Fabian TraCt No. 5 2. /5p l btS''I ~2-] STATE ED.UCATION AT HOME AND ABROAD. BY ]. W . MARTIN, B. Sc. PuBLISHeD BY THE FABIAN SOCIETY. PRICE ONE PENNY. LONDON: To BE ::>BTAINED 'JF THE FABII\~ S oCIET Y, 276 STRAND, W.C. JU:\'C 1894 STATE EDUCATION AT HoME AND ABROAD.* A DE~IOCRAT!C sy tem ot education giH:s c,·cry child free access to a school under public control ; it links the primary to the secondar) and technical schools, and thes:.: in turn to the UniYersities; to a talented boy or girl it o:Ters an open course from Kindergarten t(} College. England possesses no such ordered scheme. EYen her primary chools, the sole class to which she has given tardy and grumbling attention, are not adapted to form the base of a national sy Lem. Before I 870 the efforts of statesmen to establish rate-supported chools under public control were perversely foiled by thli Established Church. Lord Melbourne's GoYernment was well-nigh overthrown by a propocal to found a State Training College ; and Sir Robert Peel was compelled to withdraw an innocent proposal to giye rate- aid to day schoob. The ecclesiastics claimed the right to license all teachers under some musty old canon, and the Dissenters practicallydeclared they would rather die than allow the Church any extension of power. Far-seeing citizen , who cried "A plague on both youthou es," were too parse to avail anything. Mini ters, therefore, had a sorry choice. They might leaye the country in dismal ignoranceand dare the horror of barbarians in reYolt, or they could enable voluntary societies to establi ·h school and training colleges with public funds. They cho~c the latter as the smaller evil. Thousands of pound were granted by Parliament to the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society to empower Churchmen and Nonconformists respectin:ly to attempt feebly what they would not allow the Government to perform fitly. Both parties were appeased by this deYice, becau e it enabled each to teach their children that their own was the true religion received direct from heayen, and to hint that the creed of their opponents -had a les desirable origin. But, in pile of this stimulus to both sides to multiply schools, it was apparent by 1870 that the Yoluntary sy tem was ludicrouslyinadequate. The extension of the franchi c had tran fen·ed the dominating political poll'er to the working clas·es. tate men who dreaded the adYent of Democracy anrrrily exclaimed that "we must educate our m~\ ters"; ll'hile tho·e who hoped for continuous progres under the changed conditions were eager to enlighten the new ruler, to tit him for his high clutie . Therefore, after bitter fighting, * A lecture deliyer~J befurc the F:~bian Society on Friday, Apttl 13th, r8g~. 3 thi! School Board system was at length established. Howe\·er, the Church wftS too powerful and too narrow-miH1ded to permit the Boards to be universally adopted. She had received State grants for her schools during many years, and steadfastly refused to relinquish her patronage. Increased sums might be spent on education by the nation, but the clergy must be the bursars. The idea of admittingelected citizens to share the management of the schools was too shocking to be entertained ; for what would become of religious teaching if the clergymen were deposed? Consequently, it wa:, enacted that School Boards should not be created unless voluntaryeffort (assisted by public funds) failed to supply the requisite school places. Voluntary Schools. Under that law our school system still labors, with the result that 14,684 day schools, attended by 2,3oo,ooo children, are yetunder private management. In many towns and districts not a single school under public control exists ; and, even in big towns, where School Boards are energetically at work, their denominational rivals stubbornly survive. If these privately-managed institutions were entirely supported by their pious patrons there would be little ground for agitation. But the British taxpayer is compelled to find nearly four-fifths of their funds, though, like the stupid, easy-going fellow he is, he permits the so-called " voluntary" subscribers of the one-fifth to control the schools. Tn the majority of instances the clergyman of the parish is practically the manager of the State-supported voluntary school. He appoints the teachers and fixes their salaries, regulates the supply of school materials, superintends the religious instruction, and kindlysupervises the teachers' manners. Sometimes he is neither a gentleman nor an educationist. Then woe betide the unlucky pedagoguesand youngsters under his dominion. He has been heard to declare in loud unclerical tones that the schoolmaster is as much his servant as his groom or gardener. No wonder he harbors this delusion. He can and does order the teacher to play the church organ, train the choir, superintend the Sunday School, and clean the out-offices. If these extraneous duties are neglected, dismissal is swift and sure, though the teacher be a paragon in his profession. The taxpayer, who provides four-fifths of the teacher's