will be regrettable competition. Other girls' schools there are, a few as autarchic and aristocratic as Eton, the majority small and ill-equipped; and, in spite of some hardships to individuals, it cannot be denied that the commonweal will We have said that some profit by their supersession. classes of schools will be practically unaffected. But it must not be forgotten that even the most exclusive and the most completely non-local schools will slowly but inevitably feel the effects of a better organization of education, of better and more highly trained teachers, of wiser schemes of curricula, and of healthier ideas of equipment. Even Winchester will, in time, feel the effects of the Act of 1902, no less than the Minerva House of a suburban by-road.

HE practical problem remaining for our legislators is summed up in the one word "London." How is education to be administered in this immense and crowded area, honeycombed with endowments and institutions and authorities of all and every sort? One thing is evident. The discussions that have arisen in Parliament and elsewhere have

London.

very generally cleared the ground. Schemes have been brought forward in various quarters, and have been dismissed. There remain two principles upon which general agreement may be predicated. In the first place, the Education Authority of London must be one and indivisible, dealing with all grades of education in every part of the area. It is not admissible that there should be more than one rating authority. The second point of agreement is that this authority must be directly responsible to the ratepayers. Thus the formation of a Board on the lines of the London Water Board-the plan that the Government at one time favoured-is ruled out of court. The idea of an ad hoc body created by the direct vote of the electorate finds little support save from the N.U.T., and contradicts the principle

Mr. Balfour and Dr. Clifford.

N the duel between Dr. Clifford and Mr. Balfour we do not propose to intervene. Both "The Fight against the Education Bill" and "A Letter on the Criticisms of an Opponent seem to us to lack the lumen siccum that alone can make such controversies fruitful. The head and front of Dr. Clifford's offending is, according to Mr. Balfour, that he is "preoccupied more with politics than with either religion or education." That the castigator of this "party pamphleteer" should address his correction to the chief agent of the Conservative party is a blunder that we should not have expected from the author of "A Defence of Philosophic Doubt." We are no admirers of Dr. Clifford's style, but we as little admire the rhetoric of Mr. Balfour's Manchester speech.

Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes ? is a stock quotation, but it is apt. As the Primate said in his last words in the House of Lords, "We have had enough of words, and want to get to work."

In Scotland we have been beforehand on this particular question. Greek [in the Scotch Universities] is now made an alternative subject with Latin; yet the study of Greek is not dead, and can be trusted not to die. There has been a falling off in the number of learners of Greek who would never have prosecuted the study to any advantage; but the number of those prosecuting it to real purpose, with a view to an Honours standard, has increased; the standard for Honours work, both in Greek and Latin, is steadily rising; and the figures in the Universities for the present session are hopeful in that respect for the future.

County Council should be the authority for rating directly responsible to the electorate; and that it should delegate its powers to a committee consisting as to one half of its number of delegates from the boroughs and of representatives of existing institutions. A further delegation of duties might be made to Education Committees of the Borough Councils. On these lines, we are fairly confident, the forthcoming Bill will be drawn.

THE 'HE amendment of Mr. F. S. Stevenson, put on the Order paper at the instance of the Assistant Masters' Association, an amendment which aimed at giving greater security of tenure, came under the knife of Tenure. the guillotine. But the Bishop of Hereford found an opportunity of moving a similar amendment in the House of Lords. He said that he moved the amendment "on behalf of the assistant masters, who ought not to be subject to arbitrary dismissal." Such a statement from one of the great head masters, brought up in the "dismissible at pleasure" theory, cannot fail to have weight. We could not expect the Government to accept the amendment, because they have resolutely set their face against the introduction of all detail in the secondary part of the Act. But the argument used by Lord Londonderry is only one more proof of the difficulty that a Minister of Education has in mastering the details of our complex system of education. The Marquis could not accept the amendment "because it would deprive the governing body of its power." The effect of the amendment would, as a matter of fact, have conferred, in most cases, fresh powers on the governing body, as in the scheme of endowed schools under the Charity Commission it is the head master who appoints and "may at pleasure dismiss" his staff.

