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diff --git a/13548-0.txt b/13548-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e62e18 --- /dev/null +++ b/13548-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6464 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13548 *** + +CAMBRIDGE ESSAYS ON EDUCATION + +EDITED BY A.C. BENSON, C.V.O., LL.D. +Master of Magdalene College + +With an Introduction by the Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M. + +1919 + + + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The scheme of publishing a volume of essays dealing with underlying +aims and principles of education was originated by the University +Press Syndicate. It seemed to promise something both of use and +interest, and the further arrangements were entrusted to a small +Committee, with myself as secretary and acting editor. + +Our idea has been this: at a time of much educational enterprise and +unrest, we believed that it would be advisable to collect the opinions +of a few experienced teachers and administrators upon certain +questions of the theory and motive of education which lie a little +beneath the surface. + +To deal with current and practical problems does not seem the _first_ +need at present. Just now, work is both common as well as fashionable; +most people are doing their best; and, if anything, the danger is that +organisation should outrun foresight and intelligence. Moreover a +weakening of the old compulsion of the classics has resulted, not in +perfect freedom, but in a tendency on the part of some scientific +enthusiasts simply to substitute compulsory science for compulsory +literature, when the real question rather is whether obligatory +subjects should not be diminished as far as possible, and more +sympathetic attention given to faculty and aptitude. + +We have attempted to avoid mere current controversial topics, and to +encourage our contributors to define as far as possible the aim and +outlook of education, as the word is now interpreted. + +We have not furthered any educational conspiracy, nor attempted any +fusion of view. Our plan has been first to select some of the most +pressing of modern problems, next to find well-equipped experts and +students to deal with each, and then to give the various writers as +free a hand as possible, desiring them to speak with the utmost +frankness and personal candour. We have not directed the plan or +treatment or scope of any essay; and my own editorial supervision has +consisted merely in making detailed suggestions on smaller points, in +exhorting contributors to be punctual and diligent, and generally +revising what the New Testament calls jots and tittles. We have been +very fortunate in meeting with but few refusals, and our contributors +readily responded to the wish which we expressed, that they should +write from the personal rather than from the judicial point of view, +and follow their own chosen method of treatment. + +We take the opportunity of expressing our obligations to all who have +helped us, and to Viscount Bryce for bestowing, as few are so justly +entitled to do, an educational benediction upon our scheme and volume. + +A.C. BENSON + +MAGDALENE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE +August 18, 1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION + + By the Right Hon. VISCOUNT BRYCE, O.M. + + +I. THE AIM OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM + + By JOHN LEWIS PATON, M.A., High Master of + Manchester Grammar School; formerly Fellow of + St John's College, Cambridge, Assistant Master at + Rugby School, Head Master of University College + School + + +II. THE TRAINING OF THE REASON + + By the Very Rev. WILLIAM RALPH INGE, D.D., + Dean of St Paul's, Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, + Cambridge, and of Hertford College, Oxford; + formerly Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, + Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, Assistant + Master at Eton College, Fellow and Tutor of + Hertford College, Oxford + + +III. THE TRAINING OF THE IMAGINATION + + By ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON, C.V.O., + LL.D., Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge; + formerly Assistant Master at Eton College + + +IV. RELIGION AT SCHOOL + + By WILLIAM WYAMAR VAUGHAN, M.A., Master + of Wellington College; formerly Assistant Master + at Clifton College, and Head Master of Giggleswick + School + + +V. CITIZENSHIP + + By ALBERT MANSBRIDGE, M.A., Joint-Secretary + of the Cambridge University Tutorial Classes + Committee; Founder and formerly Secretary of + the Workers' Educational Association + + +VI. THE PLACE OF LITERATURE IN EDUCATION + + By NOWELL SMITH, M.A., Head Master of + Sherborne School; formerly Fellow of Magdalen + College, Oxford, Fellow and Tutor of New College, + Oxford, Assistant Master at Winchester College + + +VII. THE PLACE OF SCIENCE IN EDUCATION + + By WILLIAM BATESON, F.R.S., Director of the + John Innes Horticultural Institution, Honorary + Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge; formerly + Professor of Biology in the University of Cambridge + + +VIII. ATHLETICS + + By FREDERIC BLAGDEN MALIM, M.A., Master + of Haileybury College; formerly Assistant Master + at Marlborough College, Head Master of Sedbergh + School + + +IX. THE USE OF LEISURE + + By JOHN HADEN BADLEY, M.A., Head Master of + Bedales School + + +X. PREPARATION FOR PRACTICAL LIFE + + By Sir JOHN DAVID MCCLURE, LL.D., D.MUS., + Head Master of Mill Hill School + + +XI. TEACHING AS A PROFESSION + + By FRANK ROSCOE, Secretary of the Teachers + Registration Council + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +In times of anxiety and discontent, when discontent has engendered the +belief that great and widespread economic and social changes are +needed, there is a risk that men or States may act hastily, rushing to +new schemes which seem promising chiefly because they are new, +catching at expedients that have a superficial air of practicality, +and forgetting the general theory upon which practical plans should be +based. At such moments there is special need for the restatement and +enforcement by argument of sound principles. To such principles so far +as they relate to education it is the aim of these essays to recall +the public mind. They cover so many branches of educational theory and +deal with them so fully and clearly, being the work of skilled and +vigorous thinkers, that it would be idle for me to enter in a short +introduction upon those topics which they have discussed with special +knowledge far greater than I possess. All I shall attempt is to +present a few scattered observations on the general problems of +education as they stand to-day. + +The largest of those problems, viz., how to provide elementary +instruction for the whole population, is far less urgent now than it +was fifty years ago. The Act of 1870, followed by the Act which made +school-attendance compulsory, has done its work. What is wanted now +is Quality rather than Quantity. Quantity is doubtless needed in one +respect. Children ought to stay longer at school and ought to have +more encouragement to continue education after they leave the +elementary school. But it is chiefly an improvement in the teaching +that is wanted, and that of course means the securing of higher +competence in the teacher by raising the remuneration and the status +of the teaching profession[1]. + +The next problem is how to find the finest minds among the children of +the country and bring them by adequate training to the highest +efficiency. The sifting out of these best minds is a matter of +educational organisation and machinery; and the process will become +the easier when the elementary teachers, who ought to bear a part in +selecting those who are most fitted to be sent on to secondary +schools, have themselves become better qualified for the task of +discrimination. The question how to train these best minds when sifted +out would lead me into the tangled controversy as to the respective +educational values of various subjects of instruction, a topic which I +must not deal with here. What I do wish to dwell upon is the supreme +importance to the progress of a nation of the best talent it +possesses. In every country there is a certain percentage of the +population who are fitted by their superior intelligence, industry, +and force of character to be the leaders in every branch of action +and thought. It is a small percentage, but it may be increased by +discovering ability in places where the conditions do not favour its +development, and setting it where it will have a better chance of +growth, just as a seedling tree brought out of the dry shade may shoot +up when planted where sun and rain can reach it freely. I am not +thinking of those exceptionally great and powerful minds, of whom +there may not be more than four or five in a generation, who make +brilliant discoveries or change the currents of thought, but rather of +persons of a capacity high, if not quite first rate, which enables +them, granted fair chances, to rise quickly into positions where they +can effectively serve the community. These men, whatever occupation +they follow, be it that of abstract thinking, or literary production, +or scientific research, or the conduct of affairs, whether commercial +or political or administrative, are the dynamic strength of the +country when they enter manhood, and its realised wealth when they are +in their fullest vigour thirty years later. We need more of them, and +more of them may be found by taking pains. + +The volume of thought continuously applied to the work of life, +whether it be applied in the library or study or laboratory, or in the +workshop or factory or counting-house or council chamber, has not been +keeping pace with the growth of our population, our wealth, our +responsibilities. It is not to-day sufficient for the increasing +vastness and complexity of the problems that confront a great nation. +We in Great Britain have been too apt to rely upon our energy and +courage and practical resourcefulness in emergencies, and thus have +tended to neglect those efforts to accumulate knowledge, and consider +how it can be most usefully applied, which should precede and +accompany action. This deficiency is happily one that can be removed, +while a want of qualities which are the gift of nature is less +curable. The "efficiency" which is on every one's mouth cannot be +extemporised by rushing hastily into action, however energetic. It is +the fruit of patient and exact determination of and reflection upon +the facts to be dealt with. + +The view that it was the finest minds that ought to be most cared for, +and that to them of right belonged not merely leadership, but even +control also, was carried by the ancients, and especially by Plato and +Aristotle, almost to excess. Their ideal, and indeed that of most +Greek thinkers, was the maintenance among the masses of the military +valour and discipline which the State needed for its protection, and +the cultivation among the chosen few of the highest intellectual and +moral excellence. In the Middle Ages, when power as well as rank +belonged to two classes, nobles and clergy, the ideal of education +took a religious colour, and that training was most valued which made +men loyal to the Church and to sound doctrine, with the prospect of +bliss in the world to come. In our times, educational ideals have +become not merely more earthly but more material. Modern doctrines of +equality have discredited the ancient view that the chief aim of +instruction is to prepare the few Wise and Good for the government of +the State. It is not merely upon this world but also upon the material +things of this world, power and the acquisition of territory, +industrial production, commerce, finance, wealth and prosperity in all +its forms, that the modern eye is fixed. There has been a drifting +away from that respect for learning which was strong in the Middle +Ages and lasted down into the eighteenth century. In some countries, +as in our own, that which instruction and training may accomplish has +been rated far below the standard of the ancients. Yet in our own time +we have seen two striking examples to show that their estimate was +hardly too high. Think of the power which the constant holding up, +during long centuries, of certain ideals and standards of conduct, +exerted upon the Japanese people, instilling sentiments of loyalty to +the sovereign and inspiring a certain conception of chivalric duty +which Europe did not reach even when monarchy and chivalry stood +highest. Think of that boundless devotion to the State as an +omnipotent and all-absorbing power, superseding morality and +suppressing the individual, which within the short span of two +generations has taken possession of Germany. In the latter case at +least the incessant preaching and teaching of a theory which lowers +the citizen's independence and individuality while it saps his moral +sense seems to us a misdirection of educational effort. But in it +education has at least displayed its power. + +Can a fair statement of the educational ideals which we might here and +now set before ourselves be found in saying that there are three +chief aims to be sought as respects those we have called the best +minds? + +One aim is to fit men to be at least explorers, even if not +discoverers, in the fields of science and learning. + +A second is to fit them to be leaders in the field of action, leaders +not only by their initiative and their diligence, but also by the +power and the habit of turning a full stream of thought and knowledge +upon whatever work they have to do. + +A third is to give them the taste for, and the habit of enjoying, +intellectual pleasures. + +Many moralists, ancient and modern, have given pleasure a bad name, +because they saw that the most alluring and powerfully seductive +pleasures, pleasures which appeal to all men alike, were indulged to +excess, and became a source of evil. But men will have pleasure and +ought to have pleasure. The best way of drawing them off from the more +dangerous pleasures is to teach them to enjoy the better kinds. +Moreover the quieter pleasures of the intellect mean Rest, and a +greater fitness for resuming work. + +The pity is that so many sources capable of affording delight are +ignored or imperfectly appreciated. May not this be partly the fault +of the lines which our education has followed? Perhaps some kinds of +study would have fared better if their defenders had dwelt more upon +the pleasure they afford and less upon their supposed utility. The +champions of Greek and Latin have dilated on the value of grammar as a +mental discipline, and argued that the best way to acquire a good +English style is to know the ancient languages, a proposition +discredited by many examples to the contrary. It is really this +insistence on grammatical minutiae that has proved repellent to young +people and suggested the dictum that "it doesn't much matter what you +teach a boy so long as he hates it." Better had it been, abandoning +the notion that every one should learn Greek, to dwell upon the +boundless pleasure which minds of imagination and literary taste +derive from carrying in memory the gems of ancient wisdom which are +more easily remembered because they are not in our own language, and +the finest passages of ancient poetry. There are plenty of +things--indeed there are far more things--in modern literature as +noble and as beautiful as the best of the ancients can give us. But +they are not the same things. The ancient poets have the freshness and +the fragrance of the springtime of the world [2]. Or take another sort +of instance. Take the pleasures which nature spreads before us with a +generous hand, hills and fields and woods and rocks, flowers and the +songs of birds, the ever-shifting aspects of clouds and of landscapes +under light and shadow. How few persons in most countries--for there +is in this respect a difference between different peoples--notice +these things. Everybody sees them few observe them or derive pleasure +from them. Is not this largely because attention has not been properly +called to them? They have not been taught to look at natural objects +closely and see the variety there is in them. Persons in whom no taste +for pictures has ever been formed by their having been taken to see, +good pictures and told what constitutes merit, are, when led into a +picture gallery, usually interested in the subjects. They like to see +a sportsman shooting wild fowl, or a battle scene, or even a prize +fight, or a mother tending a sick child, because these incidents +appeal to them. But they seldom see in a picture anything but the +subject; they do not appreciate: imaginative quality or composition, +or colour, or light and shade or indeed anything except exact +imitation of the actual. So in nature the average man is; struck by +something so exceptional as a lofty rock, like Ailsa Craig or the +Needles off the Isle of Wight, or an eclipse of the moon, or perhaps a +blood-red sunset; but he does not notice and consequently draws no +pleasure from landscapes in general, whether noble; or quietly +beautiful. The capacity for taking pleasure, in all these things may +not be absent. There is reason: to think that most children possess +it, because when they are shown how to observe they usually respond, +quickly perceiving, for instance, the differences between one flower +and another, quickly, even when quite young, learning the distinctive +characters and names of each, enjoying the process of recognising +each when they walk along the lanes, as indeed every intelligent +child enjoys the exercise of its observing powers. The disproportionate +growth of our urban population, a thing regrettable in other respects +also, has no doubt made it more difficult to give young people a +familiar knowledge of nature, but the facilities for going into the +country and the happy lengthening of summer holidays render it easier +than formerly to provide opportunities for Nature Study, which, +properly conducted, is a recreation and not a lesson. There is no +source of enjoyment which lasts so keen all through life or which fits +one better for other enjoyments, such as those of art and of travel. +Of the value of the habit of alert observation for other purposes I +say nothing, wishing here to insist only upon what it may do for +delight. + +It is often alleged that in England boys and girls show less mental +curiosity, less desire for knowledge than those of most European +countries, or even than those of the three smaller countries north and +west of England in which the Celtic element is stronger than it is in +South Britain. A parallel charge has, ever since the days of Matthew +Arnold, been brought against the English upper and middle classes. He +declared that they care less for the "things of the mind" and show +less respect to eminence in science, literature and art, than is the +case elsewhere, as for instance in France, Germany, or Italy (to which +one may add the United States); and he thus explained the scanty +interest taken by these classes in educational progress. + +Should this latter charge be well founded, the fact it notes would +tend to perpetuate the former evil, for the indifference of parents +reacts upon the school and upon the pupils. The love of knowledge is +so natural and awakens so early in the normal child, that even if it +be somewhat less keen among English than among French or Scottish +children, we may well believe our deficiencies to be largely due to +faulty and unstimulative methods of teaching, and may trust that they +will diminish when these methods have been improved. + +If it be true that the English public generally show a want of +interest in and faint appreciation of the value of education, the +stern discipline of war will do something to remove this indifference. +The comparative poverty and reduction of luxurious habits; which this +war will bring in its train, along with a sense of the need that has +arisen for turning to the fullest account all the intellectual +resources of the country so that it may maintain its place in the +world,--these things may be expected to work a change for the better, +and lead parents to set more store upon the mental and less upon the +athletic achievements of their sons. + +Be this as it may, no one to-day denies that much remains to be done +to spread a sense of the value of science for those branches of +industry to which (as especially to agriculture) it has been +imperfectly applied, to strengthen and develop the teaching of +scientific theory as the foundation of technical and practical +scientific work, and above all to equip with the largest measure of +knowledge and by the most stimulating training those on whom nature +has bestowed the most vigorous and flexible minds. To-day e see that +the heads of great businesses, industrial and financial, are looking +out for men of university distinction to be placed in responsible +posts--a thing which did not happen fifty years ago--because the +conditions of modern business have grown too intricate to be handled +by any but the best trained brains. The same need is at least equally +true of many branches of that administrative work which is now being +thrust, in growing volume, upon the State and its officials. + +If we feel this as respects the internal economic life of our country, +is it not true also of the international life of the world? In the +stress and competition of our times, the future belongs to the nations +that recognise the worth of Knowledge and Thought, and best understand +how to apply the accumulated experience of the past. In the long run +it is knowledge and wisdom that rule the world, not knowledge only, +but knowledge applied with that width of view and sympathetic +comprehension of men, and of other nations, which are the essence of +statesmanship. + +[Footnote 1: This has been clearly seen and admirably stated by the +present President of the Board of Education.] + +[Footnote 2: Take for instance this little fragment of Alcman: + +Greek: _Ou m heti, parthenikai meligaryest imerophônoi, + Gyia pherein dynatai. Bale dê Bale kêrylos eiên, + Hos t hepi kymatos hanthos ham alkyonessi potêtai + Nêleges hêtor hechôn haliporphyros eiaros hornis._ + +What can be more exquisite than the epithets in the first line, or +more fresh and delicate and tender in imaginative quality than the +three last? A modern poet of equal genius would treat the topic with +equal force and grace, but the charm, the untranslatable charm of +antique simplicity, would be absent.] + + + + +I + +THE AIM OF EDUCATIONAL REFORM + +By J. L. PATON + +High Master of Manchester Grammar School + + +The last century, with all its brilliant achievement in scientific +discovery and increase of production, was spiritually a failure. The +sadness of that spiritual failure crushed the heart of Clough, turned +Carlyle from a thinker into a scold, and Matthew Arnold from a poet +into a writer of prose. + +The secret of failure was that the great forces which move mankind +were out of touch with each other, and furnished no mutual support. +Art had no vital relation with industry; work was dissociated from +joy; political economy was at issue with humanity; science was at +daggers drawn with religion; action did not correspond to thought, +being to seeming; and finally the individual was conceived as having +claims and interests at variance with the claims and interests of the +society of which he formed a part, in fact as standing out against it, +in an opposition so sharply marked that one of the greatest thinkers +could write a book with the title "Man _versus_ the State." As a +result, nation was divided against nation, labour against capital, +town against country, sex against sex, the hearts of the children +were set against the fathers, the Church fought against the State, +and, worst of all, Church fought against Church. + +The discords of the great society were reflect inevitably in the +sphere of education. The elementary schools of the nation were divided +into two conflicting groups, and both were separated by an estranging +gulf from the grammar schools and high schools as the grammar schools +in turn were shut off from the public schools on the one hand, and +from the schools of art, music, and of technology on the other There +was no cohesion, no concerted effort, no mutual support, no great plan +of advance, no homologating idea. + +This fact in itself is sufficient to account for the ineffectiveness, +the despondencies, the insincerities and ceaseless unrest of Western +civilisation in the nineteenth century. The tree of human life cannot +flower and bear fruit for the healing of the nations when its great +life-forces spend themselves in making war on each other. + +If the experience of the century which lies before us is to be +different, it must be made so by means of education. Education is the +science which deals with the world as it is capable of becoming. Other +sciences deal with things as they are, and formulate the laws which +they find to prevail in things as they are. The eyes of education are +fixed always upon the future, and philosophy of whatever kind, +directly adumbrates a Utopia, thinks on educational lines. + +The aim of education must therefore be as wide as it is high, it must +be co-extensive with life. The advance must be along the whole front, +not on a small sector only. William Morris, when he tried his hand at +painting, used to say, that what bothered him always was the frame: he +could not conceive of art as something "framed off" and isolated from +life. Just as William Morris wanted to turn all life into art, so with +education. It cannot be "framed off" and detached from the larger +aspects of political and social well-being; it takes all life for its +province. It is not an end in itself, any more than the individuals +with whom it deals; it acts upon the individual, but through the +individual it acts upon the mass, and its aim is nothing less than the +right ordering of human society. + +To cope with a task which can be stated in these terms, education must +be free. A new age postulates a new education. The traditions which +have dominated hitherto must one by one be challenged to render +account of themselves, that which is good in them must be conserved +and assimilated, that which is effete must be scrapped and rejected. +Neither can the administrative machinery, as it exists, be taken for +granted; unless it shows those powers of adaptation and growth which +show it to be alive and not dead, it too must be scrapped and +rejected; new wine is fatal to old skins. Education must regain once +more what she possessed at the time of the Renascence--the power of +direction; she must be mistress of her fate. + +Further, if education is to be a force which makes for co-operation +in place of conflict, she must not be divided against herself. She +must leave behind forever the separations and snobberies, the +misunderstandings, the wordy battles beloved of pedants and +politicians. The smoke and dust of controversy obscures her vision, +and she needs all her energies to tackle the great task which +confronts her. In this regard nothing is so full of promise for the +future as the new sense of unity which is beginning both to animate +and actuate the whole teaching profession, from the University to the +Kindergarten, and has already eventuated in the formation of a +Teachers Registration Council, on which all sorts and conditions of +education are represented. + +The materialists have not been slow to see their chance, to challenge +the old tradition of literary education, and to urge the claims of +science. But the aim which they place before us is frankly stated--it +is the acquisition of wealth; they are "on manna bent and mortal +ends," and their conception of the future is a world in which one +nation competes against another for the acquisition of markets and +commodities. In effect, therefore, materialism challenges the +classics, but it accepts the self-seeking ideals of the past +generations, and accepts also, as an integral part of the future, the +scramble of conflicting interests, labour against capital, nation +against nation, man against man. Now the first characteristic of the +genuine scientific mind is the power of learning by experience. Real +science never makes the same mistake twice. Obviously the repetition +of the past can only eventuate in the repetition of the present. And +that is precisely what education sets itself to counteract. The +materialist forgets three outstanding and obvious facts. Firstly, +science cannot be the whole of knowledge, because "science" (in his +limited sense of the term) deals only with what appears. Secondly, +power of insight depends not so much upon the senses as on moral +qualities, the sense of sympathy and of fairness; it needs +self-discipline as well as knowledge both of oneself and one's +fellow-man. "How can a man," says Carlyle, "without clear vision in +his heart first of all, have any clear vision in the head?" "Eyes and +ears," said the ancient philosopher, "are bad witnesses for such as +have barbarian souls." Thirdly, the tragedy of the past generation was +not its failure to accumulate wealth; in that respect it was more +successful than any generation which preceded it. The tragedy of the +nineteenth century was that, when it had acquired wealth, it had no +clear idea, either individually or collectively, what to do with it. + +And yet the house of humanity faces both ways; it looks out towards +the world of appearances as well as to the world of spirit, and is, in +fact, the meeting-place of both. Materialism is not wrong because it +deals with material things. It is wrong because it deals with nothing +else. It is wrong, also, in education because taking the point of view +of the adult, it makes the material product itself the all-important +thing. In every right conception of education the child is central. +The child is interested in things. It wants first to _sense_ them, or +as Froebel would say "to make the outer inner"; it wants to play with +them, to construct with them, and along the line of this inward +propulsion the educational process has to act. The "thing-studies" if +one may so term them, which have been introduced into the curriculum, +such as gardening, manual training (with cardboard, wood, metal), +cooking, painting, modelling, games and dramatisation, are it is true +later introductions, adopted mainly from utilitarian motive; and they +have been ingrafted on the original trunk, being at first regarded as +detachable extras, but they quickly showed that they were an organic +part of the real educative process; they have already reacted on the +other subjects of the curriculum, and have, in the earlier stages of +education become central. In the same way, vocation is having great +influence upon the higher terminal stages of education. All this is +part of the most important of all correlations, the correlation of +school with life. + +But the child's interest in things is social. Through the primitive +occupations of mankind, he is entering step by step into the heritage +of the race and into a richer fuller personal experience. The science +which enlists a child's interest is not that which is presented from +the logical, abstract point of view. The way in which the child +acquires it is the same as that in which mankind acquired it--his +occupation presents certain difficulties, to overcome these +difficulties he has to exercise his thought, he invents and +experiments; and so thought reacts upon occupation, occupation reacts +upon thought. And out of that reciprocal action science is born. In +the same way his play is social--in his games too he enters into the +heritage of the race, and in playing them he is learning unconsciously +the greatest of all arts, the art of living with others. In his play +as well as in his school work the lines of his natural development +show how he can be trained to co-operate with the law of human +progress. + +This fitness and readiness to co-operate with the great movement of +human progress, all-round fitness of body, mind and spirit, provides +the formula which fuses and reconciles two growing tendencies in +modern education. + +There is in the first place the movement towards self-expression and +self-development--postulating for the scholar a larger measure of +liberty in thought and action, and self-direction than hitherto--this +movement is represented mainly by Dr Montessori, and by "What is and +what might be"; it is a movement which is spreading upwards from the +infant school to the higher standards. Side by side with it is the +movement towards the fuller development of corporate life in the +school, the movement which trains the child to put the school first in +his thoughts, to live for the society to which he belongs and find his +own personal well-being in the well-being of that society. This has +been, ever since Arnold, sedulously fostered in the games of the +public schools, and fruitful of good results in that limited sphere; +it has been applied with conspicuous success to the development of +self-government, and it has reached its fullest expression in the +little Commonwealth of Mr Homer Lane. But we are beginning to +recognise its wider applications, it is capable of transforming the +spirit of the class-room activities as well as the activities of a +playing field, it is in every way as applicable to the elementary +school as to Eton, or Rugby, or Harrow, and to girls as well as to +boys. + +These two movements towards a fuller liberty of self-fulfilment, and +towards a fuller and stronger social life, are convergent, and +supplement, or rather complement, each other. Personality, after all, +is best defined as "capacity for fellowship," and only in the social +milieu can the individual find his real self-fulfilling. Unless he +functions socially, the individual develops into eccentricity, +negative criticism, and the cynical aloofness of the "superior +person." On the other hand without freedom of individual development, +the organisation of life becomes the death of the soul. Prussia has +shown how the psychology of the crowd can be skilfully manipulated for +the most sinister ends. It is a happy omen for our democracy that both +these complementary movements are combined in the new life of the +schools. To both appeals, the appeal of personal freedom, and the +appeal of the corporate life, the British child is peculiarly +responsive. Round these two health-centres the form of the new system +will take shape and grow. + +And growth it must be, not building. The body is not built up on the +skeleton, the skeleton is secreted by the growing body. The hope of +education is in the living principle of hope and enthusiasm, which +stretches out towards perfection. One distrusts instinctively at the +present time anything schematic. There are men, able enough as +organisers, who will be ready to sit down and produce at two days' +notice a full cut-and-dried scheme of educational reconstruction. They +will take our present resources, and make the best of them, no doubt, +re-arranging and re-manipulating them, and making them go as far as +they can. They will shape the whole thing out in wood, and the result +will be wooden. It will be static and stratified, with no upward lift. +But that is not the way. Education is a thing of the spirit, it is +instinct with life, [Greek: thermon ti pragma] as Aristotle would +say, drawing upon resources that are not its own, "unseen yet crescive +in its faculty" and in its growth taking to itself such outward form +as it needs for the purpose of its inward life. Six years at least it +will take for the new spirit to work itself out into the definite +larger forms. + +That does not mean that it will come without hard purposeful thinking +and much patient effort. Education does not "happen" any more than +"art happens,"--and just as with the arts of the middle ages, so the +well-being of education depends not on the chance appearance of a few +men of genius but on the right training and love of the ordinary +workman for his work. Education is a spiritual endeavour, and it will +come, as the things of the spirit come, through patience in +well-doing, through concentration of purpose on the highest, through +drawing continually on the inexhaustible resources of the spiritual +world. The supreme "maker" is the poet, the man of vision. For the +administrator, the task is different from what it has been. It is for +him to watch and help experiments, to prevent the abuse of freedom, +not to preserve uniformities but to select variations. But he is +handling a power which, as George Meredith says, "is a heaven-sent +steeplechaser, and takes a flying leap of the ordinary barriers." + +To-morrow is the day of opportunity. To-day is the day of preparation. +Yesterday's ideals have become the practical politics of the present +hour. Our countrymen recognise now as they have never done before that +the problem of national reconstruction is in the main a problem of +national education: "the future welfare of the nation," to use Mr +Fisher's words, "depends upon its schools." Men make light now of the +extra millions which a few years ago seemed to bar the way of +progress. At the same time the discipline of the last three years has +hammered into us a new consciousness of national solidarity and social +obligation. As the whole energies of a united people are at this +moment concentrated on the duty of destruction which is laid upon us, +so after the war with no less urgency and no less oneness of heart the +whole energies of a united nation must be concentrated on the +upbuilding of life. That upbuilding is to be economic as well as +spiritual, but those who think out most deeply the need of the +economic situation, are most surely convinced that the problems of +industry and commerce are at the bottom human problems and cannot find +solution without a new sense of "co-operation and brotherliness[1]." + +Such is the need and such the task. England is looking to her schools +as she never did before. The aim of her education must be both high +and wide, higher than lucre, wider than the nation. And the aim of our +education cannot be fulfilled until the education of other peoples is +infused with the same spirit. Education, like finance, must be planned +on international lines by international consensus with a view to world +peace. Only so can it fulfil the ultimate end which already looms on +the horizon, + + Becoming when the time has birth + A lever to uplift the earth + And roll it on another course. + +[Footnote 1: Mr Angus Watson in _Eclipse or Empire_, p. 88.] + + + + +II + +THE TRAINING OF THE REASON + +By W. R. INGE + +Dean of St Paul's + + +The ideal object of education is that we should learn all that it +concerns us to know, in order that thereby we may become all that it +concerns us to be. In other words, the aim of education is the +knowledge not of facts but of values. Values are facts apprehended in +their relation to each other, and to ourselves. The wise man is he who +knows the relative values of things. In this knowledge, and in the use +made of it, is summed up the whole conduct of life. What are the +things which are best worth winning for their own sakes, and what +price must I pay to win them? And what are the things which, since I +cannot have everything, I must be content to let go? How can I best +choose among the various subjects of human interest, and the various +objects of human endeavour, so that my activities may help and not +hinder each other, and that my life may have a unity, or at least a +centre round which my subordinate activities may be grouped. These are +the chief questions which a man would ask, who desired to plan his +life on rational principles, and whom circumstances allowed to choose +his occupation. He would desire to know himself, and to know the +world, in order to give and receive the best value for his sojourn in +it. + +We English for the most part accept this view of education, and we add +that the experience of life, or what we call knowledge of the world, +is the best school of practical wisdom. We do not however identify +practical wisdom with the life of reason but with that empirical +substitute for it which we call common sense. There is in all classes +a deep distrust of ideas, often amounting to what Plato called +_misologia_, "hatred of reason." An Englishman, as Bishop Creighton +said, not only has no ideas; he hates an idea when he meets one. We +discount the opinion of one who bases his judgment on first +principles. We think that we have observed that in high politics, for +example, the only irreparable mistakes are those which are made by +logical intellectualists. We would rather trust our fortunes to an +honest opportunist, who sees by a kind of intuition what is the next +step to be taken, and cares for no logic except the logic of facts. +Reason, as Aristotle says, "moves nothing"; it can analyse and +synthesise given data, but only after isolating them from the living +stream of time and change. It turns a concrete situation into lifeless +abstractions, and juggles with counters when it should be observing +realities. Our prejudices against logic as a principle of conduct have +been fortified by our national experience. We are not a quick-witted +race; and we have succeeded where others have failed by dint of a kind +of instinct for improvising the right course of action, a gift which +is mainly the result of certain elementary virtues which we practise +without thinking about them, justice, tolerance, and moderation. These +qualities have, we think and think truly, been often wanting in the +Latin nations, which pride themselves on lucidity of intellect and +logical consistency in obedience to general principles. Recent +philosophy has encouraged these advocates of common sense, who have +long been "pragmatists" without knowing it, to profess their faith +without shame. Intellect has been disparaged and instinct has been +exalted. Intuition is a safer guide than reason, we are told; for +intuition goes straight to the heart of a situation and has already +acted while reason is debating. Much of this new philosophy is a kind +of higher obscurantism; the man in the street applauds Bergson and +William James because he dislikes science and logic, and values will, +courage and sentiment. He used to be fond of repeating that Waterloo +was won on the playing fields of our public schools, until it was +painfully obvious that Colenso and Spion Kop were lost in the same +place. We have muddled through so often that we have come half to +believe in a providence which watches over unintelligent virtue. "Be +good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever," we have said to +Britannia. So we have acquiesced in being the worst educated people +west of the Slav frontier. + +I do not wish to dwell on the disadvantages which we have thus +incurred in international competition--our inferiority to Germany in +chemistry, and to almost every continental nation in scientific +agriculture. This lesson we are learning, and are not likely to +forget. It is our spiritual loss which we need to realise more fully. +In the first place, the majority of Englishmen have no thought-out +purpose in life beyond the call of "duty," which is an empty ideal +until we know what our duty is. Confusion of means and ends is +especially common in this country, though it is certainly to be found +everywhere. The passion for irrational accumulation is one example of +the error, which causes the gravest social inconvenience. The largest +part of social injustice and suffering is caused by the unchecked +indulgence of the acquisitive instinct by those who have the +opportunity of indulging it, and who have formed a blind habit of +indulging it. No one, however selfish, who had formed any reasonable +estimate of the relative values of life, would devote his whole time +to the economical exploitation of his neighbours, in order to pile up +the instruments of a fuller life, which he will never use. To regard +business as a kind of game is, from the highest point of view, right, +and our nation gains greatly by applying the ethics of sport to all +our external activities; but we err in living for our games, whether +they happen to be commerce or football. A friend of mine expostulated +with a Yorkshire manufacturer who was spending his old age in +unnecessary toil for the benefit of a spendthrift heir. The old man +answered, "If it gives him half as much pleasure to spend my half +million as it has given me to make it, I don't grudge it him." That is +not the spirit of the real miser or Mammon-worshipper. It is the +spirit of a natural idealist who from want of education has no +rational standard of good. When such a man intervenes in educational +matters, he is sure to take the standpoint of the so-called practical +man, because he is blind to the higher values of life. He will wish to +make knowledge and wisdom instruments for the production of wealth, or +the improvement of the material condition of the poor. But knowledge +and wisdom refuse to be so treated. Like goodness and beauty, wisdom +is one of the absolute values, the divine ideas. As one of the +Cambridge Platonists said, we must not make our intellectual faculties +Gibeonites, hewers of wood and drawers of water to the will and +affections. Wisdom must be sought for its own sake or we shall not +find it. Another effect of our _misologia_ is the degradation of +reasonable sympathy into sentimentalism, which regards pain as the +worst of evils, and endeavours always to remove the effects of folly +and wrong-doing, without investigating the causes. That such +sentimentalism is often kind only to be cruel, and that it frequently +robs honest Peter to pay dishonest Paul, needs no demonstration. +Sentimentalism does not believe that prevention is better than cure, +and practical politicians know too well that a scientific treatment of +social maladies is out of the question in this country. Others become +fanatics, that is to say, worldlings who are too narrow and violent to +understand the world. The root of the evil is that a whole range of +the higher values is inaccessible to the majority, because they know +nothing of intellectual wealth. And yet the real wealth of a nation +consists in its imponderable possessions--in those things wherein one +man's gain is not another man's loss, and which are not proved +incapable of increase by any laws of thermo-dynamics. An inexhaustible +treasure is freely open to all who have passed through a good course +of mental training, a treasure which we can make our own according to +our capacities, and our share of which we would not barter for any +goods which the law of the land can give or take away. "The +intelligent man," says Plato, "will prize those studies which result +in his soul getting soberness, righteousness and wisdom, and will less +value the others." The studies which have this effect are those which +teach us to admire and understand the good, the true and the +beautiful. They are, may we not say, humanism and science, pursued in +a spirit of "admiration, hope and love." The trained reason is +disinterested and fearless. It is not afraid of public opinion, +because it "counts it a small thing that it should be judged by man's +judgment"; its interests are so much wider than the incidents of a +private career that base self-centred indulgence and selfish ambition +are impossible to it. It is saved from pettiness, from ignorance, and +from bigotry. It will not fall a victim to those undisciplined and +disproportioned enthusiasms which we call fads, and which are a +peculiar feature of English and North American civilisation. Such +reforms as are carried out in this country are usually effected not by +the reason of the many, but by the fanaticism of the few. A just +balance may on the whole be preserved, but there is not much balance +in the judgments of individuals. + +Matthew Arnold, whose exhortations to his countrymen now seem almost +prophetic, drew a strong contrast