TEACHERS AND THEIR PUPILS 495 
are to be adapted to our purpose. It will be sufficient for me to say 
that I have been led to the conclusion that matriculation examinations 
should be designed to suit the capacity of average pupils not less than 
seventeen years of age, if they are to test the intelligence of those who 
are ready to enter upon a university course. 
Starting, then, with the principle that the period of mental dis- 
cipline is closed at the end of the school career, and that those who 
pass to the university come with fair mental training and sufficient 
intelligence, let me inquire what should be the relation of university 
teaching to that which the student has received at school. 
Under present conditions the schools which aim at sending students 
to the universities endeavor to give a general education which will fit 
their pupils to enter either upon a university course or upon whatever 
profession or occupation they may select on leaving school. They do 
not confine the teaching of any pupil to preparation for a special pro- 
fession or occupation, and they do not generally encourage special 
preparation for the university. 
Now contrast what happens to the pupils leaving such a school to 
enter a profession or business with what happens to those who proceed 
to the university. The former pass into an entirely different atmos- 
phere; they are no longer ‘occupied with exercises and preparatory 
courses which serve a disciplinary purpose; they are brought face to 
face with the realities of their business or profession, and, though they 
have to gain their experience by beginning at the lower or more ele- 
mentary stages, they do actually and at once take part in it. 
The university student, on the other hand, too often continues what 
he did at school; he may attend lectures instead of the school class, but 
neither the method nor the material need differ much from what he 
has already done. Should not the break with school be as complete for 
him as for his school-fellow who goes into business? Should he not be 
brought face to face with the actualities of learning? After his years 
of preparation and mental drill at school should he not, under the 
direction of his university teachers, appreciate the purpose of his work 
and share the responsibility of it? 
Let me take, as an illustration, the subject of history. A public 
school boy who comes to the university and takes up the study of history 
should learn at once how to use the original sources. It will, of course, 
be easier for him if he has learned the rudiments of history and become 
interested in the subject at school; but, if he is really keen upon his 
university work, it should not be absolutely necessary for him to have 
learned any history whatever. In any case, if he has received a good 
general education and has reached the standard of intelligence required 
for university work, he ought to be able to enter at once upon the intel- 
ligent study of history at first hand; his teachers will make it their 
duty to show him how to do this; their lectures and seminars wil] illus- 
