196 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



upon scientific investigation. Of the numerous problems in the con- 

 ditions and character of mental work generally, two deserve especial 

 mention — fatigue, and the economy and technique of learning. 



But of all the results of educational psychology, perhaps the most 

 valuable is the slow but progressive inculcation of the whole teaching 

 profession with a scientific spirit in their work, and a scientific attitude 

 towards their pupils and their problems. Matter taught and teaching 

 methods are no longer exclusively determined by mere tradition or mere 

 opinion. They are being based more and more upon impartial observa- 

 tion, careful records, and statistical analysis — often assisted by laboi'a- 

 tory technique — of the actual behaviour of individual children. 



II. 



I turn now to the second aspect. 



So much of our educational system is voluntary that it is often 

 called a dual system. But in speaking of a dual system only the 

 primary stage is, as a rule, in our minds. Yet to foreign students some 

 parts of our higher education, e.g., the Public Schools, appear as that 

 which is most definitely English in character. The Public Schools, 

 however, form no part of the system of public (i.e. of State and muni- 

 cipal) education and are not directly associated with it. 



The reasons are fairly obvious. Many of the Public Schools are 

 centuries old ; our public system began but fifty years ago. The Act of 

 1870 gave us only public elementary schools. More than thirty years 

 elapsed before we had the beginnings of a system of secondary schools. 

 Even to-day, with the comprehensive Act of 1918, whose primary 

 object is to establish a national system of education, the Public Schools, 

 owing largely to the fact that the Act is administered by 318 Local 

 Education Authorities, retain a ' non-local ' character. 



The Public Schools of England have no parallel. They have their 

 defects and their critics ; but they have had a paramount influence on 

 the intellectual and social life of the counti'y. They are admired less 

 for the intellectual severity of the class-room than for their traditions, 

 their form of self-government, and as training places of a generous 

 spirit. In the past the Public Schools in the education of the aristocracy 

 achieved a national purpose. They were the nurseries of English 

 thought and action. Now that the predominant power in the State 

 has passed to the nation as a whole, it would only be in keeping with 

 their long-cherished traditions if the Public Schools were to seek a 

 share in the education of democracy. Moreover, the problems of Local 

 Education Authorities are of such absorbing interest that the profes- 

 sional snirit of the Public Schoolmaster must be longing to assist in 

 their solution. 



The two older Universities have had a history, and have borne a 

 part in the national life, analogous to, but on a much larger scale than, 

 the Public Scliools. They also are ' non-local ' : they serve the Empire. 

 The newer LTniversities are much more local in character. Yet as a 

 whole it can hardly be said that they exercise an important influence 

 on the work of the Local Education Authorities. I am not overlooking 

 the fact tjiat the Universities, like the Public Schools, play their owq 



