CIHM 
 Microfiche 
 Series 
 (IMonograplis) 
 
 ICIMH 
 
 Collection de 
 microfiches 
 (monographies) 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical IMicroraproductions / Institut Canadian da nrticroraproductions historiquas 
 
■ 
 
 Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliographiques 
 
 The Institute has attempted to ot)tain the t>est original 
 copy available for filming. Features of this copy which 
 may be bibllographically unique, which may alter any of 
 the Images In the reproduction, or which may 
 significantly change the usual method of filming are 
 checked below. 
 
 □ Coloured covers / 
 Couverture de couieur 
 
 □ Covers damaged / 
 Couverture endommagte 
 
 □ Covers restored and/or laminated / 
 Couverture restaurde et/ou pellicula 
 
 Cover title missing / Le titre de couverture manque 
 
 I Coloured maps / Cartes g^raphiques en couieur 
 
 □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black) / 
 Encre de couieur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 I I Cotoured plates and/or Illustrations / 
 
 
 n 
 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couieur 
 
 Bound with other material / 
 Relid avec d'autres documents 
 
 Only editbn available / 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortton along 
 interior margin / La reliure serr^e peut causer de 
 Tombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge 
 int^rieure. 
 
 Blank leaves added during restorations may appear 
 within the text. Whenever possible, these have been 
 omitted from filming / 11 se peut q: certaines pages 
 blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration 
 apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait 
 possible, ces pages n'ont pas 6t6 filmdes. 
 
 L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 
 M possible de se procurer. Les d^lis de cet exem- 
 plaire qui sent peut-Atre unk^ues du point de vue bibli- 
 ographique, qui peuvent oKXlifler une image reproduite, 
 ou qui peuvent exiger une nfx)dificatk>n dans la m6tho- 
 de normale de filmage sont indk^ute ci-dessous. 
 
 I I Cok>ured pages .' Pages de couieur 
 
 I I Pages damaged / Pages endommagtes 
 
 D 
 
 Pages restored and/or laminated / 
 Pages restaurtes et/ou peiiteul^es 
 
 Pages discotoured, stained or foxed / 
 Pages d^color^es, tachetdes ou piqu^es 
 
 I I Pages detached / Pages d^tach^s 
 
 \y\ Showthrough / Transparence 
 
 I I Quality of print varies / 
 
 n 
 
 D 
 
 Quality inhale de I'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary matenal / 
 Comprend du materiel suppl^mentaire 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, 
 tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best 
 possible image / Les pages totalement ou 
 partiellement obscurcies par un feuiitet d'en^ta, une 
 pelure, etc., ont 6\6 filmdes k nouveau de fa^on t 
 obtenir la meilleure image possible. 
 
 Opposing pages with varying colouration or 
 discotourations are filmed twk» to ensure the best 
 possible image / Les pages s'opposant ayant des 
 colorations variables ou des decolorations sont 
 filmtes deux fois afin d'obtenir la meilleure image 
 possible. 
 
 Ef 
 
 Additional comments / 
 Commentaires suppl6mentaires: 
 
 Pagination Is as follom: p. [l], [257]-268. 
 
 This Kam It filmad at tha raduetion ratio ehaekad balow / 
 
 Ca documant aat fllmA au taux da rMuction indiqu* d-daaaoua. 
 
 lOx 
 
 14x 
 
 18x 
 
 22x 
 
 26x 
 
 30x 
 
 7 
 
 12x 
 
 lex 
 
 20x 
 
 24x 
 
 28x 
 
 32x 
 
Tlweopv 
 totiM 
 
 tm9994»iM4tMnk» 
 
 HfttloMl Library o< Canada 
 
 or UkMuaiad impr«Mion. 
 
 Th. last r.c«rd.d ^'•'^i^z::^;^^'!^^^. 
 
