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UC-NRLF

A NATIONAL SYSTEM OF
EDUCATION

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

Problems of a Scottish Provincial Town,

(Allen, 3*. 6d. net.)

The Boys' Club. (Nutt, is.)

Problems of Boy Life. (Edited.)

(P. S. King, IQS. 6d.)

An Enquiry into Working Boys' Homes.

(Fairbairns, is.)

Camping for Boys. (P. S. King, is.)

A NATIONAL SYSTEM
OF EDUCATION

BY
JOHN HOWARD V^HITEHOUSE, M.P.

Cambridge
at the University Press

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

FETTER LANE, E.G.
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER

GFlitnburflt) : 100, PRINCES STREET

Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO.

ILeipjig: F. A. BROCKHAUS

$eto $orfe: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

ant) Calcutta: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.

SEoronto: J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD.

Eoftgo: THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA

r I "HIS book is issued with the general approval
of the executive committee of the Liberal
Education Group of the House of Commons though
they are not necessarily committed to its detailed
recommendations.

J. H. W.

4 November 1913.

6628S3

MY FRIEND

FROM YOUTH

JAMES ALFRED DALE

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION IN

THE MCGILL UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL

CONTENTS

CHAP.

]
NOTE . ...

PAGE

THE CO-ORDINATION OF EDUCATION ....

II.

LEGISLATIVE REFORMS

III.

REFORMS WITHIN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

IV.

THE OUTDOOR LIFE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CHILDREN . .

THE SCHOOL BASE

VI.

THE PHYSICAL CARE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CHILDREN .

VII.

THE MEANING AND SCOPE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION

VIII.

AN ENQUIRY INTO SECONDARY SCHOOLS, PRIVATE
SCHOOLS, ETC

IX.

THE FINANCE OF EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY REFORM

XI.

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE ADULT CITIZEN

XII.

THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION

XIII.

A JOINT GOVERNMENT BOARD TO DEAL WITH ALL
EDUCATIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE QUESTIONS

AFFECTING THE YOUNG 72

XIV. THE POSITION OF POOR LAW SCHOOLS AND INDUSTRIAL
AND REFORMATORY SCHOOLS IN A STATE SYSTEM
OF EDUCATION . . . . . . . . 75

XV. THE CO-ORDINATION OF THE WORK OF COMMITTEES

OF LOCAL AUTHORITIES 84

XVI. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION . . 87
INDEX 91

CHAPTER I

THE CO-ORDINATION OF ALL FORMS OF
EDUCATION

The vital weakness of our educational system is
the lack of any proper relation between primary and
later forms of education. Elementary education has
been regarded as a complete system in itself, capable
of turning out its children at ages between 12 and 14
to enter upon the work of life. The code of the Board
of Education has attempted a task at once impossible
and grotesque, that of laying down a curriculum which
would enable the children of the elementary schools
to receive their educational equipment for life before
reaching an age at which the children of wealthier
parents are still in the nursery or the preparatory
school. The divorce between our different classes
of schools has had far-reaching results. What we
have lost can perhaps best be appreciated by a refer-
ence to other countries where the whole educational
system is a unity, as in parts of the German Empire,
or parts of the United States of America. In these
countries this has meant that when the best intellects
of the day have applied themselves to the problems

w. i

2 A National System of Ediication

of education, they have been first concerned with
elementary education. The phrase national education
ha£ a ^differeqt; meaning in these countries to that which
it suggests in ''6ur qountry. It means a system, the
.Ift^isf bf • \jrhf <jh^ : i&\th<e elementary or primary school
leading to all further forms of education, and these
higher forms of education are intended not for children
of a different social class, but for children of a higher
age. In entering, therefore, upon the work of co-or-
dination in this country, our first duty is to cease to
regard as normal or necessary the education of different
social classes under different systems, unrelated save
for an occasional scholarship ladder.

The basis of co-ordination of our educational
system must be to regard the elementary schools as
the preparatory training suitable for all normal children
between certain ages, so far as their physical, mental
and moral development is concerned. Secondary
education in its multitude of forms would then also
be regarded as the education appropriate to the varied
gifts and needs of children beyond the elementary
school age. Obviously a change so far sweeping in
our educational ideals and machinery is a matter of
gradual realization, but it will never be achieved
unless the conscious ideal is before the nation and is
believed in. It must, of course, first be realized by the
education authorities. The private schools, whether
elementary or secondary in their teaching, which are
neither State supported nor managed, will, for the
time, pursue their own course, but the local education
authorities need only a slight extension of their powers

The Co-ordination of Education 3

in order to be able adequately to relate all classes of
the schools founded or controlled by them. The
change which is necessary in their policy can be ap-
preciated by a reference to what is actually occurring
under many education authorities in various parts of
the country. The same authorities which provide ele-
mentary schools for children up to the age of 14, provide
also secondary schools to which children do not natur-
ally pass on leaving the elementary schools, but which
are filled, in a considerable measure, by children who
go direct to the secondary schools without having
passed through the elementary school, and the ages of
the children in the two classes of schools overlap.

It may be urged that whilst this is so, a consider-
able number of children by means of scholarships pass
on to the secondary schools from the elementary schools.
This is true, but the arrangement is not a scientific one.
These scholarship children reach the secondary school
at a later age than the other scholars of the school, and
find themselves handicapped because the new school
they enter has worked along different lines, and they
are a year or two behind their fellow-students. The
masters of the secondary schools complain, and the
net result is educational loss and inefficiency. The
co-ordination of the two types of schools is the only
method by which this loss and inefficiency can be
prevented.

The scheme of co-ordination which we press for
may be very briefly summarized. Elementary educa-
tion would be the form of education imposed upon
pupils up to say the age of 12. About this age the

I 2

4 A National System of Education

scholar would pass to some form of secondary edu-
cation either in the same school (as suggested in
chapter in) or in a separate institution. Later he
would, in many cases, be transferred to specialized
forms of secondary education, as, e.g., technical insti-
tute or college, trade school, &c.

Lastly, the university would be only one of many
goals to which the secondary school would lead, the
boy finally going to that specialized form of education
appropriate to his gifts and the work he desired to do.

This co-ordinated system might be expressed in
a diagram :

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
(for all children up to age of 12)

SECONDARY EDUCATION

1 ' ,

e Art Technical P<

College School School Institute School Institution

University Training Trade Art Technical Polytechnic Agricultural Specializec

Attendance at many of these being accompanied
with a limited amount of approved employment
before reaching 18 years of age.

Any scheme of efficient co-ordination means a re-
adjustment of the powers and duties of local authorities.
There is no uniform system throughout the country in
the matter of administrative authority. The authority
for elementary education is not always the authority
for secondary education. These are matters the ad-
justment of which requires legislation.

Such legislation must bring together the various
education authorities in any area, and place upon
them the duty of establishing a linked system cover-
ing both primary and intermediate education.

CHAPTER II

LEGISLATIVE REFORMS

(i) The Raising of the School Age.

It is scarcely necessary to-day to argue the case
for the raising of the school age. There is substantial
agreement, amongst all authorities, that this course is
a matter of immediate necessity. The point has been
exhaustively considered by the most competent Royal
Commission that has sat in recent years, and the
recommendations of the Royal Commission on the
Poor Laws have been confirmed by a considerable
number of departmental and other enquiries. There
is, of course, a wide divergence of view as to the
statutory provisions which should be made in this
connection. However desirable it might be to enforce
education up to a minimum age of 16, or even higher,
it is obviously impossible to do this immediately by a
simple enactment of Parliament. The local machinery
has to be provided ; the additional schools to be built ;
the qualified staff to be secured, and not least impor-
tant, the money has to be raised. Obviously, therefore,
whilst fixing a reasonable statutory age below which
no children may leave school, the State must leave a

6 A National System of Education

considerable measure of responsibility and power for
action to be taken after this age, to the local education
authorities. In building up a national system of
education we have a special duty to guard against over-
centralization. We must trust the local authorities
and encourage local initiative, and not leave all to
bureaucratic control from Whitehall.

The writer suggests the immediate raising of the
school age by statute to 14, and the conferring on local
authorities of the power to enforce further education
compulsorily for children between the ages of 14 and
1 8. It is idle to hope that the latter enactment would
be generally taken advantage of immediately, but it
is reasonable to believe that the more enlightened
municipal authorities would at once prepare to exercise
their new powers, and would point the way for other
authorities to follow, but a general and efficient advance
on the part of the whole education authorities of the
country will only come as the result of a more intel-
ligent knowledge of and interest in education on the
part of the public generally.

(2) Control of the Education and Hours of Labour
of Adolescents.

If power is to be conferred upon the local
authorities to enforce further education between the
ages of 14 and 18, the State must limit the hours of
adolescent labour, and the enforcement of education
would be accompanied by this protection for the youth
of the nation. A practicable plan would be for the
hours of adolescent labour in all districts where the

Legislative Reforms 7

education authorities put into force the new powers
proposed to be conferred upon them, to be limited to
four daily, between the ages of 14 and 18 ; a further
period of at least four daily to be devoted to attendance
at school or other educational institution. The educa-
tion authorities should further have the power to enforce
full time attendance at school up to the age of 16,
unless the work to which the child was going, was
shown to be of a beneficial and educative nature.

(3) The Abolition of Half-time.

One of the most melancholy features of elementary
education has been the continuance of the half-timer.
Condemned on physical, moral and educational grounds
by every teacher and expert who has had knowledge
of the system, and by every committee which has
enquired into its results, it still survives, largely through
the ignorance and selfishness of vested interests. The
statutory raising of the school age will, of course,
automatically abolish it, but Parliament and the public
should be vigilant, and prevent concessions being made
in this connection which would largely frustrate the
object of raising the school age.

(4) The Abolition of Juvenile Labour Outside
School Hours.

The chief Act which is concerned with the employ-
ment during out of school hours of children of school
age is the Employment of Children Act, 1903. The
Act gives power to local authorities to make byelaws,
and it also makes certain statutory regulations affecting

8 A National System of Education

the labour of children. The chief employment in which
children are used is that of street trading, particularly
the sale of newspapers. The Act provides that no
child trader shall be under the age of eleven years,
but the whole spirit of the Act was regulation rather
than prohibition, and the responsibility for carrying
out the statutory provisions and for seeing that the
regulation was adequate, was thrown upon the local
authorities. In 1910 a departmental committee which
was appointed by the Home Secretary to enquire into
the working of the Act issued their report. It is a
valuable social document. The committee find the
evil of street trading to be clearly established. They
describe the results of the system in grave language.
They are satisfied that any form of regulation is
inadequate, and they recommend statutory prohibition
of street trading in the case of boys up to the age of

17, and in the case of girls up to an age not less than

1 8. Since the report of the committee was presented,
three bills have been introduced in Parliament to carry
out their recommendations. The government has now
adopted a bill. The reform urged by the committee
is a matter of immediate necessity. Under the present
system many thousands of English children are each
year having destroyed their power to become either
good or healthy citizens.

(5) The Abolition of Night Work by Young Persons.

It is not generally realized that extensive exemp-
tions are allowed under the provisions of the Factory
Acts, by which young persons over 14 may work on

Legislative Reforms 9

night shifts in certain industries. The object of
Parliament in allowing for these exemptions was to
meet the needs of trades where the process of manu-
facture was necessarily a continuous one. The chief
industry in which the system of night work for boys is
most generally used is that of glass. Boys from 14
upwards work alternate weeks on night shifts for a
period which varies from 8 to 1 2 hours at a stretch.

A departmental committee have recently enquired
and reported upon the subject of all these exemptions.
Their recommendations include the raising of the age
under which night work is to be prohibited to a
minimum of 16, though in the case of the glass works
this minimum is to be attained after a period of notice.

Quite apart from the general unhealthiness and
undesirability of the practice of night work for young
persons, it is essential to abolish it if the further
education of the young persons concerned is to be
secured. We do not believe that any of the industries
which use this labour are dependent upon it, or that its
abolition will cause them any serious disturbance.

CHAPTER III

REFORMS WITHIN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

The Freedom of the Curriculum.

