290 
On Technical Education . 
LMay, 
who had to make his way in the world as a clerk had a much 
better chance than a young Englishman,— not because he 
was naturally quicker, but because, in consequence of the 
German system, he had received a much better education to 
fit him for business ; or that Mr. Felkin, in his work “ Tech- 
nical Education in a Saxon Town,” should thus express 
himself : — “ Chemnitz is a large manufacturing town, like 
Nottingham, resembling it, too, in the faCt that hosiery is 
one of its staple manufactures ; and, moreover, as the town 
of Chemnitz has already taken away the glove trade from 
Nottingham, and is, in the opinion of many, slowly under- 
mining the trade in cotton hosiery too, it cannot but be im- 
portant to the people of Nottingham to know something of 
the educational advantages which have enabled the Saxons 
to do this. For, in the writer’s opinion, neither in physique 
nor in energy and natural ability are these Saxons equal to 
Englishmen. On the contrary, the human raw material in 
Saxony is inferior to that of the Midland Counties, and yet 
the weaker race takes the bread out of the mouth of the 
stronger, and competes with it in the markets of the world. 
What enables it to do this ? ” The answer is, that it is 
mainly due to the Saxon’s possessing superior educational 
advantages. Nor is it surprising that so many parents in 
this land of educational endowments and expenditure on 
education should send, or proceed with, their children to 
Germany, — a country “ where there are no close and wealthy 
scholastic corporations ; no rich independent church claiming 
a monopoly of education, and instinctively averse to change ; 
and no blind adherence to old paths,” — to obtain for them 
an education suitable and adapted for their future pursuits 
in life. When staying in Bonn, some years ago, I saw, with 
feelings akin to pain, an English town springing up, inha- 
bited, I was told, almost entirely by those who had come 
over for the purpose of having their children educated. 
The first and essential requisite for an improved system 
of Technical education in England is the establishment of 
schools resembling the Real and Trade Schools of Germany. 
Without such schools the Technical Colleges which have 
been recently established in the country, by the munificence 
of private individuals, will not be of that service to the 
country they otherwise would be ; for the students proceed- 
ing to them will too frequently have but a very imperfect 
acquaintance with one or more of the natural sciences : 
hence the Colleges will in part have to be turned into Ele- 
mentary Science Schools, or the students will obtain but a 
very imperfect knowledge of such subjects. 