 TlSoiO"l.ortha»vm«»o«V«"»^""*« ^"^^ '* 
 whiehavar appliaa. 
 
 maitiod: 
 
 k'Mamplaifa Wrn* «Mt rapretfuit griaa a la 
 
 t««««rMiii 4a: 
 
 Biblioth^qM* aatloMla d» Caaada 
 
 Lm Imagaa Miivamaa ant tea rapraduitaa awac la 
 piytVaiHl Min. eampta tanu da la condiuon at 
 da la aaitat* da I'aaamplaira tllm*. at an 
 SmacmUd ai»aa laa aandWana dy aanwat da 
 
 Lm aaamatoiraa arisinmia dent la eauvartura 1* 
 ilL!;^.t tonartmaa .ant fllma. an eommanwnt 
 Sirto pramiaf plat at an tarminant aait par la 
 SLniara aaaa aul aamparta m*» amprainia 
 !T^SiiK^-dlM«»w««*a«. wit par la saeond 
 DlaT^Sanla aaa. Taua laa aytraa aaamplaira. 
 
 aMHiiara Daoa aui eampofta una ampramta 
 iJZiZSS^ dW-tratlan at an ^«W« •»•' 
 la damidra paga qui aamporta una taMa 
 
 amprainta. 
 
 un daa avmbelaa auivanta apparaltra aur la 
 
 ^2^ imaM da chaqya mieralicha. talen la 
 damidra imaga ■■ ■"T'T:^,. «* ftuiwRE" la 
 cm: la tvmbala — "SS*'* ^ •"'^"' ' 
 •vmbdlaVaiinifla-RN". 
 
 Lm eaitaa plancbaa. tablaaua. ate., pauwant atra 
 
 ?lSUt:U:JS:irrCn:a9ran.maa a-vanu 
 Uluatrant la — *--*- 
 
*<woconr nwuinoN tbt cmait 
 
 (ANSI and ISO Tf ST CHAUT No. 2) 
 
 Itt 
 
 u 
 
 IZ8 
 
 lu 
 
 IM 
 
 1.1 
 
 \^ Mu 
 
 1^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 dP^LJEDlM^E 
 
 "^JJ?? .'**' Strwt 
 
 ^'''mlw. Ntw 
 
 i"* 14aos 
 
 ('!•)»- 5.89. rT* 
 
Witli t^)e Complimenis of \\)i 
 v^ueen s Alumm oonference 
 
 ^ 
 
 r THE lINIVERSITy OOESTION 
 
 (A SYMPOSIUM.) 
 
 ^ 
 
 KINGSTON : 
 
 PRINTBD AT THB DAILY NKWS OFFICE , 
 1901. 
 
SYMPOSIUM ON THE "UNIVERSITY QUESTION." 
 
 
 AT one of the Conferences, held Feb. 11-16, the Principal 
 asked for a frank interchange of views on this question, 
 and suggested that the article which was published in the last 
 Queen's Quarterly might be taken as a text for comments or 
 criticisms. We give a summary of the remarks made by the 
 principal speakers on the occasion. Dr. Watson opened the 
 discussion as follows : 
 
 " Principal Grant, in his article on the University Question, 
 strikes the true key-note when he says that the real question is 
 ' what is for the interest of the Province as a whole,' and, again, 
 • whether our higher education, which in the long run moulds 
 and inspires our system, shall be encouraged to develope freely.* 
 This last statement is even truer than it obviously is. All ap- 
 plied knowledge rests upon the study of principles. This is one 
 thing the Germans have understood, and therefore their whole 
 system encourages emulation in the study of principles. Except 
 by an exceptional gift of nature, progress has always been made 
 through the instrumentality of men who have begun with a 
 thorough study of principles. This applies to humane studies, 
 as well as to the special sciences. The heart of University stmly 
 must therefore always be a thorough grasp of principle •. And 
 it must be disinterested. This must be emphasized, ecause 
 there is a prejudice abroad that it is not principles, but lerely 
 their special application, that we ought to teach our young 
 men and women. No doubt we must teach applications, but 
 unless we encourage the study of principles, we shall never pro- 
 duce scholars and scientific men of the first rank, and must con- 
 tinue to occupy a subordinate place among the civilized nations 
 of the world. Nay, the present low ideal of education will be 
 more and more accentuated, and will ultimately ex^sl even the 
 remnant of a higher ideal which still makes itself fe t. No one 
 who has the real interests of Canada at heart can contemplate 
 with any complacency the dying-out of men who love truth for 
 itself and are prepared to make large sacrifices for it. 
 
