J[iicha(i Ernest Sadler llnivemty College-- THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Ex Lihrh SIR MICHAEL SADLER ACQUIRED 1948 WITH THE HELP OF ALUMNI OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ./^^ ■f//^ ^ €^ ^--^ ^^7^ COUNTY EDUCATION: A COXTEIBUTION OF EXPEEIMENTS, ESTIMATES, AND SUGGESTIONS BY THK '•V ^ REV. J. L. BRERETON, PREBENDARY OF EXETER, CHAIRMAN OF TRUSTEES AND DIRECTORS OP THE DEVON AND NORFOLK COUNTY SCHOOLS, AND OF THE CAMBRIDGE COUNTY COLLEGE; PRESIDENT OF THK WEST NORFOLK CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE, AND OF THE BARNSTAPLE FARMERS' CLUB. LONDON: BICKERS & SON, 1, LEICESTER SQUAEE, W.C. 1874. LONDON : W. •WILFRED HEAP, PRINTER, 2 AND 3, ILOUGH COURT, FETTER LANE, E,C LA (.35" 37^ C- PREFACE. I HAVE recently had many applications, both from representatives of public instltatloiis and from private correspondents, for information or advice respecting Middle-Class Education. There are many persons much more able than I am to answer such inquiries, knowing a great deal more about Education generally, and about the Middle-Class in particular, than I do. Yet as circumstances and apparent duty have led me for many years to devote the best of my thoughts and time and resources to this subject, I yield to a suggestion tliat I shoidd put ]}crorc the public whatever 1 may liave to state or recommend towards the extension and improvement of Secondary Education, and particularly towards bringing, if possible, G23072 iv Preface. various institutions and experiments into some effective and compreliensive system. I should be sorry if any references I may make, for the purpose of illustration, to the particular in- stitutions I have taken part in establishing should be mis-read as advertisements of those institutions, or as chronicles of my own labours. As time goes on their success and value will be tested by the criterion of stability, and any credit that is generously given to the early work of planning and launching will give way to the solid reward of those whose labour and anxiety and skill are carrying untried vessels across unknown seas towards the distant harbour of Public Confidence. TO EARL FORTESCUE. It is just ten years since, in the volume you published on " Public Schools for the Middle Classes," you inserted a most kind dedication to myself. In asking you to permit a similar acknowledgment from me it is not a mere compliment I am returning. Compliments will not generally outlive the strain of facts and figures, to which our joint experience has been now for ten more years subjected. Of all the facts on which I rely for recommending the extension of County Education, there is none more solid than the interest which you, a great landlord, adopting it from your wise and noble father, have taken to this day, l)otli in the Devon County School, and in tlie principles which it has been intended to illustrate. Of VI Dedication. all the figures with wliich I have be-dotted my paper, there is none more significant than the date with which I now record twenty completed years of grateful and uninter- rupted friendship, during whlcii your personal goodness has steadily kept open the door of free intercourse, which social distinctions and the personal failings of which I am too conscious might a thousand times have closed between us. March., 1874. TABLE OF CONTENTS. ■:o: CHAPTER PACE Pkeface iii Dedication --.,-. y I. — The Middle-Class of England - - 1 II. — A Medium Public School, or Second- Geade Boarding School - - - 8 III. — A Fiest-Gkade County School - - 17 IV. — A Thied-Geade County School - - - 30 V. — A County College .... 37 VI. — An Educational Province - - - - 71 VII. — Authority and Administration - - 8G VIII. — Tuition, Examinations, and Supervision - 99 IX. — Endowments 110 X. — Summary - - - - - - - 118 COUNTY EDUCATION. -:o:- CHAPTER I. THE MIDDLE-CLASS OF ENGLAND. NOT many liundred years ago there would have been found in England two million in- habitants, of whom one million were slaves. At the present time there are to be found about a million paupers, or half-slavish class, and there may be another million who are in this exceptional sense free men, that they have more than enough to live on without Avorkhig at all. But between those who have nothing to lose and those who have enough for every want and to spare, there are, perhaps, twenty millions who, with more or less reserve of capital, are earning their living by services rendered to others. In one sense all these are the ''Middle-Class" of England. Between the extremes of affluence and indigence they 1 2 County Education. include as well those who earn then* livelihood by the least esteemed manual labour as those who follow the most honoured profession. Within this larger range the term Middle- Class may, of course, be taken in a constantly narrowing sense, as a larger section above and below are set apart for the higher and lower classes. But with regard to Education there is nothing gained by forcing these distinctions, and we may take leave to think of the middle- class as including, in the widest sense, the great mass of the nation. And if we should succeed in establishing any public system of Education for the middle-class, it will possess a still stronger claim to the designation and to the importance of a national system than can be urged for " elementary Education," however necessary, or for "higher Education," however honourable and invaluable. I am aware that many persons much devoted to Education will not sympathise with a desire to give an almost paramount importance to the claims of the middle-class, or admit that it may justly be de- scribed as the national centre of gravity. They will gi-ant that it is indeed an important class, but will hold its Education to be of quite The Middle- Class of England. 3 secondary consequence compared with tliat of tlie liig'lier ranks on the one hand, or of tlie so-called workmg men on the other; and, as a matter of flict, a far larger share of public encouragement, support, and observation has been so far lavished on the two extremes than on the intermediate portion of society. I am glad, however, to observe many recent indica- tions of what seems to me a sounder and more hopeful view of the Educational problem. Approached from the extremes, Education becomes parted into two inconsistent and divergent systems, one centring in tlie en- dowments of the old universities and public schools, and attracting the wealthier class by a prestige as much social as literary — the other based on somewhat lavish Government grants, evoking local and denominational energies, with no small accompaniment of local and denominational rancour. The latter professes to go no higlicr than the wage-earning labourer; the former no lower tlian tlie soi-disant gen- tleman. Yet both claim to be national systems of public Education, antl botli liavc their devoted supporters, wlio think not only tliat tliey arc excellent in their respective regions, but \ —1 4 County Education. that whatever interval they may leave between them is of very little national importance. Just as many are beginning to presume that second-class railway carriages may be dis- pensed with, and that "first" and "third" be- tween them will be sufficient for all public purposes-, so we meet frequently among those who take a genuine interest in Education with a tacit and almost avowed assumption that an extension of the higher public schools on the one hand, and of the elementary schools on the other, is destined to absorb from above and be- low all the children of the land. It would be a great misfortune if pride and poverty were thus to divide the nation into those who pay so much the more for appearances, and those who pay so much the less through subsidies. And yet this vicious distinction of rich and poor, of a line above which all are dignified and honourable, below which all are subsidized and dependent, has a constant tendency to form itself, unless public institutions, uniting honour with eco- nomy, and promoting moral and intellectual excellence with moderation of means and cir- cumstances, so widen the margin between the higher classes and the lower as practically to The Middle- Class of England. 