salary, is much too mindful of ecclesiastical dignity to yenture to interfere. Complaints against the management of Wesleyan and British schools are less numerous. But grievances naturally result from the private management. The teachers at the British School in which I served a dreary apprenticeship had frequently to wait two or three weeks for their month's salary, and nine or ten months for their share of the GoYernment Grant. Their professional knowledge of domestic economy enabled them to keep the brokers out of their homes, but, at times, they must have needed the scheming powers of Becky Sharp to succeed. Such delays are far too common. They are samples of the difficulties which occur when no dignity accom 4 panies a pos1t10n on the School Committee, and when members of the chapel to which the school is attached, who alone are practically eligible to serve, must have the honor thrust upon them, and will take no vitalizing interest in the wmk. Of course, the voluntary schools, while staggering under such burdens, are notoriously ineffective. Both in London and the provinces their Government Grant, estimated on efficiency, is lower than that earned by their rate-aided ri\·als. The private subscriptions theycollect may be more hallowed, but they are distinctly less productivethan rates ; while the irresponsible one-man rule diminishes the utility of the scanty funds obtained. Both evils would be removed by the universal establishment of School Boards, with a minim~m population under each Board sufficiently numerous to ensure the representation of all interests and to prevent secret misgovernmentby an individual or clique. Encouraged by their past success in securing public money, fattened into rebellion by State grants, the managers of voluntary scho®ls are now clamoring for a share of the rates in addition to the taxes. They long ago secured a judicialseparation of Taxation and Representation ; the new demand is for a divorce absolute. To grant it would be the perfection of politicalquackery and immorality. Foreign nations would not toleoate this inadequate, absurd, undemocratic Voluntary System. But it is a compromise, illogical and ridiculous, and therefore in harmony with British institutions. The canny Scot never adopted it. In 1872 the Scotch Education Act established universal School Boards and vested in them the existingParish and Burgh schools with their endowments. Though Scotchmen are known to be more pious than Englishmen, they were too worldly-wise to sacrifice the national education to sectarian jealousies. They realized that their sons must be liberally educated to enable them to oust the richer Southron from his own fat appointments. Hence it come that whereyer in England a good post is vacant, there are the Scotchmen gathered together. No Yoluntary schools exist in America. France provides primaryschools, free to all the children and controlled by elected representatives. She permits Roman Catholics to build and maintain schools, but entirely at their own cost, on which condition they educate one- third of the children in Paris. In Zurich, on the other hand, the Evangelical Protestants, considering ~he Protestantism of the publicschools too broad and lax, have founded by private subscription a strictly Evangelical school. But they pay the full price for their convictions. They are free from public control, except that their teachers must be fully certified and their curriculum the same as in the public school ; but the public purse is tightly closed against them. \Vith this trifling exception the primary schools of Switzerland are controlled by the citizen . Holland allows private schools, but that is quite a different matter from supporting them. In Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria also the popular school is supplied and maintained bythe municipal unit or commune. In fact, I can discover no other country which entrusts the State schools to private management. 5 School Buildings. So soon as a public system of primary education is established we shall demolish many o:· our school buildings and erect substitutes on Continental patterns. Most of the Yoluntary schools provided before 1870 \\·ere dark, ill-ventilated, cramped, and ill-equipped. Yet they are the sole provision in many small towns and villages. Cases occur in which the school floor is three to four feet below the level of the ground outside, the chUdren sit with their backs to the damp walls, offices open direct from the main room, the drains give practicalinstruction on noxious gases, and the roof provides again~ the lessom becoming dry. Board School buildings are, in the mai·n, an encouraging advance upon their ricketty predecessors. In the northern towns the school buildings are generally airy and handsome. In Scotland they are often palatial. In London, ground values forbid a liberal allowance of space, and as Matthew Arnold said : " It seems impossible to an architect not to pinch his staircases and corridors.'' Men accustomed to Scotch schools express surprise at the dark low passages and staircases