between the intellectual frivolity, +or rather insensibility, of his countrymen and the earnestness of the +Germans. He saw that England was saved a hundred years ago by the high +spirit and proud resolution of a real aristocracy, which nevertheless +was, like all aristocracies, "destitute of ideas." Our great families, +he shows, could no longer save us, even if they had retained their +influence, because power is now conferred by disciplined knowledge and +applied science. It is the same warning which George Meredith +reiterated with increasing earnestness in his late poems. What England +needs, he says, is "brain." + + Warn her, Bard, that Power is pressing + Hotly for his dues this hour, + Tell her that no drunken blessing + Stops the onward march of Power, + Has she ears to take forewarnings, + She will cleanse her of her stains, + Feed and speed for braver mornings + Valorously the growth of brains. + Power, the hard man knit for action + Reads each nation on the brow; + Cripple, fool, and petrifaction + Fall to him--are falling now. + +And again: + + She impious to the Lord of hosts + The valour of her off-spring boasts, + Mindless that now on land and main + His heeded prayer is active brain. + +These faithful prophets were not heeded, and we have had to learn our +lesson in the school of experience. She is a good teacher but her fees +are very high. + +The author of _Friendship's Garland_ ended with a despairing appeal to +the democracy, when his jeremiads evoked no response from the upper +class, whom he called barbarians, or from the middle class, whom he +regarded as incurably vulgar. The middle classes are apt to receive +hard measure; they have few friends and many critics. We must go back +to Euripides to find the bold statement that they are the best part of +the community and "the salvation of the State"; but it is, on the +whole, true. And our middle class is only superficially vulgar. +Vulgarity, as Mr Robert Bridges has lately said, "is blindness to +values; it is spiritual death." The middle class in Matthew Arnold's +time was no doubt deplorably blind to artistic values; its productions +survive to convict it of what he called Philistinism; but it is no +longer devoid of taste or indifferent to beauty. And it has never been +a contemptible artist in life. Mr Bridges describes the progress of +vulgarity as an inverted Platonic progress. We descend, he says, from +ugly forms to ugly conduct, and from ugly conduct to ugly principles, +till we finally arrive at the absolute ugliness which is vulgarity. +This identification of insensibility to beauty with moral baseness was +something of a paradox even in Greece, and does not fit the English +character at all. Our towns are ugly enough; our public buildings +rouse no enthusiasm; and many of our monuments and stained glass +windows seem to shout for a friendly Zeppelin to obliterate them. But +we British have not descended to ugly conduct. Pericles and Plato +would have found the bearing of this people in its supreme trial more +"beautiful" than the Parthenon itself. The nation has shaken off its +vulgarity even more easily and completely than its slackness and +self-indulgence. We have borne ourselves with a courage, restraint, +and dignity which, a Greek would say, could have only been expected of +philosophers. And we certainly are not a nation of philosophers. We +must not then be too hasty in calling all contempt for intellect +vulgar. We have sinned by undervaluing the life of reason; but we are +not really a vulgar people. Our secular faith, the real religion of +the average Englishman, has its centre in the idea of a gentleman, +which has of course no essential connection with heraldry or property +in land. The upper classes, who live by it, are not vulgar, in spite +of the absence of ideas with which Matthew Arnold twits them; the +middle classes who also respect this ideal, are further protected by +sound moral traditions; and the lower classes have a cheery sense of +humour which is a great antiseptic against vulgarity. But though the +Poet Laureate has not, in my opinion, hit the mark in calling +vulgarity our national sin, he has done well in calling attention to +the danger which may beset educational reform from what we may call +democratism, the tendency to level down all superiorities in the name +of equality and good fellowship. It is the opposite fault to the +aristocraticism which beyond all else led to the decline of Greek +culture--the assumption that the lower classes must remain excluded +from intellectual and even from moral excellence. With us there is a +tendency to condemn ideals of self-culture which can be called +"aristocratic." But we need specialists in this as in every other +field, and the populace must learn that there is such a thing as real +superiority, which has the right and duty to claim a scope for its +full exercise. + +The fashionable disparagement of reason, and exaltation of will, +feeling or instinct would be more dangerous in a less scientific age. +The Italian metaphysician Aliotta has lately brought together in one +survey the numerous leaders in the great "reaction against science," +and they are a formidable band. Pragmatists, voluntarists, activists, +subjective idealists, emotional mystics, and religious conservatives, +have all joined in assaulting the fortress of science which half a +century ago seemed impregnable. But the besieged garrison continues to +use its own methods and to trust in its own hypotheses; and the +results justify the confidence with which the assaults of the +philosophers are ignored. We are told that the scientific method is +ultimately appropriate only to the abstractions of mathematics. But +nature herself seems to have a taste for mathematical methods. A sane +idealism believes that the eternal verities are adumbrated, not +travestied, in the phenomenal world, and does not forget how much of +what we call observation of nature is demonstrably the work of mind. +The world as known to science is itself a spiritual world from which +certain valuations are, for special purposes, excluded. To deny the +authority of the discursive reason, which has its proper province in +this sphere, is to destroy the possibility of all knowledge. Nor can +we, without loss and danger, or instinct or intuition above reason. +Instinct is a faculty which belongs to unprogressive species. It is +necessarily unadaptable and unable to deal with any new situation. +Consecrated custom may keep Chinese civilisation safe in a state of +torpid immobility for five thousand years; but fifty years of Europe +will achieve more, and will at last present Cathay with the +alternative of moving on or moving off. Instinct might lead us on if +progress were an automatic law of nature, but this belief, though +widely held, is sheer superstition. + +We have to convert the public mind in this country to faith in trained +and disciplined reason. We have to convince our fellow-citizens not +only that the duty of self-preservation requires us to be mentally as +well equipped as the French, Germans and Americans, but that a trained +intelligence is in itself "more precious than rubies." Blake said that +"a fool shall never get to Heaven, be he never so holy." It is at any +rate true that ignorance misses the best things in this life If +Englishmen would only believe this, the whole spirit of our education +would be changed, which is much more important than to change the +subjects taught. It does not matter very much what is taught; the +important question to ask is what is learnt. This is why the +controversy about religious education was mainly fatuous. The +"religious lesson" can hardly ever make a child religious; religion, +in point of fact, is seldom taught at all; it is caught, by contact +with someone who has it. Other subjects can be taught and can be +learnt; but the teaching will be stiff collar-work, and the learning +evanescent, if the pupil is not interested in the subject. And how +little encouragement the average boy gets at home to train his reason +and form intellectual tastes! He may probably be exhorted to "do well +in his examination," which means that he is to swallow carefully +prepared gobbets of crude information, to be presently disgorged in +the same state. The examination system flourishes best where there is +no genuine desire for mental cultivation. If there were any widespread +enthusiasm for knowledge as an integral part of life the revolt +against this mechanical and commercialised system of testing results +would be universal. As things are, a clever boy trains for an +examination as he trains for a race; and goes out of training as fast +as possible when it is over. Meanwhile the romance of his life is +centred in those more generous and less individual competitions in the +green fields, which our schools and universities have developed to +such perfection. In classes which have small opportunities for +physical exercises, vicarious athletics, with not a little betting, +are a disastrous substitute. But the soul is dyed the colour of its +leisure thoughts. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." This is +why no change in the curriculum can do much for education, as long as +the pupils imbibe no respect for intellectual values at home, and find +none among their school-fellows. And yet the capacity for real +intellectual interest is only latent in most boys. It can be kindled +in a whole class by a master who really loves and believes in his +subject. Some of the best public school teachers in the last century +were hot-tempered men whose disciplinary performances were ludicrous. +But they were enthusiastic humanists, and keen scholars passed year by +year out of their class-rooms. + +The importance of a good curriculum is often exaggerated. But a bad +selection of subjects, and a bad method of teaching them, may condemn +even the best teacher to ineffectiveness. Nothing, for example, can +well be more unintelligent than the manner of teaching the classics in +our public schools. The portions of Greek and Latin authors construed +during a lesson are so short that the boys can get no idea of the book +as a whole; long before they finish it they are moved up into another +form. And over all the teaching hangs the menace of the impending +examination, the riddling Sphinx which, as Seeley said in a telling +quotation from Sophocles, forces us to attend to what is at our feet, +neglecting all else--all the imponderables in which the true value of +education consists. The tyranny of examinations has an important +influence upon the choice of subjects as well as upon the manner of +teaching them; for some subjects, which are remarkably stimulating to +the mind of the pupil, are neglected, because they are not well +adapted for examinations. Among these, unfortunately, are our own +literature and language. + +It is therefore necessary, even in a short essay which professes to +deal only with generalities, to make some suggestions as to the main +subjects which our education should include. As has been indicated +already, I would divide them into main classes--science and humanism. +Every boy should be instructed in both branches up to a certain point. +We must firmly resist those who wish to make education purely +scientific, those who, in Bacon's words, "call upon men to sell their +books and build furnaces, quitting and forsaking Minerva and the Muses +and relying upon Vulcan." We want no young specialists of twelve years +old; and a youth without a tincture of humanism can never become + + A man foursquare, withouten flaw ywrought. + +Of the teaching of science I am not competent to speak. But as an +instrument of mind-training, and even of liberal education, it seems +to me to have a far higher value than is usually conceded to it by +humanists. To direct the imagination to the infinitely great and the +infinitely small, to vistas of time in which a thousand years are as +one day; to the tremendous forces imprisoned in minute particles of +matter; to the amazing complexity of the mechanism by which the organs +of the human body perform their work; to analyse the light which has +travelled for centuries from some distant star; to retrace the history +of the earth and the evolution of its inhabitants--such studies cannot +fail to elevate the mind, and only prejudice will disparage them. They +promote also a fine respect for truth and fact, for order and outline, +as the Greeks said, with a wholesome dislike of sophistry and +rhetoric. The air which blows about scientific studies is like the air +of a mountain top--thin, but pure and bracing. And as a subject of +education science has a further advantage which can hardly be +overestimated. It is in science that most of the new discoveries are +being made. "The rapture of the forward view" belongs to science more +than to any other study. We may take it as a well-established +principle in education that the most advanced teachers should be +researchers and discoverers as well as lecturers, and that the rank +and file should be learners as well as instructors. There is no +subject in which this ideal is so nearly attainable as in science. + +And yet science, even for its own sake, must not claim to occupy the +whole of education. The mere _Naturforscher_ is apt to be a poor +philosopher himself, and his pupils may turn out very poor +philosophers indeed. The laws of psychical and spiritual life are not +the same as the laws of chemistry or biology; and the besetting sin of +the scientist is to try to explain everything in terms of its origin +instead of in terms of its full development: "by their roots," he +says, "and not by their fruits, ye shall know them." This is a +contradiction of Aristotle [Greek: (_hê physis telos hestin_)], +and of a greater than Aristotle. The training of the reason must +include the study of the human mind, "the throne of the Deity," in its +most characteristic products. Besides science, we must have humanism, +as the other main branch of our curriculum. + +The advocates of the old classical education have been gallantly +fighting a losing battle for over half a century; they are now +preparing to accept inevitable defeat. But their cause is not lost, if +they will face the situation fairly. It is only lost if they persist +in identifying classical education with linguistic proficiency. The +study of foreign languages is a fairly good mental discipline for the +majority; for the minority it may be either more or less than a fair +discipline. But only a small fraction of mankind is capable of +enthusiasm for language, for its own sake. The art of expressing ideas +in appropriate and beautiful forms is one of the noblest of human +achievements, and the two classical languages contain many of the +finest examples of good writing that humanity has produced. But the +average boy is incapable of appreciating these values, and the waste +of time which might have been profitably spent is, under our present +system, most deplorable. It may also be maintained that the +conscientious editor and the conscientious tutor have between them +ruined the classics as a mental discipline. Fifty years ago, English +commentatorship was so poor that the pupil had to use his wits in +reading the classics; now if one goes into an undergraduate's room, +one finds him reading the text with the help of a translation, two +editions with notes, and a lecture note-book. No faculty is being used +except the memory, which Bishop Creighton calls "the most worthless of +our mental powers." The practice of prose and verse composition, often +ignorantly decried, has far more educational value; but it belongs to +the linguistic art which, if we are right, is not to be demanded of +all students. Are we then to restrict the study of the classics to +those who have a pretty taste for style? If so, the cause of classical +education is indeed lost. But I can see no reason why some of the +great Greek and Latin authors should not be read, _in translations_, +as part of the normal training in history, philosophy and literature. +I am well aware of the loss which a great author necessarily suffers +by translation; but I have no hesitation in saying that the average +boy would learn far more of Greek literature, and would imbibe far +more of the Greek spirit, by reading the whole of Herodotus, +Thucydides, the _Republic_ of Plato, and some of the plays in good +translations, than he now acquires by going through the classical mill +at a public school. The classics, like almost all other literature, +must be read in masses to be appreciated. Boys think them dull mainly +because of the absurd way in which they are made to study them. + +I shall not make any ambitious attempt to sketch out a scheme of +literary studies. My subject is the training of the reason. But two +principles seem to me to be of primary importance. The first is that +we should study the psychology of the developing reason at different +ages, and adapt our method of teaching accordingly. The memory is at +its best from the age of ten to fifteen, or thereabouts. Facts and +dates, and even long pieces of poetry, which have been committed to +memory in early boyhood, remain with us as a possession for life. We +would most of us give a great deal in middle age to recover that +astonishingly retentive memory which we possessed as little boys. On +the other hand, ratiocination at that age is difficult and irksome. A +young boy would rather learn twenty rules than apply one principle. +Accordingly the first years of boyhood are the time for learning by +heart. Quantities of good poetry, and useful facts of all kinds should +be entrusted to the boy's memory to keep: will assimilate them +readily, and without any mental overstrain. But eight or ten years +later, "cramming" is injurious both to the health and to the +intellect. Years have brought, if not the philosophic mind, yet at any +rate a mind which can think and argue. The memory is weaker and the +process of loading it with facts is more unpleasant. At this stage the +whole system of teaching should be different. One great evil of +examinations is that they prolong the stage of mere memorising to an +age at which it is not only useless but hurtful. Another valuable +guide is furnished by observing what authors the intelligent boy likes +and dislikes. His taste ought certainly to be consulted, if our main +object is to interest him in the things of the mind. The average +intelligent boy likes Homer and does not like Virgil; he is interested +by Tacitus and bored by Cicero; he loves Shakespeare and revels in +Macaulay, who has a special affinity for the eternal schoolboy. + +My other principle is that since we are training young Englishmen, +whom we hope to turn into true and loyal citizens, we shall presumably +find them most responsive to the language, literature, and history of +their own country. This would be a commonplace, not worth uttering, in +any other country; in England it is, unfortunately, far from being +generally accepted Nothing sets in a stronger light the inertia and +thoughtlessness, not to say stupidity, of the British character in all +matters outside the domain of material and moral interests, than our +neglect of the magnificent spiritual heritage which we possess in our +own history and literature. Wordsworth, in one of those noble sonnets +which are now, we are glad to hear, being read by thousands in the +trenches and by myriads at home, proclaims his faith in the victory of +his country over Napoleon because he thinks of her glorious past. + + We must be free or die, who speak the tongue + That Shakespeare spake, the faith and morals hold + That Milton held. In everything we are sprung + Of Earth's best blood, have titles manifold. + +It is a high boast, but it is true. But what have we done to fire the +imagination of our boys and girls with the vision of our great and +ancient nation, now struggling for its existence? What have we taught +them of Shakespeare and Milton, of Elizabeth and Cromwell, of Nelson +and Wellington? Have we ever tried to make them understand that they +are called to be the temporary custodians of very glorious traditions, +and the trustees of a spiritual wealth compared with which the gold +mines of the Rand are but dross? Do we even teach them, in any +rational manner, the fine old language which has been slowly perfected +for centuries, and which is now being used up and debased by the +rubbishy newspapers which form almost the sole reading of the +majority? We have marvelled at the slowness with which the masses +realised that the country was in danger, and at the stubbornness with +which some of the working class clung to their sectional interests and +ambitions when the very life of England was at stake. In France the +whole people saw at once what was upon them; the single word _patrie_ +was enough to unite them in a common enthusiasm and stern +determination. With us it was hardly so; many good judges think that +but for the "Lusitania" outrage and the Zeppelins, part of the +population would have been half-hearted about the war, and we should +have failed to give adequate support to our allies. The cause is not +selfishness but ignorance and want of imagination; and what have we +done to tap the sources of an intelligent patriotism? We are being +saved not by the reasoned conviction of the populace, but by its +native pugnacity and bull-dog courage. This is not the place to go +into details about English studies; but can anyone doubt that they +could be made the basis of a far better education than we now give in +our schools? We have especially to remember that there is a real +danger of the modern Englishman being cut off from the living past. +Scientific studies include the earlier phases of the earth, but not +the past of the human race and the British people. Christianity has +been a valuable educator in this way, especially when it includes an +intelligent knowledge the Bible. But the secular education of the +masses is now so much severed from the stream of tradition and +sentiment which unites us with the older civilisations, that the very +language of the Churches is becoming unintelligible to them, and the +influence of organised religion touches only a dwindling minority. +And yet the past lives in us all; lives inevitably in its dangers, +which the accumulated experience of civilisation, valued so slightly +by us on its spiritual side, can alone help us to surmount. A nation +like an individual, must "wish his days to be bound each to each by +natural piety." It too must strive to keep its memory green, to +remember the days of old and the years that are past. The Jews have +always had, in their sacred books, a magnificent embodiment of the +spirit of their race; and who can say how much of their incomparable +tenacity and ineradicable hopefulness has been due to the education +thus imparted to every Jewish child? We need a Bible of the English +race, which shall be hardly less sacred to each succeeding generation +of young Britons than the Old Testament is to the Jews. England ought +to be, and may be, the spiritual home of one quarter of the human +race, for ages after our task as a world-power shall have been brought +to a successful issue, and after we in this little island have +accepted the position of mother to nations greater than ourselves. But +England's future is precious only to those to whom her past is dear. + +I am not suggesting that the history and literatures of other +countries should be neglected, or that foreign languages should form +no part of education. But the main object is to turn out good +Englishmen, who may continue worthily and even develop further a +glorious national tradition. To do this, we must appeal constantly to +the imagination, which Wordsworth has boldly called "reason in her +most exalted mood." We may thus bring a little poetry and romance into +the monotonous lives of our hand-workers. It may well be that their +discontent has more to do with the starving of their spiritual nature +than we suppose. For the intellectual life, like divine philosophy, is +not dull and crabbed, as fools suppose, but musical as is Apollo's +lute. + +Can we end with a definition of the happiness and well-being, which is +the goal of education, as of all else that we try to do? Probably we +cannot do better than accept the famous definition of Aristotle, which +however we must be careful to translate rightly. "Happiness, or +well-being, is an activity of the soul directed towards excellence, in +an unhampered life." Happiness consists in doing rather than being; +the activity must be that of the soul--the whole man acting as a +person; it must be directed towards excellence--not exclusively moral +virtue, but the best work that we can do, of whatever kind; and it +must be unhampered--we must be given the opportunity of doing the best +that is in us to do. To awaken the soul; to hold up before it the +images of whatsoever things are true, lovely, noble, pure, and of good +report; and to remove the obstacles which stunt and cripple the mind; +this is the work which we have called the Training of the Reason. + + + + +III + +THE TRAINING OF THE IMAGINATION + +BY A. C. BENSON + +Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge + + +It might be hastily assumed by a reader bent on critical +consideration, that the subject of my essay had a certain levity or +fancifulness about it. Works of imagination, as by a curious +juxtaposition they are called, are apt to lie under an indefinable +suspicion, as including unbusinesslike and romantic fictions, of which +the clear-cut and well-balanced mind must beware, except for the sake, +perhaps, of the frankest and least serious kind of recreation. +Considering the part which the best and noblest works of imagination +must always play in a literary education, it has often surprised me to +reflect how little scope ordinary literary exercises give for the use +of that particular faculty. The old themes and verses aimed at +producing decorous centos culled from the works of classical +rhetoricians and poets. No boy, at least in my day, was ever +encouraged to take a line of his own, and to strike out freely across +country in pursuit of imagined adventures. Even English teaching in +its earlier stages seldom aimed at more than transcriptions of actual +experience, a day spent in the country, or a walk beside the sea. +Only quite recently have boys and girls been encouraged to write poems +and stories out of their own imaginations; and even now there are +plenty of educational critics who would consider such exercises as +dilettante things lacking in practical solidity. + +But I desire in this essay to go further back into the roots of the +subject, and my first position is plainly this; that imagination, pure +and simple, is a common enough faculty; not perhaps the creative +imagination which can array scenes of life, construct romantic +experiences, and embody imaginary characters in dramatic situations, +but the much simpler sort of imagination which takes pleasure in +recalling past memories, and in forecasting and anticipating +interesting events. The boy who, weary of the school-term, considers +what he will do on the first day of the holidays, or who anxiously +forebodes paternal displeasure, is exercising his imagination; and the +truth is that the faculty of imagination plays an immense part in all +human happiness and unhappiness, considering that, whenever we take +refuge from the present in memories or in anticipations, we are using +it. The first point then that I shall consider is whether this +restless and influential faculty ought not in any case to be +_trained_, so that it may not either be atrophied or become +over-dominant; and the second point will be the further consideration +as to whether the faculty of creative imagination is a thing which +should be deliberately developed. + +In the first place then, it seems to me simply extraordinary that so +little heed is paid in education to the using and controlling of what +is one of the most potent instinctive forces of the mind. We take +careful thought how to strengthen and fortify the body, we go on to +spending many hours upon putting memory through its paces, and in +developing the reason and the intelligence; we pass on from that to +exercising and purifying the character and the will; we try to make +vice detestable and virtue desirable. But meanwhile, what is the +little mind doing? It submits to the drudgery imposed upon it, it +accommodates itself more or less to the conditions of its life; it +learns a certain conduct and demeanour for use in public. Yet all the +time the thought of the boy is running backwards and forwards in +secrecy, considering the memories of its experience, pleasant or +unpleasant, and comforting itself in tedious hours by framing little +plans for the future. I remember my old schoolmastering days, and the +hours I spent with a class of boys sitting in front of me; how +constantly one saw boys in the midst of their work, with pen suspended +and page unturned, look up with that expression denoting that some +vision had passed before the inward eye--which, as Wordsworth justly +observes, constitutes "the bliss of solitude"--obliterating for a +moment the surrounding scene. I do not mean that the thought was a +distant or an exalted one--probably it was some entirely trivial +reminiscence, or the anticipation of some coming amusement. But I do +not think I exaggerate when I say that probably the greater part of a +human being's unoccupied hours, and probably a considerable part of +the hours supposed to be occupied, are spent in some similar exercise +of the imagination. What a confirmation of this is to be found in the +phenomena of sleep and dreams! Then the instinct is steadily at work, +neither remembering nor anticipating, but weaving together the results +of experience into a self-taught tale. + +And then if one considers later life, it is no exaggeration to say +that the greater part of human happiness and unhappiness consists in +the dwelling upon what has been, what may be, what might be, and, +alas, in our worst moments, upon what might have been "My unhappiest +experiences," said Lord Beaconsfield, "have been those which never +happened"; and again the same acute critic of life said that half the +clever people he knew were under the impression that they were hated +and envied, the other half that they were admired and loved;--and that +neither were right! + +The imaginative faculty then is a species of self-representation, the +power of considering our own life and position as from the outside; +from it arise both the cheerful hopes and schemes of the sound mind, +and the shadowy anxieties and fears of the mind which lacks +robustness. It certainly does seem singular that this deep and +persistent element in human life is left so untrained and unregarded, +to range at will, to feed upon itself. All that the teacher does is to +insist as far as possible on a certain concentration of the mind on +business at particular times, and if he has ethical purposes at +heart, he may sometimes speak to a boy on the advisability of not +allowing his mind to dwell upon base or sensual thoughts; but how +little attempt is ever made to train the mind in deliberate and +continuous self-control! + +The latest school of pathologists, in the treatment of obsessed or +insane persons, pay very close attention to the subjects of their +dreams, and attribute much nerve-misery to the atrophy, or suppression +by circumstances, of instincts which betray themselves in dreams. I am +inclined to think that the educators of the future must somehow +contrive to do more--indeed they cannot well do less than is actually +done--in teaching the control of that secret undercurrent of thought +in which happiness and unhappiness really reside. Those who have lived +much with boys will know what havoc suspense or disappointment or +anxiety or sensuality or unpopularity can make in an immature +character. It seems to me that we ought not to leave all this without +guidance or direction, but to make a frontal attack upon it. I do not +mean that it is necessary to probe too deeply into the imagination, +but I believe that the subject should be frankly spoken about, and +suggestions made. The point is to get the will to work, and to induce +the mind, in the first place, to realise and practise its power of +self-command; and in the second place, to show that it is possible to +evict an unwholesome thought by the deliberate welcoming and +entertaining of a wholesome one. The best of all cures is to provide +every boy with some occupation which he indubitably loves. There are +a good many boys whose work is not interesting to them, and a certain +number to whom the prescribed games are a matter of routine rather +than of active pleasure. Indeed it may be said that hardly any boys +enjoy either work or games in which they see no possibility of any +personal distinction. It is therefore of great importance that every +boy whose chances of successful performance are small should be +encouraged to have a definite hobby; for an occupation which the mind +can remember with pleasure and anticipate with delight supplies the +food for the restless imagination, which may otherwise become dreary +from inaction, or tainted by thoughts of baser pleasure. A +schoolmaster only salves his conscience by supplying a strict +time-table and regular games. A house master ought to be most careful +in the case of boys whose work is languid and proficiency in games +small, to find out what the boy really likes and enjoys, and to +encourage it by every means in his power. That is the best corrective, +to administer wholesome food for the mind to digest. But I believe +that good teachers ought to go much further, and speak quite plainly +to boys, from time to time, on the necessity of practising control of +thought. My own experience is that boys were always interested in any +talk, call it ethical or religious, which based itself directly upon +their own actual experience. I can conceive that a teacher who told a +class to sit still for three minutes and think about anything they +pleased, and added that he would then have something to tell them, +might have an admirable object-lesson in getting them to consider how +swift and far-ranging their fancies had been; or again he might +practise them in concentration of thought by asking them to think for +five minutes on a perfectly definite thing--to imagine themselves in a +wood, or by the sea, or in a chemist's shop, let us say, and then +getting them to put down on paper a list of definite objects which +they had imagined. The process could be infinitely extended; but if it +were done with some regularity, it would certainly b possible to train +boys to concentrate themselves in reflection and recollected +observation. Or again a quality might be propounded, such as +generosity or spitefulness, and the boys required to construct an +imaginary anecdote of the simplest kind to illustrate it. This would +have the effect of training the mind at all events to focus itself, +and this is just what drudgery pure and simple will not do. The aim is +not to train mere memory or logical accuracy, but to strengthen that +great faculty which we loosely call imagination, which is the power of +evoking mental images, and of migrating from the present into the past +or the future. + +I believe it to be a very notable lack in our theory of education that +so little attempt is made to bring the will to bear upon what may be +called the subconscious mind. It is that strange undercurrent of +thought which is so imprudently neglected which throws up on its +banks, without any apparent purpose or aim, the ideas and images which +lurk within it. I do not say that such a training would immediately +give self-control, but most peoples' worst sufferings are caused by +what is called "having something on their mind"; and yet, so far as I +know, in the process of education, no attempt whatever is made, except +quite incidentally, to dispossess the strong man armed by the stronger +victor, or to help immature minds to hold an unpleasant or a pleasant +thought at arm's length, or to train them in the power of resolutely +substituting a current of more wholesome images. The subconscious mind +is too often treated as a thing beyond control, and yet the +pathological power of suggestion, by which a thought is implanted like +a seed in the mind, which presently appears to be rooted and +flowering, ought to show us that we have within our reach an +extraordinarily potent psychological implement. + +So far then on the more negative side. I have indicated my strong +belief that much may be done to train the mind in self-control. Indeed +our whole education is built upon the faith that we can, perhaps not +implant new faculties, but develop dormant ones; and I am persuaded +that when future generations come to survey our methods and processes +of education, they will regard with deep bewilderment the amazing fact +that we applied so careful a training to other faculties, and yet left +so helplessly alone the training of the imaginative faculty, upon +which, as I have said, our happiness and unhappiness mainly depend. We +must, all of us be aware of the fact that there have been times in our +lives when all was prosperous, and when we were yet overshadowed with +dreary thoughts; or again times when in discomfort, or under the +shadow of failure, or at critical or tragic moments, we have had an +unreasonable alertness and cheerfulness. All that is due to the +subconscious mind, and we ought at least to try experiments in making +it obey us better. + +I now pass on to consider a further possibility, and that is of +training and developing a higher sort of creative imagination. It is +all in reality part of the same subject, because it seems to be +certain that most human beings suffer by the suppression or the +dormancy of existing faculties. It is here, I believe, that much of +our intellectual education fails, from the tendency to direct so much +attention to purely logical and reasoning faculties, and to the +resolute subtraction from education of pure and simple enjoyment. I +used to try many experiments as a schoolmaster, and I remember at one +time bribing a slow and unintelligent class into some sort of +concentration by promising that I would tell a story for a few minutes +at the end of school, if a bit of work had been satisfactorily +mastered. It certainly produced a lot of cheerful effort; my story was +simple enough, description as brief and vivid as I could make it, and +brisk tangible incidents. But the silence, the luxurious abandonment +of small minds to an older and more pictorial imagination, the dancing +light in open eyes, did really give me for once a sense of power which +I never had in teaching Latin Prose or the Greek conditional sentence. +I always told stories for an hour on Sunday evenings to the boys in my +house, and though few of my intellectual and ethical counsels are +remembered by old pupils, I never met one who did pot recollect the +stories. + +Now we have here, I believe, a source of intellectual pleasure which +is consistently neglected and even despised. It is regarded as a mere +luxury; but we do not make the mistake of substituting gymnastics for +games, and removing the pleasure of personal performance. Why can we +not also do something to encourage what old Hawtrey used so +beautifully to call "the sweet pride of authorship"? The worst of it +all is that we look so much to tangible results. I do not mean that we +must try to develop Shakespeares, Shelleys, Thackerays; such airy +creatures have a way of catering for themselves! I do riot at all want +to turn out a generation of third-rate writing amateurs. But many boys +have a distinct pleasure not only in listening to imaginations, and +riding like the beetle on the engine, but in evoking and realising +some little vision and creation of their own brains. Of course there +are boys to whom mental activity is all of the nature of a cross laid +upon them for some purpose, wise or unwise. But there are also a good +many shy boys, who will not venture to make themselves conspicuous by +literary and imaginative feats, and who yet if it were a matter of +course and wont, would throw themselves with intense pleasure into +literary creation. The work done, for instance, at Shrewsbury, at the +Perse School, at Carlisle Grammar School, in this direction--I daresay +it is done elsewhere, but I have seen the work of these three schools +with my own eyes--show what quite average boys are capable of in both +English poetry and English prose. + +One of the best points of such a system of literary composition is +that even if slower boys cannot effect much, it gives a most wholesome +opening to the creative faculties of boys, whose minds, if stifled and +compressed, are most likely to work in unwholesome and tormenting +directions. + +My suggestion then becomes part of a larger plea, the plea for more +direct cultivation of enjoyment in education. Some of our worst +mistakes in education arise from our not basing it upon the actual +needs and faculties of human nature, but upon the supposed +constitution of a child constructed by the starved imagination of +pedants and moralists and practical men. + +One of the first requisites in cultivating intellectual and artistic +pleasure is to build up taste out of the actual perceptions of the +child. That is a factor which has been most stubbornly and +unintelligently disregarded in education. Developments in character +are of the nature of living things; they cannot be superimposed they +must be rooted in the temperament and they must draw nurture and +sustenance out of the spirit, as the seed imbibes its substance from +the unseen soil and the hidden waters. But what has been constantly +done is to introduce the broadest effects and the simplest romance, +directly and suddenly to the biggest masterpieces. The absence of all +gradation and reconciliation has been characteristic of our literary +education. Of course there is an initial difficulty in the case of the +classics, that there is very little in either Greek or Latin which +really appeals to an immature taste at all; and such books as might +appeal to inquisitive and inexperienced minds, such as Homer or the +_Anabasis_ of Xenophon, are made unattractive by the method of giving +such short snippets, and insisting on what used to be called thorough +parsing. Even _Alice in Wonderland_, let me say, could only prove a +drearily bewildering book, if read at the rate of twenty lines a +lesson, and if the principal tenses of all the verbs had to be +repeated correctly. It is absolutely essential, if any love of +literature is to be superinduced, that something should be read fast +enough to give some sense of continuity and range and horizon. The +practice of dictionary-turning is sufficient by itself to destroy +intellectual pleasure, but it used to be defended as a base sort of +bribe to strengthen memory: it was argued that boys would try to +remember words to save themselves the trouble of looking them up. But +this has no origin in fact. Boys used not to be encouraged to guess at +words, but to be punished for shirking work if they had not looked +them out. It is to be hoped that English will be in the future +increasingly taught in schools; but even so there is the danger of +connecting it too much with erudition. The old _Clarendon Press +Shakespeare_ was an almost perfect example of how not to edit +Shakespeare for boys; the introductions were learned and scholarly, +the notes were crammed with philology, derivation, illustration. As a +matter of fact there is a good deal that is interesting, even to small +minds, in the connection and derivation of words, if briskly +communicated. Most boys are responsive to the pleasure of finding a +familiar word concealed under a variation of shape; but this should be +conveyed orally. What is really requisite is that boys should be +taught how to read a book intelligently. In dealing with classical +books, vocabulary must be always a difficulty, and I myself very much +doubt the advisability in the case of average boys of attempting to +teach more than one foreign language at a time, especially when in +dealing, say, with three kindred languages, such as Latin, French, and +English, the same word, such as _spiritus_, _esprit_, and _spirit_ +bear very different significations. The great need is that there +should be some work going on in which the boys should not be conscious +of dragging an ever-increasing burden of memory. Let me take a +concrete case. A poem like the _Morte d'Arthur_, or _The Lay of the +Last Minstrel_, is well within the comprehension of quite small boys. +These could be read in a class, after an introductory lecture as to +date, scene, dramatis personae, with perfect ease, words explained as +they occurred, difficult passages paraphrased, and the whole action of +the story could pass rapidly before the eye. Most boys have a distinct +pleasure in rhyme and metre. Of course it is an immense gain if the +master can really read in a spirited and moving manner, and a training +in reading aloud should form a part of every schoolmaster's outfit. I +should wish to see this reading lesson a daily hour for all younger +boys, so as to form a real basis of education. Three of these hours +could be given to English, and three to French, for in French there is +a wide range both of simple narrative stories and historical romances. +The aim to be kept in view would be the very simple one of proving +that interest, amusement and emotion can be derived from books which, +unassisted, only boys of tougher intellectual fibre could be expected +to attack. The personalities of the authors of these books should be +carefully described, and the result of such reading, persevered in +steadily, would be, what is one of the most stimulating rewards of +wider knowledge, the sudden realisation, that is, that books and +authors are not lonely and isolated phenomena, but that the literature +of a nation is like a branching tree, all connected and intertwined, +and that the books of a race mirror faithfully and vividly the ideas +of the age out of which they sprang. What makes books dull is the +absence of any knowledge by the reader of why the author was at the +trouble of expressing himself in that particular way at that +particular time. When, as a small boy, I read a book of which the +whole genesis was obscure to me, it used to appear to me vaguely that +it must have been as disagreeable to the author to write it as it was +for me to read it. But if it can be once grasped that books are the +outcome of a writer's interest or sense of beauty or emotion or joy, +the whole matter wears a different aspect. + +The same principle applies with just the same force to history and +geography; both of these studies can be made interesting, if they are +not regarded as isolated groups of phenomena, but are approached from +the boy's own experience as opening away and outwards from what is +going on about him. The object is or ought to be slowly to extend the +boy's horizon, to show him that history holds the seeds and roots of +the present, and that geography is the life-drama which he sees about +him, enacting itself under different climatic and physiographical +conditions. The dreariness and dreadfulness of knowledge to the +immature mind is because it represents itself as a mass of dry facts +to be mastered without having any visible or tangible connection with +the boy's own experience. The aim should rather be to teach him to +look with zest and interest at what is going on outside his own narrow +circle, and to help him to move perceptively along the paths of time +and space which diverge in all directions from the scene where he +finds himself. + +It may be indisputably stated that all connected knowledge is +stimulating, and that all unconnected knowledge is at best mechanical. +Perhaps one of the most fruitful of all subjects is vivid biography, +and no serious educator could perform a more valuable task than in +providing a series of biographies of great men, really intelligible to +youthful minds. As a