5 make any line imperceptible. Happily, such institutions are practicable, because they can be founded on a principle that reaches much farther down through the strata of society than super- ficial observation and trivial conversation are dis- posed to allow. "When Arnold said that it was necessary that Rugby schoolboys, whether few or many, should be Christian gentlemen, he did not mean to sanction in any way the false exclusive- ness that made us school-boys call every trades- man's son a " town-lout," or mean that the public schools of England were to be bounded by social distinctions. Arnold meant by a gentleman, one who has a sense of honour, who has been accustomed to meet with respectful treatment himself, and to render it to others. It did not require many years' acquaintance with real life after I left Rugby and Oxford to con- vince me that a " Court Directory " is a very supei-ficial measure of the families within which this sense of honour and mutual respect is habitual. The great practical effect of the Chris- tian religion has been to teach men to extend the respect they naturally yield to power and wealth to personal worth and character, and so to honour all men. And tlic continued influence 6 Connfu Education. of tliU principle throngli successive generations lias l)cen (as in the case of a privileged aristo- cracy) to give a transmitted honour to the chil- dren and the children s chiklren of the honoured. Hence, in this old Christian country there are to he found, reaching down to the humblest ranks, family claims to credit and respect which give birth to that feeling to which Arnold ap- pealed, as the public schoolboy's sense of hon- our, and its attendant penalty, disgrace. This precious inheritance of good name, of family credit, attaches itself necessarily to neighbour- hood, to the home of ancestors. And to appeal to it, in order throuo-h it to cherish and elevate pul)lic institutions, it is necessary to approach it through the associations of neighbourhood, throuo-li the honourable names and recollections of the place with which the family has been loup-est identified. To the honourable labourer's family the parish of his forefathers has associa- tions which are very different indeed from the dishonoured clingings of paupers to their settle- ment. Any resident in an English village will know how truly I may make the assertion, that there are to be found in it families of working men who for generations have been respected The Middle- Clatis of Euyland. 7 by their neigliboiirs, and who in their cottages are proud of the name they have inherited. And as we rise from the narrower limit of the parish, it is equally striking (in spite of all modem confusion of areas and obliteration of boundaries) how keen a sense of the honour they hold in the county to which they belong underlies the modest pride of English family homes in village or in town. These observations will perhaps commend themselves to those who equally dislike false distinctions and appreciate real advantages. Though some will hold them old-fashioned and call me a Philistine, others will acknowledge that they are true to real English life, and are essential to any proposal for so distributing public education over the country, that its honourable influences shall neither be the ex- clusive privilege of one class nor be equally lowered if not effaced for all. County Education, CHAPTER II. A MEDIUM PUBLIC SCHOOL, OR SECOND-GRADE BOARDING-SCHOOL. IF I were asked to pick out tlie midmost man in England I should be disposed to point my finger at a farmer occupying between 200 acres and 300 acres. There is a man whose place is about equidistant from the two extremes of English society. His relations and" dealings, domestic and public, connect him in a very direct manner with every other class, implying much mutual obligation and respect. The Education which that man has received, or can procure for his son, would seem to me the true measure of general English Education. If an improved Education above, and an extended Education below, are the only movements of his time, they are to him not so much ineffective as injurious influences. He becomes isolated. He is embarrassed in his necessary dealings with those above, below, and around him. He feels or fancies that the gentleman treads scorn- fully on his toes, while the labourer kicks A Medium Piihlic School, &c, 9 insolently at his heels. AVhat wonder if he should become servile or tyrannical from an- noyance, though he may be manly and generous by nature ? Wliat he wants is not to be drawn upwards or downwards out of his station, but to have an Education suitable to that station, one therefore that will be in harmonious relation with that of other classes. The average income of such a farmer would be about 200/., and we may assume that a boarding-school, in which the cost would range much above thirty guineas, or a day school, where the fees should exceed 8/., would be out of his reach. If, then, we can arrive at a fair estimate of the kind of school that, within these limits, would best suit the wants of a genuine middle-class family, and can sketch a system by which sucli schools may be well established and sufficiently dis- tributed, and placed in due relationship to other schools, ranging up towards the highest and down to the most elementary, we shall perhaps have done something to help the solution of the complicated problem of National Education. In taking a farmer's fiimily, instead of a trading or professional family, as the outset of my system, I am recognising the fact established 10 County Education. by the census that the farming class does largely exceed any other when once you rise above the labourer. And, besides, the farmer, as a village resident, cannot, as a rule, expect to find a suitable dav-school within his reach, but must depend upon boarding-schools. And though, in the lower grades, day-schools must preponderate, yet the value of a good boarding- school is educationally so great, implying all that a day-school gives and much besides, that I must think the true corner stone of a national system of Education ought to be laid in a model middle-class boarding-school. Can such a school be established so as to deserve to be called a thoroughly good public school, and to be self-supporting, without ex- ceeding a charge to parents of thirty or thirty- one guineas? I have been working at this problem ten or twelve years, and, believing that it has been satisfactorily solved, will beg serious attention to the following statement : — A school cannot be considered to be self- supporting unless the payments of a parent (including any reduction by endowments) cover the whole cost of {a) board, of (5) tuition, and (c) of interest on the capital expended. The follow- A JlediuiiL Public School, etc. 11 iiig, therefore, are the all-important questions in this matter. What is to be the scale of living? What the standard of tuition ? What the style and extent of the buildings, furniture, and grounds? As by assumption we are aiming at a medium school, the scale, standard, and style must all be of that moderate type which is rather to be described as good and sufficient than as handsome and abundant. There should be no justification for complaint