THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



9 



Schools take up a stone and cruelly break 

 the back of a harmless frog. He did it 

 without any object, except that of wanton 

 mischief. While we have teachers of this 

 kind to teach the young, can we expect them 

 to be kind to the lower animals ? Such an 

 act, in my opinion, is a crime, and should 

 warrant the person being brought before 

 the Board and asked for some explanation 

 of his conduct. Such incidents show that 

 there is a lack, and in many cases a very 

 great lack, of a knowledge upon Natural 

 History subjects — an ignorance — a gap in 

 learning, which it is our bounden duty to do 

 our best to see filled up. Not one of you, I 

 am certain, will deny that there is a great 

 need for Natural History instruction, and I 

 think I have said sufficient to convince any 

 sensible person that it would be a great 

 advantage to have our knowledge upon 

 these subjects greatly extended ; the ques- 

 tion now remains to be asked — Can it be 

 done ? and how ? 



Here we are met by two very great diffi- 

 culties : first, the teachers and the scholars 

 have already too much to learn ; and in the 

 next place, if time permitted, the teachers 

 are, as a rule, incapable of giving any but 

 the very simplest instruction in these mat- 

 ters. Let me deal with the former objection 

 first. I have already said that education is 

 now reduced to a system of " cram." That 

 head which is capable of taking in the 

 greatest variety of subjects in the least 

 possible time, and retaining such until an 

 examination-day, is supposed to be the best 

 educated. Children— at least, board-school 

 children, where, I believe, education is 

 carried on better than in many other schools 

 — are worked up to the very utmost pitch. 

 Children are kept at lessons very closely, 

 especially just before an examination, when 

 they have to put in an hour or more per 

 day over the ordinary time. At such times, 

 those who live at a distance from their 

 school have not sufficient time to go home 



for meals, and these have to be swallowed 

 in haste, and improperly masticated, or 

 interfered with in the process of digestion. 

 Besides this, a child who promises to be 

 clever is loaded with home lessons, not only 

 sufficient to occupy the whole of the even- 

 ing, but perhaps also enough to cause 

 dreaming about them in the night. Now 

 all this is done for the sake of the govern- 

 ment grant. The child's brain is made a 

 tool by which the teacher is to earn money. 

 Prizes are offered, but only for the number 

 of attendances : merit deserves no reward, 

 and every prize that is offered is made sub- 

 ject to the number of attendances, or, in 

 other words, is a "grab" at the goverment 

 grant. I believe in teaching for the love of 

 knowledge ; in building up a sure education, 

 if it be slow, and not trying to cram a child's 

 head like forcing aerated lemonade into a 

 glass bottle. The teachers, too, I believe, 

 have also little leisure. Not long ago I was 

 told of one teacher who was at school at 

 half-past four in the morning and there 

 until eleven at night. When teachers go 

 out with me on Saturday afternoons they 

 have frequently been at a class or an exami- 

 nation all the morning. It is, in fact, a 

 never-ceasing work. 



I have also told you that speaking 

 generally, the teachers do not profess to 

 have any knowledge of Natural History. 

 Some few, it is true, are certified, and hold 

 certificates to teach special subjects, bnt let 

 us see how these certificates are obtained. 

 A young man (young women generally 

 have more sense), determines to go in for 

 a certificate to teach botany. He joins 

 a three or six months botanical class. 

 He has no knowledge of botany, has no love 

 for the subject, beyond his desire to possess 

 a certificate. He buys a text book or a 

 class book upon the subject. He looks up 

 all the questions which have been asked by 

 examiners in past years, in order that he 

 may guess at the questions most likely to be 