In turning to the consideration of the reforms
necessary within the elementary schools, probably the
first in importance is the liberation of the curriculum
from the present restrictions and limitations placed
upon it by existing legislation and by the code sanc-
tioned under that legislation by the Board of Educa-
tion. As we have already pointed out, elementary
education has been regarded in the past as a complete
scheme of education for the great majority of its
scholars. The preface to the Code for the present
year almost says this in terms, and the Board of
Education have decided that some subjects are outside
the requirements or the scope of elementary children
and that these latter must be trained within certain
prescribed boundaries. In actual practice this has
meant that however long a scholar remains at an
elementary school, say to 15 or even 16 years of age,
his education has been inadequate owing to the fact
that the Code does not allow of a sufficiently graduated
and varied course for him. It would probably be true

Reforms within the Elementary School 1 1

to say that in a great number of cases the time spent
by children between the ages of 12 and 14 has been
in a very considerable degree wasted. We have sug-
gested in a former chapter that elementary education,
the education suitable for children of certain ages,
might appropriately end at 12 and secondary educa-
tion then begin. It is not necessary to think of
secondary education as a kind of education that must
necessarily be given in entirely distinct and separate
institutions. There is no valid reason why a secondary
school should not be held in the same school in which
elementary education is given, so that at the age of 1 2
—or perhaps a little earlier or a little later, as need
might arise — children would pass from the elementary
division to the secondary division. This arrangement
would appear to have the following indisputable
advantages :

(1) It would bring secondary education within
reach of all.

(2) It would do this in the cheapest manner
possible, for it would use existing buildings.

(3) This cheapness would not be at the expense
of efficiency : what would happen in effect would be
that the inefficient and wasteful top classes in ele-
mentary schools would be transformed into efficient
secondary departments.

(4) It would tend to promote the solidarity of
the teaching profession, and free circulation among
secondary and elementary school teachers.

(5) It would enable great variety, both of ele-
mentary and secondary schools to be established.

1 2 A National System of Education

(6) It would eventually break down class pre-
judices between the two forms of education.

The Government appear to contemplate the reversal
of the Cockerton judgement which prevents higher
education in elementary schools. But a warning and
a protest must be entered against a visible tendency to
regard this higher education in elementary schools —
not as a branch of secondary education — which it must
be — but as "higher elementary" education. We
require no " higher" elementary schools. Such schools
must have the status and freedom of secondary
schools.

The Staffing of the Elementary Schools.

One evil result of the divorce between elementary
and secondary education, has been the acceptance of
a very different, and a lower standard, in some of the
most important matters affecting the elementary school.
Chief amongst these evils, is the fact that we have not
made the profession sufficiently attractive to the best
men and women to enter it, and a different standard to
that of the secondary schools has been accepted. This
has not been wholly caused by the financial difficulty.
It has been in part caused also by our failure to look
upon the educational system as a unity. But obviously
to-day, the first necessity is to provide the means to
make the profession, so far as the elementary schools
are concerned, much more satisfactory and attractive.
When the salaries have been raised to an adequate
level ; when internal reforms have been carried out
within the schools themselves ; and when the Nation

Reforms within the Rlementary School 13

has ceased to view the teacher in the elementary school
as occupying a less important or dignified position
than his colleague in the secondary school, it will not,
we hope, be Utopian to believe that the men who now
accept service in the secondary schools, will be equally
willing to accept service in the elementary schools.

Twenty-five years ago there was a strong move-
ment, under the direction of the late Canon Barnett,
to secure a free circulation and unity amongst the
teachers in secondary and elementary schools. It was
thought that this could be in part achieved by estab-
lishing training colleges in connection with the univer-
sities, where men intending to enter the teaching
profession would be able to take their degree and at
the same time receive special training for their future
work. Such training colleges were established and
are now in existence at Oxford and Cambridge. They
do not appear however to be much used except by
men intending to teach in elementary schools, and the
establishment of a free circulation between the two
kinds of schools has not been realized. But the estab-
lishment of such colleges is altogether admirable, and
will tend to bring to the elementary schools men equal
in culture and personality to those who enter the
secondary schools. The greatest of all forces in every
sort of school is that of the teachers, and no amount
of efficient buildings and apparatus will compensate
for inadequate teaching staffs.

It is much to be hoped that the signs visible to-day
of a desire for a greater unity and co-operation among
the teachers in all kinds of schools will increase. It

14 A National System of Education

has always seemed unfortunate to the writer that so
many needless artificial barriers should have been
erected between different sections of the teaching pro-
fession. It is a foolish custom which has grown up of
distinguishing between teachers in secondary schools
and elementary schools by calling the former masters,
and the latter teachers, and of speaking of headmasters
in the one case, and head teachers in the other. Some
local authorities have made a fine art of this practice
of discrimination and, as in London, will not give
either the title of head teacher or headmaster to the
men in charge of their evening schools, but describe
them as responsible teachers. The same tendency is
seen where a local authority gives a class name, or
what stands as such in the public estimation, to different
kinds of schools, each of which should be regarded with
the same amount of public*respect. The most notable
instances are where elementary schools provided by
a local authority are called Council schools, while
secondary schools provided by the same authority are
described as County schools.

These are far from being trivial matters. In their
result they affect for evil both children, teachers, and
parents. It is much to be desired first that members
of the staffs in different kinds of schools should have
the same description applied to them, either masters or
teachers, and that the heads of all schools should be
similarly known by a common title, and secondly that a
common official name be applied to all publicly provided
and managed schools, qualified only by words signifying
differences of age or specialization.

Reforms within the Elementary School 15

Reduction of the Size of Classes.

The reduction of the size of the classes in the ele-
mentary schools need not be argued. No one to-day
opposes its desirability. The question of expense
alone bars the way. But it is an improvident economy
which tolerates a system under which much of its
value is destroyed. This has been realized in the
secondary schools, where the conditions which prevail
in the elementary school are not permitted. While
working for small classes all round, an immediate and
very desirable instalment of the reform would be to
see that in every publicly managed school there should
be a small class for the older children shortly to leave
school. This more intensive teaching would be of
incalculable benefit to the children shortly to leave.

Art Teaching.

The teaching and practice of art in our elementary
schools still remains a somewhat melancholy phase
of our educational system. It is here that both the
Board of Education and the highest Art Colleges and
Museums have failed to give adequate guidance. Art
teaching in a great number of the schools does not
exist at all. In many others its limitations and the
methods under which it is practised make it a grotesque
waste of time. Art teaching cannot be divorced from
the cultivation of the sense of beauty. It is much
more than a mere exercise in drawing cubes and pots.
We believe it to be an essential function of elementary
education to assist in developing in every child a sense

1 6 A National System of Education

of and a love for beauty, and the cultivation of this
sense of beauty should be a part of the art training of
the schools. It may be urged that there is no standard
of beauty, that no people agree in denning it, and that
its laws are always changing. We do not agree.
There are certain final truths on this subject which all
children should be taught. There are certain un-
changing canons of criticism which every child should
be acquainted with : simplicity in architecture ; the
suitability of buildings for their intended purpose from
the standpoint of health, utility, and the like ; colour
schemes based upon the study of nature ; the study
and appreciation of all natural forms of beauty. These
are all studies to which the child's attention should be
directed, and concerning which his intelligent sym-
pathies should be cultivated. If, as is much to be
desired, a considerable part of his education in the
future takes place out of doors, in the open air class
room or in the grounds of the school base, there will
be many more opportunities on the part of the teacher
to give fuller and better instruction on these subjects
and to develop in each child the power of cultivating
his brain by learning how to see things. In this con-
nection an appeal should be made for a higher standard
of beauty to be observed in connection with the build-
ing and fitting up of all schools. Architecturally they
generally leave much to be desired. Internally little
taste is shown in the mural decorations. The case
for making our schoolrooms beautiful has been put
eloquently and finally by Ruskin.

" The first and most important kind of public

Reforms within the Rlementary School 17

buildings which we are always sure to want are
schools, and I would ask you to consider very care-
fully whether we may not wisely introduce some great
changes in the way of school decoration. Hitherto,
as far as I know, it has either been so difficult to give
all the education we wanted to our lads, that we have
been obliged to do it, if at all, with cheap furniture
and bare walls ; or else we have considered that cheap
furniture and bare walls are a proper part of the means
of education, and supposed that boys learned best
when they sat on hard forms, and had nothing but
blank plaster about and above them whereupon to
employ their spare attention ; also that it was as well
they should be accustomed to rough and ugly con-
ditions of things, partly by way of preparing them for
the hardships of life, and partly that there might be
the least possible damage done to floors and forms in
the event of their becoming, during the master's ab-
sence, the fields or instruments of battle. All this is
so far well and necessary, as it relates to the training
of country lads and the first training of boys in general.
But there certainly comes a period in the life of a well-
educated youth in which one of the principal elements
of his education is, or ought to be, to give him refine-
ment of habits ; and not only to teach him the strong
exercises of which his frame is capable, but also to
increase his bodily sensibility and refinement, and show
him such small matters as the way of handling things
properly and treating them considerately.

" Not only so ; but I believe the notion of fixing
the attention by keeping the room empty is a wholly

1 8 A National System of Education

mistaken one. I think it is just in the emptiest room
that the mind wanders most, for it gets restless, like
a bird, for want of a perch, and casts about for any
possible means of getting out and away. And even if
it be fixed by an effort on the business in hand, that
business becomes itself repulsive, more than it need
be, by the vileness of its associations ; and many a
study becomes dull or painful to a boy when it is pur-
sued on a blotted deal desk under a wall with nothing
on it but scratches and pegs, which would have been
pursued pleasantly enough in a curtained corner of his
father's library, or at the lattice window of his cottage.
Now my own belief is that the best study of all is the
most beautiful, and that a quiet glade of forest or the
nook of a lake shore are worth all the schoolrooms in
Christendom when once you are past the multiplication
table ; but be that as it may, there is no question at all
but that a time ought to come in the life of a well-
trained youth when he can sit at a writing-table without
wanting to throw the inkstand at his neighbour, and
when also he will feel more capable of certain efforts
of mind with beautiful and refined forms about him
than with ugly ones. When that time comes he ought
to be advanced into the decorated schools, and this
advance ought to be one of the important and honour-
able epochs in his life1."

We are still far from acting on his advice. It is

not an uncommon sight in entering an elementary

school to find the main wall covered with a jumble of

incongruous charts, maps and pictures, so that we

1 "A Joy for Ever."

Reforms within the Rlementary School 19

have side by side a presentation portrait of the Sove-
reign, a diagram illustrating the action of alcohol on
the human body, a tonic sol-fa notation chart and a
case of bottles shewing the preparation of mustard.
If there were the necessary knowledge and guidance
available, it would be easy enough to make the walls
of each schoolroom an education in themselves, placing
before the children who were taught in them repro-
ductions of the greatest pictures and reproductions of
the most beautiful specimens of architecture and illus-
trations of scenes of natural beauty. This treatment
would naturally lead on to an even more dignified
scheme of mural paintings, under which the walls
would be decorated with mural paintings fitting in
with the general architectural scheme and designed to
appeal, either through symbolic painting or the repre-
sentation of historic scenes, or by decorative treatment
of natural beauty, to many sides of the child's nature.

Manual Training.

The experience of the Montessori method has
revealed the extraordinary possibilities of educating
children through manual activities. The success of
this scheme should lead to many experimental schools
on the same lines, and it should also encourage the
great extension of educational handwork in the ele-
mentary schools. The beginnings of this system are
to be found in many schools already, but it has yet to
receive that general recognition which is necessary.

The children of elementary schools who receive
instruction in manual work usually go for an hour or

2 2

2O A National System of Education

two once a week to a manual training centre. Such
an arrangement is wholly insufficient. Each school
should have its workshop, where every boy should
have training as a regular part of his work.

But apart from the workshop and the conventional
forms of manual training, we are still far from realizing
the possibilities of handwork as a help in the class-
room in nearly every subject taught. There is an
absence of synthetic treatment. If, for instance, the
children of a school could construct, in or out of doors,
under skilled guidance, a model of an old building, the
construction of the model should not be thought of as
an end in itself. Apart from the manual skill which
would be cultivated, and the actual joy to be got out
of the work itself, the whole operation should be made
the means of teaching a number of related subjects, e.g.
history, architecture, hygiene, geography.

Manual training is not to be regarded as the end
of culture but the means of culture. So far as we
possess the results of expert observation, they tend to
prove not only that handwork develops intelligence
but that it raises the level of attainment in all other
branches of instruction.

Relations between Teachers and Scholars.

As the elementary school is raised to a more dig-
nified place in our national life, and the gulf between
their teachers and those in higher schools is diminished,
we may hope for the employment of many of the
methods common to the best secondary schools. First
among these we would place the influence to be exerted

Reforms within the Elementary School 21

by the teachers through establishing relations with
their scholars out of school, by sharing games and
outdoor activities and by establishing school clubs and
societies — literary, debating, photographic, &c. — per-
haps, even, by running a little school journal.