Register and the names of all the head masters and mistresses who have registered up to December 12. Some dozen teachers have written to us protestThe Teachers' Register. ing against our recent complaints of the slackness of teachers in applying for registration. We do not publish their letters because they are all to the same effect, and we can dispose of them by a general apology. It is still a true charge that only a small percentage of public-school masters have availed themselves of the Register. It is equally the fact that there are hundreds of applications waiting in the office which have still to be dealt with. For this delay the Board of Education and the Treasury, not the Registrar, are responsible. The recognition of schools, on which, in the majority of cases, the registration of a teacher depends, is a slow process, and till this point is determined by the Board the application is necessarily hung up. Secondly, the office is still inadequately staffed. It is calculated that each entry in Column B, what with verification, copying, and correspondence with the applicant, occupies six hours, and besides there are the 90,000 names under Column A to be dealt with. Never did the present Government make a wilder estimate than when, through the mouth of Sir John Gorst, they declared that for the first three years the fees received would more than cover the expenses of the Register. The Council have forgone the attendance fees which by the Order they were entitled to claim, the office has been starved, and yet at the end of the first year there will be a substantial deficit.

THE Matriculation scheme of the University of London which came into force last September gave general satisfaction to the profession, and went far to obviate the

University of London Matriculation.

necessity of that monstrous excrescence the Matriculation class. The Regulations for the Inspection of Schools and Schoolleaving Certificate Examination, which come into force with the new year, are a further step in advance, and will enable any efficient school to pass its pupils into the University without special preparation or dislocation of their regular course of study. The scheme is, in brief, as follows:-the Leaving Certificate, which counts as an equivalent to Matriculation, will be awarded either on the Matriculation papers-which may be taken at any school that sends in six candidates-or on special advanced papers. The subjects and range of the latter may be determined by the school authorities, with the sole proviso that the University is satisfied that the standard attained by the school in such subjects is higher than that in the corresponding subject of the Matriculation Examination. tinction will be marked on the Certificate, and distinguished Certificate holders will be admitted to the University Scholarship Examination. Fees will be the same as for the present Matriculation Examination, but a small extra charge will be made against the school to cover the cost of setting extra papers, and of inspection or invigilation, where these are necessary. The inspection scheme dovetails admirably with the Certificate scheme, but we will reserve our comments on this for another month.

THE

Dis

HE Memorandum dealing with the entry, training, and employment of the personnel of the Navy which was issued as a Parliamentary paper on the eve of Christmas Day is a document which embodies farNaval Cadets. reaching, and in some respects sweeping, changes, as Lord Selborne himself describes them. We can only touch on its general bearing as it affects public and private schools which now prepare for the "Britannia." For the next six years there will be a transition stage, during which the new and the old systems will run concurrently; but after that "all officers for the executive and engineer branches of the Navy and for the Royal Marines will enter the Service under exactly the same conditions between the ages of twelve and thirteen," and they will receive the same training up to the age of twenty, when they will be distributed between the three branches of the Service. It follows, though it is not expressly so stated in the Memorandum, that in future the entrance to the "Britannia "-or rather the Naval College at Osborne-will be by nomination or some very limited form of competition. Cadet classes at public schools and special preparatory schools will soon be things of the past, and we shall shed no tears over their extinction. As to the early age of admission-earlier by two and a half years than it is at present we feel more doubt, though it is favoured by most naval experts. All we would insist on is that the Osborne course, which will last four years, must be mainly general-English, science, mathematics, and one modern foreign language should be the staple-and that specialization should not begin before the age of sixteen or seventeen.

We urge this not only on pedagogic grounds, but also for

the reason that, if a good general education is given, there will be no hardship in weeding out all cadets who, from idleness or other causes, do not give promise of turning out efficient officers.

an exponent, it is now bootless to inquire. But it seems certain that Birmingham is only the first of a large number of Northern Universities. Briefly, the arguments are these: If you have a University in a single town, you run a certain risk of lowering the ideal of University culture. If, on the other hand, you adopt the plan of federation, you weaken the feeling of local interest. The Privy Council has heard the arguments and will shortly give its decision. We hope the temperate proposal of Mr. Acland will have weight and that nothing will be done with undue haste. We feel sure that eventually the example of Birmingham will be followed; and, on the whole, we are inclined to trust the locality to see that the proper traditions of University education are maintained. Once give up the federal principle, as Mr. Acland justly pointed out, and there is no half-way house between the present position and the establishment of a number of single-town Universities., These single-town Universities are inevitable according to the present trend of opinion. But, if precautions are taken, they need not be relatively weak. Yorkshire protests against dismemberment, but would certainly make a good University if called upon to do so. We hope the Lord. President of the Council will reply to the petitioners: "Think it over and come again next year."