rule, biographies of the first order require an +amount of detailed knowledge in the reader which puts them out of the +reach of ill-stored minds. But I have again and again found with boys +that simple biographical lectures are among the most attractive of all +lessons. At one time, with my private pupils, I would take a book at +random out of my shelves, read an interesting extract or two, and then +say that I would try to show why the author chose such a subject, why +he wrote as he did, and how it all sprang out of his life and +character and circumstances. + +Of course the difficulty in all this is that the field of knowledge is +so vast and various, while the capacities of boys are so small, and +the time to be spent on their education so short, that we quail before +the attempt to grapple with the problem. We have moreover a vague idea +that the well-informed man ought to have a general notion of the world +as it is, the course of history, the literature of the ages; and at +the same time the scientists are maintaining that a general knowledge +of the laws and processes of nature is even more urgently needed. I +cannot treat of science here, but I fully subscribe to the belief that +a general knowledge of science is essential. But the result of our +believing that it is advisable to know so much, is that we attempt to +spread the thinnest and driest paste of knowledge over the mind, and +all the vivid life of it evaporates in the process. The thing is, +frankly, far too big to attempt; and, we must henceforth set our faces +against the attainment; of mere knowledge as either advisable or +possible. What we must try to do is to educate the faculties of +curiosity, interest, imagination and sympathy; we must begin from the +boy himself, and conduct him away from himself. What we really ought +to aim at is to give him the sense that he is surrounded by strange +and beautiful mysteries of nature, of which he can himself observe +certain phenomena; that human history, as well as the great world +about him, is crowded with interesting and animating figures who have +laboured, toiled, loved, acted, suffered, sinned, have felt the +impulse both of base and selfish desires, but no less of beautiful, +exalted, and inspiring hopes. We want to convince the young that it is +not well to be narrow, close-fisted, insolent, suspicious, petty, +self-satisfied. _Imaginative sympathy_, that is to be the end of all +our efforts. If we aim only at producing sympathy, we may get a vague +sentimentalism which is just distressed by apparent suffering, and +anxious to relieve it momentarily, without reflecting whether it is +not the outcome of perfectly curable faults of system and habit. If we +aim only at imagination, then we get a barren artistic pleasure in +dramatic situations and romantic effects. What we ought to aim at is +the sympathy which pities and feels for others, as well as admires and +imitates them; and this must be reinforced by the imagination which +can concern itself with the causes of what otherwise are but vague +emotions. We want to make boys on the one hand detest tyranny and +high-handedness and bigotry and ruthless exercise of power, and on the +other hand mistrust stupidity and ignorance and baseness and +selfishness and suspiciousness. The study of high literature is +valuable not as a mere exercise in erudition and linguistic nicety and +critical taste, but because the great books mirror best the highest +hopes and visions of human nature. The precise extent of the +intellectual range matters very little, compared with the +perceptiveness and emotion by which the realisation of other lives, +other needs, other activities, other problems are accompanied. + +I must not be supposed, in saying this, to be leaving out of sight the +virile exercise of logical and rational faculties; but that is another +side of education; and the grave deficiency which I detect in the old +theory was that practically all the powers and devices of education +were devoted to what was called fortifying the mind and making it into +a perfect instrument, while there were left out of sight the motives +which were to guide the use of that instrument, and the boy was led to +suppose that he was to fortify his mind solely for his own advantage. +This individualist theory must somehow be modified. The aim of the +process I have described is not simply to indicate to the boy the +amount of selfish pleasure which he can obtain from literary +masterpieces; it is rather to show the boy that he is not alone and +isolated, in a world where it is advisable for him to take and keep +all that he can; but that he is one of a great fellowship of emotions +and interests, and that his happiness depends upon his becoming aware +of this, while his usefulness and nobleness must depend upon his +disinterestedness, and upon the extent to which he is willing to share +his advantages. The teaching of civics, as it is called, may be of +some use in this direction, as showing a boy his points of contact +with society. But no instruction in the constitution of society is +profitable, unless somehow or other the dutiful motive is kindled, +and the heroic virtue of service made beautiful. + +When then I speak of the training of the imagination, I really mean +the kindling of motive; and here again I claim that this must be based +on a boy's own experience. He understands well enough the possibility +of feeling emotion in relation to a small circle, his home and his +immediate friends. But he is probably, like most young creatures, and +indeed like a good many elderly ones, inclined to be suspicious of all +that is strange and foreign, and to anticipate hostility or +indifference. What he would willingly share with a relation or friend, +he eagerly withholds from an outsider. To cultivate his imaginative +sympathy, to give him an insight into the ways and thoughts of other +men, to show to him that the same qualities which evoke his trust and +love are not the monopoly of his own small circle--this is just what +must be taught, because it is exactly what is not instinctively +evolved. + +The training of the imagination then is a deliberate effort to +persuade the young to believe in the real nobility and beauty of life, +in the great ideas which are moulding society and welding communities +together. It cannot be done in a year or a decade; but it ought to be +the first aim of education to initiate the imagination of the young +into the idea of fellowship, and to make the thought of selfish +individualism intolerable. It is not perhaps the only end of +education, but I can hardly believe that it has any nobler or more +sacred end. + + + + +IV + +RELIGION AT SCHOOL + +By W. W. VAUGHAN + +The Master of Wellington College + + +"After all, how seldom does a Christian education teach one anything +worth knowing about Christianity." These are the words of a man whom +the public schools are proud to claim, a man who has seen Christian +education, whether given in the elementary or in the secondary schools +tested by the slow fires of peace, and by the quick devouring furnace +of war. They seem at first sight to be a verdict of "guilty" against +the teachers or the system in which they play a part. That verdict +will not be accepted without protest by those incriminated, but even +the protesters will feel some compunction, and now that they can no +longer question the heroic "student" as to what he means, and go to +him for advice as to the remedies for this failure, they should search +their hearts and their experience for the help he might have given, +had he not laid down his arms and his life on the Somme last autumn. + +For long the need of help has been felt. The teaching of religion may +have been less talked and written about, and less organised by +societies and associations, than have been other subjects dealt with +at school, but the problem of how best to make it a living force in +youth and an enduring force throughout the whole of life is often +wrestled with at conferences of schoolmasters which do not publish +their proceedings, and by little groups of men who feel the need of +one another's help. It is certainly always present in the minds, if +not in the hearts, of every head master, boarding-house master and +tutor in England. These know well what the difficulties are; these +know that a short cut to any subject is often a long way round: that a +short cut to religion leads too often either to a slough of doubt or +else to a pharisaical hilltop, from which there is no path to the +great mountains where the Holy Spirit really dwells. + +It is never well to insist too much on difficulties, but a bare +statement of those that surround this subject is needed. There are the +difficulties of course common to every subject; the difficulty of +attracting the real teacher, keeping him as a teacher, improving him +as a teacher when he has been attracted. Even those who start out on +their career with a determination that the teaching of religion at all +events should have its full share of their time and thought, find that +as their teaching life goes on and fresh duties crowd in to usurp more +and more all their energies, that the time they can spare, and the +thought they can give, either to the preparation of their divinity +lessons, or to the enriching and cultivation of their own souls, +shrink. Now and then they are cruelly disappointed at the result of +their efforts as some conspicuous failure seems to prove their +teaching vain; they are often depressed by the apparent apathy of the +leaders of the Church, by their manifest reluctance even to allow +others to make the new bottles which can alone hold the new wine. + +Schoolmasters belong to a devoted and to a comparatively learned +profession. They should belong, especially those who feel the +needs--and all must to some extent--of the religious life of the +school, also to a learning profession; and their learning should go +beyond the experience of boyish failings, and boyish tragedies, and +boyish virtues with which they are almost daily brought into contact; +beyond the dictionaries and handbooks that enable the Bible lesson to +be well prepared; it should go out into the books that deal with the +philosophy and the history of religion--the books of Harnack and +Illingworth, Hort and Inge, Bevan and Glover, and of others who make +us feel how narrow our outlook on our religion is. It would of course +be foolish to drag our pupils with us exactly to the point to which +these books may have brought us after many years' experience, but it +is essential that we should know of the existence of such a distant +point if we are to give to those we teach any idea of there being +beyond the limits that they can reach at school a great and wonderful +and inspiring region which they, with the help of such leaders as have +been mentioned can, nay must, explore for themselves if religion is to +be something more than mere emotion, fitful in its working, liable to +succumb to all the stronger emotions with which life attacks the +citadel of the soul. + +Another difficulty is that the teacher of religion is being more +continuously and searchingly tested than the teacher of any other +subject. The man who expatiates in the form-room on the beauties of +literature, and is suspected of never reading a book is looked upon as +merely a harmless fraud by those he teaches. The man who preaches, +whether officially in the pulpit or unofficially in the class-room or +study, a high standard of conduct, and is unsuccessful in his own +efforts to attain it, depreciates for all the value of religion. +Patience and industry and long-suffering and charitableness are +virtues that bear the hall mark of Christianity, but they are virtues +in which the best men fail continually, are conscious of their own +failure and would plead for merciful judgment. If the parish priest is +exposed to the criticism of those among whom he lives, a still fiercer +light beats upon the pulpit or the desk of the schoolmaster. His +consciousness of this sometimes leads him to reduce his teaching to +the limits of his practice, instead of extending the former and having +faith in his power to bring the latter up to this level. Indeed, when +teachers and those who are taught are living so close together, both, +from a not unworthy fear of insincerity, are liable to make themselves +and their ideals out to be worse than they are. It is sympathy alone +that can overcome this difficulty. Indeed, it is safe to say that +without sympathy--sympathy that understands difficulties, working +equally in those who are old and those who are young--religion at +school must be a very cautious and probably a very barren power. + +Again, the schoolmaster is tempted, and even when he is not tempted +the boys credit him with yielding to the temptation to treat religion +as a super-policeman: something to make discipline easy and +consequently to make his own life smooth. It is no good explaining too +often that the aim is to get at religion through discipline, but this +aim should ever be before us. Man cannot too early in life realise +that discipline of itself is valueless. Its inestimable value in war, +as in all the activities of life, is due to its being the necessary +preliminary preparation for courageous action, noble thought, wise +self-control and unselfish self-surrender. But above all these +difficulties, dominating them all, affecting them all, perhaps +poisoning them all, is the fact, not to be escaped though it is often +ignored, that so many of the traditions of school life, as of national +life, seem founded on a basis opposed to Christ's teaching. It is very +hard to go through a day of our lives, or even a short railway +journey, and not offend against the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount. +Older people have never been able to solve this dilemma: the rulers +find it more difficult than the ruled. The whole of school life is +stimulated by the principle of competition, and kept together by a +healthy and, on the whole, a kindly self-assertion which is hard to +reconcile with the ideals that are upheld in the New Testament. Yet at +school, quite as much as in the World, competition and self-assertion +are tempered by abundant friendliness and generosity; and at school +if not in the world, there are an increasing number of individuals who +have so much spiritual power that they never need to exercise the more +worldly power that clashes with the Beatitudes. Of this power boys +seldom talk, except to some specially sympathetic ear at some +specially heart-opening moment, but many are dumbly aware of it and +they cultivate it, often unconsciously but to the great gain of those +around them, by prayer and faithful worship. But even these richer +natures are uncomfortably conscious that there is a conflict between +what Christ commands and what the world advises. That conflict will +not cease until faith has more power over our lives. It cannot grow +naturally at school among boys, when it does not live in the nation +among men; but it would indeed be faithless to miss, through fear of +the world's withering power, any opportunity of quickening pure +religion among the young. Though these opportunities vary very much in +the day and the boarding school, they may be said to occur: + +(1) In the scripture lesson; + +(2) In the services whether held in chapel or, as is often the case +especially in day schools, in the hall; + +(3) In the preparation for confirmation; + +(4) In all lessons in and out of school. + +There is a great difference of opinion as to what should be taught in +the scripture lesson, and who should teach it. It is easy enough to +quote instances of extraordinary ignorance, to argue that, because a +man who is in the trenches shocks his chaplain by his real or +affected neglect of the facts of Bible history or the dogmas of the +Church, therefore he has never had an opportunity of learning them; +that same man would probably not give a much more impressive account +of the profane subjects in the school curriculum. There is, too, the +fact that a man may have forgotten everything of a subject and yet may +have learnt much from it. Every teacher knows this, if every schoolboy +does not. No one shrinks so much from revealing what he knows as the +boy who is conscious that he has learnt a thing and is not sure that +he can show his knowledge accurately. No subject has been left so free +from what is supposed to be the sterilising influence of examinations +as divinity. In many schools there have been one or two inspiring +teachers of this subject who justify this system, but on the whole the +result does not confirm the opinion that all would be well if we could +have complete freedom from examinations. If in the future the harvest +in religion is to be more worthy of the seed that is sown and the +trouble of cultivation, we must face with more frankness, especially +in the later years of a boy's life, all the difficulties that are +presented by the problems of the Bible and Church History. We must +have more courage in going beyond the syllabuses that are drawn up by +universities and ecclesiastical societies. Both have to play for +safety, but they are dull cards that this stake requires. + +Teachers have overcome their timidity in dealing with the difficulties +presented by the Old Testament. Very few now hesitate to take the book +of Genesis, and, at all events if they are dealing with a high form, +they let the boys see that the conflict between science and religion +is only apparent, and that the victory of science does not mean the +defeat of religion. If they have been lucky enough to use Driver's +book on Genesis they will have felt on sure ground and any learner who +has half understood it will have a shield against some of the weapons +that assailed and defeated his father's generation. No teacher now +would be afraid of making clear the problems presented by the book of +Daniel or the book of Job, but when the New Testament is approached +much more diffidence is felt, and indeed ought to be felt. Diffidence +ought not however to involve silence. + +A wise teacher has said that it is not the miracles of Christ but his +standard that keeps men away from his Church, and therefore outside +the influence for which the Church stands. True though this may be of +men as life goes on, of the young it is not the whole truth. In those +critical years of a man's religion--between eighteen and +twenty-five--it is the sudden or the slow-growing doubt about the +miracles of the New Testament, as much as the lofty standard that the +"Follow me" of Christ requires, that makes the profession and even the +holding of a religious faith so hard. More and more are the schools +trying to prepare those in their charge for the perils that threaten +the physical health and the character of the young; but it is tragic +that they should be so unwilling to face frankly the perils that will +sap the man's faith, and so expose his soul to the assaults of the +world and the devil. It is very hard to put oneself in another's +place; perhaps harder for the schoolmaster than for any other man, but +when we are teaching such a subject as religion--a subject whose roots +must perish if they cannot draw moisture from the springs of +sincerity, we should try to imagine what must be the feelings of the +thoughtful boy when he first discovers that the lessons which he has +so often learnt and the Creeds that he has so often repeated were +taken by his teachers in a sense which they carefully concealed from +him. More harm is done by the economy of truth than by the suggestion +of doubt. + +It may be extraordinarily difficult to treat these problems of the New +Testament with becoming reverence; but is it not true to say that the +day when it becomes easy to any man to do so will be the day when he +ought to stop dealing with them? The real irreverence, the only +irreverence, is the glib confidence of the ignorant or the cynical +concealment of one who knows but dare not tell. What idea of the New +Testament does the average boy who leaves, say in the fifth form, +carry away with him from his public school? He may know that certain +facts are told in one Gospel and not in another; that there are +certain inconsistencies in the accounts given by the different +Synoptic Gospels of the same miracle, or what is apparently the same +miracle. He may be able to explain the parables more fully than their +author ever meant them to be explained; he may have at his fingers' +ends St Paul's journeys and even have been thrilled by St Paul's +shipwreck, but he will probably have missed the meaning of the good +news for himself and the power to treasure it for his life's strength. + +This failure to appreciate and to accept the challenge of religion--a +failure shown later on in life in a certain diffidence about foreign +missions, and in the toleration of social conditions that deny Christ +as flatly as ever Peter did--is not the fault of the schools alone. +The schools only reflect the world outside and the homes from which +they are recruited. In neither is there as much light as there should +be. The difficulty of the vicious circle dominates this as so many +other problems. School reacts on the world, the world on the home[1] +and the home on school, the blame cannot be apportioned, need not be +apportioned; how the circle can be broken it is much more important to +determine. From time to time it has been broken, so decisively too +that for a while the riddle seems solved, at all events the old way is +abandoned for ever. Arnold's work at Rugby must have involved such a +breach. His work has never had to be done all over again and there +have been many to keep it in repair, but it needs to be extended now +in the light of new problems, scientific, social and international. +For this, as for all other extensions, courage is needed. The courage +to face the difficulties that modern research and modern thought +involve and the courage to point out that our Lord, though in his +short career he changed the bias of men's lives, never claimed to +leave man a detailed guide for conduct or for happiness. It was to a +simple society that he taught the laws of purity and love, he did not +extend the range of their application beyond the needs of the +Pharisee, the Sadducee, the Scribe, the peasant and the dweller in the +little towns through which he shed the light of his presence. These +laws sanctify the whole of life because they dominate the heart, from +which all life must spring, but they do not answer all questions about +all the subordinate provinces of life. The arts in their narrow sense, +philosophy, even pleasure, they pass by. Man will not neglect the one +or distort the other if he has really breathed the spirit of Christ, +but at times the urgency of his Master's business will seem to shut +them out of his life. + +All this needs learning by the old, and explaining to the young, for +otherwise life will be one-sided, and when the day comes, as come it +must to those who think, when a choice must be made, and there seems +no alternative to following literally in Christ's footsteps and +turning the back on much of the beauty and the thrill of the world, +bewilderment will seize the chooser and at the best he will dedicate +himself to a joyless and unattractive puritanism, or surrender himself +to a rudderless voyage across the ocean of life. Religion at school +must touch with its refining power the impulses, aesthetic and +intellectual, that become powerful in late boyhood and early manhood. +If, as so often is the case, it ignores their existence, or endeavours +to starve them, they may well assert themselves with fatal power, to +coarsen and degrade the whole of life. + +The scripture lesson will indeed miss its opportunity if it does not, +in the later stages of a boy's career, set him thinking on these +subjects, and help him to a wise appreciation of the holiness of +beauty as well as of the beauty of holiness. To accomplish this task +the language of the Bible itself gives noble help. All the qualities +of great literature shine forth from it and it should put to shame and +flight the tawdry and the melodramatic. It is an ill service not to +make all familiar with the actual words of Holy Writ. Commentaries and +Bible histories may be at times convenient tools, but they are only +tools, and accurate knowledge of what they teach is no compensation +for a want of respectful familiarity with the text itself. + +Hardly less important for good and evil are the chapel services. They +are much attacked. It has been argued that public worship is +distasteful in later life because of the compulsory chapels of +boyhood. If this were really so, evidence should be forthcoming that +those who come from schools where there is no compulsory attendance at +chapel, because there is no chapel to attend, are more eager to avail +themselves of the opportunities offered by college chapels than are +their more chapel ridden contemporaries. No one, however, can be quite +satisfied that chapel services are as helpful as they might be. The +difficulty is how to improve them. The suggestion that they should all +be voluntary is at first sight attractive but there are two +insuperable difficulties. The one is the power of fashion, for it +might well become fashionable in a certain house not to attend chapel. +Those who know anything of the inside of schools know how such a +fashion would deter many of the best boys from going, and martyrdom +ought not to be part of the training of school life. The other +difficulty is more subtle, but none the less real it originates in the +boys' quite healthy fear of claiming merit. Those in authority, if +wise, would not count attendance at chapel for righteousness, but some +of the most sensitive boys might think that they would do so, and +might stay away in consequence, and thus deprive themselves of +something they really valued. Two or three, not many, might come from +a wrong motive, and perhaps these would stay to pray, but they would +be no compensation for the loss of the others. + +From time to time it is possible to have voluntary services, and +attendance at Holy Communion should always be voluntary, not only in +name but in fact. On the whole it is better that a boy who neglects +this duty should go on neglecting it, than that those who come should +feel that their presence is noted with approval or the reverse. + +But it is different with the daily service. Irksome it may sometimes +be, not only to boys; but half its virtue lies in the fact that all +are there in body and may sometimes be there in spirit too. The +familiarity of the oft-repeated prayers and the oft-sung hymns leads +to inattention perhaps, but seldom, it may be hoped, to callousness; +religious emotion may only occasionally be stirred but the thread of +natural piety, binding man to man and man to God, is strengthened, as +fresh strands are added. At the least it may be claimed for the +chapel services that they rescue from our hours of business some +minutes each day in which our thoughts are free to make their way to +the throne of God. Christ's promise to bring rest to those who come to +him has been fulfilled in many a school chapel. Those of us who have +had to pass through the valley of sorrow and temptation and +loneliness--and who has not?--know that this is no mean claim. Boys, +even men, often grumble at what they really value. To do so is our +national defect, misleading to the onlooker. The truth is, we are so +fearful of being accused of casting our pearls before swine, that we +often pretend, even to ourselves, that what we know to be the most +precious pearl in our possession is valueless. + +Most masters and boys would agree that, in the few weeks preceding +confirmation, the religious life is deepest and most sincere. There is +a moving of the waters then, and many make the effort, and step in, +and are made whole for the time at all events. As to what exactly goes +on in the mind of anyone at such a time there can be no certainty. +There is the obvious danger of a reaction, and, guard against it as +one may, it exists and sometimes leads to disaster; but there is +another danger to which the schoolmaster is then liable, it is the +danger of making confirmation an occasion for much talk on sexual +difficulties. The existence of these should be faced, but at any time +rather than at confirmation, except so far as they occur quite +naturally in dealing with the commandments. + +It is a real disaster for a child to associate this time, when he +should be trying to shoulder enthusiastically his responsibilities as +a citizen of God's Kingdom upon earth, with any particular sin. He +must indeed overcome evil, but he must overcome it with good. It is on +good that his eyes should be fixed. It is towards the Lord of all that +is good that his heart should be uplifted. Anyone who has had to do +with this time knows what it means in a boy's religious life, how +reluctant he is to speak of it, how perilous it is to disturb his +reluctance by inquisitive question or excessive exhortation. He knows, +too, how much his own nature has gained by contact at such times with +the reverent stirrings of less world-stained souls, how wondrous has +been the spiritual refreshment that has come to him from the +unconscious witness of the younger heart. + +For most boys it is a loss not to be confirmed at school, which for +the time is the centre of their energies, their hopes, their +disappointments and their temptations; but the loss to the masters who +share their preparation would be irreparable. They may sometimes +blunder from want of knowledge and experience, but their will to help +is strong, and perhaps not least persuasive when chastened by +diffidence. + +But all these scripture lessons, chapel services and confirmation +preparation will be powerless to produce a Christian education, if +they be not held together by every lesson and by the whole life of the +school. Industry and obedience, truthfulness and fidelity to duty, +unselfishness and thoroughness, must form the soil without which no +religious plant can grow; and these are taught and learnt in the +struggle with Latin prose, or mathematics, or French grammar, or +scientific formula; as well as in the cricket field, on the football +ground, in the give and take, the pains and the pleasures of daily +life. + +It is hard for us in England to imagine a purely secular education, +the very buildings of many of our schools would protest against it; +perhaps it is equally difficult for us to realise how far we fall +short of what we might accomplish did the spirit of Christianity +really inform our lives. + +To-day is our opportunity. The claims of education are being listened +to as they never have been in England. Money in millions is being +promised, the value of this subject or that is being canvassed, the +most venerable traditions are being shaken. It is a time of hope, but +a time of danger too. All sorts of plans are being formed for breaking +down the partition walls that divide man from man, and class from +class, and nation from nation; there is only one plan that will not +leave the ground encumbered by ruins. + +That is the plan of which good men in all ages have caught glimpses, +and which the Son of Man set out for us to follow. The peril now lies, +not in the fact of nothing being done, but in some starved idea of a +narrow patriotism. + +The war has surely taught two lessons;--one that the efforts we made +before 1914 to guard our country from spiritual and moral foes were +shamefully trivial compared with those we have made since to keep our +visible foe at bay; the other that our responsibilities for the +future, if we are to justify our claims to be the champions of justice +and weakness, can never be borne unless we learn ourselves, and teach +each generation as it grows up, to face the fierce light that shines +from heaven. All sorts of devices, ecclesiastical and political have +been adopted to break up that light and make it tolerable for our weak +eyes. Men have been so afraid of children being blinded by it that +they have allowed them to sit, some in darkness, and others in the +twilight of compromise. + +It has been said that for the average man in the ancient world there +existed two main guides and sanctions for his conduct of life, namely +the welfare of his city, and the laws and traditions of his ancestors. +Has the average man much wiser guides or stronger sanctions now? Is a +much nobler appeal made to the children of England than was made to +the children of Athens? Just before Joshua led his people over the +Jordan, he instructed them how the ark of the covenant was to go +before them and a space to be left between them and it, so that they +might know the way by which they must go, _for they had not passed +this way before_. Once again a river of decision has to be crossed, a +road has to be trodden along which men have not passed before. Whether +we speak of reconstruction or a new start or use any other metaphor to +show our conviction that war has changed all things, the idea is the +same. We must see to it that the ark of the covenant is borne before +our nation and our schools, along the way that is new and still full +of stones of stumbling. + +Either the old landmarks have disappeared or a new land has to be +explored. Somehow, all things have to be made new, for even the +spiritual things have been destroyed or are found wanting. It is to +the schools, to the homes, to the mothers of England that the richest +opportunity comes. If they can solve the difficulty of making the +Christian education and the Christian life react upon one another the +partition walls between religion and conduct will be broken down for +every age. Intentionally or unintentionally, these walls have been +built up, perhaps by the teachers and parents, certainly by the +conventions of life. The result is that though there is more true +religion in the schools than is acknowledged by those outside and than +those within care to boast of, and though the standard of conduct is +not ignoble, there is too little fusion; both components are brittle, +they cannot stand the strain of sudden temptation, they lack enduring +power. No one will forget how in those first months of war, +consolation was offered even from pulpits for all the horrors and the +sadness and the waste of conflict in the thought that as a nation we +should be purged of selfishness, of luxury, of sensuality, of all the +vices that peace engenders. That is surely a shameful confession, that +our religion had been in vain. We had to wait for, and partake in, a +three years' orgy of cruelty and violence to learn what our Lord had +taught us in three years of gentleness. If we are going to teach the +same lessons about war when peace is made, to keep alive the fires of +hate, and to keep smouldering the embers of suspicion, we shall be +confessing that a Christian education cannot teach us anything about +Christianity. + +The student in arms would not have had us despair. Peace when it comes +will make demands on our fortitude. There will be many lying in the +no-man's land between vice and virtue who will need to be rescued at +great risk. There will be many forlorn hopes to be led against +disease, the foster child of vice, that has gained strength under the +cover of war. The disappointing days of peace will give an opportunity +for the development of Christian qualities fully as great as the +bracing days of battle. Teachers will need to gird up their loins for +the task of giving a wise welcome to the thousands that an awakened +State will send to sit at their feet, and unless they can give +spiritual food as well as worldly wisdom and paying knowledge, the +souls of the new-comers will be starved beyond the remedy of any free +meals. How to spiritualise education is the real problem, for it is +only by a spiritualised education that we can escape from the +avalanche of materialism that is hanging over the European world just +now. No syllabus, no act of Parliament can do this. There is no royal +road which all can travel. It has been done, to some extent, in the +past, and it will have to be done, to a much greater extent, in the +future by the layman and the laywoman, by the teachers of all +denominations, by some even whom inspectors may consider inefficient +and whom children may tolerate as queer. It will be done best by the +best teachers, but all teachers can share in the work on the one +condition that they have consciously or unconsciously dedicated +themselves to the task. For a teacher to write much about it is +impossible, he must know how greatly he has failed. And he has not the +recompense that comes to many who fail, in the shape of certain +knowledge why success has been withheld. + +That his failure is shared by those who strive to make religion move +the world of men is no consolation. Indeed, that thought might make +him hopeless did it not suggest that the aims and methods of both may +be wrong. It is possible to have hoped too much from the school +chapels being full, it is possible to fear too much from the churches +being empty. Piety is no doubt fostered by attendance at a religious +service, but there is some distance between piety and true religion. +It would probably not be untrue to say that Christian education has +seemed more concerned with the ceremonial duties of religion than with +its spiritual enthusiasm, more eager about faith in some particular +explanation of the past than about faith in a re-creation of the +future, more attentive to the machinery of the organisation of the +Church than to the words and commands of its Founder. As the Church +has become more powerful in the world, it has lost its power over +men's hearts. To some it has seemed an institution for the relief of +poverty, to others the support of the "haves" against the "have-nots," +but to too few has it been the home of spiritual adventures, the +maintainer of spiritual values. Men have escaped from the relentless +simplicity of the Master's commands by attention to the complicated +machinery which disregard of them has made necessary. This may not +have been consciously marked by the young, but the atmosphere of +religion that they have had to breathe has been the tired atmosphere +of the ecclesiastical workshop, and not the bracing air of free +service. Some restoration of the hopefulness of the early Christians +is needed; hopefulness is not now the note of what is taught, though +with it is sometimes confused the boisterous cheerfulness that is +wrongly supposed to attract the young. The appeal of the Church must +be based on looking forward, not backward, on hope, rather than on +repentance. + +The Church will have less to do with the world than it had in the +past, because it will have shaken off the fetters of the world: it +will not be always explaining to the young how they can enjoy the +world and yet deny the world: it will not need to explain itself so +often, to insist so pathetically on the superiority of its own +channels of influence, but it will attract to itself, or rather to the +work that it is trying to do--for it will have forgotten self--all the +adventurous spirits who are prepared to risk pain and failure as +fellow-workers in fulfilling the purposes of God in the world. What is +worth knowing about Christianity is surely first and foremost that it +is a leaven that might leaven the whole world; and that until that +leaven works in each individual heart, in each society, where two or +three are gathered together, Christ's presence cannot be claimed. As +this knowledge is gained, it will be possible for the learner to know +in his heart, and not merely by heart, what is meant by the great +mysterious terms Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection; as this +knowledge is tested and proved true by experience of life, the meaning +and power of prayer will become clearer. A clue will have been put +into the hand of each as he travels along the way which he has not +passed heretofore. It will not lead all by the same path but it will +lead all towards that "great and high mountain," whence "that great +city, the Holy Jerusalem" may be seen. If the teacher is wise, when +the mountain top is nigh and before that vision breaks upon his +fellow-traveller's sight, he will stand aside with thankful heart, and +close his task with the prayer that the Glory of God may shine more +brightly and more continuously on the newcomer, than it has shone on +him. + +[Footnote 1: Nothing is said here about the co-operation of the home +with the school. In religion as in all other matters it is assumed. +The influence of the home cannot be exaggerated but schoolmasters must +resist the temptation to shift the burden of responsibility for any +failure on to other shoulders.] + + + + +V + +CITIZENSHIP + +By A. MANSBRIDGE + +Founder of the Workers' Educational Association + + +I + +DIRECT TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP + + +There is no institution in national life which can free itself from +the responsibility of training for citizenship those who come under +its influence, whether they be men or women. The problem is common to +all institutions, although it may present itself in diverse forms +appropriate to varying ages and experiences. It is primarily the +problem of all schools and places of education. + +The aim of education, according to Comenius, is "to train generally +all who are born to all that is human." From that definition it +follows that the purpose of any school must be to bear its part in +developing to the utmost the powers of body, mind and spirit for the +common good. It must be to secure the application of the finest +attributes of the race to the work of developing citizenship, which is +the art of living together on the highest plane of human life. + +Citizenship is, in reality, the focusing point of all human virtues +though it is often illuminated by the consciousness of a city not made +with hands. It represents in a practical form the spirit of courage, +unselfishness and sympathy consecrated to service in time of war and +peace. Generally speaking, in England and her Dominions, citizenship +is developed in harmony with an ideal of democracy. + + "The progress of democracy is irresistible," says De Tocqueville, + "because it is the most uniform, the most ancient and the most + permanent tendency to be found in history." + +But its right working is dependent entirely upon uplift not only of +mind but of spirit. The democratic community, above all other +communities, must have within itself schools which at one and the same +time impart information concerning the theory and methods of its +government and inspire consecration to social service rather than to +individual welfare, schools which reveal the transcendence of the +interests of the State as compared with the interests of any +individual or group of individuals within it. The democratic State has +been compared to "one huge Christian personality, one mighty growth or +stature of an honest man." Out of this comparison arises the idea of +citizenship reaching out beyond the boundaries of a single State--one +honest man among many--and thus responsibility is placed upon the +schools to develop knowledge of, and sympathy with, the activities and +aspirations of human life in many nations. The comity of nations +depends directly upon the intellectual and spiritual honesty which +obtains in each of them, and true strength of nationality arises more +from the exercise of these qualities than from extent of area or of +productive power. + +Every subject taught in a school should serve the needs of the larger +citizenship; if it fails to do so it is either wrongly taught or +superfluous. + +Social welfare depends upon the right use of knowledge by the +individual, however restricted or developed that knowledge may be, +whether it be acquired in elementary school or university. + +There has been much discussion concerning the relative importance of +the development of community spirit in the schools and the +introduction of the direct teaching of citizenship. The methods are +not mutually exclusive; their operations are distinct. The school +which does not develop community spirit, which does not fit into its +place in the work of training the complete man, is obviously +imperfect. The same cannot be said of the school which does not +provide direct instruction in citizenship; for teaching may be given +in so many indirect ways. Some consideration of what has happened in +this connection both in England and America will perhaps be most +helpful, although the intangible nature of the results would render +dangerous any attempt to make definite pronouncements on their success +or failure. + +Largely as the result of the realisation of the immediate relationship +between national education and national productivity there are +abundant signs that the English educational system is about to be +developed. The ordinary argument has been well put: + + A new national spirit has been aroused in our people by the war; if + we are to recover and improve our position at the end of the war, + that national spirit must be maintained; for unless every man and + woman comes to know and feel that industry, agriculture, commerce, + shipping, and credit, are national concerns, and that education is + a potent means for the promotion of these objects among others, we + shall fail in the great effort of national recuperation. In plainer + words, our great firms will not make money, wages will fall, and + wage-earners will be out of work[1]. + +The possibility of the extension of the educational system to meet the +needs of technical training need not cause disquiet among those whose +desire is for fulness of citizenship, if they are prepared to insist +that teachers shall be trained on broad and comprehensive lines and +that every vocational course shall include instruction in direct +citizenship. The argument is ready to hand and simple. If all men and +women must strive to work wisely and well, so also should they learn +how to participate in the government, local and national, which their +work supports. Moreover the right study of a trade or profession +induces a perception of the inter-relationship of all human activity. + +On the other hand it is important that vocational work, at least so +far as it is carried out by manual training, should be introduced into +schemes of liberal education. In this connection it is worth recalling +that in a recent report, the Consultative Committee of the Board of +Education expressed with complete conviction the opinion that manual +training was indispensable in places of secondary education: + + We consider that our secondary education has been too exclusively + concerned with the cultivation of the mind by means of books and + the instruction of the teacher. To this essential aim there must be + added as a condition of balance and completeness that of fostering + those qualities of mind and that skill of hand which are evoked by + systematic work. + +In this way would be generated that "sympathetic and understanding +contact between all brainworkers and the complete men who work with +both hands and brain" so strongly pleaded for by Professor Lethaby who +insists that "some teaching about the service of labour must be got +into all our educational schemes." + +It must be remembered that the question of vocational training affects +chiefly the proposed system of compulsory continuation school +education up to the age of eighteen, which has yet to be established +for all boys and girls not in attendance at secondary schools or who +have not completed a satisfactory period of attendance[2]. + +The inadequacy of the period of education allotted to the vast mass of +the population and the need for educational reform in many directions +can only be noted; both these matters however affect citizenship +profoundly. + +It is upon the expectation of early development on the following +lines, indicated without detail, that our consideration of the +possibilities of schools in regard to citizenship must be based: + +(1) A longer period of elementary school life during