,,cambridge ,,essays ,,on ,,education ,,edited ,,by ,a4,c4 ,,benson1 ,c4,v4,o41 ,,ll4,d4 ,master of ,magdalene ,college ,with an ,introduction by the ,right ,hon4 ,viscount ,bryce1 ,o4,m4 #aiai ,,preface ,the scheme of publishing a volume of essays dealing with underlying aims and principles of education was originated by the ,university ,press ,syndicate4 ,it seemed to promise something both of use and interest1 and the further arrangements were entrusted to a small ,committee1 with myself as secretary and acting editor4 ,our idea has been this3 at a time of much educational enterprise and unrest1 we believed that it would be advisable to collect the opinions of a few experienced teachers and administrators upon certain questions of the theory and motive of education which lie a little beneath the surface4 ,to deal with current and practical problems does not seem the first need at present4 ,just now1 work is both common as well as fashionable2 most people are doing their best2 and1 if anything1 the danger is that organisation should outrun foresight and intelligence4 ,moreover a weakening of the old compulsion of the classics has resulted1 not in perfect freedom1 but in a tendency on the part of some scientific enthusiasts simply to substitute compulsory science for compulsory literature1 when the real question rather is whether obligatory subjects should not be diminished as far as possible1 and more sympathetic attention given to faculty and aptitude4 ,we have attempted to avoid mere current controversial topics1 and to encourage our contributors to define as far as possible the aim and outlook of education1 as the word is now interpreted4 ,we have not furthered any educational conspiracy1 nor attempted any fusion of view4 ,our plan has been first to select some of the most pressing of modern problems1 next to find well-equipped experts and students to deal with each1 and then to give the various writers as free a hand as possible1 desiring them to speak with the utmost frankness and personal candour4 ,we have not directed the plan or treatment or scope of any essay2 and my own editorial supervision has consisted merely in making detailed suggestions on smaller points1 in exhorting contributors to be punctual and diligent1 and generally revising what the ,new ,testament calls jots and tittles4 ,we have been very fortunate in meeting with but few refusals1 and our contributors readily responded to the wish which we expressed1 that they should write from the personal rather than from the judicial point of view1 and follow their own chosen method of treatment4 ,we take the opportunity of expressing our obligations to all who have helped us1 and to ,viscount ,bryce for bestowing1 as few are so justly entitled to do1 an educational benediction upon our scheme and volume4 ,a4,c4 ,,benson ,,magdalene ,,college1 ,,cambridge ,august #ah1 #aiag ,,contents ,,introduction ,by the ,right ,hon4 ,,viscount ,,bryce1 ,o4,m4 ,i4 ,,the ,,aim ,,of ,,educational ,,reform ,by ,,john ,,lewis ,,paton1 ,m4,a41 ,high ,master of ,manchester ,grammar ,school2 formerly ,fellow of ,st ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge1 ,assistant ,master at ,rugby ,school1 ,head ,master of ,university ,college ,school ,,ii4 ,,the ,,training ,,of ,,the ,,reason ,by the ,very ,rev4 ,,william ,,ralph ,,inge1 ,d4,d41 ,dean of ,st ,paul's1 ,honorary ,fellow of ,jesus ,college1 ,cambridge1 and of ,hertford ,college1 ,oxford2 formerly ,lady ,margaret ,professor of ,divinity1 ,fellow of ,king's ,college1 ,cambridge1 ,assistant ,master at ,eton ,college1 ,fellow and ,tutor of ,hertford ,college1 ,oxford ,,iii4 ,,the ,,training ,,of ,,the ,,imagination ,by ,,arthur ,,christopher ,,benson1 ,c4,v4,o41 ,,ll4,d41 ,master of ,magdalene ,college1 ,cambridge2 formerly ,assistant ,master at ,eton ,college ,,iv4 ,,religion ,,at ,,school ,by ,,william ,,wyamar ,,vaughan1 ,m4,a41 ,master of ,wellington ,college2 formerly ,assistant ,master at ,clifton ,college1 and ,head ,master of ,giggleswick ,school ,v4 ,,citizenship ,by ,,albert ,,mansbridge1 ,m4,a41 ,joint-,secretary of the ,cambridge ,university ,tutorial ,classes ,committee2 ,founder and formerly ,secretary of the ,workers' ,educational ,association ,,vi4 ,,the ,,place ,,of ,,literature ,,in ,,education ,by ,,nowell ,,smith1 ,m4,a41 ,head ,master of ,sherborne ,school2 formerly ,fellow of ,magdalen ,college1 ,oxford1 ,fellow and ,tutor of ,new ,college1 ,oxford1 ,assistant ,master at ,winchester ,college ,,vii4 ,,the ,,place ,,of ,,science ,,in ,,education ,by ,,william ,,bateson1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,director of the ,john ,innes ,horticultural ,institution1 ,honorary ,fellow of ,st ,john's ,college1 ,cambridge2 formerly ,professor of ,biology in the ,university of ,cambridge ,,viii4 ,,athletics ,by ,,frederic ,,blagden ,,malim1 ,m4,a41 ,master of ,haileybury ,college2 formerly ,assistant ,master at ,marlborough ,college1 ,head ,master of ,sedbergh ,school ,,ix4 ,,the ,,use ,,of ,,leisure ,by ,,john ,,haden ,,badley1 ,m4,a41 ,head ,master of ,bedales ,school ,x4 ,,preparation ,,for ,,practical ,,life ,by ,sir ,,john ,,david ,,mcclure1 ,,ll4,d41 ,d4,,mus41 ,head ,master of ,mill ,hill ,school ,,xi4 ,,teaching ,,as ,a ,,profession ,by ,,frank ,,roscoe1 ,secretary of the ,teachers ,registration ,council ,,introduction ,in times of anxiety and discontent1 when discontent has engendered the belief that great and widespread economic and social changes are needed1 there is a risk that men or ,states may act hastily1 rushing to new schemes which seem promising chiefly because they are new1 catching at expedients that have a superficial air of practicality1 and forgetting the general theory upon which practical plans should be based4 ,at such moments there is special need for the restatement and enforcement by argument of sound principles4 ,to such principles so far as they relate to education it is the aim of these essays to recall the public mind4 ,they cover so many branches of educational theory and deal with them so fully and clearly1 being the work of skilled and vigorous thinkers1 that it would be idle for me to enter in a short introduction upon those topics which they have discussed with special knowledge far greater than ,i possess4 ,all ,i shall attempt is to present a few scattered observations on the general problems of education as they stand to-day4 ,the largest of those problems1 viz41 how to provide elementary instruction for the whole population1 is far less urgent now than it was fifty years ago4 ,the ,act of #ahgj1 followed by the ,act which made school-attendance compulsory1 has done its work4 ,what is wanted now is ,quality rather than ,quantity4 ,quantity is doubtless needed in one respect4 ,children ought to stay longer at school and ought to have more encouragement to continue education after they leave the elementary school4 ,but it is chiefly an improvement in the teaching that is wanted1 and that of course means the securing of higher competence in the teacher by raising the remuneration and the status of the teaching profession#a4 ,the next problem is how to find the finest minds among the children of the country and bring them by adequate training to the highest efficiency4 ,the sifting out of these best minds is a matter of educational organisation and machinery2 and the process will become the easier when the elementary teachers1 who ought to bear a part in selecting those who are most fitted to be sent on to secondary schools1 have themselves become better qualified for the task of discrimination4 ,the question how to train these best minds when sifted out would lead me into the tangled controversy as to the respective educational values of various subjects of instruction1 a topic which ,i must not deal with here4 ,what ,i do wish to dwell upon is the supreme importance to the progress of a nation of the best talent it possesses4 ,in every country there is a certain percentage of the population who are fitted by their superior intelligence1 industry1 and force of character to be the leaders in every branch of action and thought4 ,it is a small percentage1 but it may be increased by discovering ability in places where the conditions do not favour its development1 and setting it where it will have a better chance of growth1 just as a seedling tree brought out of the dry shade may shoot up when planted where sun and rain can reach it freely4 ,i am not thinking of those exceptionally great and powerful minds1 of whom there may not be more than four or five in a generation1 who make brilliant discoveries or change the currents of thought1 but rather of persons of a capacity high1 if not quite first rate1 which enables them1 granted fair chances1 to rise quickly into positions where they can effectively serve the community4 ,these men1 whatever occupation they follow1 be it that of abstract thinking1 or literary production1 or scientific research1 or the conduct of affairs1 whether commercial or political or administrative1 are the dynamic strength of the country when they enter manhood1 and its realised wealth when they are in their fullest vigour thirty years later4 ,we need more of them1 and more of them may be found by taking pains4 ,the volume of thought continuously applied to the work of life1 whether it be applied in the library or study or laboratory1 or in the workshop or factory or counting-house or council chamber1 has not been keeping pace with the growth of our population1 our wealth1 our responsibilities4 ,it is not to-day sufficient for the increasing vastness and complexity of the problems that confront a great nation4 ,we in ,great ,britain have been too apt to rely upon our energy and courage and practical resourcefulness in emergencies1 and thus have tended to neglect those efforts to accumulate knowledge1 and consider how it can be most usefully applied1 which should precede and accompany action4 ,this deficiency is happily one that can be removed1 while a want of qualities which are the gift of nature is less curable4 ,the efficiency which is on every one's mouth cannot be extemporised by rushing hastily into action1 however energetic4 ,it is the fruit of patient and exact determination of and reflection upon the facts to be dealt with4 ,the view that it was the finest minds that ought to be most cared for1 and that to them of right belonged not merely leadership1 but even control also1 was carried by the ancients1 and especially by ,plato and ,aristotle1 almost to excess4 ,their ideal1 and indeed that of most ,greek thinkers1 was the maintenance among the masses of the military valour and discipline which the ,state needed for its protection1 and the cultivation among the chosen few of the highest intellectual and moral excellence4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 when power as well as rank belonged to two classes1 nobles and clergy1 the ideal of education took a religious colour1 and that training was most valued which made men loyal to the ,church and to sound doctrine1 with the prospect of bliss in the world to come4 ,in our times1 educational ideals have become not merely more earthly but more material4 ,modern doctrines of equality have discredited the ancient view that the chief aim of instruction is to prepare the few ,wise and ,good for the government of the ,state4 ,it is not merely upon this world but also upon the material things of this world1 power and the acquisition of territory1 industrial production1 commerce1 finance1 wealth and prosperity in all its forms1 that the modern eye is fixed4 ,there has been a drifting away from that respect for learning which was strong in the ,middle ,ages and lasted down into the eighteenth century4 ,in some countries1 as in our own1 that which instruction and training may accomplish has been rated far below the standard of the ancients4 ,yet in our own time we have seen two striking examples to show that their estimate was hardly too high4 ,think of the power which the constant holding up1 during long centuries1 of certain ideals and standards of conduct1 exerted upon the ,japanese people1 instilling sentiments of loyalty to the sovereign and inspiring a certain conception of chivalric duty which ,europe did not reach even when monarchy and chivalry stood highest4 ,think of that boundless devotion to the ,state as an omnipotent and all-absorbing power1 superseding morality and suppressing the individual1 which within the short span of two generations has taken possession of ,germany4 ,in the latter case at least the incessant preaching and teaching of a theory which lowers the citizen's independence and individuality while it saps his moral sense seems to us a misdirection of educational effort4 ,but in it education has at least displayed its power4 ,can a fair statement of the educational ideals which we might here and now set before ourselves be found in saying that there are three chief aims to be sought as respects those we have called the best minds8 ,one aim is to fit men to be at least explorers1 even if not discoverers1 in the fields of science and learning4 ,a second is to fit them to be leaders in the field of action1 leaders not only by their initiative and their diligence1 but also by the power and the habit of turning a full stream of thought and knowledge upon whatever work they have to do4 ,a third is to give them the taste for1 and the habit of enjoying1 intellectual pleasures4 ,many moralists1 ancient and modern1 have given pleasure a bad name1 because they saw that the most alluring and powerfully seductive pleasures1 pleasures which appeal to all men alike1 were indulged to excess1 and became a source of evil4 ,but men will have pleasure and ought to have pleasure4 ,the best way of drawing them off from the more dangerous pleasures is to teach them to enjoy the better kinds4 ,moreover the quieter pleasures of the intellect mean ,rest1 and a greater fitness for resuming work4 ,the pity is that so many sources capable of affording delight are ignored or imperfectly appreciated4 ,may not this be partly the fault of the lines which our education has followed8 ,perhaps some kinds of study would have fared better if their defenders had dwelt more upon the pleasure they afford and less upon their supposed utility4 ,the champions of ,greek and ,latin have dilated on the value of grammar as a mental discipline1 and argued that the best way to acquire a good ,english style is to know the ancient languages1 a proposition discredited by many examples to the contrary4 ,it is really this insistence on grammatical minutiae that has proved repellent to young people and suggested the dictum that it doesn't much matter what you teach a boy so long as he hates it4 ,better had it been1 abandoning the notion that every one should learn ,greek1 to dwell upon the boundless pleasure which minds of imagination and literary taste derive from carrying in memory the gems of ancient wisdom which are more easily remembered because they are not in our own language1 and the finest passages of ancient poetry4 ,there are plenty of things--indeed there are far more things--in modern literature as noble and as beautiful as the best of the ancients can give us4 ,but they are not the same things4 ,the ancient poets have the freshness and the fragrance of the springtime of the world #b4 ,or take another sort of instance4 ,take the pleasures which nature spreads before us with a generous hand1 hills and fields and woods and rocks1 flowers and the songs of birds1 the ever-shifting aspects of clouds and of landscapes under light and shadow4 ,how few persons in most countries--for there is in this respect a difference between different peoples--notice these things4 ,everybody sees them few observe them or derive pleasure from them4 ,is not this largely because attention has not been properly called to them8 ,they have not been taught to look at natural objects closely and see the variety there is in them4 ,persons in whom no taste for pictures has ever been formed by their having been taken to see1 good pictures and told what constitutes merit1 are1 when led into a picture gallery1 usually interested in the subjects4 ,they like to see a sportsman shooting wild fowl1 or a battle scene1 or even a prize fight1 or a mother tending a sick child1 because these incidents appeal to them4 ,but they seldom see in a picture anything but the subject2 they do not appreciate3 imaginative quality or composition1 or colour1 or light and shade or indeed anything except exact imitation of the actual4 ,so in nature the average man is2 struck by something so exceptional as a lofty rock1 like ,ailsa ,craig or the ,needles off the ,isle of ,wight1 or an eclipse of the moon1 or perhaps a blood-red sunset2 but he does not notice and consequently draws no pleasure from landscapes in general1 whether noble2 or quietly beautiful4 ,the capacity for taking pleasure1 in all these things may not be absent4 ,there is reason3 to think that most children possess it1 because when they are shown how to observe they usually respond1 quickly perceiving1 for instance1 the differences between one flower and another1 quickly1 even when quite young1 learning the distinctive characters and names of each1 enjoying the process of recognising each when they walk along the lanes1 as indeed every intelligent child enjoys the exercise of its observing powers4 ,the disproportionate growth of our urban population1 a thing regrettable in other respects also1 has no doubt made it more difficult to give young people a familiar knowledge of nature1 but the facilities for going into the country and the happy lengthening of summer holidays render it easier than formerly to provide opportunities for ,nature ,study1 which1 properly conducted1 is a recreation and not a lesson4 ,there is no source of enjoyment which lasts so keen all through life or which fits one better for other enjoyments1 such as those of art and of travel4 ,of the value of the habit of alert observation for other purposes ,i say nothing1 wishing here to insist only upon what it may do for delight4 ,it is often alleged that in ,england boys and girls show less mental curiosity1 less desire for knowledge than those of most ,european countries1 or even than those of the three smaller countries north and west of ,england in which the ,celtic element is stronger than it is in ,south ,britain4 ,a parallel charge has1 ever since the days of ,matthew ,arnold1 been brought against the ,english upper and middle classes4 ,he declared that they care less for the things of the mind and show less respect to eminence in science1 literature and art1 than is the case elsewhere1 as for instance in ,france1 ,germany1 or ,italy 7to which one may add the ,united ,states72 and he thus explained the scanty interest taken by these classes in educational progress4 ,should this latter charge be well founded1 the fact it notes would tend to perpetuate the former evil1 for the indifference of parents reacts upon the school and upon the pupils4 ,the love of knowledge is so natural and awakens so early in the normal child1 that even if it be somewhat less keen among ,english than among ,french or ,scottish children1 we may well believe our deficiencies to be largely due to faulty and unstimulative methods of teaching1 and may trust that they will diminish when these methods have been improved4 ,if it be true that the ,english public generally show a want of interest in and faint appreciation of the value of education1 the stern discipline of war will do something to remove this indifference4 ,the comparative poverty and reduction of luxurious habits2 which this war will bring in its train1 along with a sense of the need that has arisen for turning to the fullest account all the intellectual resources of the country so that it may maintain its place in the world1--these things may be expected to work a change for the better1 and lead parents to set more store upon the mental and less upon the athletic achievements of their sons4 ,be this as it may1 no one to-day denies that much remains to be done to spread a sense of the value of science for those branches of industry to which 7as especially to agriculture7 it has been imperfectly applied1 to strengthen and develop the teaching of scientific theory as the foundation of technical and practical scientific work1 and above all to equip with the largest measure of knowledge and by the most stimulating training those on whom nature has bestowed the most vigorous and flexible minds4 ,to-day e see that the heads of great businesses1 industrial and financial1 are looking out for men of university distinction to be placed in responsible posts--a thing which did not happen fifty years ago--because the conditions of modern business have grown too intricate to be handled by any but the best trained brains4 ,the same need is at least equally true of many branches of that administrative work which is now being thrust1 in growing volume1 upon the ,state and its officials4 ,if we feel this as respects the internal economic life of our country1 is it not true also of the international life of the world8 ,in the stress and competition of our times1 the future belongs to the nations that recognise the worth of ,knowledge and ,thought1 and best understand how to apply the accumulated experience of the past4 ,in the long run it is knowledge and wisdom that rule the world1 not knowledge only1 but knowledge applied with that width of view and sympathetic comprehension of men1 and of other nations1 which are the essence of statesmanship4 ,footnote #a3 ,this has been clearly seen and admirably stated by the present ,president of the ,board of ,education4 ,footnote #b3 ,take for instance this little fragment of ,alcman3 ,greek3 ,ou m heti1 parthenikai meligaryest imerophnoi1 ,gyia pherein dynatai4 ,bale d ,bale krylos ein1 ,hos t hepi kymatos hanthos ham alkyonessi pottai ,nleges htor hechn haliporphyros eiaros hornis4 ,what can be more exquisite than the epithets in the first line1 or more fresh and delicate and tender in imaginative quality than the three last8 ,a modern poet of equal genius would treat the topic with equal force and grace1 but the charm1 the untranslatable charm of antique simplicity1 would be absent4 ,i ,,the ,,aim ,,of ,,educational ,,reform ,by ,j4 ,l4 ,,paton ,high ,master of ,manchester ,grammar ,school ,the last century1 with all its brilliant achievement in scientific discovery and increase of production1 was spiritually a failure4 ,the sadness of that spiritual failure crushed the heart of ,clough1 turned ,carlyle from a thinker into a scold1 and ,matthew ,arnold from a poet into a writer of prose4 ,the secret of failure was that the great forces which move mankind were out of touch with each other1 and furnished no mutual support4 ,art had no vital relation with industry2 work was dissociated from joy2 political economy was at issue with humanity2 science was at daggers drawn with religion2 action did not correspond to thought1 being to seeming2 and finally the individual was conceived as having claims and interests at variance with the claims and interests of the society of which he formed a part1 in fact as standing out against it1 in an opposition so sharply marked that one of the greatest thinkers could write a book with the title ,man versus the ,state4 ,as a result1 nation was divided against nation1 labour against capital1 town against country1 sex against sex1 the hearts of the children were set against the fathers1 the ,church fought against the ,state1 and1 worst of all1 ,church fought against ,church4 ,the discords of the great society were reflect inevitably in the sphere of education4 ,the elementary schools of the nation were divided into two conflicting groups1 and both were separated by an estranging gulf from the grammar schools and high schools as the grammar schools in turn were shut off from the public schools on the one hand1 and from the schools of art1 music1 and of technology on the other ,there was no cohesion1 no concerted effort1 no mutual support1 no great plan of advance1 no homologating idea4 ,this fact in itself is sufficient to account for the ineffectiveness1 the despondencies1 the insincerities and ceaseless unrest of ,western civilisation in the nineteenth century4 ,the tree of human life cannot flower and bear fruit for the healing of the nations when its great life-forces spend themselves in making war on each other4 ,if the experience of the century which lies before us is to be different1 it must be made so by means of education4 ,education is the science which deals with the world as it is capable of becoming4 ,other sciences deal with things as they are1 and formulate the laws which they find to prevail in things as they are4 ,the eyes of education are fixed always upon the future1 and philosophy of whatever kind1 directly adumbrates a ,utopia1 thinks on educational lines4 ,the aim of education must therefore be as wide as it is high1 it must be co-extensive with life4 ,the advance must be along the whole front1 not on a small sector only4 ,william ,morris1 when he tried his hand at painting1 used to say1 that what bothered him always was the frame3 he could not conceive of art as something framed off and isolated from life4 ,just as ,william ,morris wanted to turn all life into art1 so with education4 ,it cannot be framed off and detached from the larger aspects of political and social well-being2 it takes all life for its province4 ,it is not an end in itself1 any more than the individuals with whom it deals2 it acts upon the individual1 but through the individual it acts upon the mass1 and its aim is nothing less than the right ordering of human society4 ,to cope with a task which can be stated in these terms1 education must be free4 ,a new age postulates a new education4 ,the traditions which have dominated hitherto must one by one be challenged to render account of themselves1 that which is good in them must be conserved and assimilated1 that which is effete must be scrapped and rejected4 ,neither can the administrative machinery1 as it exists1 be taken for granted2 unless it shows those powers of adaptation and growth which show it to be alive and not dead1 it too must be scrapped and rejected2 new wine is fatal to old skins4 ,education must regain once more what she possessed at the time of the ,renascence--the power of direction2 she must be mistress of her fate4 ,further1 if education is to be a force which makes for co-operation in place of conflict1 she must not be divided against herself4 ,she must leave behind forever the separations and snobberies1 the misunderstandings1 the wordy battles beloved of pedants and politicians4 ,the smoke and dust of controversy obscures her vision1 and she needs all her energies to tackle the great task which confronts her4 ,in this regard nothing is so full of promise for the future as the new sense of unity which is beginning both to animate and actuate the whole teaching profession1 from the ,university to the ,kindergarten1 and has already eventuated in the formation of a ,teachers ,registration ,council1 on which all sorts and conditions of education are represented4 ,the materialists have not been slow to see their chance1 to challenge the old tradition of literary education1 and to urge the claims of science4 ,but the aim which they place before us is frankly stated--it is the acquisition of wealth2 they are on manna bent and mortal ends1 and their conception of the future is a world in which one nation competes against another for the acquisition of markets and commodities4 ,in effect1 therefore1 materialism challenges the classics1 but it accepts the self-seeking ideals of the past generations1 and accepts also1 as an integral part of the future1 the scramble of conflicting interests1 labour against capital1 nation against nation1 man against man4 ,now the first characteristic of the genuine scientific mind is the power of learning by experience4 ,real science never makes the same mistake twice4 ,obviously the repetition of the past can only eventuate in the repetition of the present4 ,and that is precisely what education sets itself to counteract4 ,the materialist forgets three outstanding and obvious facts4 ,firstly1 science cannot be the whole of knowledge1 because science 7in his limited sense of the term7 deals only with what appears4 ,secondly1 power of insight depends not so much upon the senses as on moral qualities1 the sense of sympathy and of fairness2 it needs self-discipline as well as knowledge both of oneself and one's fellow-man4 ,how can a man1 says ,carlyle1 without clear vision in his heart first of all1 have any clear vision in the head8 ,eyes and ears1 said the ancient philosopher1 are bad witnesses for such as have barbarian souls4 ,thirdly1 the tragedy of the past generation was not its failure to accumulate wealth2 in that respect it was more successful than any generation which preceded it4 ,the tragedy of the nineteenth century was that1 when it had acquired wealth1 it had no clear idea1 either individually or collectively1 what to do with it4 ,and yet the house of humanity faces both ways2 it looks out towards the world of appearances as well as to the world of spirit1 and is1 in fact1 the meeting-place of both4 ,materialism is not wrong because it deals with material things4 ,it is wrong because it deals with nothing else4 ,it is wrong1 also1 in education because taking the point of view of the adult1 it makes the material product itself the all-important thing4 ,in every right conception of education the child is central4 ,the child is interested in things4 ,it wants first to sense them1 or as ,froebel would say to make the outer inner2 it wants to play with them1 to construct with them1 and along the line of this inward propulsion the educational process has to act4 ,the thing-studies if one may so term them1 which have been introduced into the curriculum1 such as gardening1 manual training 7with cardboard1 wood1 metal71 cooking1 painting1 modelling1 games and dramatisation1 are it is true later introductions1 adopted mainly from utilitarian motive2 and they have been ingrafted on the original trunk1 being at first regarded as detachable extras1 but they quickly showed that they were an organic part of the real educative process2 they have already reacted on the other subjects of the curriculum1 and have1 in the earlier stages of education become central4 ,in the same way1 vocation is having great influence upon the higher terminal stages of education4 ,all this is part of the most important of all correlations1 the correlation of school with life4 ,but the child's interest in things is social4 ,through the primitive occupations of mankind1 he is entering step by step into the heritage of the race and into a richer fuller personal experience4 ,the science which enlists a child's interest is not that which is presented from the logical1 abstract point of view4 ,the way in which the child acquires it is the same as that in which mankind acquired it--his occupation presents certain difficulties1 to overcome these difficulties he has to exercise his thought1 he invents and experiments2 and so thought reacts upon occupation1 occupation reacts upon thought4 ,and out of that reciprocal action science is born4 ,in the same way his play is social--in his games too he enters into the heritage of the race1 and in playing them he is learning unconsciously the greatest of all arts1 the art of living with others4 ,in his play as well as in his school work the lines of his natural development show how he can be trained to co-operate with the law of human progress4 ,this fitness and readiness to co-operate with the great movement of human progress1 all-round fitness of body1 mind and spirit1 provides the formula which fuses and reconciles two growing tendencies in modern education4 ,there is in the first place the movement towards self-expression and self-development--postulating for the scholar a larger measure of liberty in thought and action1 and self-direction than hitherto--this movement is represented mainly by ,dr ,montessori1 and by ,what is and what might be2 it is a movement which is spreading upwards from the infant school to the higher standards4 ,side by side with it is the movement towards the fuller development of corporate life in the school1 the movement which trains the child to put the school first in his thoughts1 to live for the society to which he belongs and find his own personal well-being in the well-being of that society4 ,this has been1 ever since ,arnold1 sedulously fostered in the games of the public schools1 and fruitful of good results in that limited sphere2 it has been applied with conspicuous success to the development of self-government1 and it has reached its fullest expression in the little ,commonwealth of ,mr ,homer ,lane4 ,but we are beginning to recognise its wider applications1 it is capable of transforming the spirit of the class-room activities as well as the activities of a playing field1 it is in every way as applicable to the elementary school as to ,eton1 or ,rugby1 or ,harrow1 and to girls as well as to boys4 ,these two movements towards a fuller liberty of self-fulfilment1 and towards a fuller and stronger social life1 are convergent1 and supplement1 or rather complement1 each other4 ,personality1 after all1 is best defined as capacity for fellowship1 and only in the social milieu can the individual find his real self-fulfilling4 ,unless he functions socially1 the individual develops into eccentricity1 negative criticism1 and the cynical aloofness of the superior person4 ,on the other hand without freedom of individual development1 the organisation of life becomes the death of the soul4 ,prussia has shown how the psychology of the crowd can be skilfully manipulated for the most sinister ends4 ,it is a happy omen for our democracy that both these complementary movements are combined in the new life of the schools4 ,to both appeals1 the appeal of personal freedom1 and the appeal of the corporate life1 the ,british child is peculiarly responsive4 ,round these two health-centres the form of the new system will take shape and grow4 ,and growth it must be1 not building4 ,the body is not built up on the skeleton1 the skeleton is secreted by the growing body4 ,the hope of education is in the living principle of hope and enthusiasm1 which stretches out towards perfection4 ,one distrusts instinctively at the present time anything schematic4 ,there are men1 able enough as organisers1 who will be ready to sit down and produce at two days' notice a full cut-and-dried scheme of educational reconstruction4 ,they will take our present resources1 and make the best of them1 no doubt1 re-arranging and re-manipulating them1 and making them go as far as they can4 ,they will shape the whole thing out in wood1 and the result will be wooden4 ,it will be static and stratified1 with no upward lift4 ,but that is not the way4 ,education is a thing of the spirit1 it is instinct with life1 ,greek3 thermon ti pragma as ,aristotle would say1 drawing upon resources that are not its own1 unseen yet crescive in its faculty and in its growth taking to itself such outward form as it needs for the purpose of its inward life4 ,six years at least it will take for the new spirit to work itself out into the definite larger forms4 ,that does not mean that it will come without hard purposeful thinking and much patient effort4 ,education does not happen any more than art happens1--and just as with the arts of the middle ages1 so the well-being of education depends not on the chance appearance of a few men of genius but on the right training and love of the ordinary workman for his work4 ,education is a spiritual endeavour1 and it will come1 as the things of the spirit come1 through patience in well-doing1 through concentration of purpose on the highest1 through drawing continually on the inexhaustible resources of the spiritual world4 ,the supreme maker is the poet1 the man of vision4 ,for the administrator1 the task is different from what it has been4 ,it is for him to watch and help experiments1 to prevent the abuse of freedom1 not to preserve uniformities but to select variations4 ,but he is handling a power which1 as ,george ,meredith says1 is a heaven-sent steeplechaser1 and takes a flying leap of the ordinary barriers4 ,to-morrow is the day of opportunity4 ,to-day is the day of preparation4 ,yesterday's ideals have become the practical politics of the present hour4 ,our countrymen recognise now as they have never done before that the problem of national reconstruction is in the main a problem of national education3 the future welfare of the nation1 to use ,mr ,fisher's words1 depends upon its schools4 ,men make light now of the extra millions which a few years ago seemed to bar the way of progress4 ,at the same time the discipline of the last three years has hammered into us a new consciousness of national solidarity and social obligation4 ,as the whole energies of a united people are at this moment concentrated on the duty of destruction which is laid upon us1 so after the war with no less urgency and no less oneness of heart the whole energies of a united nation must be concentrated on the upbuilding of life4 ,that upbuilding is to be economic as well as spiritual1 but those who think out most deeply the need of the economic situation1 are most surely convinced that the problems of industry and commerce are at the bottom human problems and cannot find solution without a new sense of co-operation and brotherliness#a4 ,such is the need and such the task4 ,england is looking to her schools as she never did before4 ,the aim of her education must be both high and wide1 higher than lucre1 wider than the nation4 ,and the aim of our education cannot be fulfilled until the education of other peoples is infused with the same spirit4 ,education1 like finance1 must be planned on international lines by international consensus with a view to world peace4 ,only so can it fulfil the ultimate end which already looms on the horizon1 ,becoming when the time has birth ,a lever to uplift the earth ,and roll it on another course4 ,footnote #a3 ,mr ,angus ,watson in ,eclipse or ,empire1 p4 #hh4 ,,ii ,,the ,,training ,,of ,,the ,,reason ,by ,w4 ,r4 ,,inge ,dean of ,st ,paul's ,the ideal object of education is that we should learn all that it concerns us to know1 in order that thereby we may become all that it concerns us to be4 ,in other words1 the aim of education is the knowledge not of facts but of values4 ,values are facts apprehended in their relation to each other1 and to ourselves4 ,the wise man is he who knows the relative values of things4 ,in this knowledge1 and in the use made of it1 is summed up the whole conduct of life4 ,what are the things which are best worth winning for their own sakes1 and what price must ,i pay to win them8 ,and what are the things which1 since ,i cannot have everything1 ,i must be content to let go8 ,how can ,i best choose among the various subjects of human interest1 and the various objects of human endeavour1 so that my activities may help and not hinder each other1 and that my life may have a unity1 or at least a centre round which my subordinate activities may be grouped4 ,these are the chief questions which a man would ask1 who desired to plan his life on rational principles1 and whom circumstances allowed to choose his occupation4 ,he would desire to know himself1 and to know the world1 in order to give and receive the best value for his sojourn in it4 ,we ,english for the most part accept this view of education1 and we add that the experience of life1 or what we call knowledge of the world1 is the best school of practical wisdom4 ,we do not however identify practical wisdom with the life of reason but with that empirical substitute for it which we call common sense4 ,there is in all classes a deep distrust of ideas1 often amounting to what ,plato called misologia1 hatred of reason4 ,an ,englishman1 as ,bishop ,creighton said1 not only has no ideas2 he hates an idea when he meets one4 ,we discount the opinion of one who bases his judgment on first principles4 ,we think that we have observed that in high politics1 for example1 the only irreparable mistakes are those which are made by logical intellectualists4 ,we would rather trust our fortunes to an honest opportunist1 who sees by a kind of intuition what is the next step to be taken1 and cares for no logic except the logic of facts4 ,reason1 as ,aristotle says1 moves nothing2 it can analyse and synthesise given data1 but only after isolating them from the living stream of time and change4 ,it turns a concrete situation into lifeless abstractions1 and juggles with counters when it should be observing realities4 ,our prejudices against logic as a principle of conduct have been fortified by our national experience4 ,we are not a quick-witted race2 and we have succeeded where others have failed by dint of a kind of instinct for improvising the right course of action1 a gift which is mainly the result of certain elementary virtues which we practise without thinking about them1 justice1 tolerance1 and moderation4 ,these qualities have1 we think and think truly1 been often wanting in the ,latin nations1 which pride themselves on lucidity of intellect and logical consistency in obedience to general principles4 ,recent philosophy has encouraged these advocates of common sense1 who have long been pragmatists without knowing it1 to profess their faith without shame4 ,intellect has been disparaged and instinct has been exalted4 ,intuition is a safer guide than reason1 we are told2 for intuition goes straight to the heart of a situation and has already acted while reason is debating4 ,much of this new philosophy is a kind of higher obscurantism2 the man in the street applauds ,bergson and ,william ,james because he dislikes science and logic1 and values will1 courage and sentiment4 ,he used to be fond of repeating that ,waterloo was won on the playing fields of our public schools1 until it was painfully obvious that ,colenso and ,spion ,kop were lost in the same place4 ,we have muddled through so often that we have come half to believe in a providence which watches over unintelligent virtue4 ,be good1 sweet maid1 and let who will be clever1 we have said to ,britannia4 ,so we have acquiesced in being the worst educated people west of the ,slav frontier4 ,i do not wish to dwell on the disadvantages which we have thus incurred in international competition--our inferiority to ,germany in chemistry1 and to almost every continental nation in scientific agriculture4 ,this lesson we are learning1 and are not likely to forget4 ,it is our spiritual loss which we need to realise more fully4 ,in the first place1 the majority of ,englishmen have no thought-out purpose in life beyond the call of duty1 which is an empty ideal until we know what our duty is4 ,confusion of means and ends is especially common in this country1 though it is certainly to be found everywhere4 ,the passion for irrational accumulation is one example of the error1 which causes the gravest social inconvenience4 ,the largest part of social injustice and suffering is caused by the unchecked indulgence of the acquisitive instinct by those who have the opportunity of indulging it1 and who have formed a blind habit of indulging it4 ,no one1 however selfish1 who had formed any reasonable estimate of the relative values of life1 would devote his whole time to the economical exploitation of his neighbours1 in order to pile up the instruments of a fuller life1 which he will never use4 ,to regard business as a kind of game is1 from the highest point of view1 right1 and our nation gains greatly by applying the ethics of sport to all our external activities2 but we err in living for our games1 whether they happen to be commerce or football4 ,a friend of mine expostulated with a ,yorkshire manufacturer who was spending his old age in unnecessary toil for the benefit of a spendthrift heir4 ,the old man answered1 ,if it gives him half as much pleasure to spend my half million as it has given me to make it1 ,i don't grudge it him4 ,that is not the spirit of the real miser or ,mammon-worshipper4 ,it is the spirit of a natural idealist who from want of education has no rational standard of good4 ,when such a man intervenes in educational matters1 he is sure to take the standpoint of the so-called practical man1 because he is blind to the higher values of life4 ,he will wish to make knowledge and wisdom instruments for the production of wealth1 or the improvement of the material condition of the poor4 ,but knowledge and wisdom refuse to be so treated4 ,like goodness and beauty1 wisdom is one of the absolute values1 the divine ideas4 ,as one of the ,cambridge ,platonists said1 we must not make our intellectual faculties ,gibeonites1 hewers of wood and drawers of water to the will and affections4 ,wisdom must be sought for its own sake or we shall not find it4 ,another effect of our misologia is the degradation of reasonable sympathy into sentimentalism1 which regards pain as the worst of evils1 and endeavours always to remove the effects of folly and wrong-doing1 without investigating the causes4 ,that such sentimentalism is often kind only to be cruel1 and that it frequently robs honest ,peter to pay dishonest ,paul1 needs no demonstration4 ,sentimentalism does not believe that prevention is better than cure1 and practical politicians know too well that a scientific treatment of social maladies is out of the question in this country4 ,others become fanatics1 that is to say1 worldlings who are too narrow and violent to understand the world4 ,the root of the evil is that a whole range of the higher values is inaccessible to the majority1 because they know nothing of intellectual wealth4 ,and yet the real wealth of a nation consists in its imponderable possessions--in those things wherein one man's gain is not another man's loss1 and which are not proved incapable of increase by any laws of thermo-dynamics4 ,an inexhaustible treasure is freely open to all who have passed through a good course of mental training1 a treasure which we can make our own according to our capacities1 and our share of which we would not barter for any goods which the law of the land can give or take away4 ,the intelligent man1 says ,plato1 will prize those studies which result in his soul getting soberness1 righteousness and wisdom1 and will less value the others4 ,the studies which have this effect are those which teach us to admire and understand the good1 the true and the beautiful4 ,they are1 may we not say1 humanism and science1 pursued in a spirit of admiration1 hope and love4 ,the trained reason is disinterested and fearless4 ,it is not afraid of public opinion1 because it counts it a small thing that it should be judged by man's judgment2 its interests are so much wider than the incidents of a private career that base self-centred indulgence and selfish ambition are impossible to it4 ,it is saved from pettiness1 from ignorance1 and from bigotry4 ,it will not fall a victim to those undisciplined and disproportioned enthusiasms which we call fads1 and which are a peculiar feature of ,english and ,north ,american civilisation4 ,such reforms as are carried out in this country are usually effected not by the reason of the many1 but by the fanaticism of the few4 ,a just balance may on the whole be preserved1 but there is not much balance in the judgments of individuals4 ,matthew ,arnold1 whose exhortations to his countrymen now seem almost prophetic1 drew a strong contrast between the intellectual frivolity1 or rather insensibility1 of his countrymen and the earnestness of the ,germans4 ,he saw that ,england was saved a hundred years ago by the high spirit and proud resolution of a real aristocracy1 which nevertheless was1 like all aristocracies1 