School Fees.

IT T is an oft-repeated and fair criticism upon the Education Act of 1902 that the funds of the Education Authority for purposes other than primary are unduly restricted. The twopenny limit is, in our opinion, absurd, and we look to the Local Government Board to put no difficulties in the way of its removal. It is true that more money is wanted for secondary schools; and, with elementary education free, we are apt to look only to public sources for the additional sum needed. The parent is treated too carefully. County Councils have established scholarships, and, in many cases, placed the fees far below the cost of the education given. Is this necessary? By all means let us, through a system of scholarships, make sure that no worthy child in an elementary school is debarred from going on to a secondary school. But when this is done why should not the parents of non-scholarship holders pay a fee approximately covering the expenditure. Here is a source of income that may be largely augmented in the future. If, then, instead of denouncing the paltriness of the twopenny rate, or of calling aloud for a Treasury grant equal to the amount raised locally, speakers were to urge that fees should approximate to the cost of the school, and should in no case be less than £10 a year, we should hear less of inefficiency caused by poverty. The schools would benefit in another way. It may sound cynical, but it is a fact that what is paid for is usually valued in proportion to its cost. We believe that £6 per annum is a very general fee in schools controlled by County Authorities, while the cost is probably never less than £12.

BUT, upon another financial aspect, we are inclined to utter a strong caution. The County Authority is We empowered to train teachers for secondary schools.

A Warning.

hear it said on all sides that the funds are insufficient for such a purpose, and that we must have a Treasury grant. It seems to be assumed that the County Authorities are to set up everywhere palatial training colleges with highly paid staffs. Surely this is the very last thing we really want. It is the duty of the Universities to provide facilities for training, and they are slowly preparing for the work. We do not want training colleges isolated from University life. Now where

does the cost come in? The Universities may be trusted to provide buildings, and the students must pay a fee which will nearly cover the cost of teaching. In London this fee is fixed at 10. The student will, of course, have also to pay for food and lodging. Do we want the secondary teacher to be trained at the cost of the State? The result, according to the economists, would be a profession with a lowered status. Do we want to become Civil Servants? We take it that no Treasury grant is needed beyond, perhaps, a slight increase of the State contribution to the University, or University college, where this is shown to be needful. The County Authority will certainly, we hope, provide scholarships for intending teachers; though these should not become too common. So far as the training of teachers is concerned there is no urgent need for additional grants. And the more aid is given the more will salaries tend to fall.

THE

School Letters.

HE "international correspondence" scheme has now established itself firmly as an ally to the teaching of modern languages in the upper forms of schools. Great credit is due to H. Mieille, in France, to Dr. Hartmann, in Germany, and Mr. W. T. Stead, in England. We believe that no fee is charged; so that the work of organization is purely voluntary and a labour of love. A further development of the scheme has recently taken place. The introductions given by correspondence have led to the interchange of pupils. This, we are informed, has been largely done in girls' schools, and now the head masters of boys' schools are endeavouring to follow suit. At the present moment the directeur of a collège about an hour's journey from Paris

is in the habit of delegating the work of correction partly to his pupils, whom he does not pay, on the plea that it is good practice for them; partly to other teachers, to whom he pays a fraction of the fees that he receives. If this Professor will fit the cap, give his name, and name the examining bodies whose work he has done by proxy, we may still think him mean, but not dishonest. As it is not probable that he will have the courage of his opinions, we would strongly urge the Civil Service Commissioners and all examining boards to make it a condition, when nominating an examiner, that the work shall be done by himself, and none of it delegated.