which no child +shall be employed for other than educational purposes. + +(2) The establishment of compulsory continuation schools for all boys +and girls up to the age of eighteen, the hours of attendance to be +allowed out of reasonable working hours. + +(3) Complete opportunity for qualified boys and girls to continue +their technical or humane studies from the elementary school to the +university. + +(4) A distinct improvement in the supply and power of teachers, +chiefly as the result of better training in connection with +universities and the establishment of a remuneration which will enable +them to live in the manner demanded by the nature and responsibilities +of their calling. + +The two main aspects of the development of citizenship through the +schools which have already been noted may be summarised as follows, +and may be considered separately: + +(1) The direct teaching of civics or of citizenship; + +(2) The development through the ordinary school community of the +qualities of the good citizen. + +[Footnote 1: _Interim Report of the Consultative Committee of the +Board of Education on Scholarships for Higher Education, May_, 1916.] + +[Footnote 2: See _Final Report of the Departmental Committee on +Juvenile Education in Relation to Employment after the War_, 1917, Cd. +8512. The Bill "to make further provision with respect to Education in +England and Wales and for purposes connected therewith" [Bill 89], had +not been introduced by Mr Fisher when this article was written.] + + + + +THE DIRECT STUDY OF CITIZENSHIP + + +The study in schools of civic relations has been developed to a much +greater extent in America than in England. This is probably due +largely to the fact that the American need is the more obvious. In +normal times, there is a constant influx of people of different +nationalities to the United States whom it is the aim of the +government to make into American citizens. At the same time there is +in America a greater disposition than in England to adapt abstract +study to practical ends, to link the class-room to the factory, to the +city hall, and to the Capitol itself. As one of her scholars says: + + Both the inspiration and the romance of the scholar's life lie in + the perfect assurance that any truth, however remote or isolated, + has its part in the unity of the world of truth and its undreamed + of applicability to service[1]. + +There are in America numerous societies, among them the National +Education Association, the American Historical Association, the +National Municipal League, the American Political Science Association, +which are working steadily to make the study of civics an essential +feature of every part of the educational system. Their prime purposes +are summarised as follows: + + (1) To awaken a knowledge of the fact that the citizen is in a + social environment whose laws bind him for his own good; + + (2) To acquaint the citizen with the forms of organisation and + methods of administration of government in its several + departments[2]. + +They claim that this can best be done by means of bringing the young +citizen into direct contact with the significant facts of the life of +his own local community and of the national community. To indicate +this more clearly they have applied to the study the name of +"Community Civics." + +The argument that a sense of unreality may arise as a result of the +apparent completeness of knowledge gained in the school is met by the +close contact maintained all the time with the community outside. + +There is unanimity of opinion that civics shall be taught from the +elementary school onwards: + + "We believe," runs the report of the Committee of Eight of the + American Historical Association, "that elementary civics should + permeate the entire school life of the child. In the early grades + the most effective features of this instruction will be directly + connected with the teaching of regular subjects in the course of + study. Through story, poem and song there is the quickening of + those emotions which influence civic life. The works and + biographies of great men furnish many opportunities for incidental + instruction in civics. The elements of geography serve to emphasise + the interdependence of men--the very earliest lesson in civic + instruction. A study of pictures and architecture arouses the + desire for civic beauty and orderliness[3]." + +A recent inquiry by a Committee of the American Political Science +Association makes it quite clear that the subject is actually taught +in the bulk of the elementary and secondary schools of the various +States and that generally the results are satisfactory, or indicate +clearly necessary reforms. The difficulty of providing suitable +text-books is partly met by the addition of supplementary local +information. + +There are very few colleges and universities which do not provide +courses in political science. + +No claim is made that the teaching of civics makes of necessity good +citizens, but merely that it makes the good citizen into a better +one. The justification of the subject lies in its own content. + + It is a study of an important phase of human society and, for this + reason the same value as elementary science or history[4]. + +There is, moreover, throughout the various American reports, an +insistence on the power of the community ideal in the school and the +necessity for discipline in the performance of school duties and a due +appreciation of the importance of individual action in relation to the +class and to the school. + +In England there has been much general and uncoordinated advocacy of +the direct teaching of citizenship, but, for various reasons, it does +not appear to have been introduced generally into the schools, nor +does there appear to be any immediate likelihood of development in the +existing schools. + +The Civic and Moral Education League made definite inquiry, in 1915, +of teachers and schools. They pronounced the results to be +disappointing, though they comforted themselves with the +incontrovertible dictum that "the people who are doing most have least +time to talk about it." As the result of their inquiry, they drew up a +statement of the aims of civics which in general and in detail +differed little from the ideas accepted in America. + +If compulsory continued education is introduced, for boys and girls +who now have no school education after the elementary school, it is of +the utmost importance that the direct study should be included in +some form or other before the age of eighteen is reached, and it is +in connection with this type of school rather than in connection with +the elementary or secondary school that constructive efforts should be +made. + +It must be remembered that Mr. Acland, when Minister for Education, +introduced the subject into the Elementary Code of 1895 and provided a +detailed syllabus. This was generally approved not only as the action +of a progressive administrator but as an evidence of the new spirit of +freedom beginning to reveal itself in the educational system. + +There are some education authorities, like the County of Chester, +which enact that the study of citizenship shall proceed side by side +with religious education, but the majority leave it to the teachers to +do all that is necessary by the adaptation of other subjects and the +development of school spirit. + +The elaborate nature of Mr. Acland's syllabus tended to defeat its +object, and some held it to be psychologically unsound, but there has +also been lack of suitable text-books. In general, however, the whole +subject depends peculiarly upon the personality of the teacher who +feels no lack of text-books if he is alive to the interest of his +lesson. + +In _Studies in Board Schools_[5], there is a delightful study of a +lesson on "Rates" to young citizens with the altruistic text, "All for +Each, Each for All." "Citizen Carrots," a tired newspaper boy up every +morning at five, is revealed as responding with great enthusiasm to +this interesting lesson which commences with a drawing on a +blackboard of a "regulation workhouse, a board school, a free library, +a lamp post, a water-cart, a dustman, a policeman, a steam roller, a +navvy or two, and a long-handled shovel stuck in a heap of soil." A +hypothetical payer of rates, "Mrs Smith," is revealed as getting a +great deal for her rates: + + She is protected from any harm; her property is safe; she can walk + about the streets with comfort by day or night; her drains are seen + to; her rubbish is taken away for her; she has books and newspapers + to read; if she has ten children, she can have them well taught for + nothing--so that if they are willing to learn, and attend school + regularly, they can very easily make their own living when they + grow up; if she is ill, she can go to the infirmary for medicine; + and if, when she grows old, she is unable to pay rent or buy food + or clothes, these things are provided for her. + + "And please, sir, the Parks," interjected the eager Carrots. + +If the definition of a good citizen propounded by Professor Masterman +is true--that he is one who pays his rates without grumbling--"Citizen +Carrots," whatever his disadvantages, is intellectually anyhow on the +way to become such a citizen, and certainly in the sketch, "Citizen +Carrots" is determined that the rates shall be expended properly +because he himself will have a vote in later days. + +It is probable that lessons such as these are more frequent than the +time-tables would indicate. There are few head masters of elementary +schools who would disclaim the adequate teaching of citizenship in +their schools. They would explain that the treatment of history and +geography proceeding from local standpoints was effective in this +direction, and it is the rule rather than otherwise for visits to be +paid to places of historic interest within reach of the schools. +Advantage is also taken of such days as Empire Day to stimulate +interest in the State, as well as to impart knowledge concerning its +organisation. All this is reinforced by the use of appropriate reading +books which are instruments of indirect, but not necessarily less +effective, instruction. + +The larger opportunities which secondary schools offer have not been +taken advantage of to induce the specific study of civics to any +greater extent that in the elementary schools, although many schools +are able to devote at least a period each week to the consideration of +current events, and, naturally, the teaching of history and geography +includes much more completely the consideration of institutions both +at home and abroad. + +The idea of the regional or local survey is gaining ground and in some +respects it will prove to serve the same purpose as the "Community +Civics" of the American high school. + +There have been attempts to introduce economics into the secondary +school curriculum, but they have not persisted to any extent. In the +_Memorandum of Curricula of Secondary Schools_ issued by the Board of +Education in 1913, it is suggested that "it will sometimes be +desirable to provide, for those who propose on leaving school to enter +business, a special commercial course with special study of the more +technical side of economic theory and some study of political and +constitutional history." For the rest there is no mention of the +subjects intimately connected with government. It is clear that the +Board expects that out of the subjects of the ordinary curriculum, +with such special efforts suggested by public interest as may from +time to time occur, the student will gain a general knowledge of the +affairs of the community round about, some knowledge of the principles +of politics, clear ideas concerning movements for social reform, and +some acquaintance with international problems. If he does so, he will +have secured a useful introduction to the studies associated with +adult life. + +An intelligent study of languages will help materially in this +direction and, whilst this is specially true in the cases of Greek and +Latin, there is no reason why modern languages should not serve the +same purpose. It is, however, often the case that the study of the +history and institutions of modern countries is not associated +sufficiently with the study of their language. + +The public and grammar schools of England, as contrasted with the +newer secondary schools, are more especially the homes of classical +studies, and it is through the working of these schools that the +knowledge of institutions in ancient Greece and Rome will have its +greatest effect on citizenship. + +The study of political science as a specific subject is gaining ground +in universities, whilst the study of the Empire and its institutions +has naturally made rapid progress during the last few years. There may +also be noted distinct tendencies, arising out of the experience of +the war, towards the foundation of schools destined to deal with the +institutions and the thought of foreign countries. In the schools of +economics and history there is fulness of attempt to study all that +can be included under the generic title of civics which, after all, +may be defined as political and social science interpreted in +immediate and practical ways. + +[Footnote 1: Peabody, _The Religion of an Educated Man_.] + +[Footnote 2: Haines, _The Teaching of Government_.] + +[Footnote 3: Haines, _The Teaching of Government._] + +[Footnote 4: Bourne, _The Teaching of History and Civics in the +Elementary and the Secondary School_.] + +[Footnote 5: Charles Morley, 1897.] + + + + +II + +INDIRECT TRAINING FOR CITIZENSHIP + + +After all is said and done the ideal training for citizenship in the +schools depends more upon the wisdom engendered in the pupil than upon +the direct study of civics. If the spirits of men and women are set in +a right direction they will reach out for knowledge as for hid +treasure. "Wisdom is more moving than any motion; she passeth and +goeth through all things by reason of her pureness[1]." + +It happens also in natural sequence that the spirit developed in a +school will lead to the construction of institutions in connection +with school life calculated to secure its adequate expression. + +Elementary schools, however, are much handicapped in this way. If it +comes about that work other than educational or recreative is +forbidden to children during the years of attendance at school, and +also that the period of school life is lengthened, there will be +opportunity for the development of games on a self-governing basis. +Elementary school children have a large measure of initiative; all +they need is a real chance to exercise it. They would willingly make +their schools real centres of child life. Many children at present +have little else than narrow tenements and the streets, out of which +influences arise which war continually against the social influences +of the school. + +The opportunity afforded by well-ordered leisure would be accentuated +by the more complete operation of movements such as boys' brigades, +boy scouts, girl guides, and Church lads' brigades, which are in their +several ways doing much to develop citizenship. Such bodies are now in +effect educational authorities, and classes are organised by them in +connection with the Board of Education. + +There have been many attempts to introduce self-governing experiments +into elementary schools and, whilst they have often been defeated by +reason of the immaturity of the children, yet some of them have met +with great success. The election of monitors on the lines of a general +election is an instance of success in this direction. The ideas which +have arisen from the advocacy of the Montessori system have induced +methods of greater freedom in connection with many aspects of +elementary school life. The Caldecott Community, dealing with +working-class children in the neighbourhood of St. Pancras, has tried +many interesting experiments. That, however, of the introduction of +children's courts of justice had to be abandoned, but not until many +valuable lessons in child psychology had been learnt. + +Side by side with the elementary school, there are rising in England +experiments similar to those undertaken by such organisations as the +School City and the George Junior Republics of America. The most +notable among them is the Little Commonwealth, Dorchester, which has +achieved astonishing results through the process of taking delinquent +children and allowing them self-government. But, hopeful as the +prospects are, their ultimate effect will be best estimated when their +pupils, restored in youth to the honourable service of the community, +are taking their full share in life as adult citizens, and naturally +every care is taken in the organisation of these institutions to +ensure that the transition from their sheltered citizenship to the +outside world shall not be of so abrupt a nature as to tend to render +unreal and remote the life in which the children have taken part. + +Nearly all of the more recent experiments in regard to the school and +its kindred institutions are co-operative in principle and in method, +but it is probably Utopian to conceive an educational method which +shall achieve the highest success without having included within it +the element of competition. If competition is a method obtaining +outside the school it is bound to reproduce itself within it. The only +possible thing for the school to do is to restrict the influence of +competition to the channels where it can be beneficial. + +The method by which elementary school children pass to the secondary +school is by means of competitive scholarships. In common with the +Consultative Committee of the Board of Education it is necessary to +accept the fact that at present "the scholarship system is too firmly +rooted in the manner, habits and character of this country to be +dislodged, even if it were thrice condemned by theory[2]." But, in the +interests of citizenship, scholarships should be awarded as the result +of non-competitive tests, if only to secure that every child shall +receive the education for which he or she is fitted. + +The stress and strain imposed upon many who climb the ladder of +education, often occasioned by the inadequacy of the scholarship for +the purposes to which it is to be applied, tend to develop +characteristics which are so strongly individual as to be distinctly +anti-social. + +It is unfortunate that in many subjects of the curriculum it is not +merely bad form to help one's neighbour but distinctly a school sin, +and this makes it necessary for a balance to be struck by the +introduction of subjects at which all can work for the good of the +class or the school. Manual work and local surveys are subjects of +this nature and should be encouraged side by side with games of which +there are three essential aspects:--the individual achievement, the +winning of the match or race, and "playing the game." In reference to +citizenship the last of these is the only one which ultimately +matters. + +It is generally admitted that the great public schools are those which +are most characteristic of English boy life at its best. Glorying as +they do in a splendid tradition, they have always had in addition the +opportunity of adapting themselves to new needs. Their reform is +always under discussion and perchance they are waiting even now for +some Arnold or Thring to lead them in a new England, for new it will +inevitably be. Even so, the sense of responsibility they have +developed has been translated into the terms of English government +over half the world. + +The objective of the public school boy anxious to take a part in +government at home has always been parliament, or such local +institutions as demand his service in accordance with the tradition of +his family. The tendency to despise the homely duties of a city +councillor or poor law guardian is, however, passing. There are few +schools which do not welcome visitors to speak to the boys who have +first-hand acquaintance with the life of the poor or who are indeed of +that life themselves. In this way boys get to realise, as far as it is +possible through sympathy, what it means to be out of work, what it +means to be hungry for unattainable learning, what children have to +suffer, and, in addition to the practical interest which many boys +immediately develop, it cannot be doubted that many ideals for the +conduct of social life in the future are conceived, even if dimly, for +the first time. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of large-minded head +masters, public school boys more and more realise that they are +beneficiaries of the spirit of a past day, not only in the sense of +the creation of a noble tradition but actually in regard to the +material provision of buildings and the financial support of +teaching. + +There is likely to be an extension of university education in the near +future. The ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge with their +great college system will be strengthened, as will be the universities +which were established at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning +of the twentieth centuries. The demand for the better training of +teachers will result inevitably in the creation of more universities. +The inadequate sum which this country has spent upon university +education up to the present will be greatly increased. + +As a direct result of the opportunity which university life gives to +undergraduates for the development of self-governing institutions, +there can be little doubt that the university must be regarded above +all other schools and most institutions as powerful in the development +of good citizenship. The public school tradition will be carried +directly into the older universities and in increasing measure into +the new universities as the best spirit of the public schools +gradually permeates the whole system of our education even down to the +elementary schools themselves. When these opportunities so lavishly +provided for the development of student life in its self-governing +aspects are realised and when above it all there stand great teachers +in the lineage of those described by Cardinal Newman in his eulogy of +Athens--"the very presence of Plato" to the student, "a stay for his +mind to rest on, a burning thought in his heart, a bond of union with +men like himself, ever afterwards"--little else can be desired. In +every university there must be such teachers, or universities will +tend to fall to the level of the life about them. "You can infuse," +said Lord Rosebery at the Congress of the Universities of the Empire, +"character, and morals and energy and patriotism by the tone and +atmosphere of your university and your professors." + +From one point of view, all the old universities of Europe--Bologna, +Paris, Prague, Oxford, Cambridge, etc.--must be regarded as definite +and conscious protests against the dividing and isolating--the +anti-civic--forces of the periods of their institution. They represent +historically the development of communities for common interest and +protection in the great and holy cause of the pursuit of learning, and +above all things their story is the story of the growth of European +unity and citizenship. + + The feudal and ecclesiastical order of the old mediaeval world were + both alike threatened by the power that had so strangely sprung up + in the midst of them. Feudalism rested on local isolation, on the + severance of kingdom from kingdom and barony from barony, on the + distinction of blood and race, on the supremacy of material or + brute force, on an allegiance determined by accidents of place and + social position. The University, on the other hand, was a protest + against this isolation of man from man. The smallest school was + European and not local[3]. + +The spirit which is characteristic of a university in its best +aspects, linked with the spirit which is inherent in the ranks of +working people, has on more occasions than one set on foot movements +for the education of the people. One of the most notable instances of +this unity found expression at the Oxford Co-operative Congress of +1882, when Arnold Toynbee urged co-operators to undertake the +education of the citizen. By this he meant: "the education of each +member of the community as regards the relation in which he stands to +other individual citizens and to the community as a whole." "We have +abandoned," he said further, "and rightly abandoned the attempt to +realise citizenship by separating ourselves from society. We will +never abandon the belief that it has yet to be won amid the stress and +confusion of the ordinary world in which we move." From that day to +this co-operators have always had before them an ideal of education in +citizenship and have organised definite teaching year by year. + +Another instance of even greater power lies in the co-operation +between the pioneers of the University Extension Movement at Cambridge +and the working men, particularly of Rochdale and Nottingham, to be +followed later by that unprecedented revival of learning amongst +working people which took place in Northumberland and Durham in the +days before the great coal strike. At a later date, in 1903, the same +kind of united action gave rise to the movement of the Workers' +Educational Association, which has always conceived its purpose to be +the development of citizenship in and through education pursued in +common by university man and working man alike. The system of +University Tutorial Classes originated by this Association has been +based upon an ideal of citizenship, and not primarily upon a +determination to acquire knowledge, although it was clearly seen that +vague aspirations towards good citizenship without the harnessing of +all available knowledge to its cause would be futile. After exception +has been made for the body of young men and women who are determined +to acquire technical education for the laudable purpose of advancing +both their position in life and their utility to society, it is clear +that no educational appeal to working men and women will have the +least effect if it is not directed towards the purpose of enriching +their life, and through them the life of the community. The proof of +this lies in the fact that, after they have striven together for years +in Tutorial Classes, they ask for no recognition--in fact they have +declined it when it has been offered--and have devoted their powers to +voluntary civic work and the work of the associations or unions to +which they belong, as well as in very many instances, to the spreading +of education throughout the districts in which they live. It is +largely due to the leaven of educational enthusiasm which has thus +been generated that there is a unanimous movement on the part of +working people towards a complete educational system including within +it compulsory attendance at continuation schools during the day. + +The problems that hedge about continuation schools are many, but it is +clear that they will be regarded by educationists and by at least some +employers as above all else training for citizenship based upon the +vocation to which the boy or girl may be devoting himself or herself +in working hours. The narrowness of the daily occupation, divorced as +it is from the whole spirit and intent of apprenticeship, will be +broadened directly the consideration of daily work is placed in the +continuation school both on a higher plane and in a complete setting. + +The compulsory evening school will fail unless it induces a demand for +recreation of a pure kind which may be associated with the voluntary +evening school and continued along the lines of study into the years +of adult life. And even if it is impossible for every student of +capacity in the continuation school to pass into the university or +technological college, it may be hoped that there need not fail to be +opportunities for reaching the heights of ascertained knowledge in the +University Tutorial Class. In the future, as now, only in greater +degree, such classes will be regarded as an essential part of +university work, and will provide opportunity for the study of those +subjects which are most nearly related to citizenship. + +It is one of the fundamental principles of the Workers' Educational +Association that every person, when not under the power of some +hostile over-mastering influence, is ready to respond to an +educational appeal. Not indeed that all are ready or able to become +scholars, but that all are anxious to look with understanding eyes at +the things which are pure and beautiful. Tired men and women are made +better citizens if they are taken, as they often are, to picture +galleries and museums, to places of historic interest and of scenic +beauty, and are helped to understand them by the power of a +sympathetic guide. It is by the extension of work of this sort, which +can be carried out almost to a limitless extent that the true purpose +of social reform will be best served. It is by such means that the +press may be elevated, the level of the cinema raised, the efforts of +the demagogue neutralised. + +The Workers' Educational Association is based upon the work of the +elementary school and of the associations of working people, notably +the co-operative societies and trade unions. The democratic methods +obtaining in those associations have themselves proved a valuable +contribution to citizenship, and have determined the democratic nature +of all adult education. The right and freedom of the student to study +what he wishes finds its counterpart in the reasonable demand that man +shall live out his life as he wills, provided it moves in a true +direction and is in harmony with the needs and aspirations of his +fellows. + +It has seemed in this review of the relation of schools and places of +education to the development of citizenship that the fact of the +operation of social influences has been implicit at every point. In +any case there is, and can be, no doubt that the school, whilst +instant in its effect upon the mind of the time, is always being +either hindered or helped by the conditions obtaining in the society +in which it is set. The relations existing between society and school +are revealed in a process of action and reaction. Wilhelm von +Humboldt said that "whatever we wish to see introduced into the life +of a nation must first be introduced into its schools." Among other +things, it is necessary to develop in the schools an appreciation of +all work that is necessary for human welfare. This is the crux of all +effort towards citizenship through education. In the long run there +can be no full citizenship unless there is fulness of intention to +discover capacity and to develop it not for the individual but for the +common good. This is primarily the task of an educational system. If a +man is set to work for which he is not fitted, whether it be the work +of a student or a miner, he is thwarted in his innate desire to attain +to the full expression of his being in and through association with +his fellow-men, whereas, when a man is doing the right work, that for +which he has capacity, he rejoices in his labour and strives +continually to perfect it by development of all his powers. The +exercise of good citizenship follows naturally as the inevitable +result of a rightly developed life. It may not be the citizenship +which is exercised by taking active and direct part in methods of +government. The son of Sirach, meditating on the place of the +craftsman, said: + + All these trust to their hands: and every one is wise in his work. + Without these cannot a city be inhabited ... they will maintain the + state of the world, and all their desire is in the work of their + craft[4]. + +The times are different and the needs of people have changed, but the +true test of a citizen may be more in the healthiness of dominating +purpose than in the possession and satisfaction of a variety of +desires. To "maintain the state of the world" is no mean ambition. + +If it is difficult for a man to become the good citizen when employed +on work for which he is unfitted, it is even more difficult for the +man to do so who is set to shoddy work or to work which damages the +community. + +The task laid upon the school is heavy, but it does not stand alone. +The family and the Church are its natural allies in the modern State. + +All alike will make mistakes, but, if they clearly set before them the +intention to do their utmost to free the capacity of all for the +accomplishment of the good of all, wisdom will increase and many +tragedies in life will be averted. + +Thus lofty ideals have presented themselves, but they will secure +universal admission apart from the immediate practical considerations +which bulk so largely and often so falsely in the minds of men, and +which are frequently suggested by limitations of finance and lack of +faith in the all-sufficient power of wisdom. + +It is in the consecration of a people to its highest ideals that the +true city and the true State become realised on earth and the measure +of its consecration, in spite of all devices of teaching or training +however wise, determines the true level of citizenship at any time in +any place. + +[Footnote 1: _Wisdom of Solomon_, vii. 24.] + +[Footnote 2: _Interim Report of the Consultative Committee of the +Board of Education on Scholarships for Higher Education_, 1916.] + +[Footnote 3: J.R. Green, _A Short History of the English People_.] + +[Footnote 4: _Ecclesiasticus_, xxxviii. 31-34.] + + + + +SOME BOOKS ON CITIZENSHIP + + +[1]American Political Science Assoc. The Teaching of Government. 1916. +Macmillan. 5s. 0d. net. + +[1]BAKER, J.H. Educational Aims and Civic Needs. 1913. Longmans. 3s. +6d. net. + +[1]BALCH, G.T. The Method of Teaching Patriotism in Public Schools. +1890. New York: Van Nostrand. + +[1]BOURNE, H.E. The Teaching of History and Civics. 1915. Longmans. +6s. 0d. net. + +[1]DEWEY, JOHN. Democracy and Education. 1916. Macmillan. 6s. 0d. net. + +[1]DEWEY JOHN. The School and Society. 1915. Chicago Univ. Press. 4s. +0d. net. + +[1]DEWEY, JOHN and EVELYN. Schools of To-Morrow. 1915. Dent. 5s. 0d. +net. + +FINDLAY, J.J. The School. 1912. Williams and Norgate. 1s. 3d. net. + +[1]HALL, G. STANLEY. Educational Problems. 2 vols. 1911. Appleton. +31s. 6d. net. Ch. 24. Civic Education. + +[1]HENDERSON, C.H. Education and the Larger Life. 1902. Boston: +Houghton. 6s. 0d. + +[1]HUGHES, E.H. The Teaching of Citizenship. 1909. Boston: Wilde. 6s. +0d. + +HUGHES, M.L.V. Citizens To Be. 1915. Constable. 4s. 6d. net. + +[1]JENKS, J.W. Citizenship and the Schools. 1909. New York: Holt. 6s. +0d. + +KERSCHENSTEINER, GEORG. Education for Citizenship. Tr. A.J. Pressland. +1915. Harrap. 2s. 0d. net. The Schools and the Nation. 1914. +Macmillan. 6s. 0d. net. + +[1]MONROE, PAUL. (Ed.) Cyclopedia of Education. 5 vols. Macmillan. +105s. 0d. net. + +MORGAN, ALEXANDER. Education and Social Progress. 1916. Longmans. 3s. +6d. net. + +Oxford and Working Class Education. Clarendon Press, 1s. net. + +PATERSON, ALEXANDER. Across the Bridges. 1912. Arnold. 1s. 0d. net. + +SADLER, M.E. (Ed.). Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere. +1908. Manchester University Press. 8s. 6d. net. + +SCOTT, C.A. Social Education. 1908. Ginn. 6s. 0d. net. + +WALLAS, GRAHAM. The Great Society. 1914. Macmillan. 7s. 6d. net. + +See also: + +Board of Education. Reports. + +Civics and Moral Education League Papers, 6 York Buildings, Adelphi, +W.C. 2. + +[Footnote 1: American.] + + + + +VI + +THE PLACE OF LITERATURE IN EDUCATION + +By NOWELL SMITH + +Head Master of Sherborne School + + +Education is a subject upon which everyone--or at least every +parent--considers himself entitled to have opinions and to express +them. But educational treatises or the considered views of educational +experts have a very limited popularity, and in fact arouse little +interest outside the circle of the experts themselves. Even the +average teacher, who is himself, if only he realised it, inside the +circle, pays little heed to the broader aspects of education, chiefly, +no doubt, because in the daily practice of the art of education he +cannot step aside and see it as a whole; he cannot see the wood for +the trees. The indifference of laymen however is mainly due to the +fact that educational theory, like other special subjects, inevitably +acquires a jargon of its own, an indispensable shorthand, as it were, +for experts, but far too abstract and technical for outsiders. + +And his technical language too often reacts upon the actual ideas of +the educational theorist, who tends to lose sight of the variety of +concrete boys and girls in his abstract reasonings, necessary as these +are. We are apt to forget that what is sauce for the goose may not be +sauce for the gander, and still more perhaps that what is sauce for +the swan may not be sauce for either of these humbler but deserving +fowl. But it is certain that in discussing education we ought +constantly to envisage the actual individuals to be educated. +Otherwise our "average pupil of fifteen plus" is only too likely to +become a mere monster of the imagination, and the intellectual +_pabulum_, which we propose to offer, suited to the digestion of no +human boy or girl in "this very world, which is the world of all of +us." + +In considering, then, the place of literature in education, I propose +to keep constantly before my eyes the people with whose education I am +personally familiar, namely, myself, my children, and the various +types of public school boy which I have known as boy, as +undergraduate, as college tutor and as schoolmaster. I say various +types of public school boy; for although there still is a public +school type in general which is easily recognisable by certain marked +superficial characteristics, the popular notion that all public school +boys are very much alike in character and outlook is a mere delusion. + +Again, I propose, when I speak of literature, to mean literature, and +not a compendious term for anything that is not science. The +opposition that has in modern times been set up between science on the +one hand and a jumble of studies labelled either literary or +"humanistic" studies on the other is to my mind wholly unfounded in +the nature of things, and destructive of any liberal view of +education. It may perhaps be held that literature in its most literal +sense is a name for anything that is expressed by means of +intelligible language--a use of the word which certainly admits of no +comparison with the meaning of science, but which also leads to no +ideas of any educational interest. But I take the word literature in +its common acceptation; and, while admitting that I can give no +precise and exhaustive definition, I will venture to describe it as +the expression of thought or emotion in any linguistic forms which +have aesthetic value. Thus the subject-matter of literature is only +limited by experience: as Emile Faguet says somewhere--without +claiming to have made a discovery--_la littérature est une chose qui +touche à toutes choses_. And the tones of literature range from Isaiah +to Wycherley, from Thucydides to Tolstoy; its forms from Pindar to a +folk song, from Racine to Rudyard Kipling, from Gibbon to Herodotus or +Froissart. And while no two people would agree in drawing the line of +aesthetic value which should determine whether any given verbal +expression of thought or emotion was literature or not--a fact which +is not without importance in the choice of books for forming the taste +of our pupils--yet, for the purpose of discussing the place and +function of literature in education, we all know well enough what we +mean by the word in the general sense which I have attempted to +describe. + +As this is not a tractate on education as a whole, I must risk +something for the sake of brevity, and will venture to lay down +dogmatically that the objects of literary studies as a part of +education are (1) the formation of a personality fitted for civilised +life, (2) the provision of a permanent source of pure and inalienable +pleasure, and (3) the immediate pleasure of the student in the process +of education. None of these objects is exclusive of either of the +others. They cannot in fact be separated in the concrete. But they are +sufficiently different to be treated distinctly. + +(1) Hardly anyone would deny that some knowledge and appreciation of +literature is an indispensable part of a complete education. The full +member of a civilised society must be able to subscribe to the +familiar _Homo sum; nihil humanum a me alienum puto_. And literature +is obviously one of the greatest, most intense, and most prolific +interests of humanity. There have always been thinkers, from Plato +downwards, who for moral or political reasons have viewed the power of +literature with distrust: but their fear is itself evidence of that +power. Thus literature is a very important part both of the past and +of contemporary life, and no one can enter fully into either without +some real knowledge of it. A man may be a very great man or a very +good man without any literary culture; he may do his country and the +world imperishable services in peace or war. But the older the world +grows, the rarer must these unlettered geniuses become. Literature in +one form or another--too often no doubt put to vile uses--has become +so much part of the very texture of civilised life that a wide-awake +mind can scarcely fail to take notice of it. And in any case we need +not consider that kind of special genius which education does little +either to make or mar. No one is likely seriously to deny that for +taking a full and intelligent part in the normal life of a civilised +community--in love and friendship, in the family and in society, in +the study and practice of citizenship of all degrees--some literary +culture is absolutely necessary; nor indeed that, subject to a due +balance of qualities and acquirements, the wider and deeper the +literary culture the more valuable a member of society the possessor +will be. The lubricant of society in all its functions, whether of +business or leisure, is sympathy, and a sufficient quantity, as it +were, of sympathy to lubricate the complex mechanism of civilised life +can only be supplied by a widespread knowledge of the best, and a +great deal more than the best, of what has been and is being thought +and said in the world. Personal intercourse with one another and a +common apprehension of God as our Father are even more powerful +sources of sympathy; but literature provides innumerable channels for +the intercommunication and distribution of these sources, without +which the sympathies of individuals may be strong and lively, but will +almost always be narrowly circumscribed. It is very true that to know +mankind only through books is no knowledge of mankind at all; but ever +since man discovered how to perpetuate his utterances in writing it +has been increasingly true that literature is the principal means of +widening and deepening such knowledge. + +This object of literary studies, the formation of a personality +fitted for civilised life, may be summed up in the familiar graceful +words of Ovid, who was thinking almost entirely of literature when he +wrote + + ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes + Emollit mores nec sinit esse feros. + +And it is only the lack, in so many of the greatest writers, and the +neglect, in so many educators and educational systems, of that due +balance of qualities and acquirements of which I spoke just now, which +have induced in superficial minds a distrust and often a contempt of +literature as a subject of education. The good citizen or man of the +world--in the best sense of the phrase--must not be the slave of +literary proclivities to the ruin of his functions as father or +husband or friend or man of action and affairs. The world of letters, +if lived in too exclusively, is an unreal world, though without it the +actual world is almost meaningless. Now the _genus irritabile vatum_, +even when their thoughts, as Carlyle put it, "enrich the blood of the +world," have very generally appeared to the plain man of goodwill as +very defective in the art of living. If their aspirations have been +above the standards of their day, their practice has often been below +them in such essentially social qualities as probity, faithfulness, +consideration for others. Moreover their outlook upon life, intense +and inspiring though it be, is often a very partial one. Even so, it +does not follow that because a poet or a philosopher is not in every +respect "the compleat gentleman," a citizen _totus teres atque +rotundus_, his works are not profitable for the building up of that +character. If it did, we must by parity of reasoning discard the +discoveries of a misanthropic inventor and the theories of a bigamous +chemist. We go to Plato and Catullus, to Shakespeare and Shelley, for +what they have to give: if we go with our own pet notions of what that +ought to be, we are naturally as disgusted as Herbert Spencer was with +Homer and Tolstoy with Shakespeare. Tolstoy is indeed a case in point. +He is one of the giants of literature, whose masterpieces are already +classics; and this position is unaffected by the various judgments +that may be formed either of his critical or of his practical wisdom. + +The lack then of a due balance of qualities and acquirements in so +many authors, and we may add other artists, is a cause, but no +justification, of that belittlement and even distrust of the literary +side of education which are on the whole marked features of the +English attitude to-day. But a more potent cause and a real +justification of this attitude is the neglect of due balance of +qualities and acquirements by so many educators and educational +systems. Great educators have themselves rarely been narrow-minded +men; but the traditions they have founded have gone the way of all +traditions. + +What begins as an inspiration hardens into a formula. The ideals of +the Renascence were caricatured in their offspring of the eighteenth +and nineteenth centuries. Not only did the evolution of modern life +with its cities, its printing press, its gunpowder, its steam engine +and the rest, destroy the need of the well-to-do to be trained in the +practical arts of chivalry, of the chase, of husbandry, even of music +and design, so that the bodily activities of boys became relegated to +the sphere of mere games and pastimes; but as books usurped more and +more of the hours of boyhood, so the instructors of youth fell more +and more into the fatally easy path of formal and grammatical +treatment. The subject-matter of education was indeed literature, and +the very noblest literatures, mainly those of Greece and Rome: but +there was little of literary or humane interest about the study of it; +its meaning and spirit were concealed from all but the few who could +surmount the fences of linguistic pedantry and artificial technique +with which it was surrounded. + +I do not know when the expression "the dead languages" was invented: +but certainly Latin and Greek have been treated as very dead languages +by the great majority of teachers for a very long time. And as "modern +subjects," history, geography, modern languages and literatures, +gradually thrust their way into the curriculum, each was subjected as +far as possible to the same mummification. There is a theory still +widely held among teachers that the value of a subject or of a method +of instruction depends upon the amount of drudgery which it involves +or the degree of repulsion which it excites. The theory rests upon a +confusion between the ideas of discipline and punishment, which itself +is probably due to the strongly Judaistic tone of our so-called +Christianity. At any rate, far too many schoolmasters suffer from +conscientious scruples about allowing the spirits of freedom, +initiative, curiosity, enjoyment, to blow through their class-rooms. + +There has been, always to some extent, but with gathering force in +recent years, a natural revolt against this mixture of puritanism, +scholasticism, and dilettantism, which made the intellectual side