 What is the present state of things ? President Loudon 
 
338 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 has told ui th»t our Secondary Education could hardly be worte 
 than it it. With certain reservations I believe that President 
 Loudon is right, and that a drastic refomi of our Secondary 
 Education is urgently called for. It therefore seems to me of 
 great importance that the future curriculum of our Hifk Schools 
 and Collegiate Institutes should be determined by the combined 
 efforts of the best educational experts in the province. Assuming 
 President Loudon to be right, it is hard to resist the conviction 
 that a majority of the Senate of Toronto University has consent- 
 ed to or initiated a bad system of Secondary Education, and lias 
 embodied an imperfect ideal of education in the matriculation 
 examination, which again reacts on the studies in the High 
 Schools. There is, undoubtedly, a remnant in the Senate of 
 Toronto University who know better, but, for some reason or 
 other, their ideas have not had due weight. Now, the matricula- 
 tion examination affects Queen's as well as Toronto, and ought to 
 b' determined by the united voices of both Universities. For the 
 matriculation examination we are not responsible: we have to 
 adopt that of Toronto, or force High School teachers to double 
 the number of their classes for matriculation. In the interest of 
 higher education it is time that this should c< ise. At present 
 we are helpless. Whe.i we made a modest suggestion some time 
 ago as to the character of the matriculation -xamination, our com- 
 munication w. not even acknowledged, of course we sent 
 no more communications. My point, ...-n, is that when the 
 Government officially recognizes us as an educational organ of the 
 Province, we shall then as a matter of course have a share in de- 
 termining the character of the education of the province. I feel 
 certain the result will be good. Education is a very difficult mat- 
 ter, and should be carefully considered by those directly interested 
 in it. We don't claim all wisdom, but we claim to have a little ; 
 and in any case it is important that the matter should be discussed 
 from different points of view. Whether the Government gives us 
 financial aid or not seems to me less important tha. that it should 
 officially recognize that we are on the same educational level as 
 Toronto. It is for the interest of the whole province that ^11 who 
 are responsible fbr our higher education should have a direct 
 opportunity of letting their influence be felt. The combined rep- 
 resentatives of Toronto and Queen's could have no difficulty in 
 
 I 4 
 
 i « 
 
THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 •59 
 
 improving tlie preient matriculation examination. For this 
 reason I think that the prewnt lop-«ided arrangement •hould 
 come to an end, and until thii takea place I despair of any radical 
 imprc«rement in our Secondary Education. 
 
 We must carefully distinguish two things that differ— free, 
 dom and vulgar rivalry. A University must be free, if it is to be 
 a University at all ; but there is no value in the vulgar rivalry 
 for students. By the present anomalous state of things we have 
 been forced to accept the matriculation of Toronto. A common 
 matriculation examination, based upon the consent both Uni- 
 versities, would put an end to this wretched state of things, and 
 leave each University free to emulate its neighbour in the pro- 
 duction of genuine students of humane letters and science. At 
 present our Universities, as President Loudon points out, are, in 
 most subjects, very little above the level of a good Eng'i-h 
 public school or a German Gymnasium. We are still, as Curtius 
 said years ago, an 'unscientific people,' and, unless things 
 mend, we are going to be more and more ' unscientific,' in 
 Curtius* sense of the term. What would that great scholar 
 have said had he learned that in a University city this year not 
 even a single pupil \n ^ entered the Collegiate Institute in Greek I 
 No matter who may be responsible for this scandalous state of 
 things, it is obvious that it is the duty of all University men who 
 value the honour of the nation, to unite in restoring the higher 
 education to its proper nlace in our educational system." 
 
