RECENT SPEECHES ON EDUCATION.

Ar the Annual Soirée of the Leeds Mechanics' Institution, Lord STANLEY said ::

It was the custom, some years ago, to lament over the small number of scholars in proportion to the population. In that respect there is now, I do not say nothing, but comparatively little to complain of. The evidence given by the Education Commissioners appears to me on that point conclusive. One of their assistants estimates the number of those who attend no school at from 5 to 10 per cent. of the total population of the school age; another says, "there are very few cases in which children have been at no school whatever;" a third, "there are very few who do not see the inside of something that may be called a school; a fourth, "absolute neglect is almost unknown among respectable working men in the towns ;" and the commissioners themselves sum up the question by affirming that, with the exception of children whose parents are either paupers or of criminal habits, "almost all the children in the country capable of going to school receive some instruction." It is worth adding, as indicative of the progress that has been made, that whereas in 1851 the scholars were to the whole population as 1 in rather less than 8, they were in 1858, according to two separate returns, as 1 in rather less or rather more than 74. We may therefore, I think, assume that some part of the controversies of ten years ago is out of date. In the face of the facts, arguments for compelling parents by law to send their children to school appear to me as much out of place as the proposition itself is opposed to English feeling and character. Another conclusion, too, is forced upon us-that no scheme for the extension of teaching is likely to succeed which aims at superseding in any considerable degree the exertions of those who are already in the field. What we want is, not so much to augment the number of schools as to utilise those we have; and that brings me directly to the object of our meeting here, for I conceive that it is only by giving the means of carrying on instruction in later years, that we can create even a wish for it either among parents or children. Depend upon it, a father who has left school at ten years old (if he ever was there), and has not looked into a book since, will not, in 99 cases out of 100, care much what kind of teaching his son gets. Now, we all know that it was to supply this want of a more advanced teaching that mechanics' institutes were established thirty-five years ago. They have met with varying success; a few-this, for example-have succeeded. The majority, unquestionably, have failed. And, looking back, it does not seem difficult to understand why they have failed. They mostly began, as you did here, with trying to teach pure science. Now, that can never be made attractive to the multitude, whether many in it or few, for thinkers in every class are few. They relied, in many cases, on lectures as means of teaching, and the instruction they gave was desultory and imperfect. They had political and social prejudices to contend against; they arose in days when working men were less well off than now, and had little leisure for thought on matters which did not immediately concern their material interests. Cheap reading did not exist; the public mind was unprepared; and it is fair to add that some of their more prominent advocates, putting forth exaggerated hopes of what might be effected, by that natural display of zeal discredited the comparatively slight result which was effected. Still, I think, they did good. They kept the question of education before the public; they helped the first feeble efforts to spread a sound sanitary knowledge among the people; they materially assisted the first promoters of cheap literature; and where circumstances have been favourable, the crude notions of 1824 have developed into well-considered schemes, supported by all parties and sects, and really reaching the class for which they are meant.-Oct. 23, 1861.

Mr. GLADSTONE, in distributing the prizes which had been obtained at the Oxford Local Examinations, spoke at some length on the character of those examinations, and on the stimulus which they afforded to middle-class education throughout the country. On the subject of the schoolmaster's duties and responsibilities he remarked :

"It is one of the most arduous duties, in my opinion, that a man can undertake. If, indeed, it degenerates into mechanical routine, it may be performed, like other mechanical operations, without any great expenditure of mental strength. But mechanical routine is the death of teaching. And if teaching is to live, it can only live and thrive at the cost of an enormous expenditure of labour, accompanied by much mental anxiety and much strong emotion on the part of the teacher. The teacher is, after all, a man, and men are not always in the highest degree willing to do their duty; and when they are, they feel how much need they have of some stimulus and some support from without, in order to the achievement of their arduous task. I think this auxiliary force from without, to assist the teacher in his work, has been supplied in a remarkable degree, and in the safest and most unexceptionable form, by the system of examinations that has brought us hither to-day. If there be sluggish teachers, their sluggishness will be exposed by their inability to take part in the invigorating action of this system, or by the low place that the results of their teaching will achieve in the general results of the examination. But let us think rather of the vast number of patient, able, enthusiastic, and devoted teachers who have pursued their work in comparative privacy, without notice or encouragement, and without the advantages that the presentation of this standard gives them in a more effective appeal to the minds of their pupils. A good teacher is strengthened by this system towards his pupils, because they see more readily the value of his labour, and hear more readily his challenge to them to exert themselves. He is strengthened with respect to the parents of his pupils, because the system he pursues is continually placed in contrast with the higher system, and its value tested. With regard to them, therefore, the result is not less happy than it is to yourselves; and, as it respects yourselves, I need not express my strong conviction that you have felt the invigorating and inspiring effects of this system, because your laudable exertions give a proof of it in deeds-which are better than words-that it has done the work which it was intended to do. If there be any here who have been less successful than yourselves-those who, for the moment, are unfortunate competitors-one word let me say to them. I remember what it is, in boyish days, to fail in a competition for a coveted object. It is a moment of trial and of depression, but let it not be a permanent discouragement. Recollect this great law of the condition not only of boyhood, but of manhood also-that all honest and resolute exertion made in the path of duty—let me also say, made in the fear and the love of God-even if it seem to fail, if there be not attending it one shadow of gratification at the moment, yet it carries with it unseen, but not the less secure, its own reward. Most precious, without doubt, is the knowledge you are acquiring; still more so are the re-acting effects upon yourselves, and the exertions you make in acquiring it. That is a proposition not altogether easy to realise in early life, but it is one of which you will feel the force and the truth in increasing degrees with every year that you live, and I am certain that you who have succeeded in these examinations will reflect with satisfaction, that those who have run the race with you honourably, if unsuccessful, will not on that account be the losers by what they have done, but will share with you the most valuable part of the exertions you have made, namely, its reflex effect on the character and habits of mind. We shall, I trust, see the results in the continued extension of this system; in its quantity, but, above all, in the continued improvement in its quality and operation. I assure you I hope that in every case the success