which disfigure the metropolitan building~. At 11-school of 400 boys in which I taught, there is a new stairway about five feet wide, which at first appeared quite spaciouscompared with its gloomy, supe:·annuated forerunner. But, lest we should be over-elated with its breadth, the architect arranged that half way down it should be ~uddenly narrowed to barely three feet by a projection of the girls' school. If ever a panic occurs, that narrow spot will inevitably be a death-trap. We will hope that the doctrinal religious teaching the children are now to receive will prepare them for a sudden and early death. Our best English primary school buildings are inferior to many on the Continent. Matthew Arnold reported that "the school buildings at Hamburg, as in general e\·erywhere in towns in Germany, Switzerland and France, are sp::~c :ou~ and handsome." As to Switzerland, I can testify from obserDtion. The Congress at Zurich last year became very tedious towards the end of the week, and a few of the less-devoted delegates pbyed truant occasionally. To lull our uneasy consciences we inspected some of the educational buildings which distinguish the town. First we were taken to a stately stone structure facing a principal square, which, to our astonishment, we were informed was a popular school. The wide entrance hall was surrounded by airy, well-lighted class-rooms, separated from each other by solid walls, so that any noise in one would not reach its neighbor. At the side of the playground was a large gymnasiumabundantly furnished with apparatus. A spacious staircase led to the second floor, which contained another set of handsome classrooms ; and on the top ~torey was a commodious hall. It was beautifuHy decorated; good pictures hung on the walls; the columns and their capitals were elegantly colored ; the lofty ceiling was painted; and at one end was a large, decorated platform. Altogether, it reminded me of the Drapers' Hall in Throgmorton Street. Oh! I thought, the grandeur below is plainly intended to support 6 this hall, and here the City Fathers meet. So the building is not dedicated exclusively to education. ''I suppose a city guild or some municipal body meets here," I remarked. "Oh, dear, no! this is simply the music-room, which is used by all the classes in succession." Then I remembered London's refusal to supply a piano to its schools, and I wept for my country. Our guide, a teacher in the school, did not appear to think this building at all extraordinaryHe assured us that a handsomer edifice was in course of erection in another part of the town . .At Basle, where I called at the official enquiry office for ignorantforeigners, I was astounded to find that the school buildings were the main official attractions. To be sure, the city possesses an interesting old cathedral and a valuable picture gallery ; but the citizens seemed to set little store by these. The schools were their prideand delight. Photographs of the chief of them were reverentlyexhibited to us, and directions given for visiting them ; but no mention was made of cathedral or museum. Is any imagination strong enough to conceive of Londoners becoming so proud of their elementary schools as to forget St. Paul's and the National Gallery? Compulsory Attendance. vVhen the buildings are in order we require to turn our thoughts to the problem of getting all children inside them. The provisions of the _-\ct of 1870 were very lax as to compulsory attendance. Six yearslater a law stated distinctly that the parent should be bound under penalties to cause his child to receive elementary education, and empowered School Boards and School _-\ttendance Committees to make bye-laws and to enforce the compulsory clauses; but not until I 88o were these bodies left without choice, and compelled to make and to profess to administer local rules for getting the youngsters to school. .As it stands the law is very complicated, and varies from district to district. A child may work half-time either inside or outside a factory at eleven years of age. In both cases he must pass the Standard for partial exemption (usually the Third) fixed by the local bye-laws. In 1,2oo districts a proficiency-qualification is practically not enforced," the hole is so big that it will admit almost everybody except an idiot." In a few places full-time employment outside a factory or workshop may also commence at eleven, though the little industrial recruit be unable to write his name or read the shop- notices. He is not admitted to the factory for two years longer, the certificate for the Fourth or a higher Standard serving as a ticket of admission. At fourteen he may bid defiance to teachers and School _-\ttendance officers, and work at any employment. Even these low-pitched obligations are too high for the British public. Parents, managers, School Boards and magistrates unite in reducing the compulsory laws to a farce. Where small pettifoggingSchool Boards are in power it sometimes happens that the farmer who is entru ted with the administration of the law is himself the delinquent