586 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIir. No. 402. 



imqualified success. Some 127 schools 

 came under the scheme the first year, and 

 I gather that there will be a considerable 

 increase in numbers in the future. The 

 establishment of schools of science and of 

 these schools may be considered to be a 

 great step taken in getting practical in- 

 struction in natural knowledge introduced 

 into secondary schools. The leaven has 

 been placed in some 300 of them, and we 

 may expect that all schools which may be 

 eligible for state aid will gradually adopt 

 one scheme or the other. Though it is said 

 that there is nothing in a name, I am a 

 little doubtful as to whether the earmark- 

 ing of science education as distinct from 

 secondary education is not somewhat of a 

 mistake at the present day. For my own 

 part, I should like to think that the days 

 have passed when such an earmarking was 

 necessary or advisable. The science to be 

 taught in secondary schools should be part 

 and parcel of the secondary education, and 

 it would be just as proper to talk of Latin 

 and Greek instruction apart from sec- 

 ondary education as it is to talk of science 

 instruction. One of the causes of the un- 

 popularity of the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment was its too distinctive name. At the 

 same time it would be most unwise at the 

 present time, when the new education com- 

 mittees are learning their work and looking 

 to the central authority for a lead, for the 

 state to alter the conditions on which it 

 makes its grants to these schools. It will 

 require at least a generation to pass before 

 modernized education will be free from as- 

 sault. If science instruction is not safe- 

 guarded for some time to come it runs a 

 good chance of disappearing or being 

 neglected in a good many schools. As to 

 the schools which have no financial diffi- 

 culties, it is hard to say what lines they 

 may follow. Tradition may be too strong 

 in them to allow any material change 

 in their course of study. If it be true 



that the modern side of many a public 

 school is made a refuge for the 'incapables, ' 

 and is considered inferior to the classical 

 side, as some say is the ease, such a side is 

 practically useless in representing modern 

 education in its proper light. Again, one 

 at least of the ancient universities has not 

 shown much sympathy with modern ideas, 

 and so long as she is content to receive her 

 students ignorant of all else but what has 

 been called medieval lore, so long will the 

 schools which feed her have no great in- 

 clination to change their educational 

 schemes. 



If we would only make the universities 

 set the fashion the public schools would be 

 bound to follow. The universities say that 

 it is for the public schools to say what they 

 want, and vi-ce versa, and so neither one 

 nor the other changes. It appeal's to me 

 that we must look to the modern univer- 

 sities to lead the movement in favor of 

 that kind of education which is best fitted 

 for the after life of the large majority of 

 the people of this country. If for no other 

 reason, we must for this one hail the crea- 

 tion of two more universities where the 

 localities will be able to impress on the 

 authorities their needs. The large ma- 

 jority of those whose views I share in this 

 matter are not opposed to or distrust the 

 good effects of those parts of education 

 which date from ancient times. The great 

 men who have come under their sway are 

 living proofs that they can be effective 

 now as they have been in times past, but 

 we look to the production of greater men 

 by the removal of the limitations which tra- 

 dition sets. I myself gratefully acknowl- 

 edge what the public school at which I had 

 my early education did for me, but I think 

 my gratitiide would be more intense had I 

 been given some small elementary instruc- 

 tion in that natural knowledge which has 

 had to be picked up here and there in after 

 life. 