destitute of ideas4 ,our great families1 he shows1 could no longer save us1 even if they had retained their influence1 because power is now conferred by disciplined knowledge and applied science4 ,it is the same warning which ,george ,meredith reiterated with increasing earnestness in his late poems4 ,what ,england needs1 he says1 is brain4 ,warn her1 ,bard1 that ,power is pressing ,hotly for his dues this hour1 ,tell her that no drunken blessing ,stops the onward march of ,power1 ,has she ears to take forewarnings1 ,she will cleanse her of her stains1 ,feed and speed for braver mornings ,valorously the growth of brains4 ,power1 the hard man knit for action ,reads each nation on the brow2 ,cripple1 fool1 and petrifaction ,fall to him--are falling now4 ,and again3 ,she impious to the ,lord of hosts ,the valour of her off-spring boasts1 ,mindless that now on land and main ,his heeded prayer is active brain4 ,these faithful prophets were not heeded1 and we have had to learn our lesson in the school of experience4 ,she is a good teacher but her fees are very high4 ,the author of ,friendship's ,garland ended with a despairing appeal to the democracy1 when his jeremiads evoked no response from the upper class1 whom he called barbarians1 or from the middle class1 whom he regarded as incurably vulgar4 ,the middle classes are apt to receive hard measure2 they have few friends and many critics4 ,we must go back to ,euripides to find the bold statement that they are the best part of the community and the salvation of the ,state2 but it is1 on the whole1 true4 ,and our middle class is only superficially vulgar4 ,vulgarity1 as ,mr ,robert ,bridges has lately said1 is blindness to values2 it is spiritual death4 ,the middle class in ,matthew ,arnold's time was no doubt deplorably blind to artistic values2 its productions survive to convict it of what he called ,philistinism2 but it is no longer devoid of taste or indifferent to beauty4 ,and it has never been a contemptible artist in life4 ,mr ,bridges describes the progress of vulgarity as an inverted ,platonic progress4 ,we descend1 he says1 from ugly forms to ugly conduct1 and from ugly conduct to ugly principles1 till we finally arrive at the absolute ugliness which is vulgarity4 ,this identification of insensibility to beauty with moral baseness was something of a paradox even in ,greece1 and does not fit the ,english character at all4 ,our towns are ugly enough2 our public buildings rouse no enthusiasm2 and many of our monuments and stained glass windows seem to shout for a friendly ,zeppelin to obliterate them4 ,but we ,british have not descended to ugly conduct4 ,pericles and ,plato would have found the bearing of this people in its supreme trial more beautiful than the ,parthenon itself4 ,the nation has shaken off its vulgarity even more easily and completely than its slackness and self-indulgence4 ,we have borne ourselves with a courage1 restraint1 and dignity which1 a ,greek would say1 could have only been expected of philosophers4 ,and we certainly are not a nation of philosophers4 ,we must not then be too hasty in calling all contempt for intellect vulgar4 ,we have sinned by undervaluing the life of reason2 but we are not really a vulgar people4 ,our secular faith1 the real religion of the average ,englishman1 has its centre in the idea of a gentleman1 which has of course no essential connection with heraldry or property in land4 ,the upper classes1 who live by it1 are not vulgar1 in spite of the absence of ideas with which ,matthew ,arnold twits them2 the middle classes who also respect this ideal1 are further protected by sound moral traditions2 and the lower classes have a cheery sense of humour which is a great antiseptic against vulgarity4 ,but though the ,poet ,laureate has not1 in my opinion1 hit the mark in calling vulgarity our national sin1 he has done well in calling attention to the danger which may beset educational reform from what we may call democratism1 the tendency to level down all superiorities in the name of equality and good fellowship4 ,it is the opposite fault to the aristocraticism which beyond all else led to the decline of ,greek culture--the assumption that the lower classes must remain excluded from intellectual and even from moral excellence4 ,with us there is a tendency to condemn ideals of self-culture which can be called aristocratic4 ,but we need specialists in this as in every other field1 and the populace must learn that there is such a thing as real superiority1 which has the right and duty to claim a scope for its full exercise4 ,the fashionable disparagement of reason1 and exaltation of will1 feeling or instinct would be more dangerous in a less scientific age4 ,the ,italian metaphysician ,aliotta has lately brought together in one survey the numerous leaders in the great reaction against science1 and they are a formidable band4 ,pragmatists1 voluntarists1 activists1 subjective idealists1 emotional mystics1 and religious conservatives1 have all joined in assaulting the fortress of science which half a century ago seemed impregnable4 ,but the besieged garrison continues to use its own methods and to trust in its own hypotheses2 and the results justify the confidence with which the assaults of the philosophers are ignored4 ,we are told that the scientific method is ultimately appropriate only to the abstractions of mathematics4 ,but nature herself seems to have a taste for mathematical methods4 ,a sane idealism believes that the eternal verities are adumbrated1 not travestied1 in the phenomenal world1 and does not forget how much of what we call observation of nature is demonstrably the work of mind4 ,the world as known to science is itself a spiritual world from which certain valuations are1 for special purposes1 excluded4 ,to deny the authority of the discursive reason1 which has its proper province in this sphere1 is to destroy the possibility of all knowledge4 ,nor can we1 without loss and danger1 or instinct or intuition above reason4 ,instinct is a faculty which belongs to unprogressive species4 ,it is necessarily unadaptable and unable to deal with any new situation4 ,consecrated custom may keep ,chinese civilisation safe in a state of torpid immobility for five thousand years2 but fifty years of ,europe will achieve more1 and will at last present ,cathay with the alternative of moving on or moving off4 ,instinct might lead us on if progress were an automatic law of nature1 but this belief1 though widely held1 is sheer superstition4 ,we have to convert the public mind in this country to faith in trained and disciplined reason4 ,we have to convince our fellow-citizens not only that the duty of self-preservation requires us to be mentally as well equipped as the ,french1 ,germans and ,americans1 but that a trained intelligence is in itself more precious than rubies4 ,blake said that a fool shall never get to ,heaven1 be he never so holy4 ,it is at any rate true that ignorance misses the best things in this life ,if ,englishmen would only believe this1 the whole spirit of our education would be changed1 which is much more important than to change the subjects taught4 ,it does not matter very much what is taught2 the important question to ask is what is learnt4 ,this is why the controversy about religious education was mainly fatuous4 ,the religious lesson can hardly ever make a child religious2 religion1 in point of fact1 is seldom taught at all2 it is caught1 by contact with someone who has it4 ,other subjects can be taught and can be learnt2 but the teaching will be stiff collar-work1 and the learning evanescent1 if the pupil is not interested in the subject4 ,and how little encouragement the average boy gets at home to train his reason and form intellectual tastes6 ,he may probably be exhorted to do well in his examination1 which means that he is to swallow carefully prepared gobbets of crude information1 to be presently disgorged in the same state4 ,the examination system flourishes best where there is no genuine desire for mental cultivation4 ,if there were any widespread enthusiasm for knowledge as an integral part of life the revolt against this mechanical and commercialised system of testing results would be universal4 ,as things are1 a clever boy trains for an examination as he trains for a race2 and goes out of training as fast as possible when it is over4 ,meanwhile the romance of his life is centred in those more generous and less individual competitions in the green fields1 which our schools and universities have developed to such perfection4 ,in classes which have small opportunities for physical exercises1 vicarious athletics1 with not a little betting1 are a disastrous substitute4 ,but the soul is dyed the colour of its leisure thoughts4 ,as a man thinketh in his heart1 so is he4 ,this is why no change in the curriculum can do much for education1 as long as the pupils imbibe no respect for intellectual values at home1 and find none among their school-fellows4 ,and yet the capacity for real intellectual interest is only latent in most boys4 ,it can be kindled in a whole class by a master who really loves and believes in his subject4 ,some of the best public school teachers in the last century were hot-tempered men whose disciplinary performances were ludicrous4 ,but they were enthusiastic humanists1 and keen scholars passed year by year out of their class-rooms4 ,the importance of a good curriculum is often exaggerated4 ,but a bad selection of subjects1 and a bad method of teaching them1 may condemn even the best teacher to ineffectiveness4 ,nothing1 for example1 can well be more unintelligent than the manner of teaching the classics in our public schools4 ,the portions of ,greek and ,latin authors construed during a lesson are so short that the boys can get no idea of the book as a whole2 long before they finish it they are moved up into another form4 ,and over all the teaching hangs the menace of the impending examination1 the riddling ,sphinx which1 as ,seeley said in a telling quotation from ,sophocles1 forces us to attend to what is at our feet1 neglecting all else--all the imponderables in which the true value of education consists4 ,the tyranny of examinations has an important influence upon the choice of subjects as well as upon the manner of teaching them2 for some subjects1 which are remarkably stimulating to the mind of the pupil1 are neglected1 because they are not well adapted for examinations4 ,among these1 unfortunately1 are our own literature and language4 ,it is therefore necessary1 even in a short essay which professes to deal only with generalities1 to make some suggestions as to the main subjects which our education should include4 ,as has been indicated already1 ,i would divide them into main classes--science and humanism4 ,every boy should be instructed in both branches up to a certain point4 ,we must firmly resist those who wish to make education purely scientific1 those who1 in ,bacon's words1 call upon men to sell their books and build furnaces1 quitting and forsaking ,minerva and the ,muses and relying upon ,vulcan4 ,we want no young specialists of twelve years old2 and a youth without a tincture of humanism can never become ,a man foursquare1 withouten flaw ywrought4 ,of the teaching of science ,i am not competent to speak4 ,but as an instrument of mind-training1 and even of liberal education1 it seems to me to have a far higher value than is usually conceded to it by humanists4 ,to direct the imagination to the infinitely great and the infinitely small1 to vistas of time in which a thousand years are as one day2 to the tremendous forces imprisoned in minute particles of matter2 to the amazing complexity of the mechanism by which the organs of the human body perform their work2 to analyse the light which has travelled for centuries from some distant star2 to retrace the history of the earth and the evolution of its inhabitants--such studies cannot fail to elevate the mind1 and only prejudice will disparage them4 ,they promote also a fine respect for truth and fact1 for order and outline1 as the ,greeks said1 with a wholesome dislike of sophistry and rhetoric4 ,the air which blows about scientific studies is like the air of a mountain top--thin1 but pure and bracing4 ,and as a subject of education science has a further advantage which can hardly be overestimated4 ,it is in science that most of the new discoveries are being made4 ,the rapture of the forward view belongs to science more than to any other study4 ,we may take it as a well-established principle in education that the most advanced teachers should be researchers and discoverers as well as lecturers1 and that the rank and file should be learners as well as instructors4 ,there is no subject in which this ideal is so nearly attainable as in science4 ,and yet science1 even for its own sake1 must not claim to occupy the whole of education4 ,the mere ,naturforscher is apt to be a poor philosopher himself1 and his pupils may turn out very poor philosophers indeed4 ,the laws of psychical and spiritual life are not the same as the laws of chemistry or biology2 and the besetting sin of the scientist is to try to explain everything in terms of its origin instead of in terms of its full development3 by their roots1 he says1 and not by their fruits1 ye shall know them4 ,this is a contradiction of ,aristotle ,greek3 7h physis telos hestin71 and of a greater than ,aristotle4 ,the training of the reason must include the study of the human mind1 the throne of the ,deity1 in its most characteristic products4 ,besides science1 we must have humanism1 as the other main branch of our curriculum4 ,the advocates of the old classical education have been gallantly fighting a losing battle for over half a century2 they are now preparing to accept inevitable defeat4 ,but their cause is not lost1 if they will face the situation fairly4 ,it is only lost if they persist in identifying classical education with linguistic proficiency4 ,the study of foreign languages is a fairly good mental discipline for the majority2 for the minority it may be either more or less than a fair discipline4 ,but only a small fraction of mankind is capable of enthusiasm for language1 for its own sake4 ,the art of expressing ideas in appropriate and beautiful forms is one of the noblest of human achievements1 and the two classical languages contain many of the finest examples of good writing that humanity has produced4 ,but the average boy is incapable of appreciating these values1 and the waste of time which might have been profitably spent is1 under our present system1 most deplorable4 ,it may also be maintained that the conscientious editor and the conscientious tutor have between them ruined the classics as a mental discipline4 ,fifty years ago1 ,english commentatorship was so poor that the pupil had to use his wits in reading the classics2 now if one goes into an undergraduate's room1 one finds him reading the text with the help of a translation1 two editions with notes1 and a lecture note-book4 ,no faculty is being used except the memory1 which ,bishop ,creighton calls the most worthless of our mental powers4 ,the practice of prose and verse composition1 often ignorantly decried1 has far more educational value2 but it belongs to the linguistic art which1 if we are right1 is not to be demanded of all students4 ,are we then to restrict the study of the classics to those who have a pretty taste for style8 ,if so1 the cause of classical education is indeed lost4 ,but ,i can see no reason why some of the great ,greek and ,latin authors should not be read1 in translations1 as part of the normal training in history1 philosophy and literature4 ,i am well aware of the loss which a great author necessarily suffers by translation2 but ,i have no hesitation in saying that the average boy would learn far more of ,greek literature1 and would imbibe far more of the ,greek spirit1 by reading the whole of ,herodotus1 ,thucydides1 the ,republic of ,plato1 and some of the plays in good translations1 than he now acquires by going through the classical mill at a public school4 ,the classics1 like almost all other literature1 must be read in masses to be appreciated4 ,boys think them dull mainly because of the absurd way in which they are made to study them4 ,i shall not make any ambitious attempt to sketch out a scheme of literary studies4 ,my subject is the training of the reason4 ,but two principles seem to me to be of primary importance4 ,the first is that we should study the psychology of the developing reason at different ages1 and adapt our method of teaching accordingly4 ,the memory is at its best from the age of ten to fifteen1 or thereabouts4 ,facts and dates1 and even long pieces of poetry1 which have been committed to memory in early boyhood1 remain with us as a possession for life4 ,we would most of us give a great deal in middle age to recover that astonishingly retentive memory which we possessed as little boys4 ,on the other hand1 ratiocination at that age is difficult and irksome4 ,a young boy would rather learn twenty rules than apply one principle4 ,accordingly the first years of boyhood are the time for learning by heart4 ,quantities of good poetry1 and useful facts of all kinds should be entrusted to the boy's memory to keep3 will assimilate them readily1 and without any mental overstrain4 ,but eight or ten years later1 cramming is injurious both to the health and to the intellect4 ,years have brought1 if not the philosophic mind1 yet at any rate a mind which can think and argue4 ,the memory is weaker and the process of loading it with facts is more unpleasant4 ,at this stage the whole system of teaching should be different4 ,one great evil of examinations is that they prolong the stage of mere memorising to an age at which it is not only useless but hurtful4 ,another valuable guide is furnished by observing what authors the intelligent boy likes and dislikes4 ,his taste ought certainly to be consulted1 if our main object is to interest him in the things of the mind4 ,the average intelligent boy likes ,homer and does not like ,virgil2 he is interested by ,tacitus and bored by ,cicero2 he loves ,shakespeare and revels in ,macaulay1 who has a special affinity for the eternal schoolboy4 ,my other principle is that since we are training young ,englishmen1 whom we hope to turn into true and loyal citizens1 we shall presumably find them most responsive to the language1 literature1 and history of their own country4 ,this would be a commonplace1 not worth uttering1 in any other country2 in ,england it is1 unfortunately1 far from being generally accepted ,nothing sets in a stronger light the inertia and thoughtlessness1 not to say stupidity1 of the ,british character in all matters outside the domain of material and moral interests1 than our neglect of the magnificent spiritual heritage which we possess in our own history and literature4 ,wordsworth1 in one of those noble sonnets which are now1 we are glad to hear1 being read by thousands in the trenches and by myriads at home1 proclaims his faith in the victory of his country over ,napoleon because he thinks of her glorious past4 ,we must be free or die1 who speak the tongue ,that ,shakespeare spake1 the faith and morals hold ,that ,milton held4 ,in everything we are sprung ,of ,earth's best blood1 have titles manifold4 ,it is a high boast1 but it is true4 ,but what have we done to fire the imagination of our boys and girls with the vision of our great and ancient nation1 now struggling for its existence8 ,what have we taught them of ,shakespeare and ,milton1 of ,elizabeth and ,cromwell1 of ,nelson and ,wellington8 ,have we ever tried to make them understand that they are called to be the temporary custodians of very glorious traditions1 and the trustees of a spiritual wealth compared with which the gold mines of the ,rand are but dross8 ,do we even teach them1 in any rational manner1 the fine old language which has been slowly perfected for centuries1 and which is now being used up and debased by the rubbishy newspapers which form almost the sole reading of the majority8 ,we have marvelled at the slowness with which the masses realised that the country was in danger1 and at the stubbornness with which some of the working class clung to their sectional interests and ambitions when the very life of ,england was at stake4 ,in ,france the whole people saw at once what was upon them2 the single word patrie was enough to unite them in a common enthusiasm and stern determination4 ,with us it was hardly so2 many good judges think that but for the ,lusitania outrage and the ,zeppelins1 part of the population would have been half-hearted about the war1 and we should have failed to give adequate support to our allies4 ,the cause is not selfishness but ignorance and want of imagination2 and what have we done to tap the sources of an intelligent patriotism8 ,we are being saved not by the reasoned conviction of the populace1 but by its native pugnacity and bull-dog courage4 ,this is not the place to go into details about ,english studies2 but can anyone doubt that they could be made the basis of a far better education than we now give in our schools8 ,we have especially to remember that there is a real danger of the modern ,englishman being cut off from the living past4 ,scientific studies include the earlier phases of the earth1 but not the past of the human race and the ,british people4 ,christianity has been a valuable educator in this way1 especially when it includes an intelligent knowledge the ,bible4 ,but the secular education of the masses is now so much severed from the stream of tradition and sentiment which unites us with the older civilisations1 that the very language of the ,churches is becoming unintelligible to them1 and the influence of organised religion touches only a dwindling minority4 ,and yet the past lives in us all2 lives inevitably in its dangers1 which the accumulated experience of civilisation1 valued so slightly by us on its spiritual side1 can alone help us to surmount4 ,a nation like an individual1 must wish his days to be bound each to each by natural piety4 ,it too must strive to keep its memory green1 to remember the days of old and the years that are past4 ,the ,jews have always had1 in their sacred books1 a magnificent embodiment of the spirit of their race2 and who can say how much of their incomparable tenacity and ineradicable hopefulness has been due to the education thus imparted to every ,jewish child8 ,we need a ,bible of the ,english race1 which shall be hardly less sacred to each succeeding generation of young ,britons than the ,old ,testament is to the ,jews4 ,england ought to be1 and may be1 the spiritual home of one quarter of the human race1 for ages after our task as a world-power shall have been brought to a successful issue1 and after we in this little island have accepted the position of mother to nations greater than ourselves4 ,but ,england's future is precious only to those to whom her past is dear4 ,i am not suggesting that the history and literatures of other countries should be neglected1 or that foreign languages should form no part of education4 ,but the main object is to turn out good ,englishmen1 who may continue worthily and even develop further a glorious national tradition4 ,to do this1 we must appeal constantly to the imagination1 which ,wordsworth has boldly called reason in her most exalted mood4 ,we may thus bring a little poetry and romance into the monotonous lives of our hand-workers4 ,it may well be that their discontent has more to do with the starving of their spiritual nature than we suppose4 ,for the intellectual life1 like divine philosophy1 is not dull and crabbed1 as fools suppose1 but musical as is ,apollo's lute4 ,can we end with a definition of the happiness and well-being1 which is the goal of education1 as of all else that we try to do8 ,probably we cannot do better than accept the famous definition of ,aristotle1 which however we must be careful to translate rightly4 ,happiness1 or well-being1 is an activity of the soul directed towards excellence1 in an unhampered life4 ,happiness consists in doing rather than being2 the activity must be that of the soul--the whole man acting as a person2 it must be directed towards excellence--not exclusively moral virtue1 but the best work that we can do1 of whatever kind2 and it must be unhampered--we must be given the opportunity of doing the best that is in us to do4 ,to awaken the soul2 to hold up before it the images of whatsoever things are true1 lovely1 noble1 pure1 and of good report2 and to remove the obstacles which stunt and cripple the mind2 this is the work which we have called the ,training of the ,reason4 ,,iii ,,the ,,training ,,of ,,the ,,imagination ,,by ,a4 ,c4 ,,benson ,master of ,magdalene ,college1 ,cambridge ,it might be hastily assumed by a reader bent on critical consideration1 that the subject of my essay had a certain levity or fancifulness about it4 ,works of imagination1 as by a curious juxtaposition they are called1 are apt to lie under an indefinable suspicion1 as including unbusinesslike and romantic fictions1 of which the clear-cut and well-balanced mind must beware1 except for the sake1 perhaps1 of the frankest and least serious kind of recreation4 ,considering the part which the best and noblest works of imagination must always play in a literary education1 it has often surprised me to reflect how little scope ordinary literary exercises give for the use of that particular faculty4 ,the old themes and verses aimed at producing decorous centos culled from the works of classical rhetoricians and poets4 ,no boy1 at least in my day1 was ever encouraged to take a line of his own1 and to strike out freely across country in pursuit of imagined adventures4 ,even ,english teaching in its earlier stages seldom aimed at more than transcriptions of actual experience1 a day spent in the country1 or a walk beside the sea4 ,only quite recently have boys and girls been encouraged to write poems and stories out of their own imaginations2 and even now there are plenty of educational critics who would consider such exercises as dilettante things lacking in practical solidity4 ,but ,i desire in this essay to go further back into the roots of the subject1 and my first position is plainly this2 that imagination1 pure and simple1 is a common enough faculty2 not perhaps the creative imagination which can array scenes of life1 construct romantic experiences1 and embody imaginary characters in dramatic situations1 but the much simpler sort of imagination which takes pleasure in recalling past memories1 and in forecasting and anticipating interesting events4 ,the boy who1 weary of the school-term1 considers what he will do on the first day of the holidays1 or who anxiously forebodes paternal displeasure1 is exercising his imagination2 and the truth is that the faculty of imagination plays an immense part in all human happiness and unhappiness1 considering that1 whenever we take refuge from the present in memories or in anticipations1 we are using it4 ,the first point then that ,i shall consider is whether this restless and influential faculty ought not in any case to be trained1 so that it may not either be atrophied or become over-dominant2 and the second point will be the further consideration as to whether the faculty of creative imagination is a thing which should be deliberately developed4 ,in the first place then1 it seems to me simply extraordinary that so little heed is paid in education to the using and controlling of what is one of the most potent instinctive forces of the mind4 ,we take careful thought how to strengthen and fortify the body1 we go on to spending many hours upon putting memory through its paces1 and in developing the reason and the intelligence2 we pass on from that to exercising and purifying the character and the will2 we try to make vice detestable and virtue desirable4 ,but meanwhile1 what is the little mind doing8 ,it submits to the drudgery imposed upon it1 it accommodates itself more or less to the conditions of its life2 it learns a certain conduct and demeanour for use in public4 ,yet all the time the thought of the boy is running backwards and forwards in secrecy1 considering the memories of its experience1 pleasant or unpleasant1 and comforting itself in tedious hours by framing little plans for the future4 ,i remember my old schoolmastering days1 and the hours ,i spent with a class of boys sitting in front of me2 how constantly one saw boys in the midst of their work1 with pen suspended and page unturned1 look up with that expression denoting that some vision had passed before the inward eye--which1 as ,wordsworth justly observes1 constitutes the bliss of solitude--obliterating for a moment the surrounding scene4 ,i do not mean that the thought was a distant or an exalted one--probably it was some entirely trivial reminiscence1 or the anticipation of some coming amusement4 ,but ,i do not think ,i exaggerate when ,i say that probably the greater part of a human being's unoccupied hours1 and probably a considerable part of the hours supposed to be occupied1 are spent in some similar exercise of the imagination4 ,what a confirmation of this is to be found in the phenomena of sleep and dreams6 ,then the instinct is steadily at work1 neither remembering nor anticipating1 but weaving together the results of experience into a self-taught tale4 ,and then if one considers later life1 it is no exaggeration to say that the greater part of human happiness and unhappiness consists in the dwelling upon what has been1 what may be1 what might be1 and1 alas1 in our worst moments1 upon what might have been ,my unhappiest experiences1 said ,lord ,beaconsfield1 have been those which never happened2 and again the same acute critic of life said that half the clever people he knew were under the impression that they were hated and envied1 the other half that they were admired and loved2--and that neither were right6 ,the imaginative faculty then is a species of self-representation1 the power of considering our own life and position as from the outside2 from it arise both the cheerful hopes and schemes of the sound mind1 and the shadowy anxieties and fears of the mind which lacks robustness4 ,it certainly does seem singular that this deep and persistent element in human life is left so untrained and unregarded1 to range at will1 to feed upon itself4 ,all that the teacher does is to insist as far as possible on a certain concentration of the mind on business at particular times1 and if he has ethical purposes at heart1 he may sometimes speak to a boy on the advisability of not allowing his mind to dwell upon base or sensual thoughts2 but how little attempt is ever made to train the mind in deliberate and continuous self-control6 ,the latest school of pathologists1 in the treatment of obsessed or insane persons1 pay very close attention to the subjects of their dreams1 and attribute much nerve-misery to the atrophy1 or suppression by circumstances1 of instincts which betray themselves in dreams4 ,i am inclined to think that the educators of the future must somehow contrive to do more--indeed they cannot well do less than is actually done--in teaching the control of that secret undercurrent of thought in which happiness and unhappiness really reside4 ,those who have lived much with boys will know what havoc suspense or disappointment or anxiety or sensuality or unpopularity can make in an immature character4 ,it seems to me that we ought not to leave all this without guidance or direction1 but to make a frontal attack upon it4 ,i do not mean that it is necessary to probe too deeply into the imagination1 but ,i believe that the subject should be frankly spoken about1 and suggestions made4 ,the point is to get the will to work1 and to induce the mind1 in the first place1 to realise and practise its power of self-command2 and in the second place1 to show that it is possible to evict an unwholesome thought by the deliberate welcoming and entertaining of a wholesome one4 ,the best of all cures is to provide every boy with some occupation which he indubitably loves4 ,there are a good many boys whose work is not interesting to them1 and a certain number to whom the prescribed games are a matter of routine rather than of active pleasure4 ,indeed it may be said that hardly any boys enjoy either work or games in which they see no possibility of any personal distinction4 ,it is therefore of great importance that every boy whose chances of successful performance are small should be encouraged to have a definite hobby2 for an occupation which the mind can remember with pleasure and anticipate with delight supplies the food for the restless imagination1 which may otherwise become dreary from inaction1 or tainted by thoughts of baser pleasure4 ,a schoolmaster only salves his conscience by supplying a strict time-table and regular games4 ,a house master ought to be most careful in the case of boys whose work is languid and proficiency in games small1 to find out what the boy really likes and enjoys1 and to encourage it by every means in his power4 ,that is the best corrective1 to administer wholesome food for the mind to digest4 ,but ,i believe that good teachers ought to go much further1 and speak quite plainly to boys1 from time to time1 on the necessity of practising control of thought4 ,my own experience is that boys were always interested in any talk1 call it ethical or religious1 which based itself directly upon their own actual experience4 ,i can conceive that a teacher who told a class to sit still for three minutes and think about anything they pleased1 and added that he would then have something to tell them1 might have an admirable object-lesson in getting them to consider how swift and far-ranging their fancies had been2 or again he might practise them in concentration of thought by asking them to think for five minutes on a perfectly definite thing--to imagine themselves in a wood1 or by the sea1 or in a chemist's shop1 let us say1 and then getting them to put down on paper a list of definite objects which they had imagined4 ,the process could be infinitely extended2 but if it were done with some regularity1 it would certainly b possible to train boys to concentrate themselves in reflection and recollected observation4 ,or again a quality might be propounded1 such as generosity or spitefulness1 and the boys required to construct an imaginary anecdote of the simplest kind to illustrate it4 ,this would have the effect of training the mind at all events to focus itself1 and this is just what drudgery pure and simple will not do4 ,the aim is not to train mere memory or logical accuracy1 but to strengthen that great faculty which we loosely call imagination1 which is the power of evoking mental images1 and of migrating from the present into the past or the future4 ,i believe it to be a very notable lack in our theory of education that so little attempt is made to bring the will to bear upon what may be called the subconscious mind4 ,it is that strange undercurrent of thought which is so imprudently neglected which throws up on its banks1 without any apparent purpose or aim1 the ideas and images which lurk within it4 ,i do not say that such a training would immediately give self-control1 but most peoples' worst sufferings are caused by what is called having something on their mind2 and yet1 so far as ,i know1 in the process of education1 no attempt whatever is made1 except quite incidentally1 to dispossess the strong man armed by the stronger victor1 or to help immature minds to hold an unpleasant or a pleasant thought at arm's length1 or to train them in the power of resolutely substituting a current of more wholesome images4 ,the subconscious mind is too often treated as a thing beyond control1 and yet the pathological power of suggestion1 by which a thought is implanted like a seed in the mind1 which presently appears to be rooted and flowering1 ought to show us that we have within our reach an extraordinarily potent psychological implement4 ,so far then on the more negative side4 ,i have indicated my strong belief that much may be done to train the mind in self-control4 ,indeed our whole education is built upon the faith that we can1 perhaps not implant new faculties1 but develop dormant ones2 and ,i am persuaded that when future generations come to survey our methods and processes of education1 they will regard with deep bewilderment the amazing fact that we applied so careful a training to other faculties1 and yet left so helplessly alone the training of the imaginative faculty1 upon which1 as ,i have said1 our happiness and unhappiness mainly depend4 ,we must1 all of us be aware of the fact that there have been times in our lives when all was prosperous1 and when we were yet overshadowed with dreary thoughts2 or again times when in discomfort1 or under the shadow of failure1 or at critical or tragic moments1 we have had an unreasonable alertness and cheerfulness4 ,all that is due to the subconscious mind1 and we ought at least to try experiments in making it obey us better4 ,i now pass on to consider a further possibility1 and that is of training and developing a higher sort of creative imagination4 ,it is all in reality part of the same subject1 because it seems to be certain that most human beings suffer by the suppression or the dormancy of existing faculties4 ,it is here1 ,i believe1 that much of our intellectual education fails1 from the tendency to direct so much attention to purely logical and reasoning faculties1 and to the resolute subtraction from education of pure and simple enjoyment4 ,i used to try many experiments as a schoolmaster1 and ,i remember at one time bribing a slow and unintelligent class into some sort of concentration by promising that ,i would tell a story for a few minutes at the end of school1 if a bit of work had been satisfactorily mastered4 ,it certainly produced a lot of cheerful effort2 my story was simple enough1 description as brief and vivid as ,i could make it1 and brisk tangible incidents4 ,but the silence1 the luxurious abandonment of small minds to an older and more pictorial imagination1 the dancing light in open eyes1 did really give me for once a sense of power which ,i never had in teaching ,latin ,prose or the ,greek conditional sentence4 ,i always told stories for an hour on ,sunday evenings to the boys in my house1 and though few of my intellectual and ethical counsels are remembered by old pupils1 ,i never met one who did pot recollect the stories4 ,now we have here1 ,i believe1 a source of intellectual pleasure which is consistently neglected and even despised4 ,it is regarded as a mere luxury2 but we do not make the mistake of substituting gymnastics for games1 and removing the pleasure of personal performance4 ,why can we not also do something to encourage what old ,hawtrey used so beautifully to call the sweet pride of authorship8 ,the worst of it all is that we look so much to tangible results4 ,i do not mean that we must try to develop ,shakespeares1 ,shelleys1 ,thackerays2 such airy creatures have a way of catering for themselves6 ,i do riot at all want to turn out a generation of third-rate writing amateurs4 ,but many boys have a distinct pleasure not only in listening to imaginations1 and riding like the beetle on the engine1 but in evoking and realising some little vision and creation of their own brains4 ,of course there are boys to whom mental activity is all of the nature of a cross laid upon them for some purpose1 wise or unwise4 ,but there are also a good many shy boys1 who will not venture to make themselves conspicuous by literary and imaginative feats1 and who yet if it were a matter of course and wont1 would throw themselves with intense pleasure into literary creation4 ,the work done1 for instance1 at ,shrewsbury1 at the ,perse ,school1 at ,carlisle ,grammar ,school1 in this direction--,i daresay it is done elsewhere1 but ,i have seen the work of these three schools with my own eyes--show what quite average boys are capable of in both ,english poetry and ,english prose4 ,one of the best points of such a system of literary composition is that even if slower boys cannot effect much1 it gives a most wholesome opening to the creative faculties of boys1 whose minds1 if stifled and compressed1 are most likely to work in unwholesome and tormenting directions4 ,my suggestion then becomes part of a larger plea1 the plea for more direct cultivation of enjoyment in education4 ,some of our worst mistakes in education arise from our not basing it upon the actual needs and faculties of human nature1 but upon the supposed constitution of a child constructed by the starved imagination of pedants and moralists and practical men4 ,one of the first requisites in cultivating intellectual and artistic pleasure is to build up taste out of the actual perceptions of the child4 ,that is a factor which has been most stubbornly and unintelligently disregarded in education4 ,developments in character are of the nature of living things2 they cannot be superimposed they must be rooted in the temperament and they must draw nurture and sustenance out of the spirit1 as the seed imbibes its substance from the unseen soil and the hidden waters4 ,but what has been constantly done is to introduce the broadest effects and the simplest romance1 directly and suddenly to the biggest masterpieces4 ,the absence of all gradation and reconciliation has been characteristic of our literary education4 ,of course there is an initial difficulty in the case of the classics1 that there is very little in either ,greek or ,latin which really appeals to an immature taste at all2 and such books as might appeal to inquisitive and inexperienced minds1 such as ,homer or the ,anabasis of ,xenophon1 are made unattractive by the method of giving such short snippets1 and insisting on what used to be called thorough parsing4 ,even ,alice in ,wonderland1 let me say1 could only prove a drearily bewildering book1 if read at the rate of twenty lines a lesson1 and if the principal tenses of all the verbs had to be repeated correctly4 ,it is absolutely essential1 if any love of literature is to be superinduced1 that something should be read fast enough to give some sense of continuity and range and horizon4 ,the practice of dictionary-turning is sufficient by itself to destroy intellectual pleasure1 but it used to be defended as a base sort of bribe to strengthen memory3 it was argued that boys would try to remember words to save themselves the trouble of looking them up4 ,but this has no origin in fact4 ,boys used not to be encouraged to guess at words1 but to be punished for shirking work if they had not looked them out4 ,it is to be hoped that ,english will be in the future increasingly taught in schools2 but even so there is the danger of connecting it too much with erudition4 ,the old ,clarendon ,press ,shakespeare was an almost perfect example of how not to edit ,shakespeare for boys2 the introductions were learned and scholarly1 the notes were crammed with philology1 derivation1 illustration4 ,as a matter of fact there is a good deal that is interesting1 even to small minds1 in the connection and derivation of words1 if briskly communicated4 ,most boys are responsive to the pleasure of finding a familiar word concealed under a variation of shape2 but this should be conveyed orally4 ,what is really requisite is that boys should be taught how to read a book intelligently4 ,in dealing with classical books1 vocabulary must be always a difficulty1 and ,i myself very much doubt the advisability in the case of average boys of attempting to teach more than one foreign language at a time1 especially when in dealing1 say1 with three kindred languages1 such as ,latin1 ,french1 and ,english1 the same word1 such as spiritus1 esprit1 and spirit bear very different significations4 ,the great need is that there should be some work going on in which the boys should not be conscious of dragging an ever-increasing burden of memory4 ,let me take a concrete case4 ,a poem like the ,morte d',arthur1 or ,the ,lay of the ,last ,minstrel1 is well within the comprehension of quite small boys4 ,these could be read in a class1 after an introductory lecture as to date1 scene1 dramatis personae1 with perfect ease1 words explained as they occurred1 difficult passages paraphrased1 and the whole action of the story could pass rapidly before the eye4 ,most boys have a distinct pleasure in rhyme and metre4 ,of course it is an immense gain if the master can really read in a spirited and moving manner1 and a training in reading aloud should form a part of every schoolmaster's outfit4 ,i should wish to see this reading lesson a daily hour for all younger boys1 so as to form a real basis of education4 ,three of these hours could be given to ,english1 and three to ,french1 for in ,french there is a wide range both of simple narrative stories and historical romances4 ,the aim to be kept in view would be the very simple one of proving that interest1 amusement and emotion can be derived from books which1 unassisted1 only boys of tougher intellectual fibre could be expected to attack4 ,the personalities of the authors of these books should be carefully described1 and the result of such reading1 persevered in steadily1 would be1 what is one of the most stimulating rewards of wider knowledge1 the sudden realisation1 that is1 that books and authors are not lonely and isolated phenomena1 but that the literature of a nation is like a branching tree1 all connected and intertwined1 and that the books of a race mirror faithfully and vividly the ideas of the age out of which they sprang4 ,what makes books dull is the absence of any knowledge by the reader of why the author was at the trouble of expressing himself in that particular way at that particular time4 ,when1 as a small boy1 ,i read a book of which the whole genesis was obscure to me1 it used to appear to me vaguely that it must have been as disagreeable to the author to write it as it was for me to read it4 ,but if it can be once grasped that books are the outcome of a writer's interest or sense of beauty or emotion or joy1 the whole matter wears a different aspect4 ,the same principle applies with just the same force to history and geography2 both of these studies can be made interesting1 if they are not regarded as isolated groups of phenomena1 but are approached from the boy's own experience as opening away and outwards from what is going on about him4 ,the object is or ought to be slowly to extend the boy's horizon1 to show him that history holds the seeds and roots of the present1 and that geography is the life-drama which he sees about him1 enacting itself under different climatic and physiographical conditions4 ,the dreariness and dreadfulness of knowledge to the immature mind is because it represents itself as a mass of dry facts to be mastered without having any visible or tangible connection with the boy's own experience4 ,the aim should rather be to teach him to look with zest and interest at what is going on outside his own narrow circle1 and to help him to move perceptively along the paths of time and space which diverge in all directions from the scene where he finds himself4 ,it may be indisputably stated that all connected knowledge is stimulating1 and that all unconnected knowledge is at best mechanical4 ,perhaps one of the most fruitful of all subjects is vivid biography1 and no serious educator could perform a more valuable task than in providing a series of biographies of great men1 really intelligible to youthful minds4 ,as a rule1 biographies of the first order require an amount of detailed knowledge in the reader which puts them out of the reach of ill-stored minds4 ,but ,i have again and again found with boys that simple biographical lectures are among the most