or for contempt, though any extravagant outlay would be out of place. For the purpose of true economy in living, in teaching, and in building, a somewhat large school is desirable ; and I believe that a school of 200 boarders will give the necessary scope for such economy in all departments, and that one of less than 100 will be always work- ino; under some disadvantao-e. Still the follow- ing figures will, I think, satisfy any one that an allowance of eighteen guineas per boy for board, six guineas for tuition, and seven guineas for gross interest on capital, are reasonable estimates of what a charge of thirty-one guineas will allow. The Devon County School was started without any definite estimate of cost, but has been conducted throughout witli a great desire 12 County Education. to keep the charges down, and yet to pay to the sharehoklers a dividend after defraying every necessary and incidental cost. During ten years the average cost of board did not exceed 16/. per boy. The higher prices of the last two years have increased that cost to 18/'., but there is no pressure on the part of the master or the parents for any alteration in the scale of living. An enlargement of the school, from 120 to 200 boarders, has been recommended to the Direc- tors by the Bishop of Exeter, on account of the value of the work it is doing. An addition of two-thirds to the present numbers would relieve the cost per head of such charges as service, lighting, and heating, and generally improve the scale of living ; but the accounts of the past ten years are enough to prove that eighteen guineas is a sufficient allowance for board in any such school of 100 boarders and upwards. The charge for tuition at the Devon County School is 5/., Avith an optional charge for cer- tain subjects, as Latin and drawing, that are only taught to those who wish. These optional charges have averaged between 3/. and 4/. per boy on the whole school, making the total pay- ments from parents equal to about 8/. 85. per A Medium Public School^ c^c. 13 head. How very efficient the instruction has been is abundantly proved by the position the school has for many years held in the Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations, and which has recently called forth the following emphatic eulogy from Bishop Temple : — " Therefore it is that the clergy generally welcome most heartily a school like this, where the success is so steady, so sure, and so thorough, and which bears on it all the tokens of being, not an attempt to win a temporary success by extraordinary brilliancy on occasions but an attempt to do honest work which will, the more it is probed, show itself more tho- roughly to be substantial and sound. Last Christmas half the school went in for the Cambridge Local Examination. The Local Examination is a stiff ordeal for any school to pass, because in the minds of those who origin- ally planned them, the idea of those examina- tions was that they should test boys about the time thev were leavino; school. Of course it was presumed that about that time they would really know something, and it was always hoped that all the upper part of the school, all that part which would be leaving before the recur- 14 County Education. rence of the examination, would go to be ex- amined. But tins school has taken a bolder course, and has sent in not only all those who were on the point of leaving, but actually half the whole school. You will see at once, there- fore, that it is a very severe examination for boys to pass, and yet, although half the school was sent in last Christmas, more than 70 per cent, of the half passed the examination. I may go on and say that rather over 25 per cent, actually obtained honours. It has often been said that the local examinations are liable to the danger that the masters may be tempted to lay out all their strength upon a few clever boys, may make a great show and flourish, and that meanwhile, the great body of the school may be neglected. Here, however, is a plain answer given by this school, for, so far from the body of the school being neglected, one-half the whole school was sent in to be examined, and, therefore, the school was thoroughly tested; and out of that half of the school sent in to be examined, so large a proportion were able to pass, that it shews, that if the school were to be emptied to-morrow, it would have done its work veiy thoroughly, even with boys who were not alto- A Medium Fuhlic Scliool^ ch\ 15 getlier presumed to be in a fit condition to de- part from the school, and make use of their education. This is the clearest proof that any school can give of the substantial soundness of the education that it bestows. I do not know whether it is absolutely the only school in the kingdom that sends in boys in that way, but certainly, it is the only school in the country that sends in anything like that proportion of boys, and, I may add, it is the only school in the country that passes that proportion of its scholars." The gross capital outlay on the Devon County School, in which there are 120 boarders, and which may be considered full at that num- ber, has been 10,783/., of which 466/. has been spent on land, 6250/. on buildings, 2233/. on furniture, and 1834/. on the cost of carrying on the preliminary school from 1858 to 1864, when the numbers began to rise above fifty and the school became self-supporting. This item which is being paid off out of revenue need not be considered as part of the permanent capital. The outlay on furniture also includes all repairs and additions, and has in fact been reduced in the balance-sheet to 974/., by an 16 County Education. annual depreciation cliarge of 10 per cent. I believe, therefore, that the capital expenditure of the Devon County School should be stated at 9000?., or 75?. per boy. I acknowledge that this expenditure is in excess of what I think a school intended to be so economical ought to have incurred, but various costly additions liave been made, and we had no sufficient experience to guide us in the original plans. If the Bishop of Exeter's recommendation of an extension of the school to 200 boarders be carried out, it has been calculated that this extension could perhaps be effected for 3000?., making the total capital 12,000?., which for 200 boarders would bring the average cost down to 60?. per boy. In the Norfolk County School, where starting de novo there w^as an opportunity to have the original plans well considered, the cost of the mere building has been brought down to 8000?. for 260 boarders, or 30?. per boy, leaving it possible to keep the total capital down to 50?. I propose in a subsequent chapter to give illus- trations of the Norfolk School plans, but I refer to them here as justification of my as- sumption that on the average a complete medium Public School for 200 boarders can be A First- Grade County School. 17 provided for a capital not exceeding 14,000/., or 70/. per boarder. If then 11. per boy is charged to parents beyond the eighteen guineas for board, and six guineas for tuition, the total charge ^vill be only 32/. 45. ; and of this 7/., one-half, or 3/. lO^-., will yield a dividend of 5 per cent, on the capital, whether that capital is held in private shares, or consists wholly or partly of public endowment. The remaining 3/. 105., or 700/. (from 200 boarders), should be amply sufficient for repairs, insurances, and taxes, and any other incidental charges for maintaining the property. GHAPTEE III. A FIRST-GRADE COUNTY SCHOOL. I HAVE illustrated from the experiment ot the Devon County School what I believe to be the cost of establishing and maintaining a medium Public School — one that would meet the requirements of a midmost family in the middle-class. Such a school would be, accord- ing to recent classification, a second-grade school — that is, it would be adapted for those 2 18 County Education. whose school life, as a rule, wouhl end at sixteen or seventeen ; and the instruction given would not generally range higher than might be tested by the Junior Section of the Uni- versity Local Examinations. 