THE WOOLWICH AND CARSHALTON .SCHOOLS. Somrrareta is very seriously the
matter in the Military Academy of Woolwich and. its adjunct • Carshalton : some vice appears to have made extensive inroads among the youth ; but what it, is does not appear from the obscure adumbrations of the newspapers. These facts come forth ; and they may suffice for our notice of a very onions topic.
Not very long ago, Woolwich academy was subjected to a Go- vernment mquny; and its training proved to be a disgusting mix- ture of severity, neglect, and mistrust on the part of teachers— ref indiscipline, bullying, and low debauchery among the pupils. Among other improvements was a preparatory school at Carshalton, which was to train the youth in moral sentiments and habits for further education in Woolwich. In August last, ten of these students were transferred to Woolwich ; a discovery led to in- quiry into their conduct,—an inquiry secret, searching, and, the Times complains, an suggestive as the questions of monkish visitors; and after the inquiry a circular is issued, calling upon the parents of twenty-three boys at Carshalton and ten at Woolwich, to with- draw their sons. We believe," says the Times, " that some of the parents thus aggrieved have peremptorily refused to become Parties to the sentence by withdrawing their children, and have *preferred the exposure of the reality to the far fouler imputation suggested by the inconsiderate decision of the Governors." The youths have since been expelled. ' It is a lamentable fact, that scandals of this sort should from time to time come out respecting our public schools ; and it is to be suspected, that for one instance of detection there must be many cases of corruption which escape. How is it that society has ex- isted for so many hundreds if not thousands of years, without our having made better progress in the art of juvenile training ? At the best, theta] disastrous phsenomena are appalling. Are they in- ..dications of the normal state of morals among the wealthier classes, or are they exceptional enormities ? If they are exceptional -enormities, then is it horrible that bad management should suffer youth to go astray into that which is to entail lasting disgrace. If the cases are exceptional, the exceptions appear to be fright- ' fully numerous. But if they are not—if these thirty-three youths are only the victims of detection !
In either case we may ask, how it is that the arts of civilization have not yet been made to furnish a corrective of its most destruc- tive incidents? One reason, we suspect, is the incorrigible indo- lence of human nature, which makes parent, forget their own youth : the gentleman immersed in his books forgets the tempta- tions and allurements which beset his early years—perhaps vainly, possibly not in vain. Or he may assume such incidents to be an inevitable necessity. Or he may be restrained froin meddling with such a class of subjects at all, by a sort of mauvaise honte. We believe that all these causes have their effect; but although parents &my evade the trouble or annoyance of active intervention, they do not evade the responsibility of neglect, 'either as parents or as citizens. They are answerable for leaving their children to the chances of destraotion, for suffering corruption to eat into the very lower of society.
It is time that honest and truly moral men should break through this habit of reserve, and grapple with the difficulty, however re- pulsive and troublesome. Although it does appear to be great, it does not look insurmountable. It will not be surmounted, indeed, if the reformers undertake their task in a puny spirit which flinches from searching scrutiny or vigorous dealing with the needful mea- tures. But some leading facts are obvious enough, and they point at very .salutary changes, involving neither exposure nor humilia- tion to individuals.
In the first place, it is clearly not within the natural order of things that numbers of youth should be congregated and isolated from the rest of society. What we may call the conventual part of school usage, is in its nature artificial and hazardous. But this inevitable incident should be frankly confronted ; and if artificial necessities require such congregation of youth, artificial resources should supply the proper corrective. The common idea of educa- tion is too much limited to book-learning ; which is in fact far from being the most important element of education. That error .not only leads to misapplication in training, but to wrong selection of teachers ; who are chosen too much for their erudition, too little for their tried capacity in the art of training; still less for a know- ledge of youth, or what is essentially necessary to an effective knowledge, a living sympathy with the feelings of youth. Many a clerical and learned certificate will be given to a Dominic Samp- son, who is profoundly versed in the learned tongues, but utterly incompetent to manage, or direct the young. The student learns Latin and Greek from the Dominic ; " life ' from some illicit pro- fessors not recognized by state or by parents. How ranch better it would be, if properly accredited and qualified professors would wisely and practically—which does not mean pedantically and righlly—toadl to the youthful gentry of England that most need- ful of all arts, the art of life !
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