494 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
school course nor to the university course; if it is taken at the age of 
sixteen the remainder of the school career tends to be devoted to uni- 
versity work, which should not really be done at school; if it is taken 
after leaving school this means that work is being done at, or in con- 
nection with, the university which ought to be done at school. It is 
certainly true that for various reasons a vast deal of education is now 
being carried on at the universities which should belong to school life, 
and moreover is being carried on by methods which are identical with 
those pursued at school. It is equally true that, owing to the early age 
at which matriculation examinations or their equivalents may be taken, 
many schools are now asking that at the age of eighteen or nineteen a 
school examination may be held which shall be an equivalent not for 
matriculation, but for the first-degree examination at the university. 
This would really imply that schools should be recognized as doing 
university work for two years of their pupils’ careers—surely a most 
illogical procedure and one which supports my contention that there 
is now very serious overlapping, for it assumes that the work for the 
first-degree examination can be carried on either at the school or at the 
university, and therefore that there is no difference in the methods of 
the two. 
An increasing number of candidates actually present themselves 
from secondary schools for the external intermediate examination of the 
University of London; in 1904 there were about 150, in 1909 there were 
nearly 500, such candidates. 
There will always be exceptional boys and girls who reach a univer- 
sity standard, both of attainments and of intelligence, long before they 
arrive at the ordinary school-leaving age. Let them either leave school 
and begin their university career early, or let them, if they remain at 
school, widen their knowledge by including subjects which are not sup- 
plied by the more rigid school curriculum designed for the average 
pupils; but let them not cease to be taught as school pupils. It is 
equally certain that there will also be boys and girls whose development 
is so slow that they barely reach the university standard when they 
leave school; yet some among them are the best possible material and 
achieve the greatest success in the end. For such persons an entrance 
éxamination will be required at the age of eighteen or nineteen; but I 
think it is unfortunate that this should be the same as that which 
quicker pupils can pass at the age of sixteen or seventeen, for an ex- 
amination designed for the one age can scarcely be quite satisfactory 
for the other. 
I confess that the whole matter is inextricably involved with the 
question of university entrance examinations. But to enter upon this 
here would carry us beyond the limits that I have laid down for myself, 
and it will be more profitable to decide what should be done at school 
and the university, respectively, before discussing how the examinations 