attractive of all lessons4 ,at one time1 with my private pupils1 ,i would take a book at random out of my shelves1 read an interesting extract or two1 and then say that ,i would try to show why the author chose such a subject1 why he wrote as he did1 and how it all sprang out of his life and character and circumstances4 ,of course the difficulty in all this is that the field of knowledge is so vast and various1 while the capacities of boys are so small1 and the time to be spent on their education so short1 that we quail before the attempt to grapple with the problem4 ,we have moreover a vague idea that the well-informed man ought to have a general notion of the world as it is1 the course of history1 the literature of the ages2 and at the same time the scientists are maintaining that a general knowledge of the laws and processes of nature is even more urgently needed4 ,i cannot treat of science here1 but ,i fully subscribe to the belief that a general knowledge of science is essential4 ,but the result of our believing that it is advisable to know so much1 is that we attempt to spread the thinnest and driest paste of knowledge over the mind1 and all the vivid life of it evaporates in the process4 ,the thing is1 frankly1 far too big to attempt2 and1 we must henceforth set our faces against the attainment2 of mere knowledge as either advisable or possible4 ,what we must try to do is to educate the faculties of curiosity1 interest1 imagination and sympathy2 we must begin from the boy himself1 and conduct him away from himself4 ,what we really ought to aim at is to give him the sense that he is surrounded by strange and beautiful mysteries of nature1 of which he can himself observe certain phenomena2 that human history1 as well as the great world about him1 is crowded with interesting and animating figures who have laboured1 toiled1 loved1 acted1 suffered1 sinned1 have felt the impulse both of base and selfish desires1 but no less of beautiful1 exalted1 and inspiring hopes4 ,we want to convince the young that it is not well to be narrow1 close-fisted1 insolent1 suspicious1 petty1 self-satisfied4 ,imaginative sympathy1 that is to be the end of all our efforts4 ,if we aim only at producing sympathy1 we may get a vague sentimentalism which is just distressed by apparent suffering1 and anxious to relieve it momentarily1 without reflecting whether it is not the outcome of perfectly curable faults of system and habit4 ,if we aim only at imagination1 then we get a barren artistic pleasure in dramatic situations and romantic effects4 ,what we ought to aim at is the sympathy which pities and feels for others1 as well as admires and imitates them2 and this must be reinforced by the imagination which can concern itself with the causes of what otherwise are but vague emotions4 ,we want to make boys on the one hand detest tyranny and high-handedness and bigotry and ruthless exercise of power1 and on the other hand mistrust stupidity and ignorance and baseness and selfishness and suspiciousness4 ,the study of high literature is valuable not as a mere exercise in erudition and linguistic nicety and critical taste1 but because the great books mirror best the highest hopes and visions of human nature4 ,the precise extent of the intellectual range matters very little1 compared with the perceptiveness and emotion by which the realisation of other lives1 other needs1 other activities1 other problems are accompanied4 ,i must not be supposed1 in saying this1 to be leaving out of sight the virile exercise of logical and rational faculties2 but that is another side of education2 and the grave deficiency which ,i detect in the old theory was that practically all the powers and devices of education were devoted to what was called fortifying the mind and making it into a perfect instrument1 while there were left out of sight the motives which were to guide the use of that instrument1 and the boy was led to suppose that he was to fortify his mind solely for his own advantage4 ,this individualist theory must somehow be modified4 ,the aim of the process ,i have described is not simply to indicate to the boy the amount of selfish pleasure which he can obtain from literary masterpieces2 it is rather to show the boy that he is not alone and isolated1 in a world where it is advisable for him to take and keep all that he can2 but that he is one of a great fellowship of emotions and interests1 and that his happiness depends upon his becoming aware of this1 while his usefulness and nobleness must depend upon his disinterestedness1 and upon the extent to which he is willing to share his advantages4 ,the teaching of civics1 as it is called1 may be of some use in this direction1 as showing a boy his points of contact with society4 ,but no instruction in the constitution of society is profitable1 unless somehow or other the dutiful motive is kindled1 and the heroic virtue of service made beautiful4 ,when then ,i speak of the training of the imagination1 ,i really mean the kindling of motive2 and here again ,i claim that this must be based on a boy's own experience4 ,he understands well enough the possibility of feeling emotion in relation to a small circle1 his home and his immediate friends4 ,but he is probably1 like most young creatures1 and indeed like a good many elderly ones1 inclined to be suspicious of all that is strange and foreign1 and to anticipate hostility or indifference4 ,what he would willingly share with a relation or friend1 he eagerly withholds from an outsider4 ,to cultivate his imaginative sympathy1 to give him an insight into the ways and thoughts of other men1 to show to him that the same qualities which evoke his trust and love are not the monopoly of his own small circle--this is just what must be taught1 because it is exactly what is not instinctively evolved4 ,the training of the imagination then is a deliberate effort to persuade the young to believe in the real nobility and beauty of life1 in the great ideas which are moulding society and welding communities together4 ,it cannot be done in a year or a decade2 but it ought to be the first aim of education to initiate the imagination of the young into the idea of fellowship1 and to make the thought of selfish individualism intolerable4 ,it is not perhaps the only end of education1 but ,i can hardly believe that it has any nobler or more sacred end4 ,,iv ,,religion ,,at ,,school ,by ,w4 ,w4 ,,vaughan ,the ,master of ,wellington ,college ,after all1 how seldom does a ,christian education teach one anything worth knowing about ,christianity4 ,these are the words of a man whom the public schools are proud to claim1 a man who has seen ,christian education1 whether given in the elementary or in the secondary schools tested by the slow fires of peace1 and by the quick devouring furnace of war4 ,they seem at first sight to be a verdict of guilty against the teachers or the system in which they play a part4 ,that verdict will not be accepted without protest by those incriminated1 but even the protesters will feel some compunction1 and now that they can no longer question the heroic student as to what he means1 and go to him for advice as to the remedies for this failure1 they should search their hearts and their experience for the help he might have given1 had he not laid down his arms and his life on the ,somme last autumn4 ,for long the need of help has been felt4 ,the teaching of religion may have been less talked and written about1 and less organised by societies and associations1 than have been other subjects dealt with at school1 but the problem of how best to make it a living force in youth and an enduring force throughout the whole of life is often wrestled with at conferences of schoolmasters which do not publish their proceedings1 and by little groups of men who feel the need of one another's help4 ,it is certainly always present in the minds1 if not in the hearts1 of every head master1 boarding-house master and tutor in ,england4 ,these know well what the difficulties are2 these know that a short cut to any subject is often a long way round3 that a short cut to religion leads too often either to a slough of doubt or else to a pharisaical hilltop1 from which there is no path to the great mountains where the ,holy ,spirit really dwells4 ,it is never well to insist too much on difficulties1 but a bare statement of those that surround this subject is needed4 ,there are the difficulties of course common to every subject2 the difficulty of attracting the real teacher1 keeping him as a teacher1 improving him as a teacher when he has been attracted4 ,even those who start out on their career with a determination that the teaching of religion at all events should have its full share of their time and thought1 find that as their teaching life goes on and fresh duties crowd in to usurp more and more all their energies1 that the time they can spare1 and the thought they can give1 either to the preparation of their divinity lessons1 or to the enriching and cultivation of their own souls1 shrink4 ,now and then they are cruelly disappointed at the result of their efforts as some conspicuous failure seems to prove their teaching vain2 they are often depressed by the apparent apathy of the leaders of the ,church1 by their manifest reluctance even to allow others to make the new bottles which can alone hold the new wine4 ,schoolmasters belong to a devoted and to a comparatively learned profession4 ,they should belong1 especially those who feel the needs--and all must to some extent--of the religious life of the school1 also to a learning profession2 and their learning should go beyond the experience of boyish failings1 and boyish tragedies1 and boyish virtues with which they are almost daily brought into contact2 beyond the dictionaries and handbooks that enable the ,bible lesson to be well prepared2 it should go out into the books that deal with the philosophy and the history of religion--the books of ,harnack and ,illingworth1 ,hort and ,inge1 ,bevan and ,glover1 and of others who make us feel how narrow our outlook on our religion is4 ,it would of course be foolish to drag our pupils with us exactly to the point to which these books may have brought us after many years' experience1 but it is essential that we should know of the existence of such a distant point if we are to give to those we teach any idea of there being beyond the limits that they can reach at school a great and wonderful and inspiring region which they1 with the help of such leaders as have been mentioned can1 nay must1 explore for themselves if religion is to be something more than mere emotion1 fitful in its working1 liable to succumb to all the stronger emotions with which life attacks the citadel of the soul4 ,another difficulty is that the teacher of religion is being more continuously and searchingly tested than the teacher of any other subject4 ,the man who expatiates in the form-room on the beauties of literature1 and is suspected of never reading a book is looked upon as merely a harmless fraud by those he teaches4 ,the man who preaches1 whether officially in the pulpit or unofficially in the class-room or study1 a high standard of conduct1 and is unsuccessful in his own efforts to attain it1 depreciates for all the value of religion4 ,patience and industry and long-suffering and charitableness are virtues that bear the hall mark of ,christianity1 but they are virtues in which the best men fail continually1 are conscious of their own failure and would plead for merciful judgment4 ,if the parish priest is exposed to the criticism of those among whom he lives1 a still fiercer light beats upon the pulpit or the desk of the schoolmaster4 ,his consciousness of this sometimes leads him to reduce his teaching to the limits of his practice1 instead of extending the former and having faith in his power to bring the latter up to this level4 ,indeed1 when teachers and those who are taught are living so close together1 both1 from a not unworthy fear of insincerity1 are liable to make themselves and their ideals out to be worse than they are4 ,it is sympathy alone that can overcome this difficulty4 ,indeed1 it is safe to say that without sympathy--sympathy that understands difficulties1 working equally in those who are old and those who are young--religion at school must be a very cautious and probably a very barren power4 ,again1 the schoolmaster is tempted1 and even when he is not tempted the boys credit him with yielding to the temptation to treat religion as a super-policeman3 something to make discipline easy and consequently to make his own life smooth4 ,it is no good explaining too often that the aim is to get at religion through discipline1 but this aim should ever be before us4 ,man cannot too early in life realise that discipline of itself is valueless4 ,its inestimable value in war1 as in all the activities of life1 is due to its being the necessary preliminary preparation for courageous action1 noble thought1 wise self-control and unselfish self-surrender4 ,but above all these difficulties1 dominating them all1 affecting them all1 perhaps poisoning them all1 is the fact1 not to be escaped though it is often ignored1 that so many of the traditions of school life1 as of national life1 seem founded on a basis opposed to ,christ's teaching4 ,it is very hard to go through a day of our lives1 or even a short railway journey1 and not offend against the spirit of the ,sermon on the ,mount4 ,older people have never been able to solve this dilemma3 the rulers find it more difficult than the ruled4 ,the whole of school life is stimulated by the principle of competition1 and kept together by a healthy and1 on the whole1 a kindly self-assertion which is hard to reconcile with the ideals that are upheld in the ,new ,testament4 ,yet at school1 quite as much as in the ,world1 competition and self-assertion are tempered by abundant friendliness and generosity2 and at school if not in the world1 there are an increasing number of individuals who have so much spiritual power that they never need to exercise the more worldly power that clashes with the ,beatitudes4 ,of this power boys seldom talk1 except to some specially sympathetic ear at some specially heart-opening moment1 but many are dumbly aware of it and they cultivate it1 often unconsciously but to the great gain of those around them1 by prayer and faithful worship4 ,but even these richer natures are uncomfortably conscious that there is a conflict between what ,christ commands and what the world advises4 ,that conflict will not cease until faith has more power over our lives4 ,it cannot grow naturally at school among boys1 when it does not live in the nation among men2 but it would indeed be faithless to miss1 through fear of the world's withering power1 any opportunity of quickening pure religion among the young4 ,though these opportunities vary very much in the day and the boarding school1 they may be said to occur3 7#a7 ,in the scripture lesson2 7#b7 ,in the services whether held in chapel or1 as is often the case especially in day schools1 in the hall2 7#c7 ,in the preparation for confirmation2 7#d7 ,in all lessons in and out of school4 ,there is a great difference of opinion as to what should be taught in the scripture lesson1 and who should teach it4 ,it is easy enough to quote instances of extraordinary ignorance1 to argue that1 because a man who is in the trenches shocks his chaplain by his real or affected neglect of the facts of ,bible history or the dogmas of the ,church1 therefore he has never had an opportunity of learning them2 that same man would probably not give a much more impressive account of the profane subjects in the school curriculum4 ,there is1 too1 the fact that a man may have forgotten everything of a subject and yet may have learnt much from it4 ,every teacher knows this1 if every schoolboy does not4 ,no one shrinks so much from revealing what he knows as the boy who is conscious that he has learnt a thing and is not sure that he can show his knowledge accurately4 ,no subject has been left so free from what is supposed to be the sterilising influence of examinations as divinity4 ,in many schools there have been one or two inspiring teachers of this subject who justify this system1 but on the whole the result does not confirm the opinion that all would be well if we could have complete freedom from examinations4 ,if in the future the harvest in religion is to be more worthy of the seed that is sown and the trouble of cultivation1 we must face with more frankness1 especially in the later years of a boy's life1 all the difficulties that are presented by the problems of the ,bible and ,church ,history4 ,we must have more courage in going beyond the syllabuses that are drawn up by universities and ecclesiastical societies4 ,both have to play for safety1 but they are dull cards that this stake requires4 ,teachers have overcome their timidity in dealing with the difficulties presented by the ,old ,testament4 ,very few now hesitate to take the book of ,genesis1 and1 at all events if they are dealing with a high form1 they let the boys see that the conflict between science and religion is only apparent1 and that the victory of science does not mean the defeat of religion4 ,if they have been lucky enough to use ,driver's book on ,genesis they will have felt on sure ground and any learner who has half understood it will have a shield against some of the weapons that assailed and defeated his father's generation4 ,no teacher now would be afraid of making clear the problems presented by the book of ,daniel or the book of ,job1 but when the ,new ,testament is approached much more diffidence is felt1 and indeed ought to be felt4 ,diffidence ought not however to involve silence4 ,a wise teacher has said that it is not the miracles of ,christ but his standard that keeps men away from his ,church1 and therefore outside the influence for which the ,church stands4 ,true though this may be of men as life goes on1 of the young it is not the whole truth4 ,in those critical years of a man's religion--between eighteen and twenty-five--it is the sudden or the slow-growing doubt about the miracles of the ,new ,testament1 as much as the lofty standard that the ,follow me of ,christ requires1 that makes the profession and even the holding of a religious faith so hard4 ,more and more are the schools trying to prepare those in their charge for the perils that threaten the physical health and the character of the young2 but it is tragic that they should be so unwilling to face frankly the perils that will sap the man's faith1 and so expose his soul to the assaults of the world and the devil4 ,it is very hard to put oneself in another's place2 perhaps harder for the schoolmaster than for any other man1 but when we are teaching such a subject as religion--a subject whose roots must perish if they cannot draw moisture from the springs of sincerity1 we should try to imagine what must be the feelings of the thoughtful boy when he first discovers that the lessons which he has so often learnt and the ,creeds that he has so often repeated were taken by his teachers in a sense which they carefully concealed from him4 ,more harm is done by the economy of truth than by the suggestion of doubt4 ,it may be extraordinarily difficult to treat these problems of the ,new ,testament with becoming reverence2 but is it not true to say that the day when it becomes easy to any man to do so will be the day when he ought to stop dealing with them8 ,the real irreverence1 the only irreverence1 is the glib confidence of the ignorant or the cynical concealment of one who knows but dare not tell4 ,what idea of the ,new ,testament does the average boy who leaves1 say in the fifth form1 carry away with him from his public school8 ,he may know that certain facts are told in one ,gospel and not in another2 that there are certain inconsistencies in the accounts given by the different ,synoptic ,gospels of the same miracle1 or what is apparently the same miracle4 ,he may be able to explain the parables more fully than their author ever meant them to be explained2 he may have at his fingers' ends ,st ,paul's journeys and even have been thrilled by ,st ,paul's shipwreck1 but he will probably have missed the meaning of the good news for himself and the power to treasure it for his life's strength4 ,this failure to appreciate and to accept the challenge of religion--a failure shown later on in life in a certain diffidence about foreign missions1 and in the toleration of social conditions that deny ,christ as flatly as ever ,peter did--is not the fault of the schools alone4 ,the schools only reflect the world outside and the homes from which they are recruited4 ,in neither is there as much light as there should be4 ,the difficulty of the vicious circle dominates this as so many other problems4 ,school reacts on the world1 the world on the home#a and the home on school1 the blame cannot be apportioned1 need not be apportioned2 how the circle can be broken it is much more important to determine4 ,from time to time it has been broken1 so decisively too that for a while the riddle seems solved1 at all events the old way is abandoned for ever4 ,arnold's work at ,rugby must have involved such a breach4 ,his work has never had to be done all over again and there have been many to keep it in repair1 but it needs to be extended now in the light of new problems1 scientific1 social and international4 ,for this1 as for all other extensions1 courage is needed4 ,the courage to face the difficulties that modern research and modern thought involve and the courage to point out that our ,lord1 though in his short career he changed the bias of men's lives1 never claimed to leave man a detailed guide for conduct or for happiness4 ,it was to a simple society that he taught the laws of purity and love1 he did not extend the range of their application beyond the needs of the ,pharisee1 the ,sadducee1 the ,scribe1 the peasant and the dweller in the little towns through which he shed the light of his presence4 ,these laws sanctify the whole of life because they dominate the heart1 from which all life must spring1 but they do not answer all questions about all the subordinate provinces of life4 ,the arts in their narrow sense1 philosophy1 even pleasure1 they pass by4 ,man will not neglect the one or distort the other if he has really breathed the spirit of ,christ1 but at times the urgency of his ,master's business will seem to shut them out of his life4 ,all this needs learning by the old1 and explaining to the young1 for otherwise life will be one-sided1 and when the day comes1 as come it must to those who think1 when a choice must be made1 and there seems no alternative to following literally in ,christ's footsteps and turning the back on much of the beauty and the thrill of the world1 bewilderment will seize the chooser and at the best he will dedicate himself to a joyless and unattractive puritanism1 or surrender himself to a rudderless voyage across the ocean of life4 ,religion at school must touch with its refining power the impulses1 aesthetic and intellectual1 that become powerful in late boyhood and early manhood4 ,if1 as so often is the case1 it ignores their existence1 or endeavours to starve them1 they may well assert themselves with fatal power1 to coarsen and degrade the whole of life4 ,the scripture lesson will indeed miss its opportunity if it does not1 in the later stages of a boy's career1 set him thinking on these subjects1 and help him to a wise appreciation of the holiness of beauty as well as of the beauty of holiness4 ,to accomplish this task the language of the ,bible itself gives noble help4 ,all the qualities of great literature shine forth from it and it should put to shame and flight the tawdry and the melodramatic4 ,it is an ill service not to make all familiar with the actual words of ,holy ,writ4 ,commentaries and ,bible histories may be at times convenient tools1 but they are only tools1 and accurate knowledge of what they teach is no compensation for a want of respectful familiarity with the text itself4 ,hardly less important for good and evil are the chapel services4 ,they are much attacked4 ,it has been argued that public worship is distasteful in later life because of the compulsory chapels of boyhood4 ,if this were really so1 evidence should be forthcoming that those who come from schools where there is no compulsory attendance at chapel1 because there is no chapel to attend1 are more eager to avail themselves of the opportunities offered by college chapels than are their more chapel ridden contemporaries4 ,no one1 however1 can be quite satisfied that chapel services are as helpful as they might be4 ,the difficulty is how to improve them4 ,the suggestion that they should all be voluntary is at first sight attractive but there are two insuperable difficulties4 ,the one is the power of fashion1 for it might well become fashionable in a certain house not to attend chapel4 ,those who know anything of the inside of schools know how such a fashion would deter many of the best boys from going1 and martyrdom ought not to be part of the training of school life4 ,the other difficulty is more subtle1 but none the less real it originates in the boys' quite healthy fear of claiming merit4 ,those in authority1 if wise1 would not count attendance at chapel for righteousness1 but some of the most sensitive boys might think that they would do so1 and might stay away in consequence1 and thus deprive themselves of something they really valued4 ,two or three1 not many1 might come from a wrong motive1 and perhaps these would stay to pray1 but they would be no compensation for the loss of the others4 ,from time to time it is possible to have voluntary services1 and attendance at ,holy ,communion should always be voluntary1 not only in name but in fact4 ,on the whole it is better that a boy who neglects this duty should go on neglecting it1 than that those who come should feel that their presence is noted with approval or the reverse4 ,but it is different with the daily service4 ,irksome it may sometimes be1 not only to boys2 but half its virtue lies in the fact that all are there in body and may sometimes be there in spirit too4 ,the familiarity of the oft-repeated prayers and the oft-sung hymns leads to inattention perhaps1 but seldom1 it may be hoped1 to callousness2 religious emotion may only occasionally be stirred but the thread of natural piety1 binding man to man and man to ,god1 is strengthened1 as fresh strands are added4 ,at the least it may be claimed for the chapel services that they rescue from our hours of business some minutes each day in which our thoughts are free to make their way to the throne of ,god4 ,christ's promise to bring rest to those who come to him has been fulfilled in many a school chapel4 ,those of us who have had to pass through the valley of sorrow and temptation and loneliness--and who has not8--know that this is no mean claim4 ,boys1 even men1 often grumble at what they really value4 ,to do so is our national defect1 misleading to the onlooker4 ,the truth is1 we are so fearful of being accused of casting our pearls before swine1 that we often pretend1 even to ourselves1 that what we know to be the most precious pearl in our possession is valueless4 ,most masters and boys would agree that1 in the few weeks preceding confirmation1 the religious life is deepest and most sincere4 ,there is a moving of the waters then1 and many make the effort1 and step in1 and are made whole for the time at all events4 ,as to what exactly goes on in the mind of anyone at such a time there can be no certainty4 ,there is the obvious danger of a reaction1 and1 guard against it as one may1 it exists and sometimes leads to disaster2 but there is another danger to which the schoolmaster is then liable1 it is the danger of making confirmation an occasion for much talk on sexual difficulties4 ,the existence of these should be faced1 but at any time rather than at confirmation1 except so far as they occur quite naturally in dealing with the commandments4 ,it is a real disaster for a child to associate this time1 when he should be trying to shoulder enthusiastically his responsibilities as a citizen of ,god's ,kingdom upon earth1 with any particular sin4 ,he must indeed overcome evil1 but he must overcome it with good4 ,it is on good that his eyes should be fixed4 ,it is towards the ,lord of all that is good that his heart should be uplifted4 ,anyone who has had to do with this time knows what it means in a boy's religious life1 how reluctant he is to speak of it1 how perilous it is to disturb his reluctance by inquisitive question or excessive exhortation4 ,he knows1 too1 how much his own nature has gained by contact at such times with the reverent stirrings of less world-stained souls1 how wondrous has been the spiritual refreshment that has come to him from the unconscious witness of the younger heart4 ,for most boys it is a loss not to be confirmed at school1 which for the time is the centre of their energies1 their hopes1 their disappointments and their temptations2 but the loss to the masters who share their preparation would be irreparable4 ,they may sometimes blunder from want of knowledge and experience1 but their will to help is strong1 and perhaps not least persuasive when chastened by diffidence4 ,but all these scripture lessons1 chapel services and confirmation preparation will be powerless to produce a ,christian education1 if they be not held together by every lesson and by the whole life of the school4 ,industry and obedience1 truthfulness and fidelity to duty1 unselfishness and thoroughness1 must form the soil without which no religious plant can grow2 and these are taught and learnt in the struggle with ,latin prose1 or mathematics1 or ,french grammar1 or scientific formula2 as well as in the cricket field1 on the football ground1 in the give and take1 the pains and the pleasures of daily life4 ,it is hard for us in ,england to imagine a purely secular education1 the very buildings of many of our schools would protest against it2 perhaps it is equally difficult for us to realise how far we fall short of what we might accomplish did the spirit of ,christianity really inform our lives4 ,to-day is our opportunity4 ,the claims of education are being listened to as they never have been in ,england4 ,money in millions is being promised1 the value of this subject or that is being canvassed1 the most venerable traditions are being shaken4 ,it is a time of hope1 but a time of danger too4 ,all sorts of plans are being formed for breaking down the partition walls that divide man from man1 and class from class1 and nation from nation2 there is only one plan that will not leave the ground encumbered by ruins4 ,that is the plan of which good men in all ages have caught glimpses1 and which the ,son of ,man set out for us to follow4 ,the peril now lies1 not in the fact of nothing being done1 but in some starved idea of a narrow patriotism4 ,the war has surely taught two lessons2--one that the efforts we made before #aiad to guard our country from spiritual and moral foes were shamefully trivial compared with those we have made since to keep our visible foe at bay2 the other that our responsibilities for the future1 if we are to justify our claims to be the champions of justice and weakness1 can never be borne unless we learn ourselves1 and teach each generation as it grows up1 to face the fierce light that shines from heaven4 ,all sorts of devices1 ecclesiastical and political have been adopted to break up that light and make it tolerable for our weak eyes4 ,men have been so afraid of children being blinded by it that they have allowed them to sit1 some in darkness1 and others in the twilight of compromise4 ,it has been said that for the average man in the ancient world there existed two main guides and sanctions for his conduct of life1 namely the welfare of his city1 and the laws and traditions of his ancestors4 ,has the average man much wiser guides or stronger sanctions now8 ,is a much nobler appeal made to the children of ,england than was made to the children of ,athens8 ,just before ,joshua led his people over the ,jordan1 he instructed them how the ark of the covenant was to go before them and a space to be left between them and it1 so that they might know the way by which they must go1 for they had not passed this way before4 ,once again a river of decision has to be crossed1 a road has to be trodden along which men have not passed before4 ,whether we speak of reconstruction or a new start or use any other metaphor to show our conviction that war has changed all things1 the idea is the same4 ,we must see to it that the ark of the covenant is borne before our nation and our schools1 along the way that is new and still full of stones of stumbling4 ,either the old landmarks have disappeared or a new land has to be explored4 ,somehow1 all things have to be made new1 for even the spiritual things have been destroyed or are found wanting4 ,it is to the schools1 to the homes1 to the mothers of ,england that the richest opportunity comes4 ,if they can solve the difficulty of making the ,christian education and the ,christian life react upon one another the partition walls between religion and conduct will be broken down for every age4 ,intentionally or unintentionally1 these walls have been built up1 perhaps by the teachers and parents1 certainly by the conventions of life4 ,the result is that though there is more true religion in the schools than is acknowledged by those outside and than those within care to boast of1 and though the standard of conduct is not ignoble1 there is too little fusion2 both components are brittle1 they cannot stand the strain of sudden temptation1 they lack enduring power4 ,no one will forget how in those first months of war1 consolation was offered even from pulpits for all the horrors and the sadness and the waste of conflict in the thought that as a nation we should be purged of selfishness1 of luxury1 of sensuality1 of all the vices that peace engenders4 ,that is surely a shameful confession1 that our religion had been in vain4 ,we had to wait for1 and partake in1 a three years' orgy of cruelty and violence to learn what our ,lord had taught us in three years of gentleness4 ,if we are going to teach the same lessons about war when peace is made1 to keep alive the fires of hate1 and to keep smouldering the embers of suspicion1 we shall be confessing that a ,christian education cannot teach us anything about ,christianity4 ,the student in arms would not have had us despair4 ,peace when it comes will make demands on our fortitude4 ,there will be many lying in the no-man's land between vice and virtue who will need to be rescued at great risk4 ,there will be many forlorn hopes to be led against disease1 the foster child of vice1 that has gained strength under the cover of war4 ,the disappointing days of peace will give an opportunity for the development of ,christian qualities fully as great as the bracing days of battle4 ,teachers will need to gird up their loins for the task of giving a wise welcome to the thousands that an awakened ,state will send to sit at their feet1 and unless they can give spiritual food as well as worldly wisdom and paying knowledge1 the souls of the new-comers will be starved beyond the remedy of any free meals4 ,how to spiritualise education is the real problem1 for it is only by a spiritualised education that we can escape from the avalanche of materialism that is hanging over the ,european world just now4 ,no syllabus1 no act of ,parliament can do this4 ,there is no royal road which all can travel4 ,it has been done1 to some extent1 in the past1 and it will have to be done1 to a much greater extent1 in the future by the layman and the laywoman1 by the teachers of all denominations1 by some even whom inspectors may consider inefficient and whom children may tolerate as queer4 ,it will be done best by the best teachers1 but all teachers can share in the work on the one condition that they have consciously or unconsciously dedicated themselves to the task4 ,for a teacher to write much about it is impossible1 he must know how greatly he has failed4 ,and he has not the recompense that comes to many who fail1 in the shape of certain knowledge why success has been withheld4 ,that his failure is shared by those who strive to make religion move the world of men is no consolation4 ,indeed1 that thought might make him hopeless did it not suggest that the aims and methods of both may be wrong4 ,it is possible to have hoped too much from the school chapels being full1 it is possible to fear too much from the churches being empty4 ,piety is no doubt fostered by attendance at a religious service1 but there is some distance between piety and true religion4 ,it would probably not be untrue to say that ,christian education has seemed more concerned with the ceremonial duties of religion than with its spiritual enthusiasm1 more eager about faith in some particular explanation of the past than about faith in a re-creation of the future1 more attentive to the machinery of the organisation of the ,church than to the words and commands of its ,founder4 ,as the ,church has become more powerful in the world1 it has lost its power over men's hearts4 ,to some it has seemed an institution for the relief of poverty1 to others the support of the haves against the have-nots1 but to too few has it been the home of spiritual adventures1 the maintainer of spiritual values4 ,men have escaped from the relentless simplicity of the ,master's commands by attention to the complicated machinery which disregard of them has made necessary4 ,this may not have been consciously marked by the young1 but the atmosphere of religion that they have had to breathe has been the tired atmosphere of the ecclesiastical workshop1 and not the bracing air of free service4 ,some restoration of the hopefulness of the early ,christians is needed2 hopefulness is not now the note of what is taught1 though with it is sometimes confused the boisterous cheerfulness that is wrongly supposed to attract the young4 ,the appeal of the ,church must be based on looking forward1 not backward1 on hope1 rather than on repentance4 ,the ,church will have less to do with the world than it had in the past1 because it will have shaken off the fetters of the world3 it will not be always explaining to the young how they can enjoy the world and yet deny the world3 it will not need to explain itself so often1 to insist so pathetically on the superiority of its own channels of influence1 but it will attract to itself1 or rather to the work that it is trying to do--for it will have forgotten self--all the adventurous spirits who are prepared to risk pain and failure as fellow-workers in fulfilling the purposes of ,god in the world4 ,what is worth knowing about ,christianity is surely first and foremost that it is a leaven that might leaven the whole world2 and that until that leaven works in each individual heart1 in each society1 where two or three are gathered together1 ,christ's presence cannot be claimed4 ,as this knowledge is gained1 it will be possible for the learner to know in his heart1 and not merely by heart1 what is meant by the great mysterious terms ,incarnation1 ,atonement1 ,resurrection2 as this knowledge is tested and proved true by experience of life1 the meaning and power of prayer will become clearer4 ,a clue will have been put into the hand of each as he travels along the way which he has not passed heretofore4 ,it will not lead all by the same path but it will lead all towards that great and high mountain1 whence that great city1 the ,holy ,jerusalem may be seen4 ,if the teacher is wise1 when the mountain top is nigh and before that vision breaks upon his fellow-traveller's sight1 he will stand aside with thankful heart1 and close his task with the prayer that the ,glory of ,god may shine more brightly and more continuously on the newcomer1 than it has shone on him4 ,footnote #a3 ,nothing is said here about the co-operation of the home with the school4 ,in religion as in all other matters it is assumed4 ,the influence of the home cannot be exaggerated but schoolmasters must resist the temptation to shift the burden of responsibility for any failure on to other shoulders4 ,v ,,citizenship ,by ,a4 ,,mansbridge ,founder of the ,workers' ,educational ,association ,i ,,direct ,,training ,,for ,,citizenship ,there is no institution in national life which can free itself from the responsibility of training for citizenship those who come under its influence1 whether they be men or women4 ,the problem is common to all institutions1 although it may present itself in diverse forms appropriate to varying ages and experiences4 ,it is primarily the problem of all schools and places of education4 ,the aim of education1 according to ,comenius1 is to train generally all who are born to all that is human4 ,from that definition it follows that the purpose of any school must be to bear its part in developing to the utmost the powers of body1 mind and spirit for the common good4 ,it must be to secure the application of the finest attributes of the race to the work of developing citizenship1 which is the art of living together on the highest plane of human life4 ,citizenship is1 in reality1 the focusing point of all human virtues though it is often illuminated by the consciousness of a city not made with hands4 ,it represents in a practical form the spirit of courage1 unselfishness and sympathy consecrated to service in time of war and peace4 ,generally speaking1 in ,england and her ,dominions1 citizenship is developed in harmony with an ideal of democracy4 ,the progress of democracy is irresistible1 says ,de ,tocqueville1 because it is the most uniform1 the most ancient and the most permanent tendency to be found in history4 ,but its right working is dependent entirely upon uplift not only of mind but of spirit4 ,the democratic community1 above all other communities1 must have within itself schools which at one and the same time impart information concerning the theory and methods of its government and inspire consecration to social service rather than to individual welfare1 schools which reveal the transcendence of the interests of the ,state as compared with the interests of any individual or group of individuals within it4 ,the democratic ,state has been compared to one huge ,christian personality1 one mighty growth or stature of an honest man4 ,out of this comparison arises the idea of citizenship reaching out beyond the boundaries of a single ,state--one honest man among many--and thus responsibility is placed upon the schools to develop knowledge of1 and sympathy with1 the activities and aspirations of human life in many nations4 ,the comity of nations depends directly upon the intellectual and spiritual honesty which obtains in each of them1 and true strength of nationality arises more from the exercise of these qualities than from extent of area or of productive power4 ,every subject taught in a school should serve the needs of the larger citizenship2 if it fails to do so it is either wrongly taught or superfluous4 ,social welfare depends upon the right use of knowledge by the individual1 however restricted or developed that knowledge may be1 whether it be acquired in elementary school or university4 ,there has been much discussion concerning the relative importance of the development of community spirit in the schools and the introduction of the direct teaching of citizenship4 ,the methods are not mutually exclusive2 their operations are distinct4 ,the school which does not develop community spirit1 which does not fit into its place in the work of training the complete man1 is obviously imperfect4 ,the same cannot be said of the school which does not provide direct instruction in citizenship2 for teaching may be given in so many indirect ways4 ,some consideration of what has happened in this connection both in ,england and ,america will perhaps be most helpful1 although the intangible nature of the results would render dangerous any attempt to make definite pronouncements on their success or failure4 ,largely as the result of the realisation of the immediate relationship between national education and national productivity there are abundant signs that the ,english educational system is about to be developed4 ,the ordinary argument has been well put3 ,a new national spirit has been aroused in our people by the war2 if we are to recover and improve our position at the end of the war1 that national spirit must be maintained2 for unless every man and woman comes to know and feel that industry1 agriculture1 commerce1 shipping1 and credit1 are national concerns1 and that education is a potent means for the promotion of these objects among others1 we shall fail in the great effort of national recuperation4 ,in plainer words1 our great firms will not make money1 wages will fall1 and wage-earners will be out of work#a4 ,the possibility of the extension of the educational system to meet the needs of technical training need not cause disquiet among those whose desire is for fulness of citizenship1 if they are prepared to insist that teachers shall be trained on broad and comprehensive lines and that every vocational course shall include instruction in direct citizenship4 ,the argument is ready to hand and simple4 ,if all men and women must strive to work wisely and well1 so also should they learn how to participate in the government1 local and national1 which their work supports4 ,moreover the right study of a trade or profession induces a perception of the inter-relationship of all human activity4 ,on the other hand it is important that vocational work1 at least so far as it is carried out by manual training1 should be introduced into schemes of liberal education4 ,in this connection it is worth recalling that in a recent report1 the ,consultative ,committee of the ,board of ,education expressed with complete conviction the opinion that manual training was indispensable in places of secondary education3 ,we consider that our secondary education has been too exclusively concerned with the cultivation of the mind by means of books and the instruction of the teacher4 ,to this essential aim there must be added as a condition of balance and completeness that of fostering those qualities of mind and that skill of hand which are evoked by systematic work4 ,in this way would be generated that sympathetic and understanding contact between all brainworkers and the complete men who work with both hands and brain so strongly pleaded for by ,professor ,lethaby who insists that some teaching about the service of labour must be got into all our educational schemes4 ,it must be remembered that the question of vocational training affects chiefly the proposed system of compulsory continuation school education up to the age of eighteen1 which has yet to be established for all boys and girls not in attendance at secondary schools or who have not completed a satisfactory period of attendance#b4 ,the inadequacy of the period of education allotted to the vast mass of the population and the need for educational reform in many directions can only be noted2 both these matters however affect citizenship profoundly4 ,it is upon the expectation of early development on the following lines1 indicated without detail1 that our consideration of the possibilities of schools in regard to citizenship must be based3 7#a7 ,a longer period of elementary school life during which no child shall be employed for other than educational purposes4 7#b7 ,the establishment of compulsory continuation schools for all boys and girls up to the age of eighteen1 the hours of attendance to be allowed out of reasonable working hours4 7#c7 ,complete opportunity for qualified boys and girls to continue