 Tne subjoined statement of tli* ^v. I^r. Thompson, of 
 Sa'.iia, was then read : 
 
 "The University question, as \\ 
 reality the question of the Higher Ed' 
 as such it demands the wisest and 
 It is not as some of the professed 
 sity" proclaimed in hysterical tones tl*t vas— the demands of 
 one institution against another or of Vi* e«n's coming to despoil 
 Toronto of lier just claims. It is simply >'- practical question, 
 • What will be best for the country at lari. What will tend to 
 further the interests of higher education in : Province ? What 
 will best meet the needs of all our people 
 
 That Queen's is in the truest sense a h» • l institution, 
 
 » commonly called, is in 
 <ion of the country, and 
 ■lest consideration. 
 'v' "Toronto Univer- 
 
ate THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 that the welbnor the country, especially Eastern Ontario, needs 
 her services, that the work she does is of as high an order as 
 that done by any other institution in the land, and therefore, that 
 her claims on public recognition are unassailable, are self-evident 
 truths to me. But ol these I do not now speak, wishinR only to 
 emphasize the need of educatlnR the public mind on the whole 
 subject involved. 
 
 That hiRher education as beiuR the very life of a country 
 and the source of its prosperity has a claim upon the Govern- 
 ment of that country for liberal support is a truth that all intelli- 
 gent men admit. And educated men know that on no object 
 can public money be spent to greatrr advantage than on the 
 higher education of a people. 
 
 But the great hindrance hitherto has always been the fact 
 that the great mass of the people do not see the merits of the 
 case. Even some of their representatives are not sufficiently 
 alive to its supreme importance. They do not see that it tells 
 directly on the commonwealth. The obstacle in the way hitherto 
 has been the low tone of mind that says—' We have no interest 
 in the question : there is nothing in it for us : we get no gam 
 from University training : let those who want it piovide for it : 
 what we need is the practical, or something that belongs to our 
 bread and butter.' Surely University men can see the absurdity 
 of this position, and should, above all things, point out its fallacy, 
 knowing as they do that theory comes before practice, and that 
 all mechanical appliances, and all that is practical in life, all that 
 has helped forward the industry and progress of the people h»- 
 been first thought out in the laboratory, or in the study of tb 
 thinker, and that nations take their relative position accordmg 
 as higher education has been favoured or neglected. This is the 
 secret of even the industrial success of Germany. 
 
 Moreover, intelligent workingmen know that University 
 training is almost the only channel through which their sons 
 can pass into more important and efficient spheres of service, 
 and that the majority of our students are not from the families 
 of the rich. Obviously what is needed is to educate the people to 
 a truer appreciation of the merits of this question. What the 
 exigenrifi of the hour demand to be done is that educational 
 centres, instead of pulling against each other and thereby weak- 
 
THK l!NIVr,RSlTY QL'KSTION. 
 
 261 
 
 eninR their moral force, im»r»nin? that what one .joti it *o much 
 taken from the other, ahotM rather, at formert ol pubhc opinion 
 and guardiani of higher v ation, uni»e their forcet, make com- 
 mon caute, and preai a .laiio ^v .ch no government could afford 
 to overlook. For if ihey are v.oc pre-^ared to take a broad ttatei- 
 manliKe view of the whole tituation where need we look for it ? 
 Thii it, at I underttand it, the potition taken by Principal Grant 
 in hit article on the tubject in the latt Qvv.zn's Quarterlv. 
 