of +public school education such a failure except for the few who were +born with the spoon of scholarship in their mouths. The irruption of +that turbulent rascal, natural science, has perhaps had most to do +with humanising our humanistic studies. It was a great step when boys +who could not make verses were allowed to make if it was but a smell; +and even breaking a test-tube once in a while is more educative than +breaking the gender-rules every day of the week. Many of my friends, +who label themselves humanists, are in a panic about this, and look +upon me sadly as a renegade because I, who owe almost everything to a +"classical education," am ready (they think) to sell the pass of +"compulsory Greek" to a horde of money-grubbing barbarians who will +turn our flowery groves of Academe into mere factories of commercial +efficiency. But fear is a treacherous guide. They are the victims of +that abstract generalisation of which I spoke at the outset. I check +their forebodings by reference to concrete personalities, myself, my +children, and the hundreds of boys I have known. And I see more and +more plainly, as I study the infinite variety of our mental lineaments +and the common stock of human nature and civilised society which +unites us, that literature is a permanent and indispensable and even +inevitable element in our education; and that moreover it can only +have free scope and growth in the expanding personality of the young +in a due and therefore a varying harmony with other interests. I and +my children and my schoolboys have eyes and ears and hands--and even +legs! We have, as Aristotle rightly saw, an appetite for knowledge, +and that appetite cannot be satisfied, though it may be choked, by a +sole diet of literature. We have desires of many kinds demanding +satisfaction and requiring government. We have a sense of duty and +vocation: we know that we and our families must eat to live and to +carry on the race. We resent, in our inarticulate way, these sneers at +our Philistinism, commercialism, athleticism, materialism, from +dim-eyed pedants on the one hand and superior persons on the other, +who have evidently forgotten, if they ever saw, the whole purport of +that Greek literature the name of which they take in vain. No! _La +littérature est une chose qui touche à toutes choses_; but if we are +to shut our eyes to all the "things" which evoke it, it becomes what +it is to so many, whose education has been in name predominantly +literary, "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying +nothing." + +(2) The argument has already insensibly led us to treat by implication +the second, and indeed the third of our assumed objects. But in our +modern insistence upon social relations and citizenship--a very proper +insistence, still too much warped and hampered by selfishness and +prejudice--there is a real danger of our forgetting how much of our +conscious existence is passed, in a true sense, at leisure and alone. +It is our ideal on the one side to be "all things to all men": and for +any approach to this ideal, as we have seen, the knowledge and +sympathy born of literature are indispensable. But on the other side +no man or woman is completely fitted out without provision for the +blank spaces, the passages and waiting rooms, as it were, to say +nothing of the actual "recreation rooms" of the house of life. And +there is no provision so abundant, so accessible to all, so permanent, +so independent of fortune, and at once so mellowing and fortifying, as +literature. Our happiness or discontent depends far more, than on +anything else, on the habitual occupation of our mind when it is free +to choose its occupation. And, since thought is instantaneous, even +the busiest of us has far more of that freedom than he knows what to +do with unless he has a mental treasury from which he can at will +bring forth things new and old. It is impossible to exaggerate the +importance of hobbies in a man's own life--and of course indirectly in +his relations with his fellows. A single hobby is dangerous. You ride +it to death or it becomes your master. You need at least a pair of +them in the stable. What they are must depend, you say, upon the +temperament, the bent of the individual. True: but our main +responsibility as educators consists in our "bending of the twig." It +is not temperament nor destiny which renders so many men and women +unable to fill their leisure moments with anything more exhilarating +than, gossip, grumbling, or perpetual bridge. Perhaps the greatest +blessing which a parent or a teacher can confer on a boy or girl is +discreet, unpriggish, and unpatronising, encouragement and guidance in +the discovery and development of hobbies: and if I may venture on a +piece of advice to anyone who needs it, I should say: "Try to secure +that everyone grows up with at least two hobbies; and whatever one of +them may be, let the other be literature, or some branch of +literature." + + Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, + Are a substantial world, both pure and good; + Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, + Our pastime and our happiness will grow. + +(3) At this point I can imagine someone, who recognises the importance +of literary culture in the equipment of a man or woman of the world, +and perhaps feels even more strongly the truth summed up in these +lines of Wordsworth, expressing the doubt whether the second at least +of these objects can be secured, or will not rather be precluded, by +admitting the study of literature as such into the school curriculum. +This doubt, which I have heard expressed by many lovers of literature, +notably by the late Canon Ainger, is not lightly to be disregarded. It +is to be met, however, in my opinion, by keeping clearly before our +eyes the third of the objects which we assumed to be aimed at by +literary studies as a branch of education--the immediate pleasure of +the student. The two objects which we have already discussed are +ulterior objects, which should be part of the fundamental faith of +the teacher; but while the teacher is in contact with his pupils they +should be forgotten in the glowing conviction that the study of +literature is, at that very moment, the most delightful thing in the +world. Of course we all know, or should know, that this is the only +attitude of mind for the best teaching in any subject whatever. It +takes a great deal more than enthusiasm to make a competent teacher; +and it is easy to prepare pupils successfully for almost any written +examination without any enthusiasm for anything except success. But, +cramming apart, a bored teacher is inevitably a boring one: and while +unfortunately the converse is not universally true and an enthusiastic +teacher may fail to communicate his enthusiasm, yet it is quite +certain that you cannot communicate enthusiasm if you are not +possessed of it. + +But this enthusiasm, indispensable for the best teaching of anything, +is, so to speak, doubly indispensable for even competent teaching of +literature. On the one hand the ulterior objects of the study, of +which I have tried to indicate the importance, are of an impalpable +kind. I doubt if there is any subject of the curriculum which it would +be so difficult to commend to an uninterested pupil by an appeal to +simple utilitarian motives. On the other hand there clings to +literature, and particularly to poetry, which is the quintessence of +literature, an air of pleasure-seeking, of holiday, of irresponsibility +and detachment from the work-a-day world, which must captivate the +student, or else the study itself will seem very poor fooling compared +with football or hockey. If the attitude of the teacher reflects the old +question of the Latin Grammar "Why should I teach you letters?" he would +better turn to some other subject which his pupils will more easily +recognise as appropriate to school hours. + + What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, + That he should weep for her-- + +unless indeed he be a candidate for Responsions? + +"Ah! it is just as I expected," says my friend Orbilius at this point: +"this literature-lesson of yours is to be mere play, a 'soft-option' +for our modern youth, who is not to be made to stand up to the tussle +with Latin prose or riders in geometry." Softly, my friend! It is +quite true that those twin engines of education, classics and +mathematics, are adapted partly by long practice, but partly, as I too +believe, by their very nature, to discipline the youthful mind to +habits of intellectual honesty, of accuracy, of industry and +perseverance. It is true that they accomplish some of this +discipline--though at what a cost!--in the hands of indifferent +teachers. It is true that every other subject of the usual curriculum +is much more obviously liable than they are to the dangers of +idleness, unreality, false pretence; and that the scoffs, for +instance, about "playing with test-tubes," "tracing maps," "dishing up +history notes," are in fact too often deserved. But in the first +place, if the object to be attained is a worthy one, it is our +business to face the dangers of the road, and not to give up the +object. If a knowledge and love of literature is part of the +birthright of our children, and a part which, as things are, very +many of them will never obtain away from school, then we teachers must +strive to give it them, even if the process seems shockingly frivolous +to the grammarian or the geometrician. And, secondly, it is not true +that the study of literature, even in the mother tongue, cannot be a +discipline and a delight together. The two are very far from +incompatible: indeed that discipline is most effective which is almost +or quite unconsciously self-imposed in the joyous exercise of one's +own faculties. The genuine footballer and the genuine scholar will +both agree with Ferdinand the lover, that + + There be some sports are painful, and their labour + Delight in them sets off. + +And the "labour" of the boy or girl who is really wrapped up in a play +of Shakespeare or is striving to express the growing sense of beauty +in fitting forms of language, is no less truly spiritual discipline +because it is felt not as pain but as interest and delight. + +It is fortunately no part of my business to endeavour to instruct +teachers in the methods of imparting the love and knowledge of +literature. But the value of literary studies in education depends so +much upon the spirit in which they are pursued that I may perhaps be +permitted a few more words on the practical side of the subject. I +have already repeated the truism that no one can impart enthusiasm who +is not himself possessed of it: but even the lover of literature +sometimes lacks that clear consciousness of aim, and that sympathetic +understanding of the personality of his pupil; which are both +essential to successful teaching. Just as the clever young graduate is +tempted to dictate his own admirable history notes to a class of boys, +or to puzzle them with the latest theories in archaeology or +philosophy, so the literary teacher is apt to dazzle his pupils with +brilliant but to them unintelligible criticism, or to surfeit them +with literary history, or to impose upon them an inappropriate +literary diet because it happens to suit his maturer taste or even his +caprice. No one is likely to deny that such errors are possible; but I +should not venture to speak so decidedly, if I were not aware of +having too often fallen into them myself. And the only safeguard for +the teacher is the familiar "Keep your eye on the object"--and that in +a double sense. We must have a clear conception of our aim, and also a +living sympathy with our pupils. I have attempted to indicate the aim, +the equipment of boy or girl for civilised life and for spiritual +enjoyment. It will be sympathy with our pupils which will chiefly +dictate both the method and the material of our instruction. In the +early stages of education this sympathy is generally to be found +either in parents, if they are fond of literature, or in the teacher, +who is usually of the more sympathetic sex. The stories and poetry +offered to children nowadays seem to be, as a rule, sympathetically, +if sometimes rather uncritically, chosen. The importance of voice and +ear in receiving the due impression of literature is recognised; and +the value of the child's own expression of its imaginations and its +sense of rhythm and assonance is understood. Probably more teachers +than Mr. Lamborn supposes would heartily subscribe to the faith which +glows in his delightful little book _The Rudiments of Criticism_, +though there must be very few who would not be stimulated by reading +it. + +It is when we come to the middle stage, at any rate of boyhood--for of +girls' schools I am not qualified to speak--that there is a good deal +to be done before the cultivation of literary taste, and all that this +carries with it, will be successfully pursued. In the past, the Latin +and Greek classics were, for the few who really absorbed them, both a +potent inspiration and an unrivalled discipline in taste: but it is +noteworthy how few even of the _élite_ acquired and retained that +lively and generous love of literature which would have enabled them +to sow seeds of the divine fire far and wide--"of joy in widest +commonalty spread." Considering the intensity with which the classics +have been studied in the old universities and public schools of the +United Kingdom, the fine flower of scholarship achieved, the sure +touch of style and criticism, one cannot help being amazed at the low +standard of literary culture in the rank and file of the classes from +which this _élite_ has been drawn. How rare has been the power, or +even apparently the desire, of a Bradley or a Verrall or a Murray, to +carry the flower of their classical culture into the fields of modern +literary study! And how few and fumbling the attempts of ordinary +classical teachers to train their pupils in the appreciation of our +English literature! + +In recent years a new type of literary teachers has been rising, who +owe little, at any rate directly, to the old classical training; and +although their zeal is often undisciplined and "not according to +knowledge," with them lies the future hope of literary training in our +schools. They bring to their task an enthusiasm which was too often +lacking in the "grand old fortifying classical curriculum"; but it is +to be hoped that, as the importance of their subject becomes more and +more recognised, they will achieve a method which will embody all that +was valuable, while discarding much that was narrow and pedantic, in +classical teaching. And in particular may they all realise, as many +already do, what the classical teacher, however unconsciously, held as +an axiom, that in order to enter into the spirit of literature, to +appreciate style, to understand in any true sense the meaning of great +author's, it is not enough for pupils to listen and to read, and then +perhaps to write essays about what they have heard and read. They must +also _make_ something, exercise that creative, and at the same time +imitative, artistic faculty, which surely is the motive power of most +of our progress, at least in early life. Nothing has struck me more +forcibly than the intense interest which boys will take in their own +crude efforts at writing a poem or a story or essay, while they are +still quite unable to appreciate with discrimination, or even to enjoy +with any sustained feeling, the poetry or prose of the great masters. +Not that there is anything surprising in this. I know very well that +it was writing Latin verses that taught me to appreciate Virgil, and +writing juvenile epics that led me up to Milton. But it is an order of +progress which we schoolmasters are apt to overlook, expecting our +pupils to appreciate what we know to be good work before they have +that elementary, but most fruitful, experience which can only come +from handling the tools of the craft. The creative and imitative +impulse will die down in the great majority; and we shall not make the +mistake of continuing to exact formal "composition" from maturer +pupils, who no longer find it anything but a drag upon their progress +along the unfolding vistas of knowledge and appreciation. Our object +is not to increase the number of writers, already far too large, but +to increase the number of readers, which can never be too large, to +raise the standard of literary taste, and so to spread pure enjoyment +and all the benefits to society which joy, and joy alone, confers. +Inspired with such an aim, common sense and sympathy will enable us to +overcome the difficulties and avoid the pitfalls which undoubtedly +beset the teaching of that most necessary, most delightful, but most +elusive and imponderable subject, the appreciation of literature. + + + + +VII + +THE PLACE OF SCIENCE IN EDUCATION + +By W. BATESON + +Director of the John Innes Horticultural Institution + + +That secondary education in England fails to do what it might is +scarcely in dispute. The magnitude of the failure will be appreciated +by those who know what other countries accomplish at a fraction of the +cost. Beyond the admission that something is seriously wrong there is +little agreement. We are told that the curriculum is too exclusively +classical, that the classes are too large, the teaching too dull, the +boys too much away from home, the examination-system too oppressive, +athletics overdone. All these things are probably true. Each cause +contributes in its degree to the lamentable result. Yet, as it seems +to me, we may remove them all without making any great improvement. +All the circumstances may be varied, but that intellectual apathy +which has become so marked a characteristic of English life, +especially of English public and social life, may not improbably +continue. Why nations pass into these morbid phases no one can tell. +The spirit of the age, that "polarisation of society" as Tarde[1] +used to call it, in a definite direction, is brought about by no cause +that can be named as yet. It will remain beyond volitional control at +least until we get some real insight into social physiology. That the +attitude or pose of the average Englishman towards education, +knowledge, and learning is largely a phenomenon of infectious +imitation we know. But even if we could name the original, perhaps +real, perhaps fictional, person--for in all likelihood there was such +an one--whom English society in its folly unconsciously selected as a +model, the knowledge would advance us little. The psychology of +imitation is still impenetrable and likely to remain so. The simple +interpretation of our troubles as a form of sloth--a travelling along +lines of least resistance--can scarcely be maintained. For first there +have been times when learning and science were the fashion. Whether +society benefited directly therefrom may, in passing, be doubted, but +certainly learning did. Secondly there are plenty of men who under the +pressure of fashion devote much effort to the improvement of their +form in fatuous sports, which otherwise applied would go a +considerable way in the improvement of their minds and in widening +their range of interests. + +Of late things have become worse. In the middle of the nineteenth +century a perfunctory and superficial acquaintance with recent +scientific discovery was not unusual among the upper classes, and the +scientific world was occasionally visited even by the august. These +slender connections have long since withered away. This decline in the +public estimation of science and scientific men has coincided with a +great increase both in the number of scientific students and in the +provision for teaching science. It has occurred also in the period +during which something of the full splendour and power of science has +begun to be revealed. Great regions of knowledge have been penetrated +by the human mind. The powers of man over nature have been multiplied +a hundredfold. The fate of nations hangs literally on the issue of +contemporary experiments in the laboratory; but those who govern the +Empire are quite content to know nothing of all this. Intercommunication +between government departments and scientific advisers has of course +much developed. That, even in this country, was inevitable. Otherwise +the Empire might have collapsed long since. Experts in the sciences +are from time to time invited to confer with heads of Departments and +even Cabinet Ministers, explaining to them, as best they may, the +rudiments of their respective studies, but such occasional +night-school talks to the great are an inadequate recognition of the +position of science in a modern State. Science is not a material to be +bought round the corner by the dram, but the one permanent and +indispensable light in which every action and every policy must be +judged. + +To scientific men this is so evident that they are unable to imagine +what the world looks like to other people. They cannot realise that by +a majority of even the educated classes the phenomena of nature and +the affairs of mankind are still seen through the old screens of +mystery and superstition. The man of science regards nature as in +great and ever increasing measure a soluble problem. For the layman +such inquiries are either indifferent and somewhat absurd, or, if they +attract his attention at all, are interesting only as possible sources +of profit. I suspect that the distinction between these two classes of +mind is not to any great degree a product of education. + +It is contemporary commonplace that if science were more prominent in +our educational system everybody would learn it and things would come +all right. That interest in science would be extended is probable. +There is in the population a residuum of which we will speak later, +who would profit by the opportunity; but that the congenitally +unscientific, the section from which the heads of government temporal +and spiritual, the lawyers, administrators, politicians, the classes +upon whose minds the public life of this country almost wholly +depends, would by imbibition of scientific diet at any period of life, +however early, be essentially altered seems in a high degree unlikely. +Of the converse case we have long experience, and I would ask those +who entertain such sanguine expectations, whether the results of +administering literature to scientific boys give much encouragement to +their views. This consideration brings us to the one hard, +physiological fact that should form the foundation of all educational +schemes: the congenital diversity of the individual types. Education +has too long been regarded as a kind of cookery: put in such and such +ingredients in given proportions and a definite product will emerge. +But living things have not the uniformity which this theory of +education assumes. Our population is a medley of many kinds which will +continue heterogeneous, to whatever system of education they are +submitted, just as various types of animals maintain their several +characteristics though nourished on identical food, or as you may see +various sorts of apples remaining perfectly distinct though grafted on +the same stock. Their diversity is congenital. + +According to the proposal of the reformers the natural sciences should +be universally taught and be given "capital importance" in the +examinations for the government services, but, cordially as we may +approve the suggestion, we ought to consider what exactly its adoption +is likely to effect. The intention of the proposal is doubtless that +our public servants, especially the highest of them, shall, while +preserving the great qualities they now possess, add also a knowledge +of science and especially scientific habits of mind. Such is the +"ample proposition that hope makes." Does experience of men accord +with it at all? Education, whether we like it or not, is a selective +agency. I doubt whether the change proposed will sensibly alter the +characters of the group on whom our choice at present falls. Rather, +if forced upon an unwilling community, must it act by substituting +another group. The most probable result would not be that the type of +men who now fill great positions would become scientific, but rather +that their places would be taken by men of an altogether distinct +mental type. At the present time these two types of men meet but +little. They scarcely know each other. Their differences are profound, +affecting thoughts, ways of looking at things, and mental interests of +every kind. If either could for a moment see the world with the vision +of the other he would be amazed, but to do so he would need at least +to be born again, and probably, as Samuel Butler remarked, of +different parents. No doubt the abler man of either type could learn +with more or less effort or unreadiness the subject-matter and +principles of the other's business, but any one who has watched the +habits of the two classes will perceive that for them in any real +sense to exchange interests, or that either should adopt the scheme of +proportion which the other assigns to the events of nature and of +life, a metamorphosis well nigh miraculous must be presupposed. + +The Bishop of London speaking lately on behalf of the National Mission +said that nature helped him to believe in God, and as evidence for his +belief referred to the fact that we are not "blown off" this earth as +it rushes through space, declaring that this catastrophe had been +averted because "Some one" had wrapped seventy miles of atmosphere +round our planet[2]. Does any one think that the Bishop's slip was in +fact due to want of scientific teaching at Marlborough? His chances of +knowing about Sir Isaac Newton, etc., etc., have been as good as those +of many familiar with the accepted version. I would rather suppose +that such sublunary problems had not interested him in the least, and +that he no more cared how we happen to stick on the earth's surface +than St Paul cared how a grain of wheat or any other seed germinates +beneath it, when he similarly was betrayed into an unfortunate +illustration. + +So too on the famous occasion--always cited in these debates--when a +Home Secretary defended the Government for having permitted the +importation of fats into Germany on the ground that the discovery that +glycerine could be made from fat was a recent advance in chemistry, he +was not showing the defects of a literary education so much as a want +of interest in the problems of nature, and the subject-matter of +science at large. It is to be presumed indeed that neither fats, nor +glycerine, nor the dependent problem how living bodies are related to +the world they inhabit, had ever before seemed to him interesting. Nor +can we suppose they would, even if chemistry were substituted for +Greek in Responsions. + +The difficulty in obtaining full recognition for science lies deeper +than this. It is a part of public opinion or taste which may well +survive changes in the educational system. Blunders about science like +those illustrated above are soon excused. Few think much the worse of +the perpetrators, whereas a corresponding obliviousness to language, +history, literature, and indeed to learning other than their own which +we of the scientific fraternity have agreed to condone in our members +is incompatible with public life of a high order. Both classes have +their disabilities. That of the scientific side is well expressed in +an incident which befell the late Professor Hales. Examining in the +Little-Go _viva voce_, he asked a candidate, with reference to some +line in a Greek play, what passage in Shakespeare it recalled to him, +and received the answer "Please, sir, I am a mathematical man." Some, +no doubt, would rather ignore gravitation. When, for example, one +hears, as I did not long since, several scientific students own in +perfect sincerity that they could not recall anything about Ananias +and Sapphira and another, more enlightened, say that he was sure +Ananias was a name for a liar though he could not tell why, one is +driven to admit that ignorance of this special but not uncommon kind +does imply more than inability to remember an old legend. We may be +reluctant to confess the fact, but though most scientific men have +some recreation, often even artistic in nature, we have with rare +exceptions withdrawn from the world in which letters, history and the +arts have immediate value, and simple allusions to these topics find +us wanting. Of the two kinds of disability which is the more grave? +Truly gross ignorance of science darkens more of a man's mental +horizon, and in its possible bearing on the destinies of a race is far +more dangerous than even total blindness to the course of human +history and endeavour; and yet it is difficult to question the popular +verdict that to know nothing of gravitation though ridiculous is +venial, while to know nothing of Ananias is an offence which can never +be forgiven. + +That is the real difficulty. The people of this country have +definitely preferred the unscientific type, holding the other +virtually in contempt. Their choice may be right or wrong, but that it +is reversible seems unlikely. Such revolutions in public opinion are +rare events. Democracy moreover inevitably worships and is swayed by +the spoken word. As inevitably, the range and purposes of science +daily more and more transcend the comprehension--even the educated +comprehension--of the vulgar, who will of course elevate the nimble +and versatile, speaking a familiar language, above dull and +inarticulate natural philosophers. + +In these discussions there is a disposition to forget how very largely +natural science is already included in the educational curriculum both +at schools and universities. Schools subsidised by the Board of +Education are obliged to provide science-teaching. The public schools +have equipment, in some cases a superb equipment, for teaching at +least physics and chemistry. At the newer universities there are great +and vigorous schools of science. Of the old universities Cambridge +stands out as a chief centre of scientific activity. In several +branches of science Cambridge is without question pre-eminent. The +endowments both of the university and the colleges are freely used for +the advancement of the sciences. Not only in these material ways are +scientific studies in no sense neglected, but the position of the +sciences is recognised and even envied by those who follow other kinds +of learning. The scientific schools of Cambridge form perhaps the +dominant force among the resident body of the university, and except +by virtue of some great increase in the endowments, it would be +impossible to extend further the scientific side of Cambridge and +still maintain other forms of intellectual activity in such proportion +as to preserve that healthy co-ordination which is the life of a great +university. + +At Oxford the case is no doubt very different. The measure in which +the sciences are esteemed appears only too plainly in the small +proportion of Fellowships filled by men of science. Progress has +nevertheless begun. At the remarkable Conference called in May, 1916, +to protest against the neglect of science it was noticeable that the +speakers were, in overwhelming majority, Oxford men[3]. + +Among the educational institutions of England there is no general +neglect to provide teaching of natural science and much of the +language used in reference to the problem of reform is not really in +accord with fact. Probably no boy able to afford a good secondary +school, certainly none able to proceed to a university, is debarred +from scientific teaching merely because it does not "form an integral +part" of the curriculum. This alone suffices to prove that the real +cause of the deplorable neglect of science is to be sought elsewhere. +The fundamental difficulty is that which has been already indicated, +that public taste and judgment deliberately prefers the type known as +literary, or as it might with more propriety be designated, "vocal." +In the schools there is no lack of science teaching, but the small +percentage of boys whose minds develop early and whose general +capacity for learning and aptitude for affairs mark them out as +leaders, rarely have much instinct for science, and avoid such +teaching, finding it irksome and unsatisfying. These it is, who going +afterwards to the universities, in preponderating numbers to Oxford, +make for themselves a congenial atmosphere, disturbed only by faint +ripples of that vast intellectual renascence in which the new shape of +civilisation is forming. With self-complacency unshaken, they assume +in due course charge of Church and State, the Press, and in general +the leadership of the country. As lawyers and journalists they do our +talking for us, let who will do the thinking. Observe that their +strength lies in the possession of a special gift, which under the +conditions of democratic government has a prodigious opportunity. +Uncomfortable as the reflection may be, it is not to be denied that +the countries in which science has already attained the greatest +influence and recognition in public affairs are Germany and Japan, +where the opinions of the ignorant are not invited. But facts must be +recognised, and our government is likely to remain in the hands of +those who have the gift of speech. A general substitution of +scientific men for the "vocal" could scarcely be achieved, even if the +change were desirable. The utmost limit of success which the +conditions admit is some inoculation of scientific interest and ideas +upon the susceptible members of the classes already preferred. That a +large proportion of those persons are in the biological sense +resistant to all such influences must be expected. Granting however +that a section perhaps even the majority, of our [Greek: beltistoi] +may prove unamenable to the influences of science no one can doubt +that under the present system of education a proportion of not +unintelligent boys in practice have little option. From earliest youth +classics are offered to them as almost the sole vehicle of education. +They do sufficiently well in classics, as they probably would on any +other curriculum, to justify themselves and their advisers in thinking +that they have made a good beginning to which it is safer to stick. +The system has a huge momentum, and so, holding to the "great wheel" +that goes up the hill, they let it draw them after. In their protest +against the monotony of the courses provided for young boys the +reformers are right. The trouble is not that science is not taught in +the schools, but that in schools of the highest type, with certain +exceptions, the young boys are not offered it. + +Realising the determinism which modern biological knowledge has +compelled us to accept, we suspect that the power of education to +modify the destinies of individuals is relatively small. Abrogating +larger hopes we recognise education in its two scientific aspects, as +a selective agency, but equally as a provision of opportunity. In view +therefore of the congenital diversity of the individual types, that +provision should be as diverse and manifold as possible, and the very +first essential in an adequate scheme of education is that to the +minds of the young something of everything should be offered, some +part of all the kinds of intellectual sustenance in which the minds of +men have grown and rejoiced. That should be the ideal. Nothing of +varied stimulus or attraction that can be offered should be withheld. +So only will the young mind discover its aptitudes and powers. This +ideal education should bring all into contact with _beauty_ as seen +first in literature, ancient and modern, with the great models of art +and the patterns of nobility of thought and of conduct; and no less +should it show to all the _truth_ of the natural world, the changeless +systems of the universe, as revealed in astronomy or in chemistry, +something too of the truth about life, what we animals really are, +what our place and what our powers, a truth ungarbled whether by +prudery or mysticism. + +But presented with this ideal the schoolmaster will reply that +something of everything means nothing _thorough_. I know the objection +and what it commonly stands for. It is the cloak and pretext for that +accursed pedantry and cant which turns every sort of teaching to a +blight. Thoroughness is the excuse for giving boys grammar and +accidence in the name of Greek: diagrams, formulae and numerical +examples in the name of science. Stripped of disguise this love of +thoroughness is nothing but an indolent resolve to make things easy +for the teacher, and, worse still, for the examiner. Live teaching is +hard work. It demands continual freshness and a mind alert. The +dullest man can hear irregular verbs, and with the book he knows +whether they are said right or wrong, but to take a text and show +what the passage means to the world, to reconstruct the scene and the +conditions in which it was written, to show the origins and the fruits +of ideas or of discoveries, demand qualities of a very different +order. The plea for thoroughness may no doubt be offered in perfect +sincerity. There are plenty of men, especially among those who desire +the office of a pedagogue, whose field of vision is constricted to a +slit. If they were painters their work would be in the slang of the +day, "tight." One small group of facts they see hard and sharp, +without atmosphere or value. Their own knowledge having no capacity +for extension, no width or relationship to the world at large, they +cannot imagine that breadth in itself may be a merit. Adepts in a +petty erudition without vital antecedents or consequences, they would +willingly see the world shrivel to the dimensions of their own +landscape. + +Anticipating here the applause of the reforming party, to avoid +misapprehension let it be expressly observed that pedantry of this +sort is in no sense the special prerogative of teachers of classics. +We meet it everywhere. Among teachers of science the type abounds, and +from the papers set in any Natural Sciences Tripos, not to speak of +scholarship examinations of every kind, it would be possible to +extract question after question that ought never to have been set, +referring to things that need never have been taught, and knowledge +that no one but a pedant would dream of carrying in his head for a +week. + +The splendid purpose which science serves is the inculcation of +principle and balance, not facts. There is something horrible and +terrifying in the doctrine so often preached, reiterated of course by +speaker after speaker at the "Neglect of Science" meeting, that +science is to be preferred because of its utility. If the choice were +really between dead classics and dead science, or if science is to be +vivified by an infusion of commercial, utilitarian spirit, then a +thousand times rather let us keep to the classics as the staple of +education. They at least have no "use." At least they hold the keys to +the glorious places, to the fulness of literature and to the +thoughtful speech of all kindred nations, nor are they demeaned with +sordid, shop-keeper utility. This was plainly in the mind of the Poet +Laureate, who speaking at the meeting I have referred to, said well +that "a merely utilitarian science can never win the spiritual respect +of mankind." The main objection that the humanists make to the +introduction of natural science as a necessary subject of education, +is, he declared, that science is not spiritual, that it does not work +in the sphere of ideas. He went on very properly to show how perverse +is such a representation of science, but, alas, in further +recommendation of science as a safe subject of instruction he added +that the antagonism of science to religion is ended, and that the +contest had been a passing phase. Reading this we may wonder whether +we are in fairness entitled to Dr Bridges's approval. "Tastes sweet +the water with such specks of earth?" Since he spoke of the +"unscientific attitude" of Professor Huxley as a thing of the past, +candour obliges us to insist emphatically that the struggle continues +and must perpetually be renewed. Huxley was opposing the teaching of +science to that of revelation. In these days the ground has shifted, +and supernatural teachings make preferably their defence by an appeal +to intuition and other obscure phenomena which can be trusted to defy +investigation. Against all such apocryphal glosses of evidential truth +science protests with equal vehemence, and were Huxley here he would +treat Bergson and his allies with the same scorn and contumely that he +meted out to the Bishop of Oxford on the notorious occasion to which +Dr Bridges made reference. As well might we decorate our writings with +Plantin title-pages, showing the author embraced by angels and +inspiring muses, as recommend ourselves in these disguises. + +Agnosticism is the very life and mainspring of science. Not merely as +to the supernatural but as to the natural world must science believe +nothing save under compulsion. Little of value has a man got from +science who has not learned to be slow of faith. Those early lessons +in the study of the natural world will be the best which most frankly +declare our ignorance, exciting the mind to attack the unknown by +showing how soon the frontier of knowledge is reached. "We don't know" +should be ever in the mouth of the teacher, followed sometimes by "we +may find out yet." Not merely to the investigator but to the pupil the +interest of science is strongest in the growing edges of knowledge. +The student should be transported thither with the briefest possible +delay. Details of those parts of science which by present means of +investigation are worked out and reduced to general expressions are +dull and lifeless. Many and many a boy has been repelled, gathering +from what he hears in class that science is a catalogue of names and +facts interminable. + +In childhood he may have felt curiosity about nature and the common +impulse to watch and collect, but when he begins scientific lessons he +discovers too often that they relate not even to the kind of fact +which nature is for him, or to the subjects of his early curiosity and +wonder, but to things that have no obvious interest at all, +measurements of mechanical forces, reaction-formulae, and similar +materials. + +All these, it is true, man has gradually accumulated with infinite +labour; upon them, and of such materials has the great fabric of +science been reared: but to insist that the approaches to science +shall be open only to those who will surmount these gratuitous +obstacles is mere perversity. Men's minds do not work in that way. How +many would discover the grandeur of a Gothic building if they were +prevented from seeing one until they could work out stresses and +strains, date mouldings, and even perhaps cut templates? Most of us, +to be sure, enjoy the cathedrals more when we acquire some such +knowledge, and those who are to be architects must acquire it, but we +can scarcely be astonished if beginners turn away in disgust from +science presented on those terms. + +It is from considerations of this kind that I am led to believe that +for most boys the easiest and most attractive introduction to science +is from the biological side. Admittedly chemistry is the more +fundamental study, and some rudimentary chemical notions must be +imparted very early, but if the framework subject-matter be animals +and plants, very sensible progress in realising what science means and +aims at doing will have been made before the things of daily life are +left behind. These first formal lessons in science should continue and +extend the boy's own attempts to find out how the world is made. + +I shall be charged with running counter both to common sense and to +authority in expressing parenthetically the further conviction that, +in biology at least, laboratory work is now largely overdone. Whether +this is so at schools I cannot tell, but at the universities whole +mornings and afternoons spent in making elaborate preparations, +drawings and series of sections, are frequently wasted. These courses +were devised with the highest motives. Students were to "find out +everything for themselves." Generally they are doing nothing of the +kind. It may have been so once, but with text-books perfected and +teaching stereotyped, the more industrious are slavishly verifying +what has been verified repeatedly, or at best acquiring manipulative +skill. The rest are doing nothing whatever. They would be better +employed taking a walk, devilling for some investigator, browsing in +museums or libraries, or even arguing with each other. Certainly a few +lessons in the use of indexes and books of reference would be far more +valuable. Students of every grade must of course do some laboratory +work, and all should see as much material as possible. My protest is +solely against those long, torpid hours compulsorily given to labour +which will lead to nothing of novelty, and serves only to teach what +can be got readily in other ways. There are a few whose souls crave +such employment. By all means let them follow it. + +But whatever is good for maturer students, biology for schoolboys +should be of a less academic cast. + +The natural history of animals and plants has the obvious merit that +it prolongs the inborn curiosity of youth, that its subject-matter is +universally at hand, accessible in holidays and in the absence of +teachers or laboratories, and best of all that through biological +study the significance of science appears immediately, disclosing the +true story of man's relation to the world. From natural history the +transition to the other sciences, especially to chemistry and physics, +is easy and again natural. In the study of life many of the +fundamental conceptions of those sciences are met with on the +threshold, and boys whose aptitudes are rather of the physical order +will at once feel the impulse to follow nature from that aspect. +Biology is the more inclusive study. A man may be a good chemist and +miss the broad meaning of science altogether, being sometimes indeed +more devoid of such comprehension than many a philosopher fresh from +Classical Greats. + +In appealing for a progress from the general to the particular I am +not blind to the dangers. Biology for the young readily degenerates +into a mawkish "nature-study," or all-for-the-best claptrap about +adaptation, but a sure remedy is the strong tonic of agnosticism, +teaching one of the best lessons science has to offer, the resolute +rejection of authority. + +Some take comfort in the hope that all subjects may be taught as +branches of science, but the fact that must permanently postpone +arrival at this educational Utopia is that a great proportion of +teachers are not and can never be made scientific. Nothing proceeding +from such persons will by the working of any schedule, regulation, or +even Order of the Board be ever made to bear any colourable +resemblance to science. Moreover as has already been indicated, there +are plenty of pupils also who will flourish and probably reach their +highest development taught by unscientific men, pupils whose minds +would be sterilised or starved by that very nourishment which to our +thinking is the more generous. Were we a homogeneous population one +diet for all might be justifiable, but as things are, we should offer +the greatest possible variety. + +From Rousseau onwards educationists, deriving their views, I suppose, +from some metaphysical or theological conception of human equality, +speak continually of the "mind of the child" as if the young of our +species conformed to a single type. If the general spread of +biological knowledge serves merely to expose that foolish assumption +there would be progress to record. Dr Blakeslee[4], a well-known +American biologist, lately gave a good illustration of this. In a +paper on education he showed photographs of two varieties of maize. +The ripe fruits of both are colourless if their sheaths be unbroken. +The one, if exposed to the