1 propose now to sketch what I conceive would be the cost of establishing and sustaining a first-grade school. But I may, perhaps, say that the Devon County School, as tested by the age to which the pupils stay, and by the character of the instruction, may already almost claim a place among the first-grade schools; and the Trustees and Direc- tors have already been invited to consider, now that so many of the endowed schools are being revived and other second and third grade schools are being established, whether it will not be more suitable to the facts of the case to give to the Devon County School a higher status than to keep it within a grade which practically it has risen above. In the case of the Norfolk County School there has been from the outset among its promoters a strong desire that it should take rank as a first-grade school ; and I had some difficulty in getting assent to fixing the charge to parents no higher than forty guineas. Till the relation of these new public schools to CD C3 00 CO DC o IS I i ^- ^ a w »- < M X o o I o > H O o a «t s c or o o or o u o z A First- Grade Countij School. 11> the older endowed scliools, and to a general system, is more clearly determined, prudence requires that even an excessive economy should be observed in their management, so much more difficult is it to draw-in expenditure, if a lower scale has to be adopted, than to give it greater freedom if a rise in status should permit. And if, unfortunately, local or official jealousies should prevent these proprietary schools from being brought into harmony with the endowed schools, those who have launched them must in self-defence fight a competing battle, and trust to cheapness and excellence for holding their ground amidst the increasing competition whicli they themselves, by their enterprise, have done much to awaken. But quite apart from the exigencies of a competition which may or may not be excessive, economy is of itself essential to the object of bringing good schools within reach of moderate incomes. I have, therefore, without reference to the terms of other schools, considered that 70/. capital and 32/. annual charge per student, would be a sufficient estimate for a second-grade school ; and I must adhere to this estimate, though I peTGeive that the Endowed Schools Commis- 9 O 20 County Education, sioners are making a mncli larger allowance both for board and tuition for such schools as they intend should belong to the second grade. I presume that, in yielding to every local ap- plication for a revived school, they are aware that many of them must be small, and therefore costly. I regret that in multiplying small and costly schools they are making it increasingly difficult to establish those whicli, through combination of capital, are of a scale to give increased efficiency at diminished cost. In spite, however, of the official sanction given to higher estimates, I am not prepared to admit that 32^. is too low an average charge for a good second- grade school ; and on the same principle, for a first-grade scliool — one that in style of living and quality of instruction should be all that any family of moderate income could desire — one that should prepare its scholars for the Universities or any profession — I believe that the necessary capital need not exceed 100/. per student, and that an average charge of fifty guineas would, in a school of 200 boys, main- tain its efficiency and make it entirely self- supporting. I proceed to justify this assertion. Eelying on the experience of the Devon County A First- Grade Cciinfy School, 21 School for more than ten years, I have stated that I consider eighteen guineas a ftiir and liberal allowance for " board " in an averaofc second-grade school. I am therefore making a liberal addition to this allowance when I let the board of a first-grade school range to thirty guineas. Again, whereas I named six guineas as a sufficient ordinary charge for tuition in the second-grade school, I do not think it necessary to raise this ordinary charge above ten guineas in a first-grade school of 200 scholars. Farther, having given 70/. per boy as a reasonable capital for land, buildings, and furniture of a second-grade school, I am again, I believe, making an ample allowance for all desirable improvements and additions in a first- grade school in naming 100/. per boy as a sufficient capital. Estimating 10 per cent, on this capital as the charge that should be made to parents, in order to pay 5 per cent, dividend and all other expenses connected with the property, 1 have to add 10/. to the 10/. 10.9. for tuition and the 31/. 10.5. for board, and so bring the annual total charge to parents to 52/. In claiming for such a school the title of First-gi'ade, and maintaining, tliercforc, that it 22 County Education. would at these cliarges be able to receive the services of the most competent instructors, as well as to provide every reasonable comfort that any English parent of moderate means could desire for his son, I am aware that I shall be told that I am going in the teeth of experience. Amidst the published and unpublished evidence of the actual cost of public schools, many will ridicule my assertion that schools, equal to the best in all essentials of education, may be provided on the terms I have stated. At the risk, therefore, of being tedious, but know- ing how much of the happiness of the families of England turns on the I. s. d. of education, and believing that the advantage of being edu- cated as a gentleman is being forced out of the reach of many who have every right to expect it, simply by the extravagant cost of the higher schools, I will attempt, somewhat minutely, to show that my moderate estimates are really sufficient. And, first, I must ask the reader to satisfy himself by reflection, as I have become satisfied by careful observation, that under the three heads of Board, Tuition, and Capital Charges, every legitimate school expense is enumerated. Clothing, journeys, A First- Grade County School. 2 pocket-money, subscriptions to games, arc all expenses more or less indigenous to school- boys. And tliougli a large and well-conducted school ought to teach habits of personal eco- nomy, and by its facilities of combination actually to reduce to parents the cost of these incidental boy-expenses, yet they do not come within the legitimate province of Public School Finance. I must also observe that my esti- mates, though estimates only, are based on very accurate records of actual experience, con- tinued through a sufficient number of years, to leave it highly improbable that any essential matter has been overlooked. I begin, then, with what is the most important item of the charges to parents, amounting to about three- fifths of the whole — the Board. Under this head are to be included (ci) all provisions, viz., meat, bread, groceries, vegetables, dairy, and beer ; (h) all service, including washing ; (c) lighting and heating; and [d) a margin for sundries. It may help the consideration of the question, what is a fair allowance for board in a school where the only profit sought is 5 per cent, interest on the capital ex})cnded, and where there is no other object in restrict- 24 County Ediwation. ing expenses except the welfare of the students, if I give a rongh, proportionate scale, according to which I have found it convenient to compare the monthly expenditure in the Devon County School with those of the (preliminary) Norfolk County School. I have also applied the same scale to a still very incipient institution — the Cambridge County College — and I believe it indicates fairly the effect of adopting a more or less liberal allowance : — Devon Norfolk CoiJhty County School. County School. College. £ s. d. £ X. d. £ .'