AN ADVENTURE IN WORKING CLASS EDUCATION.*
TB1S book chronicles the genesis and growth of the Workers' Educational Association which was founded to promote the higher education of working men r nd women by means of an alliance between Co-operation, Trades Unionism, and University
Extension. It began in 1903, not without opposition and with very little financial support, which Mr. Mansbridge, to whose enthusiasm the organisation owes much of its vitality, counts like a true fighter amongst the reasons for its success. " All movements," he says, "ought to be small and poor at the commencement ; they should grow from the seed upwards. There is no more difficult thing than to keep a right spirit within
a well-endowed or rich movement." With this difficulty, at least, Mr. Mansbridge and his colleagues had not to contend ; and they preserved their eager optimism even through the depressing years- of the war until, at the present day, they can number over seventeen thousand members in the British Islands
and many prosperous branches in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa.
The vivifying idea of the movement is that most workers have an interest in education if they would only realize it ; and to stimulate that interest and provide facilities for its gratifica- tion are the objects for which the association was formed. There is no hint of offensive patronage or of thrusting instruction upon unwilling hearers. Each group acts for itself and chooses its own subjects without dictation from headquarters. Carters in Rochdale wanted to know something about the care of the horse, and lectures from an expert in that topic drew regular attendance of over a hundred students. Dockers in Canning Town had a successful course in Industrial History ; and a branch in the Midlands now holds an annual Art Exhibition as a result of its members' activities in sketching on Saturday afternoons. We mention only three of the more striking lines of study that have been pursued ; hundreds of others in the more orthodox fields of learning have been followed with equal ardour. The one binding link between the members is an interest in education coupled with a desire to help one another to enjoy its advantages ; and along the broad highway of congenial study, postman and professor, manual labourer and university graduate journey in complete amity.
"The recognised period of a class meeting is two hours, on twenty-four occasions during each of three consecutive years. No really good class ever keeps to the two hours. They break up, as a rule, only when compelled by necessity. There are limits to the time during which buildings with caretakers may be left open, but there always remains the street. A class in Philosophy at Birmingham habitually continued its sessions on the sidewalk, until an energetic policeman threatened to charge the tutor with causing an obstruction. On one occasion an Economies class, after a pavement session, accompanied the tutor to the railway station ; and the argument not being finished, some of the students entered the train with him and went as far as they dared."
We can have nothing but praise for the exemplary spirit exhibited and the good work accomplished by those who made "the adventure" and nothing but the most hopeful expectations
for its future and its growing value to the community.
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