Mat 13, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



469 



ignorant. In truth, if the heroes of Greek and 

 Roman mythology had been indeed divine, we 

 could hardly have expressed our belief and devo- 

 tion more practically than by adopting the gram- 

 mar of their language as the common basis of 

 education in the nineteentli century. Perhaps the 

 afflatus still clings to the disused words, and man's 

 progressive improvement may somehow be indis- 

 solubly connected with the repeated incantation. 



We are told that the public schools produce 

 'formed men,' and the competitive examinations 

 ' crammed men ; ' but the antithesis is not clear, 

 and definitions of the terms employed would have 

 been acceptable. It is doubtless true that inde- 

 pendence of spirit and self-reliance are created at 

 the public schools, and the result, as far as it goes, 

 may be very valuable ; but intellectual training is 

 at least of equal importance with social in forma- 

 tion of character, and it is the former that we as- 

 sert to be inefficient. The term 'cramming' is 

 either a perfect myth, as Mr. Todhunter has af- 

 firmed it to be, so far as it has reference to the 

 examinations in the University of Cambridge ; or, 

 if its present application be a legitimate one, it 

 means, in the pupil, more than usually hard and 

 intelhgent study, and, in the tutor, thorough and 

 painstaking teaching. The boy who is taken from 

 the public schools to be ' crammed ' for the com- 

 petitive examination, is brought into incessant 

 contact with his tutors, is individually assisted in 

 his studies, his difficulties are explained, and, if 

 idle, he is perpetually encouraged to work. The 

 specialty of the method consists in giving indi- 

 vidual attention to each pupil, and so, by obviat- 

 ing waste of time and waste of eflfort, enabling 

 each to take the shortest road to the end desired. 

 It is obvious that such a method involves more 

 actual teaching ; yet with reference to the expense 

 attending this tuition, and which has been repre- 

 sented as enormous, I am confident that a fair 

 average would show that it does not surpass, even 

 if it equals, the cost of education at the public 

 schools. It is impossible to resist suggesting an 

 amendment to Dr. Bird wood's proposal. Let the 

 public schools alter their curriculum to suit the 

 requirements of the competitive examinations, 

 and treble their staff of masters, and let them do 

 this without raising the school fees, and they will 

 at once become formidable rivals of the so-called 

 crammers. 



Granted, however, that the evils complained of, 

 and so much exaggerated, exist in any degree 

 whatever, the subject is one which demands im- 

 mediate and serious attention. The whole tone of 

 education in this country is being influenced, and 

 in "some directions entirely determined, by the 

 character of competitive examinations. And it is 



therefore hardly possible to overrate the impor- 

 tance which attaches to these examinations, and 

 to the question ' How can they be made most 

 serviceable ? ' In the last edition of the ' Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica' there are some pertinent re- 

 marks on this head. The writer says, — 



"It is found that some branches of study are 

 better suited for examination than others. Cer- 

 tain studies endow the pupil with the faculty of 

 doing something he could not do before, such as 

 translating foreign languages, or solving mathe- 

 matical problems ; and there are others, like his- 

 tory, which, though they may add greatly to the 

 wealth of the man's mind, yield no such definite 

 faculty or technical dexterity. We can test the 

 possession of the first sort of acquirement directly, 

 by calling on the student to put in practice the 

 powers he is expected to have acquired ; but, with 

 respect to the latter, we can only ascertain that he 

 recollects some portion of what he has prepared. 

 By choosing these portions judiciously, we can tell 

 whether the student has carefully studied the sub- 

 ject and linked the various parts of it together, but 

 we cannot make sure of the permanency of this 

 knowledge. Young men used to examinations 

 will pick up just the information suited in a very 

 short time, from an analysis or a tutor's note-book, 

 and forget much in a few days. This power of 

 ' getting up ' and carrying is not without practical 

 value. It is the power which enables a lawyer to 

 master a mass of details, and we may allow credit 

 for this, for it shows a good analytical memory ; 

 but it must be observed that what is thus re- 

 warded is not so much a knowledge of the special 

 branch of study, as a power of acquiring, which, 

 very probably, might be applied to one subject as 

 well as another. It requires great experience and 

 judgment in an examiner to deal with subjects 

 like history and literature. He must have an eye 

 for the cardinal points, and must know how a 

 student ought to hold things together in his mind. 

 If he yield to the temptation which seems to beset 

 examiners, of picking out ' things not generally 

 known,' and minute details which a wise man is 

 content to leave to be looked up when he wants 

 them, then a kind of artificial knowledge, solely 

 for use in examinations, will be engendered." 



The opinion that there is something in the 

 nature of examinations which renders them, of 

 necessity, not only inefficient as a test of mental 

 culture, but absolutely prejudicial to the interests 

 of education in general, is, I am convinced, erro- 

 neous. I believe that the capabilities of the com- 

 petitive examination, regarded as an instrument 

 for directing education and for proving its results, 

 have never yet been fully recognized. I do not 

 think that attention has been concentrated upon 