!. d. {a) a Provisions ... , 13 10 ... 18 .. . 30 {b) 1 Service , 2 5 ...3 .. ..500 (e) J, Coals and light 1 10 ...2 .. .368 {(l) ^'j Sundries ... . 1.5 ...10 .. . 1 13 4 Annual allowance for board per student 18 . ..24 .. . 40 Now this scale applied to a school of 200 boarders, in wliich an allowance of I65. per week, or 32 Z. per annum, should be adopted, would give for provisions alone 4800/. ; for service, 800/. ; for coals and lights, 533/. ; and for sundries, 266/. These estimates include the board of servants, but not of masters ; and I submit that under all these heads there is room for every desirable supply. Thus 200 boys and twenty servants would not really A First' Grade County School. 25 consume more than 2000?. worth of meat at lOd. per pound, while 1000/. for bread, 600/. for groceries, 400/. for vegetables, and 800/. for dairy and. beer, would not require very penurious housekeeping. Again, 800/. allowed for service will give 100/. for wages to each of these departments (which must exhaust all school requirements), matron, wardrobe, kitchen, housemaids, waiters, laundry, porter, gardener. The cost of lighting and heating must always depend more on the architect than the house- keeper, but 230/. for coals, and 230/. for oil or gas cannot be considered stinted allowance, while a margin of 260/. ought to cover any incidentals that may necessarily occur in a large establishment. Passing on to the next item, Tuition, I in- clude in this besides salaries of masters, adver- tisements, books and stationery for school use, and the cost of inspection or examination where not separately provided ; and I proceed to show that an average charo-e of 10/. 10s. for 200 boys ought to provide very efficient teaching. After deductmg 1/. 10.9. for adver- tisements and other charges, if required, there would remain 0/. per boy, or 1800/. for salaries. 2G County Education. I should be disposed to apportion half of this, or 900?. to the head-master (expecting him to act as, or provide, a chaplain) ; and the other half I should distribute into 300?. for a second master, 200?. and 150?. each for two senior and 250?. among three or four junior assistants. It must be understood that I am taking 200 boys as a minimum for a first-grade boarding-school ; and a school that has reached 200 ought to have reasonable prospect of extension, and the masters should have the benefit of their own exertions in filling the school. Thus, supposing the school to grow to 300, the salaries of the masters would admit of the following increase, the head-master might receive 1200?., the second master 450?., the two seniors 300?. and 225?., while there would be room for doubling the allowance of junior assistants. If, as I hope to show further on, the public schools of the coun- try were brought into a system, and the teach- ing profession were to become as recognised as the legal or medical, I cannot doubt that these salaries, with a fair prospect of promo- tion, W'Ould attract the ablest and best-condi- tioned youths. But anyhow I may maintain that, in any school of good credit, a clear salary A First- Grade County School. 27 fund of 1800/. ouglit to provide a staff of eight tlioroiiglily competent masters, besides the su- pernumeraries, whose services, when the fixed fee is moderate, a proportion of the parents are always glad to pay for as extra tuition. I am supposing that the general position of the masters would be made as honourable and pleasant as possible. It is often said that you cannot expect to get university masters except at a very high salary, because of the cost of a university education. But, as a matter of fact, most of those who are likely to be qualified for teaching have opportunities of obtaining, by exhibitions, scholarships, and subsequent fellowships, an almost gratuitous university education. There is, no doubt, a demand for distinguished talent in all directions, and able men have high salaries offered them in many quarters; but one object in a well- regulated profession is to ensure, at the cost of somewhat underpaid junior, work, a more comfortable position with advancing life. And, comparing the teaching profession with others, and the alternative career it opens to those who may at any time desire to take Orders, besides the great prizes open to its more distin- 28 Countjj Education. guislied members, I must believe that the proper value of the earlier work of those who enter it is better represented by the moderate jmiior salaries I have named, than by the luxm'ious standard of some public schools. Especially I believe that the vicious principle of allowing public masters to make profits out of board must before long be given up. I leave it to the reflection of parents and the public to determine what place in provincial society may be assumed by first-grade head-masters with from 900/. to 1200/., by second masters with from 300/. to 400/., and their younger assistants with fi-om 50/. to 150/. clear salaries. Not having ventured to assign to an average middle- class parent a higher income than 200/., I cannot think that these salaries would attract very ill-taught or under-bred schoolmasters. The last item of school expenditure, the charges for replacement of capital, may be ex- hausted under the heads of repairs, insurance, rates and taxes, and dividend. Assuming for the last 5 per cent, as a fair average interest on the capital, private or public, embarked in school-keeping, the other charges altogether will not amount to as much, and a 10 per cent. A First- Grade County School. 29 gross dividend may be considered ample. In the Appendix to the Eeport of the Schools Inquiry Commission it is stated that 2 per cent, on the capital is a sufficient reserve for these remaining charges beyond the 5 per cent, divi- dend ; but I think that calculation nuist liave assumed a larger capital outlay than I am pre- pared to justify. But considering that 5 per cent, on 100/. per boy (that is, in a school of 200 boarders on 20,000/.) amounts to 1000/. ; if half of this should be spent in repairs and renewals of buildings and furniture, the remaining 500/. would be an ample reserve for everything else. I have, therefore, only to justify my estimate of 100/. per boy, or 20,000/., as being sufficient for site, building, and furniture of a first-grade school. And here I may ask attention to the plans of the Norfolk County School. I have stated that this school, wliich is already roofed in, and will be ready for occupation next mid- summer, will be completed for a capital of 50/. per boy, or 13,000 for 260 boarders. It will be a very convenient building, with an excellent site of 37 acres, combining many advantages. I acknowledge that this result will only have been obtained by an exceedingly careful attention 30 Countij Education. to economy, and that many gradual additions and improvements are in contemplation as the school prospers. But I may appeal to the fact that a convenient and handsome building, sufficiently furnished, with ample grounds, will have been provided for hOl. per boy, as a justification of my estimate that 100?. ought to provide everything that can be wanted for such an institution on a liberal scale. I am obliged to the architects for allowing me to reproduce these and the other plans, by which they have undertaken to show that my views are not un- reasonable, and can be carried into practice. CHAPTEK IV. A THIRD-GRADE COUNTY SCHOOL. HAVING now sketched the cost of both a first and second-grade boarding school, I will briefly refer to what, in most parts of the country, is almost a greater want than either — a third- grade boarding school — one, that remaining self-supporting, not depending either on charity or rates, shall yet bring the advantages of Public School Education within the reach of '^^^:^"-^**5-'H >'^ra H^ "i ■'1 1^ fT| iT ^ gin4f ii -Mi i i ii tlilv^l i I i Mn ii J^ i l B^ *^^|- :^r« ; o o o to < Q PLAN OF THIRD GRADE SCHOOLS. FOR B4 BOYS G F^O U f< D PLa t<. SCJiLe or rtr.T 10 < I I I I I I I I 1 I I I i : ^ ^^ -42- ^Anccut Diooki T-ar* 'lotiijih PLAN OF THIRD GRADE SCHOOLS. 