you have achieved may be a favourable and happy omen, and lead to greater successes in after life. Rely upon it, there are very few among you there are very few, indeed, amongst the young of any class-who may not, by the persevering use of the faculties with which God has endowed them, attain to a very considerable measure of success in whatever walk of life they may deliberately and reasonably choose. When a career of learning fails to be one of hope and satisfaction, it is generally because it has been entered upon without care or without proper motives, and without the guidance of right and sound principles. I am not here to say that mere knowledge will prove to be a blessing to you or any of us, unless it be acquired in humility and in the fear of God; but I am here to say that for those who being, like ourselves, partakers of the blessings of redemption, being partakers of the name of Englishmen, we need not suppose that the business of life is one in which a few are to win and many to lose. The walks of life are many, and the dispensations of the Almighty are infinitely diversified; but I venture again to say that it is difficult to find a man who has been endowed with a good conscience, with ordinary prulence, and with resolute industry, that has not in the main found the prospects of life favourable rather than unfavourable to him. If you have not a good conscience-if you have not ordinary prudence, if you have not resolute industry, these defects are your fault, and not your misfortune.

THE PROPOSED REVISED CODE OF REGULATIONS.

SINCE the publication of our last number, public attention has been largely directed to this subject, and the probable effects of the proposed measures of the Committee of Council have been investigated and discussed, with special care, by school managers, clergy, teachers, and all who are interested in the promotion of popular instruction. The feeling of regret and apprehension with which the announcement of the measures was received has become deepened and intensified, and we believe that, among those who are actually familiar with the work of elementary schools, there is even greater unanimity than at first, in the desire that the new Code should be withdrawn altogether. It is generally felt that the harmony which has hitherto subsisted, between the education department on the one hand, and the large number of persons who voluntarily contribute to the support of education on the other, is seriously perilled, and that the objections to the proposed arrangements of the Committee of Council are more weighty and serious than was at first anticipated.

Those objections may be simply stated-

I.-The new Code adopts an unfair and impracticable test for measuring "results," and for determining the amount of the grant.

11.-It not only reduces the amount of aid obtainable from the parliamentary grant, but it proposes to distribute that amount less economically and judiciously than under the present system.

III.—It violates a moral obligation with the teachers, and tends to diminish their salaries, their qualifications, and their usefulness.

IV.--It inflicts a special injury on the training colleges, which at present form the keystone of the whole system, and will necessitate the closing of some of them, while it threatens to impair the efficiency of all.

V.-It increases the responsibilities and the difficulties of school managers, and specially tends to discourage and weaken those schools which are most in need of help. On all these points, the testimony of practical men is strong and almost unanimous. We prefer to quote from some of the most remarkable pamphlets and documents which have appeared on the subject, portions of the evidence and arguments by which these propositions have been maintained.

On this point, the pamphlet of Sir James K. Shuttleworth* contains a striking argument :

"It is not reasonable to expect that, under the present conditions of school age and attendance, it would be possible for at least three-fifths of the children on the books in these schools-the 63.7 per cent. who attend 100 days and upwards-to attain the standard contained in the formula previously quoted from their Report. "The promoters of schools say, in reply, that the merely technical and mechanical results follow a large part of the moral and religious training, and never precede

them.

"They have satisfied the Commissioners with the moral and religious training of their scholars. They have, as shown by the reports of the inspectors already quoted, obtained already no little success in these technical elements. That is the first step towards complete success. They are certain that the present teachers and their pupil-teachers would soon-out of the degree of civilization which the schools have created-evolve better results in all the elements of a sound English education, than have been attained in those parts of Scotland which have had parochial schools and a settled population since the Reformation.

