In England there has been marked progress—almost a revolution—in educational ideas and standards of recent years. Old schools with ancient ideas are being modernised. It has been recognised that much of the education given has been wasteful, that a boy has often been taught for years with little reference to his probable future career, and that he has frequently left school ill-fitted for his work in life. I quote—for instance—the opinion of an educstionist from a standard work: "A crying evil in England at present is that the old classical curriculum dominates in the smaller grammar haps send up one boy every alternate your, or less frequently, to theuniversitios, and the mass of boys are sacrificed to a curriculum demanded by an occasional boy."
We have at last recognised—as the Americans und Germans do—that, if we are to keep our place among the gi tions, educational work mus its due. Certain Acts of Ps recently passed, will have important results on schools and teachers. Schools will be brought more and more under official inspection and the inefficient weeded out. I refer, of course, to the secondary schools. Elementary education is compulsory, and the voluntary and board schools are already organised with trained teachers and under Government inspection. But in secondary schools, which depend in part or entirely on income derived from fees, there has beau a remarkable absence of organisation and authoritative outside control. In the laws that are to regulate higher education the interests of the private school, which can prove its efficiency, have not been overlooked. It may interest you to learn that there are over 4,000 private schools in England, and of pupils attending secondary schools about 30 per cent attend the great public or semi-public institutions and fully 70 per cent attend schools which are privately owned and managed. But it is the teacher himself who is to receive greatest atten! Hitherto anyone—be he a faddist or religious enthusiast—provided he possessed sufficient powers of self-advertisement, has been able to open a school in which to experiment in his particular quackeries.
How mixed and improper the moti of the would-be schoolmaster can be, well expressed in the following paragraph which I will read to you "Those who have the opportunity of seeing young men when they are leaving the university for school appointments, are accustomed to hear them talk freely of the advantages and disadvantages of the work that lies before them. The school is in a nice situation; the headmaster is a good fellow; there is fishing, or cricket, or lawn-tennis to be had in the neighbourhood: on the other hand, the pay is not much and the elementary teaching will, of course, be drudger Or again, there is no particular opening available at present; something must be done to earn a little money; schoolmastering is handy and can be tried for term or two; meanwhile one can look bout; at any rate no special preparation is required; and, in the Easter vacation one can ran up and see the boat-race. Such are some of the considerations that emerge in talk; and though one need not infer that there is nothing deeper behind, yet there is often very little sign that the aspirant adequately recognises the importance, the difficulty and the interest of the professional work which he has chosen. The men, who mean to try it fora term or two, and makes little money while they look about,' arear once the most naive and the most depressing. What would be thought of the man who entered the Church in such a spirit? They always remind me of the immortal Mrs. Lirriper's description of the. wandering Christians, who go about looking for lodgings and making most precise inquiries without a thought of permanently engaging them. I actually read the other day in a rather fatuous article directed against training, a complaint that those who now accept a mastership for a term to see how they like it and because an immediate income was an object,' would, if training were quired, be kept out of the profession But this will all now change. A register is to be kept by the central educational authority in London of all qualified, trained, and competent school-masters. No on taken his vocation and must seek another. While the social importance of the teacher will in consequence receive greater cou-sideration, his salary too may be expected to increase proportionately, There professions which are on the whole so wretchedly paid.
Since the necessity of trained and qualified teachers for secondary schools has boon recognised, instruction in pedagogy is given at the universities. I have here a of to intending schoolmasters del at Cambridge, and 1 cannot do better than conclude this report with an extract referring to the aims of the educator—aims which, we believe, are quite within our reach in the Far East.
The Teacher's Aim:
"And for the teacher, the one thing needful faith in the infinite possibilities that lie hidden in the nature of a young child. One hears so much rhetoric and nonsense on this subject. The school-master is often addressed by enthusiasts, as if he were more important to the body politic than soldier and statesman, poet and student, all put together; and a modest ud rightly rebels, against ion, and is fain' to take refuge in a mean view of his office. But after all, we must never forget that those who magnify your office in ever so bad taste are substantially right. And it is only an elevated ideal of your profession which will ever enable you to contend against its inevitable discouragements—the weary repetitions, the dullness of some, the wilfulness of other, the low aims of many parents, the exaction+ of governors and of public bodies, the ungenerous criticism, the false standards of estimation which may be applied to your work. What is to sustain you in these circumstances? Nothing, except the faith which removes mountains, the strong conviction that your work after all, if honestly and "skilfully done, is some of the most fruitful and precious work in the world. The greatest of all Teachers, in describing His own mission, once said, Iam come that they might life, and that they might have it more abundantly" And may we not without irreverence say that this is, in a
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.