1"^ ■ ■ ■ ' ■ I I J I t^ pii^sy fLooF< PlaH to SC^LC OF FKIT y - ^ "' Vmaa RtdoIp 111) i riB.i>iir PLAN or THIRD GRADE SCHOOLS. SecoHd fLOOl^ PL'^H SCALE OF FttT IC b O \m ] I ; I I I I I L-l— 10 -I — 20 -t— SO —t— 4C =t= Jf! ^ail lirwib 1% i Sau.l.irti A TJii I'd- Grade County School. 31 the smaller formers, tradesmen, and artisans. In the origin of the Devon Comity School, this lower grade Avas much in mmd, and the only way I thought a self-supportmg school could be brought within reach of those whose family mcome could not exceed 100/., was by making the school to some extent industrial. It was, therefore, started as the " Farm and County School," and a small farm was proposed to be connected with it, and some agricultural em- ployment was contemphited for the boys. The attempt was not encouraged, and, in fact, the demand for a school which the parents could pay for without any adventitious aid was proved to exist, and I was reluctant to sacrifice a harvest that was ripe for one that was clearly immature. But it is certain that a school cost- ing ovel' 201. is out of the reach of a very large section of the farming class, and that one in which the charge could be reduced to about fifteen guineas would be a very great boon. Unfortunately all industrial work connected with schools lias in England become associated with pauperism or crime. It will require, therefore, a great deal of tact in management, and a peculiar class of mHsters to conduct such 32 County Education. schools without oiitmging proper family dignity. My idea is that third-grade boarding schools should not be very large establishments, and should be surrounded with pleasant and homely attractions. A comfortable farm school, with from thirty to fifty boarders, and a head- master who should understand farming and practical business as thoroughly as he had mastered the art of teaching, would be, I think, a most useful institution in every Union, and would prepare in the best way for their after- pursuits those who were intended to be either small farmers, or bailiffs. For these it is essential that they should be familiar from early youth with all kinds of agricultural work, and to become familiar they must practice what they learn ; and this in a manner, and to an extent, that will yield profitable results. In other words, such scholars should be appren- tices, earning something in the process of learning. Few objects would give me greater satisfaction than to carry out thoroughly such a school ; but it would require, in addition to the proper school-capital, a liberal farming or industrial capital. For a school of fifty boarders of this class, I think that 50/. per A Third- Grade County School. 33 boy, or 2500/., would be sufficient for build- ings and furniture, but a further capital of 20/. per boy, or 1000/., would be required to give them a fair opportunity to earn, while learning, sufficient to reduce the cost to their parents to 161. 15s. I have carefully looked through the reports of the industrial schools, Avhich prove that the board in a work-aided school may be reduced to about 4.v. per week, or 8/. per annum. A charge of about 3/. would be required for tuition, and of 61. for interest on capital. If any of those who may think that mv exertions in behalf of Middle-Class Eduoa- tion for twenty years entitle me to express a personal wish, would consider how, through public or private resources, I might be put in a position to try fairly the experiment of a third-grade, or Farm and County School, I can only say that they would be enabling a very willing workman to complete, if he sees his way, a very important portion of his work. It is in no spirit of chagrhi or complaint tliat I remark that the work of any one who undertakes experiments for public good nuist not only be unremunerative, Ijut involve con- siderable sacrliicp. Tliere is one point, how- o O 34 County Education. ever, where tlie liigliest class of reward may be expected, tliongli it cannot be claimed. It is where public confidence, acknowledging tlie importance of the object, enables a ripened experience to midertake with less anxiety and personal sacrifice the completion of experiments which had been imperfect, or laid aside for want of adequate means. The only claim I am conscious of having on public confidence is that in all I have had to do with this matter of education I have not knowingly allowed the public object to be swayed in my own mind, or so fiir as it has been under my own control, by any per- sonal, or political, or professional bias. I am as interested in politics as any of my contem- poraries, but, as it happens, I have hitherto deliberately forborne to exercise my county franchise as a Eector. I could not be a public-school and university man without having many sympathies with those whose work is absorbed in the higher regions of public education, but I have tried to guard myself against the disposition to look at mid- dle-class interests through upper-class predi- lections. I could not be a grateful pupil of A Third- Grade County School 35 Arnold without holding many of his opinions on public matters — opinions once considered strongly Liberal, though, somehow, they seem to me strongly Conservative, compared, I will not say only with the Liberal, but the Conser- vative opinions of to-day. But I have never permitted myself to forget Arnold's earnest appeal to us to belong to no party in Church or State. I could not have spent half my life as an English clergyman without a deep attachment to the Church in which, and ac- cording to which, I have felt it the highest privilege to minister ; but I do not know that any motive has been stronger with me, both in planning and conducting and advising upon Middle-Class Schools, than the desire to ac- knowledge heartily and effectually, that the deeper we go down below the surface into the middle-class of England, the more are we bound to recoo^nize the hold which the religion of Nonconformists has honourably taken of not the least religious portion of our Christian com- munity. I do not disguise from myself that the religious difticulty presents a far more serious aspect when we come to the public education of the middle-class proper than it 36 County Edacation, does in the higher schools, where the Church students greatly preponderate, and breadth of general culture takes off the edge of many differences, social as well as religious. The proposal to connect middle- class schools with the county rather than with the diocese was made very much with a view to find an honour- able meeting-ground for the education of families, who, with common feelings and prin- ciples and interests, were almost necessarily brought up in isolation and estrangement, owing to religious differences. The proposal has, I am afraid, seemed to many of my own profession to imply a relaxation, if not sur- render, of important religious principles, and many excellent schools more distinctively Church of England have been promoted. But I have always felt very grateful to the late Bishop of Exeter, that, though he looked with disapproval on some of the views of Dr. Arnold with which I acknowledged myself to be im- bued, yet he gave to the proposal for a county school a most generous consideration, and offered me a stall in his cathedral as a mark of his approval of an experiment which he thought might prove to be "the best solution A County College. 