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REV. H. COSTLEY WHITE, M.A., ON 



No institution is so perfect but that it can wisely profit by 

 healthy and vigorous criticism. And the public schools them- 

 selves make no pretension to any measure of perfection. They 

 are very conscious of the many defects they have, and reiteration 

 almost persuades them of the existence of many others that they 

 have not. It is the recognised privilege of the Englishman to 

 grumble at what he loves, and in the public schools, with which 

 he readily finds fault, he yet feels an affectionate pride. This 

 sentiment perhaps cannot, certainly need not, give an account of 

 itself ; for the dissatisfaction reasoned and often reasonable 

 grounds can be alleged. The public schools are not in the fore- 

 front of any educational or intellectual movement. It is not in 

 them that educational experiment finds a warm welcome or a 

 congenial atmosphere. The few bold spirits who, from time to 

 time, make ventures in untrodden paths are generally left to 

 languish through the opposition or the neglect sometimes of 

 colleagues, sometimes of parents, not often of the boys them- 

 selves, seldom, it is only fair to add, of headmasters. Not that 

 the public school by any means shuts its ears or its doors to new 

 ideas, new methods, or the admission of new subjects, as I hope 

 to show presently ; but it cautiously waits, as a rule, until the 

 necessary experiment and verification have been made elsewhere. 

 Future historians will hardly take note of any pioneer work 

 within the public schools since Arnold's day. The main contri- 

 butions to the science of education have come from outside — 

 from the psychologists, with their increasing and perhaps some- 

 times precipitate activities, from the students of the wide and 

 comprehensive sciences of sociology and economics, from the 

 lecture halls of scientific historians, from the world of art and 

 music, from the medical profession, and from the publications 

 of the educational philosopher. Certainly the last 70 years 

 have not been devoid of great schoolmasters, some few of whom 

 I venture to think will be entitled to rank also as great men. 

 But their greatness has lain rather in their administrative powers, 

 or in their force of character and personality, or in their scholar- 

 ship, than in any originality of educational idea. Moreover, if 

 in the list of eminent and honourable names associated with the 

 invention or development of a new educational system there is 

 no name of a public school master, there are understandable 

 reasons for the omission. The headmaster of a public school is 

 not the irresponsible owner of his domain. He is the trustee 

 of an inheritance and its traditions, her edit as non sine sacris. 