light before ripening, by rupture of its +sheath, turns red. The second, otherwise indistinguishable, acquires +no red colour though uncovered to the full sun. If these maizes were +two boys, not improbably the one would be caned for failing to respond +to treatment so efficacious in the case of the other. When we hear +that such a man has developed too exclusively one side of his nature, +with what propriety do we assume that he had any other side to +develop? Or when we say that such-and-such a course of study tends to +make boys too exclusively literary, or scientific, or what not, do we +not really mean that it provides too exclusively for those whose +aptitudes are of these respective kinds? Living in the midst of a +mongrel population we note the divers powers of our fellows and we +thoughtlessly imagine that if something different had happened to us, +we can't say what, we should have been able to rival them. A little +honest examination of our powers shows how vain are such suppositions. +The right course is to make some provision for all sorts, since +unscientific teaching and unscientific persons will remain with us +always. + +Teaching of this universal and undifferentiated sort, provided for all +in common, should be continued up to the age at which pupils begin to +show their tastes and aptitudes, in general about 16, after which +stage such latitude of choice should be given as the resources of the +school can provide. + +Of what should the undifferentiated teaching consist? Coming from a +cultivated home a boy of 10 may be expected to have learned the +rudiments of Latin, and at least one modern language, preferably +French, _colloquially_, arithmetic, outlines of geography, tales from +Plutarch and from other histories. Going to a preparatory school he +will read easy Latin texts _with translations_ and notes; French +books, geography including the elements of astronomy, beginning also +algebra and geometry. At 12 dropping French except perhaps a reading +once a week, he will begin Greek, by means of easy passages again with +the translations beside him, continuing the rest as before. +Transferred at 14-1/2 to a public school he will go on with Latin, +starting Latin prose, Greek texts, again read fast with translations. +He will now have his first formal introduction to science in the guise +of biology, leading up to lessons and demonstrations in chemistry and +physics. At about 16-1/2 he may drop classics _or mathematics_ +according as his tastes have declared themselves, adding modern +languages instead, continuing science in all cases, greater or less in +amount according to his proclivities. + +Boys with special mathematical ability will of course need special +treatment. Moreover provision of German for all has avowedly not been +made. For all it is desirable and for many indispensable. But as the +number who read it for pleasure, never very large, seems likely to +diminish, German may perhaps be reserved as a tool, the use of which +must be acquired when necessary. + +Such a scheme, I submit, makes no impossible demand on the time-table, +allowing indeed many spare hours for accessory subjects such as +readings in English or history. Note the main features of this +programme. The time for things worth learning is found by dropping +_grammar_ as a subject of special study. There are to be no lessons in +grammar or accidence as such, nor of course any verse compositions +except for older boys specialising in classics. _Mathematics_ also is +treated as a subject which need not be carried beyond the rudiments +unless mathematical or physical ability is shown. For other boys it +leads literally nowhere, being a road impassable. + +All the languages are to be taught as we learn them in later life, +when the desire or necessity arises, by means of easy passages with +the translation at our side. Our present practice not only fails to +teach languages but it succeeds in teaching how _not_ to learn a +language. Who thinks of beginning Russian by studying the "aspects" of +the verbs, or by committing to memory the 28 paradigms which German +grammarians have devised on the analogy of Latin declensions? +Auxiliary verbs are the pedagogue's delight, but who begins Spanish by +trying to discriminate between _tener_ and _haber_, or _ser_ and +_estar_, or who learns tables of exceptions to improve his French? +These things come by use or not at all. + +If languages are treated not as lessons but as vehicles of speech, and +if the authors are read so that we may find out what they say and how +they say it, and at such a pace that we follow the train of thought or +the story, all who have any sense of language at all can attend and +with pleasure too. What chance has a boy of enjoying an author when he +knows him only as a task to be droned through, thirty lines at a time? +Small blame to the pupil who never discovers that the great authors +were men of like passions with ourselves, that the Homeric songs were +made to be shouted at feasts to heroes full of drink and glory, that +Herodotus is telling of wonders that his friends, and we too, want to +hear, that in the tragedies we hear the voice of Sophocles dictating, +choked with emotion and tears; that even Roman historians wrote +because they had something to tell, and Caesar, dull proser that he +is, composed the _Commentaries_ not to provide us with style or +grammatical curiosities, but as a record of extraordinary events. To +get into touch with any author he must be read at a good pace, and by +reading of that kind there is plenty of time for a boy before he +reaches 17 to make acquaintance with much of the best literature both +of Greek and Latin. + +Education must be brought up to date; but if in accomplishing that, we +lose Greek, it will have been sacrificed to obstinate formalism and +pedagogic tradition. The defence of classics as a basis of education +is generally misrepresented by opponents. The unique value of the +classics is not in any begetting of literary style. We are thinking of +readers not of writers. Much of the best literature is the work of +unlettered men, as they never tire of telling us, but it is for the +enjoyment and understanding of books and of the world that continuity +with the past should be maintained. John Bunyan wrote sterling prose, +knowing no language but his own. But how much could he read? What +judgments could he form? We want also to keep classics and especially +Greek as the bountiful source of material and of colour, decoration +for the jejune lives of common men. If classics cease to be generally +taught and become the appanage of a few scholars, the gulf between the +literary and the scientific will be made still wider. Milton will need +more explanatory notes than O. Henry. Who will trouble about us +scientific students then? We shall be marked off from the beginning, +and in the world of laboratories Hector, Antigone and Pericles will +soon share the fate of poor Ananias and Sapphira. + +I come now to the gravest part of the whole question. We plead for the +preservation of literature, especially classical literature, as the +staple of education in the name of beauty and understanding: but no +less do we demand science in the name of truth and advancement. Given +that our demand succeeds, what consequences may we expect? Nothing +immediate, as I fear. In opening the discussion it was argued that +even if scientific knowledge be widely diffused, any great change in +the composition of the ruling classes is scarcely attainable under +present conditions of social organisation. Even if science stand equal +with classics in examinations for the services the general tenor of +the public mind will in all likelihood be undisturbed. Yet it is for +such a revolution that science really calls, and come it will in any +community dominated by natural knowledge. Science saves us from +blunders about glycerine, shows how to economise fuel and to make +artificial nitrates, but these, though they decide national destinies, +are merely the sheaf of the wave-offering: the harvest is behind. For +natural knowledge is destined to give man not only a direct control of +the material world but new interpretations of higher problems. Though +we in England make a stand upon the ancient way, peoples elsewhere +will move on. Those who have grasped the meaning of science, +especially biological science, are feeling after new rules of conduct. +The old criteria based on ignorance have little worth. "Rights," +whether of persons or of nations, may be abstractions well-founded in +law or philosophy, but the modern world sooner or later will annul +them. + +The general ignorance of science has lasted so long that we have +virtually two codes of right and duty, that founded on natural truth +and that emanating from tradition, which almost alone finds public +expression in this country. Whether we look at the cruelty which +passes for justice in our criminal courts, at the prolongation of +suffering which custom demands as a part of medical ethics, at this +very question of education, or indeed at any problem of social life, +we see ahead and know that science proclaims wiser and gentler creeds. +When in the wider sphere of national policy we read the declared +ideals of statesmen, we turn away with a shrug. They bid us exalt +national sentiment as a purifying and redeeming influence, and in the +next breath proclaim that the sole way to avert the ruin now menacing +the world is to guarantee to all nations freedom to develop, +"unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid." So, forsooth, are we to end war. +Nature laughs at such dreams. The life of one is the death of another. +Where are the teeming populations of the West Indies, where the +civilisations of Mexico or of Peru, where are the blackfellows of +Australia? Since means of subsistence are limited, the fancy that one +group can increase or develop save at the expense of another is an +illusion, instantly dissipated by appeal to biological fact, nor would +a biologist-statesman look for permanent stability in a multiplication +of competing communities, some vigorous, others worthless, but all +growing in population. Rather must a people familiar with science see +how small and ephemeral a thing is the pride of nations, knowing that +both the peace of the world and the progress of civilisation are to be +sought not by the hardening of national boundaries but in the +substitution of cosmopolitan for national aspiration. + +[Footnote 1: _Les Lois de l'Imitation_, 1911, p. 87.] + +[Footnote 2: Reported in _Evening Standard_, 11 Sept. 1916.] + +[Footnote 3: Two Cambridge men spoke, one being Lord Rayleigh, the +Chairman, and ten Oxford men, besides one originally Cambridge, for +several years an Oxford professor.] + +[Footnote 4: _Journ. of Heredity_, VIII. 1917, p. 53.] + + + + +VIII + +ATHLETICS + +By F. B. MALIM + +Master of Haileybury College + + +At a conference held by the Froebel Society in January, 1917, the +subject for discussion was the employment of women teachers in boys' +schools. With some of the questions considered, whether women should +have shorter hours than men, whether they are capable of enforcing +discipline, and the like, I am not now concerned; but I was interested +to hear from one speaker after another that a woman was at a real +disadvantage in a boys' school, because she could not take part in the +games. The speakers did not come from the public schools, whose +devotion to athletics constitutes, we are sometimes told, a public +danger, but mainly from primary and secondary day schools in London. +But none the less it was assumed that a boy's games are an essential +part of his education. The same assumption is made by the managers of +boys' clubs and similar organisations which are endeavouring to carry +on the education of boys who have left the elementary schools at the +age of fourteen. In spite of the great difficulty of finding grounds +to play on in the neighbourhood of great towns, cricket and football +are encouraged by any possible means among the working lads of our +industrial centres. Games are more and more being regarded as a +desirable element in the education of the British boy, and are +provided for him and organised for him by those responsible for his +environment. But this is quite a modern development. I have been told +by one who was at Marlborough in the very early days of that school, +that so far were the authorities from providing any means of playing +cricket, that the boys themselves were obliged to subscribe small sums +for the purchase of the necessary material. The book containing the +names of the subscribers fell into the hands of the head master, who +gated for the term all boys on the list, assuming without inquiry that +they were the clients of a juvenile bookmaker. + +When we ask why we have come to regard games as a part of a boy's +education, we shall naturally answer first that a full education is +concerned with the proper development of the body. For this purpose we +may employ the old fashioned gymnastic exercises, the modern Swedish +exercises or outdoor games. And of these the greatest is games. "So +far," says Dr. Saleeby, "as true race culture is concerned, we should +regard our muscles merely as servants or instruments of the will. +Since we have learnt to employ external forces for our purposes, the +mere bulk of a muscle is now a matter of little importance. Of the +utmost importance, on the other hand, is the power to coordinate and +graduate the activity of our muscles, so that they may become highly +trained servants. This is a matter however not of muscle at all, but +of nervous education. Its foundation cannot be laid by mechanical +things, like dumb-bells and exercises, but by games in which will and +purpose and co-ordination are incessantly employed. In other words the +only physical culture worth talking about is nervous culture. The +principles here laid down are daily defied in very large measure in +our nurseries, our schools and our barrack yards. The play of a child, +spontaneous and purposeful, is supremely human and characteristic. +Although when considered from the outside, it is simply a means of +muscular development, properly considered it is really the means of +nervous development. Here we see muscles used as human muscles should +be used, as instruments of mind. In schools the same principles should +be recognised. From the biological and psychological point of view, +the playing field is immensely superior to the gymnasium[1]." + +It would be a mistake to under-estimate the value of the Swedish +system of physical exercises. Its object is not the abnormal +development of muscle, but the production of a healthy, alert and well +balanced body. The military authorities in the last three years have +been confronted with the problem of restoring promptness of movement, +erectness of carriage, poise and flexibility to numbers of men whose +muscles have been given a one-sided development by the constant +performance of one kind of manual work, or have grown flabby by long +sitting at a desk, and the task would have been much less successfully +tackled without the aid of the Swedish methods. In schools these +exercises may be used with real benefit given two conditions, small +classes and a really skilled instructor. For the value a boy derives +from the exercises, to a very large extent depends upon himself, on +the concentration of his own will. It is almost impossible to make +sure in a large class that this concentration is given, and any kind +of exercise done without purpose or resolution rapidly degenerates +into the most useless gesticulations. But though we may use physical +exercises as an aid, I should be sorry to see them ever regarded as a +substitute for games. Even supposing that they were an adequate +substitute in the development of the body (which I doubt) they cannot +claim to have an effect at all comparable to that of games in the +development of character. Sometimes the most extravagant claims are +put forward on behalf of athletics as a school of character, almost as +extravagant as are the terms in which at other times the "brutal +athlete" is denounced. I don't think it is found by experience that +athletes cherish higher ideals or are more humble-minded than their +less muscular fellows; I doubt if they become more charitable in their +judgments or more liberal in their giving. We must carefully limit the +claims we make, and then we shall find that we have surer grounds to +go on. What virtues can we reasonably suppose to be developed by +games? First I should put physical courage. It certainly requires +courage to collar a fast and heavy opponent at football, to fall on +the ball at the feet of a charging pack or to stand up to fast bowling +on a bumpy wicket. Schoolboy opinion is rightly intolerant of a +"funk," and we should not attach too small a value to this first of +the manly virtues. Considering as we must the virtues which we are to +develop in a nation, we realise that for the security of the nation +courage in her young men is indispensable. That it has been bred in +the sons of England is attested by the fields of Flanders and the +beaches of Gallipoli. We shall therefore give no heed to those who +decry the danger of some schoolboy games. For we shall remember that +just as few things that are worth gaining can be won without toil, so +there are some things which can only be won by taking risks. Few +things are less attractive in a boy than the habit of playing for +safety; in the old prudence is natural and perhaps admirable, in the +young it is precocious and unlovely. But we need not introduce +unnecessary risk by the matching of boys of unequal size and age. The +practice, for example, of house games in which the boys of one house +play together, without regard to size or skill, is very much inferior +to an organisation of games by means of "sets," graded solely by the +proficiency which boys have shown. In each set boys are matched with +others whose skill approximates to their own; they are not overpowered +by the strength of older boys and can get the proper enjoyment from +the display of such skill as they possess. + +And as we desire our games to foster the spirit that faces danger, so +we shall wish them to foster the spirit that faces hardship, the +spirit of endurance. That is why I think that golf and lawn tennis are +not fit school games; they are not painful enough. I am afraid we +ought on the same ground to let racquets go, though for training in +alertness and sheer skill, in the nice harmony of eye and hand +racquets has no equal. But cricket, football, hockey, fives can all be +painful enough; often victory is only to be won by a clinching of the +teeth and the sternest resolve to "stick to it" in face of exhaustion. +This is the merit of two forms of athletics which have been oftenest +the subject of attack, rowing and running. Both of course should be +carefully watched by the school doctor; for both careful training is +necessary. But a sport which encourages boys to deny themselves +luxuries, to scorn ease, to conquer bodily weariness by the exercise +of the will, is not one which should be banished because for some the +spirit has triumphed to the hurt of the flesh. In a self-indulgent age +when sometimes it has seemed that the gibe of our enemies is true, +that the most characteristic English word is "comfort," it is good to +retain in our schools some forms of activity in which comfort is never +considered at all. The Ithaca which was [Greek: hagathê koyrotrophos] +was also [Greek: trêcheia]. + +Again no boy can meet with real athletic success who has not learnt to +control his temper. It is not merely that public opinion despises the +man who is a bad loser; but that to lose your temper very often means +to lose the game. It may be true that a Rugby forward does not +develop his finest game until an opponent's elbow has met his nose and +given an extra spice to his onslaught. But in the majority of contests +the man who keeps his head will win. Notably this is true in boxing, a +fine instrument of education, whatever may be the objections to the +prize ring. So dispassionate a scientist as Professor Hall in his +monumental work on Adolescence, describes boxing as "a manly art, a +superb school for quickness of eye and hand, decision, full of will +and self-control. The moment this is lost, stinging punishment +follows. Hence it is the surest of all cures for excessive +irascibility, and has been found to have a most beneficial effect upon +a peevish or unmanly disposition." + +But perhaps the best lesson that a boy can learn from his games, is +the lesson that he must play for his side and not for himself. He does +not always learn it; the cricketer who plays for his average, the +three-quarters who tries to score himself, are not unknown, though +boyish opinion rightly condemns them. Popular school ethics are +thoroughly sound on this point, and it is the virtue of inter-school +and inter-house competitions, that in them a boy learns what it is to +forget self and to think of a cause. There is a society outside +himself which has its claim upon him, whose victory is his victory, +whose defeat is his defeat. Whether victory comes through him or +through another, is nothing so long as victory be won; later in life +men may play games for their health's sake or for enjoyment, but they +lose that thrill of intense patriotism, the more intense because of +the smallness of the society that arouses it, with which they battled +in the mud of some November day for the honour of their school or +house. Small wonder that when school-fellows meet after years of +separation, the memories to which they most gladly return, are the +memories of hard-won victories and manfully contested defeats. + +But victory must be won by fair means. There is a story (possibly +without historical foundation) that a foreign visitor to Oxford said +that the thing that struck him most in that great university was the +fact that there were 3000 men there who would rather lose a game than +win it by unfair means. It would be absurd to pretend that that spirit +is universal: the commercial organisation of professional football and +the development of betting have gone a long way to degrade a noble +sport. But the standard of fair play in school games is high, and it +is the encouragement of this spirit by cricket and football that +renders them so valuable an aid in the activities of boys' clubs in +artisan districts. It has been argued that the prevalence of this +generous temper among our troops has been a real handicap in war; that +we have too much regarded hostilities as a game in which there were +certain rules to be observed, and that when we found ourselves matched +against a foe whose object was to win by any means, fair or foul, the +soldiers who were fettered by the scruples of honour were necessarily +inferior to their unscrupulous foe. It has perhaps yet to be proved +that in the long run the unchivalrous fighter always wins, and I doubt +whether any of us would really prefer that even in war we should set +aside the scruples of fair play. But in the arts and pursuits of peace +that man is best equipped to play a noble part who realises that there +are rules in the great game of life which an honourable man will +respect, that there are advantages which he must not take. How often +does some rather inarticulate hero, who has refused some tempting +prospect or spurned some specious offer, explain his act of +self-denial by the simple phrase of his boyhood, "I thought it wasn't +quite playing the game." Schoolboy honour is not always a faultless +thing; sometimes it means the hiding of real iniquity. But the honour +of the playing field is a generous code, and to have learnt its rules +is to have learnt the best that the public opinion of a boy community +can teach. + +The chairman of a great engineering firm recently told the +Incorporated Association of Headmasters, that when he went to Oxford +to get recruits for his firm, he did not look for men who had got a +First in Greats, but for men who would have got a First, if they had +worked. For these men had probably given a good deal of their time to +rowing or games and had thereby learnt something of the art of dealing +with men. The student who sticks to his books learns many lessons, but +not this. To be captain of a house or of a school, and to do it well +is to practise the art of governing on a small scale. A sore +temptation to the schoolmaster is to interfere too much in school +games. He sees obvious mistakes being made, wrong tactics being +adopted, the wrong sides chosen, and he longs to interfere. He is +anxious for victories, and forgets that after all victories are a very +secondary business, that games are only a means, not an end, that if +he does not let the boys really govern and make their mistakes, the +game is failing to provide the training that it ought to give. It is +undoubted that schools which are carefully coached by competent +players, where the responsibility is largely taken out of the +captain's hands, are more likely to win their matches. But much is +lost, though the game may be won. The strong captain who goes his own +way, chooses his own side, frames his own tactics and inspires the +whole team with his own spirit, has had a practical training in the +management of men which will stand him in good stead in the greater +affairs of life. "We are not very well satisfied" said a War Office +official, "with the stamp of young officer we are getting. Many of +them never seem to have played a game in their lives, though they are +first-rate mathematicians." And there is no doubt that whether for war +or peace mathematics is not a substitute for leadership. + +Courage, endurance, self-control, public spirit, fair play, +leadership, these are the virtues which we find may be encouraged by +the practice of games at school. It is not a complete list of the +Christian virtues, perhaps rather we might call them Pagan virtues, +but it is a fine list for all that. And the best of it is that they +are as it were unconsciously learnt, acquired by practice, not by +inculcation. The boy who follows virtue for its own sake would be, I +fear, a sad prig, but the boy who follows a football for the sake of +his house, may develop virtue and enjoy the process. + +But what are we to put on the other side of the account? If it be true +that athletics is a fine school for character, what is the ground for +the frequent complaint that the public schools make a "fetish" of +athleticism? What precisely is the complaint? It is this, that boys +regard, and are encouraged to regard their games as the most important +side of their school life, that their interest in them is so +overpowering that they have no interest left for the development of +the intellect or the acquisition of knowledge, that prominent +athletes, not brilliant scholars, are the heroes of a boy community, +and that in consequence many men of the better nourished classes, +after they have left school, look upon their amusements as the main +business of life, give to them the industry and concentration which +should be bestowed upon science, letters or industry, and swell the +ranks of the amiable and incompetent amateur. It is argued that +schools are converted into pleasant athletic clubs, and that boys, +instead of learning there to work, merely learn to play. Now this is a +serious indictment; it is a good thing to learn to play, but it is not +the only thing a school should teach. Riding, shooting and speaking +the truth may have been an adequate curriculum for an ancient Persian, +but it would not provide a sufficient equipment to enable a man to +face the stress of modern competition, or to understand the +developments of the science and industry of to-day. + +Is too much time given to the playing of games? In winter time I +should say No. I suppose that if we include teaching hours and +preparation, a boy spends some six hours a day on his intellectual +work, or if you prefer, he is supposed to spend that time. A game of +football two or three times a week, does not last more than an hour +and a quarter; if you add a liberal allowance for changing and baths, +two hours is the whole time occupied. A game of fives or a physical +drill class need not demand more than an hour. The game that really +wastes time--and I am sorry to admit it--is cricket. I am not thinking +so much of the long waits in the pavilion when two batsmen on a side +are well set, and the rest have nothing to do but to applaud. I see no +way out of that difficulty, so long as wickets are prepared as they +are now by artistic groundsmen. I am thinking rather of the excessive +practice at nets. An enthusiastic house captain is apt to believe that +by assiduous practice the most unlikely and awkward recruit can be +converted into a useful batsman, and the result is that he will drive +all his house day after day to the nets, until they begin to loathe +the sight of a cricket ball. + +We should recognise that cricket is a game for the few; the majority +of boys can never make good cricketers. And happy are those schools +which are near a river and can provide an alternative exercise in the +summer, which does not require exceptional quickness of eye and wrist +and does provide a splendid discipline of body and spirit. In the +summer it is well to exempt all boys from cricket, who have really a +taste for natural history or photography. Summer half-holidays are +emphatically the time for hobbies, and it is a serious charge against +our games if they are organised to such a pitch that hobbies are +practically prohibited. The zealous captain will object that such +"slacking" is destroying the spirit of the house. We must endeavour to +point out to him that the unwilling player never makes a good player, +and that such a boy may be finding his proper development in the +pursuit of butterflies, a development which he would never gain by +unsuccessful and involuntary cricket. House masters too are apt to +complain that freedom for hobbies is subversive of discipline, and to +quote the old adage about Satan and idle hands. That there is risk, is +not to be denied. But you cannot run a school without taking risks. +Our whole system of leaving the government largely in the hands of +boys is full of risks. Sometimes it brings shipwreck; more often it +does not. For in the majority of cases the policy of confidence is +justified by results. + +There is one way of wasting time that is heartily to be condemned, the +waste involved in looking on. I am inclined to think that if all +athletic contests took place without a ring of spectators, we should +get all the good of games and very little of the evil. Certainly +professional football would lose its blacker sides if there were no +gate money and no betting. Few men or boys are the worse for playing +games; it is the applause of the mob that turns their heads. But I am +afraid I am not logical enough to say that I would forbid boys to +watch matches against another school; the emotions that lead to the +"breathless hush in the Close" are so compounded of patriotism and +jealousy for the honour of the school, that they are far from ignoble. +But I would not have boys compelled to watch the games against clubs +and other non-school teams. Above all, if they watch, they must have a +run or a game to stir their own blood. The half-holiday must not be +spent in shivering on a touchline and then crowding round a fire. + +That the athlete is a school hero and the scholar is not, is most +certainly true. The scholar may once in a way reflect glory on the +school by success in an examination, but generally he is regarded as a +self-regarding person, who is not likely to help to win the matches of +the year. But the hero-worship is not undiscriminating; conceit, +selfishness, surliness will go far to nullify the influence of +physical strength and skill. Boys' admiration for physical prowess is +natural and not unhealthy. The harm is done by the advertisement given +to such prowess by foolish elders. Foremost among such unwise +influences I should put the press. Even modest boys may begin to think +their achievements in the field are of public importance when they +find their names in print. Some papers publish portraits of prominent +players, or a series of articles on "Football at X--" or "The +prospects of the Cricket Season at Y--". The suggestion that there is +a public which is interested in the features of a schoolboy captain, +or wishes to know the methods of training and coaching which have led +to the success of a school fifteen, is likely to give boys an entirely +exaggerated notion of their own importance and to justify in their +minds the dedication of a great deal of time to the successes which +receive this kind of public recognition. + +Next there is the parent. Our ever active critics are apt to forget +that schools are to a large extent mirrors, reflecting the tone and +opinion of the homes from which boys come. The parent who says when +the boy joins the school, "I do not mind whether he gets in the sixth, +but I want to see him in the eleven," is by no means an uncommon +parent. I have no objection to his wanting to see his boy in the +eleven, the deplorable thing is that he is indifferent to intellectual +progress. I have heard an elder brother say, "Tom has not got into his +house eleven yet, but he brought home a prize last term. I have +written to tell him he must change all that, we can't have him +disgracing the family." When a candidate has failed to qualify for +admission to the school at the entrance examination, I have had +letters of surprised and pained protest, pointing out that Jack is an +exceptionally promising cricketer. It is assumed that we should be +only too glad to welcome the athlete without regard to his standard of +work. If we could get the majority of parents to recognise the +schoolmaster's point of view, that while games are an important +element of education, they are only one element, and that there are +others which must not be neglected, we should have made a real step +forward towards the elimination of the excessive reverence paid to +the athlete. + +After the press and the parent comes millinery. Perhaps it is Utopian +to suggest that "caps" can be entirely abolished; but the enterprise +of haberdashers and the weakness of school authorities have led to a +multiplication of blazers, ribbons, caps, jerseys, stockings, badges, +scarves and the like, which certainly tend to mark off the successful +player from his fellows, and to make him a cynosure of the vulgar and +an object of complacent admiration to himself. Success in games should +be its own reward. In some cases it certainly is. And the paradox is +that very often it is those who are least bountifully endowed by +nature who profit most. Some there are who have such natural gifts of +strength and dexterity, that from the first they can excel at any +game. Triumphs come to them without hard struggle, and they breathe +the incense of applause. But others have a clumsier hand, a slower +foot, and yet they have a determination to excel, a resolution in +sticking to their task that brings them at the last to a fair measure +of skill. Such a boy is already rewarded by the toughening of the will +that perseverance brings: he does not need a ribbon on his sweater. To +give the other, the natural athlete, a coloured scarf, is to run the +risk of making him over-value the gifts he owes to nature. + +There is no reason why a boy who excels in games should not excel in +work. The two are not competing sides of education, they are +complementary. The schoolmaster's ideal is that his boys should gain +the advantages of both. The athlete who neglects his work, grows up +with a poorly furnished mind and an untrained judgment. The student +who neglects his games, grows up without the nervous development that +fits his body to be the instrument of his will, and without the +knowledge of men and the habit of dealing with men which are +indispensable in many callings. It has been proved again and again +that it is possible to get the advantages of both these sides of +school life. There is no reason why the playing of school games should +be anything but a help to the intellectual development of a boy. + +But the constant talking about games is by no means harmless, though +it is true boys might be talking of worse things. It is related that a +French educational critic was once descanting to an English head +master on the monotony of the conversation of English public school +boys: "they talk of nothing but football." But when he was asked, "And +of what do French school boys generally talk?" he was silent. But if +"cricket shop" saves us from worse topics, it certainly is destructive +of rational conversation on subjects of more general interest. In +great boarding schools we collect a population of boys under quite +abnormal conditions, cut off for the greater part of their social life +from intercourse with older people. It is, I think, a general +experience that boys who have been at day schools and are the sons of +intelligent parents, have their minds more awakened to the questions +of the day in politics, or art, or literature than boys of equal +ability who have been at a boarding school. They have had the +advantage of hearing their father and his friends discussing topics +which are outside the range of school life. Boarding schools are often +built in some country place away from the surging life of towns, where +the noise of political strife and the roar of the traffic of the world +are but dimly heard. In such seclusion the life of the school, +particularly the active life of the playing fields, occupies the focus +of a boy's consciousness. The geographical conditions tend to narrow +the range of his interests, and he remains a boy when others are +growing to be men. Those who have the wider tastes, are deterred from +talking about them by the ever present fear of "side." They will talk +freely to a master of architecture or music or Japanese prints, but +they are chary of betraying these enthusiasms to their fellows. And +masters are not free from blame: I suppose we all of us sometimes bow +down in the house of Rimmon, and when the conversation languishes at +the tea-table, fall back on a discussion of the last house match. It +is the line of least resistance, and after a strenuous day's work it +is not easy to maintain a monologue about Home Rule. Not the least of +the boons of the war is that it has ousted games from the foremost +place as a topic of conversation. I have not noticed that they are +less keenly played, although the increase of military work has +diminished the time given to them; but they have ceased to monopolise +the thoughts of boys. The problem then of reducing the absorption in +games is the problem of finding and providing other absorbing +interests. We cannot, fortunately, always have the counter-irritant +of war. Where we fail now, is that the intellectual training of a boy +does not interest him enough in most cases to give him subjects of +conversation out of school. We give some few new interests by means of +societies, literary, antiquarian or scientific. But the main problem +is to make every boy see that the work he does in school is connected +with his life, that it is meant to open to him the shut doors around +him through which he may go out into all the highways and byways of +the world. + +Do school games produce the man who regards games as the main business +of life? We must emphasise "main." It is certain that they do +encourage Englishmen to devote some part of their working life to +healthy exercise--and few, I suppose, would wish them to do otherwise. +The Indian civilian does not make a worse judge for playing polo, nor +is Benin worse administered since golf-links were laid out there. But +there are men who never outgrow the boyish narrowness of view that +games are the things that matter most. These remain the ruling +passion, because no stronger passion comes to drive it out. For this +the schools must bear part of the blame, for they have not taught +clearly enough that athletics are a means but not an end. Not all the +blame, for surely some must rest on a society which tolerates the +idler, and has no reproach for the man who says "I live only for +hunting and golf." And here as elsewhere, I believe we are judged more +by a few failures than by many successes. We can all of us in our +experience recall many an honest athlete who is now doing splendid +service to Church or State, doughty curates, self-sacrificing doctors, +soldiers who are real leaders of men. When they became men they put +away childish things, but they have not forgotten what they owe to the +discipline of their boyish games. Games are not the first thing in +life for them now, but they have no doubt that they can do their work +better from an occasional afternoon's play. They see things in their +right proportion, because they know that the first thing is to have a +job and do it well. If we can teach boys to begin to understand that +truth while they are at school, we shall have exorcised the bogey of +athleticism. I should expect to find (though I do not know) that the +authorities at Osborne and Dartmouth do not need to bother their minds +about that bogey. Their boys play games with all a sailor's +heartiness, but their ambition is not to be a first-class athlete, but +to be a first-class sailor, and the games take their proper place. It +may be desirable to reduce the time devoted to games, though as I have +said I doubt if there is any need to do so, except for cricket. It may +be that we should give more time to handicraft, or military drill. But +these things will not change the spirit. What we need to do is to make +clearer the object of education in which athletics form a part, that +there may be more sense of reality in the boy's school time, more +understanding that he is at school to fit himself manfully and capably +to play his part on the wider stage of life. + +[Footnote 1: C.W. Saleeby, _Parenthood and Race Culture_, pp. 62, 63.] + + + + +IX + +THE USE OF LEISURE + +By J. H. BADLEY + +Head Master of Bedales School + + +To teach a sensible use of leisure, healthy both for mind and body, is +by no means the least important part of education. Nor is it by any +means the least pressing, or the least difficult, of school problems. +"Loafing" at times that have no recognised duties assigned them, is +generally a sign of slackness in work and play as well; and if we do +not find occupation for thoughts and hands, the rhyme tells us who +will. The devils of cruelty and uncleanness will be ready to enter the +empty house, and fill it at least with unwholesome talk, and +thoughtless if not ill-natured "ragging." Yet work and games, whatever +keenness we arouse and encourage in these, cannot fill a boy's whole +time and thoughts--or, if they do, his life, whether he is student or +athlete, or even the occasional combination of both, is still a narrow +one and likely to get narrower as years go by. If life to the +uneducated means a soulless round of labour varied by the public-house +and the "pictures," so to the half-educated it is apt, except in war +time, to mean the office and the club, with interests that do not go +beyond golf and motoring and bridge. If our lives are emptier and our +interests narrower than they need be, it is partly the result of a +narrow and unsatisfying education, which leaves half our powers +undeveloped and interests untouched, and too often only succeeds in +giving us a distaste for those which it touches. Both for the sake of +the present, therefore, to avoid the dangers of unfilled leisure, and +still more for the sake of the future, the wise schoolmaster does all +he can to foster, in addition to keenness in the regular work and +games, interests, both individual and social, of other kinds as well. +He will make opportunities for various handicrafts: he will try to +stimulate lines of investigation not arranged for in the +class-routine; he will encourage the formation of societies both for +discussion and active pursuits, for instruction and entertainment. It +is the purpose of this essay to suggest what, along these lines, is +possible in the school. + +But the reasons so far given for the encouragement of leisure-time +interests are mainly negative. In order to realise to the full the +importance of this side of education, we must look rather at their +positive value. From whichever point of view one looks at it, +physical, intellectual, or social, this value is not small. Some of +these interests contribute directly to health in being outdoor +pursuits; and these, in not letting games furnish the only motive and +means of exercise, can help to establish habits and motives of no +little help in later life, when games are no longer easy to keep up. +And even in the years when the call of games is strongest, some +rivalry of other outdoor pursuits is useful as a preventive of +absorption in athleticism, easily carried to excess at school so as to +shut out finer interests and influences. It was a consciousness of +this that led Captain Scott, in the letter written in those last hours +among the Antarctic snows, thinking of his boy at home, and the +education that he wished for him, to write: "Make the boy interested +in natural history, if you can; it is better than games: they +encourage it in some schools." + +Besides health--and health, we must remember, is not only a bodily +matter, but depends on mental as well as bodily activity, and on the +enjoyment of the activity that comes from its being mainly +voluntary--the pursuits that we are considering can do much to train +skill of various kinds. The class-work represents the minimum that we +expect a boy to know; but there is much that necessarily lies outside +it of hardly less value. Many a boy learns as much from the hobby on +which he spends his free time as from the work he does in class. +Sometimes, indeed, such a free-time hobby reveals the bent that might +otherwise have gone undiscovered, and determines the choice of a +special line of work for the future career. + +But the chief value of such interests lies rather in their influence +on other work, and on the general development of character. In giving +scope for many kinds of skill, they are helping the intellectual +training; and however ready we may be to pay lip-service to the +principle of learning by doing, and to admit the educational +importance of the hand in brain-development, in most of our school +work we still ignore these things, so far as any practical +application of them is concerned. One is sometimes tempted to wonder +if in the future there may not be so complete a reaction from our +present ideas and methods as to make what are now regarded as mere +hobbies the main matter of education, and to relegate much of the +present school course, as the writing of verses has already been +relegated, to the category of optional side-shows. At any rate these +free-time interests can supply a very useful stimulus to much of the +routine work. In these a boy may find himself for the first time, and +discover, despite his experience in class, that he is no fool. Or at +least he may find there a centre of interest, otherwise lacking, round +which other interests can group, and to which knowledge obtained in +various class-subjects can attach itself, and so get for him a meaning +and a use. And further, if we do not make the mistake of narrowing the +range of choice, and allow, at any rate at first, a succession of +interests, the very range and variety of these pursuits is an antidote +against the tendency to early specialisation, encouraged by +scholarship and entrance examinations, which is one of the dangers +against which we need to be on our guard. If, therefore, without mere +dissipation of interest, we can widen the range of mental activities +and encourage, by discussions, essays, lectures and so forth, reading +round and outside the subjects dealt with in class, this is all to the +good. + +And all this has a social as well as an individual aspect. The +meetings for the purposes just mentioned, as