their technical or humane studies from the elementary school to the university4 7#d7 ,a distinct improvement in the supply and power of teachers1 chiefly as the result of better training in connection with universities and the establishment of a remuneration which will enable them to live in the manner demanded by the nature and responsibilities of their calling4 ,the two main aspects of the development of citizenship through the schools which have already been noted may be summarised as follows1 and may be considered separately3 7#a7 ,the direct teaching of civics or of citizenship2 7#b7 ,the development through the ordinary school community of the qualities of the good citizen4 ,footnote #a3 ,interim ,report of the ,consultative ,committee of the ,board of ,education on ,scholarships for ,higher ,education1 ,may1 #aiaf4 ,footnote #b3 ,see ,final ,report of the ,departmental ,committee on ,juvenile ,education in ,relation to ,employment after the ,war1 #aiag1 ,cd4 #heab4 ,the ,bill to make further provision with respect to ,education in ,england and ,wales and for purposes connected therewith ,bill #hi1 had not been introduced by ,mr ,fisher when this article was written4 ,,the ,,direct ,,study ,,of ,,citizenship ,the study in schools of civic relations has been developed to a much greater extent in ,america than in ,england4 ,this is probably due largely to the fact that the ,american need is the more obvious4 ,in normal times1 there is a constant influx of people of different nationalities to the ,united ,states whom it is the aim of the government to make into ,american citizens4 ,at the same time there is in ,america a greater disposition than in ,england to adapt abstract study to practical ends1 to link the class-room to the factory1 to the city hall1 and to the ,capitol itself4 ,as one of her scholars says3 ,both the inspiration and the romance of the scholar's life lie in the perfect assurance that any truth1 however remote or isolated1 has its part in the unity of the world of truth and its undreamed of applicability to service#a4 ,there are in ,america numerous societies1 among them the ,national ,education ,association1 the ,american ,historical ,association1 the ,national ,municipal ,league1 the ,american ,political ,science ,association1 which are working steadily to make the study of civics an essential feature of every part of the educational system4 ,their prime purposes are summarised as follows3 7#a7 ,to awaken a knowledge of the fact that the citizen is in a social environment whose laws bind him for his own good2 7#b7 ,to acquaint the citizen with the forms of organisation and methods of administration of government in its several departments#b4 ,they claim that this can best be done by means of bringing the young citizen into direct contact with the significant facts of the life of his own local community and of the national community4 ,to indicate this more clearly they have applied to the study the name of ,community ,civics4 ,the argument that a sense of unreality may arise as a result of the apparent completeness of knowledge gained in the school is met by the close contact maintained all the time with the community outside4 ,there is unanimity of opinion that civics shall be taught from the elementary school onwards3 ,we believe1 runs the report of the ,committee of ,eight of the ,american ,historical ,association1 that elementary civics should permeate the entire school life of the child4 ,in the early grades the most effective features of this instruction will be directly connected with the teaching of regular subjects in the course of study4 ,through story1 poem and song there is the quickening of those emotions which influence civic life4 ,the works and biographies of great men furnish many opportunities for incidental instruction in civics4 ,the elements of geography serve to emphasise the interdependence of men--the very earliest lesson in civic instruction4 ,a study of pictures and architecture arouses the desire for civic beauty and orderliness#c4 ,a recent inquiry by a ,committee of the ,american ,political ,science ,association makes it quite clear that the subject is actually taught in the bulk of the elementary and secondary schools of the various ,states and that generally the results are satisfactory1 or indicate clearly necessary reforms4 ,the difficulty of providing suitable text-books is partly met by the addition of supplementary local information4 ,there are very few colleges and universities which do not provide courses in political science4 ,no claim is made that the teaching of civics makes of necessity good citizens1 but merely that it makes the good citizen into a better one4 ,the justification of the subject lies in its own content4 ,it is a study of an important phase of human society and1 for this reason the same value as elementary science or history#d4 ,there is1 moreover1 throughout the various ,american reports1 an insistence on the power of the community ideal in the school and the necessity for discipline in the performance of school duties and a due appreciation of the importance of individual action in relation to the class and to the school4 ,in ,england there has been much general and uncoordinated advocacy of the direct teaching of citizenship1 but1 for various reasons1 it does not appear to have been introduced generally into the schools1 nor does there appear to be any immediate likelihood of development in the existing schools4 ,the ,civic and ,moral ,education ,league made definite inquiry1 in #aiae1 of teachers and schools4 ,they pronounced the results to be disappointing1 though they comforted themselves with the incontrovertible dictum that the people who are doing most have least time to talk about it4 ,as the result of their inquiry1 they drew up a statement of the aims of civics which in general and in detail differed little from the ideas accepted in ,america4 ,if compulsory continued education is introduced1 for boys and girls who now have no school education after the elementary school1 it is of the utmost importance that the direct study should be included in some form or other before the age of eighteen is reached1 and it is in connection with this type of school rather than in connection with the elementary or secondary school that constructive efforts should be made4 ,it must be remembered that ,mr4 ,acland1 when ,minister for ,education1 introduced the subject into the ,elementary ,code of #ahie and provided a detailed syllabus4 ,this was generally approved not only as the action of a progressive administrator but as an evidence of the new spirit of freedom beginning to reveal itself in the educational system4 ,there are some education authorities1 like the ,county of ,chester1 which enact that the study of citizenship shall proceed side by side with religious education1 but the majority leave it to the teachers to do all that is necessary by the adaptation of other subjects and the development of school spirit4 ,the elaborate nature of ,mr4 ,acland's syllabus tended to defeat its object1 and some held it to be psychologically unsound1 but there has also been lack of suitable text-books4 ,in general1 however1 the whole subject depends peculiarly upon the personality of the teacher who feels no lack of text-books if he is alive to the interest of his lesson4 ,in ,studies in ,board ,schools#e1 there is a delightful study of a lesson on ,rates to young citizens with the altruistic text1 ,all for ,each1 ,each for ,all4 ,citizen ,carrots1 a tired newspaper boy up every morning at five1 is revealed as responding with great enthusiasm to this interesting lesson which commences with a drawing on a blackboard of a regulation workhouse1 a board school1 a free library1 a lamp post1 a water-cart1 a dustman1 a policeman1 a steam roller1 a navvy or two1 and a long-handled shovel stuck in a heap of soil4 ,a hypothetical payer of rates1 ,mrs ,smith1 is revealed as getting a great deal for her rates3 ,she is protected from any harm2 her property is safe2 she can walk about the streets with comfort by day or night2 her drains are seen to2 her rubbish is taken away for her2 she has books and newspapers to read2 if she has ten children1 she can have them well taught for nothing--so that if they are willing to learn1 and attend school regularly1 they can very easily make their own living when they grow up2 if she is ill1 she can go to the infirmary for medicine2 and if1 when she grows old1 she is unable to pay rent or buy food or clothes1 these things are provided for her4 ,and please1 sir1 the ,parks1 interjected the eager ,carrots4 ,if the definition of a good citizen propounded by ,professor ,masterman is true--that he is one who pays his rates without grumbling--,citizen ,carrots1 whatever his disadvantages1 is intellectually anyhow on the way to become such a citizen1 and certainly in the sketch1 ,citizen ,carrots is determined that the rates shall be expended properly because he himself will have a vote in later days4 ,it is probable that lessons such as these are more frequent than the time-tables would indicate4 ,there are few head masters of elementary schools who would disclaim the adequate teaching of citizenship in their schools4 ,they would explain that the treatment of history and geography proceeding from local standpoints was effective in this direction1 and it is the rule rather than otherwise for visits to be paid to places of historic interest within reach of the schools4 ,advantage is also taken of such days as ,empire ,day to stimulate interest in the ,state1 as well as to impart knowledge concerning its organisation4 ,all this is reinforced by the use of appropriate reading books which are instruments of indirect1 but not necessarily less effective1 instruction4 ,the larger opportunities which secondary schools offer have not been taken advantage of to induce the specific study of civics to any greater extent that in the elementary schools1 although many schools are able to devote at least a period each week to the consideration of current events1 and1 naturally1 the teaching of history and geography includes much more completely the consideration of institutions both at home and abroad4 ,the idea of the regional or local survey is gaining ground and in some respects it will prove to serve the same purpose as the ,community ,civics of the ,american high school4 ,there have been attempts to introduce economics into the secondary school curriculum1 but they have not persisted to any extent4 ,in the ,memorandum of ,curricula of ,secondary ,schools issued by the ,board of ,education in #aiac1 it is suggested that it will sometimes be desirable to provide1 for those who propose on leaving school to enter business1 a special commercial course with special study of the more technical side of economic theory and some study of political and constitutional history4 ,for the rest there is no mention of the subjects intimately connected with government4 ,it is clear that the ,board expects that out of the subjects of the ordinary curriculum1 with such special efforts suggested by public interest as may from time to time occur1 the student will gain a general knowledge of the affairs of the community round about1 some knowledge of the principles of politics1 clear ideas concerning movements for social reform1 and some acquaintance with international problems4 ,if he does so1 he will have secured a useful introduction to the studies associated with adult life4 ,an intelligent study of languages will help materially in this direction and1 whilst this is specially true in the cases of ,greek and ,latin1 there is no reason why modern languages should not serve the same purpose4 ,it is1 however1 often the case that the study of the history and institutions of modern countries is not associated sufficiently with the study of their language4 ,the public and grammar schools of ,england1 as contrasted with the newer secondary schools1 are more especially the homes of classical studies1 and it is through the working of these schools that the knowledge of institutions in ancient ,greece and ,rome will have its greatest effect on citizenship4 ,the study of political science as a specific subject is gaining ground in universities1 whilst the study of the ,empire and its institutions has naturally made rapid progress during the last few years4 ,there may also be noted distinct tendencies1 arising out of the experience of the war1 towards the foundation of schools destined to deal with the institutions and the thought of foreign countries4 ,in the schools of economics and history there is fulness of attempt to study all that can be included under the generic title of civics which1 after all1 may be defined as political and social science interpreted in immediate and practical ways4 ,footnote #a3 ,peabody1 ,the ,religion of an ,educated ,man4 ,footnote #b3 ,haines1 ,the ,teaching of ,government4 ,footnote #c3 ,haines1 ,the ,teaching of ,government4 ,footnote #d3 ,bourne1 ,the ,teaching of ,history and ,civics in the ,elementary and the ,secondary ,school4 ,footnote #e3 ,charles ,morley1 #ahig4 ,,ii ,,indirect ,,training ,,for ,,citizenship ,after all is said and done the ideal training for citizenship in the schools depends more upon the wisdom engendered in the pupil than upon the direct study of civics4 ,if the spirits of men and women are set in a right direction they will reach out for knowledge as for hid treasure4 ,wisdom is more moving than any motion2 she passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness#a4 ,it happens also in natural sequence that the spirit developed in a school will lead to the construction of institutions in connection with school life calculated to secure its adequate expression4 ,elementary schools1 however1 are much handicapped in this way4 ,if it comes about that work other than educational or recreative is forbidden to children during the years of attendance at school1 and also that the period of school life is lengthened1 there will be opportunity for the development of games on a self-governing basis4 ,elementary school children have a large measure of initiative2 all they need is a real chance to exercise it4 ,they would willingly make their schools real centres of child life4 ,many children at present have little else than narrow tenements and the streets1 out of which influences arise which war continually against the social influences of the school4 ,the opportunity afforded by well-ordered leisure would be accentuated by the more complete operation of movements such as boys' brigades1 boy scouts1 girl guides1 and ,church lads' brigades1 which are in their several ways doing much to develop citizenship4 ,such bodies are now in effect educational authorities1 and classes are organised by them in connection with the ,board of ,education4 ,there have been many attempts to introduce self-governing experiments into elementary schools and1 whilst they have often been defeated by reason of the immaturity of the children1 yet some of them have met with great success4 ,the election of monitors on the lines of a general election is an instance of success in this direction4 ,the ideas which have arisen from the advocacy of the ,montessori system have induced methods of greater freedom in connection with many aspects of elementary school life4 ,the ,caldecott ,community1 dealing with working-class children in the neighbourhood of ,st4 ,pancras1 has tried many interesting experiments4 ,that1 however1 of the introduction of children's courts of justice had to be abandoned1 but not until many valuable lessons in child psychology had been learnt4 ,side by side with the elementary school1 there are rising in ,england experiments similar to those undertaken by such organisations as the ,school ,city and the ,george ,junior ,republics of ,america4 ,the most notable among them is the ,little ,commonwealth1 ,dorchester1 which has achieved astonishing results through the process of taking delinquent children and allowing them self-government4 ,but1 hopeful as the prospects are1 their ultimate effect will be best estimated when their pupils1 restored in youth to the honourable service of the community1 are taking their full share in life as adult citizens1 and naturally every care is taken in the organisation of these institutions to ensure that the transition from their sheltered citizenship to the outside world shall not be of so abrupt a nature as to tend to render unreal and remote the life in which the children have taken part4 ,nearly all of the more recent experiments in regard to the school and its kindred institutions are co-operative in principle and in method1 but it is probably ,utopian to conceive an educational method which shall achieve the highest success without having included within it the element of competition4 ,if competition is a method obtaining outside the school it is bound to reproduce itself within it4 ,the only possible thing for the school to do is to restrict the influence of competition to the channels where it can be beneficial4 ,the method by which elementary school children pass to the secondary school is by means of competitive scholarships4 ,in common with the ,consultative ,committee of the ,board of ,education it is necessary to accept the fact that at present the scholarship system is too firmly rooted in the manner1 habits and character of this country to be dislodged1 even if it were thrice condemned by theory#b4 ,but1 in the interests of citizenship1 scholarships should be awarded as the result of non-competitive tests1 if only to secure that every child shall receive the education for which he or she is fitted4 ,the stress and strain imposed upon many who climb the ladder of education1 often occasioned by the inadequacy of the scholarship for the purposes to which it is to be applied1 tend to develop characteristics which are so strongly individual as to be distinctly anti-social4 ,it is unfortunate that in many subjects of the curriculum it is not merely bad form to help one's neighbour but distinctly a school sin1 and this makes it necessary for a balance to be struck by the introduction of subjects at which all can work for the good of the class or the school4 ,manual work and local surveys are subjects of this nature and should be encouraged side by side with games of which there are three essential aspects3--the individual achievement1 the winning of the match or race1 and playing the game4 ,in reference to citizenship the last of these is the only one which ultimately matters4 ,it is generally admitted that the great public schools are those which are most characteristic of ,english boy life at its best4 ,glorying as they do in a splendid tradition1 they have always had in addition the opportunity of adapting themselves to new needs4 ,their reform is always under discussion and perchance they are waiting even now for some ,arnold or ,thring to lead them in a new ,england1 for new it will inevitably be4 ,even so1 the sense of responsibility they have developed has been translated into the terms of ,english government over half the world4 ,the objective of the public school boy anxious to take a part in government at home has always been parliament1 or such local institutions as demand his service in accordance with the tradition of his family4 ,the tendency to despise the homely duties of a city councillor or poor law guardian is1 however1 passing4 ,there are few schools which do not welcome visitors to speak to the boys who have first-hand acquaintance with the life of the poor or who are indeed of that life themselves4 ,in this way boys get to realise1 as far as it is possible through sympathy1 what it means to be out of work1 what it means to be hungry for unattainable learning1 what children have to suffer1 and1 in addition to the practical interest which many boys immediately develop1 it cannot be doubted that many ideals for the conduct of social life in the future are conceived1 even if dimly1 for the first time4 ,thanks to the unremitting efforts of large-minded head masters1 public school boys more and more realise that they are beneficiaries of the spirit of a past day1 not only in the sense of the creation of a noble tradition but actually in regard to the material provision of buildings and the financial support of teaching4 ,there is likely to be an extension of university education in the near future4 ,the ancient universities of ,oxford and ,cambridge with their great college system will be strengthened1 as will be the universities which were established at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries4 ,the demand for the better training of teachers will result inevitably in the creation of more universities4 ,the inadequate sum which this country has spent upon university education up to the present will be greatly increased4 ,as a direct result of the opportunity which university life gives to undergraduates for the development of self-governing institutions1 there can be little doubt that the university must be regarded above all other schools and most institutions as powerful in the development of good citizenship4 ,the public school tradition will be carried directly into the older universities and in increasing measure into the new universities as the best spirit of the public schools gradually permeates the whole system of our education even down to the elementary schools themselves4 ,when these opportunities so lavishly provided for the development of student life in its self-governing aspects are realised and when above it all there stand great teachers in the lineage of those described by ,cardinal ,newman in his eulogy of ,athens--the very presence of ,plato to the student1 a stay for his mind to rest on1 a burning thought in his heart1 a bond of union with men like himself1 ever afterwards--little else can be desired4 ,in every university there must be such teachers1 or universities will tend to fall to the level of the life about them4 ,you can infuse1 said ,lord ,rosebery at the ,congress of the ,universities of the ,empire1 character1 and morals and energy and patriotism by the tone and atmosphere of your university and your professors4 ,from one point of view1 all the old universities of ,europe--,bologna1 ,paris1 ,prague1 ,oxford1 ,cambridge1 etc4--must be regarded as definite and conscious protests against the dividing and isolating--the anti-civic--forces of the periods of their institution4 ,they represent historically the development of communities for common interest and protection in the great and holy cause of the pursuit of learning1 and above all things their story is the story of the growth of ,european unity and citizenship4 ,the feudal and ecclesiastical order of the old mediaeval world were both alike threatened by the power that had so strangely sprung up in the midst of them4 ,feudalism rested on local isolation1 on the severance of kingdom from kingdom and barony from barony1 on the distinction of blood and race1 on the supremacy of material or brute force1 on an allegiance determined by accidents of place and social position4 ,the ,university1 on the other hand1 was a protest against this isolation of man from man4 ,the smallest school was ,european and not local#c4 ,the spirit which is characteristic of a university in its best aspects1 linked with the spirit which is inherent in the ranks of working people1 has on more occasions than one set on foot movements for the education of the people4 ,one of the most notable instances of this unity found expression at the ,oxford ,co-operative ,congress of #ahhb1 when ,arnold ,toynbee urged co-operators to undertake the education of the citizen4 ,by this he meant3 the education of each member of the community as regards the relation in which he stands to other individual citizens and to the community as a whole4 ,we have abandoned1 he said further1 and rightly abandoned the attempt to realise citizenship by separating ourselves from society4 ,we will never abandon the belief that it has yet to be won amid the stress and confusion of the ordinary world in which we move4 ,from that day to this co-operators have always had before them an ideal of education in citizenship and have organised definite teaching year by year4 ,another instance of even greater power lies in the co-operation between the pioneers of the ,university ,extension ,movement at ,cambridge and the working men1 particularly of ,rochdale and ,nottingham1 to be followed later by that unprecedented revival of learning amongst working people which took place in ,northumberland and ,durham in the days before the great coal strike4 ,at a later date1 in #aijc1 the same kind of united action gave rise to the movement of the ,workers' ,educational ,association1 which has always conceived its purpose to be the development of citizenship in and through education pursued in common by university man and working man alike4 ,the system of ,university ,tutorial ,classes originated by this ,association has been based upon an ideal of citizenship1 and not primarily upon a determination to acquire knowledge1 although it was clearly seen that vague aspirations towards good citizenship without the harnessing of all available knowledge to its cause would be futile4 ,after exception has been made for the body of young men and women who are determined to acquire technical education for the laudable purpose of advancing both their position in life and their utility to society1 it is clear that no educational appeal to working men and women will have the least effect if it is not directed towards the purpose of enriching their life1 and through them the life of the community4 ,the proof of this lies in the fact that1 after they have striven together for years in ,tutorial ,classes1 they ask for no recognition--in fact they have declined it when it has been offered--and have devoted their powers to voluntary civic work and the work of the associations or unions to which they belong1 as well as in very many instances1 to the spreading of education throughout the districts in which they live4 ,it is largely due to the leaven of educational enthusiasm which has thus been generated that there is a unanimous movement on the part of working people towards a complete educational system including within it compulsory attendance at continuation schools during the day4 ,the problems that hedge about continuation schools are many1 but it is clear that they will be regarded by educationists and by at least some employers as above all else training for citizenship based upon the vocation to which the boy or girl may be devoting himself or herself in working hours4 ,the narrowness of the daily occupation1 divorced as it is from the whole spirit and intent of apprenticeship1 will be broadened directly the consideration of daily work is placed in the continuation school both on a higher plane and in a complete setting4 ,the compulsory evening school will fail unless it induces a demand for recreation of a pure kind which may be associated with the voluntary evening school and continued along the lines of study into the years of adult life4 ,and even if it is impossible for every student of capacity in the continuation school to pass into the university or technological college1 it may be hoped that there need not fail to be opportunities for reaching the heights of ascertained knowledge in the ,university ,tutorial ,class4 ,in the future1 as now1 only in greater degree1 such classes will be regarded as an essential part of university work1 and will provide opportunity for the study of those subjects which are most nearly related to citizenship4 ,it is one of the fundamental principles of the ,workers' ,educational ,association that every person1 when not under the power of some hostile over-mastering influence1 is ready to respond to an educational appeal4 ,not indeed that all are ready or able to become scholars1 but that all are anxious to look with understanding eyes at the things which are pure and beautiful4 ,tired men and women are made better citizens if they are taken1 as they often are1 to picture galleries and museums1 to places of historic interest and of scenic beauty1 and are helped to understand them by the power of a sympathetic guide4 ,it is by the extension of work of this sort1 which can be carried out almost to a limitless extent that the true purpose of social reform will be best served4 ,it is by such means that the press may be elevated1 the level of the cinema raised1 the efforts of the demagogue neutralised4 ,the ,workers' ,educational ,association is based upon the work of the elementary school and of the associations of working people1 notably the co-operative societies and trade unions4 ,the democratic methods obtaining in those associations have themselves proved a valuable contribution to citizenship1 and have determined the democratic nature of all adult education4 ,the right and freedom of the student to study what he wishes finds its counterpart in the reasonable demand that man shall live out his life as he wills1 provided it moves in a true direction and is in harmony with the needs and aspirations of his fellows4 ,it has seemed in this review of the relation of schools and places of education to the development of citizenship that the fact of the operation of social influences has been implicit at every point4 ,in any case there is1 and can be1 no doubt that the school1 whilst instant in its effect upon the mind of the time1 is always being either hindered or helped by the conditions obtaining in the society in which it is set4 ,the relations existing between society and school are revealed in a process of action and reaction4 ,wilhelm von ,humboldt said that whatever we wish to see introduced into the life of a nation must first be introduced into its schools4 ,among other things1 it is necessary to develop in the schools an appreciation of all work that is necessary for human welfare4 ,this is the crux of all effort towards citizenship through education4 ,in the long run there can be no full citizenship unless there is fulness of intention to discover capacity and to develop it not for the individual but for the common good4 ,this is primarily the task of an educational system4 ,if a man is set to work for which he is not fitted1 whether it be the work of a student or a miner1 he is thwarted in his innate desire to attain to the full expression of his being in and through association with his fellow-men1 whereas1 when a man is doing the right work1 that for which he has capacity1 he rejoices in his labour and strives continually to perfect it by development of all his powers4 ,the exercise of good citizenship follows naturally as the inevitable result of a rightly developed life4 ,it may not be the citizenship which is exercised by taking active and direct part in methods of government4 ,the son of ,sirach1 meditating on the place of the craftsman1 said3 ,all these trust to their hands3 and every one is wise in his work4 ,without these cannot a city be inhabited 444 they will maintain the state of the world1 and all their desire is in the work of their craft#d4 ,the times are different and the needs of people have changed1 but the true test of a citizen may be more in the healthiness of dominating purpose than in the possession and satisfaction of a variety of desires4 ,to maintain the state of the world is no mean ambition4 ,if it is difficult for a man to become the good citizen when employed on work for which he is unfitted1 it is even more difficult for the man to do so who is set to shoddy work or to work which damages the community4 ,the task laid upon the school is heavy1 but it does not stand alone4 ,the family and the ,church are its natural allies in the modern ,state4 ,all alike will make mistakes1 but1 if they clearly set before them the intention to do their utmost to free the capacity of all for the accomplishment of the good of all1 wisdom will increase and many tragedies in life will be averted4 ,thus lofty ideals have presented themselves1 but they will secure universal admission apart from the immediate practical considerations which bulk so largely and often so falsely in the minds of men1 and which are frequently suggested by limitations of finance and lack of faith in the all-sufficient power of wisdom4 ,it is in the consecration of a people to its highest ideals that the true city and the true ,state become realised on earth and the measure of its consecration1 in spite of all devices of teaching or training however wise1 determines the true level of citizenship at any time in any place4 ,footnote #a3 ,wisdom of ,solomon1 vii4 #bd4 ,footnote #b3 ,interim ,report of the ,consultative ,committee of the ,board of ,education on ,scholarships for ,higher ,education1 #aiaf4 ,footnote #c3 ,j4,r4 ,green1 ,a ,short ,history of the ,english ,people4 ,footnote #d3 ,ecclesiasticus1 xxxviii4 #ca-cd4 ,,some ,,books ,,on ,,citizenship #a;,american ,political ,science ,assoc4 ,the ,teaching of ,government4 #aiaf4 ,macmillan4 #es4 #j;d4 net4 #a;,,baker1 ,j4,h4 ,educational ,aims and ,civic ,needs4 #aiac4 ,longmans4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 #a;,,balch1 ,g4,t4 ,the ,method of ,teaching ,patriotism in ,public ,schools4 #ahij4 ,new ,york3 ,van ,nostrand4 #a;,,bourne1 ,h4,e4 ,the ,teaching of ,history and ,civics4 #aiae4 ,longmans4 #fs4 #j;d4 net4 #a;,,dewey1 ,,john4 ,democracy and ,education4 #aiaf4 ,macmillan4 #fs4 #j;d4 net4 #a;,,dewey ,,john4 ,the ,school and ,society4 #aiae4 ,chicago ,univ4 ,press4 #ds4 #j;d4 net4 #a;,,dewey1 ,,john and ,,evelyn4 ,schools of ,to-,morrow4 #aiae4 ,dent4 #es4 #j;d4 net4 ,,findlay1 ,j4,j4 ,the ,school4 #aiab4 ,williams and ,norgate4 #as4 #c;d4 net4 #a;,,hall1 ,g4 ,,stanley4 ,educational ,problems4 #b vols4 #aiaa4 ,appleton4 #cas4 #f;d4 net4 ,ch4 #bd4 ,civic ,education4 #a;,,henderson1 ,c4,h4 ,education and the ,larger ,life4 #aijb4 ,boston3 ,houghton4 #fs4 #j;d4 #a;,,hughes1 ,e4,h4 ,the ,teaching of ,citizenship4 #aiji4 ,boston3 ,wilde4 #fs4 #j;d4 ,,hughes1 ,m4,l4,v4 ,citizens ,to ,be4 #aiae4 ,constable4 #ds4 #f;d4 net4 #a;,,jenks1 ,j4,w4 ,citizenship and the ,schools4 #aiji4 ,new ,york3 ,holt4 #fs4 #j;d4 ,,kerschensteiner1 ,,georg4 ,education for ,citizenship4 ,tr4 ,a4,j4 ,pressland4 #aiae4 ,harrap4 #bs4 #j;d4 net4 ,the ,schools and the ,nation4 #aiad4 ,macmillan4 #fs4 #j;d4 net4 #a,,monroe1 ,,paul4 7,ed47 ,cyclopedia of ,education4 #e vols4 ,macmillan4 #ajes4 #j;d4 net4 ,,morgan1 ,,alexander4 ,education and ,social ,progress4 #aiaf4 ,longmans4 #cs4 #f;d4 net4 ,oxford and ,working ,class ,education4 ,clarendon ,press1 #as4 net4 ,,paterson1 ,,alexander4 ,across the ,bridges4 #aiab4 ,arnold4 #as4 #j;d4 net4 ,,sadler1 ,m4,e4 7,ed474 ,continuation ,schools in ,england and ,elsewhere4 #aijh4 ,manchester ,university ,press4 #hs4 #f;d4 net4 ,,scott1 ,c4,a4 ,social ,education4 #aijh4 ,ginn4 #fs4 #j;d4 net4 ,,wallas1 ,,graham4 ,the ,great ,society4 #aiad4 ,macmillan4 #gs4 #f;d4 net4 ,see also3 ,board of ,education4 ,reports4 ,civics and ,moral ,education ,league ,papers1 #f ,york ,buildings1 ,adelphi1 ,w4,c4 #b4 ,footnote #a3 ,american4 ,,vi ,,the ,,place ,,of ,,literature ,,in ,,education ,by ,,nowell ,,smith ,head ,master of ,sherborne ,school ,education is a subject upon which everyone--or at least every parent--considers himself entitled to have opinions and to express them4 ,but educational treatises or the considered views of educational experts have a very limited popularity1 and in fact arouse little interest outside the circle of the experts themselves4 ,even the average teacher1 who is himself1 if only he realised it1 inside the circle1 pays little heed to the broader aspects of education1 chiefly1 no doubt1 because in the daily practice of the art of education he cannot step aside and see it as a whole2 he cannot see the wood for the trees4 ,the indifference of laymen however is mainly due to the fact that educational theory1 like other special subjects1 inevitably acquires a jargon of its own1 an indispensable shorthand1 as it were1 for experts1 but far too abstract and technical for outsiders4 ,and his technical language too often reacts upon the actual ideas of the educational theorist1 who tends to lose sight of the variety of concrete boys and girls in his abstract reasonings1 necessary as these are4 ,we are apt to forget that what is sauce for the goose may not be sauce for the gander1 and still more perhaps that what is sauce for the swan may not be sauce for either of these humbler but deserving fowl4 ,but it is certain that in discussing education we ought constantly to envisage the actual individuals to be educated4 ,otherwise our average pupil of fifteen plus is only too likely to become a mere monster of the imagination1 and the intellectual pabulum1 which we propose to offer1 suited to the digestion of no human boy or girl in this very world1 which is the world of all of us4 ,in considering1 then1 the place of literature in education1 ,i propose to keep constantly before my eyes the people with whose education ,i am personally familiar1 namely1 myself1 my children1 and the various types of public school boy which ,i have known as boy1 as undergraduate1 as college tutor and as schoolmaster4 ,i say various types of public school boy2 for although there still is a public school type in general which is easily recognisable by certain marked superficial characteristics1 the popular notion that all public school boys are very much alike in character and outlook is a mere delusion4 ,again1 ,i propose1 when ,i speak of literature1 to mean literature1 and not a compendious term for anything that is not science4 ,the opposition that has in modern times been set up between science on the one hand and a jumble of studies labelled either literary or humanistic studies on the other is to my mind wholly unfounded in the nature of things1 and destructive of any liberal view of education4 ,it may perhaps be held that literature in its most literal sense is a name for anything that is expressed by means of intelligible language--a use of the word which certainly admits of no comparison with the meaning of science1 but which also leads to no ideas of any educational interest4 ,but ,i take the word literature in its common acceptation2 and1 while admitting that ,i can give no precise and exhaustive definition1 ,i will venture to describe it as the expression of thought or emotion in any linguistic forms which have aesthetic value4 ,thus the subject-matter of literature is only limited by experience3 as ,emile ,faguet says somewhere--without claiming to have made a discovery--la littrature est une chose qui touche toutes choses4 ,and the tones of literature range from ,isaiah to ,wycherley1 from ,thucydides to ,tolstoy2 its forms from ,pindar to a folk song1 from ,racine to ,rudyard ,kipling1 from ,gibbon to ,herodotus or ,froissart4 ,and while no two people would agree in drawing the line of aesthetic value which should determine whether any given verbal expression of thought or emotion was literature or not--a fact which is not without importance in the choice of books for forming the taste of our pupils--yet1 for the purpose of discussing the place and function of literature in education1 we all know well enough what we mean by the word in the general sense which ,i have attempted to describe4 ,as this is not a tractate on education as a whole1 ,i must risk something for the sake of brevity1 and will venture to lay down dogmatically that the objects of literary studies as a part of education are 7#a7 the formation of a personality fitted for civilised life1 7#b7 the provision of a permanent source of pure and inalienable pleasure1 and 7#c7 the immediate pleasure of the student in the process of education4 ,none of these objects is exclusive of either of the others4 ,they cannot in fact be separated in the concrete4 ,but they are sufficiently different to be treated distinctly4 7#a7 ,hardly anyone would deny that some knowledge and appreciation of literature is an indispensable part of a complete education4 ,the full member of a civilised society must be able to subscribe to the familiar ,homo sum2 nihil humanum a me alienum puto4 ,and literature is obviously one of the greatest1 most intense1 and most prolific interests of humanity4 ,there have always been thinkers1 from ,plato downwards1 who for moral or political reasons have viewed the power of literature with distrust3 but their fear is itself evidence of that power4 ,thus literature is a very important part both of the past and of contemporary life1 and no one can enter fully into either without some real knowledge of it4 ,a man may be a very great man or a very good man without any literary culture2 he may do his country and the world imperishable services in peace or war4 ,but the older the world grows1 the rarer must these unlettered geniuses become4 ,literature in one form or another--too often no doubt put to vile uses--has become so much part of the very texture of civilised life that a wide-awake mind can scarcely fail to take notice of it4 ,and in any case we need not consider that kind of special genius which education does little either to make or mar4 ,no one is likely seriously to deny that for taking a full and intelligent part in the normal life of a civilised community--in love and friendship1 in the family and in society1 in the study and practice of citizenship of all degrees--some literary culture is absolutely necessary2 nor indeed that1 subject to a due balance of qualities and acquirements1 the wider and deeper the literary culture the more valuable a member of society the possessor will be4 ,the lubricant of society in all its functions1 whether of business or leisure1 is sympathy1 and a sufficient quantity1 as it were1 of sympathy to lubricate the complex mechanism of civilised life can only be supplied by a widespread knowledge of the best1 and a great deal more than the best1 of what has been and is being thought and said in the world4 ,personal intercourse with one another and a common apprehension of ,god as our ,father are even more powerful sources of sympathy2 but literature provides innumerable channels for the intercommunication and distribution of these sources1 without which the sympathies of individuals may be strong and lively1 but will almost always be narrowly circumscribed4 ,it is very true that to know mankind only through books is no knowledge of mankind at all2 but ever since man discovered how to perpetuate his utterances in writing it has been increasingly true that literature is the principal means of widening and deepening such knowledge4 ,this object of literary studies1 the formation of a personality fitted for civilised life1 may be summed up in the familiar graceful words of ,ovid1 who was thinking almost entirely of literature when he wrote ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes ,emollit mores nec sinit esse feros4 ,and it is only the lack1 in so many of the greatest writers1 and the neglect1 in so many educators and educational systems1 of that due balance of qualities and acquirements of which ,i spoke just now1 which have induced in superficial minds a distrust and often a contempt of literature as a subject of education4 ,the good citizen or man of the world--in the best sense of the phrase--must not be the slave of literary proclivities to the ruin of his functions as father or husband or friend or man of action and affairs4 ,the world of letters1 if lived in too exclusively1 is an unreal world1 though without it the actual world is almost meaningless4 ,now the genus irritabile vatum1 even when their thoughts1 as ,carlyle put it1 enrich the blood of the world1 have very generally appeared to the plain man of goodwill as very defective in the art of living4 ,if their aspirations have been above the standards of their day1 their practice has often been below them in such essentially social qualities as probity1 faithfulness1 consideration for others4 ,moreover their outlook upon life1 intense and inspiring though it be1 is often a very partial one4 ,even so1 it does not follow that because a poet or a philosopher is not in every respect the compleat gentleman1 a citizen totus teres atque rotundus1 his works are not profitable for the building up of that character4 ,if it did1 we must by parity of reasoning discard the discoveries of a misanthropic inventor and the theories of a bigamous chemist4 ,we go to ,plato and ,catullus1 to ,shakespeare and ,shelley1 for what they have to give3 if we go with our own pet notions of what that ought to be1 we are naturally as disgusted as ,herbert ,spencer was with ,homer and ,tolstoy with ,shakespeare4 ,tolstoy is indeed a case in point4 ,he is one of the giants of literature1 whose masterpieces are already classics2 and this position is unaffected by the various judgments that may be formed either of his critical or of his practical wisdom4 ,the lack then of a due balance of qualities and acquirements in so many authors1 and we may add other artists1 is a cause1 but no justification1 of that belittlement and even distrust of the literary side of education which are on the whole marked features of the ,english attitude to-day4 ,but a more potent cause and a real justification of this attitude is the neglect of due balance of qualities and acquirements by so many educators and educational systems4 ,great educators have themselves rarely been narrow-minded men2 but the traditions they have founded have gone the way of all traditions4 ,what begins as an inspiration hardens into a formula4 ,the ideals of the ,renascence were caricatured in their offspring of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries4 ,not only did the evolution of modern life with its cities1 its printing press1 its gunpowder1 its steam engine and the rest1 destroy the need of the well-to-do to be trained in the practical arts of chivalry1 of the chase1 of husbandry1 even of music and design1 so that the bodily activities of boys became relegated to the sphere of mere games and pastimes2 but as books usurped more and more of the hours of boyhood1 so the instructors of youth fell more and more into the fatally easy path of formal and grammatical treatment4 ,the subject-matter of education was indeed literature1 and the very noblest literatures1 mainly those of ,greece and ,rome3 but there was little of literary or humane interest about the study of it2 its meaning and spirit were concealed from all but the few who could surmount the fences of linguistic pedantry and artificial technique with which it was surrounded4 ,i do not know when the expression the dead languages was invented3 but certainly ,latin and ,greek have been treated as very dead languages by the great majority of teachers for a very long time4 ,and as modern subjects1 history1 geography1 modern languages and literatures1 gradually thrust their way into the curriculum1 each was subjected as far as possible to the same mummification4 ,there is a theory still widely held among teachers that the value of a subject or of a method of instruction depends upon the amount of drudgery which it involves or the degree of repulsion which it excites4 ,the theory rests upon a confusion between the ideas of discipline and punishment1 which itself is probably due to the strongly ,judaistic tone of our so-called ,christianity4 ,at any rate1 far too many schoolmasters suffer from conscientious scruples about allowing the spirits of freedom1 initiative1 curiosity1 enjoyment1 to blow through their class-rooms4 ,there has been1 always to some extent1 but with gathering force in recent years1 a natural revolt against this mixture of puritanism1 scholasticism1 and dilettantism1 which made the intellectual side of public school education such a failure except for the few who were born with the spoon of scholarship in their mouths4 ,the irruption of that turbulent rascal1 