employer. Some magistrates bluntly refuse to administer 7 -::he law at all, and assure offending parents of their sympathy. There .:~re schools in London at which not more th:~n half the cholars are >e\'er present at one time; and throughout the country one school-seat .out of e\'ery fise is always empty. Hundreds of children are now freely running the trcets of London and graduating as criminals, because the attendance officers are tired of haling their ca e into court to be •Condoned and dismissed by magistrates whose misplaced sentiment .forbids them to inflict the slender lawful fine. Compare these shameful facts with the conditions in foreign ountries. In the United States the requirements are hardly higherthan in England. Dakota, Illinois, Minnesota and Montana compel l.weh·e weeks of chool attendance each year up to the age of four" teen. In New Hampshire and Rhode Island the law is more se\'ere . .Six of the compulsory weeks must actually be consecuti\'e. But New York State is the true home of spurious freedom, the flattering copyof England. Officially and unblushingly it declares that its compul'> Ory law is a dead letter. For a good example we must go to the Continent. The attendance law of France enacts th:~t "primaryjnstruction is obligatory for children of both sexes between the ages <>f six years complete and thirteen years complete." The parent is ummoned if the child is absent four half-days in a month. For repeated absences he may be fined fifteen francs or sent to gaol for five days. However, the local authorities ba,·e power to grant indi\'idual ·-children long holidays, and in practice the law is softened. \Vurtemberg children must attend ~chool daily between the ages of se\'en .and fourteen. Parents can be warned, fined and imprisoned for breaking the law. In Neuchatel attendance is compulsory up to sixteen years of age; but after thirteen only ten hours a week are enforced. Berne demands fi\'e-sixths of the po~sible attendances to be made between six and fifteen. The school law of Saxony declares that "every child has to attend, for eight years uninterruptedly, the -common popular school in the school district where he reside ," as a rule, from the completion of the sixth year of its age to the completion of its fourteenth. E\'en eight years are not sufficient in all in. stances. "Children who, by the end of their eighth chool year, do not attain due proficiency in the princip:~l matters of instruction- that is to say, in religion, the German language, re:~ding, writing, .and arithmetic, ha\'e to attend ~chool a year longer." .At Zurich, the paradise of education, the law is equally stringent. Children must attend [he primary school between six and thirteen, .and the secondary school bet ween thirteen and sixteen, unless exempted for special reasons. But out of a population of IO),ooo .only zoo children who are less than sixteen years old have left school. .Attendance is required every day, and penalties are inflicted for ten absences. However, both in Saxony and Zurich there is little need for punishment. Parents send their children to school as a matter ·of course. Matthew .Arnold reported in I 887 : "Wherever I en- quired, in Germany or Switzerland, inspectors and teachers assured me that they had not to complain of the parents · that the children 8 were sent to school regularly. By looking at the registers I was able to assure myself how few of the absences were entered as contumacious. A contumacious absence, I was told, was never passed m·er. In general the children have the habit of coming to school as a matter of course, and the parents haYe the habit of acquiescing, as a matter of cour~e, in their children's going. That is the greatmatter." Yes, that t's the great matter. The English democracy has yet to learn thi le~son from the despised and spectacled Germans. Until we recognise that education is a boon, not a penalty, we may expect to slip beh-ind in the race of nations. The Training of Teachers. Having brought the children to school we require to look at the supply and training of their teachers. Here again we are "·oefullybehind other countries on account of the haphazard way our scheme ha been put together. Education as a national system was fir t conceiYed in England at the end of the eighteenth century by Bell and Lancaster, two enthu iasts, who founded numerous schools which they conducted on original principles. They instituted the monitorial system, under which the ma ter instructed the elder scholars and set them to pass on the knowledge to their younger fellows, because knowledge, like mercy. it wa a umed, "is twice blessed, it blesseth him that giyes and him that takes.'' This great discovery naturallyrecommended itself by its che::~pness to an ignorant nation which was enduring the throes of the industrial revolution and had little thought or ca h to spare for the education of the future " hands." It was widely adopted until a Committee of Council examined into the state of Education in 1845, and found the schools were no exception to the rule that nastiness