THE untimely death of Prof. Withers, whose career we notice in another column, was mourned as a personal loss by the numerous pupils, students, and teachers who had come within the direct influence of his A Gap in the Ranks. strong personality, and a wider circle who have felt indirectly the results of his work as an administrator and trainer will be conscious that the cause of educational reform has lost both a leader and a moderator. He had indeed a rare combination of qualities, affectionate and sympathetic insight, and at the same time unyielding firmness and equability of temper. He had been himself both a primary and a secondary teacher, and understood the aspirations and the weaknesses of either branch. No man was so well endowed both by nature and nurture for the herculean task of bridging the gulf between Column A and Column B of the Register-a task that must be accomplished before any real co-ordination is possible. Prof. Withers fell in the first assault. Exoriare aliquis!

THERE prevails in many trades and some professions a practice whereby the man with a name or reputation sublets the work entrusted to him, retaining as his commission for goodwill and for supervision, real Devilling. or nominal, a portion of the profits which ranges from 5 to 100 per cent. In the Law this proceeding is sanctioned by custom; and, whatever we may think of its utility, no exception can be taken to it on the score of morality. Let us take an actual case at the other end of the scale. A certain learned society were dissatisfied with their printer's charges, and invited tenders. One was received from a country printer which was just half what they had been paying. The printer was interviewed by a committee, and asked to furnish evidence that the "Proceedings " would be turned out in the same style as they had hitherto been by the former London firm. "I think, gentlemen," he said, with a smile, "I can satisfy you on that point. I have printed your 'Proceedings' for the last five years."

WE

E cannot pass in silence the death of the Primate; and yet we are conscious that any tribute of ours must be inane munus. We can add little or nothing to the universal testimony of respect and admiration that has been paid to his memory. And yet it seems to us he was even greater as a master than as an ecclesiastic; that his ten years' rule at

Dr. Temple.

Rugby-despatched by most obituarists in a paragraphwas the grand climacteric of his career. He succeeded a weak head master and he was followed by a weaker; but he gathered round him a staff of able and original men, all devoted to their chief, and the Rugby of to-day is even more the Rugby of Temple than of Arnold. It was by force of character, simplicity, magnanimity, and high moral courage, rather than by intellectual eminence, that he made his mark; and, as he advanced in years, he deliberately preferred the practical to the theoretical life. He has added nothing to the science of pedagogics or of divinity, but he will be remembered as a born ruler both of boys and of men, and as a shining light among Christian worthies.

I

NOTES ON EDUCATION IN 1902.

By AN OLD FOGEY.

CANNOT, I fear, offer to share the enthusiasm which you and most of your readers will probably feel in reviewing what, I suppose, should be termed educational progress in 1902. That it has been a year of considerable activity, and, possibly, of momentous developments, is true enough. But whether the activity and the developments are to be regarded as indicating any change in the national outlook towards moral and intellectual interests may be gravely doubted. As Dr. Gow wisely declared at the annual meeting of the Head Masters

Devilling Examiners.

come under our notice. A well known Professor, who has served under most examining boards in the three kingdoms,

thousands of schools and force the youth of the country into them, but we cannot make silk purses out of-refractory materials. The one thing lacking was a general pleasure in the exercise of

mental activity. That general interest did exist in Germany; and that interest, he believed, had been produced by what we in England were determined not to try-extreme simplicity of the apparatus of teaching. The general demand for an Education Bill might be quoted against him, but he thought there was in the main a demand for the commodities, not a demand for education.... "There was grave danger that the education which was going to be given to our youth would be such as to turn them out superficially finished and competent for a time, but rotten at the core, unwilling to learn anything that did not pay, and unable to learn that because they had not kept their intelligence lively and in working order."

To inhabit this quiet backwater; to view from a distance the busy stream with its contending currents, has some disadvantages and many compensations. It is true, as the vicar says, our social opportunities are limited, and we retire to rest too early to be distinguished. But the unevenful ease of our lives has amending possibilities unknown in your world of bustle. One can pause to consider and observe the happenings of the great world without unbecoming agitation, to see

the moving row

The

Of magic shadow-shapes that come and go without finding oneself echoing the ideas of a party or denouncing the ideas of a partisan. I cannot, however, claim to breathe an atmosphere of philosophic calm entirely undisturbed. small republic in which I exercise the mild autocracy of a president has its turbulent as well as its law-abiding elements. The human fragments of raw material (which I chasten and subdue) play at politics, and reflect the fleeting passions of the hour. Fortunately for the president, and for the existence of the small republic, parties and politics, differences and disorders -even the unwholesome attractions of a popular novelist -dwindle and disappear in "the generous strife of strenuous games."