natural science1 has perhaps had most to do with humanising our humanistic studies4 ,it was a great step when boys who could not make verses were allowed to make if it was but a smell2 and even breaking a test-tube once in a while is more educative than breaking the gender-rules every day of the week4 ,many of my friends1 who label themselves humanists1 are in a panic about this1 and look upon me sadly as a renegade because ,i1 who owe almost everything to a classical education1 am ready 7they think7 to sell the pass of compulsory ,greek to a horde of money-grubbing barbarians who will turn our flowery groves of ,academe into mere factories of commercial efficiency4 ,but fear is a treacherous guide4 ,they are the victims of that abstract generalisation of which ,i spoke at the outset4 ,i check their forebodings by reference to concrete personalities1 myself1 my children1 and the hundreds of boys ,i have known4 ,and ,i see more and more plainly1 as ,i study the infinite variety of our mental lineaments and the common stock of human nature and civilised society which unites us1 that literature is a permanent and indispensable and even inevitable element in our education2 and that moreover it can only have free scope and growth in the expanding personality of the young in a due and therefore a varying harmony with other interests4 ,i and my children and my schoolboys have eyes and ears and hands--and even legs6 ,we have1 as ,aristotle rightly saw1 an appetite for knowledge1 and that appetite cannot be satisfied1 though it may be choked1 by a sole diet of literature4 ,we have desires of many kinds demanding satisfaction and requiring government4 ,we have a sense of duty and vocation3 we know that we and our families must eat to live and to carry on the race4 ,we resent1 in our inarticulate way1 these sneers at our ,philistinism1 commercialism1 athleticism1 materialism1 from dim-eyed pedants on the one hand and superior persons on the other1 who have evidently forgotten1 if they ever saw1 the whole purport of that ,greek literature the name of which they take in vain4 ,no6 ,la littrature est une chose qui touche toutes choses2 but if we are to shut our eyes to all the things which evoke it1 it becomes what it is to so many1 whose education has been in name predominantly literary1 a tale told by an idiot1 full of sound and fury1 signifying nothing4 7#b7 ,the argument has already insensibly led us to treat by implication the second1 and indeed the third of our assumed objects4 ,but in our modern insistence upon social relations and citizenship--a very proper insistence1 still too much warped and hampered by selfishness and prejudice--there is a real danger of our forgetting how much of our conscious existence is passed1 in a true sense1 at leisure and alone4 ,it is our ideal on the one side to be all things to all men3 and for any approach to this ideal1 as we have seen1 the knowledge and sympathy born of literature are indispensable4 ,but on the other side no man or woman is completely fitted out without provision for the blank spaces1 the passages and waiting rooms1 as it were1 to say nothing of the actual recreation rooms of the house of life4 ,and there is no provision so abundant1 so accessible to all1 so permanent1 so independent of fortune1 and at once so mellowing and fortifying1 as literature4 ,our happiness or discontent depends far more1 than on anything else1 on the habitual occupation of our mind when it is free to choose its occupation4 ,and1 since thought is instantaneous1 even the busiest of us has far more of that freedom than he knows what to do with unless he has a mental treasury from which he can at will bring forth things new and old4 ,it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of hobbies in a man's own life--and of course indirectly in his relations with his fellows4 ,a single hobby is dangerous4 ,you ride it to death or it becomes your master4 ,you need at least a pair of them in the stable4 ,what they are must depend1 you say1 upon the temperament1 the bent of the individual4 ,true3 but our main responsibility as educators consists in our bending of the twig4 ,it is not temperament nor destiny which renders so many men and women unable to fill their leisure moments with anything more exhilarating than1 gossip1 grumbling1 or perpetual bridge4 ,perhaps the greatest blessing which a parent or a teacher can confer on a boy or girl is discreet1 unpriggish1 and unpatronising1 encouragement and guidance in the discovery and development of hobbies3 and if ,i may venture on a piece of advice to anyone who needs it1 ,i should say3 ,try to secure that everyone grows up with at least two hobbies2 and whatever one of them may be1 let the other be literature1 or some branch of literature4 ,dreams1 books1 are each a world2 and books1 we know1 ,are a substantial world1 both pure and good2 ,round these1 with tendrils strong as flesh and blood1 ,our pastime and our happiness will grow4 7#c7 ,at this point ,i can imagine someone1 who recognises the importance of literary culture in the equipment of a man or woman of the world1 and perhaps feels even more strongly the truth summed up in these lines of ,wordsworth1 expressing the doubt whether the second at least of these objects can be secured1 or will not rather be precluded1 by admitting the study of literature as such into the school curriculum4 ,this doubt1 which ,i have heard expressed by many lovers of literature1 notably by the late ,canon ,ainger1 is not lightly to be disregarded4 ,it is to be met1 however1 in my opinion1 by keeping clearly before our eyes the third of the objects which we assumed to be aimed at by literary studies as a branch of education--the immediate pleasure of the student4 ,the two objects which we have already discussed are ulterior objects1 which should be part of the fundamental faith of the teacher2 but while the teacher is in contact with his pupils they should be forgotten in the glowing conviction that the study of literature is1 at that very moment1 the most delightful thing in the world4 ,of course we all know1 or should know1 that this is the only attitude of mind for the best teaching in any subject whatever4 ,it takes a great deal more than enthusiasm to make a competent teacher2 and it is easy to prepare pupils successfully for almost any written examination without any enthusiasm for anything except success4 ,but1 cramming apart1 a bored teacher is inevitably a boring one3 and while unfortunately the converse is not universally true and an enthusiastic teacher may fail to communicate his enthusiasm1 yet it is quite certain that you cannot communicate enthusiasm if you are not possessed of it4 ,but this enthusiasm1 indispensable for the best teaching of anything1 is1 so to speak1 doubly indispensable for even competent teaching of literature4 ,on the one hand the ulterior objects of the study1 of which ,i have tried to indicate the importance1 are of an impalpable kind4 ,i doubt if there is any subject of the curriculum which it would be so difficult to commend to an uninterested pupil by an appeal to simple utilitarian motives4 ,on the other hand there clings to literature1 and particularly to poetry1 which is the quintessence of literature1 an air of pleasure-seeking1 of holiday1 of irresponsibility and detachment from the work-a-day world1 which must captivate the student1 or else the study itself will seem very poor fooling compared with football or hockey4 ,if the attitude of the teacher reflects the old question of the ,latin ,grammar ,why should ,i teach you letters8 he would better turn to some other subject which his pupils will more easily recognise as appropriate to school hours4 ,what's ,hecuba to him1 or he to ,hecuba1 ,that he should weep for her-- unless indeed he be a candidate for ,responsions8 ,ah6 it is just as ,i expected1 says my friend ,orbilius at this point3 this literature-lesson of yours is to be mere play1 a 'soft-option' for our modern youth1 who is not to be made to stand up to the tussle with ,latin prose or riders in geometry4 ,softly1 my friend6 ,it is quite true that those twin engines of education1 classics and mathematics1 are adapted partly by long practice1 but partly1 as ,i too believe1 by their very nature1 to discipline the youthful mind to habits of intellectual honesty1 of accuracy1 of industry and perseverance4 ,it is true that they accomplish some of this discipline--though at what a cost6--in the hands of indifferent teachers4 ,it is true that every other subject of the usual curriculum is much more obviously liable than they are to the dangers of idleness1 unreality1 false pretence2 and that the scoffs1 for instance1 about playing with test-tubes1 tracing maps1 dishing up history notes1 are in fact too often deserved4 ,but in the first place1 if the object to be attained is a worthy one1 it is our business to face the dangers of the road1 and not to give up the object4 ,if a knowledge and love of literature is part of the birthright of our children1 and a part which1 as things are1 very many of them will never obtain away from school1 then we teachers must strive to give it them1 even if the process seems shockingly frivolous to the grammarian or the geometrician4 ,and1 secondly1 it is not true that the study of literature1 even in the mother tongue1 cannot be a discipline and a delight together4 ,the two are very far from incompatible3 indeed that discipline is most effective which is almost or quite unconsciously self-imposed in the joyous exercise of one's own faculties4 ,the genuine footballer and the genuine scholar will both agree with ,ferdinand the lover1 that ,there be some sports are painful1 and their labour ,delight in them sets off4 ,and the labour of the boy or girl who is really wrapped up in a play of ,shakespeare or is striving to express the growing sense of beauty in fitting forms of language1 is no less truly spiritual discipline because it is felt not as pain but as interest and delight4 ,it is fortunately no part of my business to endeavour to instruct teachers in the methods of imparting the love and knowledge of literature4 ,but the value of literary studies in education depends so much upon the spirit in which they are pursued that ,i may perhaps be permitted a few more words on the practical side of the subject4 ,i have already repeated the truism that no one can impart enthusiasm who is not himself possessed of it3 but even the lover of literature sometimes lacks that clear consciousness of aim1 and that sympathetic understanding of the personality of his pupil2 which are both essential to successful teaching4 ,just as the clever young graduate is tempted to dictate his own admirable history notes to a class of boys1 or to puzzle them with the latest theories in archaeology or philosophy1 so the literary teacher is apt to dazzle his pupils with brilliant but to them unintelligible criticism1 or to surfeit them with literary history1 or to impose upon them an inappropriate literary diet because it happens to suit his maturer taste or even his caprice4 ,no one is likely to deny that such errors are possible2 but ,i should not venture to speak so decidedly1 if ,i were not aware of having too often fallen into them myself4 ,and the only safeguard for the teacher is the familiar ,keep your eye on the object--and that in a double sense4 ,we must have a clear conception of our aim1 and also a living sympathy with our pupils4 ,i have attempted to indicate the aim1 the equipment of boy or girl for civilised life and for spiritual enjoyment4 ,it will be sympathy with our pupils which will chiefly dictate both the method and the material of our instruction4 ,in the early stages of education this sympathy is generally to be found either in parents1 if they are fond of literature1 or in the teacher1 who is usually of the more sympathetic sex4 ,the stories and poetry offered to children nowadays seem to be1 as a rule1 sympathetically1 if sometimes rather uncritically1 chosen4 ,the importance of voice and ear in receiving the due impression of literature is recognised2 and the value of the child's own expression of its imaginations and its sense of rhythm and assonance is understood4 ,probably more teachers than ,mr4 ,lamborn supposes would heartily subscribe to the faith which glows in his delightful little book ,the ,rudiments of ,criticism1 though there must be very few who would not be stimulated by reading it4 ,it is when we come to the middle stage1 at any rate of boyhood--for of girls' schools ,i am not qualified to speak--that there is a good deal to be done before the cultivation of literary taste1 and all that this carries with it1 will be successfully pursued4 ,in the past1 the ,latin and ,greek classics were1 for the few who really absorbed them1 both a potent inspiration and an unrivalled discipline in taste3 but it is noteworthy how few even of the lite acquired and retained that lively and generous love of literature which would have enabled them to sow seeds of the divine fire far and wide--of joy in widest commonalty spread4 ,considering the intensity with which the classics have been studied in the old universities and public schools of the ,united ,kingdom1 the fine flower of scholarship achieved1 the sure touch of style and criticism1 one cannot help being amazed at the low standard of literary culture in the rank and file of the classes from which this lite has been drawn4 ,how rare has been the power1 or even apparently the desire1 of a ,bradley or a ,verrall or a ,murray1 to carry the flower of their classical culture into the fields of modern literary study6 ,and how few and fumbling the attempts of ordinary classical teachers to train their pupils in the appreciation of our ,english literature6 ,in recent years a new type of literary teachers has been rising1 who owe little1 at any rate directly1 to the old classical training2 and although their zeal is often undisciplined and not according to knowledge1 with them lies the future hope of literary training in our schools4 ,they bring to their task an enthusiasm which was too often lacking in the grand old fortifying classical curriculum2 but it is to be hoped that1 as the importance of their subject becomes more and more recognised1 they will achieve a method which will embody all that was valuable1 while discarding much that was narrow and pedantic1 in classical teaching4 ,and in particular may they all realise1 as many already do1 what the classical teacher1 however unconsciously1 held as an axiom1 that in order to enter into the spirit of literature1 to appreciate style1 to understand in any true sense the meaning of great author's1 it is not enough for pupils to listen and to read1 and then perhaps to write essays about what they have heard and read4 ,they must also make something1 exercise that creative1 and at the same time imitative1 artistic faculty1 which surely is the motive power of most of our progress1 at least in early life4 ,nothing has struck me more forcibly than the intense interest which boys will take in their own crude efforts at writing a poem or a story or essay1 while they are still quite unable to appreciate with discrimination1 or even to enjoy with any sustained feeling1 the poetry or prose of the great masters4 ,not that there is anything surprising in this4 ,i know very well that it was writing ,latin verses that taught me to appreciate ,virgil1 and writing juvenile epics that led me up to ,milton4 ,but it is an order of progress which we schoolmasters are apt to overlook1 expecting our pupils to appreciate what we know to be good work before they have that elementary1 but most fruitful1 experience which can only come from handling the tools of the craft4 ,the creative and imitative impulse will die down in the great majority2 and we shall not make the mistake of continuing to exact formal composition from maturer pupils1 who no longer find it anything but a drag upon their progress along the unfolding vistas of knowledge and appreciation4 ,our object is not to increase the number of writers1 already far too large1 but to increase the number of readers1 which can never be too large1 to raise the standard of literary taste1 and so to spread pure enjoyment and all the benefits to society which joy1 and joy alone1 confers4 ,inspired with such an aim1 common sense and sympathy will enable us to overcome the difficulties and avoid the pitfalls which undoubtedly beset the teaching of that most necessary1 most delightful1 but most elusive and imponderable subject1 the appreciation of literature4 ,,vii ,,the ,,place ,,of ,,science ,,in ,,education ,by ,w4 ,,bateson ,director of the ,john ,innes ,horticultural ,institution ,that secondary education in ,england fails to do what it might is scarcely in dispute4 ,the magnitude of the failure will be appreciated by those who know what other countries accomplish at a fraction of the cost4 ,beyond the admission that something is seriously wrong there is little agreement4 ,we are told that the curriculum is too exclusively classical1 that the classes are too large1 the teaching too dull1 the boys too much away from home1 the examination-system too oppressive1 athletics overdone4 ,all these things are probably true4 ,each cause contributes in its degree to the lamentable result4 ,yet1 as it seems to me1 we may remove them all without making any great improvement4 ,all the circumstances may be varied1 but that intellectual apathy which has become so marked a characteristic of ,english life1 especially of ,english public and social life1 may not improbably continue4 ,why nations pass into these morbid phases no one can tell4 ,the spirit of the age1 that polarisation of society as ,tarde#a used to call it1 in a definite direction1 is brought about by no cause that can be named as yet4 ,it will remain beyond volitional control at least until we get some real insight into social physiology4 ,that the attitude or pose of the average ,englishman towards education1 knowledge1 and learning is largely a phenomenon of infectious imitation we know4 ,but even if we could name the original1 perhaps real1 perhaps fictional1 person--for in all likelihood there was such an one--whom ,english society in its folly unconsciously selected as a model1 the knowledge would advance us little4 ,the psychology of imitation is still impenetrable and likely to remain so4 ,the simple interpretation of our troubles as a form of sloth--a travelling along lines of least resistance--can scarcely be maintained4 ,for first there have been times when learning and science were the fashion4 ,whether society benefited directly therefrom may1 in passing1 be doubted1 but certainly learning did4 ,secondly there are plenty of men who under the pressure of fashion devote much effort to the improvement of their form in fatuous sports1 which otherwise applied would go a considerable way in the improvement of their minds and in widening their range of interests4 ,of late things have become worse4 ,in the middle of the nineteenth century a perfunctory and superficial acquaintance with recent scientific discovery was not unusual among the upper classes1 and the scientific world was occasionally visited even by the august4 ,these slender connections have long since withered away4 ,this decline in the public estimation of science and scientific men has coincided with a great increase both in the number of scientific students and in the provision for teaching science4 ,it has occurred also in the period during which something of the full splendour and power of science has begun to be revealed4 ,great regions of knowledge have been penetrated by the human mind4 ,the powers of man over nature have been multiplied a hundredfold4 ,the fate of nations hangs literally on the issue of contemporary experiments in the laboratory2 but those who govern the ,empire are quite content to know nothing of all this4 ,intercommunication between government departments and scientific advisers has of course much developed4 ,that1 even in this country1 was inevitable4 ,otherwise the ,empire might have collapsed long since4 ,experts in the sciences are from time to time invited to confer with heads of ,departments and even ,cabinet ,ministers1 explaining to them1 as best they may1 the rudiments of their respective studies1 but such occasional night-school talks to the great are an inadequate recognition of the position of science in a modern ,state4 ,science is not a material to be bought round the corner by the dram1 but the one permanent and indispensable light in which every action and every policy must be judged4 ,to scientific men this is so evident that they are unable to imagine what the world looks like to other people4 ,they cannot realise that by a majority of even the educated classes the phenomena of nature and the affairs of mankind are still seen through the old screens of mystery and superstition4 ,the man of science regards nature as in great and ever increasing measure a soluble problem4 ,for the layman such inquiries are either indifferent and somewhat absurd1 or1 if they attract his attention at all1 are interesting only as possible sources of profit4 ,i suspect that the distinction between these two classes of mind is not to any great degree a product of education4 ,it is contemporary commonplace that if science were more prominent in our educational system everybody would learn it and things would come all right4 ,that interest in science would be extended is probable4 ,there is in the population a residuum of which we will speak later1 who would profit by the opportunity2 but that the congenitally unscientific1 the section from which the heads of government temporal and spiritual1 the lawyers1 administrators1 politicians1 the classes upon whose minds the public life of this country almost wholly depends1 would by imbibition of scientific diet at any period of life1 however early1 be essentially altered seems in a high degree unlikely4 ,of the converse case we have long experience1 and ,i would ask those who entertain such sanguine expectations1 whether the results of administering literature to scientific boys give much encouragement to their views4 ,this consideration brings us to the one hard1 physiological fact that should form the foundation of all educational schemes3 the congenital diversity of the individual types4 ,education has too long been regarded as a kind of cookery3 put in such and such ingredients in given proportions and a definite product will emerge4 ,but living things have not the uniformity which this theory of education assumes4 ,our population is a medley of many kinds which will continue heterogeneous1 to whatever system of education they are submitted1 just as various types of animals maintain their several characteristics though nourished on identical food1 or as you may see various sorts of apples remaining perfectly distinct though grafted on the same stock4 ,their diversity is congenital4 ,according to the proposal of the reformers the natural sciences should be universally taught and be given capital importance in the examinations for the government services1 but1 cordially as we may approve the suggestion1 we ought to consider what exactly its adoption is likely to effect4 ,the intention of the proposal is doubtless that our public servants1 especially the highest of them1 shall1 while preserving the great qualities they now possess1 add also a knowledge of science and especially scientific habits of mind4 ,such is the ample proposition that hope makes4 ,does experience of men accord with it at all8 ,education1 whether we like it or not1 is a selective agency4 ,i doubt whether the change proposed will sensibly alter the characters of the group on whom our choice at present falls4 ,rather1 if forced upon an unwilling community1 must it act by substituting another group4 ,the most probable result would not be that the type of men who now fill great positions would become scientific1 but rather that their places would be taken by men of an altogether distinct mental type4 ,at the present time these two types of men meet but little4 ,they scarcely know each other4 ,their differences are profound1 affecting thoughts1 ways of looking at things1 and mental interests of every kind4 ,if either could for a moment see the world with the vision of the other he would be amazed1 but to do so he would need at least to be born again1 and probably1 as ,samuel ,butler remarked1 of different parents4 ,no doubt the abler man of either type could learn with more or less effort or unreadiness the subject-matter and principles of the other's business1 but any one who has watched the habits of the two classes will perceive that for them in any real sense to exchange interests1 or that either should adopt the scheme of proportion which the other assigns to the events of nature and of life1 a metamorphosis well nigh miraculous must be presupposed4 ,the ,bishop of ,london speaking lately on behalf of the ,national ,mission said that nature helped him to believe in ,god1 and as evidence for his belief referred to the fact that we are not blown off this earth as it rushes through space1 declaring that this catastrophe had been averted because ,some one had wrapped seventy miles of atmosphere round our planet#b4 ,does any one think that the ,bishop's slip was in fact due to want of scientific teaching at ,marlborough8 ,his chances of knowing about ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 etc41 etc41 have been as good as those of many familiar with the accepted version4 ,i would rather suppose that such sublunary problems had not interested him in the least1 and that he no more cared how we happen to stick on the earth's surface than ,st ,paul cared how a grain of wheat or any other seed germinates beneath it1 when he similarly was betrayed into an unfortunate illustration4 ,so too on the famous occasion--always cited in these debates--when a ,home ,secretary defended the ,government for having permitted the importation of fats into ,germany on the ground that the discovery that glycerine could be made from fat was a recent advance in chemistry1 he was not showing the defects of a literary education so much as a want of interest in the problems of nature1 and the subject-matter of science at large4 ,it is to be presumed indeed that neither fats1 nor glycerine1 nor the dependent problem how living bodies are related to the world they inhabit1 had ever before seemed to him interesting4 ,nor can we suppose they would1 even if chemistry were substituted for ,greek in ,responsions4 ,the difficulty in obtaining full recognition for science lies deeper than this4 ,it is a part of public opinion or taste which may well survive changes in the educational system4 ,blunders about science like those illustrated above are soon excused4 ,few think much the worse of the perpetrators1 whereas a corresponding obliviousness to language1 history1 literature1 and indeed to learning other than their own which we of the scientific fraternity have agreed to condone in our members is incompatible with public life of a high order4 ,both classes have their disabilities4 ,that of the scientific side is well expressed in an incident which befell the late ,professor ,hales4 ,examining in the ,little-,go viva voce1 he asked a candidate1 with reference to some line in a ,greek play1 what passage in ,shakespeare it recalled to him1 and received the answer ,please1 sir1 ,i am a mathematical man4 ,some1 no doubt1 would rather ignore gravitation4 ,when1 for example1 one hears1 as ,i did not long since1 several scientific students own in perfect sincerity that they could not recall anything about ,ananias and ,sapphira and another1 more enlightened1 say that he was sure ,ananias was a name for a liar though he could not tell why1 one is driven to admit that ignorance of this special but not uncommon kind does imply more than inability to remember an old legend4 ,we may be reluctant to confess the fact1 but though most scientific men have some recreation1 often even artistic in nature1 we have with rare exceptions withdrawn from the world in which letters1 history and the arts have immediate value1 and simple allusions to these topics find us wanting4 ,of the two kinds of disability which is the more grave8 ,truly gross ignorance of science darkens more of a man's mental horizon1 and in its possible bearing on the destinies of a race is far more dangerous than even total blindness to the course of human history and endeavour2 and yet it is difficult to question the popular verdict that to know nothing of gravitation though ridiculous is venial1 while to know nothing of ,ananias is an offence which can never be forgiven4 ,that is the real difficulty4 ,the people of this country have definitely preferred the unscientific type1 holding the other virtually in contempt4 ,their choice may be right or wrong1 but that it is reversible seems unlikely4 ,such revolutions in public opinion are rare events4 ,democracy moreover inevitably worships and is swayed by the spoken word4 ,as inevitably1 the range and purposes of science daily more and more transcend the comprehension--even the educated comprehension--of the vulgar1 who will of course elevate the nimble and versatile1 speaking a familiar language1 above dull and inarticulate natural philosophers4 ,in these discussions there is a disposition to forget how very largely natural science is already included in the educational curriculum both at schools and universities4 ,schools subsidised by the ,board of ,education are obliged to provide science-teaching4 ,the public schools have equipment1 in some cases a superb equipment1 for teaching at least physics and chemistry4 ,at the newer universities there are great and vigorous schools of science4 ,of the old universities ,cambridge stands out as a chief centre of scientific activity4 ,in several branches of science ,cambridge is without question pre-eminent4 ,the endowments both of the university and the colleges are freely used for the advancement of the sciences4 ,not only in these material ways are scientific studies in no sense neglected1 but the position of the sciences is recognised and even envied by those who follow other kinds of learning4 ,the scientific schools of ,cambridge form perhaps the dominant force among the resident body of the university1 and except by virtue of some great increase in the endowments1 it would be impossible to extend further the scientific side of ,cambridge and still maintain other forms of intellectual activity in such proportion as to preserve that healthy co-ordination which is the life of a great university4 ,at ,oxford the case is no doubt very different4 ,the measure in which the sciences are esteemed appears only too plainly in the small proportion of ,fellowships filled by men of science4 ,progress has nevertheless begun4 ,at the remarkable ,conference called in ,may1 #aiaf1 to protest against the neglect of science it was noticeable that the speakers were1 in overwhelming majority1 ,oxford men#c4 ,among the educational institutions of ,england there is no general neglect to provide teaching of natural science and much of the language used in reference to the problem of reform is not really in accord with fact4 ,probably no boy able to afford a good secondary school1 certainly none able to proceed to a university1 is debarred from scientific teaching merely because it does not form an integral part of the curriculum4 ,this alone suffices to prove that the real cause of the deplorable neglect of science is to be sought elsewhere4 ,the fundamental difficulty is that which has been already indicated1 that public taste and judgment deliberately prefers the type known as literary1 or as it might with more propriety be designated1 vocal4 ,in the schools there is no lack of science teaching1 but the small percentage of boys whose minds develop early and whose general capacity for learning and aptitude for affairs mark them out as leaders1 rarely have much instinct for science1 and avoid such teaching1 finding it irksome and unsatisfying4 ,these it is1 who going afterwards to the universities1 in preponderating numbers to ,oxford1 make for themselves a congenial atmosphere1 disturbed only by faint ripples of that vast intellectual renascence in which the new shape of civilisation is forming4 ,with self-complacency unshaken1 they assume in due course charge of ,church and ,state1 the ,press1 and in general the leadership of the country4 ,as lawyers and journalists they do our talking for us1 let who will do the thinking4 ,observe that their strength lies in the possession of a special gift1 which under the conditions of democratic government has a prodigious opportunity4 ,uncomfortable as the reflection may be1 it is not to be denied that the countries in which science has already attained the greatest influence and recognition in public affairs are ,germany and ,japan1 where the opinions of the ignorant are not invited4 ,but facts must be recognised1 and our government is likely to remain in the hands of those who have the gift of speech4 ,a general substitution of scientific men for the vocal could scarcely be achieved1 even if the change were desirable4 ,the utmost limit of success which the conditions admit is some inoculation of scientific interest and ideas upon the susceptible members of the classes already preferred4 ,that a large proportion of those persons are in the biological sense resistant to all such influences must be expected4 ,granting however that a section perhaps even the majority1 of our ,greek3 beltistoi may prove unamenable to the influences of science no one can doubt that under the present system of education a proportion of not unintelligent boys in practice have little option4 ,from earliest youth classics are offered to them as almost the sole vehicle of education4 ,they do sufficiently well in classics1 as they probably would on any other curriculum1 to justify themselves and their advisers in thinking that they have made a good beginning to which it is safer to stick4 ,the system has a huge momentum1 and so1 holding to the great wheel that goes up the hill1 they let it draw them after4 ,in their protest against the monotony of the courses provided for young boys the reformers are right4 ,the trouble is not that science is not taught in the schools1 but that in schools of the highest type1 with certain exceptions1 the young boys are not offered it4 ,realising the determinism which modern biological knowledge has compelled us to accept1 we suspect that the power of education to modify the destinies of individuals is relatively small4 ,abrogating larger hopes we recognise education in its two scientific aspects1 as a selective agency1 but equally as a provision of opportunity4 ,in view therefore of the congenital diversity of the individual types1 that provision should be as diverse and manifold as possible1 and the very first essential in an adequate scheme of education is that to the minds of the young something of everything should be offered1 some part of all the kinds of intellectual sustenance in which the minds of men have grown and rejoiced4 ,that should be the ideal4 ,nothing of varied stimulus or attraction that can be offered should be withheld4 ,so only will the young mind discover its aptitudes and powers4 ,this ideal education should bring all into contact with beauty as seen first in literature1 ancient and modern1 with the great models of art and the patterns of nobility of thought and of conduct2 and no less should it show to all the truth of the natural world1 the changeless systems of the universe1 as revealed in astronomy or in chemistry1 something too of the truth about life1 what we animals really are1 what our place and what our powers1 a truth ungarbled whether by prudery or mysticism4 ,but presented with this ideal the schoolmaster will reply that something of everything means nothing thorough4 ,i know the objection and what it commonly stands for4 ,it is the cloak and pretext for that accursed pedantry and cant which turns every sort of teaching to a blight4 ,thoroughness is the excuse for giving boys grammar and accidence in the name of ,greek3 diagrams1 formulae and numerical examples in the name of science4 ,stripped of disguise this love of thoroughness is nothing but an indolent resolve to make things easy for the teacher1 and1 worse still1 for the examiner4 ,live teaching is hard work4 ,it demands continual freshness and a mind alert4 ,the dullest man can hear irregular verbs1 and with the book he knows whether they are said right or wrong1 but to take a text and show what the passage means to the world1 to reconstruct the scene and the conditions in which it was written1 to show the origins and the fruits of ideas or of discoveries1 demand qualities of a very different order4 ,the plea for thoroughness may no doubt be offered in perfect sincerity4 ,there are plenty of men1 especially among those who desire the office of a pedagogue1 whose field of vision is constricted to a slit4 ,if they were painters their work would be in the slang of the day1 tight4 ,one small group of facts they see hard and sharp1 without atmosphere or value4 ,their own knowledge having no capacity for extension1 no width or relationship to the world at large1 they cannot imagine that breadth in itself may be a merit4 ,adepts in a petty erudition without vital antecedents or consequences1 they would willingly see the world shrivel to the dimensions of their own landscape4 ,anticipating here the applause of the reforming party1 to avoid misapprehension let it be expressly observed that pedantry of this sort is in no sense the special prerogative of teachers of classics4 ,we meet it everywhere4 ,among teachers of science the type abounds1 and from the papers set in any ,natural ,sciences ,tripos1 not to speak of scholarship examinations of every kind1 it would be possible to extract question after question that ought never to have been set1 referring to things that need never have been taught1 and knowledge that no one but a pedant would dream of carrying in his head for a week4 ,the splendid purpose which science serves is the inculcation of principle and balance1 not facts4 ,there is something horrible and terrifying in the doctrine so often preached1 reiterated of course by speaker after speaker at the ,neglect of ,science meeting1 that science is to be preferred because of its utility4 ,if the choice were really between dead classics and dead science1 or if science is to be vivified by an infusion of commercial1 utilitarian spirit1 then a thousand times rather let us keep to the classics as the staple of education4 ,they at least have no use4 ,at least they hold the keys to the glorious places1 to the fulness of literature and to the thoughtful speech of all kindred nations1 nor are they demeaned with sordid1 shop-keeper utility4 ,this was plainly in the mind of the ,poet ,laureate1 who speaking at the meeting ,i have referred to1 said well that a merely utilitarian science can never win the spiritual respect of mankind4 ,the main objection that the humanists make to the introduction of natural science as a necessary subject of education1 is1 he declared1 that science is not spiritual1 that it does not work in the sphere of ideas4 ,he went on very properly to show how perverse is such a representation of science1 but1 alas1 in further recommendation of science as a safe subject of instruction he added that the antagonism of science to religion is ended1 and that the contest had been a passing phase4 ,reading this we may wonder whether we are in fairness entitled to ,dr ,bridges's approval4 ,tastes sweet the water with such specks of earth8 ,since he spoke of the unscientific attitude of ,professor ,huxley as a thing of the past1 candour obliges us to insist emphatically that the struggle continues and must perpetually be renewed4 ,huxley was opposing the teaching of science to that of revelation4 ,in these days the ground has shifted1 and supernatural teachings make preferably their defence by an appeal to intuition and other obscure phenomena which can be trusted to defy investigation4 ,against all such apocryphal glosses of evidential truth science protests with equal vehemence1 and were ,huxley here he would treat ,bergson and his allies with the same scorn and contumely that he meted out to the ,bishop of ,oxford on the notorious occasion to which ,dr ,bridges made reference4 ,as well might we decorate our writings with ,plantin title-pages1 showing the author embraced by angels and inspiring muses1 as recommend ourselves in these disguises4 ,agnosticism is the very life and mainspring of science4 ,not merely as to the supernatural but as to the natural world must science believe nothing save under compulsion4 ,little of value has a man got from science who has not learned to be slow of faith4 ,those early lessons in the study of the natural world will be the best which most frankly declare our ignorance1 exciting the mind to attack the unknown by showing how soon the frontier of knowledge is reached4 ,we don't know should be ever in the mouth of the teacher1 followed sometimes by we may find out yet4 ,not merely to the investigator but to the pupil the interest of science is strongest in the growing edges of knowledge4 ,the student should be transported thither with the briefest possible delay4 ,details of those parts of science which by present means of investigation are worked out and reduced to general expressions are dull and lifeless4 ,many and many a boy has been repelled1 gathering from what he hears in class that science is a catalogue of names and facts interminable4 ,in childhood he may have felt curiosity about nature and the common impulse to watch and collect1 but when he begins scientific lessons he discovers too often that they relate not even to the kind of fact which nature is for him1 or to the subjects of his early curiosity and wonder1 but to things that have no obvious interest at all1 measurements of mechanical forces1 reaction-formulae1 and similar materials4 ,all these1 it is true1 man has gradually accumulated with infinite labour2 upon them1 and of such materials has the great fabric of science been reared3 but to insist that the approaches to science shall be open only to those who will surmount these gratuitous obstacles is mere perversity4 ,men's minds do not work in that way4 ,how many would discover the grandeur of a ,gothic building if they were prevented from seeing one until they could work out stresses and strains1 date mouldings1 and even perhaps cut templates8 ,most of us1 to be sure1 enjoy the cathedrals more when we acquire some such knowledge1 and those who are to be architects must acquire it1 but we can scarcely be astonished if beginners turn away in disgust from science presented on those terms4 ,it is from considerations of this kind that ,i am led to believe that for most boys the easiest and most attractive introduction to science is from the biological side4 ,admittedly chemistry is the more fundamental study1 and some rudimentary chemical notions must be imparted very early1 but if the framework subject-matter be animals and plants1 very sensible progress in realising what science means and aims at doing will have been made before the things of daily life are left behind4 ,these first formal lessons in science should continue and extend the boy's own attempts to find out how the world is made4 ,i shall be charged with running counter both to common sense and to authority in expressing parenthetically the further conviction that1 in biology at least1 laboratory work is now largely overdone4 ,whether this is so at schools ,i cannot tell1 but at the universities whole mornings and afternoons spent in making elaborate preparations1 drawings and series of sections1 are frequently wasted4 ,these courses were devised with the highest motives4 ,students were to find out everything for themselves4 ,generally they are doing nothing of the kind4 ,it may have been so once1 but with text-books perfected and teaching stereotyped1 the more industrious are slavishly verifying what has been verified repeatedly1 or at best acquiring manipulative skill4 ,the rest are doing nothing whatever4 ,they would be better employed taking a walk1 devilling for some investigator1 browsing in museums or libraries1 or even arguing with each other4 ,certainly a few lessons in the use of indexes and books of reference would be far more valuable4 ,students of every grade must of course do some laboratory work1 and all should see as much material as possible4 ,my protest is solely against those long1 torpid hours compulsorily given to labour which will lead to nothing of novelty1 and serves only to teach what can be got readily in other ways4 ,there are a few whose souls crave such employment4 ,by all means let them follow it4 ,but whatever is good for maturer students1 biology for schoolboys should be of a less academic cast4 ,the natural history of animals and plants has the obvious merit that it prolongs the inborn curiosity of youth1 that its subject-matter is universally at hand1 accessible in holidays and in the absence of teachers or laboratories1 and best of all that through biological study the significance of science appears immediately1 disclosing the true story of man's relation to the world4 ,from natural history the transition to the other sciences1 especially to chemistry and physics1 is easy and again natural4 ,in the study of life many of the fundamental conceptions of those sciences are met with on the threshold1 and boys whose aptitudes are rather of the physical order will at once feel the impulse to follow nature from that aspect4 ,biology is the more inclusive study4 ,a man may be a good chemist and miss the broad meaning of science altogether1 being sometimes indeed more devoid of such comprehension than many a philosopher fresh from ,classical ,greats4 ,in appealing for a progress from the general to the particular ,i am not blind to the dangers4 ,biology for the young readily degenerates into a mawkish nature-study1 or all-for-the-best claptrap about adaptation1 but a sure remedy is the strong tonic of agnosticism1 teaching one of the best lessons science has to offer1 the resolute rejection of authority4 ,some take comfort in the hope that all subjects may be taught as branches of science1 but the fact that must permanently postpone arrival at this educational ,utopia is that a great proportion of teachers are not and can never be made scientific4 ,nothing proceeding from such persons will by the working of any schedule1 regulation1 or even ,order of the ,board be ever made to bear any colourable resemblance to science4 ,moreover as has already been indicated1 there are plenty of pupils also who will flourish and probably reach their highest development taught by unscientific men1 pupils whose minds would be sterilised or starved by that very nourishment which to our thinking is the more generous4 ,were we a homogeneous population one diet for all might be justifiable1 but as things are1 we should offer the greatest possible variety4 ,from ,rousseau onwards educationists1 deriving their views1 ,i suppose1 from some metaphysical or theological conception of human equality1 speak continually of the mind of the child as if the young of our species conformed to a single type4 ,if the general spread of biological knowledge serves merely to expose that foolish assumption there would be progress to record4 ,dr ,blakeslee#d1 a well-known ,american biologist1 lately gave a good illustration of this4 ,in a paper on education he showed photographs of two varieties of maize4 ,the ripe fruits of both are colourless if their sheaths be unbroken4 ,the one1 if exposed to the light before ripening1 by rupture of its sheath1 turns red4 ,the second1 otherwise indistinguishable1 acquires no red colour