accompanies cheapness. H ow shall we get teachers ? was the question. They must be inexpensi\ ·e, but, in heaven's name, a little more efficient than these monitors. The answer was the establishment of the Pupil Teacher System which still disgraces our country. My own experience of this unholy career IS ~ypical. I was first put in occa~ional charge of a class at the unnpe age of ten. It may be, this infantile promotion was a tribute either to mygenius for teaching or to an archiepiscopal solemnity of manner still hardly shaken off. Probably the fact that my services were gratuitou · was the settling factor. At twelve I was established a a permanent monitor, with full charge of forty innocents, whom I was suppo~cd to educate. At thirteen I scraped through the entrance examination and became a full-blown pupil teacher, sanctioned by the "Lord of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education." At that time my own education was more backward than a Fourth tandard boy'~ in a London Board School. I did not under~tand Square 1e::~ ure, my handwriting wa clum y and irregular, and not till ome time after could I comrose a letter which 9 would bear the scrutiny of Lindley Murray. No word of any language except Lincolnshire English had ever passed my lips. I had ne\·er seen a scientific experiment nor read a Waverley Novel. In fact, a narrow-souled Puritanism had taught me that Sir Walter Scott's works were wicked ; and I well re:nember the priggish_ horror with which I viewed a more enlightened fellow-teacher reading Rob Roy. But with all these defects (which I blush Lo enumerate) I was considered competent to do the hardest, dreariest work_ in a British School, to teach the lowest Standards. I have said my case \Vas typical. Nowadays, the age for apprenticeship is fomteen, and monitors therefore must be thirteen; but in villages and small towns many boys and girls little better equipped'than I was are still set to some of the most important and exacting- work in the State. Probably the majority of them have more redeeming devilry in their composilion than I had, but intellectuallythey are no more fit. To continue this page of autobiography. For five years I was in charge of a class at school every day. No hour of leisure for study could be allowed me because the school stall was too small to carry on the work in my absence. All my self-culture had to be done at night or in the early morning. The schoolmaster ga,·e me tuition for three-quarters of an hour each day before or after school, when he did not feel indisposed ; unguided, lonelyeffort had to do the rest. Truly the name pupil-teacher is well chosen. It denotes an unfortunate youngster who is a teacher b)~ day and a pupil by night. \Vhat wonder the health breaks down, the temper becomes irritable, and the pitiable, helpless scholars are made miserable? Under the best conditions, a lad or lass of fourteen could not have the self-control, the tact, the sympathy necessary for just, kind dealing with younger children. But when the immature- pedagogue is over-driven day and night, when he has no time for open-air exercise, when he is oppressed with the anxiety to gettl-rrough his own examinations and drag his fellow-victims through_ theirs, what wonder if he become harsh and cruel, and make school- life a torture to the wee scholars? My own dreams are still haunted with visions of the young Britons whose seventh and eighth years. were blighted by my untutored zeal. And to-day hundreds of boys. and girls are being dragged through the three R's by unhappyapprentices under precisely similar circumstances. The large towns have inaugurated a reform, and here, for once, London leads. It is quite refreshing to be able to congratulate the provincial-spiritedBoard that meets on the Embankment upon this piece of pioneerwork. For two years London pupil-teachers are not counted on the staff of their schools, and attend excellent centres for special instruction one part of each day and on Saturday mornings. Afterwards. they count for thirty scholars in the staffing, but they still attend classes for instruction on five half-days in each fortnight and on Saturday mornings. Other towns ha,-e adopted modifications of this system. The objection to it is th::tt it does not throw the would-be pedagogue among young people destined for other trades or profes IO sions. By confining teachers to the company of teachers, a certain 11arrowness of mind is induced, a crotchetty and provincial habit of thought which mars their influence in sGhool and prejudices the public against them. Training Colleges. The course at one of the training colleges rubs off some of the -corners; but they, again, are privately controlled and calculated to keep the student in a professional groove. I mentioned earlier that Lord Melbourne's Government was shaken almost to its fall by a statesmanlike attempt to found a National Training College. The oppo. sition of the Churches was too strong for the Ministry. Successive Governments, warned by this failure, were compelled to assist private.societies