 Th" -fvernment ittelf may feel the force of the argunrient, 
 and ; i • oally be mott anxiout to retpond to claimt to rational 
 and irr t. But what can they do unleit thei- tiipportert up- 
 hold litem. And what can the local members of Parliament 'lO 
 unleit their conttituentt tupport them ? Therefore the need of 
 letting light in on thit quettion, and by line upon line educating 
 the public tentiment of the country. And let us be careful to 
 thow that thit it not a quettion of party politics, but one that 
 mutt rett upon the patriotitm and public spirit of our people. 
 Anything that tends to biat thit ditcuttion or give it a partizan 
 outlook or local colouring is to be deprecated." 
 
 Profestor McNaughton wat called upon and said,— 
 " It seemt to me that Dr. Watson has hit the nail on the 
 bead. Not the least imr irtant aspect of the University Question 
 is the one to which he has called attention. The control of the 
 Higher Education in this province has been entirely in the hands 
 of the Senate of Toronto University. That control has been 
 exercised in what must be called on the whole a rather Philistine 
 direction. I am sure that if Queen's were lecognized by the 
 government, and could therefore make her voice heard authori- 
 tatively on matters of Higher Education, the province as a whole 
 would benefit and the better elements Toronto University 
 itself would obtain a welcome reinforcement. 
 
 I should like to say a word suggested by the communicatio.. 
 read from Dr. Thompson on the popular fallacy of 'practical' 
 education. As if any subject could be called unpractical which 
 appeals to the intelligent curiosity of men ! The first 'practical' 
 interest in education ? the training and sharpening of the su- 
 preme instrument i^r all 'practical* achievement, viz., the 
 human mind, and any means which leads to that end is 'practical' 
 
t«a 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 in the highest degree. Besides, how can we tell what are the 
 limits of the practical applicability of any the results of the dis- 
 interested search for truth ? More than two thousand years ago 
 a Greek mathematician worked out the properties of the ellipse. 
 That seemed an absolutely barren speculation, with no possible 
 relation whatever to the actual work-a-day world. It remained 
 so, a perfectly idle, useless piece of ' unpractical' theory for cen- 
 turies, until one fine day Kepler discovered that the planets move 
 in elliptic orbits round the sun ; and then Newton came and 
 based upon this fact his discovery of universal gravitation. 
 Hence, among other things, the whole science of astronomy, and 
 resting on that among much else the whole art of navigation. 
 And so every ship that sails the sea does so in virtue of the 'un- 
 practical' speculations of an old Greek who lived more than two 
 thousand years ago. 
 
 Our greatest ' practical ' concern is to be an intelligent 
 people. If we are that, success will come to us in every sphere. 
 If we are not, we shall fall behind all round in the race which is 
 becoming keener every day. Heyne said at the beginning of 
 last century that France ruled the land, England the sea, and 
 Germany — the air ! They who rule the air, as Germany has 
 shown, will soon or late rule land and sea. England has partly 
 forgotten this. She must learn it again if she is to hold her 
 place. Canada must recognize it and support her schools and 
 universities accordingly if she is ever to come to anything either 
 by land or sea." 
 
 Mr. Gracey, of Gananoque, said : — " The time is ripe for 
 agitating this question in Ontario, because the matter must come 
 before the legislature at an early date. Toronto University, the 
 only one which has received aid from the state, is sorely pressed 
 for want of revenue. It is running behind every year, and now 
 appeals to the province for more adequate support. This appeal 
 cannot be ignored by the Government. Because it cannot let 
 the Provincial University continue to run deeper and deeper into 
 debt ; and, on the other hand, it can neither make the revenue 
 cover the work now found necessary, nor cut down the work to 
 fit the revenue. But when this question comes up in the legis- 
 lature the friends of Queen's will have their opportunity to pre- 
 
THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 ««3 
 
 ^ 
 
 sent their very strong case. Queen's has a claim which cannot 
 be ignored. The work she has done and is doing for the Pro- 
 vince and the Dominion, the strong sentiments of loyalty she 
 lias developed in her graduates, the increasing number of her 
 students, and the esteem for her which pervades the whole com- 
 munity about her, illustrated by the extraordinary liberality of 
 the city of Kingston, show that Queen's is one of the great insti- 
 tutions of our country. One-fifth of the work done in the inter- 
 mediate education in the province is done by graduates of 
 Queen's, and the training of these graduates has not cost the 
 province a dollar in either endowment or annual grants. An in- 
 stitution with such a record can surely go with a good conscience 
 and ask recognition, and ask to be assisted out of the public 
 funds with something like proportionate liberality, when the 
 legislature is asked to help Toronto University out of her present 
 financial difficulty. What the friends of Queen's can do and 
 should do now is to leaven the public mind, as far as they can, 
 with reasonable views, first, on the importance of thoroughly ef- 
 ficient University work in Ontario ; and, secondly, the reason- 
 ableness of Queen's claim in the circumstances to a share of Pro- 
 vincial help to ensure still greater efficiency. 
 
 THE SCHOOLS OF ENGLAND. 
 
 I have been asked to contribute to the symposium on the 
 question of education in Ontario some general impressions of the 
 schools in England. Of the Board Schools and the Voluntary 
 Schools— the one supported by local rates, the others in some 
 measure by subscriptions, and both very largely maintained by 
 state aid — I am hardly able to speak. These schools are entire- 
 ly elementary as a rule, and in general parents who can manage 
 to send their children elsewhere, do so and are wise to do it. Nor 
 do I wish to speak of Preparatory Schools,* generally kept by 
 private persons, where children are prepared for the Public 
 Schools to which the boys will go and the High Schools which 
 are exclusively for the girls. The High School is a comparative- 
 ly modern development, but the Public Schools are immemorial. 
 I use here the phrase Public Schools as a convenient term to cover 
 
 •Boys from these and sometimes from the Board Schools compete for entrance 
 scholarships at the Public Schools, whence in time they may go to the Universities. 
 
364 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 at once those great foundations, some extremely old and others 
 more recently created after their model, which are the Public 
 Schools of England properly so called, and the less imposing but 
 not less ancient Grammar Schools. Shrewsbury is an example 
 of the latter developing in the 19th century into the former under 
 the rule of Dr. Butler and Dr. Kennedy. 
 
 What I have to say applies then to these two classes of 
 Public Schools, and, as I shall shew, applies to them in very 
 various measure. My personal experience is of the Grammar 
 School, but the points I shall emphasize are true a fortiori of the 
 other class. 
 
 The first thing to remark is that there is in England no uni- 
 versal or even widely accepted system of secondary education, as 
 there is in Ontario. That is to say, while the government takes 
 care that the revenues of an ancient bequest or foundation are 
 not diverted from the School concerned to an extraneous object, 
 it leaves the control of the School to the School's own governors, 
 and the curiiculum generally to the head master within certain 
 very wide margins. Possibly the governors may have something 
 to say as to the curriculum in some Schools, but it is probably 
 as a rule left to the head master, who, however, has not as much 
 licence as might be supposed. For, after all, he and his col- 
 leagues, the governors and boys, are all ruled by tradition, and 
 every School has its own tradition, stronger or weaker as may be. 
 
 The tradition of a School depends on a hundred things — 
 the School's history, which may extend over centuries, the charac- 
 ter and tone of the School during the last few decades, the head 
 master and his predecessors, the assistant masters and their tra- 
 ditions, associations with some particular college in Cambridge 
 or Oxford (the great example is given by Eton and King's Col- 
 lege, Cambridge), the type of boy that has regularly led the 
 School in manners, studies and games, and so forth. But, above 
 all, there is the public opinion, not merely of the English society 
 at large, but of the School's own public — its Old Boys, and of the 
 similar "publics" of other Schools, all focussed in the Univer- 
 sities. If you know what becomes of the best boys of a School, 
 you can tell at once the general character of the School. 
 