though uncovered to the full sun4 ,if these maizes were two boys1 not improbably the one would be caned for failing to respond to treatment so efficacious in the case of the other4 ,when we hear that such a man has developed too exclusively one side of his nature1 with what propriety do we assume that he had any other side to develop8 ,or when we say that such-and-such a course of study tends to make boys too exclusively literary1 or scientific1 or what not1 do we not really mean that it provides too exclusively for those whose aptitudes are of these respective kinds8 ,living in the midst of a mongrel population we note the divers powers of our fellows and we thoughtlessly imagine that if something different had happened to us1 we can't say what1 we should have been able to rival them4 ,a little honest examination of our powers shows how vain are such suppositions4 ,the right course is to make some provision for all sorts1 since unscientific teaching and unscientific persons will remain with us always4 ,teaching of this universal and undifferentiated sort1 provided for all in common1 should be continued up to the age at which pupils begin to show their tastes and aptitudes1 in general about #af1 after which stage such latitude of choice should be given as the resources of the school can provide4 ,of what should the undifferentiated teaching consist8 ,coming from a cultivated home a boy of #aj may be expected to have learned the rudiments of ,latin1 and at least one modern language1 preferably ,french1 colloquially1 arithmetic1 outlines of geography1 tales from ,plutarch and from other histories4 ,going to a preparatory school he will read easy ,latin texts with translations and notes2 ,french books1 geography including the elements of astronomy1 beginning also algebra and geometry4 ,at #ab dropping ,french except perhaps a reading once a week1 he will begin ,greek1 by means of easy passages again with the translations beside him1 continuing the rest as before4 ,transferred at #ad-a_/b to a public school he will go on with ,latin1 starting ,latin prose1 ,greek texts1 again read fast with translations4 ,he will now have his first formal introduction to science in the guise of biology1 leading up to lessons and demonstrations in chemistry and physics4 ,at about #af-a_/b he may drop classics or mathematics according as his tastes have declared themselves1 adding modern languages instead1 continuing science in all cases1 greater or less in amount according to his proclivities4 ,boys with special mathematical ability will of course need special treatment4 ,moreover provision of ,german for all has avowedly not been made4 ,for all it is desirable and for many indispensable4 ,but as the number who read it for pleasure1 never very large1 seems likely to diminish1 ,german may perhaps be reserved as a tool1 the use of which must be acquired when necessary4 ,such a scheme1 ,i submit1 makes no impossible demand on the time-table1 allowing indeed many spare hours for accessory subjects such as readings in ,english or history4 ,note the main features of this programme4 ,the time for things worth learning is found by dropping grammar as a subject of special study4 ,there are to be no lessons in grammar or accidence as such1 nor of course any verse compositions except for older boys specialising in classics4 ,mathematics also is treated as a subject which need not be carried beyond the rudiments unless mathematical or physical ability is shown4 ,for other boys it leads literally nowhere1 being a road impassable4 ,all the languages are to be taught as we learn them in later life1 when the desire or necessity arises1 by means of easy passages with the translation at our side4 ,our present practice not only fails to teach languages but it succeeds in teaching how not to learn a language4 ,who thinks of beginning ,russian by studying the aspects of the verbs1 or by committing to memory the #bh paradigms which ,german grammarians have devised on the analogy of ,latin declensions8 ,auxiliary verbs are the pedagogue's delight1 but who begins ,spanish by trying to discriminate between tener and haber1 or ser and estar1 or who learns tables of exceptions to improve his ,french8 ,these things come by use or not at all4 ,if languages are treated not as lessons but as vehicles of speech1 and if the authors are read so that we may find out what they say and how they say it1 and at such a pace that we follow the train of thought or the story1 all who have any sense of language at all can attend and with pleasure too4 ,what chance has a boy of enjoying an author when he knows him only as a task to be droned through1 thirty lines at a time8 ,small blame to the pupil who never discovers that the great authors were men of like passions with ourselves1 that the ,homeric songs were made to be shouted at feasts to heroes full of drink and glory1 that ,herodotus is telling of wonders that his friends1 and we too1 want to hear1 that in the tragedies we hear the voice of ,sophocles dictating1 choked with emotion and tears2 that even ,roman historians wrote because they had something to tell1 and ,caesar1 dull proser that he is1 composed the ,commentaries not to provide us with style or grammatical curiosities1 but as a record of extraordinary events4 ,to get into touch with any author he must be read at a good pace1 and by reading of that kind there is plenty of time for a boy before he reaches #ag to make acquaintance with much of the best literature both of ,greek and ,latin4 ,education must be brought up to date2 but if in accomplishing that1 we lose ,greek1 it will have been sacrificed to obstinate formalism and pedagogic tradition4 ,the defence of classics as a basis of education is generally misrepresented by opponents4 ,the unique value of the classics is not in any begetting of literary style4 ,we are thinking of readers not of writers4 ,much of the best literature is the work of unlettered men1 as they never tire of telling us1 but it is for the enjoyment and understanding of books and of the world that continuity with the past should be maintained4 ,john ,bunyan wrote sterling prose1 knowing no language but his own4 ,but how much could he read8 ,what judgments could he form8 ,we want also to keep classics and especially ,greek as the bountiful source of material and of colour1 decoration for the jejune lives of common men4 ,if classics cease to be generally taught and become the appanage of a few scholars1 the gulf between the literary and the scientific will be made still wider4 ,milton will need more explanatory notes than ,o4 ,henry4 ,who will trouble about us scientific students then8 ,we shall be marked off from the beginning1 and in the world of laboratories ,hector1 ,antigone and ,pericles will soon share the fate of poor ,ananias and ,sapphira4 ,i come now to the gravest part of the whole question4 ,we plead for the preservation of literature1 especially classical literature1 as the staple of education in the name of beauty and understanding3 but no less do we demand science in the name of truth and advancement4 ,given that our demand succeeds1 what consequences may we expect8 ,nothing immediate1 as ,i fear4 ,in opening the discussion it was argued that even if scientific knowledge be widely diffused1 any great change in the composition of the ruling classes is scarcely attainable under present conditions of social organisation4 ,even if science stand equal with classics in examinations for the services the general tenor of the public mind will in all likelihood be undisturbed4 ,yet it is for such a revolution that science really calls1 and come it will in any community dominated by natural knowledge4 ,science saves us from blunders about glycerine1 shows how to economise fuel and to make artificial nitrates1 but these1 though they decide national destinies1 are merely the sheaf of the wave-offering3 the harvest is behind4 ,for natural knowledge is destined to give man not only a direct control of the material world but new interpretations of higher problems4 ,though we in ,england make a stand upon the ancient way1 peoples elsewhere will move on4 ,those who have grasped the meaning of science1 especially biological science1 are feeling after new rules of conduct4 ,the old criteria based on ignorance have little worth4 ,rights1 whether of persons or of nations1 may be abstractions well-founded in law or philosophy1 but the modern world sooner or later will annul them4 ,the general ignorance of science has lasted so long that we have virtually two codes of right and duty1 that founded on natural truth and that emanating from tradition1 which almost alone finds public expression in this country4 ,whether we look at the cruelty which passes for justice in our criminal courts1 at the prolongation of suffering which custom demands as a part of medical ethics1 at this very question of education1 or indeed at any problem of social life1 we see ahead and know that science proclaims wiser and gentler creeds4 ,when in the wider sphere of national policy we read the declared ideals of statesmen1 we turn away with a shrug4 ,they bid us exalt national sentiment as a purifying and redeeming influence1 and in the next breath proclaim that the sole way to avert the ruin now menacing the world is to guarantee to all nations freedom to develop1 unhindered1 unthreatened1 unafraid4 ,so1 forsooth1 are we to end war4 ,nature laughs at such dreams4 ,the life of one is the death of another4 ,where are the teeming populations of the ,west ,indies1 where the civilisations of ,mexico or of ,peru1 where are the blackfellows of ,australia8 ,since means of subsistence are limited1 the fancy that one group can increase or develop save at the expense of another is an illusion1 instantly dissipated by appeal to biological fact1 nor would a biologist-statesman look for permanent stability in a multiplication of competing communities1 some vigorous1 others worthless1 but all growing in population4 ,rather must a people familiar with science see how small and ephemeral a thing is the pride of nations1 knowing that both the peace of the world and the progress of civilisation are to be sought not by the hardening of national boundaries but in the substitution of cosmopolitan for national aspiration4 ,footnote #a3 ,les ,lois de l',imitation1 #aiaa1 p4 #hg4 ,footnote #b3 ,reported in ,evening ,standard1 #aa ,sept4 #aiaf4 ,footnote #c3 ,two ,cambridge men spoke1 one being ,lord ,rayleigh1 the ,chairman1 and ten ,oxford men1 besides one originally ,cambridge1 for several years an ,oxford professor4 ,footnote #d3 ,journ4 of ,heredity1 ,,viii4 #aiag1 p4 #ec4 ,,viii ,,athletics ,by ,f4 ,b4 ,,malim ,master of ,haileybury ,college ,at a conference held by the ,froebel ,society in ,january1 #aiag1 the subject for discussion was the employment of women teachers in boys' schools4 ,with some of the questions considered1 whether women should have shorter hours than men1 whether they are capable of enforcing discipline1 and the like1 ,i am not now concerned2 but ,i was interested to hear from one speaker after another that a woman was at a real disadvantage in a boys' school1 because she could not take part in the games4 ,the speakers did not come from the public schools1 whose devotion to athletics constitutes1 we are sometimes told1 a public danger1 but mainly from primary and secondary day schools in ,london4 ,but none the less it was assumed that a boy's games are an essential part of his education4 ,the same assumption is made by the managers of boys' clubs and similar organisations which are endeavouring to carry on the education of boys who have left the elementary schools at the age of fourteen4 ,in spite of the great difficulty of finding grounds to play on in the neighbourhood of great towns1 cricket and football are encouraged by any possible means among the working lads of our industrial centres4 ,games are more and more being regarded as a desirable element in the education of the ,british boy1 and are provided for him and organised for him by those responsible for his environment4 ,but this is quite a modern development4 ,i have been told by one who was at ,marlborough in the very early days of that school1 that so far were the authorities from providing any means of playing cricket1 that the boys themselves were obliged to subscribe small sums for the purchase of the necessary material4 ,the book containing the names of the subscribers fell into the hands of the head master1 who gated for the term all boys on the list1 assuming without inquiry that they were the clients of a juvenile bookmaker4 ,when we ask why we have come to regard games as a part of a boy's education1 we shall naturally answer first that a full education is concerned with the proper development of the body4 ,for this purpose we may employ the old fashioned gymnastic exercises1 the modern ,swedish exercises or outdoor games4 ,and of these the greatest is games4 ,so far1 says ,dr4 ,saleeby1 as true race culture is concerned1 we should regard our muscles merely as servants or instruments of the will4 ,since we have learnt to employ external forces for our purposes1 the mere bulk of a muscle is now a matter of little importance4 ,of the utmost importance1 on the other hand1 is the power to coordinate and graduate the activity of our muscles1 so that they may become highly trained servants4 ,this is a matter however not of muscle at all1 but of nervous education4 ,its foundation cannot be laid by mechanical things1 like dumb-bells and exercises1 but by games in which will and purpose and co-ordination are incessantly employed4 ,in other words the only physical culture worth talking about is nervous culture4 ,the principles here laid down are daily defied in very large measure in our nurseries1 our schools and our barrack yards4 ,the play of a child1 spontaneous and purposeful1 is supremely human and characteristic4 ,although when considered from the outside1 it is simply a means of muscular development1 properly considered it is really the means of nervous development4 ,here we see muscles used as human muscles should be used1 as instruments of mind4 ,in schools the same principles should be recognised4 ,from the biological and psychological point of view1 the playing field is immensely superior to the gymnasium#a4 ,it would be a mistake to under-estimate the value of the ,swedish system of physical exercises4 ,its object is not the abnormal development of muscle1 but the production of a healthy1 alert and well balanced body4 ,the military authorities in the last three years have been confronted with the problem of restoring promptness of movement1 erectness of carriage1 poise and flexibility to numbers of men whose muscles have been given a one-sided development by the constant performance of one kind of manual work1 or have grown flabby by long sitting at a desk1 and the task would have been much less successfully tackled without the aid of the ,swedish methods4 ,in schools these exercises may be used with real benefit given two conditions1 small classes and a really skilled instructor4 ,for the value a boy derives from the exercises1 to a very large extent depends upon himself1 on the concentration of his own will4 ,it is almost impossible to make sure in a large class that this concentration is given1 and any kind of exercise done without purpose or resolution rapidly degenerates into the most useless gesticulations4 ,but though we may use physical exercises as an aid1 ,i should be sorry to see them ever regarded as a substitute for games4 ,even supposing that they were an adequate substitute in the development of the body 7which ,i doubt7 they cannot claim to have an effect at all comparable to that of games in the development of character4 ,sometimes the most extravagant claims are put forward on behalf of athletics as a school of character1 almost as extravagant as are the terms in which at other times the brutal athlete is denounced4 ,i don't think it is found by experience that athletes cherish higher ideals or are more humble-minded than their less muscular fellows2 ,i doubt if they become more charitable in their judgments or more liberal in their giving4 ,we must carefully limit the claims we make1 and then we shall find that we have surer grounds to go on4 ,what virtues can we reasonably suppose to be developed by games8 ,first ,i should put physical courage4 ,it certainly requires courage to collar a fast and heavy opponent at football1 to fall on the ball at the feet of a charging pack or to stand up to fast bowling on a bumpy wicket4 ,schoolboy opinion is rightly intolerant of a funk1 and we should not attach too small a value to this first of the manly virtues4 ,considering as we must the virtues which we are to develop in a nation1 we realise that for the security of the nation courage in her young men is indispensable4 ,that it has been bred in the sons of ,england is attested by the fields of ,flanders and the beaches of ,gallipoli4 ,we shall therefore give no heed to those who decry the danger of some schoolboy games4 ,for we shall remember that just as few things that are worth gaining can be won without toil1 so there are some things which can only be won by taking risks4 ,few things are less attractive in a boy than the habit of playing for safety2 in the old prudence is natural and perhaps admirable1 in the young it is precocious and unlovely4 ,but we need not introduce unnecessary risk by the matching of boys of unequal size and age4 ,the practice1 for example1 of house games in which the boys of one house play together1 without regard to size or skill1 is very much inferior to an organisation of games by means of sets1 graded solely by the proficiency which boys have shown4 ,in each set boys are matched with others whose skill approximates to their own2 they are not overpowered by the strength of older boys and can get the proper enjoyment from the display of such skill as they possess4 ,and as we desire our games to foster the spirit that faces danger1 so we shall wish them to foster the spirit that faces hardship1 the spirit of endurance4 ,that is why ,i think that golf and lawn tennis are not fit school games2 they are not painful enough4 ,i am afraid we ought on the same ground to let racquets go1 though for training in alertness and sheer skill1 in the nice harmony of eye and hand racquets has no equal4 ,but cricket1 football1 hockey1 fives can all be painful enough2 often victory is only to be won by a clinching of the teeth and the sternest resolve to stick to it in face of exhaustion4 ,this is the merit of two forms of athletics which have been oftenest the subject of attack1 rowing and running4 ,both of course should be carefully watched by the school doctor2 for both careful training is necessary4 ,but a sport which encourages boys to deny themselves luxuries1 to scorn ease1 to conquer bodily weariness by the exercise of the will1 is not one which should be banished because for some the spirit has triumphed to the hurt of the flesh4 ,in a self-indulgent age when sometimes it has seemed that the gibe of our enemies is true1 that the most characteristic ,english word is comfort1 it is good to retain in our schools some forms of activity in which comfort is never considered at all4 ,the ,ithaca which was ,greek3 hagath koyrotrophos was also ,greek3 trcheia4 ,again no boy can meet with real athletic success who has not learnt to control his temper4 ,it is not merely that public opinion despises the man who is a bad loser2 but that to lose your temper very often means to lose the game4 ,it may be true that a ,rugby forward does not develop his finest game until an opponent's elbow has met his nose and given an extra spice to his onslaught4 ,but in the majority of contests the man who keeps his head will win4 ,notably this is true in boxing1 a fine instrument of education1 whatever may be the objections to the prize ring4 ,so dispassionate a scientist as ,professor ,hall in his monumental work on ,adolescence1 describes boxing as a manly art1 a superb school for quickness of eye and hand1 decision1 full of will and self-control4 ,the moment this is lost1 stinging punishment follows4 ,hence it is the surest of all cures for excessive irascibility1 and has been found to have a most beneficial effect upon a peevish or unmanly disposition4 ,but perhaps the best lesson that a boy can learn from his games1 is the lesson that he must play for his side and not for himself4 ,he does not always learn it2 the cricketer who plays for his average1 the three-quarters who tries to score himself1 are not unknown1 though boyish opinion rightly condemns them4 ,popular school ethics are thoroughly sound on this point1 and it is the virtue of inter-school and inter-house competitions1 that in them a boy learns what it is to forget self and to think of a cause4 ,there is a society outside himself which has its claim upon him1 whose victory is his victory1 whose defeat is his defeat4 ,whether victory comes through him or through another1 is nothing so long as victory be won2 later in life men may play games for their health's sake or for enjoyment1 but they lose that thrill of intense patriotism1 the more intense because of the smallness of the society that arouses it1 with which they battled in the mud of some ,november day for the honour of their school or house4 ,small wonder that when school-fellows meet after years of separation1 the memories to which they most gladly return1 are the memories of hard-won victories and manfully contested defeats4 ,but victory must be won by fair means4 ,there is a story 7possibly without historical foundation7 that a foreign visitor to ,oxford said that the thing that struck him most in that great university was the fact that there were #cjjj men there who would rather lose a game than win it by unfair means4 ,it would be absurd to pretend that that spirit is universal3 the commercial organisation of professional football and the development of betting have gone a long way to degrade a noble sport4 ,but the standard of fair play in school games is high1 and it is the encouragement of this spirit by cricket and football that renders them so valuable an aid in the activities of boys' clubs in artisan districts4 ,it has been argued that the prevalence of this generous temper among our troops has been a real handicap in war2 that we have too much regarded hostilities as a game in which there were certain rules to be observed1 and that when we found ourselves matched against a foe whose object was to win by any means1 fair or foul1 the soldiers who were fettered by the scruples of honour were necessarily inferior to their unscrupulous foe4 ,it has perhaps yet to be proved that in the long run the unchivalrous fighter always wins1 and ,i doubt whether any of us would really prefer that even in war we should set aside the scruples of fair play4 ,but in the arts and pursuits of peace that man is best equipped to play a noble part who realises that there are rules in the great game of life which an honourable man will respect1 that there are advantages which he must not take4 ,how often does some rather inarticulate hero1 who has refused some tempting prospect or spurned some specious offer1 explain his act of self-denial by the simple phrase of his boyhood1 ,i thought it wasn't quite playing the game4 ,schoolboy honour is not always a faultless thing2 sometimes it means the hiding of real iniquity4 ,but the honour of the playing field is a generous code1 and to have learnt its rules is to have learnt the best that the public opinion of a boy community can teach4 ,the chairman of a great engineering firm recently told the ,incorporated ,association of ,headmasters1 that when he went to ,oxford to get recruits for his firm1 he did not look for men who had got a ,first in ,greats1 but for men who would have got a ,first1 if they had worked4 ,for these men had probably given a good deal of their time to rowing or games and had thereby learnt something of the art of dealing with men4 ,the student who sticks to his books learns many lessons1 but not this4 ,to be captain of a house or of a school1 and to do it well is to practise the art of governing on a small scale4 ,a sore temptation to the schoolmaster is to interfere too much in school games4 ,he sees obvious mistakes being made1 wrong tactics being adopted1 the wrong sides chosen1 and he longs to interfere4 ,he is anxious for victories1 and forgets that after all victories are a very secondary business1 that games are only a means1 not an end1 that if he does not let the boys really govern and make their mistakes1 the game is failing to provide the training that it ought to give4 ,it is undoubted that schools which are carefully coached by competent players1 where the responsibility is largely taken out of the captain's hands1 are more likely to win their matches4 ,but much is lost1 though the game may be won4 ,the strong captain who goes his own way1 chooses his own side1 frames his own tactics and inspires the whole team with his own spirit1 has had a practical training in the management of men which will stand him in good stead in the greater affairs of life4 ,we are not very well satisfied said a ,war ,office official1 with the stamp of young officer we are getting4 ,many of them never seem to have played a game in their lives1 though they are first-rate mathematicians4 ,and there is no doubt that whether for war or peace mathematics is not a substitute for leadership4 ,courage1 endurance1 self-control1 public spirit1 fair play1 leadership1 these are the virtues which we find may be encouraged by the practice of games at school4 ,it is not a complete list of the ,christian virtues1 perhaps rather we might call them ,pagan virtues1 but it is a fine list for all that4 ,and the best of it is that they are as it were unconsciously learnt1 acquired by practice1 not by inculcation4 ,the boy who follows virtue for its own sake would be1 ,i fear1 a sad prig1 but the boy who follows a football for the sake of his house1 may develop virtue and enjoy the process4 ,but what are we to put on the other side of the account8 ,if it be true that athletics is a fine school for character1 what is the ground for the frequent complaint that the public schools make a fetish of athleticism8 ,what precisely is the complaint8 ,it is this1 that boys regard1 and are encouraged to regard their games as the most important side of their school life1 that their interest in them is so overpowering that they have no interest left for the development of the intellect or the acquisition of knowledge1 that prominent athletes1 not brilliant scholars1 are the heroes of a boy community1 and that in consequence many men of the better nourished classes1 after they have left school1 look upon their amusements as the main business of life1 give to them the industry and concentration which should be bestowed upon science1 letters or industry1 and swell the ranks of the amiable and incompetent amateur4 ,it is argued that schools are converted into pleasant athletic clubs1 and that boys1 instead of learning there to work1 merely learn to play4 ,now this is a serious indictment2 it is a good thing to learn to play1 but it is not the only thing a school should teach4 ,riding1 shooting and speaking the truth may have been an adequate curriculum for an ancient ,persian1 but it would not provide a sufficient equipment to enable a man to face the stress of modern competition1 or to understand the developments of the science and industry of to-day4 ,is too much time given to the playing of games8 ,in winter time ,i should say ,no4 ,i suppose that if we include teaching hours and preparation1 a boy spends some six hours a day on his intellectual work1 or if you prefer1 he is supposed to spend that time4 ,a game of football two or three times a week1 does not last more than an hour and a quarter2 if you add a liberal allowance for changing and baths1 two hours is the whole time occupied4 ,a game of fives or a physical drill class need not demand more than an hour4 ,the game that really wastes time--and ,i am sorry to admit it--is cricket4 ,i am not thinking so much of the long waits in the pavilion when two batsmen on a side are well set1 and the rest have nothing to do but to applaud4 ,i see no way out of that difficulty1 so long as wickets are prepared as they are now by artistic groundsmen4 ,i am thinking rather of the excessive practice at nets4 ,an enthusiastic house captain is apt to believe that by assiduous practice the most unlikely and awkward recruit can be converted into a useful batsman1 and the result is that he will drive all his house day after day to the nets1 until they begin to loathe the sight of a cricket ball4 ,we should recognise that cricket is a game for the few2 the majority of boys can never make good cricketers4 ,and happy are those schools which are near a river and can provide an alternative exercise in the summer1 which does not require exceptional quickness of eye and wrist and does provide a splendid discipline of body and spirit4 ,in the summer it is well to exempt all boys from cricket1 who have really a taste for natural history or photography4 ,summer half-holidays are emphatically the time for hobbies1 and it is a serious charge against our games if they are organised to such a pitch that hobbies are practically prohibited4 ,the zealous captain will object that such slacking is destroying the spirit of the house4 ,we must endeavour to point out to him that the unwilling player never makes a good player1 and that such a boy may be finding his proper development in the pursuit of butterflies1 a development which he would never gain by unsuccessful and involuntary cricket4 ,house masters too are apt to complain that freedom for hobbies is subversive of discipline1 and to quote the old adage about ,satan and idle hands4 ,that there is risk1 is not to be denied4 ,but you cannot run a school without taking risks4 ,our whole system of leaving the government largely in the hands of boys is full of risks4 ,sometimes it brings shipwreck2 more often it does not4 ,for in the majority of cases the policy of confidence is justified by results4 ,there is one way of wasting time that is heartily to be condemned1 the waste involved in looking on4 ,i am inclined to think that if all athletic contests took place without a ring of spectators1 we should get all the good of games and very little of the evil4 ,certainly professional football would lose its blacker sides if there were no gate money and no betting4 ,few men or boys are the worse for playing games2 it is the applause of the mob that turns their heads4 ,but ,i am afraid ,i am not logical enough to say that ,i would forbid boys to watch matches against another school2 the emotions that lead to the breathless hush in the ,close are so compounded of patriotism and jealousy for the honour of the school1 that they are far from ignoble4 ,but ,i would not have boys compelled to watch the games against clubs and other non-school teams4 ,above all1 if they watch1 they must have a run or a game to stir their own blood4 ,the half-holiday must not be spent in shivering on a touchline and then crowding round a fire4 ,that the athlete is a school hero and the scholar is not1 is most certainly true4 ,the scholar may once in a way reflect glory on the school by success in an examination1 but generally he is regarded as a self-regarding person1 who is not likely to help to win the matches of the year4 ,but the hero-worship is not undiscriminating2 conceit1 selfishness1 surliness will go far to nullify the influence of physical strength and skill4 ,boys' admiration for physical prowess is natural and not unhealthy4 ,the harm is done by the advertisement given to such prowess by foolish elders4 ,foremost among such unwise influences ,i should put the press4 ,even modest boys may begin to think their achievements in the field are of public importance when they find their names in print4 ,some papers publish portraits of prominent players1 or a series of articles on ,football at ,x-- or ,the prospects of the ,cricket ,season at ,y--4 ,the suggestion that there is a public which is interested in the features of a schoolboy captain1 or wishes to know the methods of training and coaching which have led to the success of a school fifteen1 is likely to give boys an entirely exaggerated notion of their own importance and to justify in their minds the dedication of a great deal of time to the successes which receive this kind of public recognition4 ,next there is the parent4 ,our ever active critics are apt to forget that schools are to a large extent mirrors1 reflecting the tone and opinion of the homes from which boys come4 ,the parent who says when the boy joins the school1 ,i do not mind whether he gets in the sixth1 but ,i want to see him in the eleven1 is by no means an uncommon parent4 ,i have no objection to his wanting to see his boy in the eleven1 the deplorable thing is that he is indifferent to intellectual progress4 ,i have heard an elder brother say1 ,tom has not got into his house eleven yet1 but he brought home a prize last term4 ,i have written to tell him he must change all that1 we can't have him disgracing the family4 ,when a candidate has failed to qualify for admission to the school at the entrance examination1 ,i have had letters of surprised and pained protest1 pointing out that ,jack is an exceptionally promising cricketer4 ,it is assumed that we should be only too glad to welcome the athlete without regard to his standard of work4 ,if we could get the majority of parents to recognise the schoolmaster's point of view1 that while games are an important element of education1 they are only one element1 and that there are others which must not be neglected1 we should have made a real step forward towards the elimination of the excessive reverence paid to the athlete4 ,after the press and the parent comes millinery4 ,perhaps it is ,utopian to suggest that caps can be entirely abolished2 but the enterprise of haberdashers and the weakness of school authorities have led to a multiplication of blazers1 ribbons1 caps1 jerseys1 stockings1 badges1 scarves and the like1 which certainly tend to mark off the successful player from his fellows1 and to make him a cynosure of the vulgar and an object of complacent admiration to himself4 ,success in games should be its own reward4 ,in some cases it certainly is4 ,and the paradox is that very often it is those who are least bountifully endowed by nature who profit most4 ,some there are who have such natural gifts of strength and dexterity1 that from the first they can excel at any game4 ,triumphs come to them without hard struggle1 and they breathe the incense of applause4 ,but others have a clumsier hand1 a slower foot1 and yet they have a determination to excel1 a resolution in sticking to their task that brings them at the last to a fair measure of skill4 ,such a boy is already rewarded by the toughening of the will that perseverance brings3 he does not need a ribbon on his sweater4 ,to give the other1 the natural athlete1 a coloured scarf1 is to run the risk of making him over-value the gifts he owes to nature4 ,there is no reason why a boy who excels in games should not excel in work4 ,the two are not competing sides of education1 they are complementary4 ,the schoolmaster's ideal is that his boys should gain the advantages of both4 ,the athlete who neglects his work1 grows up with a poorly furnished mind and an untrained judgment4 ,the student who neglects his games1 grows up without the nervous development that fits his body to be the instrument of his will1 and without the knowledge of men and the habit of dealing with men which are indispensable in many callings4 ,it has been proved again and again that it is possible to get the advantages of both these sides of school life4 ,there is no reason why the playing of school games should be anything but a help to the intellectual development of a boy4 ,but the constant talking about games is by no means harmless1 though it is true boys might be talking of worse things4 ,it is related that a ,french educational critic was once descanting to an ,english head master on the monotony of the conversation of ,english public school boys3 they talk of nothing but football4 ,but when he was asked1 ,and of what do ,french school boys generally talk8 he was silent4 ,but if cricket shop saves us from worse topics1 it certainly is destructive of rational conversation on subjects of more general interest4 ,in great boarding schools we collect a population of boys under quite abnormal conditions1 cut off for the greater part of their social life from intercourse with older people4 ,it is1 ,i think1 a general experience that boys who have been at day schools and are the sons of intelligent parents1 have their minds more awakened to the questions of the day in politics1 or art1 or literature than boys of equal ability who have been at a boarding school4 ,they have had the advantage of hearing their father and his friends discussing topics which are outside the range of school life4 ,boarding schools are often built in some country place away from the surging life of towns1 where the noise of political strife and the roar of the traffic of the world are but dimly heard4 ,in such seclusion the life of the school1 particularly the active life of the playing fields1 occupies the focus of a boy's consciousness4 ,the geographical conditions tend to narrow the range of his interests1 and he remains a boy when others are growing to be men4 ,those who have the wider tastes1 are deterred from talking about them by the ever present fear of side4 ,they will talk freely to a master of architecture or music or ,japanese prints1 but they are chary of betraying these enthusiasms to their fellows4 ,and masters are not free from blame3 ,i suppose we all of us sometimes bow down in the house of ,rimmon1 and when the conversation languishes at the tea-table1 fall back on a discussion of the last house match4 ,it is the line of least resistance1 and after a strenuous day's work it is not easy to maintain a monologue about ,home ,rule4 ,not the least of the boons of the war is that it has ousted games from the foremost place as a topic of conversation4 ,i have not noticed that they are less keenly played1 although the increase of military work has diminished the time given to them2 but they have ceased to monopolise the thoughts of boys4 ,the problem then of reducing the absorption in games is the problem of finding and providing other absorbing interests4 ,we cannot1 fortunately1 always have the counter-irritant of war4 ,where we fail now1 is that the intellectual training of a boy does not interest him enough in most cases to give him subjects of conversation out of school4 ,we give some few new interests by means of societies1 literary1 antiquarian or scientific4 ,but the main problem is to make every boy see that the work he does in school is connected with his life1 that it is meant to open to him the shut doors around him through which he may go out into all the highways and byways of the world4 ,do school games produce the man who regards games as the main business of life8 ,we must emphasise main4 ,it is certain that they do encourage ,englishmen to devote some part of their working life to healthy exercise--and few1 ,i suppose1 would wish them to do otherwise4 ,the ,indian civilian does not make a worse judge for playing polo1 nor is ,benin worse administered since golf-links were laid out there4 ,but there are men who never outgrow the boyish narrowness of view that games are the things that matter most4 ,these remain the ruling passion1 because no stronger passion comes to drive it out4 ,for this the schools must bear part of the blame1 for they have not taught clearly enough that athletics are a means but not an end4 ,not all the blame1 for surely some must rest on a society which tolerates the idler1 and has no reproach for the man who says ,i live only for hunting and golf4 ,and here as elsewhere1 ,i believe we are judged more by a few failures than by many successes4 ,we can all of us in our experience recall many an honest athlete who is now doing splendid service to ,church or ,state1 doughty curates1 self-sacrificing doctors1 soldiers who are real leaders of men4 ,when they became men they put away childish things1 but they have not forgotten what they owe to the discipline of their boyish games4 ,games are not the first thing in life for them now1 but they have no doubt that they can do their work better from an occasional afternoon's play4 ,they see things in their right proportion1 because they know that the first thing is to have a job and do it well4 ,if we can teach boys to begin to understand that truth while they are at school1 we shall have exorcised the bogey of athleticism4 ,i should expect to find 7though ,i do not know7 that the authorities at ,osborne and ,dartmouth do not need to bother their minds about that bogey4 ,their boys play games with all a sailor's heartiness1 but their ambition is not to be a first-class athlete1 but to be a first-class sailor1 and the games take their proper place4 ,it may be desirable to reduce the time devoted to games1 though as ,i have said ,i doubt if there is any need to do so1 except for cricket4 ,it may be that we should give more time to handicraft1 or military drill4 ,but these things will not change the spirit4 ,what we need to do is to make clearer the object of education in which athletics form a part1 that there may be more sense of reality in the boy's school time1 more understanding that he is at school to fit himself manfully and capably to play his part on the wider stage of life4 ,footnote #a3 ,c4,w4 ,saleeby1 ,parenthood and ,race ,culture1 pp4 #fb1 #fc4 ,,ix ,,the ,,use ,,of ,,leisure ,by ,j4 ,h4 ,,badley ,head ,master of ,bedales ,school ,to teach a sensible use of leisure1 healthy both for mind and body1 is by no means the least important part of education4 ,nor is it by any means the least pressing1 or the least difficult1 of school problems4 ,loafing at times that have no recognised duties assigned them1 is generally a sign of slackness in work and play as well2 and if we do not find occupation for thoughts and hands1 the rhyme tells us who will4 ,the devils of cruelty and uncleanness will be ready to enter the empty house1 and fill it at least with unwholesome talk1 and thoughtless if not ill-natured ragging4 ,yet work and games1 whatever keenness we arouse and encourage in these1 cannot fill a boy's whole time and thoughts--or1 if they do1 his life1 whether he is student or athlete1 or even the occasional combination of both1 is still a narrow one and likely to get narrower as years go by4 ,if life to the uneducated means a soulless round of labour varied by the public-house and the pictures1 so to the half-educated it is apt1 except in war time1 to mean the office and the club1 with interests that do not go beyond golf and motoring and bridge4 ,if our lives are emptier and our interests narrower than they need be1 it is partly the result of a narrow and unsatisfying education1 which leaves half our powers undeveloped and interests untouched1 and too often only succeeds in giving us a distaste for those which it touches4 ,both for the sake of the present1 therefore1 to avoid the dangers of unfilled leisure1 and still more for the sake of the future1 the wise schoolmaster does all he can to foster1 in addition to keenness in the regular work and games1 interests1 both individual and social1 of other kinds as well4 ,he will make opportunities for various handicrafts3 he will try to stimulate lines of investigation not arranged for in the class-routine2 he will encourage the formation of societies both for discussion and active pursuits1 for instruction and entertainment4 ,it is the purpose of this essay to suggest what1 along these lines1 is possible in the school4 ,but the reasons so far given for the encouragement of leisure-time interests are mainly negative4 ,in order to realise to the full the importance of this side of education1 we must look rather at their positive value4 ,from whichever point of view one looks at it1 physical1 intellectual1 or social1 this value is not small4 ,some of these interests contribute directly to health in being outdoor pursuits2 and these1 in not letting games furnish the only motive and means of exercise1 can help to establish habits and motives of no little help in later life1 when games are no longer easy to keep up4 ,and even in the years when the call of games is strongest1 some rivalry of other outdoor pursuits is useful as a preventive of absorption in athleticism1 easily carried to excess at school so as to shut out finer interests and influences4 ,it was a consciousness of this that led ,captain ,scott1 in the letter written in those last hours among the ,antarctic snows1 thinking of his boy at home1 and the education that he wished for him1 to write3 ,make the boy interested in natural history1 if you can2 it is better than games3 they encourage it in some schools4 ,besides health--and health1 we must remember1 is not only a bodily matter1 but depends on mental as well as bodily activity1 and on the enjoyment of the activity that comes from its being mainly voluntary--the pursuits that we are considering can do much to train skill of various kinds4 ,the class-work represents the minimum that we expect a boy to know2 but there is much that necessarily lies outside it of hardly less value4 ,many a boy learns as much from the hobby on which he spends his free time as from the work he does in class4 ,sometimes1 indeed1 such a free-time hobby reveals the bent that might otherwise have gone undiscovered1 and determines the choice of a special line of work for the future career4 ,but the chief value of such interests lies rather in their influence on other work1 and on the general development of character4 ,in giving scope for many kinds of skill1 they are helping the intellectual training2 and however ready we may be to pay lip-service to the principle of learning by doing1 and to admit the educational importance of the hand in brain-development1 in most of our school work we still ignore these things1 so far as any practical application of them is concerned4 ,one is sometimes tempted to wonder if in the future there may not be so complete a reaction from our present ideas and methods as to make what are now regarded as mere hobbies the main matter of education1 and to relegate much of the present school course1 as the writing of verses has already been relegated1 to the category of optional side-shows4 ,at any rate these free-time interests can supply a very useful stimulus to much of the routine work4 ,in these a boy may find himself for the first time1 and discover1 despite his experience in class1 that he is no fool4 ,or at least he may find there a centre of interest1 otherwise lacking1 round which other interests can group1 and to which knowledge obtained in various class-subjects can attach itself1 and so get for him a meaning and a use4 ,and further1 if we do not make the mistake of narrowing the range of choice1 and allow1 at any rate at first1 a succession of interests1 the very range and variety of these pursuits is an antidote against the tendency to early specialisation1 encouraged by scholarship and entrance examinations1 which is one of the dangers against which we need to be on our guard4 ,if1 therefore1 without mere dissipation of interest1 we can widen the range of mental activities and encourage1 by discussions1 essays1 lectures and so forth1 reading round and outside the subjects dealt with in class1 this is all to the good4 ,and all this has a social as well as an individual aspect4 ,the meetings for the purposes just mentioned1 as well as those for entertainment1 have1 like games1 a real educational