(T"^ 



71 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 



pait parasitic in character, and get more than they ought to have, and more than 

 their proiiioteis realise they are getting, of the moral force and physical strength 

 of the nation. 



In the year 1901-2, of tlie whole population of Loudon between fourteen and 

 twenty-one, only 15 per cent, were actually in attendance at the continuatiou 

 schools under the then Ijondon School Board. If we double that (and it is au 

 excessive estimate) for the number in the evening classes under the then Technical 

 Education Board, we arrive at the conclusion that out of the whole number of 

 young people in London between fourteen and twenty-one years of age, less than 

 a third were receiving educational care. In 1904, in Manchester, at least 14,000 

 boys and girls between fourteen and sixteen years of age were not in evening schools 

 or day schools. The conclusion which is being forced, I think, on the majority 

 of observers is that we cannot afford to allow this leakage to go on. We are in 

 the position of people who have laid down a costly water-supply, but have then 

 left a hole in the pipe just behind the tap. Mr. Oreasey in his excellent book on 

 'Technical Education in Evening Schools,' and the authors of 'Studies of Boy 

 Life in our Cities,' issued by the Toynbee Trust, agree that something must be 

 done to require some kind of continued education during those critical years. Out 

 of seventy-six teachers and experienced administrators in all parts of the country 

 whom it has recently been my duty to consult, no fewer than fifty-two were in 

 favour of some form of obligatory attendance at continuation classes. 



But I am glad to say that during the last two years there has been a remark- 

 able improvement in the organisation of evening schools in manj' industrial towns 

 in this country — an improvement due to the labours of the local authorities and 

 their organisers, and to the wise counsels of the Board of Education. The case 

 of Halifax should be mentioned with special honour. Last year, in that town, 

 of all the boys in the borough of thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen years of age who 

 had left the day school, 69 per cent, were in the evening classes, and 96'7 per cent, 

 of the boys enrolled were attending three evenings a week ; 25 per cent, of them 

 had not missed a single attendance, and 41 per cent, had made between 90 and 

 100 per cent, of attendances. This has been done, in the absence of any com- 

 pulsory powers, by the skilful orgaiiisation and keen interest of the Borough 

 Education Committee and of Mr. Ciowther, the Principal of the Technical School. 

 The results have been achieved bj' grading the schools skilfully, by offering wise 

 inducements to punctual attendance and also by making the courses of study bear 

 directly on the varied trades and needs of the borough. The position of the 

 evening schools in the agricultural districts is much less promising. But even 

 here there are grounds of encouragement. In the rural county of Cambridge there 

 is an evening school in almost everj- parish and I believe I am right in saying that, 

 as the result of many years of careful work and encouragement on the part of the 

 County Education Committee, and Mr. Austin Keen, its Secretary, GO per cent, of 

 the boys who remain in the county after leaving the elementary schools are to he 

 found pretty regularly attending the evening clnsses. 



There are one or two cases of wise and liberal action on the part of emploj^eis 

 of labour to which I will allude. At Messrs. Rowntrte's cocoa works in this 

 city all girls under seventeen are required to attend a school of domestic economy, 

 cookery, and hygiene two hours a week, during work hours, in an excellently 

 planned and well-taught school, maintained by the firm at its own expense in the 

 works. There are three teachers ; the school is under the supervision of the Board 

 of Education; 520 girls are in attendance; and the results are most encouraging to 

 those who have tried this valuable and epoch-making experiment. Messrs. Cad- 

 bury, of Bournville, who have done so much in other ways to promote the well- 

 being of those whom they employ, require all their workpeople under fifteen to 

 attend the gymnasium twice a week. At Messrs. Crosfield's, cf Warrington, 

 attendance at evening schools, greatly helped by the firm, is compulsory for all 

 boys and girls under seventeen years of age (the hours of work with the firm 

 being so short as to make this attendance possible without undue fatigue) ; and 

 all boys and girls of fifteen (thirty boys and twenty-five girls) are sent to learn 

 swimming at the town bath. 