to found colleges. Gradually the State support has grownand the private contributions have dwindled, until, out of a total income of £I8o,ooo, the colleges receive only £I6,ooo from private purses. But the private committees still rule. They appoint the professors, settle the hours for study, decide the diet (a most important function), fix the fees, and determine the creed which the candi- dates shall profess. Of 3,409 places in the residential colleges the Church of England monopolizes 2,223 (65 per cent.), the Wesleyans232, ana the Roman Catholics 255. About 700 places are undenominational. In one or two cases the principals wink at the admission ·of clever Agnostics, Atheists, or Unitarians, who will be discreetly reticent about their ideas upon religion ; but an Atheist or Agnosticwho frankly avowed his unbelief would find all the college portals closed against him. Four-fifths of the accommodation is strictly preserved for men ancl women who will repeat glib formulas and give assent to the principal's theology. The cmting hypocrisy engendered in consequence would stagger the nation if it could be faithfully revealed. One of the most earnest, sympathetic, and successful teachers I ever met was refused admission to a vVesleyan college because he ·declined to inform the principal whether his soul was "saved." Being honest as well as devout, he respectfully asked his questionerwhat he meant by salvation, and firmly declined to allege an exact time and place at which "his soul had undergone a change." That sincerity excluded him from the State-supported institution and -compelled him to mark time in his profession for twelve months. 'Thorough-paced hypocrites, who would drop on their knees and pretend to pray when disturbed by a tutor at a game of cards in the dormitory, were eagerly welcomed by the officials, because they ·could cheerfully repeat the cant patter ; but the sincere Christian, who has since become a zealous Congregational Minister, was sternlyrejected by them, because he would not pretend to emotions he was too healthy to experience, nor expose his most sacred feelings to the -vulgar gaze of a prying parson. At the Day Training Colleges recently established in connection with the Universities and University Colleges no religious tes-t is -demanded. But they can receive only 564 students and have still to win a reputation. Jl Our system of training teachers is thus seen to be topsy-turvy, t ail in front, head behind, worthy of the grotesque fancy of Mr. of the children and youth committed to thea-care and in truction, the principl~s of morality and ju~tice and a sacred regard for truth, love of country, humanity ;;.nd a uniYersal beneYolence ; obriety, industry, and frugality; cha tity, moderation, and temperanct!; and [lc~t this awe-in pi ring catalogue proYe inadequate] a/{ r;lhcr ?•trlttcs which ornament human ociety." There is surely ~ufficit! nt cope here for the mo~t aintly among teacher~. An ordmar) 13 inful mortal would hardly complain of cramped opportunities with that syllabus to guide him. Throughout Switzerland and Germany definite instruction in the religion of the majority is given in the popular schools. An article in the Swiss Constitution commands that " the public schools shall be capable of being attended by adherents of all confessions without injury to their freedom of faith and conscience." No difficulty has arisen. Catholic instruction is given in Catholic cantons like Lu· cerne; Prl!ltestant in qmtons like Zurich; but less time is devoted to the subject than in London. Physical Training. About gymnastics few words need be said, since the Code justissued ordains that physical exercises shall be taught in Englishschools before 1895. In London some provision is already made for this work. Indeed, teachers are bewildered by the diversity of systems favored by the Board in successive years. However, I believe that no apparatus is yet provided. The children are encouraged to swing their arms, bend their bodies and march to their own unaccompanied singing. That is a quite inexpensive performance. But dumb-bells, clubs or bar-bells to aid the muscular developmentwould cost a few pence each, and are therefore not to be considered. Any suggestion that London schools should be furnished with big ·gymnasiums like the one at Zurich would send some members of the Board into hysterics. France prescribes that gymnastics shall be taken every day byboth boys and girls; as also do Saxony, Geneva and Zurich. Queensland, despite its name, appears to consider that girls need not be 'Physically strong ; but she provides for the boys. In Sweden eYeryboy and girl must practise gymnastics for half an hour on four days a week. By a recent regulation the children in the schools of Paris spend one morning or afternoon a week at organized out-door games. Prussia has lately been instructing her teachers in open-air sports that they may show the little Germans how to win battles on playingfields. But England, the home of football and cricket, gives scant opportunity to children in the primary schools