418 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— L, M. 



until after their systems of secondary education had been well established for many 

 years. 



Each English technical or commercial college receives, therefore, two streams of 

 students — a broad stream, whose full-time schooling has finished at the age of 14, 

 and a narrower stream, whose education has been prolonged to the age of 16 or 18 ; 

 it is, in fact, an undifferentiated institution. Similarly, there are two streams of 

 recruits to the executive and responsible posts in English industry and commerce, 

 since men of both types of preliminary education find their way to the very highest 

 positions. 



In Continental countries it is more frequent for technical and commercial schools 

 to be differentiated on the basis of the educational antecedents of their students. 

 Thus, the technical and commercial high schools of the Continent receive only students 

 from secondary schools who are prepared to undertake advanced work ; students 

 from elementary schools usually go into schools of lower type which often prepare 

 them for entry into specified occupations rather than for wide careers. 



It may be that the recent development of secondary education in this country 

 will have the effect of causing our technical and commercial schools to foUow the 

 example of the Continent, and that differentiation will become more common. We 

 have already gone some distance in this direction by establishing junior technical 

 and trade schools for both boys and girls. In any case, it is likely to have a profound 

 eflect on the staffing of industry and commerce, since the more responsible posts will 

 inevitably be filled to a greater extent by persons who have had greater educational 

 advantages ; in other words, the vertical mobility of labour in England will be 

 diminished. 



During the last twenty-five years the number of pupils in grant-aided secondary 

 schools in England and Wales has been increased fourfold. During the same period 

 industry and commerce in England have also undergone great changes ; but the 

 modifications in the structure of education and in the organisation and conduct of 

 industry and commerce went on side by side for many years without any definite 

 contact between representatives of each of them. Co-operation between industry 

 and education is now, however, becoming more frequent and more systematic. It 

 may be (o) local, (b) regional, or (c) national. The regional form of co-operation is 

 new, and exists as yet only in the geographical county of Yorkshire. 



During the last two years inquiries into (o) education for engineering, and (6) educa- 

 tion for ' Salesmanship ' (i.e. for marketing goods and services at home and overseas) 

 have been carried on by oflScers of the Board of Education acting under the guidance 

 of suitable committees. It is hoped that the results of these inquiries will lead to 

 greater co-operation. 



Looking at education for industry and commerce as a whole, it is clear that real 

 progress has been made during the last few years. The most significant change is 

 in the public attitude towards the student. While a few years ago the student was 

 regarded as an individualist making laudable attempts to improve his qualifications, 

 he is coming to be regarded as a man who is playing his part in a great corporate 

 attempt to restore and increase the national welfare. 



(/) Discussion (Mr. J. L. Holland). 

 B.B.C. Exhibit and Demonstration. 

 Visit to Stoke Park Colony (see Section J). 



SECTION M.— AGRICULTURE. 



Thursday, September 4. 



Discussion on The Influence of Fertilisers on the Yield and Composition 

 of Plants. 



{a) Sir John Russell, F.R.S. 



The primary effect of a fertilizer on the plant is to increase the uptake of the par- 

 ticular nutrient thus supplied and consequently increase its amount in the plant 



