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College — were good schools before the Act, and their teaching 

 did not require any extraneous stimulation. On the other 

 hand the quiet and peace of school-life had been broken into. 

 Instead of studying a subject, a certain book was got up, and 

 the pupil prepared rather for the examiner than the 

 examination. Formerly the candidates for the Indian Civil 

 Service were prepared at the colleges, but at present the 

 preparation of these candidates was a speciality of the so-called 

 grinders. The elementary schools did not suffer in the same 

 degree, as there was everywhere a sufficent number of pupils 

 to keep up a good school ; but where the mischief was done 

 was in the department of higher education. 



Dr. Steen (Royal Academical Institution) quite agreed with 

 the Chairman's statement that Mr. Brown's ideas were utterly 

 Utopian. He was about one hundred or perhaps two hundred 

 years ahead of his time. He (Dr. Steen) however, believed the 

 views put forward in the Paper were largely correct, and he 

 might say that he had himself read a Paper some three or four 

 years ago on the prize system, in which he expressed views 

 analogous to those brought out that evening. The Paper was 

 read before the Schoolmasters' Association, in Dublin, and 

 he was sorry to say there was not one agreed with him. 

 He argued it as Mr. Brown did, believing the system to be 

 thoroughly bad, and he had not changed his mind on the sub- 

 ject, but perhaps that was an idea that would get hold of the 

 public mind two hundred or three hundred years hence. He 

 felt they were entirely on the wrong track on that subject, and 

 he would like to see some school in the North of Ireland 

 worked on the system laid down there that evening. What 

 turned his attention to the matter was what he had seen in other 

 countries, and especially in one country where the prize-system 

 is practically unknown. He then began to study the matter 

 and he came to the conclusion that it did not rest on a sound 

 basis. But as Professor Meissner asked, what were they to do in 

 Belfast ? They must follow the lead of the Universities and 

 Colleges and the difficulty had been increased one hundred 

 fold by the introduction of the Intermediate System. As he 