 The Public Schools are thus all under the influence of Uni- 
 versity opinion, in a large sense of the term. It is not that the 
 
THE UNIVERSITY CJUESTION. 
 
 265 
 
 Professors of the Universities shape English education, for they 
 are a mere handful and often have little weight in forming Uni- 
 versity opinion, but the great mass of men with University de- 
 grees have a voice in guiding, though it be only indirectly, the 
 destinies of the University. In particular, the 400 or 500 resi- 
 dent Masters of Arts at Cambridge and at Oxford (the lecturers 
 and " dons " of the colleges and others engaged in teaching or 
 research) control education, but if a majority of these go too far 
 in any direction they are very liable to be outvoted with the aid 
 of non-residents, as happens now and then when some revolution- 
 ary "grace" is proposed. 
 
 To sum up, education in the Universities and the schools is 
 controlled by the pressure of the opinion of the educated public 
 —the people who have been through the Schools and the Univer- 
 sities and mean their sons to follow th<?m— and, it should be re- 
 membered, amongst this educated public are naturally nearly all 
 the masters in the Schools. Consequently, no man and no group 
 of men can control the Schools or introduce or remove any sub- 
 ject of instruction without convincing the educated opinion of the 
 country. Here and there a head master may have some pet 
 hobby taught in his own School, but he can do no more. Need- 
 less to say, the government keeps out of these matters, in the 
 trust that the people most concerned will know what is best and 
 be thoroughly disinterested in doing it. 
 
 I should like to indicate briefly how the Schools are affected 
 by this rule of educated tradition in three directions— govern- 
 ment, curriculum and environment. 
 
 The government of the Public Schools is as various as their 
 origin. The powers behind the Head Master are to most of us 
 remote and shadowy. As long as he keeps within what is reason- 
 able he has his own way about nearly everything— studies, games, 
 masters, boys, servants, houses. This power means immense 
 responsibility and involves a correspondingly large salary. So 
 its power and its pay make a head mastership the prize of the 
 profession, well worth waiting for and in general only to be won 
 by a reputation for honestly good work and capability. The as- 
 sistant masters are generally chosen by the Head Master, who 
 will not ask if they have certificates from any " School of Peda- 
 gogy," but what degree or other academic or athletic distinction 
 
«M 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 they have obtained, and will trast that in lix months at most 
 they either will be practised teachers or will have realized they 
 never were meant to be and never will be. Such assistant mas- 
 ters may begin with a salary of I750 to $1,250, in addition to 
 their residence and board, and they may rise a great deal higher, 
 particularly in the larger Public Schools where they may be set 
 in charge of " Houses." where thirty boys (the limit at Upping- 
 ham) or more will board. The assistant master is thus responsi- 
 ble to a man of academic training, who has been an assistant 
 himself and knows the University and the School. Thus there is 
 a conifortable tenure and a tolerable income to attract men to 
 make teaching their profession for life. 
 
 Th*^ curriculum of a School is affected by the traditions of 
 its clas: aod by its own history. Thus it has been the rule at 
 Pocklington School and the Merchant Taylors' School in London 
 (a grea: school founded by one of the old city companies or 
 guilds) that Hebrew shall be taught. But in general the curri- 
 cnlum is made to fit the requirements of the Universities. In 
 each University there are about eighteen Colleges, each of which 
 annually offers from six to thirty scholarships, exhibitions and 
 sizarships to be competed for by school-boys. The Colleges set 
 their own examinations for these, and as they look rather toward 
 the standard a man must finally attain to .vin an Honours degree 
 than to that of the examinations corresponding to matriculation 
 in Ontario, they try by stiffening their papers to be sure of getting 
 the best boys. Consequently the School has to prepare boys up 
 to a much higher point than is done in Ontario, and all its work 
 is regulated by the requirements for the degree at the end of the 
 long course, and not by the entrance examination at the beginning. 
 To manage this, serious educauon begins at once on a boy's 
 entering the School. (I for example began Latin rather late in lite 
 — about ten or eleven.) The work is graded upwards and boys will 
 consequently enter the Vth Forms (the Vlth is the highest), as 
 well prepared as we find them coming to college here. In the 
 Vth and Vlth a boy will specialize heavily — twenty hours a week 
 perhaps may be given to Classics or Mathematics or Science as 
 he may choose — and when he enters the University he will have 
 read about as much of the Classics as is required in Canada for 
 an Honour degree. There is no universal examination like the 
 
