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such characteristic features of English life among the upper social class, they 

 have gathered to themselves such a wealth of tradition and influence, they are 

 so deeply rooted in the confidence and affection of the English-speaking world, 

 that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to replace them. Nor can it be 

 doubted that the education given in these schools, however rough and ready, 

 however deficient in some respects it may have been, has yet done much, in 

 Canning's bold ecclesiastical phrase, to produce ' a supply of persons duly 

 qualified to serve God both in Church and State,' and has tended to foster some 

 of the qualities by which the English race has attained its sovereign position in 

 the world. 



Again, there is the question of co-education. For if the early education of 

 boys and girls may, as I have argued, safely proceed on the same lines, it may 

 be held that they can well be educated together. Nor is there any valid 

 educational reason why boys and girls should not be educated together, as they 

 are in the United States of America. In England itself they receive their early 

 education, and they are beginning to receive their academical education, together. 

 It is at least conceivable that co-education throughout the period of school life 

 may come to be the rule in day schools. In boarding schools, however, where 

 the life is ordered on somewhat artificial principles, co-education would almost 

 certainly create problems which would enhance the difficulties of the master or 

 mistress. I do not therefore anticipate that co-education in schools will assume 

 a large importance in English life. 



So far I have tried to indicate a few of the problems calling for the attention 

 of persons who are engaged or interested in secondary education. Here at least 

 I may claim to speak with some degree of experience. It is with hesitation that 

 I approach the subject of the highest education as given in the universities, 

 especially in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. 



The elasticity which is characteristic of English life has in the last half- 

 century created a number of local universities beside the two ancient univer- 

 sities. It would be unwise, even if it were feasible, to aim at assimilating the 

 ancient and the modern universities. It is not impossible that the modern 

 universities will lead the way in educational reform. The dead hand of the 

 past lies heavily upon the historical seats of learning. No fact of educational 

 history seems to be stranger than the inability, perhaps I ought to say the 

 unwillingness, of the universities to reform themselves. It might have been 

 anticipated that a home of learning would be a seat of powerful reforming 

 energy. It has not proved to be so. The universities of Oxford and Cam- 

 bridge have been reformed more than once, but the reform has come from 

 without and not from within. Whether the present Chancellor of the University 

 of Oxford will succeed in persuading the university of which he is the distin- 

 guished head to reform itself without waiting for the action of Parliament is a 

 question on which it would be unsafe for me to venture an opinion. But his plea 

 for reform is itself a proof that reform is needed. It will not, however, be 

 unfitting that I should insist upon the value, and the ever-increasing value as I 

 think, of the work belonging to the modern universities in the great cities of the 

 land — can I be wrong in saying pre-eminently to the Victoria University of 

 Manchester ? History seems to suggest that the association of a seat of learning 

 with a great centre of industry may produce the best results, in so far as it 

 imparts culture to industry and practicality to learning. The modern univer- 

 sities have appealed with striking success to the generous instincts of local 

 patriotism. They have shown the possibility of gathering an earnest body of 

 teachers, and through them of imparting a genuine intellectual culture to a 

 large number of students, without imposing artificial restrictions upon their 

 studies. They have proved the possibility of uniting men and women upon 

 equal terms in the same academical institutions. The Victoria University has 

 aimed with conspicuous success at solving the difficult problem of uniting the 

 teachers who belong to the different branches of the Church in a common 

 faculty of theological learning. In some of these respects, if not in all, the 

 universities of Oxford and Cambridge will probably follow suit. It can scarcely 

 be doubted that the time is not distant when Oxford and Cambridge will open 

 their doors to students without insisting upon the so-called compulsory study of 

 the Greek language. I speak ae one who more than a quarter of a century 

 ago argued against the policy of requiring some knowledge of two dead languages 