37 of a very difficult problem." It will perhaps be felt to be a peculiar confirmation of this approval that after fifteen years the successor both of Dr. Arnold and Dr. Philpotts should have felt justified in expressing the following public opinion of the religious results of the experiment: — " As far as I liave observed in speaking to a great many people of very different opinions, and very different parties, on this question, there is no school in the country -which conciliates to itself a larger amount of favourable opinion, and at once disarms hostility more entirely, than this school at West Buckland. I believe that the course here pursued has, at any rate, succeeded in this respect, that it is con- fessed on all hands that the religious instruction given is really religious, and, on the other hand, I never yet heard of any one who could complain that there was any interference with the rights of conscience whatever." CHAPTER V. A COUNTY COLLEGE. FEW educational experiments would be more important and interesting than that which should 33 County Education. determine whether, by means of self-supporting third-grade schools, the wants of the lower middle-class can be effectually supplied without their beino; drawn downwards into a State-aided system. Perhaps, however, it is of even prior importance to decide where the centres are to be found round wdiich the whole of an inde- pendent system, consisting of first, second, and third-grade schools, may revolve with adequate local distribution, and under energetic acade- mical and provincial administration. I have long felt that county colleges, as superior in- stitutions to county schools, were needed, both to draw to a higher stage the more advanced schoolboys, and to assist those willing and com- petent to become teachers to prepare them- selves for the growing requirements of public tuition. I have also seen that such colleges ought themselves to be more or less connected with universities, new or old. I do not know, however, that I should have ventured to pro- pose the actual experiment of a county college within a university, if a private object had not led me to become a temporary resident in Cambridge, and if I had not become aware that serious proposals were being entertained A County College, 39 for establishing one or more training colleges for the middle-class schools, by a combination of endowments. I felt that it was of the greatest importance that one at least of such institutions should, if possible, be placed within the precincts of an old university. Though ex- ceptionally fortunate in securing very able head-masters for the Devon and Norfolk County Schools, I had come to know how very difficult indeed it is to find teachers Avho can be relied upon to teach what they profess, and still more to sustain a high, as distinct from a sentimental, tone of honour in schools where there is much admixture of rank, and the social standard is necessarily at a moderate level. I was induced, therefore, in spite of the magidtude of the undertaking and my own incompetence to deal with many of the difii- culties involved, to issue the following proposal in 1872 :—^ * " The County College : An Educational Proposal addressed to the Town of Cambridge, with the surrounding counties, and to Members of the \Jniversity," by the Rev. J. L. Breroton. IMacmillan & Co. 1S72, 40 County Education. "THE COUNTY COLLEGE. " The object of the followmg proposal is to combine various efforts recently made to pro- mote middle-class Education, especially those connected with the Universities and the en- dowed and proprietary schools in the counties : — to increase the value of the local examina- tions by connecting them with collegiate re- sidence ; to give facilities for obtaining an early and inexpensive degree ; to raise the standard and increase the supply of masters; to give special preparation for various branches of professional and practical life ; and espe- cially to provide one or more institutions through which many wasted and worthless endowments may be made available for mo- dern requirements, and combined into an effec- tive system. " With these ends in view it is proposed that ' the County College ' shall be an association of shareholders, registered under the Joint Stock Companies Acts, with a capital of 24,000/. in 101. shares ; that the management be through a body of trustees and directors^ to be elected under such conditions as would II -H " r I I r r THE COL.MV i.iil.l.l-A,l'.. eAMHKIDliI'. I?? 1 -Q.cmintnr- I VlCEPRihClPAl.S Jcn.it 6ilr»." V <5(n*tv Jirtk!t 2^ CrtLitx- Street 0? CC . r'aivtuui/ iS''A. K? 1. The Country College , C- nniARlDOE _Jr W 2 Lccommoiflfion, IOC loo Total - 300 StuitiiJi RCTmig raw ^w Dei f{o»mU^.^7j accotj!l - 100 TOO St'L^il^ 'Rovmt ' ' III! o Sli.^oln' RfPn.. . l.,^- I I 1 I Bti ffsflm, dW »aC Bi^ "^"^^ qil^ST f|L.OOR 4 Li\M — n c fi^ar af Tut. N^ 5 Slubent)^ Rovms' Stui)cnt» J^oom* <.i!U ViC6 I^iruJirAu'g ReSlOEflCE,. I ' -*- ?» (ir«i'»fv Str«er. rrc . tJ(in.u4Ui| . 1875- The <7ounty Oouuege Gmmurlid&'b _. N2 ». ri c \2'? dt. nVt ^I'lwSeiit^' lioom^'. inriTiJi ^tuicn^ Rcwm^' 2k (IrAUCR, fitrut. .iid teaching. -1 50 County Education. " 3. That the commercial piinciple is applica- ble to education, and worthy to be combined with that of endowments in public schools, is not sufficiently recognized in principle, thoiigli abundantly acted upon in practice. The Uni- versities and the great public scliools are happily driving a good trade ; that is, they are receiving very large sums from the parents of the upper classes in payment for the education they give. But as they possess, independent of the trade, large realized property — and as, in this country, a certain social honor attaches to real property, which does not to commercial capital — the endowed institutions are apt to think that there is some dignity reflected upon education and learning through their property. So far as this property consists in ancient buildings, long associated with learning and adorned witli its monuments, equipped with ample apparatus, and adapted for all the purposes of study, there is a true dignity attached to it; and, indeed, this dignity it is that gives to this portion of their property the liioiiest commercial value. "It is doubtful, however, whether real pro- perty, apart from the actual educational insti- A Countij College. 