value1 and do much to cement the comradeship of common interests and common aims that is one of the best things school has to give4 ,and not only among those of the same age4 ,these are things in which the example and influence of the older are particularly helpful to the younger4 ,they can become1 like the games1 and perhaps to an even greater extent1 one of the interests that help to bind together past and present members of a school4 ,and they afford an opportunity for masters to meet boys on a more personal and friendly footing1 and to get the mutual knowledge and respect which are all-important if education is to be1 in ,thring's definition1 a transmission of life through the living to the living4 ,that the organisation of leisure-time pursuits is of the utmost help to the school as well as to the boy1 is the unanimous verdict of the schools in which it has long been a tradition4 ,the master who has had charge1 for the past five-and-twenty years1 of this organisation in one such school writes that there they consider such pursuits as the very life-blood of the school1 and the only rational method of maintaining discipline4 ,if what has here been said is admitted1 it is plain that to teach1 by every means in our power1 the use of leisure1 is one of the most important things a school has to do4 ,we might1 therefore1 turn at once to the consideration of the various means for such teaching that experience has shown to be practicable in the school4 ,but before doing so1 there is yet another reason1 the most far-reaching of all1 to be urged for regarding this as a side of education fully as necessary1 at the present time above all1 as those sides that none would question4 ,great as is the direct and immediate value of the interests and occupations thus to be encouraged1 their indirect influence is more valuable still1 if they teach not only handiness and adaptiveness1 but also call forth initiative and individuality1 and so help to develop the complete and many-sided human personality which is the crown and purpose of education as of life4 ,we do not now think of education as merely book-learning1 nor even as concerned only with mind and body1 or only as fitting preparation for skilled work and cultured leisure2 but rather as the development of the whole human being1 with all his possibilities1 interests1 and motives1 as well as powers1 his feelings and imagination no less than reason and will4 ,in a word1 education is training for life1 with all that this connotes1 and1 as we learn to live only by living1 must be thought of not merely as preparation for life1 but as a life itself4 ,plainly1 if we give it a meaning as wide as this1 a great part of education lies outside the school1 in the influences of the home surroundings and1 after school1 of occupation and the whole social environment4 ,but during the school years--and they are the most impressionable of all--it is the school life that is for most the chief formative influence2 and now more necessarily so than ever4 ,when1 a few generations back1 life was still1 in the main1 life in the country1 and most things were still made at home or in the village1 the most important part of education lay1 except for a few1 outside the school4 ,now it is the other way4 ,town life1 the replacing of home-made by factory-made goods1 the disappearance of the best part of home life before the demands of industry on the one side and the growth of luxury on the other--these things are signs of a tendency that has swept away most of the practical home-education1 and thrown it all upon the school4 ,and the schools have even yet hardly realised the full meaning of this change4 ,instead of having to provide only a part of education--the specially intellectual and1 in the public schools at least1 the physical side--we have now to think of the whole nature of the growing boy or girl1 and1 by the environment and the occupations we provide1 to appeal to interests and motives1 and give occasion for the right use of powers1 that may otherwise be undeveloped or misused4 ,a school cannot now consist merely of class-rooms and playing fields4 ,this is recognised by the addition of laboratories and workshops1 gymnasium1 swimming-bath1 lecture-hall1 museum1 art-school1 music-rooms--all now essentials of a day school as much as of a boarding school4 ,but many of these things are still only partially made use of1 and are apt to be regarded rather as ornamental excrescences1 to be used by the few who have a special bent that way1 at an extra charge1 than as an integral part of education for all4 ,all the interests and means of training that they represent1 and others as well1 need to be brought more into the daily routine2 to some extent in place of the too exclusively literary1 or at least bookish1 training1 that has hitherto been the staple of education1 but more1 perhaps1 since it is not possible to include in the regular curriculum all that is of value1 as optional subjects and free-time occupations1 though organised as part of the school course4 ,for it is not only the few who already know their bent who need opportunity to be made for following it1 but rather those who will not discover their powers without practice1 or their interests without suggestion or encouragement4 ,in this respect the war has brought opportunities of no little value to the school1 not only in the absorbing interest in the war itself and the desire for knowledge and readiness for effort that it awakens1 but also in the demands it has made for practical work of many kinds that boys and girls can do1 and the lessons of service that it has taught4 ,work on the land and in the shops1 for those whose school time is already too short1 is a curtailment1 only to be made as a last resort1 of the kind of learning they will have no other opportunity to acquire2 but it gives to the public schoolboy the feeling of reality that most of his school work lacks4 ,such opportunities of doing what is seen to be productive and necessary work1 are1 like the making of things for those at the front1 and for the wounded1 both in themselves and in the motives that inspire them1 a valuable part of education that should not be forgotten when the present need for them is over4 ,if1 then1 by the fullest use of leisure occupations1 we are1 like ,canning1 to call in a new world to redress the balance of the old1 what1 in actual practice1 is possible in the school8 ,for an answer to this question one has only to see what is done in the schools of the ,society of ,friends1 in which the use of leisure in these ways has always been a strongly marked feature long before it was taken up by others1 with a tradition1 indeed1 in the older schools1 of sixty or a hundred years of accumulated experience behind it4 ,instead of singling out1 for description of the use it makes of leisure1 any one school in which it might be supposed that there were special conditions present1 it will be best to enumerate the various activities that have long been practised in several different schools4 ,of those selected for the purpose not all are connected with the ,society of ,friends2 some are for boys and some for girls only1 and some co-educational2 but alike in being boarding schools1 and in keeping their boys and girls from an early age until1 at the end of their school life1 they go on to the university or to their business or professional training4 ,a few of the pursuits to be mentioned are obviously more appropriate for boys1 others for girls2 but the differences between those that are followed in schools for boys and those for girls are surprisingly small1 and to give separate lists would only involve much needless repetition4 ,for the sake of clearness1 it may be well to group the various activities according as they are mainly outdoor or indoor occupations4 ,in the outdoor group1 games and sports need not be included1 as being1 in most cases1 as much a part of the ordinary school course as the class-work4 ,they only become free-time pursuits1 in the sense here intended1 in so far as practice for them is optional1 and a large amount of free time spent upon it4 ,thus1 for example1 while swimming is1 or should be1 compulsory for all1 and a regular time found for it in the school time-table1 it is entirely a voluntary matter to go in1 as in many schools a large number do1 for the tests of the ,royal ,humane ,society4 ,apart from games1 the outdoor pursuit that occupies the largest place is probably1 in most of these schools1 some branch of natural history 7which may perhaps be held to include geology as well as the study of plant and animal life7--not so much by the making of collections1 though this usually serves as a beginning1 as by the keeping of diaries1 notes of observations illustrated by drawings and photographs1 and experimental work1 in connection1 perhaps1 with work done in science classes4 ,similarly in the study of archaeology1 visits to places of interest--there are always many old churches within reach1 if not other buildings of equal interest--give matter for written notes as well as for drawings and photographs2 and in at least one case1 the fact that the neighbourhood is rich in ,roman remains has given opportunity1 under the guidance of a keen classical archaeologist1 for the laying bare of more than one ,roman villa1 and for making interesting additions to the school museum4 ,besides their use in the service of other pursuits1 sketching and photography also have many votaries for their own sake1 though the former is usually more dependent on encouragement from above4 ,then there is gardening4 ,the tenure of a plot of ground is a joy to many children2 and in the opinion of the writer1 some experience1 and some experimental work1 in the growing of the most necessary food plants1 as well as flowers1 should form part of the education of all at a certain stage1 whether in school time or in free time4 ,for some1 where the conditions are favourable1 this can be extended to the care of fruit-trees1 bees1 poultry1 and to some kinds of farm-work4 ,the needs of war-time have brought something of this into many schools1 to the real gain of education1 now and later1 if it can be retained1 at least as a possibility of choice4 ,so also with the care of the playing fields3 the more that the work needed for a game is thrown upon the players themselves1 the more does it contribute to education4 ,and so too with constructive work of any kind that1 with some help of suggestion or direction1 is within the compass even of comparatively unskilled labour4 ,a lengthy list could be given of things accomplished in this way1 with an educational value all the greater for their practical purpose1 from ,ruskin's famous road down to the last field levelled and pavilion built or shed put up1 by voluntary effort and in time found by the workers without encroaching on regular school work4 ,and lastly1 an outdoor occupation for free time which1 in the earlier days of school life1 we shall do well to encourage--both for its own value and the manifold interests that it encourages and lessons that it teaches1 and also for its bearing on questions of national service that will remain to be answered after the war--is the wide range of activities comprised in scouting1 undoubtedly one of the chief educational advances of our time4 ,whatever differences of views there may be on the wider questions of military service for national defence1 and of making military training a specific part of education1 few can deny that1 with a view to national service of some kind1 the use made by ,sir ,robert ,baden-,powell of instincts natural to all at a particular stage of growth1 by an organisation which can be kept entirely free from the failings of militarism1 is a development of the utmost educational1 as well as national1 value4 ,if a school already develops1 by other means1 all the activities trained by scouting1 and utilises in other ways the instincts and motives to which it makes appeal1 there may be little or nothing to be gained by its adoption4 ,but of how many schools can this be said8 ,for the rest it undoubtedly offers a way of doing1 at the stage of growth for which it is best fitted1 much of what1 if there is any truth in what has been urged above1 is1 from the point of view of individual development1 of greater importance now than ever before4 ,if1 in addition to this1 it will go far to solve the problem of national service1 and to remove the need for conscription in the continental form1 there is every reason to give it a prominent place in the activities encouraged1 if not insisted upon1 at school4 ,let us now turn to the group of indoor pursuits1 which1 if they have not quite so direct a bearing upon health1 are in another way even more important2 for a large part of leisure1 even at school and still more1 in all probability1 afterwards1 falls at times and under conditions that make some indoor occupation necessary1 and the waste or misuse of these times is likely to be greater4 ,in this group certain things need be no more than mentioned1 as either applying1 at any given time1 only to a few picked individuals1 or else likely1 in the majority of schools1 to be made a regular part of the school routine2 such as1 of the one kind1 the editing of the school magazine1 or membership of the school fire-brigade with the frequent practices that this involves2 or1 of the other kind1 special gymnastics 7including such things as boxing and fencing71 or lectures and concerts and other entertainments given to the school1 as distinguished from those given by members of it1 the preparation for which gives occupation beforehand to much of their leisure4 ,of the free-time pursuits more properly so called1 in which many can share1 the commonest are probably the various school societies4 ,most schools have one or more debating societies1 with meetings at regular intervals throughout the winter terms1 for the discussion of questions of general or special interest2 the difficulty being more often to find a subject than speakers4 ,many also have ,essay or ,literary societies1 for reading papers and discussing the books and writers treated of1 which involve a considerable amount of previous reading4 ,besides these most schools now have similar societies1 in addition to those for carrying out the field-work already mentioned1 for holding lectures and discussions on various branches of science4 ,some also have a musical society for gaining fuller acquaintance with the works of the chief composers2 and a dramatic society for reading and acting plays as occasion allows4 ,allied with these interests is voluntary laboratory work in some branch of science1 both by individuals and groups1 which may not unfairly be dignified with the name of research1 even if it is only the re-discovery of what has been worked out by others4 ,in some schools special provision is made for encouraging optional work of this kind in astronomy2 in others it may be wireless telegraphy1 or the use of vegetable dyes1 and so forth4 ,in some of this work even the younger can take part2 and of the many reasons for its encouragement not the least is the wide field it opens to individual initiative4 ,besides all these more specially intellectual interests1 and of still wider appeal1 various kinds of handicrafts afford abundant occupation1 some for the longer and some also for the shorter periods of leisure4 ,wood-work1 carving1 work in metal or leather1 pottery1 basket-plaiting1 bookbinding1 needlework and embroidery1 knitting1 netting hammocks and so forth--the only limit to the number of such crafts is the limit to the knowledge and energy of those who can start and direct them1 and to the space available1 as some can only be carried on in rooms reserved for such work4 ,so1 too1 with various kinds of art-work--drawing1 modelling1 lettering1 making posters for entertainments2 or music1 both individual and concerted1 orchestra practice1 part-singing1 glee-clubs and so on2 or morrice and other folk-dances1 now happily being widely revived4 ,and lastly there are indoor games1 some of which1 like chess 7cards are probably best confined to the sanatorium71 have a high training value1 and others afford a useful occasional outlet to high spirits2 and entertainments got up by some society1 or perhaps by a single form1 for the rest of the house or school1 such as a concert or play or even an occasional fancy-dress dance1 the preparation for which will happily occupy free time for as long beforehand as is allowed1 and does much to encourage ingenuity1 especially if strict conditions are imposed that all that is required must be made for the purpose and not bought4 ,but by this time many questions will have arisen in the mind of the reader1 especially if much of what has been enumerated lies outside his school experience2 questions that demand an immediate answer4 ,even if all this free-time work and play may have a certain value1 how can time be found for it without encroaching on the regular work and games which1 after all1 must be the main concern of the school8 ,and even supposing that time could be found for both1 will not all this voluntary activity and pleasure-work absorb the interests and energies that ought to be given to the more serious1 if less attractive1 studies8 ,and again1 how can all this wide range of activity be controlled8 ,who is going to teach1 or look after1 all these things8 ,how are they to be kept going8 ,are they1 or any of them1 to be compulsory1 or is a boy or girl to be allowed to do anything or nothing1 or to flit1 butterfly-fashion1 from one to another1 learning nothing except to fritter away energy in endless mental dissipation8 ,only a brief answer can be attempted to these questions4 ,it might indeed be given in the answer to the old puzzle1 solvitur ambulando2 for1 given a clear aim and common sense1 most difficulties in education disappear as one goes on4 ,it is1 in fact1 a question of educational values2 that settled1 matters of detail soon settle themselves4 ,from what has been said above1 it will be plain that the writer is one of those who think these voluntary free-time activities of such value that they are willing1 in order to make room for them1 to jettison some of the traditions that have gathered about school work and games4 ,let the morning hours be reserved for the severer kinds of class work1 but let the afternoons be mainly given to active pursuits of other kinds as well as games2 and on one of them at least let expeditions in pursuit of the outdoor interests above outlined be an alternative to the games chosen by the keen players1 or compulsory for those without an equivalent hobby4 ,then1 too1 in the evenings let preparation be varied with handicrafts 7the result will be an intellectual gain rather than loss71 and time be reserved for the meetings of societies or for entertainments4 ,it may be well to say here that while every one of the things above mentioned is an actual fact in some school1 in none1 probably1 are all attempted at once1 nor1 of course1 do any of their members take up many of these pursuits at the same time2 but it is surprising how much can be done by treating a part of some afternoons and evenings in the week as leisure time for these pursuits4 ,when this is done1 there is usually a particular member of the ,staff whose task it is1 either permanently or in rotation1 to see what is being done1 to give suggestions and encouragement to beginners1 and to see1 if necessary1 that freedom does not mean disorder4 ,naturally1 in the case of handicrafts1 others also take part as actual teachers or at least as fellow-workers2 but though it is generally helpful for members of the ,staff to join in all such work and in discussions1 the aim of it all is likely to be more fully attained if as much as possible of the organisation and direction is left to members of the school4 ,so1 too1 with the question of compulsion4 ,not all have so strong a bent as to know what they want to do1 and sometimes interests come only by actual experience4 ,it is well1 therefore1 to have an understanding that1 at certain times1 all must follow some one of the possible occupations2 but the more it can be left to the individual choice1 and the wider the range of choice1 the better for the purpose we have in view4 ,not all country rambles need have a definite object1 nor all time be actively filled that might be left for reading4 ,but without a definite object few will make a habit of walking1 or learn to know and love the country2 and not all1 especially where there is a multiplicity of other interests1 will form the habit of reading unless regular times are set apart for it1 times when books must be read and not merely magazines4 ,how far freedom of change from one occupation to another is desirable is largely an individual question4 ,the younger need to try many things before they can settle down to one1 in order to discover their real interests and to exercise their faculties4 ,but it is well to have a strict limit to the number of things that may be taken up at once1 and a fixed length of time to be given to each before it may be replaced by another4 ,with the older1 this1 as a rule1 settles itself1 on the one hand by growing interest in one or two directions1 and on the other by the increasing demands of the school work and approaching examinations4 ,it is the younger1 therefore1 who need most encouragement4 ,in schools where1 as said above1 there is a long tradition of such free-time work1 there is the less need for anything beyond suggestions and general supervision4 ,yet even in these it is found helpful to have1 at the beginning of the year1 talks upon the subject by some member of the ,staff1 or an old boy perhaps who has devoted himself to some particular branch1 in order to explain what can be done and the standard to be maintained4 ,in several of them prizes are offered every year1 either by the school or by the ,old ,scholars' ,association or by individual old scholars1 for good work in many of the categories mentioned above2 these in some schools being the only prizes given4 ,in some cases they are money prizes1 as in certain kinds of work the tools or materials used are costly2 in others the prizes are not given to individuals1 but in the form of a trophy to the form or house that shows up the best record for the term or year2 in others1 again1 the need of prizes is not felt1 but interest and keenness to maintain a good standard are kept up by the public show1 held each year1 of work done in leisure time4 ,and1 it may be added1 a great stimulus in itself is the wider freedom that can be earned by those who follow certain branches of study1 in the way1 for instance1 of expeditions1 on foot or by bicycle1 to places where they can be pursued4 ,but with all this there is1 of course1 the danger that so much energy may be absorbed in these pursuits that little is left for the ordinary school work4 ,in some few cases1 where there is a strong natural bent and the free-time pursuit is a serious object of study1 this may be a thing not to be discouraged1 as it will provide the truest means of education4 ,but in most cases care is needed to see that the due proportion is kept1 and especially that mere amusement is not allowed to occupy the whole of leisure1 still less to distract thought and effort from serious work4 ,by making entertainments1 which might1 if too frequent or too elaborate1 have this effect1 dependent on the school work being well done1 this danger can be minimised4 ,for the rest1 if free-time work is found to take the first place in a boy's thoughts1 may not this be a sign that the ordinary curriculum and methods of teaching are capable of improvement1 and that more use of these natural interests may with advantage be made in class time as well8 ,not that work of any kind can be all pleasure or always outwardly interesting2 there is plenty of hard spade-work needed in any study seriously followed1 in class or out4 ,but if in education keenness is the first essential and personality the final aim1 interest and freedom must have a larger place than is usually allowed them in the class-room if the real education is not to centre in the self-chosen and self-directed pursuits of leisure4 ,one word more4 ,it must not be supposed that all that has been described is only possible1 or only needed1 in the boarding school or only for a specially leisured class4 ,if1 as has here been urged1 these activities and interests form an integral part of education in its fullest meaning1 they are just as necessary in the day school and cannot be left to chance and the home to see to4 ,and of all the needed reforms in elementary education1 amongst the most needed is the greater utilisation of the active interests and instincts of children1 in a training that would have a wider outlook and a closer bearing1 through practical experience1 both on the work of life and the use of leisure4 ,x ,,preparation ,,for ,,practical ,,life ,by ,,sir ,j4 ,d4 ,mc,c,l,u,r,e ,head ,master of ,mill ,hill ,school ,i ,it is1 perhaps1 the chief glory of the ,ideal ,commonwealth that each and every member thereof is found in his right place4 ,his profession is also his vocation2 in it is his pride2 through it he attains to the joie de vivre2 by it he makes his contribution to the happiness of his fellows and to the welfare and progress of the ,state4 ,the contemplation of the ,ideal1 however1 would seem to be nature's anodyne for experience of the ,actual4 ,in practical life1 all attempts1 however earnest and continuous1 to realise this ideal are frustrated by one or more of many difficulties2 and though the ,millennium follows hard upon ,armageddon1 we cannot assume that in the period vaguely known as after the war these difficulties will be fewer in number or less in magnitude4 ,some of the more obvious may be briefly considered4 ,in theory1 every child is good for something2 in practice1 all efforts to discover for what some children are good prove unavailing4 ,the napkin may be shaken never so vigorously1 but the talent remains hidden4 ,in every school there are many honest fellows who seem to have no decided bent in any direction1 and who would probably do equally well1 or equally badly1 in any one of half-a-dozen different employments4 ,some of these boys are steady1 reliable1 not unduly averse from labour1 willing--even anxious--to be guided and to carry out instructions1 yet are quite unable to manifest a preference for any one kind of work4 ,others1 again1 show real enthusiasm for a business or profession1 but do not possess those qualities which are essential to success therein2 yet they are allowed to follow their supposed bent1 and spend the priceless years of adolescence in the achievement of costly failure4 ,many a promising mechanic has been spoiled by the ill-considered attempts to make a passable engineer2 and the annals of every profession abound in parallel instances of misdirected zeal4 ,in saying this1 however1 one would not wish to undervalue enthusiasm1 nor to deny that it sometimes reveals or develops latent and unsuspected talents4 ,the life-work of many is determined largely1 if not entirely1 by what may be termed family considerations4 ,there is room for a boy in the business of his father or some other relative4 ,the fitness of the boy for the particular employment is not1 as a rule1 seriously considered2 it is held1 perhaps1 to be sufficiently proved by the fact that he is his father's son4 ,he is more likely to be called upon to recognise the special dispensations of a beneficent ,providence on his behalf4 ,it is natural that a man should wish the fruits of his labour to benefit his family in the first instance1 at any rate2 and the desire to set his children well on the road of life's journey seems entirely laudable4 ,it is easy to hold what others have won1 to build on foundations which others have laid1 and to do this with all their experience and goodwill to aid him4 ,hence when the father retires he has the solid satisfaction of knowing that ,resigned unto the ,heavenly ,will1 ,his son keeps on the business still4 ,it cannot be denied that this policy is often successful2 but it is equally undeniable that it is directly responsible for the presence of many incompetent men in positions which none but the most competent should occupy4 ,there are many long-established firms hastening to decay because even they are not strong enough to withstand the disastrous consequences of successive infusions of new 7and young7 blood4 ,many1 too1 are deterred from undertaking congenial work by reason of the inadequate income to be derived therefrom1 and the unsatisfactory prospects which it presents4 ,let it suffice to mention the teaching profession1 which fails to attract in any considerable numbers the right kind of men and women4 ,a large proportion of its members did not become teachers from deliberate choice1 but1 having failed in their attempt to secure other employment1 were forced to betake themselves to the ever-open portals of the great ,refuge for the ,destitute1 and become teachers 7or1 at least1 become classified as such74 ,true there are a few prizes in the profession1 and to some of the rude donati the ,church holds out a helping hand2 but the lay members cannot look forward even to the congenial gloom of a ,colonial ,bishopric4 ,others1 again1 are attracted to employments 7for which they may have no special aptitude7 by the large salaries or profits which are to be earned therein1 often with but little trouble or previous training--or so1 at least1 they believe4 ,the idea of vocation is quite obscured1 and a man's occupation is in effect the shortest distance from poverty which he cannot endure1 to wealth and leisure which he may not know how to use4 ,it frequently happens1 too1 that a young man is unable to afford either the time or the expense necessary to qualify for the profession which he desires to enter1 and for which he is well adapted by his talents and temperament4 ,not a few prefer in such circumstances to play for safety1 and secure a post in the ,civil ,service4 ,it is plain from such considerations as these that all attempts to realise the ,utopian ideal must needs be1 for the present at least1 but very partially successful4 ,politics are not the only sphere in which action is one long second-best4 ,even if it were possible at the present time to train each youth for that calling which his own gifts and temperament1 or the reasoned judgment of his parents1 selected as his life-work1 it is very far from certain that he would ultimately find himself engaged therein4 ,english institutions are largely based on the doctrine of individual liberty1 and those statutes which establish or safeguard individual rights are not unjustly regarded as the bulwarks of the ,constitution4 ,but the inalienable right of a father to choose a profession for his son1 or of the son to choose one for himself1 is often exercised without any real inquiry into the conditions of success in the profession selected4 ,hence the frequent complaints about the overcrowding of the professions either in certain localities or in the country at large4 ,the ,bar affords a glaring example4 ,there be many which are bred unto the law1 yet is the law not bread unto them4 ,the number of recruits which any one branch of industry requires in a single year is not constant1 and1 in some cases1 is subject to great fluctuations2 yet there are few or no statistics available for the guidance of those who are specially concerned with that branch1 or who are considering the desirability of entering it4 ,the establishment of ,employment ,exchanges is a tacit admission of the need of such statistics1 and--though less certainly--of the duty of the ,government to provide them4 ,yet even if they were provided it seems beyond dispute that1 in the absence of strong pressure or compulsion from the ,state1 the choice of individuals would not always be in accordance with the national needs4 ,the entry to certain professions--for instance that of medicine--is most properly safeguarded by regulations and restrictions imposed by bodies to which the ,state has delegated certain powers and duties4 ,it may happen that in one of these professions the number of members is greatly in excess1 or falls far short of the national requirements2 yet neither ,state nor ,professional ,council has power to refuse admission to any duly qualified candidate1 or to compel certain selected people to undergo the training necessary for qualification4 ,it is quite conceivable1 however1 that circumstances might arise which would render such action not merely desirable but absolutely essential to the national well-being2 indeed it is at least arguable that such circumstances have already arisen4 ,the popular doctrine of the early ,victorian era1 that the welfare of the community could best be secured by allowing every man to seek his own interests in the way chosen by himself1 has been greatly modified or wholly abandoned4 ,so far are we from believing that national efficiency is to be attained by individual liberty that some are in real danger of regarding the two as essentially antagonistic4 ,the nation1 as a whole1 supported the ,legislature in the establishment of compulsory military service2 it did so without enthusiasm and only because of the general conviction that such a policy was demanded by the magnitude of the issues at stake4 ,britons have always been ready1 even eager1 to give their lives for their country2 but1 even now1 most of them prefer that the obligation to do so should be a moral1 rather than a legal one4 ,the doctrine of individual liberty implies the minimum of ,state interference4 ,hence there is no country in the world where so much has been left to individual initiative and voluntary effort as in ,england2 and1 though of late the number of ,government officials has greatly increased1 it still remains true that an enormous amount of important work1 of a kind which is elsewhere done by salaried servants of the ,state1 is in the hands of voluntary associations or of men who1 though appointed or recognised by the ,state1 receive no salary for their services4 ,nor can it be denied that the work has been1 on the whole1 well done4 ,a traditional practice of such a kind cannot be 7and ought not to be7 abandoned at once or without careful consideration2 yet the changed conditions of domestic and international politics render some modification necessary4 ,if the ,legislature has protected the purchaser--in spite of the doctrine of caveat emptor--by enactments against adulteration of food1 and has in addition1 created machinery to enforce those enactments1 are not we justified in asking that it shall also protect us against incompetence1 especially in cases where the effects1 though not so obvious1 are even more harmful to the community than those which spring from impure food8 ,the prevention of overcrowding in occupations would seem to be the business of the ,state quite as much as is the prevention of overcrowding in dwelling-houses and factories4 ,the best interests of the nation demand that the entrance to the teaching profession--to take one example out of many--should be safeguarded at least as carefully as the entrance to medicine or law4 ,the supreme importance of the functions exercised by teachers is far from being generally realised1 even by teachers themselves2 yet upon the effective realisation of that importance the future welfare of the nation largely depends4 ,doubtless most of us would prefer that the supply of teachers should be maintained by voluntary enlistment1 and that their training should be undertaken1 like that of medical students1 by institutions which owe their origin to private or public beneficence rather than to the ,state2 nevertheless1 the obligation to secure adequate numbers of suitable candidates and to provide for their professional training rests ultimately on the ,state4 ,the obligation has been partially recognised as far as elementary education is concerned1 but it is by no means confined to that branch4 ,it is well to realise at this point that the efficient discharge of the duty thus imposed will of necessity involve a much greater degree of compulsion on both teachers and pupils than has hitherto been employed4 ,the terrible spectacle of the unutilised resources of humanity1 which everywhere confronts us in the larger relations of our national life1 has been responsible for certain tentatives which have either failed altogether to achieve their object1 or have been but partially successful4 ,much has been heard of the educational ladder--incidentally it may be noted that the educational sieve is equally necessary1 though not equally popular--and some attempts have been made to enable a boy or girl of parts to climb from the elementary school to the university without excessive difficulty4 ,to supplement the glaring deficiencies of elementary education a few--ridiculously few--continuation schools have been established4 ,that these and similar measures have failed of success is largely due to the fact that the ,state has been content to provide facilities1 but has refrained from exercising that degree of compulsion which alone could ensure that they would be utilised by those for whose benefit they were created4 ,such continuation schools as ,england possesses1 says a ,german critic1 are without the indispensable condition of compulsion4 ,the reforms recently outlined by the ,president of the ,board of ,education show that he1 at any rate1 admits the criticism to be well grounded4 ,a system which compels a child to attend school until he is fourteen and then leaves him to his own resources can do little to create1 and less to satisfy1 a thirst for knowledge4 ,during the most critical years of his life--fourteen to eighteen--he is left without guidance1 without discipline1 without ideals1 often without even the desire of remembering or using the little he knows4 ,he is led1 as it were1 to the threshold of the temple1 but the fast-closed door forbids him to enter and behold the glories of the interior4 ,year by year there is an appalling waste of good human material2 and thousands of those whom nature intended to be captains of industry are relegated1 in consequence of undeveloped or imperfectly trained capacity1 to the ranks1 or become hewers of wood and drawers of water4 ,many drift with other groups of human wastage to the unemployed1 thence to the unemployable1 and so to the gutter and the grave4 ,the poor we have always with us2 but the wastrel--like the pauper--is a work of art1 the creation of wasteful sympathy and legislative inefficiency4 ,we must be careful1 however1 in speaking of the ,state to avoid the error of supposing that it is a divinely appointed entity1 endowed with power and wisdom from on high4 ,it is1 in short1 the nation in miniature4 ,even if the ,legislature were composed exclusively of the highest wisdom1 the most enlightened patriotism in the country1 its enactments must needs fall short of its own standards1 and be but little in advance of those of the average of the nation4 ,it must still acknowledge with ,solon4 ,these are not the best laws ,i could make1 but they are the best which my nation is fitted to receive4 ,we cannot blame the ,state without1 in fact1 condemning ourselves4 ,the absence of any widespread enthusiasm for education1 or appreciation of its possibilities2 the claims of vested interests2 the exigencies of ,party ,government2 and1 above all1 the murderous tenacity of individual rights have proved well-nigh insuperable obstacles in the path of true educational reform4 ,on the whole we have received as good laws as we have deserved4 ,the changed conditions due to the war1 and the changed temper of the nation afford a unique opportunity for wiser counsels1 and--to some extent--guarantee that they shall receive careful and sympathetic consideration4 ,it may be objected1 however1 that in taking the teaching profession to exemplify the duty of the ,state to assume responsibility for both individual and community1 we have chosen a case which is exceptional rather than typical2 that many1 perhaps most1 of the other vocations may be safely left to themselves1 or1 at least left to develop along their own lines with the minimum of ,state interference4 ,it cannot be denied that there is force in these objections4 ,it should suffice1 however1 to remark that1 if the duty of the ,state to secure the efficiency of its members in their several callings be admitted1 the question of the extent to which1 and the manner in which control is exercised is one of detail rather than of principle1 and may therefore be settled by the common sense and practical experience of the parties chiefly concerned4 ,a much more difficult problem is sure to arise1 sooner or later1 in connection with the utilisation of efficients4 ,some few years ago the present ,prime ,minister called attention to the waste of power involved in the training of the rich4 ,they receive1 he said1 the best that money can buy2 their bodies and brains are disciplined2 and then they devote themselves to a life of idleness4 ,it is a stupid waste of first-class material4 ,instead of contributing to the work of the world1 they kill their time by tearing along roads at perilous speed1 or do nothing at enormous expense4 ,it has needed the bloodiest war in history to reveal the splendid heroism latent in young men of this class4 ,who can withhold from them gratitude1 honour1 nay even reverence8 ,but the problem still remains how are the priceless qualities1 which have been so freely devoted to the national welfare on the battlefield1 to be utilised for the greater works of peace which await us8 ,are we to recognise the right to be idle as well as the right to work8 ,is there to be a kind of second ,thellusson ,act1 directed against accumulations of leisure8 ,or are we to attempt the discovery of some great principle of ,conservation of ,spiritual ,energy1 by the application of which these men may make a contribution worthy of themselves to the national life and character8 ,who can answer8 ,but though it is freely admitted on all hands that some check upon aggressive individualism is imperatively necessary1 and that it is no longer possible to rely entirely upon voluntary organisations however useful1 there are not a few of our countrymen who view with grave concern any increase in the power and authority of the ,state4 ,they point out that such increase tends inevitably towards the despotism of an oligarchy1 and that such a despotism1 however benevolent in its inception1 ruthlessly sacrifices individual interests and liberty to the real or supposed good of the ,state2 that even where constitutional forms remain the spirit which animated them has departed2 that officialism and bureaucracy with their attendant evils become supreme1 and that the national character steadily deteriorates4 ,they warn us that we may pay too high a price even for organisation and efficiency2 and1 though it is natural that we should admire certain qualities which we do not possess1 we ought not to overlook the fact that those methods which have produced the most perfect national organisation in the history of the world are also responsible for orgies of brutality without parallel among civilised peoples4 ,that such warnings are needful cannot be doubted2 but may it not be urged that they indicate dangers incident to a course of action rather than the inevitable consequences thereof8 ,in adapting ourselves to new conditions we must needs take risks4 ,no ,british ,government could stamp out voluntaryism even if it wished to do so2 and none has yet manifested any such desire4 ,the nation does not want that kind of national unity of which ,germany is so proud1 and which seems so admirably adapted to her needs2 for the ,english character and genius rest upon a conception of freedom which renders such a unity foreign and even repulsive to its temper4 ,whatever be the changes which lie before us1 the worship of the ,state is the one form of idolatry into which the ,british people are least likely to fall4 ,,ii ,the recent adaptation of factories and workshops to the production of war material is only typical of what goes on year by year in peace time1 though1 of course1 to a less degree and in less dramatic fashion4 ,not only are men constantly adapting themselves and their machinery to changed conditions of production1 but they are applying the experience and skill gained in the pursuit of one occupation to the problems of another for which it has been exchanged4 ,the comparative ease with which this is done is evidence of the widespread existence of that gift which our enemies call the power of muddling through1 but which has been termed--without wholly sacrificing truth to politeness--the concurrent adaptability to environment4 ,the ,british sailor as handy man has few equals and no superiors1 and he is1 in some sort1 typical of the nation4 ,the testimony of ,thucydides to ,themistocles 7,greek3 kratistos d oytos aytoschediazein ta deonta egeneto7 might with equal or even greater truth be applied to many ,englishmen to-day4 ,as this power ,greek3 aytoschediazein ta deonta in the present war saved the ,allies from defeat at the outset1 so we hope and believe it will carry them on to victory at the last4 ,yet it becomes a snare if it leads its possessor to neglect preparation or despise organisation1 for neither of which can it ever be an entirely satisfactory substitute1 albeit a very costly one4 ,at the same time we should recognise that any system of training which seriously impairs this power tends to deprive us of one of the most valuable of our national assets4 ,it follows that1 for the majority at least1 exclusive or excessive specialisation in training--vocational or otherwise--so far from being an advantage1 is a positive drawback2 for1 as we have seen1 a large proportion of our youth manifest no marked bent in any particular direction1 and of those who do but a small proportion are capable of that hypertrophy which the highest specialisation demands4 ,it is important to remember that1 though school life is a preparation for practical life1 vocational education ought not to begin until a comparatively late stage in a boy's career1 if indeed it begins at all while he remains at school4 ,on this it would seem that all professional bodies are agreed2 for the entrance examinations1 which they have accepted or established are all framed to test a boy's general education and not his knowledge of the special subjects to which he will afterwards devote himself4 ,the evils of premature specialisation are too well known to require even enumeration1 and they are increased rather than diminished if that premature specialisation is vocational4 ,the importance of technical training as the means whereby a man is enabled rightly to use the hours of work can hardly be exaggerated2 but the value of his work1 his worth to his fellows1 and his rank in the scale of manhood depend1 to at least an equal degree1 upon the way in which he uses the hours of leisure4 ,it is one of the greatest of the many functions of a good school to train its members to a wise use of leisure2 and though this is not always achieved by direct means the result is none the less valuable4 ,in every calling there must needs be much of what can only be to all save its most enthusiastic devotees--and1 at times1 even to them--dull routine and drudgery4 ,a man cannot do his best1 or be his best1 unless he is able to overcome the paralysing influences thus brought to bear upon him by securing mental and spiritual freshness and stimulus2 in other words his inward man must be renewed day by day4 ,there are many agencies which may contribute to such a result2 but school memories1 school friendships1 school interests take a foremost place among them4 ,many boys by the time they leave school have developed an interest or