[To THII EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR-1 SIR, —It may interest some
of your readers to know that the adoption of co-education may act as a panacea for the revival of a decayed grammar school. The old grammar school of this town, in which Oliver Cromwell and Samuel Pepys, and, may I add ? the late Sir Michael Foster, received their early education, bad for some years been gradually losing ground till it had dwindled to scarcely more than a dozen boys. Three years ago the Board of Education by a new scheme enabled the Governors to open the school to girls as well as boys, and though to many the experiment seemed doubtful, couintge prevailed, with the result that the numbers have risen to a hundred and twenty, in almost exactly equal proportion between the sexes. New buildings have been erected. The . staff consists of a Head-Master, three assistant-masters, and . two mistresses, all University graduates. The scholars work but do not play together. The curriculum is designed without reference to sexes, except that the boys do carpentry and the girls needlework and cookery. As a rule, the boys work hard that they may not be beaten by the girls ; and the girls being taught with the boys, and frequently by masters, seem to lose that " giggling " manner so common to the class from which they come. The popularity of the school in the neighbourhood, and its success hitherto, amply justify the adoption of the new system, and nothing has occurred to cause the Governors to- egret in any way the change which has been made.—I am,
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