l88a.] On Technical Education. 471 
being made. The many do not know what to require; hence 
they are content with the prevailing fashion in education, 
for all teaching is to them alike : they cannot distinguish 
good teaching from bad, nor have they the means of testing 
whether the education that is being given to their children 
does or does not train their mental powers. Not knowing, 
therefore, the kind of education to demand, they are content 
to allow their children to be as imperfectly educated for 
their after pursuits in life as they were themselves. This is 
especially the case with those who have been successful in 
business ; they think the kind of education they received 
will do equally well for their children, neglecting to perceive 
the fierce struggle England is entering upon, both in com- 
merce and manufactures, with America and other civilised 
nations, and the ever-increasing care these countries are 
bestowing in providing an education suitable for the wants 
of their middle classes. They have (especially the Germans) 
their Mercantile Public Schools : the objeCt of these schools 
is to provide a suitable education for those who intend to 
devote themselves to a purely commercial career, as bankers, 
book-keepers, merchants, accountants, clerks, correspond- 
ents, &c. Instruction is given in mercantile science, in 
mercantile law, political economy, book-keeping, correspond- 
ence, mercantile arithmetic, chemical and mechanical tech- 
nology, mercantile geography, history, arithmetic, geometry, 
German, French, English, and free-hand drawing. In some 
mercantile centres, such as Hamburg and Bremen, no boy 
intended for commerce — not even the. son of the richest 
banker — is excepted from the system of training they have 
established for young merchants. Well might the Right 
Hon. W. E. Forster, M.P., say, speaking from experience, 
that a young German who had to make his way in the world 
as a clerk had a much better chance than a young English- 
man, — 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. Mr. Forster has 
had the advantage of a twofold experience : he has not only 
been engaged in commerce, but he has also been Vice- 
President of our Education Department. They have also 
their Real Public Schools. The object of the*se schools is 
to provide a suitable education for those intended for manu- 
facturing pursuits : the education given in this class of 
schools is based on the natural sciences and modern lan- 
guages, as against classics in their classical schools. 
Having their elementary schools, their classical schools, 
their real schools, their, mercantile schools, &c.,— in short, 