Prefects and Houses.

Closely allied are the questions of prefects and
" houses." Both are features which might well be
introduced into the elementary schools. The prefect
system, under wise control, is capable in the elementary
school of the same admirable results which have at-
tended it in the secondary school. The house system,
under which each boy would be a member of a "house"
and under a housemaster who would be charged with
the duty of watching over his interests during the
whole of his school life, would powerfully assist the
promotion of a corporate life, with all the character-
making influences it means.

School Record Cards.

A development of the House system, which is
recommended above, would be the institution of the
school record card. These would appropriately be
kept by the housemasters, and would contain a com-
plete record of all relevant facts concerning the boy's
work, progress, character and abilities. A copy of the
record card would accompany the boy when he left
the elementary school for some form of secondary
education, and would also be at the service of the
Care committee or any other authority which came

22 A National System of Education

into touch with the boy with the view of helping him
along his life's journey. Reports, as in secondary
schools, should be sent to the parents at least once
a year, and parents meetings should be organized.

Teachers Libraries.

All that enlarges the interest and outlook of the
teacher should be encouraged. Much more should be
done to enable him to reach the best literature dealing
with educational subjects. There is sometimes a central
library of educational works, but a much better system
would be to supply on loan for the use of the teachers
at each school copies of some of the best new books
on education as they appear. Here, too, is a field for
the co-operation of the libraries. In any case each
teacher should have a list of all important new books,
and encouraged to read them.

Rural Schools.

In surveying the whole field of elementary educa-
tion perhaps no aspect of it is less satisfactory than
the schools established in rural districts. It is only
right that we should remember that some local
authorities have made praiseworthy efforts to deal
with the special problems that concern them, and in
such cases gardening classes have been established
and instruction given in a few simple agricultural sub-
jects. These experiments have, however, been few in
number and unduly confined in extent, and the whole
system of rural education requires re-organization.
It is true to say that for the most part the same

Reforms within the Elementary School 23

unenlightened adherence to a code fixed for all kinds of
schools has been shown, with the result that so far ele-
mentary education in the rural districts has not had any
material, or, indeed, noticeable influence in promoting
interest in the pursuits and occupations of the country,
or in preventing boys from drifting as rapidly as they
can to the towns and cities. There are certain reasons
which should be remembered which particularly explain
the lack of adequate progress in the past. These may
thus be summarised :

(1) Local authorities have been hampered by the
questions of finance, for, as has been already stated,
the educational burden is proportionately heavier in
rural districts than in large centres. This, of course,
is a vital question which must be dealt with in a
general national scheme of educational finance.

(2) There has been no defined and coherent
elementary education policy set before local authorities
in connection with the special needs of rural districts.
Here we think the Board of Education should have
done more. In another place we discuss the extension
of the functions of the Board, and particularly of its
department of special enquiries. It has an urgent work
to do in connection with the rural schools of England,
and it is necessary for special financial help to be given
for the promotion of different types of rural schools
and the encouragement of experiment generally.

In turning to the consideration of constructive
proposals for the reform of rural education, we would
submit the following considerations :

(a) There should be no attempt to stereotype a

24 A National System of Education

curriculum and impose it on all rural schools ; the first
need is for variety.

(b) This variety is necessary in order that the
work of each rural school, both in its elementary and
secondary phase, may be related to the future voca-
tions of the scholars.

(</) The training should not only enable the
scholars to follow efficiently the work they will
probably enter upon when they leave school, but it
should also have the wider object of enabling them
to enter upon such occupations with the greater
interest that springs from knowledge, and with an
intelligent appreciation of the possibilities before them
in county life.

It will therefore be clear that education in the
rural districts should have a practical, as well as a
theoretical interest. We cannot pretend in considering
it to separate it into elementary and secondary divisions
clearly defined, but in both divisions it should be closely
related to actual experiment, and should include gar-
dening, agriculture, the care and rearing of cattle and
domestic animals, the construction of simple buildings,
the principles of drainage, together with special tech-
nical and manual instruction. Part of this instruction
would necessarily be given in connection with agricul-
tural centres for specialised training, where boys from
rural schools would attend on certain days in each week
to supplement their school training. Experimental

Reforms within the Elementary School 25

farms would be an essential feature of the work
in connection with these centres, and smaller farms,
even if they only took the form of allotments for
experimental gardening, would be associated with all
of the rural schools. France, Austria and other coun-
tries point the way in the use of school gardens, the
former country having more than thirty thousand
attached to its schools. Only in this way can we fit
lads to become small-holders and interest them in
taking up an agricultural career on scientific lines.

The qualifications for teachers in rural schools are
not necessarily the same as for teachers in lower
schools. The need for specialists has been recognized
in connection with higher agricultural education and
it should be possible to make arrangements by which
the services of the same specialists could be available
both for the secondary and the elementary school.

Part of the training in rural schools should be
concerned with the business side of agricultural life,
and questions of co-operation, transit, markets, and all
the other points upon which the success of the little
farmer or small-holder is dependent, must be made real
to the students.

CHAPTER IV

THE OUTDOOR LIFE OF ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL CHILDREN

We have already emphasized the divorce between
different types of schools in this country. What this
means in actual working is in part seen in the different
standards which exist in elementary and secondary
schools for the physical care of their respective
children. In the latter case there is an organized
outdoor life with adequate facilities for its development.
In the former these are generally absent. It is the
desire of the writer to consider some methods of
organizing the outdoor life of children of elementary
schools. It may perhaps be found that in seeking
to carry them out, something more than the physical
health of the children will have been secured.

The Playground of the Elementary School.

There are some points which might first be con-
sidered which do not involve large questions of policy
and expense, and could easily be dealt with. These
for the most part are concerned with the school play-
ground. It is curious how consistently this has been

Outdoor Life of School Children 27

neglected. It is generally reduced to the minimum
amount possible, sometimes it does not exist. It has
to take the place of the playing fields invariably at
the disposal of efficient secondary schools, and except
in rare cases where the school is happily situated near
a public park (for the problem is especially one which
concerns town schools) it is the only ground available
either for work or play, which is to be done outside the
class room. Notwithstanding these facts, no trouble
whatever is generally taken to make the little ground
that exists as useful and as efficiently planned as
possible. The school building itself, whether good or
bad, is at least the result of thought and judgement ; its
plans are considered and a decision is arrived at. The
school ground is the object of no such care. It is
asphalted or gravelled, surrounded by cast iron railings,
and the architecture of the ground is complete. But
the playground should be as carefully considered and
planned as the school itself, and even a small piece
of ground, if wisely arranged, would be of incalculable
good. It should be remembered that for the town
child it is both physically and mentally beneficial for as
much of the school work as possible to be done in the
open air. A few tentative experiments in this direction
have been tried, but the absence of proper outdoor
facilities has prevented any considerable extension of
them.

Outdoor Work and Class Rooms.

The outdoor class room should, therefore, be
architecturally planned. It must be considered with

28 A National System of Education

reference to cold, prevailing winds, privacy and other
matters, sliding or movable glass partitions may have
to be employed, a verandah or roof may be necessary.
Obviously, therefore, in the case of a new school, all
these questions must be considered in relation to the
whole building. As for existing schools, all that can
be done now is to plan the playground as efficiently as
may be. It would then, in many cases, be possible for
outdoor classes to be held daily in suitable weather.
Not only would this be a great gain to the physical
well-being of the children, it would promote their
intellectual efficiency. A child in the open air is more
alert, and capable of greater mental effort. The
playground could be so arranged as to provide means
whereby work hitherto done in part in the school room
could be more efficiently done in the open air. Thus
space should be found for at least a few small trees and
plants which would not only beautify the ground, but
should be used for the school work, and properly so
used would provide the means whereby town boys and
girls might be led to some understanding and love for
the world of nature. A wise master or mistress would
not be long in realizing that a London child taught
day by day throughout the year to observe the living
things around it, to sketch a tree in autumn and spring,
summer and winter, to commit daily to paper a descrip-
tion or sketch of the unfolding bud, or growing leaf,
would be cultivating many, latent possibilities and
receiving something more than bodily health.

The outdoor work of the playground need not be
confined to nature study. A well planned playground

Outdoor Life of School Children 29

would have its sand heap, not only for the play of the
smaller ones, but for its educational value, the study of
physical geography and the making of maps in relief.

Sometimes it may be found possible even in town
playgrounds, to have miniature garden plots to be
tended by the scholars and to provide simple accom-
modation for a few pets.

There should also be provided in the school play-
ground the simple apparatus necessary to interest
children in the study of the weather from day to day,
the measurement of the rainfall and the record of
temperature and wind.

Facilities for Play.

So far we have dealt chiefly with the educational
value of a well planned and properly equipped play-
ground. There remains the play side proper to be
considered before we pass from this phase of the
subject. To neglect its function as a playground
proper would indeed be short-sighted, seeing that in
the vast majority of cases unless the children can play
here the only alternative for them is the gutter. The
ground is, of course, always too small for the great
games, football, cricket and the like, but the games
which require smaller space could frequently be given
facilities for. In an otherwise useless corner it might
be possible to put a racquets or fives court. In
building a new school the task would be made easier
by so planning the building that some part of it would
become available for the back wall of the court.
Although it may be truly urged that not more than

3O A National System of Education

four persons can play at one time in games like fives or
racquets, they are nevertheless of incalculable benefit in
the development of a school's corporate life, and they
afford the opportunity for the masters in elementary
schools, by teaching their boys these games and playing
them together, to promote camaraderie, and exercise
that personal influence, which is the legitimate pride of
the secondary schoolmaster.

Preparation of Plans and Models.

The Board of Education might well give more
guidance to local education authorities on the proper
planning of their school grounds. One of the best
ways to do this would be the preparation of a series of
plans and models of suggested playgrounds showing
the various features which might be introduced in their
relation to the main buildings of the school. These
could be on view in the library of the Board of
Education or elsewhere, and in other ways made
available for the help and guidance of local education
committees.

Holiday Use of Playgrounds.

Before leaving the subject of school playgrounds,
a plea should be recorded for greater facilities being
given for their use in the summer evenings and on
Saturdays, and during the school holidays. The
success of such use would mainly depend upon the
voluntary workers who were willing to direct and share
the play and hobbies of the school children. Some
appeal could with confidence be made to the patriotism

Outdoor Life of School Children 31

of the teachers who would, in the writer's opinion, come
forward in increasing numbers voluntarily to share this
further labour if the possibilities in it were more
efficiently striven for.

Playing Fields.

Turning from the question of the playgrounds
immediately around the elementary school, we have
next to consider how the further needs of the scholars
for adequate recreation ground is to be met. Our
brief study of the question so far, though it has shown
great possibilities, physical and educational, realizable
through the wiser use of the ground around the school,
has also made it apparent that this latter is quite
inadequate to enable organized games to be shared
by any considerable number of children. The playing
fields proper still remain to be provided where the town
child may spend long summer evenings and holidays in
joyous exercise, with green grass under his feet and
fresh winds blowing about him.

Ultimately this problem may be solved by the
adequate planning of new towns and extensions, and
the establishment of the school base which is discussed
more fully in chapter vn. The immediately urgent
matter is how to provide facilities for regular and
organized games for the children in the existing
elementary schools. There are three methods worth
considering. (a) There should be closer co-operation
with the parks' authorities with a view to more use
being made of the parks, and better arrangements
being made within the parks for the accommodation of

32 A National System of Education

the children. (b) The crowded parts of our cities
should be roughly divided into areas and a piece of
ground should be provided to be shared by all the
schools within that area. Each school would use it
regularly, in turn, and facilities would then exist for the
holding of inter-school sports and matches, with all
that these mean in promoting public spirit, as well as
individual health, (c) The playing fields of secondary
schools are frequently unused on certain days of the
week, and especially at certain hours on many days.
There is no good reason why with friendly co-operation
between the authorities of the respective schools, the
grounds should not be used during these unoccupied
times by the children of the elementary schools.

The School Journey.

