228 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



certain areas, and would like my opinion to be recorded bearing in mind circum- 

 stances of this kind. 



I am convinced that the secondary school should restrict itself to subjects of 

 general education, in preparation for specialised courses in technical schools or 

 in universities, and that it is to the advantage of education that the two classes 

 of institutions be kept entirely separate in their sphere of work. 



Summary relating to Polytechnics, &c. 



The work of day technical classes cannot be said in any way to over- 

 Lip that of secondary schools. In the main it consists of preliminary 

 training for apprentices or other specialised preparation for industrial, 

 commercial, agricultural, or domestic life, and is equally suitable for 

 students who have received their previous education either at public 

 elementary or at secondary schools. The courses followed could not 

 form part of the work of a secondary school, and few of the students 

 Would attend secondary schools even if day technical classes did not 

 exist. 



The day classes at the Borough Polytechnic Institute, London, 

 S.E., belong entirely to day schools of the preliminary trades type. 

 There are no students above the standard of London Matriculation 

 or similar general examination ; and the 464 day students in the Institute 

 are grouped as follows: — 



Pupils 

 National School of Bakery and Confectionery ... 36 



Technical Day School for Boys 200 



Trade School for Girls 168 



Domestic Economy School for Girls 60 



464 



Schools of this type stand by themselves and do not interfere with 

 secondary schools on the one hand or higher technical training on the 

 other. 



As to technical institutions, a certain' amount of the day work, 

 namely, that of the preparatory classes, may perhaps be considered as 

 belonging to secondary education rather than technical. A number of 

 students enter the day classes of technical institutions at too late an age 

 to be admitted to secondary schools, and it is largely on their account 

 that the preparatory classes are necessary. It appears from the 

 numbers given in Table I. that less than one-fifth of the students in 

 the technical institutions of England had passed a university Matricu- 

 lation examination or its equivalent upon entrance, and that nearly 

 one-quarter was admitted without passing any examination test. 

 ' There is still a tendency,' says the latest report of the Board of 

 Education, ' to admit students to technical institutions before they have 

 had an adequate course of general education.' As, however, the 

 number of students under sixteen years of age at entrance is only 

 about 200, the overlapping so far as age is concerned is not very 

 great; and technical institutions cannot be said to compete with 

 secondary schools to any serious extent. From the latest report of the 

 Board of Education it appears that in the year 1908-09 there were fewer 

 than 2,000 students taking full courses of instruction in technical insti- 



