May 13, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



471 



in the mode of carrying out such examinations. 

 It is obvious that any elaboration of the scheme 

 of examinations, of the kind which I have very 

 imperfectly suggested, would increase the labor 

 and cost of conducting them. To insure satis- 

 factory results, it might prove needful to engage 

 a whole committee of examiners where but one 

 is at present employed. Still, in view of the over- 

 whelming importance of the effects of these ex- 

 aminations upon the education of the youth of 

 this country, any objections to change founded 

 upon considerations of economy must be regarded 

 as trivial. 



In conclusion, I may say that there appears to 

 be a consensus of opinion in favor of the pass ex- 

 amination, with the subsequent arrangement of 

 candidates alphabetically in one, two, or three 

 divisions, thus reducing competition to a mini- 

 mum. The College of preceptors has, I believe, 

 never swerved from this principle, and a justifica- 

 tion ©f it is surely afforded by the very marked 

 success which has attended their examinations for 

 a long period of years. The dangers, such as they 

 are, cluster round the competitive examination, 

 with its order of merit attached ; and it is pretty 

 generally agreed that young people should not 

 very frequently be called to engage in these con- 

 tests. G. S. Care. 



THE LONDON COLLEGE OF PRECEPTORS. 



The erection and dedication of a handsome new 

 building for the use of the London College of pre- 

 ceptors has called renewed attention to a most 

 serviceable institution, and one which American 

 educators should know something about. A writer 

 in the Athenaeum gives a summary of its history. 

 It is this college, far more than the ancient uni- 

 versities, that regulates and directs the education 

 of the English middle classes. 



The College of preceptors had a humble begin- 

 ning. In 1846 some private school-masters, im- 

 pressed with the ignorance and incompetence of 

 numbers who called themselves teachers, met to- 

 gether, and ultimately resolved to form themselves 

 into a society with the object of affording to the 

 public a test of the qualification of teachers, and 

 of thus, in course of time, excluding from the 

 ranks of the profession all charlatans and im- 

 postors. The college increased rapidly in num- 

 bers, and secured the interest of distinguished 

 patrons, among them the late Marquis of North- 

 ampton and Sir John Lubbock, by whose aid it 

 succeeded in obtaining the royal charter by which 

 it was incorporated in 1849. The preamble of this 

 charter embodies very clearly the views of the 

 original founders. The college is incorporated 



"for the purpose of promoting sound learning, 

 and of advancing the interests of education, espe- 

 cially among the middle classes, by affording fa- 

 cilities to the teacher for acquiring a knowledge 

 of his profession, and by providing for the periodi- 

 cal session of a competent board of examiners, to 

 ascertain and give certificates of the acquirements 

 and fitness for their ofiSce of persons engaged, or 

 desiring to be engaged, in the education of youth." 

 These primary objects of the college, it may at 

 once be said, have hitherto been carried out but 

 to a limited extent and with small success. At 

 first, by a strange irony of fate, the result of its 

 operations was to aggravate the evil it sought to 

 cure. In the report of the schools inquiry com- 

 mission, Mr. Fitch stated that in his district the 

 objects of the college had not been fulfilled to any 

 appreciable extent, and that several school-masters 

 of good standing who had once supported it "had 

 -withdrawn themselves in disgust at the shameless 

 use which was made in advertisements of the let- 

 ters M.E.C.P. by men who were wholly unquali- 

 fied ; " and as late as 1868 Mr. Joseph Payne, in a 

 paper read at a meeting of the college, put the 

 plain spoken question, "Can any one wonder that 

 school-masters by hundreds, finding that high rank 

 in a learned corporation was to be obtained at the 

 rate of seven shillings a letter, should have availed 

 themselves of the golden opjiortunity ? " The coun- 

 cil have ever since steadily discountenanced the 

 use or abuse of these mystic letters. The only 

 grades the college recognizes for which diplomas 

 are granted are associate, licentiate, and fellow. 

 These grades are conferred after examination, 

 partly in general knowledge, and partly in the 

 theory and practice of education. The qualifica- 

 tions for the lowest grade are about on a par with 

 those of a first-class certificated teacher, the licen- 

 tiateship corresponds to an ordinary degree, and 

 the fellowship may fairly rank with an honor de- 

 gree at the universities. The College of preceptors 

 deserves full credit for having first recognized the 

 necessity of a professional examination, and for 

 setting an example which the older universities 

 are slowly following. So far, it has succeeded in 

 attracting few teachers, and those mostly of an 

 inferior class ; but the failure is due, not so much 

 to any defects in the scheme, as to the general in- 

 difference of the public. 



By far the most important event in the history 

 of the college was the establishment of the exami- 

 nation of pupils. This was begun in 1850, and 

 was in full operation in 1854 ; that is, four years 

 before the university local examinations, and two 

 years before those of the Society of arts. In spite 

 of the competition from these and other examin- 

 ing boards, the college examinations have steadily 