hobby--literary1 scientific or practical2 and the hobby has an ethical1 as well as an economic value4 ,nor is this all4 ,excessive devotion to ,bread ,studies1 whether voluntary or compulsory1 tends to make a man's vocation the prison of his soul4 ,professor ,eucken recently told his countrymen that the greater their perfection in work grew1 the smaller grew their souls4 ,any rational interest1 therefore1 which helps a man to shake off his fetters1 helps also to preserve his humanity and to keep him in touch with his fellows4 ,dr ,a4,c4 ,benson tells of a distinguished ,frenchman who remarked to him1 ,in ,france a boy goes to school or college1 and perhaps does his best4 ,but he does not get the sort of passion for the honour and prosperity of his school or college which you ,english seem to feel4 ,it is this wondrous faculty of inspiring unselfish devotion which makes our schools the spiritual power-houses of the nation4 ,this love for an abstraction1 which even the dullest boys feel1 is the beginning of much that makes ,english life sweet and pure4 ,it is the same spirit which1 in later years1 moves men to do such splendid voluntary work for their church1 their town1 their country1 and even in some cases leads them to take the whole world for their parish4 ,however much we may strive to reach the beautiful ,montessori ideal1 the fact remains that there must be some lessons1 some duties1 which the pupil heartily dislikes and would gladly avoid if he could2 but they must be done promptly and satisfactorily1 and1 if not cheerfully1 at least without audible murmuring4 ,eventually he may1 and often does1 come to like them2 at any rate he realises that they are not set before him in order to irritate or punish him1 but as part of his school training4 ,it will be agreed that the acquirement of a habit of doing distasteful things1 even under compulsion1 because they are part of one's duty is no bad preparation for a life in which most days bring their quota of unpleasant duties which cannot be avoided1 delegated1 or postponed4 ,at the present time1 however1 there is a real danger--in some quarters at least--of unduly emphasising the specifically vocational1 or practical side of education4 ,the man of affairs knows little or nothing of young minds and their limitations1 of the conditions under which teaching is done1 or of the educational values of the various studies in a school curriculum4 ,he is prone to choose subjects chiefly or solely because of their immediate practical utility4 ,thus in his view the chief reason for learning a modern language is that business communications will thereby be facilitated4 ,one could wish that he would be content to indicate the end which he has in view1 and which he sees clearly1 and leave the means of obtaining it to the judgment and experience of the teacher2 for in education1 as in other spheres of action1 the obvious way is rarely the right way1 and very often the way of disaster4 ,yet it is a distinct gain to have the practical man brought into the administration of educational affairs2 for teachers are1 as a rule1 too little in contact with the world of commerce to know much of the needs and ideas of business men4 ,the ,board of ,education has already established a ,consultative ,committee of ,educationists4 ,why should not a similar standing ,committee1 consisting of representatives of the ,chambers of ,commerce of the country be also appointed8 ,such a ,committee could render1 as could no other body1 invaluable service to the cause of education4 ,from a recent article by ,professor ,leacock we learn that some twenty years ago there was a considerable change in the ,canadian schools and universities4 ,the railroad magnate1 the corporation manager1 the promoter1 the multiform director1 and all the rest of the group known as captains of industry1 began to besiege the universities clamouring for practical training for their sons4 ,mr ,leacock tells of a great and famous ,canadian public school1 which he attended1 at which practical banking was taught so resolutely that they had wire gratings and little wickets1 books labelled with the utmost correctness1 and all manner of real-looking things4 ,it all came to an end1 and now it appears that in ,canada they are beginning to find that the great thing is to give a schoolboy a mind that will do anything2 when the time comes you will train your banker in a bank4 ,it may be that everybody has not recognised this1 and that the railroad magnates and the rest of them are not yet fully convinced2 but ,mr ,leacock declares that the most successful schools of commerce will not now attempt to teach the mechanism of business1 because the solid1 orthodox studies of the university programme1 taken in suitable1 selective groups1 offer the most practical training in regard to intellectual equipment1 that the world has yet devised4 ,to the same purport is the evidence given by ,mr ,h4,a4 ,roberts1 ,secretary of the ,cambridge ,appointments ,board 7see ,minutes of ,evidence taken before the ,royal ,commission on the ,civil ,service1 #bbnd ,november #aiab-acth ,december #aiab1 pp4 #ff-gc74 ,the whole of this testimony deserves careful study4 ,for some few years past the heads of the great business firms1 in this country and abroad1 have been applying in ever increasing numbers to ,cambridge 7and to ,oxford also1 though in this case statistics do not appear to be available7 for men to take charge of departments and agencies2 to become1 in fact1 captains of industry4 ,in the year before the war 7#aiac-ad7 about #ace men were transferred from ,cambridge ,university to commercial posts through the agency of the ,board#a4 ,one might naturally suppose that the majority of these were science men2 on the contrary1 owing no doubt to the greater number of other posts open to them1 they were fewer than might have been expected4 ,graduates from every ,tripos are found in the #ace in numbers roughly proportional to the numbers in the various ,tripos lists4 ,shortly before the war an advertisement of an important managership of some works--in ,south ,america1 if ,i remember rightly--ended with the intimation that1 other things being equal1 preference would be given to a man who had taken a good degree in ,classical ,honours4 ,that most of such men are successful in their occupations might be deemed to be proved by the steady increase in the number of applications made for their services4 ,there is1 however1 more definite evidence available4 ,a member of one of the largest business firms in the country testified to the same ,royal ,commission that of the #df ,cambridge men who had been taken into his employment during the previous seven years #dc had done excellently well1 two had left before their probationary period was ended to take up other work2 and one only had proved unsatisfactory4 ,this evidence could easily be supplemented did space permit4 ,it is clear1 then1 that in many callings what is wanted--to begin with1 at any rate--is not so much technical knowledge as trained intelligence4 ,another reason for thus choosing university men is not difficult to discover4 ,when ,mr ,w4,l4 ,hichens 7,chairman of ,cammell1 ,laird and ,co47 addressed the ,incorporated ,association of ,headmasters in ,january last he declared that in choosing university graduates for business he looked out for the man who might have got a ,first in ,greats or history1 if he had worked--a man who had other interests as well1 who was ,president of the ,common ,room1 who had been pleasant in the ,common ,room1 or on the river1 or rowed in his college ,eight1 or had done something else which showed that he could get on with his fellow-men4 ,in business getting on means getting on with men4 ,the experience of ,mr ,hichens is so valuable that ,i cannot do better than quote further4 ,a big industrial organisation such as my firm1 has1 or should have three main sub-divisions--the manufacturing branch1 the commercial branch1 and the research or laboratory branch4444 ,i will not deal with the rank and file1 but with the better educated apprentices1 who expect to rise to positions of responsibility4 ,on the workshop side1 we prefer that the lads should come to us between sixteen and seventeen1 and1 if possible 7after serving an apprenticeship in the shops and drawing office71 that they should then go to a university and take an engineering course4 ,on the commercial side also we prefer to get the boys between sixteen and seventeen4 ,we have recently1 however1 reserved a limited number of vacancies for university men4 ,the research department also is1 in the main1 recruited from university men4 ,but there is this difference1 that1 whereas the research men should have received a scientific training at the university we require no specialised education in the case of university men joining the commercial side4 ,specialised education at school is of no practical value4 ,there is ample time after a boy has started business to acquire all the technical knowledge that his brain is capable of assimilating4 ,what we want when we take a boy is to assure ourselves that he has ability and moral strength of character1 and ,i submit that the true function of education is to teach him how to learn and how to live--not how to make a living4 ,we are interested naturally to know that a boy has an aptitude for languages or mathematics1 but it is immaterial to us whether he has acquired his aptitude1 say for learning languages1 through learning ,latin and ,greek or ,french and ,german4 ,the educational value is paramount1 the vocational negligible4 ,if1 therefore1 modern languages are taught because they will be useful in later life1 while ,latin and ,greek are omitted because they have no practical use1 although their educational value may be greater1 you will be bartering away the boy's rightful heritage of knowledge for a mess of pottage4 ,there are doubtless many different opinions as to the best way of training boys to become engineers1 and in giving the results of his experience ,mr ,hichens does not claim that he is voicing the unanimous and well-considered judgments of the whole profession4 ,his statement that specialised education at school is of no practical value to us would certainly be challenged by those schools which possess a strong1 well-organised engineering side for their elder boys4 ,but there would be substantial unanimity--begotten of long and often bitter experience--in favour of his plea that a sound general education up to the age of sixteen or seventeen at any rate1 is an indispensable condition of satisfactory vocational training4 ,i venture to think1 says ,mr ,hichens1 that the tendency of modern education is often in the wrong direction--that too little attention is given to the foundations which lie buried out of sight1 below the ground1 and too much to a showy superstructure4 ,we pay too much heed to the parents who want an immediate return in kind on their money1 and forget that education consists in tilling the ground and sowing the seed--forget1 too1 that the seed must grow of itself4 ,it would appear from what has already been said that though the necessity for vocational training exists in most1 if not in all cases1 the time in a boy's life at which such training ought to begin is far from being the same for all callings4 ,even where there is general agreement as to the normal age1 exceptional circumstances or exceptional ability may justify the postponement of vocational instruction to a much later period than would usually be desirable4 ,thus the fact that two of the most distinguished members of the medical profession graduated as ,senior ,wrangler and ,senior ,classic respectively1 will not justify the average medical student in waiting until he is twenty-three before commencing his professional training4 ,if it be true that in some quarters specialised education has been demanded for young boys1 it is equally true that many youths pass through school and enter the university without any clear idea of whither they are tending4 ,this uncertainty may be due to a belief that something is sure to turn up1 to the magnitude of their allowances and the ease of their circumstances1 occasionally1 perhaps1 to excessive timidity or underestimation of their powers2 but1 from whatever cause it springs1 such an attitude of mind is deplorable in itself1 and fraught with grave moral dangers4 ,it ought to be possible in the case of a boy of sixteen or seventeen to say with some approach to certainty1 for what employments he is quite unsuitable1 and to indicate the general direction1 at least1 in which he should seek his life-work4 ,the onus of choice is too often laid upon the boy himself2 and the form in which the question is put--,what would you like to be8--makes him the judge not only of his own desires and abilities1 but also of the conditions of callings with which he can1 at best1 be but imperfectly acquainted4 ,there is here fine scope for the co-operation of parents and teachers not only with each other but with the various professional and business organisations4 ,it is generally supposed to be the duty of a head master to observe and study the boys committed to his care4 ,it is equally important that he should extend that study and observation to their parents--as an act of justice to the boys1 if for no other reason4 ,but there are other reasons4 ,there is knowledge to be gotten from every parent--or at least from every father--about his profession or business--knowledge which1 as a rule1 he is quite willing to impart4 ,if1 in addition1 a head master avails himself of the opportunities of getting into touch with men of affairs1 leaders of commerce1 professional men of all kinds1 his advice to parents as to suitable careers for their sons becomes enormously more valuable4 ,at the very least he may save them from some of the more flagrant forms of error2 for instance1 he may convince them that there are other and more valuable indications of fitness for engineering than the ability to take a bicycle to pieces1 and a desire to see the wheels go round2 and that a boy who is good at sums will not1 of necessity1 make a good accountant4 ,in short1 he may prevent them from mistaking a hobby for a vocation4 ,footnote #a3 ,in this connection it may be noted that #dc per cent4 of the members of ,trinity ,college--where the normal number of undergraduates in residence is over #fjj--on leaving the university devote themselves to business4 ,,iii ,it ought to be clearly stated that in writing of schools ,i have had in mind those which are usually known as public schools2 for in the general preparation for practical life the public school boy enjoys many advantages which do not fall to the lot of his less-favoured brother in the elementary school4 ,not only does his education continue for some years longer1 but it is conducted along broader lines1 and gives him a greater variety of knowledge and a wider outlook4 ,he comes1 too1 as a rule1 from those classes of the community in which there are long standing traditions of discipline1 culture1 and what may be called the spirit of noblesse oblige4 ,these traditions do not1 of themselves1 keep him from folly1 idleness1 or even vice2 but they do help him to endure hardship1 to submit to authority1 to cultivate the corporate spirit1 to maintain certain standards of schoolboy honour1 and1 as he himself would say1 to play the game4 ,though in the class-room it may be that appeals are largely made to individualism and selfishness1 yet on the playing fields he learns something of the value of co-operation and the virtue of unselfishness4 ,from the very first he begins to develop a sense of civic and collective responsibility1 and1 in his later years at school1 he finds that as a prefect or monitor he has a direct share in the government of the community of which he is a member1 and a direct responsibility for its welfare4 ,nor does this sense of corporate life die out when he leaves1 for then the ,old ,boys' ,association claims him1 and adds a new interest to the past1 while maintaining the old inspiration for the future4 ,with the elementary school boy it is not so4 ,to him1 as to his parents1 the primal curse is painfully real3 work is the sole and not always effectual means of warding off starvation4 ,he realises that as soon as the law permits he is to be turned into money and must needs become a wage-earner4 ,as a contributor to the family exchequer he claims a voice in his own government1 and resists all the attempts of parents1 masters1 or the ,state itself to encroach upon his liberty4 ,he begins work with both mind and body immature and ill-trained4 ,there has been little to teach him esprit de corps2 he has never felt the sobering influence of responsibility2 the only discipline he has experienced is that of the class-room1 for the ,o4,t4,c4 and organised games are to him unknown2 and when he leaves there is very rarely any ,association of ,old ,boys to keep him in touch with his fellows or the school4 ,here and there voluntary organisations such as the ,boy ,scouts have done something--though little--to improve his lot2 but1 in the main1 the evils are untouched4 ,to find the remedy for them is not the least of the many great problems of the future4 ,the improvement of any one branch of industry ultimately means the improvement of those engaged therein4 ,scientific agriculture1 for example1 is hardly possible until we have scientific agriculturists4 ,in like manner real success in practical life depends on the temper and character of the practitioner even more than upon his technical equipment4 ,there are1 however1 three great obstacles to the progress of the nation as a whole1 obstacles which can only be removed very gradually1 and by the continuous action of many moral forces4 ,we are far too little concerned with intellectual interests4 ,no nation1 ,i imagine1 says ,mr ,temple1 has ever gone so far as ,england in its neglect of and contempt for the intellect4 ,if goodness of character means the capacity to serve our nation as useful citizens1 it is unobtainable by any one who is content to let his mind slumber4 ,then again we suffer from the low ideal which leads us to worship success4 ,from his earliest years a boy learns from his surroundings1 if not by actual precept1 to strive not so much to be something as somebody4 ,the love of power rather than fame may be the last infirmity of noble minds1 but it is probably the first infirmity of many ignoble ones4 ,herein lies the justification of the criticism of a friendly alien4 ,you pride yourselves on your incorruptibility1 and quite rightly2 for in ,england there is probably less actual bribery by means of money than in any other country4 ,but you can all be bribed by power4 ,lastly 7to quote ,mr ,hichens yet once more71 ,strong pressure is being brought to bear to commercialise our education1 to make it a paying proposition1 to make it subservient to the ,god of ,wealth and thus convert us into a money-making mob4 ,ruskin has said that 'no nation can last that has made a mob of itself4' ,above all a nation cannot last as a money-making mob4 ,it cannot with impunity--it cannot with existence--go on despising literature1 despising science1 despising art1 despising nature1 despising compassion1 and concentrating its soul on pence4 ,,xi ,,teaching ,,as ,a ,,profession ,by ,,frank ,,roscoe ,secretary of the ,teachers ,registration ,council ,the title of this chapter is prophetic rather than descriptive for although teachers often claim for their work a professional status and find their claim recognised by the common use of the phrase teaching profession yet it must be admitted that teachers do not form a true professional body4 ,they include in their ranks instructors of all types1 from the university professor to the private teacher or professor of music4 ,their terms of engagement and rate of remuneration exhibit every possible variety4 ,their fitness to undertake the work of teaching is not tested specifically1 save in the case of certain classes of teachers in public elementary schools1 nor is there any general agreement as to the proper nature and scope of such a test1 could one be devised4 ,usually1 it is true1 the prospective employer demands evidence that the intending teacher has some knowledge of the subject he is to teach4 ,he may seek to satisfy himself that the applicant has other desirable qualities1 personal and physical1 which will fit him to take an active and useful part in school work4 ,these inquiries1 however1 will have little or no reference to his skill in teaching1 apart from what is called discipline or form management4 ,the characteristics of a true profession are not easily defined1 but it may be assumed that they include the existence of a body of scientific principles as the foundation of the work and the exercise of some measure of control by the profession itself in regard to the qualifications of those who seek to enter its ranks4 ,taken together1 these two characteristics may be said to mark off a true profession from a business or trade4 ,the skilled craftsman or artisan may belong to a union which seeks to control the entrance to its ranks1 but the difference between the member of the ,amalgamated ,society of ,engineers and the member of the ,institution of ,mechanical ,engineers is that the former belongs to a body chiefly concerned with the application of certain methods while the latter belongs to one which is concerned with those methods1 not only in their application but also in their origin and development4 ,it is recognised that there is a body of scientific knowledge underlying the practice of engineering1 and the various professional institutions of engineers seek to extend this knowledge1 while claiming also the right to ascertain the qualifications of those who desire to become members of their profession4 ,the same is true in different ways with regard to the professions of law and medicine4 ,it is to be noted also that within these professions the admitted member is on a footing of equality with all his colleagues save only so far as his professional skill and eminence entitle him to special consideration4 ,it will be seen at once that there are great difficulties to be overcome before teaching can be truly described as a profession4 ,the diversity of the work is so great that it may be held that teaching is not one calling but a blend of many4 ,it is difficult to find any common link between the university professor1 the head master of a great public school1 an instructor in physical training1 and a kindergarten teacher4 ,it is not easy to bring together the head master of a preparatory school1 working in complete independence1 and the head master of a public elementary school1 dealing with pupils of about the same age as those in the preparatory school1 but controlled and directed by an elected public authority under the general supervision of the ,board of ,education4 ,yet despite these apparent divergences of aim all teachers may be regarded as pursuing the same end4 ,they are engaged in bringing to bear upon their pupils certain formal and purposeful influences with the object of enabling them to play their part in the business of life4 ,such formal influences are seconded by countless informal ones4 ,school and university alone do not make the complete man and it is an important part of the teacher's task to second his direct and purposeful teaching by the influence of his own personality and conduct1 and by securing that the form or school is in harmony with the general aim of his work4 ,skill in imparting instruction is by no means the whole of the equipment required by a teacher4 ,it is indeed possible to give a good lesson or a series of good lessons and yet to fail in the real work of teaching4 ,in some branches far too much stress has been laid on the more purely technical and mechanical attributes of good teaching as distinct from the finer and more permanent qualities such as intellectual stimulus1 the awakening of a spirit of inquiry1 and the development of a true corporate sense4 ,by way of excuse it may be said that teaching has tended to become a form of drill chiefly in those schools where the classes have been too large to permit of anything better than rigid discipline and a constant attention to the learning of facts4 ,teachers in such circumstances are gravely handicapped in all the more enduring and important parts of their work4 ,very large schools and classes of an unwieldy size tend to turn the teacher into a mere drill sergeant4 ,while full provision should always be made for the exercise of the teacher's individuality there must be sought some unifying principle in all forms of teaching work4 ,unless it is agreed that the imparting of instruction demands special skill as distinct from knowledge of the subject-matter we shall be driven to accept the view that the teacher1 as such1 deserves no more consideration than any casual worker4 ,no claim to rank as a profession can be maintained on behalf of teachers if it is held that their work may be undertaken with no more preparation than is involved in the study of the subject or subjects they purpose to teach4 ,a true profession implies a mystery or at least an art or craft and some knowledge of this would seem to be essential for teachers if they are to have professional status4 ,the difficulty in this connection is that the principles of teaching have not yet been worked out satisfactorily4 ,our knowledge of the operations of the mind develops very slowly and those who carry out investigations in this field of research are few in number4 ,their conclusions are not necessarily related to teaching practice but cover a wider field4 ,the study of applied psychology with special reference to the work of the teacher needs to be encouraged since it will serve to enlarge that body of scientific principle which should form the basis of teaching work4 ,it is by no means necessary1 or even desirable1 that teachers should be expected to spend their time in psychological research4 ,their business is to teach and this requires that they should devote themselves to applying in practice the truths ascertained and verified by the psychologists4 ,for this purpose it will be necessary that they should know something of the method by which these truths are sought and proved4 ,it is also an advantage for teachers to learn something of the history of education1 not as a series of biographies of so-called ,great ,educators but rather with the object of learning what has been suggested and attempted in former times4 ,such a knowledge furnishes the teacher with the necessary power to deal with new proposals and with the many systems and methods which are continually arising4 ,instead of becoming an eager advocate of every novelty or adopting an attitude of indiscriminate scepticism he will be in some measure able to estimate the true merit of new proposals1 and his knowledge of mental operations will serve as an aid in judging whether they have any germ of sound principle4 ,the alternative plan of leaving the teacher to learn his craft solely by practice often has the result of confining him too closely to narrow and stereotyped methods1 based either on the imperfect recollection of his own schooldays1 or on the method of some other teacher4 ,imitation is cramping and serves to destroy the qualities of initiative and adaptability which are indispensable to success in teaching4 ,it will be noted that no extravagant demand is put forward on behalf of what is called training in teaching4 ,the methods of training hitherto practised have been based too frequently on the assumption that it is possible to fashion a teacher from the outside1 as it were1 by causing him to attend lectures on psychology and teaching method and to hear a course of demonstration lessons4 ,this plan may fail completely since it is possible to write excellent examination answers on the subjects named and even to give a prepared lesson reasonably well without being fitted to undertake the charge of a form4 ,it should be recognised that the practice of teaching can be acquired only in the class-room under conditions which are normal and therefore entirely different from those existing in the practising school of a training college4 ,when this truth is fully apprehended we may expect to find that the young teacher is required to spend his first year in a school where the head master and one or more members of the regular staff are qualified to guide his early efforts and to establish the necessary link between his knowledge of theory and his requirements in practice4 ,the ,departments of ,education in the universities should be encouraged to develop systematic research into the principles of teaching and should be in close touch with the schools in which teachers are receiving their practical training4 ,the plan suggested will be free from the reproach often levelled against the existing method of training teachers1 namely1 that it is too theoretical and produces people who can talk glibly about education without being able to manage a class4 ,it will also recognise the truth that the young teacher has much to learn in regard to the art or craft of teaching and that there are certain general principles which he must know and follow if he is to be successful in his chosen work4 ,the application of these principles to his own circumstances is a matter of practice1 for in teaching1 as in any other art1 the element of personality far outweighs in its importance any matter of formal technique or special method4 ,the ascertained and accepted principles underlying all teaching should be known and thereafter the teacher should develop his own method1 reflecting in his practice the bent of his mind4 ,the recognition of a principle does not of necessity involve uniformity in practice4 ,freedom in execution is possible only within the limits of an art4 ,the problem is to define these limits in such a liberal manner as will allow for variety and individual expression4 ,the saying that teachers are born1 not made1 is one which may be made of those who practise any art1 but the poet or painter can exercise his innate gifts only within certain limits and with regard to certain rules4 ,it is no less fatal to his art for him to abandon all rules than it is for him to accept every rule slavishly and apply it to himself without intelligence4 ,the acceptance of the principle that there is an art or at least a craft of teaching is a condition precedent to any attempt to make teaching a profession in reality as well as in name4 ,the further requirement is that those who are engaged in teaching should have some power of controlling the conditions under which they work and more especially of testing the qualifications of those who desire to join their ranks4 ,this demands a recognition of the essential unity of all teaching work and a consequent effort to bring all teachers together as members of one body1 possessing a certain unity or solidarity in spite of its apparent diversities4 ,to form such a body is a task of great difficulty since the various types of teachers have in the past tended to separate themselves into groups1 each having its own association and machinery for the protection of its own interests4 ,apart from the teaching staffs of the various universities1 there are in ,england and ,wales over fifty associations of teachers1 ranging from the ,national ,union of ,teachers with over ninety thousand subscribing members to bodies numbering only a few score adherents4 ,these associations reflect the great diversity of teaching work already described1 but all alike are seeking to promote freedom for the teacher in his work and to advance professional objects4 ,such aspirations have been in the minds of teachers for many years and from time to time attempts have been made to realise them by establishing a professional ,council with its necessary adjunct of a ,register of qualified persons4 ,seventy years ago the ,college of ,preceptors1 with its grades of ,associate1 ,licentiate and ,fellow1 suggesting a comparison with the ,college of ,physicians1 was established with the object of raising the standard of the profession by providing a guarantee of fitness and respectability4 ,the ,college ,register was to contain the names of all those who were qualified to conduct schools1 and admission to the ,register was controlled by the ,college itself in order to provide a means of excluding all who were likely to bring discredit upon the calling of a teacher by reason of their inefficiency or misconduct4 ,the scheme thus launched was1 however1 not comprehensive1 since it concerned chiefly the teachers who conducted private schools and did not contemplate the inclusion of those who were engaged in universities1 public schools1 or the elementary schools working under the then recently established scheme of ,state grants4 ,teachers in schools of this last description were apparently intended by the government of the day to be regarded as civil servants1 appointed and paid by the ,state4 ,subsequent legislation modified this arrangement1 but teachers in schools receiving government grants are still subject to a measure of control1 and those in public elementary schools are licensed by the ,state before being allowed to teach4 ,it will be seen that the effort to organise a teaching profession was hampered from the start by the fact that teachers were not entirely free to set up their own conditions1 since the ,state had already taken charge of one branch1 while further difficulties arose from the varied character of different forms of teaching work and from the circumstance that some of these forms were traditionally associated with membership of another profession1 that of a clergyman4 ,hence it was that despite several attempts to institute a ,register of ,teachers and to organise a profession the difficulties seemed to be insurmountable4 ,between the years #ahfi and #ahii several bills were introduced in ,parliament with the object of setting up a ,register of ,teachers but all met with opposition and were abandoned4 ,the ,board of ,education ,act of #ahii gave powers for constituting by ,order in ,council a ,consultative ,committee to advise the ,board on any matter referred to the ,committee and also to frame1 with the approval of the ,board1 regulations for a ,register of ,teachers4 ,it was not until #aijb that an ,order in ,council established a ,registration ,council and laid down regulations for the institution of a ,register4 ,the ,council thus established consisted of twelve members1 six of whom were nominated by the ,president of the ,board of ,education while one was elected by each of the following bodies3 the ,headmasters' ,conference1 the ,headmasters' ,association1 the ,head ,mistresses' ,association1 the ,college of ,preceptors1 the ,teachers' ,guild1 and the ,national ,union of ,teachers4 ,the members of the ,council were to hold office for three years1 and afterwards1 on #a ,april1 #aije1 the constitution of the ,council was to be revised4 ,the duty assigned to the ,council was that of establishing and keeping a ,register of ,teachers in accordance with the regulations framed by the ,consultative ,committee and approved by the ,board of ,education4 ,subject to the approval of the ,board the ,council was empowered to appoint officers and to pay them4 ,the income was to be provided by fees for registration and the accounts were to be audited and published annually by the ,board to whom the ,council was also required to submit a report of its proceedings once a year4 ,under this scheme a ,register was set up1 with two columns1 ,a and ,b4 ,in the former were placed the names of all teachers who had obtained the government certificate as teachers in public elementary schools4 ,this involved no application or payment by such teachers1 who were thus registered automatically4 ,column ,b was reserved for teachers in secondary schools1 public and private4 ,registration in these cases was voluntary and demanded the payment of a registration fee of one guinea in addition to evidence of acceptable qualification in regard to academic standing and professional training4 ,although teachers of experience were admitted on easier terms the regulations were intended to ensure that1 after a given date1 everybody who was accepted for registration should have passed satisfactorily through a course of training in teaching4 ,as designed in the first instance ,column ,b furnished no place for teachers of special subjects and it became necessary to institute supplemental ,registers in regard to music and other branches which had come to form part of the ordinary curriculum of a secondary school4 ,the scheme thus provided a ,register divided into groups according to the nature of the accepted applicant's work4 ,such an arrangement presented many difficulties since it ignored all university teachers and assigned the others to different categories depending in some instances on the type of school in which they chanced to be working and in others on the subject which they happened to be teaching4 ,a professional ,register constructed on these lines had the seeming advantage of supplying information as to the type of work for which the individual teacher was best fitted4 ,on the other hand it was held that the division of teachers into categories was unsound in principle and the teachers in public elementary schools were not slow to resent the suggestion that they belonged to an inferior rank and were properly to be excused the payment of a fee4 ,they pointed out that many of their number held academic qualifications which were higher than those required to secure admission to ,column ,b wherein some eleven thousand teachers had been registered1 of whom not more than one half were graduates4 ,the views thus expressed were shared by many other teachers and it speedily became manifest that the proposed ,register could not succeed4 ,in the ,annual ,report of #aije the ,council stated that under existing conditions it was not practicable to frame and publish an alphabetical ,register of ,teachers such as appeared to be contemplated in the ,act of #ahii4 ,in ,june1 #aijf1 the ,board of ,education published a memorandum stating the reasons which had led it to take the opportunity afforded by impending legislation to abolish the ,register1 and in the ,education ,bill of #aijf a clause was inserted which removed from the ,consultative ,committee the obligation to frame a ,register of ,teachers4 ,this clause was strongly opposed by many associations of teachers4 ,it was urged by these bodies that although one scheme had failed yet a ,register was still possible and desirable4 ,it was held by many that the task assigned to the ,registration ,council had been an impossible one since the conditions of supervision and control imposed under the ,act of #ahii left the ,council very little freedom and wholly precluded the establishment of a self-governing profession4 ,the general opinion seemed to be that any future ,register must be in one column avoiding any attempt to divide those registered into different classes and that any future ,council must be as independent and widely representative as possible4 ,this opinion found expression and official sanction in a memorandum issued by the ,board of ,education in #aiaa after several conferences had been held for the purpose of promoting a new registration scheme4 ,the memorandum stated that3 ,it should not be so much the kinds of teachers likely to be most rapidly or easily admitted to the ,register that should specially determine the composition of the ,council but rather the larger and more general conception of the unification of the ,teaching ,profession4 ,this new and wider idea served to govern the formation of the ,teachers ,registration ,council which was established by an ,order in ,council of ,february1 #aiab4 ,the body constituted by this ,order consists wholly of teachers and includes eleven representatives of each of the following classes3 the ,teaching ,staffs of ,universities1 the ,associations of ,teachers in ,public ,elementary ,schools1 the ,associations of ,teachers in ,secondary ,schools1 and the ,associations of ,teachers of ,specialist ,subjects4 ,the ,council thus numbers forty-four and it is ordered that the chairman shall be elected by the ,council from outside its own body4 ,at least one woman must be elected by each appointing body which sends more than one representative to the ,council provided that the body includes women among its members4 ,it will be seen that the constitution aimed at forming a ,council wholly independent and thoroughly representative4 ,this quality was further ensured by the establishment of ten committees1 representing various forms of specialist teaching and providing that any conditions of registration framed by the ,council should be submitted to these committees before publication4 ,the first ,council under this scheme was formed in #aiab and held office for three years as prescribed by the ,order in ,council4 ,the chairman was the ,right ,honourable ,a4,h4 ,dyke ,acland and the members included the ,vice-,chancellors of several universities and representatives of forty-two associations of teachers4 ,the first duty of the ,council was to devise conditions of registration and these were framed during #aiac1 being published at the end of that year4 ,they provide in the first place that up to the end of #aibj any teacher may be admitted to registration who produces evidence of having taught under circumstances approved by the ,council for a minimum period of five years4 ,regard for existing interests led to the setting up of a period of grace before the full conditions of registration came into force4 ,after #aibj1 however1 these become more stringent and require that before being admitted to registration the teacher shall produce evidence of knowledge and experience1 while all save university teachers are also required to have undertaken a course of training in teaching4 ,under both the temporary and later arrangement the minimum age for registration is twenty-five and the fee is a single payment of one guinea4 ,there is no annual subscription4 ,the second ,council was elected in #aiae and appointed as its chairman ,dr ,michael ,e4 ,sadler1 ,vice-,chancellor of the ,university of ,leeds4 ,up to the middle of ,july1 #aiaf1 the number of teachers admitted to the ,register was #ag1fbh and the names of these were included in the ,official ,list of ,registered ,teachers issued by the ,council at the beginning of #aiag4 ,the ,register itself is too voluminous for publication since it comprises all the particulars which an accepted applicant has submitted4 ,all registered teachers receive a copy of their own register entry together with a certificate of registration4 ,it will be seen that the task of receiving and considering applications for registration forms an important part of the ,council's work4 ,but it is by no means its chief function4 ,as is shown in the ,board of ,education memorandum already quoted the ,council is intended to promote the unification of the teaching profession4 ,the ,register is nothing more than the symbol of this unity and the ,council is charged with the important task of expressing the views of teachers as a body on all matters concerning their work4 ,this is shown in the speech made by the ,minister of ,education at the first meeting of the ,council4 ,after welcoming the members he added3 ,the object of the ,council would be not only the formation of a ,register of ,teachers4 ,there were many other spheres and fields of usefulness for a ,council representative of the ,teaching ,profession4 ,he hoped that they would be able to speak with one voice as representing the ,teaching ,profession1 and that the ,board would be able to consult with them4 ,so long as he was head of the ,board they would always be most anxious to co-operate with the ,council and would attach due weight to their views4 ,he hoped that they on their side would realise some of the ,board's difficulties and that the atmosphere of friendly relationship which he trusted had already been established would continue4 ,the functions of the ,council are thus seen to extend beyond the mere compilation of a ,register of ,teachers and to include constant co-operation with those engaged in educational administration4 ,in view of the desire which is now generally expressed for a closer union between the directive and executive elements in all branches of industry it is safe to assume that the ,teachers' ,council will grow steadily in importance1 especially if it is seen to have the support of all teachers4 ,meanwhile it furnishes the framework of a possible teaching profession and gives promise of securing for the teacher a definite status by establishing a standard of attainment and qualification4 ,more than this will be required1 however1 if the work of teaching is to be placed on its proper level in public esteem4 ,those who undertake the work must be led to look for something more than material gain4 ,the teacher needs a sense of vocation no less than the clergyman or doctor4 ,it has been said that teaching is the noblest of professions but the sorriest of trades and the absence of any real enthusiasm for the work inevitably produces an attitude of mind which is alien to the spirit of a real teacher4 ,the material reward of the teacher has accurately reflected the want of public esteem attaching to his work4 ,for the most part a meagre pittance has been all that he could anticipate and this has led to a steady decline in the number of recruits4 ,a profession should furnish a reasonable prospect of a career and a fair chance of gaining distinction4 ,such opportunities have been far too few in teaching to attract able and ambitious young men in adequate number4 ,the remedy is to open every branch of educational work and administration to those who have proved themselves to be efficient teachers4 ,the national welfare demands that those who are to be charged with the task of training future citizens should be drawn from the most able of our young people1 to whom teaching should offer a career not less attractive than other callings4 ,in particular the teacher should be regarded as a member of a profession and trusted to carry out his duties in a responsible manner4 ,excessive supervision and inspection will tend to discourage and eventually destroy that quality of initiative which is indispensable in all teaching4 ,freed from the monetary cares which now oppress him1 definitely established as a member of a profession having some voice in its own concerns1 encouraged to exercise his art under conditions of the greatest possible freedom1 and provided with reasonable opportunity for advancement1 the teacher will be able to take up his work in a new spirit4 ,we may then demand from new-comers a sense of vocation and expect with some justification that teachers will be able to avoid the professional groove which is hardly to be escaped and which is quite inevitable if the conditions of one's work preclude opportunity for maintaining freshness of mind and a variety of personal interest4 ,such limitations as accompany inadequate salaries1 lack of prospects and absence of professional status convert teaching into a dull mechanic art and deprive it of its chief elements of enjoyment1 namely the free exercise of personality and the recurring satisfaction of seeing minds develop under instruction1 so that we are conscious of our part in helping the future citizens to make the most of their lives4 ,it is this power of impressing one's own personality on the pliable mind of youth which brings at once the greatest responsibility and the highest reward to the teacher and attaches to his task a true professional character since it may not be undertaken fittingly by any who cherish low aims or despise their work4