well as those for +entertainment, have, like games, a real educational value, and do +much to cement the comradeship of common interests and common aims +that is one of the best things school has to give. And not only among +those of the same age. These are things in which the example and +influence of the older are particularly helpful to the younger. They +can become, like the games, and perhaps to an even greater extent, one +of the interests that help to bind together past and present members +of a school. And they afford an opportunity for masters to meet boys +on a more personal and friendly footing, and to get the mutual +knowledge and respect which are all-important if education is to be, +in Thring's definition, a transmission of life through the living to +the living. That the organisation of leisure-time pursuits is of the +utmost help to the school as well as to the boy, is the unanimous +verdict of the schools in which it has long been a tradition. The +master who has had charge, for the past five-and-twenty years, of this +organisation in one such school writes that there they consider such +pursuits as the very life-blood of the school, and the only rational +method of maintaining discipline. + +If what has here been said is admitted, it is plain that to teach, by +every means in our power, the use of leisure, is one of the most +important things a school has to do. We might, therefore, turn at once +to the consideration of the various means for such teaching that +experience has shown to be practicable in the school. But before doing +so, there is yet another reason, the most far-reaching of all, to be +urged for regarding this as a side of education fully as necessary, +at the present time above all, as those sides that none would +question. Great as is the direct and immediate value of the interests +and occupations thus to be encouraged, their indirect influence is +more valuable still, if they teach not only handiness and +adaptiveness, but also call forth initiative and individuality, and so +help to develop the complete and many-sided human personality which is +the crown and purpose of education as of life. We do not now think of +education as merely book-learning, nor even as concerned only with +mind and body, or only as fitting preparation for skilled work and +cultured leisure; but rather as the development of the whole human +being, with all his possibilities, interests, and motives, as well as +powers, his feelings and imagination no less than reason and will. In +a word, education is training for life, with all that this connotes, +and, as we learn to live only by living, must be thought of not merely +as preparation for life, but as a life itself. Plainly, if we give it +a meaning as wide as this, a great part of education lies outside the +school, in the influences of the home surroundings and, after school, +of occupation and the whole social environment. But during the school +years--and they are the most impressionable of all--it is the school +life that is for most the chief formative influence; and now more +necessarily so than ever. When, a few generations back, life was +still, in the main, life in the country, and most things were still +made at home or in the village, the most important part of education +lay, except for a few, outside the school. Now it is the other way. +Town life, the replacing of home-made by factory-made goods, the +disappearance of the best part of home life before the demands of +industry on the one side and the growth of luxury on the other--these +things are signs of a tendency that has swept away most of the +practical home-education, and thrown it all upon the school. And the +schools have even yet hardly realised the full meaning of this change. +Instead of having to provide only a part of education--the specially +intellectual and, in the public schools at least, the physical +side--we have now to think of the whole nature of the growing boy or +girl, and, by the environment and the occupations we provide, to +appeal to interests and motives, and give occasion for the right use +of powers, that may otherwise be undeveloped or misused. A school +cannot now consist merely of class-rooms and playing fields. This is +recognised by the addition of laboratories and workshops, gymnasium, +swimming-bath, lecture-hall, museum, art-school, music-rooms--all now +essentials of a day school as much as of a boarding school. But many +of these things are still only partially made use of, and are apt to +be regarded rather as ornamental excrescences, to be used by the few +who have a special bent that way, at an extra charge, than as an +integral part of education for all. All the interests and means of +training that they represent, and others as well, need to be brought +more into the daily routine; to some extent in place of the too +exclusively literary, or at least bookish, training, that has hitherto +been the staple of education, but more, perhaps, since it is not +possible to include in the regular curriculum _all_ that is of value, +as optional subjects and free-time occupations, though organised as +part of the school course. For it is not only the few who already know +their bent who need opportunity to be made for following it, but +rather those who will not discover their powers without practice, or +their interests without suggestion or encouragement. In this respect +the war has brought opportunities of no little value to the school, +not only in the absorbing interest in the war itself and the desire +for knowledge and readiness for effort that it awakens, but also in +the demands it has made for practical work of many kinds that boys and +girls can do, and the lessons of service that it has taught. Work on +the land and in the shops, for those whose school time is already too +short, is a curtailment, only to be made as a last resort, of the kind +of learning they will have no other opportunity to acquire; but it +gives to the public schoolboy the feeling of reality that most of his +school work lacks. Such opportunities of doing what is seen to be +productive and necessary work, are, like the making of things for +those at the front, and for the wounded, both in themselves and in the +motives that inspire them, a valuable part of education that should +not be forgotten when the present need for them is over. + +If, then, by the fullest use of leisure occupations, we are, like +Canning, to call in a new world to redress the balance of the old, +what, in actual practice, is possible in the school? For an answer to +this question one has only to see what is done in the schools of the +Society of Friends, in which the use of leisure in these ways has +always been a strongly marked feature long before it was taken up by +others, with a tradition, indeed, in the older schools, of sixty or a +hundred years of accumulated experience behind it. Instead of singling +out, for description of the use it makes of leisure, any one school in +which it might be supposed that there were special conditions present, +it will be best to enumerate the various activities that have long +been practised in several different schools. Of those selected for the +purpose not all are connected with the Society of Friends; some are +for boys and some for girls only, and some co-educational; but alike +in being boarding schools, and in keeping their boys and girls from an +early age until, at the end of their school life, they go on to the +university or to their business or professional training. A few of the +pursuits to be mentioned are obviously more appropriate for boys, +others for girls; but the differences between those that are followed +in schools for boys and those for girls are surprisingly small, and to +give separate lists would only involve much needless repetition. + +For the sake of clearness, it may be well to group the various +activities according as they are mainly outdoor or indoor occupations. +In the outdoor group, games and sports need not be included, as being, +in most cases, as much a part of the ordinary school course as the +class-work. They only become free-time pursuits, in the sense here +intended, in so far as practice for them is optional, and a large +amount of free time spent upon it. Thus, for example, while swimming +is, or should be, compulsory for all, and a regular time found for it +in the school time-table, it is entirely a voluntary matter to go in, +as in many schools a large number do, for the tests of the Royal +Humane Society. Apart from games, the outdoor pursuit that occupies +the largest place is probably, in most of these schools, some branch +of natural history (which may perhaps be held to include geology as +well as the study of plant and animal life)--not so much by the making +of collections, though this usually serves as a beginning, as by the +keeping of diaries, notes of observations illustrated by drawings and +photographs, and experimental work, in connection, perhaps, with work +done in science classes. Similarly in the study of archaeology, visits +to places of interest--there are always many old churches within +reach, if not other buildings of equal interest--give matter for +written notes as well as for drawings and photographs; and in at least +one case, the fact that the neighbourhood is rich in Roman remains has +given opportunity, under the guidance of a keen classical +archaeologist, for the laying bare of more than one Roman villa, and +for making interesting additions to the school museum. Besides their +use in the service of other pursuits, sketching and photography also +have many votaries for their own sake, though the former is usually +more dependent on encouragement from above. Then there is gardening. +The tenure of a plot of ground is a joy to many children; and in the +opinion of the writer, some experience, and some experimental work, +in the growing of the most necessary food plants, as well as flowers, +should form part of the education of all at a certain stage, whether +in school time or in free time. For some, where the conditions are +favourable, this can be extended to the care of fruit-trees, bees, +poultry, and to some kinds of farm-work. The needs of war-time have +brought something of this into many schools, to the real gain of +education, now and later, if it can be retained, at least as a +possibility of choice. So also with the care of the playing fields: +the more that the work needed for a game is thrown upon the players +themselves, the more does it contribute to education. And so too with +constructive work of any kind that, with some help of suggestion or +direction, is within the compass even of comparatively unskilled +labour. A lengthy list could be given of things accomplished in this +way, with an educational value all the greater for their practical +purpose, from Ruskin's famous road down to the last field levelled and +pavilion built or shed put up, by voluntary effort and in time found +by the workers without encroaching on regular school work. And lastly, +an outdoor occupation for free time which, in the earlier days of +school life, we shall do well to encourage--both for its own value and +the manifold interests that it encourages and lessons that it teaches, +and also for its bearing on questions of national service that will +remain to be answered after the war--is the wide range of activities +comprised in scouting, undoubtedly one of the chief educational +advances of our time. Whatever differences of views there may be on +the wider questions of military service for national defence, and of +making military training a specific part of education, few can deny +that, with a view to national service of _some_ kind, the use made by +Sir Robert Baden-Powell of instincts natural to all at a particular +stage of growth, by an organisation which can be kept entirely free +from the failings of militarism, is a development of the utmost +educational, as well as national, value. If a school already develops, +by other means, all the activities trained by scouting, and utilises +in other ways the instincts and motives to which it makes appeal, +there may be little or nothing to be gained by its adoption. But of +how many schools can this be said? For the rest it undoubtedly offers +a way of doing, at the stage of growth for which it is best fitted, +much of what, if there is any truth in what has been urged above, is, +from the point of view of individual development, of greater +importance now than ever before. If, in addition to this, it will go +far to solve the problem of national service, and to remove the need +for conscription in the continental form, there is every reason to +give it a prominent place in the activities encouraged, if not +insisted upon, at school. + +Let us now turn to the group of indoor pursuits, which, if they have +not quite so direct a bearing upon health, are in another way even +more important; for a large part of leisure, even at school and still +more, in all probability, afterwards, falls at times and under +conditions that make some indoor occupation necessary, and the waste +or misuse of these times is likely to be greater. In this group +certain things need be no more than mentioned, as either applying, at +any given time, only to a few picked individuals, or else likely, in +the majority of schools, to be made a regular part of the school +routine; such as, of the one kind, the editing of the school magazine, +or membership of the school fire-brigade with the frequent practices +that this involves; or, of the other kind, special gymnastics +(including such things as boxing and fencing), or lectures and +concerts and other entertainments given to the school, as +distinguished from those given by members of it, the preparation for +which gives occupation beforehand to much of their leisure. Of the +free-time pursuits more properly so called, in which many can share, +the commonest are probably the various school societies. Most schools +have one or more debating societies, with meetings at regular +intervals throughout the winter terms, for the discussion of questions +of general or special interest; the difficulty being more often to +find a subject than speakers. Many also have Essay or Literary +societies, for reading papers and discussing the books and writers +treated of, which involve a considerable amount of previous reading. +Besides these most schools now have similar societies, in addition to +those for carrying out the field-work already mentioned, for holding +lectures and discussions on various branches of science. Some also +have a musical society for gaining fuller acquaintance with the works +of the chief composers; and a dramatic society for reading and acting +plays as occasion allows. Allied with these interests is voluntary +laboratory work in some branch of science, both by individuals and +groups, which may not unfairly be dignified with the name of research, +even if it is only the re-discovery of what has been worked out by +others. In some schools special provision is made for encouraging +optional work of this kind in astronomy; in others it may be wireless +telegraphy, or the use of vegetable dyes, and so forth. In some of +this work even the younger can take part; and of the many reasons for +its encouragement not the least is the wide field it opens to +individual initiative. + +Besides all these more specially intellectual interests, and of still +wider appeal, various kinds of handicrafts afford abundant occupation, +some for the longer and some also for the shorter periods of leisure. +Wood-work, carving, work in metal or leather, pottery, basket-plaiting, +bookbinding, needlework and embroidery, knitting, netting hammocks and +so forth--the only limit to the number of such crafts is the limit to +the knowledge and energy of those who can start and direct them, and +to the space available, as some can only be carried on in rooms reserved +for such work. So, too, with various kinds of art-work--drawing, +modelling, lettering, making posters for entertainments; or music, both +individual and concerted, orchestra practice, part-singing, glee-clubs +and so on; or morrice and other folk-dances, now happily being widely +revived. And lastly there are indoor games, some of which, like chess +(cards are probably best confined to the sanatorium), have a high +training value, and others afford a useful occasional outlet to high +spirits; and entertainments got up by some society, or perhaps by a +single form, for the rest of the "house" or school, such as a concert +or play or even an occasional fancy-dress dance, the preparation for +which will happily occupy free time for as long beforehand as is +allowed, and does much to encourage ingenuity, especially if strict +conditions are imposed that all that is required must be made for the +purpose and not bought. + +But by this time many questions will have arisen in the mind of the +reader, especially if much of what has been enumerated lies outside +his school experience; questions that demand an immediate answer. Even +if all this free-time work and play may have a certain value, how can +time be found for it without encroaching on the regular work and games +which, after all, must be the main concern of the school? And even +supposing that time could be found for both, will not all this +voluntary activity and pleasure-work absorb the interests and energies +that ought to be given to the more serious, if less attractive, +studies? And again, how can all this wide range of activity be +controlled? Who is going to teach, or look after, all these things? +How are they to be kept going? Are they, or any of them, to be +compulsory, or is a boy or girl to be allowed to do anything or +nothing, or to flit, butterfly-fashion, from one to another, learning +nothing except to fritter away energy in endless mental dissipation? + +Only a brief answer can be attempted to these questions. It might +indeed be given in the answer to the old puzzle, _solvitur ambulando_; +for, given a clear aim and common sense, most difficulties in +education disappear as one goes on. It is, in fact, a question of +educational values; that settled, matters of detail soon settle +themselves. From what has been said above, it will be plain that the +writer is one of those who think these voluntary free-time activities +of such value that they are willing, in order to make room for them, +to jettison some of the traditions that have gathered about school +work and games. Let the morning hours be reserved for the severer +kinds of class work, but let the afternoons be mainly given to active +pursuits of other kinds as well as games; and on one of them at least +let expeditions in pursuit of the outdoor interests above outlined be +an alternative to the games chosen by the keen players, or compulsory +for those without an equivalent hobby. Then, too, in the evenings let +preparation be varied with handicrafts (the result will be an +intellectual gain rather than loss), and time be reserved for the +meetings of societies or for entertainments. It may be well to say +here that while every one of the things above mentioned is an actual +fact in some school, in none, probably, are all attempted at once, +nor, of course, do any of their members take up many of these pursuits +at the same time; but it is surprising how much can be done by +treating a part of some afternoons and evenings in the week as leisure +time for these pursuits. When this is done, there is usually a +particular member of the Staff whose task it is, either permanently or +in rotation, to see what is being done, to give suggestions and +encouragement to beginners, and to see, if necessary, that freedom +does not mean disorder. Naturally, in the case of handicrafts, others +also take part as actual teachers or at least as fellow-workers; but +though it is generally helpful for members of the Staff to join in all +such work and in discussions, the aim of it all is likely to be more +fully attained if as much as possible of the organisation and +direction is left to members of the school. So, too, with the question +of compulsion. Not all have so strong a bent as to know what they want +to do, and sometimes interests come only by actual experience. It is +well, therefore, to have an understanding that, at certain times, all +must follow some one of the possible occupations; but the more it can +be left to the individual choice, and the wider the range of choice, +the better for the purpose we have in view. Not all country rambles +need have a definite object, nor all time be actively filled that +might be left for reading. But without a definite object few will make +a habit of walking, or learn to know and love the country; and not +all, especially where there is a multiplicity of other interests, will +form the habit of reading unless regular times are set apart for it, +times when books must be read and not merely magazines. How far +freedom of change from one occupation to another is desirable is +largely an individual question. The younger need to try many things +before they can settle down to one, in order to discover their real +interests and to exercise their faculties. But it is well to have a +strict limit to the number of things that may be taken up at once, and +a fixed length of time to be given to each before it may be replaced +by another. With the older, this, as a rule, settles itself, on the +one hand by growing interest in one or two directions, and on the +other by the increasing demands of the school work and approaching +examinations. It is the younger, therefore, who need most +encouragement. In schools where, as said above, there is a long +tradition of such free-time work, there is the less need for anything +beyond suggestions and general supervision. Yet even in these it is +found helpful to have, at the beginning of the year, talks upon the +subject by some member of the Staff, or an old boy perhaps who has +devoted himself to some particular branch, in order to explain what +can be done and the standard to be maintained. In several of them +prizes are offered every year, either by the school or by the Old +Scholars' Association or by individual old scholars, for good work in +many of the categories mentioned above; these in some schools being +the only prizes given. In some cases they are money prizes, as in +certain kinds of work the tools or materials used are costly; in +others the prizes are not given to individuals, but in the form of a +"trophy" to the form or "house" that shows up the best record for the +term or year; in others, again, the need of prizes is not felt, but +interest and keenness to maintain a good standard are kept up by the +public show, held each year, of work done in leisure time. And, it may +be added, a great stimulus in itself is the wider freedom that can be +earned by those who follow certain branches of study, in the way, for +instance, of expeditions, on foot or by bicycle, to places where they +can be pursued. + +But with all this there is, of course, the danger that so much energy +may be absorbed in these pursuits that little is left for the ordinary +school work. In some few cases, where there is a strong natural bent +and the free-time pursuit is a serious object of study, this may be a +thing not to be discouraged, as it will provide the truest means of +education. But in most cases care is needed to see that the due +proportion is kept, and especially that mere amusement is not allowed +to occupy the whole of leisure, still less to distract thought and +effort from serious work. By making entertainments, which might, if +too frequent or too elaborate, have this effect, dependent on the +school work being well done, this danger can be minimised. For the +rest, if free-time work is found to take the first place in a boy's +thoughts, may not this be a sign that the ordinary curriculum and +methods of teaching are capable of improvement, and that more use of +these natural interests may with advantage be made in class time as +well? Not that work of any kind can be all pleasure or always +outwardly interesting; there is plenty of hard spade-work needed in +any study seriously followed, in class or out. But if in education +keenness is the first essential and personality the final aim, +interest and freedom must have a larger place than is usually allowed +them in the class-room if the real education is not to centre in the +self-chosen and self-directed pursuits of leisure. + +One word more. It must not be supposed that all that has been +described is only possible, or only needed, in the boarding school or +only for a specially leisured class. If, as has here been urged, +these activities and interests form an integral part of education in +its fullest meaning, they are just as necessary in the day school and +cannot be left to chance and the home to see to. And of all the needed +reforms in elementary education, amongst the most needed is the +greater utilisation of the active interests and instincts of children, +in a training that would have a wider outlook and a closer bearing, +through practical experience, both on the work of life and the use of +leisure. + + + + +X + +PREPARATION FOR PRACTICAL LIFE + +By SIR J. D. McCLURE + +Head Master of Mill Hill School + + +I + + +It is, perhaps, the chief glory of the Ideal Commonwealth that each +and every member thereof is found in his right place. His profession +is also his vocation; in it is his pride; through it he attains to the +_joie de vivre_; by it he makes his contribution to the happiness of +his fellows and to the welfare and progress of the State. The +contemplation of the Ideal, however, would seem to be nature's anodyne +for experience of the Actual. In practical life, all attempts, however +earnest and continuous, to realise this ideal are frustrated by one or +more of many difficulties; and though the Millennium follows hard upon +Armageddon, we cannot assume that in the period vaguely known as +"after the war" these difficulties will be fewer in number or less in +magnitude. Some of the more obvious may be briefly considered. + +In theory, every child is "good for something"; in practice, all +efforts to discover for what some children are good prove unavailing. +The napkin may be shaken never so vigorously, but the talent remains +hidden. In every school there are many honest fellows who seem to have +no decided bent in any direction, and who would probably do equally +well, or equally badly, in any one of half-a-dozen different +employments. Some of these boys are steady, reliable, not unduly +averse from labour, willing--even anxious--to be guided and to carry +out instructions, yet are quite unable to manifest a preference for +any one kind of work. + +Others, again, show real enthusiasm for a business or profession, but +do not possess those qualities which are essential to success therein; +yet they are allowed to follow their supposed bent, and spend the +priceless years of adolescence in the achievement of costly failure. +Many a promising mechanic has been spoiled by the ill-considered +attempts to make a passable engineer; and the annals of every +profession abound in parallel instances of misdirected zeal. In saying +this, however, one would not wish to undervalue enthusiasm, nor to +deny that it sometimes reveals or develops latent and unsuspected +talents. + +The life-work of many is determined largely, if not entirely, by what +may be termed family considerations. There is room for a boy in the +business of his father or some other relative. The fitness of the boy +for the particular employment is not, as a rule, seriously considered; +it is held, perhaps, to be sufficiently proved by the fact that he is +his father's son. He is more likely to be called upon to recognise the +special dispensations of a beneficent Providence on his behalf. It is +natural that a man should wish the fruits of his labour to benefit his +family in the first instance, at any rate; and the desire to set his +children well on the road of life's journey seems entirely laudable. +It is easy to hold what others have won, to build on foundations which +others have laid, and to do this with all their experience and +goodwill to aid him. Hence when the father retires he has the solid +satisfaction of knowing that + + Resigned unto the Heavenly Will, + His son keeps on the business still. + +It cannot be denied that this policy is often successful; but it is +equally undeniable that it is directly responsible for the presence of +many incompetent men in positions which none but the most competent +should occupy. There are many long-established firms hastening to +decay because even they are not strong enough to withstand the +disastrous consequences of successive infusions of new (and young) +blood. + +Many, too, are deterred from undertaking congenial work by reason of +the inadequate income to be derived therefrom, and the unsatisfactory +prospects which it presents. Let it suffice to mention the teaching +profession, which fails to attract in any considerable numbers the +right kind of men and women. A large proportion of its members did not +become teachers from deliberate choice, but, having failed in their +attempt to secure other employment, were forced to betake themselves +to the ever-open portals of the great Refuge for the Destitute, and +become teachers (or, at least, become classified as such). True there +are a few "prizes" in the profession, and to some of the _rude +donati_ the Church holds out a helping hand; but the lay members +cannot look forward even to the "congenial gloom of a Colonial +Bishopric." + +Others, again, are attracted to employments (for which they may have +no special aptitude) by the large salaries or profits which are to be +earned therein, often with but little trouble or previous training--or +so, at least, they believe. The idea of vocation is quite obscured, +and a man's occupation is in effect the shortest distance from poverty +which he cannot endure, to wealth and leisure which he may not know +how to use. + +It frequently happens, too, that a young man is unable to afford +either the time or the expense necessary to qualify for the profession +which he desires to enter, and for which he is well adapted by his +talents and temperament. Not a few prefer in such circumstances to +"play for safety," and secure a post in the Civil Service. + +It is plain from such considerations as these that all attempts to +realise the Utopian ideal must needs be, for the present at least, but +very partially successful. Politics are not the only sphere in which +"action is one long second-best." Even if it were possible at the +present time to train each youth for that calling which his own gifts +and temperament, or the reasoned judgment of his parents, selected as +his life-work, it is very far from certain that he would ultimately +find himself engaged therein. English institutions are largely based +on the doctrine of individual liberty, and those statutes which +establish or safeguard individual rights are not unjustly regarded as +the "bulwarks of the Constitution." But the inalienable right of a +father to choose a profession for his son, or of the son to choose one +for himself, is often exercised without any real inquiry into the +conditions of success in the profession selected. Hence the frequent +complaints about the "overcrowding of the professions" either in +certain localities or in the country at large. The Bar affords a +glaring example. "There be many which are bred unto the law, yet is +the law not bread unto them." The number of recruits which any one +branch of industry requires in a single year is not constant, and, in +some cases, is subject to great fluctuations; yet there are few or no +statistics available for the guidance of those who are specially +concerned with that branch, or who are considering the desirability of +entering it. The establishment of Employment Exchanges is a tacit +admission of the need of such statistics, and--though less +certainly--of the duty of the Government to provide them. Yet even if +they were provided it seems beyond dispute that, in the absence of +strong pressure or compulsion from the State, the choice of +individuals would not always be in accordance with the national needs. +The entry to certain professions--for instance that of medicine--is +most properly safeguarded by regulations and restrictions imposed by +bodies to which the State has delegated certain powers and duties. It +may happen that in one of these professions the number of members is +greatly in excess, or falls far short of the national requirements; +yet neither State nor Professional Council has power to refuse +admission to any duly qualified candidate, or to compel certain +selected people to undergo the training necessary for qualification. +It is quite conceivable, however, that circumstances might arise which +would render such action not merely desirable but absolutely essential +to the national well-being; indeed it is at least arguable that such +circumstances have already arisen. The popular doctrine of the early +Victorian era, that the welfare of the community could best be secured +by allowing every man to seek his own interests in the way chosen by +himself, has been greatly modified or wholly abandoned. So far are we +from believing that national efficiency is to be attained by +individual liberty that some are in real danger of regarding the two +as essentially antagonistic. The nation, as a whole, supported the +Legislature in the establishment of compulsory military service; it +did so without enthusiasm and only because of the general conviction +that such a policy was demanded by the magnitude of the issues at +stake. Britons have always been ready, even eager, to give their lives +for their country; but, even now, most of them prefer that the +obligation to do so should be a moral, rather than a legal one. The +doctrine of individual liberty implies the minimum of State +interference. Hence there is no country in the world where so much has +been left to individual initiative and voluntary effort as in England; +and, though of late the number of Government officials has greatly +increased, it still remains true that an enormous amount of important +work, of a kind which is elsewhere done by salaried servants of the +State, is in the hands of voluntary associations or of men who, though +appointed or recognised by the State, receive no salary for their +services. Nor can it be denied that the work has been, on the whole, +well done. A traditional practice of such a kind cannot be (and ought +not to be) abandoned at once or without careful consideration; yet the +changed conditions of domestic and international politics render some +modification necessary. + +If the Legislature has protected the purchaser--in spite of the +doctrine of "caveat emptor"--by enactments against adulteration of +food, and has in addition, created machinery to enforce those +enactments, are not we justified in asking that it shall also protect +us against incompetence, especially in cases where the effects, though +not so obvious, are even more harmful to the community than those +which spring from impure food? The prevention of overcrowding in +occupations would seem to be the business of the State quite as much +as is the prevention of overcrowding in dwelling-houses and factories. +The best interests of the nation demand that the entrance to the +teaching profession--to take one example out of many--should be +safeguarded at least as carefully as the entrance to medicine or law. +The supreme importance of the functions exercised by teachers is far +from being generally realised, even by teachers themselves; yet upon +the effective realisation of that importance the future welfare of the +nation largely depends. Doubtless most of us would prefer that the +supply of teachers should be maintained by voluntary enlistment, and +that their training should be undertaken, like that of medical +students, by institutions which owe their origin to private or public +beneficence rather than to the State; nevertheless, the obligation to +secure adequate numbers of suitable candidates and to provide for +their professional training rests ultimately on the State. The +obligation has been partially recognised as far as elementary +education is concerned, but it is by no means confined to that branch. + +It is well to realise at this point that the efficient discharge of +the duty thus imposed will of necessity involve a much greater degree +of compulsion on both teachers and pupils than has hitherto been +employed. The terrible spectacle of the unutilised resources of +humanity, which everywhere confronts us in the larger relations of our +national life, has been responsible for certain tentatives which have +either failed altogether to achieve their object, or have been but +partially successful. Much has been heard of the educational +ladder--incidentally it may be noted that the educational sieve is +equally necessary, though not equally popular--and some attempts have +been made to enable a boy or girl of parts to climb from the +elementary school to the university without excessive difficulty. To +supplement the glaring deficiencies of elementary education a +few--ridiculously few--continuation schools have been established. +That these and similar measures have failed of success is largely due +to the fact that the State has been content to provide facilities, but +has refrained from exercising that degree of compulsion which alone +could ensure that they would be utilised by those for whose benefit +they were created. "Such continuation schools as England possesses," +says a German critic, "are without the indispensable condition of +compulsion." The reforms recently outlined by the President of the +Board of Education show that he, at any rate, admits the criticism to +be well grounded. A system which compels a child to attend school +until he is fourteen and then leaves him to his own resources can do +little to create, and less to satisfy, a thirst for knowledge. During +the most critical years of his life--fourteen to eighteen--he is left +without guidance, without discipline, without ideals, often without +even the desire of remembering or using the little he knows. He is +led, as it were, to the threshold of the temple, but the fast-closed +door forbids him to enter and behold the glories of the interior. Year +by year there is an appalling waste of good human material; and +thousands of those whom nature intended to be captains of industry are +relegated, in consequence of undeveloped or imperfectly trained +capacity, to the ranks, or become hewers of wood and drawers of water. +Many drift with other groups of human wastage to the unemployed, +thence to the unemployable, and so to the gutter and the grave. The +poor we have always with us; but the wastrel--like the pauper--"is a +work of art, the creation of wasteful sympathy and legislative +inefficiency." + +We must be careful, however, in speaking of "the State" to avoid the +error of supposing that it is a divinely appointed entity, endowed +with power and wisdom from on high. It is, in short, the nation in +miniature. Even if the Legislature were composed exclusively of the +highest wisdom, the most enlightened patriotism in the country, its +enactments must needs fall short of its own standards, and be but +little in advance of those of the average of the nation. It must still +acknowledge with Solon. "These are not the best laws I could make, but +they are the best which my nation is fitted to receive." We cannot +blame the State without, in fact, condemning ourselves. The absence of +any widespread enthusiasm for education, or appreciation of its +possibilities; the claims of vested interests; the exigencies of Party +Government; and, above all, the murderous tenacity of individual +rights have proved well-nigh insuperable obstacles in the path of true +educational reform. On the whole we have received as good laws as we +have deserved. The changed conditions due to the war, and the changed +temper of the nation afford a unique opportunity for wiser counsels, +and--to some extent--guarantee that they shall receive careful and +sympathetic consideration. + +It may be objected, however, that in taking the teaching profession to +exemplify the duty of the State to assume responsibility for both +individual and community, we have chosen a case which is exceptional +rather than typical; that many, perhaps most, of the other vocations +may be safely left to themselves, or, at least left to develop along +their own lines with the minimum of State interference. It cannot be +denied that there is force in these objections. It should suffice, +however, to remark that, if the duty of the State to secure the +efficiency of its members in their several callings be admitted, the +question of the extent to which, and the manner in which control is +exercised is one of detail rather than of principle, and may therefore +be settled by the common sense and practical experience of the parties +chiefly concerned. + +A much more difficult problem is sure to arise, sooner or later, in +connection with the utilisation of efficients. Some few years ago the +present Prime Minister called attention to the waste of power involved +in the training of the rich. They receive, he said, the best that +money can buy; their bodies and brains are disciplined; and then "they +devote themselves to a life of idleness." It is "a stupid waste of +first-class material." Instead of contributing to the work of the +world, they "kill their time by tearing along roads at perilous speed, +or do nothing at enormous expense." It has needed the bloodiest war in +history to reveal the splendid heroism latent in young men of this +class. Who can withhold from them gratitude, honour, nay even +reverence? But the problem still remains how are the priceless +qualities, which have been so freely devoted to the national welfare +on the battlefield, to be utilised for the greater works of peace +which await us? Are we to recognise the right to be idle as well as +the right to work? Is there to be a kind of second Thellusson Act, +directed against accumulations of leisure? Or are we to attempt the +discovery of some great principle of Conservation of Spiritual Energy, +by the application of which these men may make a contribution worthy +of themselves to the national life and character? Who can answer? + +But though it is freely admitted on all hands that some check upon +aggressive individualism is imperatively necessary, and that it is no +longer possible to rely entirely upon voluntary organisations however +useful, there are not a few of our countrymen who view with grave +concern any increase in the power and authority of the State. They +point out that such increase tends inevitably towards the despotism of +an oligarchy, and that such a despotism, however benevolent in its +inception, ruthlessly sacrifices individual interests and liberty to +the real or supposed good of the State; that even where constitutional +forms remain the spirit which animated them has departed; that +officialism and bureaucracy with their attendant evils become supreme, +and that the national character steadily deteriorates. They warn us +that we may pay too high a price even for organisation and efficiency; +and, though it is natural that we should admire certain qualities +which we do not possess, we ought not to overlook the fact that those +methods which have produced the most perfect national organisation in +the history of the world are also responsible for orgies of brutality +without parallel among civilised peoples. That such warnings are +needful cannot be doubted; but may it not be urged that they indicate +dangers incident to a course of action rather than the inevitable +consequences thereof? In adapting ourselves to new conditions we must +needs take risks. No British Government could stamp out voluntaryism +even if it wished to do so; and none has yet manifested any such +desire. The nation does not want that kind of national unity of which +Germany is so proud, and which seems so admirably adapted to her +needs; for the English character and genius rest upon a conception of +freedom which renders such a unity foreign and even repulsive to its +temper. Whatever be the changes which lie before us, the worship of +the State is the one form of idolatry into which the British people +are least likely to fall. + + + + +II + + +The recent adaptation of factories and workshops to the production of +war material is only typical of what goes on year by year in peace time, +though, of course, to a less degree and in less dramatic fashion. Not +only are men constantly adapting themselves and their machinery to +changed conditions of production, but they are applying the experience +and skill gained in the pursuit of one occupation to the problems of +another for which it has been exchanged. The comparative ease with which +this is done is evidence of the widespread existence of that gift which +our enemies call the power of "muddling through," but which has been +termed--without wholly sacrificing truth to politeness--the "concurrent +adaptability to environment." The British sailor as "handy man" has few +equals and no superiors, and he is, in some sort, typical of the nation. +The testimony of Thucydides to Themistocles ([Greek: kratistos dê oytos +aytoschediazein ta deonta egeneto]) might with equal or even greater +truth be applied to many Englishmen to-day. As this power [Greek: +aytoschediazein ta deonta] in the present war saved the Allies from +defeat at the outset, so we hope and believe it will carry them on to +victory at the last. Yet it becomes a snare if it leads its possessor to +neglect preparation or despise organisation, for neither of which can it +ever be an entirely satisfactory substitute, albeit a very costly one. +At the same time we should recognise that any system of training which +seriously impairs this power tends to deprive us of one of the most +valuable of our national assets. It follows that, for the majority at +least, exclusive or excessive specialisation in training--vocational or +otherwise--so far from being an advantage, is a positive drawback; for, +as we have seen, a large proportion of our youth manifest no marked bent +in any particular direction, and of those who do but a small proportion +are capable of that hypertrophy which the highest specialisation +demands. + +It is important to remember that, though school life is a preparation +for practical life, vocational education ought not to begin until a +comparatively late stage in a boy's career, if indeed it begins at all +while he remains at school. On this it would seem that all +professional bodies are agreed; for the entrance examinations, which +they have accepted or established are all framed to test a boy's +general education and not his knowledge of the special subjects to +which he will afterwards devote himself. The evils of premature +specialisation are too well known to require even enumeration, and +they are increased rather than diminished if that premature +specialisation is vocational. The importance of technical training as +the means whereby a man is enabled rightly to use the hours of work +can hardly be exaggerated; but the value of his work, his worth to his +fellows, and his rank in the scale of manhood depend, to at least an +equal degree, upon the way in which he uses the hours of leisure. It +is one of the greatest of the many functions of a good school to train +its members to a wise use of leisure; and though this is not always +achieved by direct means the result is none the less valuable. In +every calling there must needs be much of what can only be to all save +its most enthusiastic devotees--and, at times, even to them--dull +routine and drudgery. A man cannot do his best, or be his best, unless +he is able to overcome the paralysing influences thus brought to bear +upon him by securing mental and spiritual freshness and stimulus; in +other words his "inward man must be renewed day by day." There are +many agencies which may contribute to such a result; but school +memories, school friendships, school "interests" take