L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 233 
whose inhabitants earn their livelihood in groups of connected industries. 
But in this country the local education authorities are primarily responsible 
for providing technical and other forms of instruction. There are a few 
instances of localised industries whose boundaries coincide, or nearly so, 
with local authority areas, and in those areas systematic planning has led 
to satisfactory results. But industry as a rule has no respect for adminis- 
trative boundaries. In consequence, the attempt to provide for the needs 
of an area without reference to what neighbouring authorities are doing 
usually involves some waste of resources, as well as a loss of efficiency, 
particularly in the higher branches of instruction, by which only a select 
few have the capacity to profit. 
The situation calls for regional planning as the next step in the organisa- 
tion of higher technical education. A beginning has been made by 
groups of authorities, notably in the West Riding of Yorkshire and in 
south Lancashire. In others progress is impeded by causes which I 
have mentioned earlier in this address. It will not be easy gradually 
to transform the local authority colleges into groups of co-ordinated 
regional institutions. In some of the regions the Board of Education 
will probably in the end have to give a strong official lead, instead of 
depending, as they appear to do at present, upon the tactful and unofficial 
ministrations of their inspectors and other servants. 
The public interest displayed in the late eighties and nineties in the 
new movement for technical instruction soon waned, for the early results 
were disappointing. It had to be realised that technical education is not 
self-sufficient, and cannot be successfully provided in the air, so to speak. 
To be of value to the individual and to the community it must build on 
a sound foundation of general education, and the successful completion 
of the elementary school course, gravely deficient as it then was in the ele- 
ment of science, was not sucha foundation. When this was understood, 
the more thoughtful authorities began to give attention and to divert 
some of their funds to the encouragement of the teaching of science and 
other subjects which were more cultural than technical, and to the 
transfer of the brighter elementary school scholars to the secondary 
schools. Their activities in these directions paved the way to some 
extent for the renascence of secondary education which I have already 
discussed. It was not until the Great War was over that industry and 
commerce began to ask on any considerable scale, and apart from isolated 
instances, for the help of the schools in meeting the great changes brought 
about by the application of new scientific discoveries to manufacturing 
processes, and by the invasions of the machine in every department of 
work. Industry and commerce are still busily discussing their require- 
ments and endeavouring to formulate their demands upon the schools. 
As regards industry, at least, the discussions can hardly yet be said to 
have issued in any very clear conclusions. To borrow the language of 
the theatre, what the educationist hears for the most part are ‘ confused 
noises without.’ So long as industry is obliged to make its comments 
* off stage ’ one can hardly expect anything else. 
At this time of day it is unnecessary to stress the argument for a close 
association between the industrialist and the educationist in the business 
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