We turn in conclusion to consider briefly how
outdoor life can be helped away from the school
grounds themselves. We should like to see the school
journey greatly developed in this country. One or
two headmasters of elementary schools have at great
personal sacrifice taken small parties of their boys on a
few days tramp. Preparation has been made by the
reading of appropriate books and by learning some-
thing of the history and nature of the place they were
to visit. A careful scheme of work to do on the
journey was prepared, provision being made for the
study of science, nature, architecture. On the journey
itself each boy kept a careful daily diary of all that he
saw and learnt. The results in each case have been
magnificent, and both boys and teachers have benefited

Outdoor Life of School Children 33

in countless ways. The Board of Education has
approved such journeys. It is for local authorities and
others to give every encouragement possible for their
development. Here indeed is a great field of work for
the people of goodwill.

A modification of these long school journeys could
more easily be put in operation. There is no reason
why a party from each school should not be taken
at say weekly intervals for a half-day's educational
journey, visiting buildings of interest or beauty, art
galleries and museums, botanical and zoological gardens,
&c. The London County Council has taken a step
which might well be copied by educational authorities
throughout the kingdom. This is the preparation
of a pamphlet containing particulars of the various
institutions to which children might be taken on these
educational journeys with details of the hours of
opening and conditions of admission. Expeditions
like these, in addition to their obvious advantages,
do so much in teaching the duties of citizenship and,
what is even more important, developing the capacity
for citizenship.

Co-operation of the Board of Education.

The help of the Board of Education in promoting
the organization of the outdoor life of elementary school
children might be given in the following definite ways :

(i) By refusing to allow any weakening of the
existing requirements for the size of elementary school
playgrounds.

w. ?

34 ^4 National System of Education

(2) By increasing the present minimum required
in all cases where it is reasonably possible to do so.

(3) By giving guidance to local education
committees in the more regular and systematic use
of the playground for the purpose of educational work
and training.

(4) By assisting the committees in the proper
planning of school grounds by the preparation and loan
of models and plans.

(5) By encouraging and guiding local education
committees in the wiser planning and choice of sites for
schools, keeping in view the desirability of establishing
a school base and of using the opportunities afforded
by the existence of parks.

(6) By issuing circulars or other publications
dealing with long and short school journeys and
setting forth the work which might suitably be under-
taken on such journeys.

These suggestions for action by the Board are
made because, properly conceived, it should ever be
the inspiring force behind the local machinery of
educational administration, guiding and creating the
effort and enthusiasm which come with new ideas and
methods, received with sympathy and applied with
wisdom.

CHAPTER V

THE SCHOOL BASE

The isolation which exists between one form of
English education and another, is in no respect more
clearly shown than in the method which we continue
as actively to-day as ever, of building our elementary
schools in crowded and sometimes in slum areas, with
inadequate ground, giving not only insufficient room
for play, but causing also the erection of high buildings
of several floors. The schools so built at the doors of
the children for whom they are intended, will never
become common schools, i.e. to be used by poor and
well-to-do alike, nor can they be properly related to
the higher schools in the same town or district.

We are now about to enter upon a new stage of
educational organization. The proposals of the Govern-
ment are being made public, and legislation must
soon follow. It is, therefore, worth while to consider
the question of the method followed hitherto for pro-
viding elementary schools and to see whether a healthier
and more efficient, as well as a less costly method is not
possible. To-day when a new school is required, either
in a town or in a newly-developed suburb, the educa-
tion authority generally has to buy a very costly site at

3—2

36 A National System of Education

a price which prevents adequate ground being secured.
The solution appears to be, so far as new districts are
concerned, to take advantage of the Town Planning
Act, and in adopting schemes under that Act, to make
ample provision to secure adequate sites for whatever
schools may be necessary in the future. But apart
from town planning schemes, it should be possible for
local authorities to secure and to hold in reserve what-
ever ground may be considered necessary for the schools
of the future. I desire, however, to suggest what may
prove to be a far more scientific arrangement in build-
ing both the primary and the secondary schools of the
country. That is, except in exceptional cases, to cease
the method of building individual schools, isolated from
one another, and to establish for every small town, and
for every given area of larger towns, the school base.
In new districts and under town planning schemes, the
establishment of the school base would be a compara-
tively easy matter. It would not be necessary for the
base to be very far away, and it would be readily
accessible for the children for whom it was intended.
In the big cities, the problem of founding a school
base is a much more difficult one, but it is not in-
capable of solution. If, for instance, it can be solved
in London, no other town is likely to present greater
difficulties. The immediate policy to be urged for
London, is that the schools should be built in groups
around certain of the great open spaces. There is,
for instance, no reason why we should not gradually
build around Victoria Park, or very near to it, a number
of elementary schools, and these would ultimately give

The School Base 37

sufficient accommodation for a considerable portion of
the surrounding district. In many cases the children
would then be within walking distance of the schools;
in most cases, with the assistance of train, bus or tram
no child would have to walk more than a mile each
way, and the child who is not in a condition to walk
this distance, is not in a condition to be educated at
all. What would such a scheme as this mean in the
lives of the children ? They would be taken to a school
situated amidst country surroundings, they would ex-
change the crowded playground or the gutter and the
noisy street for a hundred acres of grass, trees and
water. Moreover, the use of the park by the school
children would not interfere with its use by the general
public, for during the school hours it is generally
deserted, and there would be room for all.

The first, and probably the only objection to such
a scheme, would be on the score of initial expense.
The elementary schools for London exist, and to create
a school base now would appear to mean a double
capital expenditure. It must, however, be remembered
that we should work towards our ideal gradually. New
schools, for example, are constantly being built in East
London, and there is no reason why these should not
form the nucleus of the school base at Victoria Park.
Gradually too, some of the existing schools could be
used for infants and the younger children. Some of
the present school sites are of great building value,
and would probably realize a far higher price than the
new sites would cost, but, of course, the scheme, even
for a limited part of East London, would take years

38 A National System of Education

to realize. What is desirable is that an ideal should
exist, a start be made. It is not unreasonable to be-
lieve that when the first group of schools had been
completed at the selected base, the cost of administra-
tion and maintenance would be less proportionately
than under the present system. If the base is round
a public park the playground involves no cost so far
as purchase is concerned. The swimming bath or pool
would be shared by all the schools at the base, so too
would the kitchens and dining-rooms, if it were neces-
sary to provide a simple meal for the children at mid-
day. This need not be at the expense of the public;
the school canteen would be established and would
supply necessary food at cost price. Necessitous
children would, as now, be fed without charge. There
are other features which it would appear might be
shared by all the schools, with a consequent reduction
of expense. These include gymnasium, the school
concert room, as well as special features, like art class
rooms and museums.

The proposal is also important in connection with
secondary education, for there is no reason why the
municipal secondary school should not be established
at the school base. This would assist in building up
that organic connection between primary and secondary
education which it is to be hoped will be one of the
chief results of new legislation on the subject of edu-
cation. If it be regarded as impossible to establish
the school base on a large scale, it is yet possible to
adopt it within our cities in miniature form. In
meeting the school needs in growing suburbs, schools

The School Base 39

could be built in groups of at least four, it being a
principle that at least four times as much playground
is secured as would have been available for a single
school built on the old system. Sufficient ground
would then be available for organized games. It
would be easy to have a cricket pitch, if only matting,
and football and hockey could be played.

Apart from the gain in the matter of the physical
health of the children, there would be many other
advantages. There would be a broader life for the
children ; there would be the opportunity of inter-
school relations and competitions for the building up
of esprit de corps. The system, too, would ultimately
be economical for many common features could be
shared by the schools, and there would be a reduction
of expense in connection with cleaning and main-
tenance.

CHAPTER VI

THE PHYSICAL CARE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
CHILDREN

In another chapter we have fully discussed the
arrangements for the outdoor life of elementary school
children, and if those are carried out, the problem of
the physical care of the children is, to a large extent,
solved. The present chapter deals only with the
arrangements for the physical care of the children
made from inside the school, in order that the school-
room and the playing field may efficiently co-operate.
The necessary further reforms within the school may
be briefly set forth in the following order :

(i) School Clinics.

There is to-day complete unanimity of opinion
respecting the value of the medical inspection of
school children sanctioned by law. The adequate
treatment of school children is a necessary and an
inevitable consequence. Isolated experiments de-
serving of all praise have been made, but the general
question of treatment still remains to be faced. The

Physical Care of School Children 41

most efficient, as well as the most economical, plan
appears to be that of the school clinic, where doctor
and dentist would attend periodically for the treatment
of the children requiring it, and where physical records
and measurements would be kept. The clinic would
probably be unnecessary in every school, as in big
centres one for a group of schools would be sufficient.
When we have achieved the school base this problem
like so many more would be simplified.

(2) The Bath Room as a Class Room.

We hope that the time is not far distant when
school baths will be a feature of all elementary schools.
Not only are these necessary in order to ensure the
absolute cleanliness of all children in attendance, but
the bathroom is necessary in order to train children
not only in the habits of cleanliness but in elementary
hygiene and the laws of health. The provision of
such facilities would raise the whole standard of the
schools, and it is far from being a question only of
physical cleanliness. The fact that absolute cleanli-
ness was enforced upon every child would do much
to break down the existing prejudices of many parents
against the elementary schools, and would powerfully
assist the creation of the common school. Ample
guidance is awaiting the educational authorities in this
direction. The method of the spray baths introduced
into the schools of many German municipalities leaves
nothing to be desired and the results already achieved
are beyond dispute.

42 A National System of Education

(3) Organized Games.

Organized games, both in the playground and
in the playing fields and parks, which are referred to
in another chapter, should form a regular and daily
feature of the curriculum of the school.

In connection with the organization of play, notice
should be taken of the remarkable developments which
have taken place in Manchester, Birmingham and other
towns, in promoting the outdoor life of the school
children. In these towns a large number of people
of goodwill have been brought together and have
given their time and service to organizing and super-
vizing the play of the children in the parks and other
public places. The result has been in each case most
satisfactory, and the experiments have been uniformly
successful. It is clear that the system could be ex-
tended generally, and requires only skilled organization
united with the requisite sympathy.

(4) Regular Physical Training.

In addition to organized games and play, regular
and scientific physical training is necessary in all our
schools, both elementary and secondary. In the latter
this physical training exists in the majority of cases.
It is not a difficult thing to impose it upon the whole
of the elementary schools. Already the Board of
Education has prepared a very full and admirable
syllabus giving the necessary details of a compre-
hensive scheme.

Physical Care of School Children 43

(5) Physical Records.

The preservation of physical records should be
insisted upon in all cases. These are really insepar-
able from any proper system of medical examination
and oversight.

The goodwill of the parents is necessary in this as
in so many other points affecting the schools, and it
would be encouraged if each year or half year a copy
of the physical record card were sent to each parent.

CHAPTER VII

THE MEANING AND SCOPE OF SECONDARY
EDUCATION

We need entirely to revise our conception of
secondary education. Just as elementary schools have
been regarded as the schools appropriate for the children
of the poor, so secondary education has been regarded
as the education appropriate for the children of a higher
social class. The basis upon which the whole of the
suggestions contained in this book are made is the
regarding of elementary education as the education
appropriate for children of certain ages irrespective
of their social position, and for secondary education
to be regarded as continued education appropriate
to a later age.

The Duty of Education Authorities.

It cannot truthfully be urged that even where
education authorities have complete control of their
own secondary schools, they have in many cases
succeeded in building up a real relationship between
the elementary and the secondary schools in their own
area. The curriculum of the secondary school has
usually been fixed on the understanding that pupils
would begin it at an age considerably earlier than
that at which they leave the elementary school.
Unless, therefore, the work of the elementary school
is regulated accordingly, the minority of boys who

Secondary Education 45

enter the secondary school from the elementary school
must and do find themselves seriously handicapped.
The first reform, therefore, which has to be insisted
upon by the State, is the co-relation of secondary and
elementary schools.

What is Secondary Education f

It is unfortunate that so awkward and meaningless
a word as "secondary" has been imposed upon us to
express an educational system. The lay public has
attached different meanings to the word at different
times, and probably the most general conception it
now has of the word is that it is a description of a
superior type of school. Professional opinion has, as
far as possible, crystallized the meaning of the word
and thinks of it as the description of a school which
prepares boys for the universities, or which has a dis-
tinctly academic basis as opposed to technical schools,
or schools where other than intellectual pursuits are
specialized in. This tendency is seen in the attempt
which is constantly being made not to regard as
secondary education any forms of later education
intended for ex-elementary school scholars, so that
we have the phrases " night schools," "continuation
schools," "higher elementary schools," and "trade
schools," springing up and kept outside the conven-
tional and professional view of what secondary edu-
cation is.

