SIR P. MAGNUS ON INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION.* Taouna this book only
professes to contain the subject- matter of articles and addresses written and delivered on different occasions, ib still possesses a high value, giving as it does, within a small compass, a comprehensive view of the whole field of industrial instruction. Treating the subject historically, Sir Philip Magnus proves that a relationship has always existed between education and the practical needs of life, and he reminds us that the aimlessness of much of our modern education is a survival from the Middle Ages, when Latin and Greek were selected because of their practical usefulness for those intended for the Church or the Law, which were then the only learned professions.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic may-have been an adequate education for the working man, and a classical training may have been sufficient for the manufacturer and merchant, at a time when the knowledge and skill needed for industrial pur- poses could be acquired in the actual practice of trade. But this is so no longer. Owing to the introduction of steam, the use of machinery, the applications- of chemistry and other sciences to manufacture, the division of labour, and other causes, the full knowledge required cannot be acquired in business or the workshop. It is not contended by the author that the actual practice of a trade should be taught in school, save when a new industry has to. be created or an old one Industrial, Education. By Sir. Philip Magnus. London: Began Paul and Co.
revived. Sir Philip Magnus agrees with most Englishmen that the practice of a trade is best learned in a workshop. But the view which he puts forward, and which receives genera/ support from the promoters of technical instruction, is that the classics are not the only instruments of a liberal educa- tion; that almost any subject may be taught so as to bring out the powers of the student's mind, to make him observe, think, and reason, and to give him a thirst for knowledge. This being so, in selecting the subjects of instruction for a pupil intended for an industrial life, a preference should be given to those likely to prove practically useful. By this means, the apprentice commences his career with a fund of information and a knowledge of the principles of science underlying his trade which the workshop cannot give, but which are nevertheless required to prosecute his calling successfully.
To provide this instruction is the difficulty; but when, as our author tells ns, we have found instructors of the New Curriculum capable of so teaching it as to make it yield the necessary discipline, the problem of industrial education will have been solved. The great difficulty of this problem is its complexity, for according to the age, position, previous educa- tion, and future career of the student, a different curriculum is prescribed. So complex is the problem, that even experts like Lord Armstrong talk of the vague cry for technical education, the truth being that, as Sir Philip tells us, " it means one thing for the workman, another for the foreman, and again something different to the manager or manu- facturer. It is not the same in reference to hand-work as to machine-work, and it changes again when considered in con- nection with scientific invention or artistic design."
But the vagueness of which Lord Armstrong complains, and the complexity of the subject which frightens away most inquirers, both give way before the clear analysis of the author, who, taking each class of the industrial public by itself, and taking the different subjects of the new curricula, in detail, shows us what are the wants of each class, and how those wants can best be satisfied. Presumably because its members are more in number than the rest, and less able to look after their own interests, Sir Philip Magnus considers the artisan class first. He re-echoes the praise bestowed by the Royal Commission on Technical Instruction upon the evening classes of the Science and Art Department, and considers them most suitable for our artisans; but he expresses his opinion that in. order to enable them to avail themselves of the advantages which these classes offer, the instruction given at our elementary schools should be more practical. Having regard to the fact that a vast proportion of the pupils at these schools must ultimately adopt an industrial life in one form or another, he urges that our primary education should be based on an extension of the kindergarten system, which by its exercises trains the hand and eye, and by its object-lessons lays the foundation of a science-education.
Reading, we are reminded, is not the only key to knowledge. Observation and experiment are the instruments of knowledge which we employ most continuously through life, and educa- tion must prepare us to use these instruments ; hence the educational value of drawing and science. Drawing he would make compulsory in all elementary schools, and for this course he assigns excellent reasons, showing its practical as well as its disciplinary value. Elementary science, though possessing the highest educational value, is difficult as well as expensive to teach, and, further, it is beyond the powers of the every-day lad. It is therefore proposed that it should only be taught in the higher elementary schools, to which the cleverer lads might be drafted. Much stress is laid upon manual instruction, not with the object of teaching trades, but to develop the faculties, and to induce an aptitude and taste for handicrafts. The effect of such teaching is to facilitate the after-acquisition of a trade, and to shorten the period of apprenticeship. " Its moral influence is not the least of its advantages, for it teaches a boy to find out things for himself, it substitutes personal experience for the statements of others, it inculcates habits of industry and order, and teaches respect for honest work." But if the ordinary artisan requires all this preparatory education to bring him up to a level with his Continental brethren, the English foreman requires a still more liberal as well as a more practical education. One of the great diffi- culties against which employers of labour have to contend is to find competent foremen. This is owing, in part, to the extreme division of labour, which makes it almost impossible to acquire a sufficiently general knowledge of a trade in the workshop, and also to the fact that science enters so largely into many of the industrial operations which our foremen have to direct. One of the most important problems of industrial education is, therefore, how to provide a sufficient number of working men with the requisite scientific and practical training from whom we may be able hereafter to select our foremen. Sir Philip Magnus advises us, in addition to our evening classes, to make use of our higher elementary and middle- class schools for this purpose ; to make the education in them more practical, and to encourage boys to enter at twelve for a three years' course, so that at fifteen they may commence their apprenticeship properly equipped. The argument contra is that boys who have had a higher education are generally less smart in the shop. To this, Sir Philip Magnus replies that the complairit is really directed not against education itself, but against the education of existing schools, which he wishes to reform.