IT was Viscount Goschen, I think, who referred to the words of homely but unmistakable depreciation applied to hard intellectual work in our schools: Phrases, semi-classical, or wholly vernacular, such as a 'sap,' a 'smug,' a 'swot,' a 'bloke,' a 'mugster.'" And he drew up a class-list of schoolboy accomplishments in order of appreciation in the following form:-" Class I., Athletics in all its branches; Class II., Perfection of scholarly form; Class III., Excellence of critical taste; Class IV., A modicum of knowledge. EgrotatIntellectual interest." The protest against the playing-fields is, fortunately, as harmless as it is frequent. But I was glad to observe early in the year Mr. Lyttelton's temperate and convincing rejoinder in the Guardian. Some of the reformers, it is reported, look forward to the time when the Board of Education, having trained and registered our teachers, regulated the curriculum, and approved the time-table, will prescribe courses of progressive athletic exercises, for which capitation grants will be paid after inspection and examination. recognized schools, one may suppose, "not less than thirteen hours per week must be allotted to instruction in obligatory athletic exercises, of which not more than five hours may be allotted to dumb-bells. Not less than ten hours must be allotted to the other approved exercises, which must include walking and at least one foreign game. Two of these ten hours may be allotted to some form of organized drill, and two others of them to cricket or football, according to the season."

In

So the Bill long expected and not a little dreaded is now an Act of Parliament. It is not, after all, a further instalment, but a comprehensive measure which must certainly profoundly influence the future for good or ill:

From education as the leading cause
The public character its colour draws;

Thence the prevailing manners take their caste.

As an immediate result, a politician says, one half of the population has been set against the other. It is not an educational, but a clerical, measure; not designed to help young men and women to fight the battle of life, but to further facilitate the teaching of the Catechism. But another politician predicts that the Act will speedily improve and advance public education. County Councils, he says, have done admirable work, and combine

efficiency with economy. Under the jurisdiction of these bodies, party quarrels and religious controversies will be eliminated, the sole question being how to give the best education to the children of the country. But "God's ministers are counted as kidnappers," and of the Christian partners the secular Codlin, who poses as the true friend of the child, is less to be trusted than sectarian Short. "I'm your friend. Perhaps you haven't thought so; but it's me that's your friend-not him." "Not who?" the child inquires. "Short, my dear. I tell you what," said Codlin, "for all his having a kind way with him, that you'd be very apt to like, I'm the real open-hearted man. I mayn't look it; but I am indeed."

To express an opinion on the Education Act is to advertise oneself Radical or Conservative, Nonconformist or Churchman. If I admit to a preference for the Established Church, it will not, I trust, be assumed that I do not cheerfully recognize the right of every man to worship God in his own way; to subscribe to such articles of faith as help him best in his daily life. And, if my vote has consistently been given to a representative of Conservative principles, it is because I believe the force of circumstances, or the course of events, sufficiently modifies the existing state of affairs without the aid of cranks. And I am far from the conviction that State control of education is effectual. Looking back over the past forty years, I am unable to perceive that the people to-day are better mannered, more industrious, more thoughtful, or more reasonable than they used to be. The State in thirty years has spent over a hundred millions on primary schools, and, in my observation, it would be charitable to say we dream that we are doing much good— and we do a little. Education, which is essentially concerned with the development of mental and moral qualities, has come to mean mechanical exercises of the memory-ability to do sums and incapacity for independent action. The consequence is a people ill-mannered, less industrious, less thoughtful, less reasonable, and more miserable than they ought to be.