to secure that trainingin self-control and co-operation which these sports afford. Space, apparatus and encouragement are wanting. I never heard of an elementary school which possessed a playing field. But in the enlightened days to come every group of schools will own a meadow ; cricket, football and tennis will be zealously organized ; school matches will be great events ; every child will be taught to swim ; old boys' and girls' clubs will own rowing boats ; all the best parts of the physical education in the great public schools will be available to every young Britisher. Inspectors. To ensure that the schools are conducted on approved principles, that the public money is wisely expended, numerous inspectors are needed. How shall they be appointed, and what shall be their qualifications? The principle adopted in Enp;land in the past has. been very simple. One chief condition has the Inspector been required to satisfy, that he should know nothing about the school he would examine. The ideal appears to have been that he should never have entered an elementary school, degraded himself b)" conversation with an elementary teacher, nor sacrificed his class prideby studying with sympathy a plebeian scholar. By residence at Oxford or Cambridge, he must gain a proper contempt for enthusiasm and energy, a scorn for men and women who speak without a drawl, for the children of" these people who live in small houses.'" Above all, he must have a fine, satirical, literary style, that hi reports may combine the maximum of irritation with the minimum of useful criticism. Against these peculiarly undemocratic conditions the teachers are in revolt. J hey ask that some of the Inspectorshipshall be given to the most distinguished primary teachers. They argue that a man who has risen to the top of his profession, who has shewn exceptional talent by his work in the National Union of Teachers, by articles in educational journals or by service on educational commissions, is likely to be a more acute and useful inspector than a stripling from Oxford or Cambridge, who has never faced a class. So far, not a single inspector has been taken direct from the schoolmaster's desk. Mr. Acland has recently appointed two men who were once teachers; but even in these cases the favored one had been out of touch with the work sufficiently long to preventthem being hampered by practical knO\dedge, and to put them in harmony with the traditions of the Department. Is it not time that the Socialistic maxim of the career open to talent, the promotion of the best, should be adopted in our State education? These matters are managed better abroad. In France and Sweden the in pectors are drawn as a rule from the ranks of elementary teachers. In Saxony and Geneva all inspectors have been distinguished teachers, but not necessarily in the elementary schools. In Zurich the members of the communal school committee and of the district school committee in pcct the schools. They are elected by uni\·ersal suffrage. Inspectors in the United States are politicians. Nominally, they are elected by the people, but pedagogicLnowledge is le s requisite than business shrewdness, and, I fear. corrupt wire-pulling. Their dutie~ are administrative, not educational. In view of the probable candidature of teacher at the forthcoming election of the London Board, it is useful to notice that in France the curriculum of the schools is fixed by a Council consisting of teachers of all grades. On the District School Committees of Canton Zf1rich there must be three teachers' representatives out of nine to thirteen members ; and one-third of the Education Council (a higher and more authoritatiYe body) is elected by the masters and mi~tresses. The teachers in each district form a school chapterwhich reports to the Education Council and has a right to be heard before any change in the work, plan or regulation of the popularschools is adopted. If such a rule operated in London. the notorious. 15 circular on religious imtruction "·ould ne,·er haye been issued. For want of a better method for securing expert guidance of the Board, we can leaven it with a few members practically acquainted with. school work. Organize Secondary Education. The chief blot on English education I have left till last-that is,. the chaos which preyails above the primary schools. On each of the three occasions when ·Matthew Arnold examined and reported uponContinental systems of education, he implored the English Government to organize Secondary and Higher Educatioc. That was always the burden of his education;:d song. His case could not be refuted. The facts are so conclusi,·e and damning that the dullest country squire must acknowledge their force if he can be induced to examine them. Secondary education is the Arcadia of private unregulated enterprise. Men who have been driven out of other callings imagine that Heaven intended them to manage a private school. Their entrance to the trade (it is not recognised as a pro fession) is charmingly easy. No apprenticeship, experience, certificate or proof of aptitude