22 JANUARY 1921, Page 3

The Times has published some delightful and penetrating articles on

the character of Labour unrest and British revo- lutionary ideas by Dr. A. Shadwell. We have space only to refer to the remarks about the Labour movement towards better education, as these are of particular interest. After describing the various centres of education which are at work, Dr. Shadwell sums up in the following words :- " The London College has acquired ground at Kew, where it already has an extenaron and contemplates building on a con- siderable scale. It will not lack clients, for there is an immense reservoir of latent capacity and aspiration among the wage- earners. And as it develops in size it must enlarge the scope of instruction, for students of inquiring mind will want to roam over the whole field. And with this will come a gradual change of outlook. The college scorns the academic ' tone of Oxford. I do not know exactly what that is, but I suppose ' academic ' means formal, stereotyped, and unreal. The college is itself far more academic than Oxford. The true analogy is a Jesuit seminary, in which all the teaching—of an admirable quality— is shaped to produce the perfect servant of the society and propagandist of its doctrines. The place of Loyola is taken by Marx, and the uncritical docility with which his doctrines are swallowed and given out again is truly Jesuitical. But that will not last. Tbe critical faculty is bound to assert itself and is already beginning to do so.

That surely is not only sound but very hopeful criticism, expressed with the lightest of touches.