In seeking to evolve any satisfactory system of
education, these mistaken and confused conceptions
of secondary education must be swept away, and

46 A National System of Education

secondary education must be held to embrace all forms

of further teaching and training which succeed the
training appropriate for lower ages.

The need for greater variety of Secondary
Schools.

If we are to have any sort of national system of
education, it follows that there must be a great variety
in the types of secondary schools which we set up.
It is an essential part of the case that is being put
forward that elementary education can never be com-
plete in itself, and that every child requires some form
of secondary education. But the secondary schools
must be sufficiently varied as to meet the needs of
the varying gifts and aptitudes of the children of the
nation. If the training of the child in the elementary
school has been adequate, it would generally be pos-
sible, at least tentatively, to come to some decision as
to the kind of further education for which he is best
fitted. Hitherto, the curriculum of the secondary school
has proceeded along definite academic lines, and has
neglected, in a very great degree, manual training.
This point is emphasized in the report of the com-
mittee on practical work in secondary schools which
has just been issued. There must, therefore, not only
be a literary type of secondary school, but a great
variety of other types, not only giving much more
manual training generally, but having also a direct
vocational basis, giving at least the foundations of the
training appropriate for certain definite work in later
life. The few trade schools which exist in London

Secondary Education 47

and in one or two other cities are, of course, secondary
schools, and must be recognized as definitely within
the system.

To what goal should the Secondary

Schools lead?

We have endeavoured to show that, like the ele-
mentary schools, the secondary schools should be
regarded as a link in the chain of the system of
national education. What, however, is the stage which
follows secondary education ? It is not easy to answer
such a question in a word. We have appealed for a
greater variety in secondary education in order that it
may lead to numerous paths of entry into the work of
life. In some cases they must prepare for the uni-
versities, not only Oxford and Cambridge, but the
universities which are now springing up in most of
the big cities of the country, and it is to be hoped
will be greatly increased in the near future. The
secondary school must also prepare boys for entry
into foundations for specialized study — like the agri-
cultural colleges. But for the great majority of their
boys for many years to come, the secondary schools
must so train their pupils as to enable them on leaving
immediately to begin with efficiency their career in
the work of life. This can only be done by a very
great increase in the number of types of schools and
in adequate specialization being undertaken in them.

The cost of Secondary Education.
If secondary education is to be made available for
the children of the nation generally, it is obvious that

48 A National System of Education

far-reaching changes must be made in the cost which
at present falls upon the parents. The scholarship
system which simply takes a few of the elementary
school children is inefficient, and the ultimate solution
will be the establishment of free secondary schools.
An intermediate step would be to exempt from pay-
ment the children of all parents whose income is below
a certain amount. Such a method would work auto-
matically, and without it becoming public which children
were admitted free. It would also follow a principle
already properly embodied in much of recent legisla-
tion. Mere freedom from fees would not be sufficient
to meet the cases of the extremely poor, for whom
maintenance allowances to cover clothing, books and
food, would have, in addition, to be made. We discuss
elsewhere the question of the share to be borne by the
State of the cost of all education.

Examinations.

The multitude of outside examinations is an ad-
mitted evil. A central Examinations Board is necessary
which should issue certificates certifying the subjects
in which the scholar has satisfied the Board in an
examination of a non-competitive character from which
the elements of chance has been eliminated. An
adequate standard of knowledge and attainment must
always be required so that the value of the certificate
would be indisputable. But the Examination Board
must not be confined to the academic type of secondary
school, but must be open to the scholars in all types of
schools where secondary education is given.

CHAPTER VIII

AN ENQUIRY INTO SECONDARY SCHOOLS, PRIVATE
SCHOOLS, ENDOWED EDUCATIONAL CHARITIES
AND SPECIAL VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS

The Board of Education has recognized 986
secondary schools as being efficient. There are about
I3,ooo1 additional secondary schools under private
management, and receiving no financial aid from
public funds, of which the Board knows nothing.
In the organization of our educational system, adequate
knowledge of these privately managed schools is
necessary. Their numbers, their efficiency, their
curricula, are matters of which the State should have
full knowledge. And this not for any hostile purpose,
for it is surely to be desired that all private work which
merits support should receive encouragement, but it
must be efficient, and it should take its properly related
place in a national system of education.

A Royal Commission on Private Schools.

Such a survey could scarcely be carried out by the
ordinary machinery of a Government department. It

1 This estimate was given by Mr Pease at the Eighty Club,
April 4, 1913.

w. 4

50 A National System of Education

would require the authority of a commission. Such
a commission with the expert assistance it would
command, need not be very long in reporting. Its
terms of reference would naturally include an enquiry
into all privately managed schools, their curricula, their
efficiency, the numbers of their scholars, together with
recommendations showing the place they might take
in a national system of education, though without
unnecessary interference with their management and
methods, and their distinctive work.

But particularly it is necessary to ascertain what
endowments are held by these schools for the purpose
of education. Accurate information on this point be-
comes a matter of urgent necessity at a time when the
State is proposing to organize a general system of
organization, and to reconsider the principles upon
which State aid should be given. In chapter ix a
proposal is made for the establishment of a permanent
financial commission at the Board of Education, and it
would be essential for the commission in deciding the
needs of every area to have full information respecting
the endowments and financial resources of the whole
of the schools.

Endowed Educational Charities.

Another subject which urgently calls for enquiry is
the endowed charity schools scattered throughout the
country. Sometimes these are called Hospitals. They
are generally boarding schools taking orphan or desti-
tute children and giving them industrial and other
training. There are cases within the knowledge of

An Enquiry into Secondary Schools, &c. 51

the writer where admission to these endowed schools
is dependent upon the infant candidate being able to
recite certain psalms and the catechism. There are
others where they are sent automatically to earn their
living on reaching the age of 14. There are good
reasons for believing that many of these charity schools
have not kept abreast with the progressive movement
in education, and that ignorance and unwisdom (and
sometimes perhaps abuses) have become features of
their management. The interests of the nation call
for enquiry by the State, and where necessary for
action to follow.

The Choir Schools.

Enquiry is also called for into schools founded for
what may be described as limited vocational purposes.
The chief of these are the choir schools, instituted not
to prepare boys for a musical career in later life, but
to supply boy choristers for cathedrals, colleges, etc.
Sometimes these schools are exclusively schools for
choristers who are obliged to leave when their voices
break. Such an arrangement is wholly disastrous to
the boys concerned and enquiry into choir schools
should be directed to ascertaining whether it would
be possible for them to be amalgamated with ordinary
schools in order to prevent the expulsion of the chorister
at the period of the breaking of his voice.

Registration of Schools.

The enquiry into all secondary and private schools
should be followed by the registration of all schools

4—2

52 A National System of Education

which the Board of Education consider efficient,
whether aided by public funds or not. Only by
State registration can the public be protected from
the inefficient and worthless, but it is of fundamental
importance that the registration shall take place in
an enlightened way, that there shall be no attempt
to stereotype any pattern of school or to hinder
private enterprise and initiative, to which education
owes so much, or to discourage variety. Hence I
should like to see some kind of appeal allowed to
an educational court in the case of schools which
were refused registration.

CHAPTER IX

THE FINANCE OF EDUCATION

It is clear that no great progress can be made in
the establishment of a national system of education
without additional heavy cost being incurred. It is
equally clear that it is idle to look to the local
authorities to incur additional burdens. To do so
would be effectively to kill any chance of that general
enthusiasm for education which we desire to see
kindled and extended. It is obvious that the new
burden must be borne by the State, and that the
existing cost which falls upon local authorities must
be the matter of examination and adjustment. The
House of Commons has definitely accepted this view
and in 1910 it passed unanimously a resolution de-
claring that the national exchequer should bear an
increased share of the expense of the national service
of education.

The present system is one of grants based upon
attendance. The following important points are to be
noted in connection with this system :

i. The State at present contributes about
£13,000,000 to all forms of education.

54 A National System of Education

2. The share borne by the rates has continually
increased. That borne by the State has remained
approximately the same.

3. The cost falls with unfair variation upon
different localities. Small schools are relatively more
expensive than big schools. An area where the popu-
lation is close together offers fewer difficulties than an
area where the population is scattered. It is much
more costly in the latter case to provide proper educa-
tional facilities.

4. The result has been unequal educational
conditions throughout the country, and consequent;
inefficiency.

5. The provision for all forms of secondary
education is generally inadequate throughout the
country and the present payments by the State are
not sufficient to secure adequate advance by the local
authorities.

6. Experimental work, so essential in education,
is hampered, and frequently prevented, by lack of
funds.

The Federal Council of Secondary Schools Asso-
ciation has prepared a scheme1 for a new basis of
State grants. In view of the support given to this
proposal by educational authorities we reproduce
extracts showing the chief points of the scheme :

" The principle hereby advocated is the single one of

changing the unit on which State grants are based from

the pupil to the teaching staff. Grants at present are

made in respect of attendance of pupils. The change

1 Issued July 1913.

The Finance of Education 55

now suggested is to make grants depend upon salaries
of teachers.

" The apportionment of burden between Rates and
Taxes would for the first time be based on a principle
at once sound, effective and permanent. The change
suggested would place the cost of teaching upon the
State ; it would leave to Local Authorities and other
School Authorities the cost of maintenance (apart from
salaries), and of providing buildings and equipment as
needs arise ; and it would tend to raise the standard of
school efficiency throughout the country. This plan
would have the advantage also of focussing attention,
for a time at least, on essentials. It seems imperative
for the sake of educational progress that for a few
years the efforts for betterment should be concentrated
on teaching power, and that the first place should not
as hitherto be held by the less important items of
building and equipment.

"It appears from statistics issued by the Board of
Education1 that teachers' salaries, whether in Elemen-
tary or Secondary Schools, account for from 70 to 75
per cent, of the total cost of maintenance. It is this
item of expenditure which is the most burdensome to
Local Authorities, not only because it is already con-

1 For Elementary Schools, see Statistics of Public Education in
England and Wales, 1910-11-12 (Cd 6551), Part II. Financial
Statistics, Tables 134 and 146.

For Secondary Schools, see Parliamentary Paper (Cd 5951)
presented to the House of Commons in November, 1911; and, for
all kinds of Grant-earning Institutions, House of Commons Return
(No. 115) for the year 1911-12, relating to Education in England
and Wales, presented 6 May, 1913.

56 A National System of Education

siderable, and must, if only by automatic increment of
salaries, increase from year to year, but also because
the advantages accruing from this heavy and increasing
expenditure, unlike expenditure on buildings and
equipment, cannot readily be evaluated, and con-
sequently fail in most cases to appeal either to electors
or to administrative authorities.

"The State at present is contributing for England
and Wales for the general purposes of Education
about £"13,000,000 (Elementary £"11,750,000; Secon-
dary ,£750,000 ; Technological £500,000). If the
State were to make its contribution equivalent in
amount to the present expenditure upon teachers'
salaries and other emoluments, it is estimated that
in the first instance the charge on public funds
would amount to about £"19,000,000 (Elementary
£"16,000,000; Secondary ,£2,000,000; Technological
,£1,000,000).

"If it be objected that an increase of £"6,000,000
at once, with a prospect of a further rise as soon as the
new scales come into force, would be too much to ask
of the State, it may be answered that the principle of
basing grants on salaries would still be asserted if the
State were to make grants equivalent to four-fifths or
some other preponderating fraction of the cost of
salaries.

"Such a revised system of grants would relieve
Local Authorities of a burden which admittedly renders
their work difficult, and in many cases is making
education unpopular with the electorate.

" At present in Elementary Education there appears

The Finance of Rducation 57

to be an increasing shortage, not only in the number of
qualified teachers, but also in that of teachers of any
kind. Unless, therefore, the attractiveness of posts in
these schools can be substantially increased, educational
progress must be seriously retarded. In the field of
Secondary Education, where the personnel of the staff
is of vital importance to efficiency, there is so serious
a lack of fully qualified teachers as to place England in
a position inferior to that of some other countries in
the efficiency of the average Secondary School.

" Thus both in Secondary and in Elementary
Education a new departure directly authorized by
Parliament is imperative, if a regular supply of efficient
teachers is to be made available throughout the
country. Such a departure would not only stimulate
and encourage individual teachers but would associate
them in corporate service and would lay the basis of
an united and efficient professional body.

" With a well-founded expectation of reasonable
emoluments, fair prospects and professional status, a
larger number of able persons would qualify themselves
to become teachers. Such persons would not become
Civil Servants, inasmuch as School Authorities and
Local Authorities would continue to appoint, pay, and
dismiss their teachers. A more uniform status would,
however, naturally tend to the mobility and interchange
of teachers throughout the country and would diminish
among them such inequalities as now arise from purely
local conditions.

