THE EDUCATION DEBATE.
IT is an interesting fact that the grave question of public education has passed out of the domain of party, and that Sir William Hart-Dyke and Mr. Mundella can congratu- late each other on the admirable sentiments on that head which they both entertain. We trust that the spirit manifested en the occasion all round the House will survive every kind,ef temptation which besets the politician, and that future contests will be frank endeavours to find out what is good for the State and best for the young. Certainly the retrospect is of a nature which should conduce not only to a continuance of that happy frame of mind, but also to some satisfaction. If Mr. Forster could be present to look on the results of the Act he took so much pains to pass, amid a storm of obloquy, though he would assuredly have desired further improvement, -he would none the lees have been gratified by the work
accomplished since 1870, and would have rejoiced in the cessation of the party spirit from which he, and the cause he had in hand, suffered. The cost has been great, his estimate of the rate to be levied which he thought would be sufficient has been vastly exceeded, and falls with terrible severity upon some places ; but there is, at least, something to show for the money. The Vice-President of the Council is obliged to ask for nearly three millions and a half of pounds sterling ; but then, at the same time, he can point to upwards of five millions of school-places which have been provided, to a register containing the names of more than four millions and a half of children, and to an average attendance of three and a half millions. These are large figures, representing fruit not wholly inadequate to the work of seventeen years, and none the less gratifying because nearly two-thirds of the scholars in attendance were to be found in voluntary schools. Nor is it the numbers alone which have gone on constantly increasing. Making due allowance for the severity of the last winter, which, as might be expected, slightly affected the attendance, there has been a steady growth all round, in quality as well as quantity,—'the brightest spot in the picture," and it is significant, being the great increase in the number of scholars who have passed in Standard IV., although, as Mr. Mundella admits, the English children have to stand " a more strict test than the Scotch children." In addition, whatever may be the other effects of such " education " as is supplied, we find that it has materially diminished the total of crime, especially in the young ; and that, despite some unpleasant sights and sounds, in London streets for example, the grounds of useful discipline have been laid. At the children's festival in Hyde Park last June, the boys and girls obeyed the bugle when the " assembly " was sounded, with an alacrity which would have done credit to regular soldiers. So that, on the whole, there is reason to be satisfied with what has been done since Mr. Forster took up the matter, and to feel that efforts at further improvement should be made with deliberation, and not in the spirit of impatience. The object of popular education, whether in rate-aided or voluntary schools, should be remembered. It is to equip the multitude of scholars with the primary elements required alike by peer and peasant in ordinary life. The great proportion of children of both sexes do not rise above a certain level of in- telligence, or bring with them into the world peculiar gifts. The exceptionally endowed make their way by their own exertions, impelled thereto by what is in them. But even if it were not so, neither the taxpayers nor the ratepayers, nor the same persons in both capacities, can be justly called on to undertake the stupendous task of supplying the higher forms of education to all children, nor to engage in the tyrannical and useless work of trying to compel the slow and stupid to keep pace with the quick and intelligent. The education common to all should be that which is essential and attainable by all, and the exceptional teaching should be imparted only to those who can profit by it. Beyond reading, writing, and arithmetic, which, if properly taught, supply a fine mental training as well as an invaluable acquisition, the teaching should surely be graduated to the capacity of the students. In a small, or comparatively small school, the able teacher knows, or should know, the relative intellectual and moral qualities, and the character of all his pupils ; but in large agglomerations, that knowledge cannot be so easily acquired ; so that what are called the formative influences of sound training are limited in their application. Nevertheless, as the teachers deal with masses, so they must make the best of the conditions, taking care to secure the essential bases, and adding as much more as opportunity and judgment will permit. A child that had learned to read, write, and cipher well, regard being had to its age, would necessarily have learned a great many other things ; and, at all events, would have gone through a course of discipline which should have produced abiding effects, and would have acquired the means of learning anything and everything within the scope of capacity, necessity, and opportunity. We do not mean to say that nothing besides this trio should be taught—far from it—but that these should be thoroughly taught, because they are the gates to every- thing else. Such considerations should govern the introduction of all other subjects, especially drawing,singing,cookery,and the like. The last-named, indeed, is as necessary as needlework for the girls, whether they become wives or not ; just as the education of the eye and hand in drawing from solid figures cannot fail to be valuable to all who are to follow handicrafts, or become emigrants or soldiers. But there is no reason why drawing, or even cookery, should be made obligatory, seeing that numbers of boys could never see, much less draw, correctly, and that there are even a few girls who could never learn to boil a potato or make a good omelette. The " time-tables," we are told, are already full, and crowds of subjects are waiting to be admitted ; and perhaps, within certain limits, it will be ultimately found that " liberty for the managers " will solve many difficulties. M. Duray used to boast, under the Empire, that all the children in France were learning or saying the same lesson at the same time. We do not want to hear an English Minister utter a like song of triumph.
Yet there seems a prospect of something like it looming in the future. There was a strong dash of the compulsory spirit in the debate ; and whenever it comes up in strength, sharp contests, if not party battles, will emerge with it. " The only way," said Mr. Mundella, " in which drawing can be made successful, is to make its teaching compulsory;" so that at fixed hours all over England, little fingers may be engaged in showing their incapacity to copy flat objects. He would also establish continuation schools, and make attendance obligatory up to fourteen years of age. Mr. Samuel Smith put it very strongly. In Germany, he said, where the education afforded is much better than that in England, the children leave the day- school between thirteen and fourteen ; and then, in a large part of Germany, " the attendance upon evening schools is compulsory up to the age of sixteen." He did not say that in the same country the Governments exercise far greater control over their subjects than they do here, and that the whole spirit of the national training of all kinds and in all ranks, especially in Prussia, is paternal. Would Mr. Mundella and Mr. Smith like to adopt the system which has its outcome and grand illustra- tion in the conscription I Would they like the country to be regimented, as Prussia is and has been regimented under the Hohenzollerns ? It is of no use to take a little bit from despotically or patriarchically ruled countries and apply it to ours, the life of which for centuries has been based on free- dom, liberty of the subject, private enterprise, voluntary com- binations, and individual endeavour. The compulsory principle will go a long way when, having become dominant through the doctrinaires, it is once set free from the restraints of reason and usage, and will land us in State regulations which will govern not only elementary education, but many other things,— marriage, for example, and naval as well as military service.
There is a wide difference, we submit, between compulsion and offering facilities for the practice of drawing, modelling, and cookery in evening or other schools. Perhaps it would not be amiss were we, likes the distinguished German whose opinion was cited by Mr. Woodall, satisfied if only the elite of the population availed themselves of the further educa- tion." Moreover, the working people themselves must be considered ; and they must not be sacrificed on the altar of an idea, and pauperised by depriving them of the labour of boys and girls. At any rate, the proposed extension of the principle of compulsion should not be effected until it has been well canvassed and thoroughly con- sidered by the bulk of the people. We note, however, as a warning, that the tendency of the enthusiasts is not only in this direction, but also towards free schools and free meals at the expense of the ratepayers and the taxpayers ; and it is for these to say whether they will sanction experiments cutting into the roots of those principles upon which English life, character, and history have been built up.
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