ON THE ‘ FREE-PLACE’ SYSTEM. 45 
which has not been made public, may be assumed as the basis on which 
Mr. McKenna’s system was built. 
In the report of the Board of Education for the year 1906-7 
reference is made to the free-place question as follows:—‘ The oppor- 
tunity which an increase of grant has offered has been used to secure 
that all secondary schools aided by grants shall be accessible to all 
scholars who are qualified to profit by the instruction given therein. 
The fees charged . . . have in many cases constituted a barrier to the 
admission of children of working) men who are desirous to obtain and 
able to profit by secondary education. . . . It is not unreasonable to 
require that, in return for additional financial aid, the authorities 
responsible for the schools should admit free a certain number of 
children from public elementary schools. It is accordingly laid down 
that in all schools where a fee is charged a proportion of places, which 
will ordinarily be not less than one quarter, shall be open without pay- 
ment of fee to scholars from public elementary schools applying for 
admission provided that the applicants are able to show by a qualifying 
examination their fitness to profit by the education given in the school.’ 
(Times Summary, December 31, 1907.) 
It is of interest to note that in the Training College regulations 
for the same year emphasis is laid on the condition that students 
may only be excluded on ‘ reasonable grounds,’ and that exclusion on 
the grounds of religion or of social status is not ‘reasonable,’ thus 
corresponding to the policy of the Board in regard to admission to 
secondary schools in relation to social position. 
It would appear that in actual practice a school can comply with 
this 25 per cent. rule if one quarter of its scholars come from public 
elementary schools and are not paying fees either as holders of school 
scholarships, county scholarships, local or other scholarships, or for 
other reasons. As such scholarships are generally awarded by a more 
or less rigid competitive examination, it is theoretically possible that 
a school might still comply with the 25 per cent. free-place rule and yet 
not have offered any free places not attached to specific scholarships. 
This is, however, not a very likely result, and the general position is 
fairly summed up in the words of a recent report to the Kent Educa- 
tion Committee while referring to the free-place system :— 
“No special preparation is necessary for free-place scholars at 
secondary schools. The school record and the oral test are of decisive 
importance and any written examination is only preliminary. The 
object of the examination is to select, not so much the children who 
are superior to their fellows in present attainment, as those who give 
evidence of superior aptitude and intelligence, and in making the award 
adequate attention is given to character and physical health.’ 
This may, we think, be taken as an admirable exposition of. the 
award of free places at its best. 
The free-place system is in fact a compromise, and grew out of a 
struggle, none the less real because veiled, between the more radical 
1918. E 