IF a prominent lost leader of a political party is be credited, this Act strikes deep down at the very foundation of our constitutional structure. And his sometime colleague says it crushes the healthy and democratic School Board, fosters the inefficient and privileged committee, favours sectarian schools under clerical control, and levies rates while ignoring the rights of ratepayers. Precisely where the very foundation of our constitution is threatened the orator of the Empire does not explain. It would probably be idle to inquire. The democratic School Board was elected, I understand, on the system of cumulative votes, and the worst enemies of County Councils have not hitherto charged them with inefficiency. It has, however, been a significant feature of the controversy that gentlemen of a certain way of thinking have enlisted in support of their cause imaginary contingencies, figures of speech, and historical parallels without sense of fitness or proportion. Public platforms have provided the opportunities of the stage. Persons have masqueraded thereon "tricked in disguises alien to themselves and alien to the rest of men." They have posed as the champions of civil liberties -which have never been threatened; imagine themselves leaders of a new Puritan revolution; martyrs to a cause of religious freedom, which has not been endangered. The Prime Minister, alluding to the rhetorical extravagances of one of his critics, justly says: "Distortion and exaggeration are of its very essence. If he has to speak of our pending differences-acute, no doubt, but not unprecedented-he must needs compare them to the great Civil War; if he has to describe a deputation of Nonconformist ministers presenting their case to the Leader of the House of Commons, nothing less will serve him as a parallel than Luther's appearance before the Diet of Worms; if he has to indicate that, as sometimes happens in the case of a deputation, the gentlemen composing it firmly believed in the strength of their case, this cannot be done at a smaller rhetorical cost than by describing them as earnest men speaking in the austere tones of invincible conviction.' The follies, or, if you please, the worse than follies, of a few persons become typical of the whole situation."

appears to provide reasonably adequate machinery, and much, in the first place, must depend upon the way in which this machinery is used. The Board of Education is not by the Act divested of any of its powers. There are, however, two ways in which such powers can be exercised. Traditionally, central departments adopt the attitude of Mr. Krook, who had a liking for rust and must and cobwebs: "And I can't abear to part with anything I once lay hold of, or to alter anything, or to have any sweeping, nor scouring, nor cleaning, nor repairing going on about me." On the other hand, as the Commission on Secondary Education suggested, the Central Authority may exist not to control, but to supervise; not to override or supersede local action, but to foster and co-ordinate efforts. It may multiply forms and regulations, examine registers, and record the performances of individual students; or it may cease to exercise its ingenuity in the manufacture of codes and directories, transfer its stationery to the Local Authorities, and concern itself with the more urgent and difficult problems connected with the "contents of education." In the second place, it seems to me, much must depend upon the constitution of the Local Education Committees and the relation of those Committees to the civic Councils. To those Committees, I observe in to-day's paper, a writer on Liberal politics hopes "the Diocesan Conference, the Free Church Association, the Roman Catholics, and the teachers may be invited to send a champion." I ventured two years ago to express the hope that the new Local Authority would not constitute a new centre of gravity for all the educational cranks and faddists, the experts, the delegates from insolvent institutions, and aggressive interests." I would simply repeat that hope with emphasis, and add to my list, "heated pulpiteers," "mendacious cushion-thumpers," and champions."

FOR the Local Education Committee, as we are destined to suffer it, must not be a "glorified School Board," a battle-place for champions, or a parliament of fanatics. It has to deliberate and administer, not with the fervour of the advocate, but with the impartiality of the judge. And its efficiency will largely depend upon the success with which side issues are ignored and main principles kept in view. If good government consists in the special interest and knowledge of experts, assisted by the common sense of laymen, County Councils-which can doubtless command a sufficiency of the latter-would do well to depend on officials for the former. But, while the immediate

Unfortunately the invitation reached the Guild just after the December number of the Teachers' Guild Quarterly had been sent out, and long experience has shown that circular notices issued in the Christmas or any holidays do not often receive much attention. Individual members, however, can help the cause by joining the Imperial Vaccination League and making its objects known in their neighbourhoods, especially among the parents of their pupils, so as to help to form a large body of public opinion in support of the aims of the League.