is required. They put mysterious letter& after their names to which no educational body can attach a meaning ; they issue delusive prospectuses ; they lure shabby-genteelpeople into their parlors; and the thing is done. For the parents I ha,·e no sympathy; but for the sake of the unoffending youngsters, the helpless victims sacrified on the mean altar of gentility, reform should be speedy and exhaustiYe. The education giYen in "academies," "establishments for young gentlemen," and "privatecolleges," is often incomparably worse than is pro,·ided in a Board School. No State ~eaching diploma exists which would enable the public to test the pretensions of the men who issue showy announcements. No authority Yisits or examines their schools. It is nobody's business to see that the assistants are abundant, properly qualified or fitly paid, the buildings suitable and sanitary, the apparatus sufficient, or the curriculum rationJI. Chaos holds depotic sway. Another Commission upon the subject has been appointed. Perhaps their recommendations will be incarnJted in a working scheme. 'Vho knows? There may be a limit to British tolerance of disorder and inefficiency. Germany, France, Switzerland and America set us a goodexample long ago. They pos ess complete, graduated series of schools, co-ordinated, efficient, State-endowed ; they insist that e\·ery teac!1er shall be a competent workman ; they liberally encourage the highest branches of study ; they help the poor and talented scholar to climb to the Uni,·ersity. :1\-ot until Englandcopies and improves on their example may reformers cease com plaining, or Fabians be at rest. G . STANOAING, T.U. P .. INTEA, 1 6. 9 F'INSSUAV STAC£T, E. ':, F F ABIAN SOCIETY.-The Fabian Society consists of Socialists. .A statement of its Rules, etc., and the following publications can be obtained from the Secretary, at the Fabian Office, 276 Strand, London, W.C. FABIAN ESSAYS IN SOCIALISM. (35th Thousand.) Library Edition, 6/-; or, direct from the Secretary for Gash, 4/6 (postage, 4td.). .Cheap Edition, Paper cover, I/-; plain cloth, 2j-. At all booksellers, or post free from the Secretary for I/-and 2/-respectively. FABIAN TRACTS. 1.-Why are the Many Poor? lOOth thous. 4 pp., 6 for ld.; l f-per 100. s.-Facts for Socialists. A survey of the distribution of income and the condition of classes in England. 6th edition; revised 1893. 55th thousand. 16 pp., ld. ; or 9d. per doz. 7.-Capital and Land. A similar survey of the distribution of property. 4th edition; revised1893. 16pp.,ld. ; or9d. doz. :xo.-Figures for Londoners. 20th thous. 4 pp., 6 for ld.; l f-per 100. I2.-Practicable Land Nationalization. Revised 1894. 4 pp., 6 for 1d. ; l f-100. IJ.-What Socialism Is. 80th thous. 4 pp., 6 for 1d.; or 1/-per 100. I4.-The New Reform Bill. 15th thous. 20 pp., 1d.; 9d. per doz. I5.-English Progress towards SOcial Democracy. By S. WEBB. ld.; 9d. doz. I6.-A Plea for an Eight Hours Bill. 4 pp., 6 for 1d.; 1/-per 100. I7.-Reform of the Poor Law. By SIDNEY WEBB. 20 pp., 1d.; 9d. per doz. I9.-What the Farm Laborer Wants. 4 pp., 6 for ld.; or 1/-per 100. 20.-Questions for Poor Law Guardians. 4 pp., 6 for 1d. ; or 1/-per 100. 21.-Questions for London Vestrymen. 4 pp., 6 for 1d. ; or 1/-per 100. 22.-The Truth about Leasehold Enfranchisement. 6 for ld.; or 1/-per 100. 23.-The Case for an Eight Hours Bill. 16 pp., ld.; or 9d. per doz. 24.-Questions for Parliamentary Candidates. 6 for 1d.; or 1/-per 100. 25.-Questions for School Board Candidates. 6 for 1d.; or 1/-per 100. 26.-Questions for London County Councillors. 6 for 1d. ; or 1/-per 100. 27.-Questions for Town Councillors. 4 pp., 6 for 1d.; or l f-per 100. 28.-Questions for County Councillors (Rural). 6 for 1d.; or 1/-per 100. 29.-What to Read. A List of Books for Social Reformers. Contains the best books and blue-books relating to Economics, Socialism, Labor Movements, Poverty, etc. 2nd ed. ; revised 1893. Paper cover, 3d. each; or 213 per doz. 38.-A Welsh Translation of No. I. 4 pp., 6 for ld. ; or 1/-per 100. 39.-A Democratic Budget. 16 pp., 1d. ; or 9d. per doz. 41.-The Fabian Society: What it has done and how it has done it. By BERNARD SHAW. 32 pp., ld. each; or 9d. per doz. 42.-Christian Socialism. By the Rev. S.D. HEADLAM. 16 pp., 1d. 9d. per doz. 44.-A Plea for Poor Law Reform. 4 pp. 6 for 1d. ; or l f-per 100. 45·-The Impossibilities of Anarchism. By G. B. SHAW. 28 pp., 2d. ; 1/6 per doz. 46.-Socialism and Sailors. By B. T. HALL. 16 pp., ld. each; or 9d. per doz. 47.-The Unemployed. By JOHN BURNS,:!II.P. 20 , , , 48.-Eight Hours by Law. 16 pp., ld. each ; or 9d. per doz. 49.-A Plan of Campaign for Labor. Containing the substance of the Fabian :\Ianifesto entitled "To your Tents, 0 I rae!! " (Fo1'tnightly Review, Nov. 1893); with proposals for Labor Representatiou. 36 pp., 2d. 1/6 per doz. so.-Sweating: its Cause and Remedy. 16 pp ., ld. each ; or 9d. per doz. sx.-Socialism: True and False. By SIDNEY WEBB. :20 pp., 1d. ea. ; 9cl. doz. 52.-State Education at Home and Abroad. By J . W. :'IIARTIN. lG pp., 1d.; or 9cl. per doz. 53·-The Parish Councils A