The education most suitable for masters and managers does not engage so much of Sir Philip Magnus's atten- tion. But he notices especially our defective commercial education, as compared with that of Germany or France.
He tells us that the full benefits of technical instruction will not be reaped until our youths can obtain that especial kind of training calculated to make them good business men. Now that we manufacture for the world and against the world, the merchant's observation must be widened, so that he may be able " to survey mankind from China to Peru." It is well for him if he is able to read, to speak, and to use, for commercial purposes, foreign languages, if he knows the produce of the different countries, as well as the wants and tastes and the peenfistrities of their inhabitants, their weights and measures, their coinage, railway systems, import and export duties, and so forth. The quotation from Mr. Besant's novel describing a German clerk is so apt, that we will repeat it :—
"'In every office,' says the German, ' there must be clerks who can speak foreign languages. Your young men will not learn them, and your schools cannot teach them. Then we come over, we who have learned them. For my part, I can write and read English, Swedish, Danish, French, Italian, Dutch, and German. Do you think we shall be content to stay here as clerks ? No. We are learning your trade ; we will find out all your customers and correspondents ; we learn your profits, and we undersell you. We do not go away. We remain. And presently, instead of an English house, there is a German house in its place.' "
To remedy these defects, Sir Philip wisely proposes that instead of creating new schools upon foreign models, we should improve and adapt our existing educational machinery ; and accordingly, he recommends,—(1), That at our evening schools special provision should be made for giving suitable instruction
for mercantile clerks ; and (2), that our secondary schools should be divided into three departments,—" (a) classical, (b) science, (c) modern languages," each department em-
bracing several other subjects. The second and third of these departments would lay the foundation for the strictly commercial education which would be given at the com- mercial schools which he proposes to attach to our pro- vincial colleges. To enable these last-mentioned institu- tions to do their threefold work satisfactorily, he suggests that they should be subsidised by the State. This last suggestion, which has been adopted by the Govern- ment, leads up to the further proposal that, if our higher schools and colleges are to be reorganised so as to cover the whole field of school and college knowledge, if funds are to be contributed by the taxpayer for their sup- port, and if we are to have adequate inspection, instead of confining the operations of the Education Department to elementary education, we must give it powers over, and make it responsible for, higher education as well. As a practical argument in favour of this proposal, Sir Philip Magnus devotes a chapter to education in Bavaria. Here, in con- sequence of the control of the central authority, education is organised and graded from top to bottom. Schools do not overlap. Whatever a boy's educational wants may be, he can satisfy them at trifling cost to himself, and at a moderate coat to the State. The following figures, when compared with our own educational statistics, are instructive :-855,463, out of a popu- lation of 5,420,000, are in attendance at elementary schools in which " the new curriculum " is adopted, 26,645 attend evening continuation-schools, 9,961 attend evening agricultural con- tinuation-schools, 8,076 attend higher elementary schools in which an education suitable for foremen or clerks is given, and 2,923 attend special trade-schools. In addition to these, numbers attend at the gymnasia, polytechnics, universities, technical art classes, commercial schools, and other educa- tional establishments. The total cost to the State of all this education, to which Bavarians attribute their industrial success, is only £727,113 per year. Compare this with Ireland, possessing a smaller population, and we shall find that for primary education alone, the State pays more than Bavaria pays for elementary, higher, university, and industrial education put together.
We regret that space does not permit us to give a longer notice of this valuable book. It comes at an opportune time. A Royal Commission has just reported upon our elementary schools, and on that Report some action may shortly be expected. The masters of our higher schools have shown that they recognise the gravity of the situation. Our Colleges and Universities are evincing sym- pathy with the movement. The general public are showing both by their pecuniary support of the movement and by the greater demand for technical instruction, that they appreciate industrial education. Leading public men have placed them- selves at the head of the movement, and the Government are about to deal with the question. What is wanted is practical advice such as Sir Philip Magnus gives, so as to lead the public into the right paths, and to ensure that when we do make a fresh start on the road to industrial knowledge, we may this time take the right turning.
Previous page