 •■ 
 
 i 
 
THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 267 
 
 " 
 
 Ontario matriculation, and a School may take the Oxford or the 
 Cambridge " Locals," or the Oxford and Cambridge Joint Board 
 examinations, or manage for itself as the Head Master may ar- 
 range. But in any case the pace is set by the scholarship exam- 
 inations held by the Cambridge and Oxford Colleges about a year 
 before the elected scholars will enter on resid&uce. It may be 
 that not more than two or three boys from a School will compete 
 for these scholarships, but the curriculum is arranged to suit 
 them. Meanwhile the boys who do not go to the University, will 
 in the Vth and Vlth have a course equivalent to our first two 
 years at College without Philosophy, and perhaps I might say 
 without English, but that this might lead to misapprehension. 
 There is little formal teaching of English, but a great deal of 
 indirect training in it. 
 
 ^-astly, tradition makes the indescribable environment of an 
 English Public School what it is. Every School has a well-under- 
 stood series of " taboos"— such and such things are " bad form," 
 and the " man " who does them is a " bounder." Public opinion 
 is alJ -powerful except in the large day Schools, where as in Man- 
 chester and London, boys come from great distances daily and 
 spend nearly all the daylight not absorbed in School on the 
 underground railway or the tram, and even in such Schools pub- 
 lic opinion counts for a great deal. A boy will often enter the 
 Public School at eight or nine and stay there ten years. It be- 
 comes in a way his regiment, his college, his club : he is formed 
 by the masters and by the teaching, and very noticeably by the 
 other boys and the games ; and at last he comes to have a 
 loyalty, often amounting to something like a passion, for his 
 School. Under the masters the Vlth form boy rules the School, 
 partly through his age and knowledge of traditions, and partly 
 because of a deliberate delegation of powei to him by th" head 
 .nasi He may set impositions and in some cases inflict cor- 
 
 pora .nishment, and the general experience seems to be that 
 this arrangement is good for everybody — the Vlth for^n boy and 
 the small boy in particular. In the lower forms the boy learns 
 obedience and respect for authority ; in the Vlth he tastes re- 
 sponsibility and practises the exercise of authority ; and through- 
 out tradition fixes the limits for him. One very happy result of 
 these school arrangements is the feeling of a common life, shared 
 
 •* 
 
368 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY QUESTION. 
 
 by boys and masters, and a resultant tendency to friendships be- 
 tween them which are helpful to both.* 
 
 To resume in conclusion : There is no definite system ol 
 secondary education in England. Each School is governed and 
 moulded by its own traditions, subject to the undefined but not 
 less real influence of University standards. These standards are 
 kept up by the competition of the Collsges within the Univeisities 
 to secure the best possible boys for their own scholarships, by 
 the general pressure o« the best educated opinion not formally 
 enforced but felt upon education, and by its free interaction be- 
 tween Cambridge and Oxford, between College and College, 
 School and College, and School and School. In a word, though, 
 as is almost universally the rule in Enghnd, the real authority is 
 concealed in tradition, it is in education the opinion of educated 
 people, and this is in general entirely trusted, in deference to 
 that other equally accepted rule in England that no one will 
 ever wish to push power or theory to an extreme. 
 
 T. R. Glover. 
 
 'TotH Browns Schooldays and Mr. Kipling's story Tht Brushwood Bog iHustraie 
 English School life m«ch more truly than Stalhg and Co. 
 
 >V 
 
1