"An important corollary to the new departure is
that the State would thus be enabled to take steps to

58 A National System of Education

raise the general standard of qualifications required
from teachers, and in particular from those in Secondary
Schools. At present (except in the case of the Heads
of certain schools) no such standard exists, the question
of qualifications being left entirely to individual Govern-
ing Bodies. In this respect, more than in any other,
England is behind other countries, where a high
standard of attainment and of ability to teach is secured
by Government requirements as to qualifications and
training, and is recognized by adequate salary scales.

" A system of schools thus staffed would bring about
to an increasing extent that equalization of school oppor-
tunities which must be a main object of educational
organization in a democratic State.

" Such a system would require that, as heretofore,
the Board of Education should inspect all grant-earning
schools, while Local Authorities should consider the
educational needs of their areas, and after consultation
with the Board should provide or aid necessary schools
and other teaching institutions. To such duties and
responsibilities the scheme advocated would add, so
far as the Board is concerned, the duty of establishing
some classification of schools, and of determining the
numbers and qualifications of school staffs together
with appropriate salary scales.

"In this connexion it will be obvious that an
extension of powers, so as to require inspection, at the
cost of the State, of all kinds of schools and teaching
institutions, must be authorized by Parliament. Such
schools and institutions, if declared efficient within
certain ranges of age and work to be specified by the

The Finance of Education 59

Board of Education, would be entitled to State recog-
nition within their respective ranges. Without such
an extended survey and recognition no truly National
System of education can come into existence.

" In short, if a National System is to be established,
fresh interest must be aroused in all quarters. Schools
must be vitalized ; teachers must be welded into a
professional body ; Local Authorities and School
Authorities must be stimulated and aided ; while the
State itself must definitely assume responsibility for
seeing that schools and other teaching institutions are
efficient, and that equal educational opportunities are
brought within the reach of all who desire to learn."

The scheme here set forth merits and will receive
the careful attention of the education department. It
is not necessary for the present writer to examine it in
further detail, or to submit it as the only or the best
solution of the existing difficulty. It is, however,
necessary to set forth the principles to be observed
in settling the financial basis for a national educational
system :

(a) The State must bear a far greater proportion
of the cost of education.

(fr) It would be inadvisable to require from the
ratepayers a larger contribution per child than they
are now paying in progressive and efficient areas.

(d] The State will properly require every local
authority not to fall below a certain minimum con-

60 A National System of Education

tribution per child, but should provide whatever balance
is necessary for an efficient system.

(e) A special building grant for schools provided
by the local authority must accompany any scheme
of financial reform. Only in this way can the present
evils of overcrowding, and the exclusion of many
children, be removed.

(f) Financial provision must be made to secure
adequate pensions for secondary school teachers.

The result of (d) would be that the education rate
would practically be equalized throughout the country.
Whatever balance was necessary would be supplied
from the national exchequer subject to the approval of
the Board of Education of the educational plans and
work of each local authority.

A Permanent Financial Commission.

This plan would require a revolution in the present
methods of the education department, and the writer
suggests the establishment as an integral branch of
the Board of a permanent financial commission, upon
which outside representatives would sit, whose duties
would be to examine the schemes necessary for each
area, and having considered all relevant facts, decide
the amount of the State grant necessary, in order
to provide an adequate and coordinated system of
education.

CHAPTER X

UNIVERSITY REFORM

No proposals for the reform of our educational
system would be complete without reference to the
Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. For some
years there has been an insistent demand for a Royal
Commission of enquiry. That movement has so far
failed in achieving its object, but we believe its
demand to be just, necessary, and, ultimately, irre-
sistible.

The Case for a Commission.

What is the case for a Royal Commission ? It is
a vital mistake to think of those who demand a com-
mission as enemies of the universities, or as having
any other view than that of enabling them better to
fulfil their mission in the national life. The case for
a commission is based upon two broad grounds, first,
on certain general principles, and secondly, on the
necessity for certain specific reforms, believed to be
a matter of immediate necessity. That part of the
case which rests on general principles may be sum-
marized as follows :

i. The universities are a national institution doing
national work. They cannot be divorced from the
general educational machinery of the country or remain

62 A National System of Education

rigidly fixed to old methods and machinery, unrelated,
or inadequately related, to modern needs.

2. It is not a sufficient reply to the appeal for a
commission to urge that the universities are maintained
by endowments left by private persons, and that they
are for the most part independent of help from outside
sources. The universities are indeed the immediate
trustees of the benefactions left them for the purposes
of higher education. But the ultimate trustees are the
State, which alone possesses the power and the disin-
terestedness to bring co-ordination and unity between
independent, and sometimes antagonistic interests, to
see that the spirit is not sacrificed to the letter of their
trust, and that the general interests of the beneficiaries
who are the people of the entire nation, are adequately
secured.

3. Nor is it a sufficient reply to urge that the
universities are efficiently governed, and should be
left to work out their own salvation. Even if there
were no obvious anomalies, or challengeable methods,
or unwise isolation, or wasteful overlapping calling for
alteration and reform, the case for enquiry would remain
un weakened. No institution, however glorious, should
remain without the stimulus, from time to time, arising
from impartial enquiry, criticism, and suggestion.
These latter are especially urgent now when we are
seeking after a scientifically related system of national
education.

On the other side of the case for a commission,
the chief specific points towards which reform should
be directed are considered under the following heads.

University Reform 63

These are intended to be suggestive only, not exhaus-
tive. Of all of them it is probably true to say that the
driving power which would come from the recommen-
dations of a Royal Commission is necessary before they
can be dealt with.

1. The universities are isolated. In view of the
great changes and development proceeding in other
fields of education, the place and function of the uni-
versities in the educational system generally, call for
reconsideration. The State has developed a system
of education which touches, and in part regulates, all
other pKases of education. The old universities pro-
ceed on their own way. It may be a good way, yet
some divergence from it may be necessary if only that
the paths from other fields of education may reach it.

2. The form of government of the universities
calls for modification. The power now rests with
non-resident electors out of touch with the universities,
who frequently prevent even moderate reforms being
carried through. This dead hand upon the progress
of the universities must be removed, and a form of
government which would give the universities the
power to adapt their methods to new conditions, un-
fettered by the veto of absent graduates, is essential.
One method of achieving this would be the establish-
ment of a governing council composed of representatives
of each college.

3. The establishment of such a governing council
would be the first step towards placing adequate finan-
cial control in the hands of the universities. At present
the constituent colleges control their own income. This

64 A National System of Education

leads to a variety of undesirable results, some of which
are as follow:

(a) It is a wasteful system. A college is able to
make its plans without reference to other colleges and
the needs of the university generally. Costly profes-
sorships or lectureships may be founded which are
unnecessary in view of the work of other colleges,
or may be maintained when they have ceased to be
required.

(b) It is inefficient. It prevents a real synthesis
in the work of the university as a whole, since every
college is a law to itself.

4. The average cost of residence at the university
is too high. The fees should be lowered and it should
be generally easier for poor men to enter the univer-
sities. There should be a development of the hostel
system, and many of the details in connection with the
residential side of university life should be simplified
and rendered less expensive, whilst being made more
efficient.

5. An end should be put to the system whereby
scholarships intended to aid poor students are won and
held by the sons of wealthy parents. The present
system is a serious misuse of the scholarship bene-
factions. It ought not to be a difficult matter to
provide for the automatic working of an income limit
above which no scholarship could be held. Such a
plan could be accompanied by an arrangement under
which a scholarship could be won by anyone irre-
spective of wealth, but to carry no financial help except
for those whose income is under the agreed limit.

University Reform 65

6. The privilege of university residence must
not be appropriated by men who have no intention
seriously to avail themselves of its facilities for study.
The universities must be rigorously reserved for
students.

7. Adequate use is not made of the universities.
The educational capital of our university buildings
lies idle for a large part of the year. In the chapter
on the higher education of adults, suggestions are
made in this connection.

8. The claims of women students have not been
adequately recognized, and the disabilities under which
they suffer call for removal. This question raises
fundamental considerations respecting the conception
of the place of a university in the educational life of
a nation.

9. The universities and the Board of Education
should more closely co-operate in the general field of
educational science. Such co-operation would pro-
mote the greater efficiency and usefulness alike of the
Board and the universities. This closer unity might
well begin by a representative of the Board of Edu-
cation, appointed with the sanction of Parliament,
sitting upon the governing body of each university.
Such a representative would really be an ambassador
between the two educational powers. His mere vote
would be almost a negligible quantity, but his presence
appears, at least to the writer, to be almost a necessity
if efficient co-operation in the organization of the edu-
cation of the country is to be secured.

CHAPTER XI

THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE ADULT CITIZEN

No reform and extension of our national system of
education can be satisfactory which does not include
the higher education of adult citizens. We must aim
at rousing in the country the desire for a fuller life
for all citizens, not merely for our growing children.
In Denmark where perhaps the level of education is
higher than in any other country the people's high
schools have been built up on the basis of voluntary
private initiative, aided by State grants and bursaries.
Can we not aim at some such system here, the
Exchequer aiding both local authorities and voluntary
associations in the provision of such higher education
for working people, both men and women ?

The response which these make to the opportunity
for higher education has been amply shown in recent
years in connection with the success which has attended
the university extension, and tutorial movements, and
particularly the work of the Workers' Educational
Association.

It would be natural to look both to the old and
to the new universities to become the chief organizers
of further developments in this field of education.

Higher Education of the Adult 67

Properly conceived, a university should be much more
than an examining or teaching body, or even a
residential centre for study and research. A local
university should be also the appropriate centre of the
intellectual life of the city to which it belongs, working
in close co-operation with all the other educational and
social forces of the city, and placing all its knowledge
and resources and powers of initiative at the disposal
of the citizens.

In particular we need to remember that the
educational capital of our university buildings lies
idle for a large part of the year. We might make
the best use of our 18 English universities and
university college buildings by holding during the
long vacation summer courses for working people,
aided by State grants or bursaries. If working people
could look forward to going to such a course perhaps
once in five years, and then return to their ordinary
work, the whole standard of our national life would be
raised.

The local University should have regard to local
circumstances. It should attempt to give guidance
to, and encourage co-operation amongst, all the edu-
cational forces around it. In connection with adult
education it has now a unique opportunity of supple-
menting the work of the schools both elementary and
secondary. The work of these schools has been in
part wasted because it has not received the adequate
co-operation of the parents, largely owing to indiffer-
ence based on ignorance.

It would be appropriate for the University to

5—2

68 A National System of Education

secure this co-operation, and by means of lectures,
publications and special tutorial classes, enlist the
sympathy of parents in the work of the schools and,
particularly, to interest them in subjects where their
co-operation is essential, e.g. the proper kinds of food
for school children, the hours of sleep, hygienic clothing
and other matters affecting the health of the child.

The local University should also guide the adult
community in its study of the whole problem of Civics.

CHAPTER XII

THE RELIGIOUS QUESTION

The saddest of all aspects of our educational
system is that connected with the word " religion."
The word education has come to stand in the minds
of many for a bitter sectarian wrangle, and it is less
than the truth to state that urgent and vital educa-
tional reforms have for many years been neglected
because of this unhappy controversy. Happily, there
are signs that it is coming to an end, but whether
this be so or not, there is an increasing volume of
informed opinion throughout the country which insists
upon placing on one side these religious quarrels and
dealing with the real things of education. The Lord
Chancellor has recently expressed the hope that the
education difficulty will be taken in a stride, and by
his words he has probably succeeded in placing the
question in its true perspective. It is really a very
limited and a very small question, but through the
bitterness which it has created it has assumed an
importance greater than that to which it is entitled.
It is, however, obvious that the State must face the
question in its new educational policy.

The main grievance of nonconformists is the single
school area. So long as they have no option but to
send their children to a school, the religious atmo-
sphere of which is alien to their beliefs, no real peace

jo A National System of Education

is possible. However much it is to be regretted that
the difficulty should have occupied so large a place
in the general educational question, the justice of the
claim of the nonconformists can hardly be questioned,
and the removal of their undoubted grievance must
accompany educational reform. Into the details of
this long-discussed question it is not the intention
of the writer to go. But the existing difficulty will
be substantially solved by placing a State school
within the reach of every child, or by enabling every
child to reach one.