The League states that "it is to the universal practice of revaccination at school age, since 1874, that the freedom of Germany, in recent years, from epidemic smallpox must be assigned." The appeal to the pocket, always an eloquent one, can be urged here. General vaccination during school age would be infinitely cheaper than building and keeping ready for use large smallpox hospitals. The recent epidemic has cost Londoners, for hospitals only, a 3d. rate, and there are many other expenses which come eventually on the ratepayers. The offices of the League are at 53 Berners Street, London, W., and Mrs. Garrett Anderson, M.D., is the hon. secretary.

THE University Extension Board of the University of London have arranged for the delivery of a central course of ten weekly lectures by Dr. Emil Reich on "The Foundations of Modern Europe, 1760-1871," in the East Conference Hall of the University of London on Tuesday afternoons at 4 o'clock, beginning on January 27. The lectures will be repeated on the evenings of the succeeding Wednesdays at 8 o'clock. The price of tickets, with syllabus, is, for the afternoon course, £1. IS.; for the evening course, 10s. 6d. ; for single lectures, 2s. 6d. and Is. 6d. respectively. The subjects to be treated are the War of Independence, the French Revolution, Napoleon, the Great Reaction, the Revolutions, and the Unity of Italy and Germany. As Dr. Reich is an excellent lecturer and an eminent authority on modern history, the course should prove very attractive to meinbers of the Guild, especially to those who are teachers of history.

THE CRITICS AND CRITIQUES OF
HERBARTIANISM.

By F. H. HAYWARD, D.Lit., &c.

HE attitude adopted towards Herbartianism by most

by the attitude of the central Board, and by the constitution of the local executive, its ultimate influence is concerned with that wider and deeper question-the future of education. It does not consist in school furniture and complex schemes of study; it will not be cultivated by Government regulations or by the King's Inspector fertilizing school after school by the gentle fanning of his wings and the faint hum of his presence. It is the development of "a temper, an intellectual habit, an attitude of mind which is possible to every kind of study and, indeed, every sort of work." And we can only be sure of this, that the process as an educational process-must be slow.

TEACHERS' GUILD NOTES.

THE Imperial Vaccination League, which "has been formed with the object of placing clearly before the public the immense value of vaccination and re-vaccination as a protection against smallpox," is seeking to collect opinions from those persons most able to form them as to what amendments of the Vaccination Act of 1898 should be urged upon Government when the time comes for dealing with the subject, the Act expiring at the end of 1903.

A most important point upon which the League seeks to obtain opinions is one as to which the views of school teachers are especially wanted, viz. :-Whether re-vaccination at school age should be made obligatory. A deputation on the subject of re-vaccination will be received by the President of the Local Government Board this month, and the Guild has been invited to be represented on the deputation, and to present a list of teachers who would welcome the protection of a re-vaccination Act, preserving the "conscientious objector" clause.

dashed with occasional faint patronage. They admit that the system possesses a certain suggestiveness, but they tell us that this suggestiveness is largely counteracted by absurdities and extravagances, and, above all, by the fact that the system rests on a false psychology.

Now, it cannot be denied that some of the alleged absurdities and extravagances exist, and that Herbart's psychology is out of date. But, nevertheless, the system founded by him and developed by his disciples is undeniably impressive and inspiring. It hangs together-that is to say, it is a system. It rouses enthusiasm-no other system does. Further, the psychology on which it is supposed to rest is not so fundamental to it as commonly supposed, and, even if it were, this psychology would still remain highly suggestive to teachers.

In the present article an attempt will be made to discuss, as impartially as is possible to a person who feels some considerable sympathy with Herbartianism, certain of the alleged weaknesses of the system. If these weaknesses should be found to be less important than commonly imagined, and quite capable of correction, the task of our leading educationists should be-in default of putting forward better systems of their own-to present a modified but still inspiring Herbartianism to the teachers of Britain. Teachers are mutely asking for a lead; many of them are craving to feel the glow of some educational partisanship. Could they but realize that they are the inheritors of a science, however embryonic the state of that science may be; that they are in an educational succession as real as that of the Apostles; and that they have as much right to call Pestalozzi or Herbart on the scene when school managers force upon them a mediæval syllabus as medical men have to appeal to the masters of medical science, then we might

* Based largely on the writer's "Critics of Herbartianism," now in preparation.