Far be it from this journal to argue that only educational experts have a right to alr their views on the quality. of school-teaching or on its apparent results. The school like any other mortal institution has to be judged by the impression which it makes on the world outside. So the lay critic has his right (oan innings when educational. problems are discussed. Yet there is a curious tendency for the layman to be dogmatic where the expert soften diffident. The fiercest examiner, who ever "ploughed his way to domal execration, will probably think twice before asserting that the failure to answer certain arbitrarily posed questions connotes either stunted intelligence on the part of the victim or inefficiency in the instructor absent in the background. So, loo, must be assessed equally dogmatic views on the cost of Munlcipal Education. In spite of clear Indications that the schools, in certain vital respects—duly noted by qualified experis—are Jamentably handicapped by' the present need for retrenchment tthe rise in expenditure is at once re~ garded as a sign of naughty exfravogance. The truth is that certain local ideas on education have too Tong smacked of the village school or charity Institution atmosphere of the dim Victorian age. The trend of some criticisms clearly suggests that, riven out of his native land, Mr. Podsnap has found time to propagate hig kind with vigour in this international city.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.