a foremost place +among them. Many boys by the time they leave school have developed an +interest or hobby--literary, scientific or practical; and the hobby +has an ethical, as well as an economic value. Nor is this all. +Excessive devotion to "Bread Studies," whether voluntary or +compulsory, tends to make a man's vocation the prison of his soul. +Professor Eucken recently told his countrymen that the greater their +perfection in work grew, the smaller grew their souls. Any rational +interest, therefore, which helps a man to shake off his fetters, helps +also to preserve his humanity and to keep him in touch with his +fellows. Dr A.C. Benson tells of a distinguished Frenchman who +remarked to him, "In France a boy goes to school or college, and +perhaps does his best. But he does not get the sort of passion for the +honour and prosperity of his school or college which you English seem +to feel." It is this wondrous faculty of inspiring unselfish devotion +which makes our schools the spiritual power-houses of the nation. This +love for an abstraction, which even the dullest boys feel, is the +beginning of much that makes English life sweet and pure. It is the +same spirit which, in later years, moves men to do such splendid +voluntary work for their church, their town, their country, and even +in some cases leads them "to take the whole world for their parish." + +However much we may strive to reach the beautiful Montessori ideal, +the fact remains that there must be some lessons, some duties, which +the pupil heartily dislikes and would gladly avoid if he could; but +they must be done promptly and satisfactorily, and, if not cheerfully, +at least without audible murmuring. Eventually he may, and often does, +come to like them; at any rate he realises that they are not set +before him in order to irritate or punish him, but as part of his +school training. It will be agreed that the acquirement of a habit of +doing distasteful things, even under compulsion, because they are part +of one's duty is no bad preparation for a life in which most days +bring their quota of unpleasant duties which cannot be avoided, +delegated, or postponed. + +At the present time, however, there is a real danger--in some quarters +at least--of unduly emphasising the specifically vocational, or +"practical" side of education. The man of affairs knows little or +nothing of young minds and their limitations, of the conditions under +which teaching is done, or of the educational values of the various +studies in a school curriculum. He is prone to choose subjects chiefly +or solely because of their immediate practical utility. Thus in his +view the chief reason for learning a modern language is that business +communications will thereby be facilitated. One could wish that he +would be content to indicate the end which he has in view, and which +he sees clearly, and leave the means of obtaining it to the judgment +and experience of the teacher; for in education, as in other spheres +of action, the obvious way is rarely the right way, and very often the +way of disaster. Yet it is a distinct gain to have the practical man +brought into the administration of educational affairs; for teachers +are, as a rule, too little in contact with the world of commerce to +know much of the needs and ideas of business men. The Board of +Education has already established a Consultative Committee of +Educationists. Why should not a similar standing Committee, consisting +of representatives of the Chambers of Commerce of the country be also +appointed? Such a Committee could render, as could no other body, +invaluable service to the cause of education. + +From a recent article by Professor Leacock we learn that some twenty +years ago there was a considerable change in the Canadian schools and +universities. "The railroad magnate, the corporation manager, the +promoter, the multiform director, and all the rest of the group known +as captains of industry, began to besiege the universities clamouring +for practical training for their sons." Mr Leacock tells of a "great +and famous Canadian public school," which he attended, at which +practical banking was taught so resolutely that they had wire gratings +and little wickets, books labelled with the utmost correctness, and +all manner of real-looking things. It all came to an end, and now it +appears that in Canada they are beginning to find that the great thing +is to give a schoolboy a mind that will do anything; when the time +comes "you will train your banker in a bank." It may be that everybody +has not recognised this, and that the railroad magnates and the rest +of them are not yet fully convinced; but Mr Leacock declares that the +most successful schools of commerce will not now attempt to teach the +mechanism of business, because "the solid, orthodox studies of the +university programme, taken in suitable, selective groups, offer the +most practical training in regard to intellectual equipment, that the +world has yet devised." + +To the same purport is the evidence given by Mr H.A. Roberts, +Secretary of the Cambridge Appointments Board (see _Minutes of +Evidence taken before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, 22nd +November 1912-13th December 1912_, pp. 66-73). The whole of this +testimony deserves careful study. For some few years past the heads +of the great business firms, in this country and abroad, have been +applying in ever increasing numbers to Cambridge (and to Oxford also, +though in this case statistics do not appear to be available) for men +to take charge of departments and agencies; to become, in fact, +"captains of industry." In the year before the war (1913-14) about 135 +men were transferred from Cambridge University to commercial posts +through the agency of the Board[1]. One might naturally suppose that +the majority of these were science men; on the contrary, owing no +doubt to the greater number of other posts open to them, they were +fewer than might have been expected. Graduates from every Tripos are +found in the 135 in numbers roughly proportional to the numbers in the +various Tripos lists. Shortly before the war an advertisement of an +important managership of some works--in South America, if I remember +rightly--ended with the intimation that, other things being equal, +preference would be given to a man who had taken a good degree in +Classical Honours. + +That most of such men are successful in their occupations might be +deemed to be proved by the steady increase in the number of +applications made for their services. There is, however, more definite +evidence available. A member of one of the largest business firms in +the country testified to the same Royal Commission that of the 46 +Cambridge men who had been taken into his employment during the +previous seven years 43 had done excellently well, two had left before +their probationary period was ended to take up other work; and one +only had proved unsatisfactory. This evidence could easily be +supplemented did space permit. It is clear, then, that in many +callings what is wanted--to begin with, at any rate--is not so much +technical knowledge as trained intelligence. + +Another reason for thus choosing university men is not difficult to +discover. When Mr W.L. Hichens (Chairman of Cammell, Laird and Co.) +addressed the Incorporated Association of Headmasters in January last +he declared that in choosing university graduates for business he +looked out for the man who might have got a First in Greats or +history, if he had worked--a man who had other interests as well, who +was President of the Common Room, who had been pleasant in the Common +Room, or on the river, or rowed in his college "Eight," or had done +something else which showed that he could get on with his fellow-men. +In business getting on means getting on with men. + +The experience of Mr Hichens is so valuable that I cannot do better +than quote further. "A big industrial organisation such as my firm, +has, or should have three main sub-divisions--the manufacturing +branch, the commercial branch, and the research or laboratory +branch.... I will not deal with the rank and file, but with the better +educated apprentices, who expect to rise to positions of +responsibility. On the workshop side, we prefer that the lads should +come to us between sixteen and seventeen, and, if possible (after +serving an apprenticeship in the shops and drawing office), that they +should then go to a university and take an engineering course. + +"On the commercial side also we prefer to get the boys between sixteen +and seventeen. We have recently, however, reserved a limited number of +vacancies for university men. The research department also is, in the +main, recruited from university men. But there is this difference, +that, whereas the research men should have received a scientific +training at the university we require no specialised education in the +case of university men joining the commercial side. Specialised +education at school is of no practical value. There is ample time +after a boy has started business to acquire all the technical +knowledge that his brain is capable of assimilating. What we want when +we take a boy is to assure ourselves that he has ability and moral +strength of character, and I submit that the true function of +education is to teach him how to learn and how to live--not how to +make a living. We are interested naturally to know that a boy has an +aptitude for languages or mathematics, but it is immaterial to us +whether he has acquired his aptitude, say for learning languages, +through learning Latin and Greek or French and German. The educational +value is paramount, the vocational negligible. If, therefore, modern +languages are taught because they will be useful in later life, while +Latin and Greek are omitted because they have no practical use, +although their educational value may be greater, you will be +bartering away the boy's rightful heritage of knowledge for a mess of +pottage." + +There are doubtless many different opinions as to the best way of +training boys to become engineers, and in giving the results of his +experience Mr Hichens does not claim that he is voicing the unanimous +and well-considered judgments of the whole profession. His statement +that "specialised education at school is of no practical value to us" +would certainly be challenged by those schools which possess a strong, +well-organised engineering side for their elder boys. But there would +be substantial unanimity--begotten of long and often bitter +experience--in favour of his plea that a sound general education up to +the age of sixteen or seventeen at any rate, is an indispensable +condition of satisfactory vocational training. "I venture to think," +says Mr Hichens, "that the tendency of modern education is often in +the wrong direction--that too little attention is given to the +foundations which lie buried out of sight, below the ground, and too +much to a showy superstructure. We pay too much heed to the parents +who want an immediate return in kind on their money, and forget that +education consists in tilling the ground and sowing the seed--forget, +too, that the seed must grow of itself." + +It would appear from what has already been said that though the +necessity for vocational training exists in most, if not in all cases, +the time in a boy's life at which such training ought to begin is far +from being the same for all callings. Even where there is general +agreement as to the normal age, exceptional circumstances or +exceptional ability may justify the postponement of vocational +instruction to a much later period than would usually be desirable. +Thus the fact that two of the most distinguished members of the +medical profession graduated as Senior Wrangler and Senior Classic +respectively, will not justify the average medical student in waiting +until he is twenty-three before commencing his professional training. +If it be true that in some quarters "specialised education" has been +demanded for young boys, it is equally true that many youths pass +through school and enter the university without any clear idea of +whither they are tending. This uncertainty may be due to a belief that +"something is sure to turn up," to the magnitude of their allowances +and the ease of their circumstances, occasionally, perhaps, to +excessive timidity or underestimation of their powers; but, from +whatever cause it springs, such an attitude of mind is deplorable in +itself, and fraught with grave moral dangers. It ought to be possible +in the case of a boy of sixteen or seventeen to say with some approach +to certainty, for what employments he is quite unsuitable, and to +indicate the general direction, at least, in which he should seek his +life-work. The _onus_ of choice is too often laid upon the boy +himself; and the form in which the question is put--What would you +_like_ to be?--makes him the judge not only of his own desires and +abilities, but also of the conditions of callings with which he can, +at best, be but imperfectly acquainted. There is here fine scope for +the co-operation of parents and teachers not only with each other but +with the various professional and business organisations. It is +generally supposed to be the duty of a head master to observe and +study the boys committed to his care. It is equally important that he +should extend that study and observation to their parents--as an act +of justice to the boys, if for no other reason. But there are other +reasons. There is knowledge to be gotten from every parent--or at +least from every father--about his profession or business--knowledge +which, as a rule, he is quite willing to impart. If, in addition, a +head master avails himself of the opportunities of getting into touch +with men of affairs, leaders of commerce, professional men of all +kinds, his advice to parents as to suitable careers for their sons +becomes enormously more valuable. At the very least he may save them +from some of the more flagrant forms of error; for instance, he may +convince them that there are other and more valuable indications of +fitness for engineering than the ability to take a bicycle to pieces, +and a desire "to see the wheels go round"; and that a boy who is "good +at sums" will not, of necessity, make a good accountant. In short, he +may prevent them from mistaking a hobby for a vocation. + +[Footnote 1: In this connection it may be noted that 43 per cent. of +the members of Trinity College--where the normal number of +undergraduates in residence is over 600--on leaving the university +devote themselves to business.] + + + + +III + + +It ought to be clearly stated that in writing of schools I have had in +mind those which are usually known as public schools; for in the +general preparation for practical life the public school boy enjoys +many advantages which do not fall to the lot of his less-favoured +brother in the elementary school. Not only does his education continue +for some years longer, but it is conducted along broader lines, and +gives him a greater variety of knowledge and a wider outlook. He +comes, too, as a rule, from those classes of the community in which +there are long standing traditions of discipline, culture, and what +may be called the spirit of _noblesse oblige_. These traditions do +not, of themselves, keep him from folly, idleness, or even vice; but +they do help him to endure hardship, to submit to authority, to +cultivate the corporate spirit, to maintain certain standards of +schoolboy honour, and, as he himself would say, "to play the game." +Though in the class-room it may be that appeals are largely made to +individualism and selfishness, yet on the playing fields he learns +something of the value of co-operation and the virtue of +unselfishness. From the very first he begins to develop a sense of +civic and collective responsibility, and, in his later years at +school, he finds that as a prefect or monitor he has a direct share in +the government of the community of which he is a member, and a direct +responsibility for its welfare. Nor does this sense of corporate life +die out when he leaves, for then the Old Boys' Association claims him, +and adds a new interest to the past, while maintaining the old +inspiration for the future. + +With the elementary school boy it is not so. To him, as to his +parents, the primal curse is painfully real: work is the sole and not +always effectual means of warding off starvation. He realises that as +soon as the law permits he is to be "turned into money" and must +needs become a wage-earner. As a contributor to the family exchequer +he claims a voice in his own government, and resists all the attempts +of parents, masters, or the State itself to encroach upon his liberty. +He begins work with both mind and body immature and ill-trained. There +has been little to teach him _esprit de corps_; he has never felt the +sobering influence of responsibility; the only discipline he has +experienced is that of the class-room, for the O.T.C. and organised +games are to him unknown; and when he leaves there is very rarely any +Association of Old Boys to keep him in touch with his fellows or the +school. Here and there voluntary organisations such as the Boy Scouts +have done something--though little--to improve his lot; but, in the +main, the evils are untouched. To find the remedy for them is not the +least of the many great problems of the future. + +The improvement of any one branch of industry ultimately means the +improvement of those engaged therein. Scientific agriculture, for +example, is hardly possible until we have scientific agriculturists. +In like manner real success in practical life depends on the temper +and character of the practitioner even more than upon his technical +equipment. There are, however, three great obstacles to the progress +of the nation as a whole, obstacles which can only be removed very +gradually, and by the continuous action of many moral forces. We are +far too little concerned with intellectual interests. "No nation, I +imagine," says Mr Temple, "has ever gone so far as England in its +neglect of and contempt for the intellect. If goodness of character +means the capacity to serve our nation as useful citizens, it is +unobtainable by any one who is content to let his mind slumber." Then +again we suffer from the low ideal which leads us to worship success. +From his earliest years a boy learns from his surroundings, if not by +actual precept, to strive not so much to be something as somebody. The +love of power rather than fame may be the "last infirmity of noble +minds," but it is probably the first infirmity of many ignoble ones. +Herein lies the justification of the criticism of a friendly alien. +"You pride yourselves on your incorruptibility, and quite rightly; for +in England there is probably less actual bribery by means of money +than in any other country. _But you can all be bribed by power_." +Lastly (to quote Mr Hichens yet once more), "Strong pressure is being +brought to bear to commercialise our education, to make it a paying +proposition, to make it subservient to the God of Wealth and thus +convert us into a money-making mob. Ruskin has said that 'no nation +can last that has made a mob of itself.' Above all a nation cannot +last as a money-making mob. It cannot with impunity--it cannot with +existence--go on despising literature, despising science, despising +art, despising nature, despising compassion, and concentrating its +soul on pence." + + + + +XI + +TEACHING AS A PROFESSION + +By FRANK ROSCOE + +Secretary of the Teachers Registration Council + + +The title of this chapter is prophetic rather than descriptive for +although teachers often claim for their work a professional status and +find their claim recognised by the common use of the phrase "teaching +profession" yet it must be admitted that teachers do not form a true +professional body. They include in their ranks instructors of all +types, from the university professor to the private teacher or +"professor" of music. Their terms of engagement and rate of +remuneration exhibit every possible variety. Their fitness to +undertake the work of teaching is not tested specifically, save in the +case of certain classes of teachers in public elementary schools, nor +is there any general agreement as to the proper nature and scope of +such a test, could one be devised. Usually, it is true, the +prospective employer demands evidence that the intending teacher has +some knowledge of the subject he is to teach. He may seek to satisfy +himself that the applicant has other desirable qualities, personal and +physical, which will fit him to take an active and useful part in +school work. These inquiries, however, will have little or no +reference to his skill in teaching, apart from what is called +discipline or form management. + +The characteristics of a true profession are not easily defined, but +it may be assumed that they include the existence of a body of +scientific principles as the foundation of the work and the exercise +of some measure of control by the profession itself in regard to the +qualifications of those who seek to enter its ranks. Taken together, +these two characteristics may be said to mark off a true profession +from a business or trade. The skilled craftsman or artisan may belong +to a union which seeks to control the entrance to its ranks, but the +difference between the member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers +and the member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers is that the +former belongs to a body chiefly concerned with the application of +certain methods while the latter belongs to one which is concerned +with those methods, not only in their application but also in their +origin and development. It is recognised that there is a body of +scientific knowledge underlying the practice of engineering, and the +various professional institutions of engineers seek to extend this +knowledge, while claiming also the right to ascertain the +qualifications of those who desire to become members of their +profession. The same is true in different ways with regard to the +professions of law and medicine. It is to be noted also that within +these professions the admitted member is on a footing of equality with +all his colleagues save only so far as his professional skill and +eminence entitle him to special consideration. + +It will be seen at once that there are great difficulties to be +overcome before teaching can be truly described as a profession. The +diversity of the work is so great that it may be held that teaching is +not one calling but a blend of many. It is difficult to find any +common link between the university professor, the head master of a +great public school, an instructor in physical training, and a +kindergarten teacher. It is not easy to bring together the head master +of a preparatory school, working in complete independence, and the +head master of a public elementary school, dealing with pupils of +about the same age as those in the preparatory school, but controlled +and directed by an elected public authority under the general +supervision of the Board of Education. Yet despite these apparent +divergences of aim all teachers may be regarded as pursuing the same +end. They are engaged in bringing to bear upon their pupils certain +formal and purposeful influences with the object of enabling them to +play their part in the business of life. Such formal influences are +seconded by countless informal ones. School and university alone do +not make the complete man and it is an important part of the teacher's +task to second his direct and purposeful teaching by the influence of +his own personality and conduct, and by securing that the form or +school is in harmony with the general aim of his work. + +Skill in imparting instruction is by no means the whole of the +equipment required by a teacher. It is indeed possible to give "a good +lesson" or a series of "good lessons" and yet to fail in the real work +of teaching. In some branches far too much stress has been laid on +the more purely technical and mechanical attributes of good teaching +as distinct from the finer and more permanent qualities such as +intellectual stimulus, the awakening of a spirit of inquiry, and the +development of a true corporate sense. By way of excuse it may be said +that teaching has tended to become a form of drill chiefly in those +schools where the classes have been too large to permit of anything +better than rigid discipline and a constant attention to the learning +of facts. Teachers in such circumstances are gravely handicapped in +all the more enduring and important parts of their work. Very large +schools and classes of an unwieldy size tend to turn the teacher into +a mere drill sergeant. + +While full provision should always be made for the exercise of the +teacher's individuality there must be sought some unifying principle +in all forms of teaching work. Unless it is agreed that the imparting +of instruction demands special skill as distinct from knowledge of the +subject-matter we shall be driven to accept the view that the teacher, +as such, deserves no more consideration than any casual worker. No +claim to rank as a profession can be maintained on behalf of teachers +if it is held that their work may be undertaken with no more +preparation than is involved in the study of the subject or subjects +they purpose to teach. A true profession implies a "mystery" or at +least an art or craft and some knowledge of this would seem to be +essential for teachers if they are to have professional status. + +The difficulty in this connection is that the principles of teaching +have not yet been worked out satisfactorily. Our knowledge of the +operations of the mind develops very slowly and those who carry out +investigations in this field of research are few in number. Their +conclusions are not necessarily related to teaching practice but cover +a wider field. The study of applied psychology with special reference +to the work of the teacher needs to be encouraged since it will serve +to enlarge that body of scientific principle which should form the +basis of teaching work. It is by no means necessary, or even +desirable, that teachers should be expected to spend their time in +psychological research. Their business is to teach and this requires +that they should devote themselves to applying in practice the truths +ascertained and verified by the psychologists. For this purpose it +will be necessary that they should know something of the method by +which these truths are sought and proved. It is also an advantage for +teachers to learn something of the history of education, not as a +series of biographies of so-called Great Educators but rather with the +object of learning what has been suggested and attempted in former +times. Such a knowledge furnishes the teacher with the necessary power +to deal with new proposals and with the many "systems" and "methods" +which are continually arising. Instead of becoming an eager advocate +of every novelty or adopting an attitude of indiscriminate scepticism +he will be in some measure able to estimate the true merit of new +proposals, and his knowledge of mental operations will serve as an +aid in judging whether they have any germ of sound principle. The +alternative plan of leaving the teacher to learn his craft solely by +practice often has the result of confining him too closely to narrow +and stereotyped methods, based either on the imperfect recollection of +his own schooldays, or on the method of some other teacher. Imitation +is cramping and serves to destroy the qualities of initiative and +adaptability which are indispensable to success in teaching. + +It will be noted that no extravagant demand is put forward on behalf +of what is called training in teaching. The methods of training +hitherto practised have been based too frequently on the assumption +that it is possible to fashion a teacher from the outside, as it were, +by causing him to attend lectures on psychology and teaching method +and to hear a course of demonstration lessons. This plan may fail +completely since it is possible to write excellent examination answers +on the subjects named and even to give a prepared lesson reasonably +well without being fitted to undertake the charge of a form. It should +be recognised that the practice of teaching can be acquired only in +the class-room under conditions which are normal and therefore +entirely different from those existing in the practising school of a +training college. When this truth is fully apprehended we may expect +to find that the young teacher is required to spend his first year in +a school where the head master and one or more members of the regular +staff are qualified to guide his early efforts and to establish the +necessary link between his knowledge of theory and his requirements +in practice. + +The Departments of Education in the universities should be encouraged +to develop systematic research into the principles of teaching and +should be in close touch with the schools in which teachers are +receiving their practical training. + +The plan suggested will be free from the reproach often levelled +against the existing method of training teachers, namely, that it is +too theoretical and produces people who can talk glibly about +education without being able to manage a class. It will also recognise +the truth that the young teacher has much to learn in regard to the +art or craft of teaching and that there are certain general principles +which he must know and follow if he is to be successful in his chosen +work. The application of these principles to his own circumstances is +a matter of practice, for in teaching, as in any other art, the +element of personality far outweighs in its importance any matter of +formal technique or special method. The ascertained and accepted +principles underlying all teaching should be known and thereafter the +teacher should develop his own method, reflecting in his practice the +bent of his mind. + +The recognition of a principle does not of necessity involve +uniformity in practice. Freedom in execution is possible only within +the limits of an art. The problem is to define these limits in such a +liberal manner as will allow for variety and individual expression. +The saying that teachers are born, not made, is one which may be made +of those who practise any art, but the poet or painter can exercise +his innate gifts only within certain limits and with regard to certain +rules. It is no less fatal to his art for him to abandon all rules +than it is for him to accept every rule slavishly and apply it to +himself without intelligence. + +The acceptance of the principle that there is an art or at least a +craft of teaching is a condition precedent to any attempt to make +teaching a profession in reality as well as in name. + +The further requirement is that those who are engaged in teaching +should have some power of controlling the conditions under which they +work and more especially of testing the qualifications of those who +desire to join their ranks. This demands a recognition of the +essential unity of all teaching work and a consequent effort to bring +all teachers together as members of one body, possessing a certain +unity or solidarity in spite of its apparent diversities. To form such +a body is a task of great difficulty since the various types of +teachers have in the past tended to separate themselves into groups, +each having its own association and machinery for the protection of +its own interests. Apart from the teaching staffs of the various +universities, there are in England and Wales over fifty associations +of teachers, ranging from the National Union of Teachers with over +ninety thousand subscribing members to bodies numbering only a few +score adherents. These associations reflect the great diversity of +teaching work already described, but all alike are seeking to promote +freedom for the teacher in his work and to advance professional +objects. Such aspirations have been in the minds of teachers for many +years and from time to time attempts have been made to realise them by +establishing a professional Council with its necessary adjunct of a +Register of qualified persons. Seventy years ago the College of +Preceptors, with its grades of Associate, Licentiate and Fellow, +suggesting a comparison with the College of Physicians, was +established with the object of "raising the standard of the profession +by providing a guarantee of fitness and respectability." The College +Register was to contain the names of all those who were qualified to +conduct schools, and admission to the Register was controlled by the +College itself in order to provide a means of excluding all who were +likely to bring discredit upon the calling of a teacher by reason of +their inefficiency or misconduct. The scheme thus launched was, +however, not comprehensive, since it concerned chiefly the teachers +who conducted private schools and did not contemplate the inclusion of +those who were engaged in universities, public schools, or the +elementary schools working under the then recently established scheme +of State grants. Teachers in schools of this last description were +apparently intended by the government of the day to be regarded as +civil servants, appointed and paid by the State. Subsequent +legislation modified this arrangement, but teachers in schools +receiving government grants are still subject to a measure of control, +and those in public elementary schools are licensed by the State +before being allowed to teach. It will be seen that the effort to +organise a teaching profession was hampered from the start by the +fact that teachers were not entirely free to set up their own +conditions, since the State had already taken charge of one branch, +while further difficulties arose from the varied character of +different forms of teaching work and from the circumstance that some +of these forms were traditionally associated with membership of +another profession, that of a clergyman. + +Hence it was that despite several attempts to institute a Register of +Teachers and to organise a profession the difficulties seemed to be +insurmountable. Between the years 1869 and 1899 several bills were +introduced in Parliament with the object of setting up a Register of +Teachers but all met with opposition and were abandoned. The Board of +Education Act of 1899 gave powers for constituting by Order in Council +a Consultative Committee to advise the Board on any matter referred to +the Committee and also to frame, with the approval of the Board, +regulations for a Register of Teachers. It was not until 1902 that an +Order in Council established a Registration Council and laid down +regulations for the institution of a Register. The Council thus +established consisted of twelve members, six of whom were nominated by +the President of the Board of Education while one was elected by each +of the following bodies: the Headmasters' Conference, the Headmasters' +Association, the Head Mistresses' Association, the College of +Preceptors, the Teachers' Guild, and the National Union of Teachers. +The members of the Council were to hold office for three years, and +afterwards, on 1 April, 1905, the constitution of the Council was to +be revised. The duty assigned to the Council was that of establishing +and keeping a Register of Teachers in accordance with the regulations +framed by the Consultative Committee and approved by the Board of +Education. Subject to the approval of the Board the Council was +empowered to appoint officers and to pay them. The income was to be +provided by fees for registration and the accounts were to be audited +and published annually by the Board to whom the Council was also +required to submit a report of its proceedings once a year. + +Under this scheme a Register was set up, with two columns, A and B. In +the former were placed the names of all teachers who had obtained the +government certificate as teachers in public elementary schools. This +involved no application or payment by such teachers, who were thus +registered automatically. Column B was reserved for teachers in +secondary schools, public and private. Registration in these cases was +voluntary and demanded the payment of a registration fee of one guinea +in addition to evidence of acceptable qualification in regard to +academic standing and professional training. Although teachers of +experience were admitted on easier terms the regulations were intended +to ensure that, after a given date, everybody who was accepted for +registration should have passed satisfactorily through a course of +training in teaching. As designed in the first instance Column B +furnished no place for teachers of special subjects and it became +necessary to institute supplemental Registers in regard to music and +other branches which had come to form part of the ordinary curriculum +of a secondary school. + +The scheme thus provided a Register divided into groups according to +the nature of the accepted applicant's work. Such an arrangement +presented many difficulties since it ignored all university teachers +and assigned the others to different categories depending in some +instances on the type of school in which they chanced to be working +and in others on the subject which they happened to be teaching. + +A professional Register constructed on these lines had the seeming +advantage of supplying information as to the type of work for which +the individual teacher was best fitted. On the other hand it was held +that the division of teachers into categories was unsound in principle +and the teachers in public elementary schools were not slow to resent +the suggestion that they belonged to an inferior rank and were +properly to be excused the payment of a fee. They pointed out that +many of their number held academic qualifications which were higher +than those required to secure admission to Column B wherein some +eleven thousand teachers had been registered, of whom not more than +one half were graduates. The views thus expressed were shared by many +other teachers and it speedily became manifest that the proposed +Register could not succeed. In the Annual Report of 1905 the Council +stated that under existing conditions it was not practicable to frame +and publish an alphabetical Register of Teachers such as appeared to +be contemplated in the Act of 1899. In June, 1906, the Board of +Education published a memorandum stating the reasons which had led it +to take the opportunity afforded by impending legislation to abolish +the Register, and in the Education Bill of 1906 a clause was inserted +which removed from the Consultative Committee the obligation to frame +a Register of Teachers. This clause was strongly opposed by many +associations of teachers. It was urged by these bodies that although +one scheme had failed yet a Register was still possible and desirable. +It was held by many that the task assigned to the Registration Council +had been an impossible one since the conditions of supervision and +control imposed under the Act of 1899 left the Council very little +freedom and wholly precluded the establishment of a self-governing +profession. The general opinion seemed to be that any future Register +must be in one column avoiding any attempt to divide those registered +into different classes and that any future Council must be as +independent and widely representative as possible. This opinion found +expression and official sanction in a memorandum issued by the Board +of Education in 1911 after several conferences had been held for the +purpose of promoting a new registration scheme. The memorandum stated +that: "It should not be so much the kinds of teachers likely to be +most rapidly or easily admitted to the Register that should specially +determine the composition of the Council but rather the larger and +more general conception of the unification of the Teaching +Profession." This new and wider idea served to govern the formation of +the Teachers Registration Council which was established by an Order +in Council of February, 1912. The body constituted by this Order +consists wholly of teachers and includes eleven representatives of +each of the following classes: the Teaching Staffs of Universities, +the Associations of Teachers in Public Elementary Schools, the +Associations of Teachers in Secondary Schools, and the Associations of +Teachers of Specialist Subjects. The Council thus numbers forty-four +and it is ordered that the chairman shall be elected by the Council +from outside its own body. At least one woman must be elected by each +appointing body which sends more than one representative to the +Council provided that the body includes women among its members. It +will be seen that the constitution aimed at forming a Council wholly +independent and thoroughly representative. This quality was further +ensured by the establishment of ten committees, representing various +forms of specialist teaching and providing that any conditions of +registration framed by the Council should be submitted to these +committees before publication. + +The first Council under this scheme was formed in 1912 and held office +for three years as prescribed by the Order in Council. The chairman +was the Right Honourable A.H. Dyke Acland and the members included the +Vice-Chancellors of several universities and representatives of +forty-two associations of teachers. The first duty of the Council was +to devise conditions of registration and these were framed during +1913, being published at the end of that year. They provide in the +first place that up to the end of 1920 any teacher may be admitted to +registration who produces evidence of having taught under +circumstances approved by the Council for a minimum period of five +years. Regard for existing interests led to the setting up of a period +of grace before the full conditions of registration came into force. +After 1920, however, these become more stringent and require that +before being admitted to registration the teacher shall produce +evidence of knowledge and experience, while all save university +teachers are also required to have undertaken a course of training in +teaching. Under both the temporary and later arrangement the minimum +age for registration is twenty-five and the fee is a single payment of +one guinea. There is no annual subscription. + +The second Council was elected in 1915 and appointed as its chairman +Dr Michael E. Sadler, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leeds. Up +to the middle of July, 1916, the number of teachers admitted to the +Register was 17,628 and the names of these were included in the +_Official List of Registered Teachers_ issued by the Council at the +beginning of 1917. The Register itself is too voluminous for +publication since it comprises all the particulars which an accepted +applicant has submitted. All registered teachers receive a copy of +their own register entry together with a certificate of registration. +It will be seen that the task of receiving and considering +applications for registration forms an important part of the Council's +work. But it is by no means its chief function. As is shown in the +Board of Education memorandum already quoted the Council is intended +to promote the unification of the teaching profession. The Register +is nothing more than the symbol of this unity and the Council is +charged with the important task of expressing the views of teachers as +a body on all matters concerning their work. This is shown in the +speech made by the Minister of Education at the first meeting of the +Council. After welcoming the members he added: + +"The object of the Council would be not only the formation of a +Register of Teachers. There were many other spheres and fields of +usefulness for a Council representative of the Teaching Profession. He +hoped that they would be able to speak with one voice as representing +the Teaching Profession, and that the Board would be able to consult +with them. So long as he was head of the Board they would always be +most anxious to co-operate with the Council and would attach due +weight to their views. He hoped that they on their side would realise +some of the Board's difficulties and that the atmosphere of friendly +relationship which he trusted had already been established would +continue." + +The functions of the Council are thus seen to extend beyond the mere +compilation of a Register of Teachers and to include constant +co-operation with those engaged in educational administration. In view +of the desire which is now generally expressed for a closer union +between the directive and executive elements in all branches of +industry it is safe to assume that the Teachers' Council will grow +steadily in importance, especially if it is seen to have the support +of all teachers. + +Meanwhile it furnishes the framework of a possible teaching +profession and gives promise of securing for the teacher a definite +status by establishing a standard of attainment and qualification. +More than this will be required, however, if the work of teaching is +to be placed on its proper level in public esteem. Those who undertake +the work must be led to look for something more than material gain. +The teacher needs a sense of vocation no less than the clergyman or +doctor. It has been said that "teaching is the noblest of professions +but the sorriest of trades" and the absence of any real enthusiasm for +the work inevitably produces an attitude of mind which is alien to the +spirit of a real teacher. The material reward of the teacher has +accurately reflected the want of public esteem attaching to his work. +For the most part a meagre pittance has been all that he could +anticipate and this has led to a steady decline in the number of +recruits. A profession should furnish a reasonable prospect of a +career and a fair chance of gaining distinction. Such opportunities +have been far too few in teaching to attract able and ambitious young +men in adequate number. The remedy is to open every branch of +educational work and administration to those who have proved +themselves to be efficient teachers. The national welfare demands that +those who are to be charged with the task of training future citizens +should be drawn from the most able of our young people, to whom +teaching should offer a career not less attractive than other +callings. In particular the teacher should be regarded as a member of +a profession and trusted to carry out his duties in a responsible +manner. Excessive supervision and inspection will tend to discourage +and eventually destroy that quality of initiative which is +indispensable in all teaching. Freed from the monetary cares which now +oppress him, definitely established as a member of a profession having +some voice in its own concerns, encouraged to exercise his art under +conditions of the greatest possible freedom, and provided with +reasonable opportunity for advancement, the teacher will be able to +take up his work in a new spirit. We may then demand from new-comers a +sense of vocation and expect with some justification that teachers +will be able to avoid the professional groove which is hardly to be +escaped and which is quite inevitable if the conditions of one's work +preclude opportunity for maintaining freshness of mind and a variety +of personal interest. Such limitations as accompany inadequate +salaries, lack of prospects and absence of professional status convert +teaching into "a dull mechanic art" and deprive it of its chief +elements of enjoyment, namely the free exercise of personality and the +recurring satisfaction of seeing minds develop under instruction, so +that we are conscious of our part in helping the future citizens to +make the most of their lives. It is this power of impressing one's own +personality on the pliable mind of youth which brings at once the +greatest responsibility and the highest reward to the teacher and +attaches to his task a true professional character since it may not be +undertaken fittingly by any who cherish low aims or despise their +work. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13548 *** |