could not fail to be appreciated. To take 

 my own subject, the chemistry syllabus recently laid down for the London 

 Matriculation examination is quite unsuited to its purpose and most hopelessly 

 behind the times. The scheme put forward in the report of the Committee on 

 Military Education is but a bag of dry bones. In the case of several subjects, 

 the South KensiDgton schemes are full of the gravest faults, their hoary antiquity 

 being their least objectionable feature. Surely a national institution, dispensing 

 public funds, should be the last to hold back the nation ; it should be provided 

 with machinery which would enable it to march with the times. In making 

 this criticism I should like to recognise the great work doue by Sir William 