It is mournful that the struggle between the
Church schools and the undenominational schools
has sometimes been regarded as a contest between
those who desired religion in the schools and those
who wished it excluded. It is nothing of the kind,
and not the least evil connected with its continu-
ance is that it has tended to prevent us as a nation
from considering what are the greatest religious and
formative influences which can be given play in our
elementary schools.

No wise person desires to see religious influence
banished from the schools. No view could be more
mischievous than to think of the duty of a school as
being first to teach certain subjects which will enable
the children who leave them to earn their bread and
butter in later years. The first duty of the school is
to cultivate and build up noble characters. If the
school does not do this it has failed, and no success
in teaching vocational subjects will atone for the
failure. But, in order to give full play to religious

The Religious Question 71

influence, it is not necessary to insist upon the
teaching to young children of the dogmatic views
of particular schools of theological thought. These
are matters of secondary importance. All the great
and final things which produce strong and noble
character — reverence, truth, courage, gentleness —
these are not dependent upon such teaching. Rather,
they recede into the background when the less im-
portant are unduly pressed forward.

The whole life of the school should be studied
and organized to bring these, the best of all religious
forces, to bear upon the child. Physical and mental
health are to be cultivated in order to produce moral
health, and in a very real sense every detail of the
school's work is religious and has a religious object.
And, so far as the State schools, at least, are con-
cerned, having secured the essential things in life
and character, we may leave it for other agencies, at
a later stage, to press the distinctive claims of sec-
tarian dogma.

But the greatest of all influences in the schools
will be the personality of the teacher. It is he who
will write upon the plastic heart and mind, kindle
the fire of hero worship, inspire with noble idealism,
and guide the unfolding character with all its weak-
ness and immaturity to a full development and the
realization of some, at least, of its splendid possi-
bilities.

Let us see to it that the men and the women to
whom we entrust the greatest of all tasks are worthy
of the trust.

CHAPTER XIII

A JOINT GOVERNMENT BOARD TO DEAL WITH ALL
EDUCATIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE QUESTIONS
AFFECTING THE YOUNG

In the past the organization of education and the
development of legislation designed to protect the
adolescent have been hampered and rendered less
efficient by the fact that the responsibility for various
phases of the life of young persons, so far as it is
touched by legislation, is divided amongst a number
of Government Departments. The Board of Educa-
tion is concerned with education in its narrower aspect,
namely, as set forth in the various Education Acts.
The Home Office is concerned with the protection
of children and young persons under the Factory Acts,
and other Acts like the Employment of Children Act
of 1903, and is also concerned with the care of children
and young persons detained in various punitive or
semi-punitive institutions, e.g., Borstall, and the Re-
formatory and Industrial Schools. The Board of
Trade has certain responsibilities in connection with
the young, particularly through the Juvenile Labour
Exchanges. The Local Government Board is re-
sponsible for the children in the workhouses and in
the Poor Law Schools.

A Joint Government Board 73

This division of authority amongst departments
having no essential unity has led to much confusion
and overlapping in the past. Where legislation has
been introduced it has frequently been brought for-
ward from the aspect of one department only, and the
problem dealt with has not been surveyed as a whole.
In seeking to establish a National System of Educa-
tion, this question of the responsibility of different
Government Departments becomes an urgent one.
It has frequently been emphasized by Royal Com-
missions and Departmental Committees, and many
suggestions have been made with a view to removing
existing anomalies. The writer suggests that it would
be appropriate to regard the Board of Education as
the department which should, as far as possible, be
entrusted with the enforcement of all legislation con-
cerned with the young, and with the initiation of such
legislation. Where initiation took place by other
departments it should be in conjunction with the
Board of Education. Only in this way will the
desired unity be obtained and all legislation affecting
the young be considered as a whole and especially
in relation to the problem of education in its widest
aspects.

We would suggest, as one way of securing the end
in view, the establishment of a Joint Government
Committee with headquarters at the Board of Educa-
tion consisting of representatives of all the other
departments who are in any way concerned with
legislation affecting persons under 21 years of age.
This would include the Home Office, the Board of

74 <d National System of Education

Trade, the Local Government Board and the Treasury.
Such a Committee would discuss and arrange with the
Board of Education the details of all legislation to
be brought forward and it would be the duty of the
Committee, in conjunction with the Board of Educa-
tion, to see that it harmonized with, and was related
to, the general tendency of educational reform.

An immediate question which would arise for the
consideration of such a joint Board would be the over-
lapping which now takes place in the inspections
carried on by independent departments of State, and
the methods by which this could be reduced without
waiting for the complete transfer to the Board of
Education of functions now performed by other de-
partments.

CHAPTER XIV

THE POSITION OF POOR LAW SCHOOLS AND IN-
DUSTRIAL AND REFORMATORY SCHOOLS IN A
STATE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION1

No survey of a national system of education would
be complete without some reference to the great
numbers of children who are being educated in Poor
Law Schools under the control of Boards of Guardians,
and of the children who are reared in the Industrial
and Reformatory Schools scattered throughout the
country. The case of the children in the Poor Law
Schools was exhaustively considered by the Royal
Commission on the Poor Laws, and there is little to
add to the presentment of the case made in the
Minority Report of the Commissioners, who desire
to see these children removed from the control of
the Poor Law authorities and placed under the Board
of Education. No relevant objection has been ad-
vanced against this proposal, and the schools them-
selves must remain a sort of educational backwater
until this has been done.

1 The proposals in this chapter respecting Industrial and
Reformatory Schools were made by the author in his capacity as
a member of the Departmental Committee on these schools in a
memorandum which accompanied the Report of the Committee to
the Secretary of State.

76 A National System of Education

The position of the children in the Reformatory
and Industrial Schools is a more complicated one. We
inherit a system which has grown up slowly as the
result of private enterprize. It is one that offers many
anomalies : the schools for the most part are under
private management, yet the entire cost of the children
detained in them is defrayed by the joint contributions
of the Imperial Exchequer and local authorities. To
these private schools children are committed by
magistrates, sometimes for serious offences, but in
a great number of cases for trivial offences. The
schools do not form part of the educational machinery
of the country, and are inspected by the Home Office.
For nearly three years a Departmental Committee,
appointed by the Home Secretary, has sat, to enquire
into the whole question of the management and reform
of these schools, and their Report has just been made
public. It contains a great number of suggestions on
points of detail which are unanimously concurred in,
but on the larger question of policy the Report takes
the shape of a compromise between those who desire
to see the schools handed over entirely to the Board
of Education and those who desire to see them con-
trolled as heretofore by the Home Office, and the
Committee content themselves with recommending
that the educational side of the schools should be
inspected by the Board of Education, the Home
Office remaining responsible for the inspection of
the schools apart from their educational side.

I do not regard the proposed compromise as satis-
factory if it is to be a permanent arrangement.

Industrial and Reformatory Schools 77

Two vital weaknesses have been revealed in the
system of Industrial and Reformatory Schools: (i) the
majority of them are under private management, with
insufficient funds and resources generally; and (2) they
are divorced from the general educational life of the
nation.

A gradual evolution has taken place in the con-
ception of the function of Industrial and Reformatory
Schools. They were originally regarded in many
cases as places of detention and punishment, com-
mittal to which was sometimes preceded by a term
of detention in an ordinary prison. It is now generally
recognized that their function is mainly educational.
The character of the children who are committed to
these schools has altered since the early years of their
establishment. The beginning of this change was
noted by the Royal Commissioners so far back as the
year 1884. This change is, in my opinion, mainly due
to the general progress of social reform and education,
which have practically stamped out many of those
forms of juvenile crime the authors of which formerly
filled these schools. To-day children are committed
to many of these schools at a tender age for faults of
their parents or guardians, and in many cases the petty
offences of which they have been guilty are the results
of inadequate parental care and control, and must not
be held as permanently distinguishing their youthful
authors from children in general.

So long as these schools were regarded as primarily
custodial and penal in character it was natural that
their supervision should be in the hands of the Depart-

j8 A National System of Education

ment of State concerned with the criminal law and that
little attempt should be made to regard these schools
as a local problem of education and training rather
than as a national problem of crime.

The children who are sent to the schools come for
the most part from certain large centres of population.
To take an example, the schools in Manchester, Liver-
pool, and district contain over 4,000 children, or more
than a quarter of the entire population of these schools
in England and Wales. Not all of these children
come from the cities mentioned, for the schools receive
children from any part of the country, but, on the other
hand, Liverpool and Manchester children are often
sent to schools in other towns or districts.

Owing to the form in which the available statistics
are presented, it is not possible to show the exact
number of children now in the schools who come from
certain big cities. It appears clear, however, that the
majority come from a small number of cities, including
London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, New-
castle, Bristol, and a few others.

This point is important in connection with any
proposal to place upon Local Education Authorities
the direct responsibility for the schools to which their
children are sent, for it shows that the problem is a
local one, and mainly serious in crowded centres of
population. The problem is in part created by the
social conditions existing in these centres and by the
prevalence of juvenile street trading.

I am of opinion that both the Industrial and
Reformatory Schools should be regarded as a part

Industrial and Reformatory Schools 79

of the educational machinery of the country, and that
they should be placed, wherever possible, under the
local education authorities, subject to the regulations
and supervision of the Board of Education in the same
way as the whole of the elementary schools and all
other schools maintained by local authorities are sub-
ject. I recognize that the policy of transferring the
schools from private ownership and management to
the local authorities throughout the country could not
be immediately completed.

A special department for the inspection and super-
vision of the schools should be formed at the Board of
Education. The Board would be responsible for the
complete inspection of the schools, and the Treasury
contribution would be dependent upon the schools being
approved by the Board. It should further be the duty
of the Board of Education to arrange as rapidly as may
be for the various local education authorities interested
to assume the management of the schools and re-
formatories to which their children are sent. This
change should be accomplished with as little inter-
ference as possible with the boards of voluntary
management which at present control many of the
schools, and if the plan is carried out it would result
in the following system : — A separate board of managers
for each school containing all the efficient members of
existing boards of managers, with whatever other
members drawn either from their own body or from
elsewhere the local education authority care to appoint ;
above these boards of managers would be the local
education authority ; behind the local education author-

8o A National System of Education

ity would be the Board of Education. This system
would be analogous to that which exists in the case
of both the Elementary and Secondary Schools under,
say, the London County Council. The duties of the
three bodies would be, roughly, as follows :

The board of managers attached to each school
would be responsible for details of administration and
the general care and management of each school, as
they are now, and would perform whatever other
duties were delegated to them by the education
authority. The local education authority, working
through the managers, would be responsible for the
efficiency of the school, the adequacy of the buildings,
and the broad principles of the curriculum. The
Board of Education would be the inspecting and
inspiring force in the background, performing pre-
cisely the same functions that it does in respect of
the other schools of the country, and showing back-
ward authorities the proper lines of efficient advance.

The principle of placing upon the local education
authorities the direct responsibility for the schools can,
as already stated, only be realised by stages. But there
are many cases in which it could be quickly carried out,
and no new schools should be certified except to a
local authority. It would be desirable to begin by
the transfer to a local authority of inefficient existing
schools as an alternative to withdrawing the certificate.

The appointment of the Board of Education as the
Central Authority would avoid a system of dual in-
spection. I do not believe that the life of the child
can be cut into two parts, one of which is regarded as

Industrial and Reformatory Schools 81

educational and the other as non-educational. The
Inspectors who are sent to the schools should be men
qualified to view the life of the institution as a whole.
Moreover, the educational training cannot be divorced
from the complete life of the institution, as, e.g., the
hours of sleep and play, the diet, the arrangements for
washing and for play. And if the department con-
trolling the Industrial and Reformatory Schools re-
mains at the Home Office, it would still be highly
desirable, either by using the Board of Education's
Inspectorate or by the method of full independent
report on each school by the Board of Education at
regular intervals, to avoid dual inspection. Such a
system appears to me to be wasteful and to rob the
Inspectorate of real responsibility and driving power.

In many cases the curriculum of the schoolroom
appeared to me to be on very rigid lines and the
subjects were not taught in the most interesting way.
More experiment in educational methods would be
desirable ; particularly far greater use should be made
of handwork as a method of instruction within the
schoolroom, especially in the case of younger boys.
The influence of literature is not sufficiently recognized
in some of the schools. No attempt is made, as a rule,
to teach hygiene, or even the elementary laws of health,
and this might be made a compulsory subject. It
would also be desirable to have much more singing
and music in the schools, and in this connection I
suggest that the band should not be divorced from
the ordinary singing practised in the school, but should
be used to assist the latter. The provision of a song

w. 6

82 A National System of Education

book containing first class pieces appealing to boys is
desirable.