"But the promoters of schools entertain a just apprehension that the necessities of many schools would compel the managers to refuse to children who presented themselves with a standard of acquirements so much below that required in the code, as to give no hope that they could, however skilfully taught, pass the examination; to turn out dull scholars, sluggards, and truants, though the fault might be in the want of local civilization and home training. School managers emphatically say that the Revised Code overlooks the value of all this indispensable preliminary moral and intellectual training. It treats it as no part of the work done. It discourages it because it cannot test it, and therefore excludes it from all aid.

'Any capitation grant, the distribution of which is determined by the results of instruction in schools, is liable to the fundamental objection that the average period of the attendance of the majority of scholars is so short, that, as far as that majority is concerned, few sc oo's would be paid for the results of their own work. In the specimen districts, 42·3 per cent. of the scholars (Commissioners' Report, p. 659) had been in the same public week-day school less than one year, and 22.7 per cent. had been one year, but less than two years. The proportions for England and Wales are 41.65 per cent. scholars who had attended the same school less than one year, and 22.58 who had been one year and less than two years. With such migratory scholars, it is impossible justly to pay for work done in schools on any plan constructed to embrace those three-fifths of the scholars who attend school less than two years.

"Scholars enter the school who are in a state of brutish ignorance, unreclaimed barbarism, and incapacity, requiring many months of skilful elementary training. Even if they enter young, they cannot fulfil the requirements of the code. But it would be worse than useless to reduce the standard of acquirement in the code towards this class of scholars, who enter at nine or even seven years of age without the knowledge of a letter. Such a change would be to fix the standard on the capacities and knowledge of savages, and on a transient remediable state of the population. Yet the reclamation of these children from barbarism is a good, greater far than mere technical instruction in the three lowest elements. This reclamation is not to be tested by mere technical examination.

"We must suppose a settled population, in which most of the children enter an infant-school at three years of age, and spend a hundred and forty days, on the

*Letter to Earl Granville, K.G., on the Revised Code. By Sir James K. Shuttleworth, Bart, Smith and Elder, Cornhill.

average, in a good school, with a fair amount of home training and example, before we can even approach to the hope expressed by the royal commissioners, that three-fifths of the scholars may receive the amount of instruction which they are so sanguine as to expect.

"But even in this case it is easy to show how sudden would be the reduction of the annual grants, by the operation of the Revised Code on these inspected schools, without taking into account the losses contingent on the absence of children on the day of inspection, or during sixteen and a half school times in the preceding month, or on account of errors of judgment on the part of the Inspector, and on the incalculable, because indefinite, reduction of the grant which the Inspector may recom→ mend, under clause 47 of the Code.

"Some of the details of the conditions in the Code, as to attendance, deserver only brief comment. Such are those of clause 41 (a), that no grant will be made for any scholar who has not attended sixteen and a half school times in the thirtyone days preceding the day of inspection, and of course who is not present at the examination.

"School managers naturally ask whether this is to apply to a school inspected during or soon after any harvest; or after any holiday week, such as a fair, wakes, rush-bearing week, Whitsuntide, or Christmas; or after the usual school holidays; or after a period of very bad weather, in a district of bad roads, with a scattered population; or after a general prevalence of influenza, or any of the contagious diseases of children. They inquire, too, whether their grant for any child is to be subject to the consequences of discontent in a master under notice of dismissal; or to possible hurry, impatience, carelessness, or error of judgment in an Inspector; or to the dread of the scholars of examination by a stranger; or to the caprice of any ignorant, negligent, or ill-tempered parent, who may choose to keep one or more scholars at home on the day of examination; or to meet the common daily claims of the households of the poor on the services of their children for nursing, errands, and other duties.

'Nothing has surprised the promoters of public education more than the regulation which practically discourages the extension of school attendance beyond eleven years of age, by refusing the grant to such scholars. A very small percentage of such children belong to any other class than that supported by manual labour.

"There are no provisions in the code to meet the circumstances of children working, according to the provisions of the law, in bleach or print works, or in mines. The same examination is prescribed for girls as for boys, and for half-time scholars as for those attending full-time. Children between three and seven years of age (clauses 43, 44) are required to read a 'narrative in monosyllables;' to form, on a black board or slate, from dictation, letters, capital and small, manuscript;' and to form, on black board or slate, from dictation, figures up to 20; name at sight figures up to 20; add and subtract figures up to 10, orally, from examples on black board.' The opinion of practical educators on these requirements from infants has been unanimous, as to their impracticability and injurious tendency.

II. The Unequal Distribution of the Grant.

The evidence on this point takes for the most part the form of statistics, which cannot easily be reproduced here. But the general result of that evidence is well summed up in a memorial lately presented to the Lord President of the Council, by a body of clergy and school managers, in which it is said :

"It must, in the nature of things, give an amount of aid to schools of the higher class in favoured districts, where the attendance is regular and prolonged, wholly disproportionate to that which it affords to schools, not less efficient, though producing less tangible results, in poorer districts, where the attendance is fluctuating