With regard to the industrial training given in
practically all the schools, the object aimed at of
preparing every boy to earn his living at a trade
when he leaves the school is wholly desirable. It
is, however, impossible to study the statistics of the
disposal of the children leaving the schools without
realising that in a great number of cases the industrial
training given in the school shops is wasted. Nearly
every school has its boot-making shop and its tailors'
shop, yet out of 9,106 boys who left the schools in
three years only 312 were discovered following either
the trade of shoemaker or tailor. One superintendent
informed me that he had suppressed the boot-making
shop because it was no good as a form of disposal and
did not save the school any expense. He could buy
the boots cheaper than he could make them, and was,
in fact, saving ^40 a year by the change. I therefore
suggest that it would be desirable to consider the
immediate abolition of these two shops in a great
number of the schools and the substitution of other
forms of industrial training. I would also suggest far
closer co-operation between the schools which prepare
boys for special callings and the authorities directly
concerned. Thus, for example, a school which is
training boys for the Navy should arrange its curricu-
lum in consultation with the Board of Admiralty ; the
War Office should be consulted as to the training
of the boys intended for the Army ; and a school
which specially prepares for the merchant service

Industrial and Reformatory Schools 83

should work in co-operation with the authorities
concerned.

The value of the work of the schools would be
greatly increased if less reliance were placed upon
machine-like discipline and more importance attached
to the development of individuality. It is depressing
to see big boys march to the meal table, clasp their
hands at the call of a number, begin grace at the call
of another, and so on till at the final number they fall
upon their food. A far higher standard has been
reached when the boys observe the amenities of life
without this soulless discipline. The individuality of
the boys would be promoted by the encouragement
of hobbies as (e.g.) scouting, nature study, the making
of things in free time, the keeping of pets. School
societies for the encouragement of hobbies, and for
reading, debating, and rambles, would be all for good
and would tend to develop self-government and re-
sponsibility.

The annual report which is issued to the public
should contain, in addition to other information of
general interest or value, a statement of the number
of boys who have left each school during the year,
with definite particulars of the occupation to which
each has been sent.

6—2

CHAPTER XV

CO-ORDINATION OF COMMITTEES OF LOCAL
AUTHORITIES

We have spoken elsewhere of the need of giving
the power to make a complete educational system in
every area by the local authority or authorities of that
area, acting where necessary in co-operation with each
other. We desire also to discuss the question of the
methods in which the educational committees of local
authorities are organized so far as their relation with
other committees of the same authority is concerned.
It has always seemed to the writer an unfortunate
arrangement by which the education committee and
the committees regulating such departments of the
local authorities' work as parks, libraries and museums,
are generally in water-tight compartments, and it is
the object of this chapter to plead for a better system
of co-ordinating the separate committees of local autho-
rities which have to deal with subjects essentially
educational. The case of the typical library com-
mittee might be cited as an example of what is meant.
The work of the library committee of the average
local authority has had little relation to the educational
system of the district. Many of the school children

Committees of Local Authorities 85

no doubt have used the local libraries to borrow works
of fiction, but there has been no attempt to make the
library a real adjunct of the school. We hope we are
not unduly optimistic in looking forward to a day when
each public library will have its scholars' room, with a
carefully selected library, and facilities for study under
sympathetic guidance. But short of this, very much
may be done if the library and the school co-operate
to assist the work of the former. Particularly we
would urge that a system should be organized by
local authorities whereby an adequate selection of
books should be sent into the schools at regular
intervals for the purpose of use in the homes of the
school children. It would be possible in this way to
supplement much of the teaching in the schoolroom,
and especially to give a teacher of individuality the
opportunity of getting his pupils to profit by his advice.

Similarly, the local museums should be regarded
largely as an adjunct to the schools. They are very
generally neglected in the daytime, and it would be
a stimulating change to the scholars to be taken for
an occasional lesson during the week into the museum
itself, and to be taught the interest and help that can
be derived from its contents. The same statement
applies to the local art galleries. The first attempt
to arouse any feeling for beauty should be associated
with an intelligent appeal to great pictures or the
reproductions of great pictures, and, wherever avail-
able, the art galleries should be freely drawn upon.

It is almost unnecessary to point out how useful
co-operation by the parks committee might be. Not

6-3

86 A National System of Education

only is there urgent need for more adequate facilities
to be provided in the public parks for the children of
the schools, but much more use might be made of the
facilities the parks offer for the beautification of the
schools. Every elementary and secondary school
within reach of a public park might surely have the
loan of flowering trees and shrubs for the decoration
of the schoolrooms, as well as for assistance in nature
study. We have only hinted at some of the more
obvious possibilities within the power of committees
of local authorities, but the realization of these, and of
many others, demands an alteration of the present
system of working in water-tight compartments. The
definite educational function of much of the work of
the committees mentioned should be realized, and a
sub-committee, representative of the various com-
mittees affected, should be formed for the purpose
of co-ordinating the educational work of the com-
mittees, and of preparing and considering practical
schemes of related action.

CHAPTER XVI

THE FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION

In the course of this short work, frequent reference
has been made to the Board of Education. We
should not like it to be assumed that we look toward
a system of education entirely dominated by the
Government and damping down local initiative and
enthusiasm. On the contrary, we feel that local
enthusiasm and responsibility are essential if any
real progress is to be made, and though we desire
to see the functions of the Board of Education greatly
enlarged, this is only in order that it may give adequate
assistance in advising and helping the great army of
organizers and teachers in the educational world.
Nothing would be more unfortunate than that the
Board of Education should be regarded simply as a
central office to check returns and pay over a grant.
The Board should be a great inspiring force, bringing
the knowledge which alone it is in a position to obtain
to the help of all, and promoting by its sympathy and
aid every practical suggestion of advance on sound
lines. There are a number of developments which
a greater educational policy suggests in connection
with the Board of Education :

88 A National System of Education

(1) It is time that the Presidency of the Board
was recognized as a post in the Government second
to none. At present it is not so regarded. It carries
with it a salary of ,£2,000, as against a salary of ,£5,000
for the chief Cabinet offices, and it has, in the past,
frequently been regarded only as a stepping stone to
a higher office. The raising of the status and the
salary to that of a first-class office in the Cabinet is
an essential initial step.

(2) In the past the Board of Education has not
been sufficiently experimental. It might well do more
in the way of aiding and initiating schemes for pioneer
work. To do this it would be necessary to have a
larger amount of money available for the purpose of
experimental work. It would then be possible for the
Board to approach a suitable local authority and get
them to undertake such experiments, giving them, of
course, an outlined or detailed scheme. In this way
developments in foreign countries which have been
proved successful might more quickly be brought to
the notice of the educational world here, and their
value, or otherwise, demonstrated.

(3) The Department of special enquiries and
reports at the Board has behind it a record of work
done of which it might well be proud. The writer
has no sort of criticism to make on it, but would enter
an earnest plea for its extension. Particularly, it
should issue more frequently publications dealing with
experiments in this country, and should, whenever
possible, suggest new schemes which might be under-
taken by local authorities or others. The average

The Board of Education

over-worked teacher has not many opportunities for
mixing in a larger world outside his own immediate
interests, and could be stimulated and encouraged in
many ways by the publications of the Board. Equally
helpful would such guidance be to the members of
educational authorities.

(4) Much more guidance should be given by the
Board in the planning of new schools and in the
alterations and improvement to existing ones. An
excellent development of the work of the Home Office
which is now taking place consists of the establish-
ment of an industrial museum illustrating the solution
of problems affecting industrial and other matters
supervised by the Home Office. Similarly, the Board
of Education might well institute a museum of plans
and models, but particularly of models, which should
be all kept up to date, and should illustrate, in the
best possible way, the most healthy and scientific
building and planning of schools and school grounds.

(5) There is great need for research work on
definite questions to be undertaken by the Board,
or commissioned by the Board. We are behind some
other countries in original research, and lack scientific
conclusions based upon investigation on some of the
most important questions affecting the young1.

1 As these lines were passing through the press Dr Kimmins
submitted a plan to the British Association for research on the
following points. — (i) The age at which a child should commence
to read and write. (2) The best method of teaching reading.
(3) The number of hours a child can profitably spend in school
at a given age. (4) The most suitable length of lessons for children

go A National System of Education

(6) Any study of possible developments in English
education shows how many and varied are the functions
which the Board of Education may be called upon to
discharge. The enlargement of the Board becomes
a matter of urgent necessity and its division into more
specialized departments. It follows that admittance
to the staff of the Board must not be wholly dependent
upon competitive examination but must also depend
upon the educational and other experiences of the
candidate.

(7) The Board (following the example set by the
appointment of the Consultative Committee) should
more generally use the services of experts outside the
Board for advice and guidance on special questions
and should associate these with permanent com-
mittees.

(8) A permanent financial commission to be estab-
lished as suggested in Chaper ix. This commission
should include representatives of Education, Univer-
sity, Secondary and Elementary, outside the Board.

at different ages. (5) The most satisfactory tests of intelligence.
(6) The effect of handwork on other branches of instruction and
on general mental efficiency. (7) The varying attitude of children
towards certain subjects at different ages. (8) The advisibility of
intensive work at certain stages. (9) The extent to which clever
children mature late. (10) The degree to which the curricula of
girls' should differ from those of boys' schools, (n) The relative
amounts of fatigue experienced in learning certain subjects at
different ages.

INDEX

Adolescent labour 6
Adult education 66
America i

Art galleries and schools 85
Art teaching 15

Barnett, Canon 13
Bath room as class room 41
Beauty, teaching of laws of 16
Board of Education :

co-operation by 33

and Universities 65

in relation to other Government
departments 72

functions of 87

Staff of 90

and experts 90
Building grant 60

Choir schools 51

Class distinctions 14

Classes, size of 15

Code i

Co-ordination of education 2

Curriculum, freedom of 10

Department of special enquiries
88

Educational visits 33
Education authorities :

action of 3

readjustment of powers 4
Elementary Education :

not complete i

meaning of 2

age for 3

diagram of 4

Elementary Education (cont.} :

school age 5

curriculum 10

staffing 12

size of classes 15

art teaching 15

manual work 19

relation between teachers and
scholars 20

prefects and 'houses' 21

record cards 21

rural schools 22

outdoor life 26

playgrounds 26

outdoor class rooms 27

play 29

playing fields 31

school journey 32

school base 35

physical care 40

religious question 69

work of local authorities 84

local museums and libraries 84
Employment of children Act 7
Endowed educational charities 50
Enquiry into secondary schools,

etc. 49

Examinations 48
Experiments in education 88

Finance of Education 53
Finance, suggested principles of

Financial commission at Board of
Education 90

Germany i

Government Board, Joint 72

92 Index

Half time 7

Holiday use of grounds 31

Labour :

limitation of 6

outside school 7

night work 8
Libraries and schools 84
Libraries, teachers' 22
Local authorities, co-ordination of
committees 84

Manual training 19

Manual work in secondary schools

Montessori 19
Museums and schools 85
Museum of plans and models 89

Night work 8

Organized games 41
Outdoor class rooms
Outdoor life 26

Parents 43

Parks committees and schools

Parks, use of 31

Physical care of children 40

Physical records 42

Physical training 42

Poor Law Schools 75

Play facilities 29

Playground plans and models

Playgrounds 26

Playing fields 31

Prefects and 'Houses' 21

President of Board of Education

Private schools 2

Reformatory and Industrial schools

Registration of schools 51
Religious influence in schools 70
Religious question 69

Research work 89

Royal Commission on private

schools 49
Royal Commission on universities

Rural schools 22
Ruskin on schools 16

Scholarships 3
Scholarships, university 64
School age, raising of 5
School Base 35
School gardens 25, 29
School journey 32
School record cards 21
Schoolrooms to be beautiful 16
Secondary Education:

meaning of 2, 44

age for 4

diagram of 4

rural education 24

duty of education authorities 44

what it is 45

variety needed 46

its goal 47

cost of 48

examinations 48

number of schools 49
Secondary Schools Association 54
Single school area 69

Teachers 12, 13, 71
Teachers in rural schools 25
Teachers' libraries 21
Teacher's personality greatest in-
fluence in schools 71
Training colleges 13

Universities and adult education

66
University reform 61

Victoria Park as school base 37
Women and universities 65

CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

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