51 tutions, adds any peculiar lionor to learning; and there is much reason to think that the ob- jections so often urged against endowments, that they tend to stagnation and dronishness, may be partly accounted for by the simple fact that real property suggests a privilege to its owner of some rest from labour. Though, therefore, it is to be expected that some fellows and bursars may look with contempt upon a Proprietary College in Cambridge, is it not possible that such a college might introduce a healthy, nay, desirable element amono- the older institutions ? May it not even come to be a question in the common rooms, whether farms or estates, now yielding 3 or 4 per cent., might not be well converted into commercial capital embarked directly in the honorable trade of education; compensating its greater insecurity not so nuich by a higher average dividend, as by the fuller discliarge of congenial functions, and by the public confidence resulting from extended ser- vices, which would then take place of some public envy now threatening the Universities? "The appointed end of prospectuses is the waste-paper basket. A promoter of sclicmes is 4—2 52 County Education. looked upon as a dreamer and a mendicant. That this contribution to education, to the spread of truth in knowledge and life, is an offering of a very humble character, and must take its place among the least-esteemed publi- cations, is known well to the writer. But he issues it on the chance that at least, though cast from the basket to the hearth, it may serve with other kindling to revive some smouldering ashes, and attracting better material, lead to light and warmth for those who are still outside in the darkness and cold. "If, however, it should suggest to any persons, interested at once in Cambridge and in public education, that there is room for trying some such experiment, the writer will be thankful to receive, through Messrs. Macmillan, any intima- tion of a wish to co-operate; and he is authorized by Messrs. Foster to say that they will receive either subscriptions towards a preliminary fund or applications for shares, at their bank. "Cambridge, Dec, 1872." The result of this proposal has been, at least, as encouraging as I could have expected. A County College. 53 An address to the Duke of Devonshire, as Chancellor of the University, was signed by a considerable number of members of the University, including some very distinguished names. His Grace received the address with favour, and undertook to nominate nine trus- tees, and to hold, himself, the office of President. An association has been formed, and nine directors chosen by the shareholders. A temporary college has been started, and the tutor, S. S. AUnutt, Esq., has, under his charge, students who at tlie affes of fifteen and sixteen have been admitted to the University, and are reading for their degree. As soon as 12,000/. of the proposed capital has been subscribed, steps will be taken to commence a permanent building. Though no sanction has been given by the University to any new title, as County Graduate, or Assistant-Bachelor of Arts, yet the experiment of junior students has been allowed to be tried, and I venture to think there is good prospect of its gaining favour both in the University and with the public. The following brief prospectus, with list of the trustees and directors, will, better tlian any detailed explanation, illiiRtrate the range of 51 Co/inf/j Education. academic, ngricultuval, and commercial interest appealed to by tliis new institution. '' Trustees. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., Chancellor of the University of Cambridge {President of the Association). The Eight Honourable the Earl Fortescue. The Right Eeverend Edward Harold, Lord Bishop of Winchester. The Eight Honourable H. Brand, Speaker of the House of Commons. The Eeverend H. W. Cookson, D.D., Master of St. Peter's College, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. The Eev. W. H. Thompson, D.D., Master of Trinity College. The Eev. W. H. Bateson, D.D., Master of St. John's College, Cambridge. Ebenezer Bird. Foster, Esq., Anstey Hall, near Cambridge. Thomas Coote, Esq., Fenstanton, Cambridge- shire. " Directors for 1874 Eev. J. L. Brereton, M.A., Prebendary of A County College. 55 Exeter, Rector of Little Massiiigham, Nor- folk [Chairman). Thomas Brown, Esq., Marliam Hall, Norfolk. George Edward Foster, Esq., Brooklands, Cambridge. Rey. J. B. Lightfoot, D.D., Canon of St. Paul's, Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Cambridge. G. D. Liveing, Esq., M.A., Professor of Chemistry, Cambridge. Robert Sayle, Esq., Trmiipington, Cambridge. Rev. R. B. Somerset, M.A., 'Trinity College, Censor of Non-Collegiate Students, Cam- bridge. Arthur Sperling, Esq., Lattenbury Hill, St. Ives. W. Aldis Wright, Esq., M.A., Bursar of Trinity College, Cambridge. " The objects of the College are, "1. To enable students, younger on the average than those in the established colleges, to obtain a University degree at a moderate cost, and under suitable discipline; and to offer to others, who may not be able to reside the three years requisite for a B.A. degree, the opportunity of passing the senior local ex- 56 Co'uutij Ed'acaiiuu. aminatlon with at least some of the advantages which the University as a place of instruction can give to students, and which are unattain- able elsewhere. " 2. To bring within the precincts of the University the institution now generally felt to be desirable of a training college for school- masters above the elementary teachers, and so to maintain as much as possible a real con- nection between the higher and secondary education of the country. '' To carry out these objects an Association has been formed under Limited Liability to raise a capital of 30,000/., and build a college for 300 students. The dividend payable to shareholders is not to exceed 5 per cent. A permanent body of trustees, independent for this purpose of the rest of the directors, has been entrusted with the appointment, or removal, of the principal or warden. "It is expected that an institution so con- stituted will be able to raise considerable capital by private shares, and will further be in a position to be the recipient of such public or endowed capital as may be considered by trustees and authorities to be applicable to A County College. 57 tlie special object of tniining suitable masters for the provincial schools. " A temporary college has already been opened mider the charge of S. S. Allnutt, Esq., B.A., of St. John's College. Students are in resi- dence Avho having passed the local examina- tions have been matriculated as undero-raduates of the University, and are being prepared for their B.A. degree, with reasonable expectation of obtaining it, at the age of 18 or 19. " The college terms are the three ordinary University terms, with an additional term in the long vacation. The average residence in the County College is about 40 weeks in the year, and the charge (inclusive) is 2/. a week. " Applicants for admission into the County College will be expected to have passed the junior local examination before coming into residence ; or to be able to pass the senior local or the preliminary University within their first year of residence. " Those students who wish to limit their education to one year's residence in the County College will be entitled to a college certificate or title in addition to that of the local ex- amination, supposing that they shall liavc pre- 58 Count// Education. viously resided for two years in some school recognized by the University, and have passed at school the junior local examination." I am obliged to acknowledge that the re- ception given to the proposal of a county college has not been uniformly favourable. Some have considered it impracticable, others undesirable. Detailed objections, more or less serious, have been expressed, and, as the college takes prominent form, others may be expected to present themselves. Fears that are merely self-interested, and dangers that are purely imaginary, may be disregarded. Any new public institution will, in the nature of things and of men, awaken such fears and suggest such dangers. Thus there are masters of schools who think that a college for junior students, within the University, may do them harm by attracting some of their older and more promising boys at an earlier age than they would otherwise leave school. Similarly, there may be tutors of colleges who think that by this opening for an earlier admission some undergraduates who would, in due course, have come up a year or two later may be induced A County Collec/e. 59 to anticipate their residence. I acknowledge that I have met with no indications of this very pardonable anxiety, but that, on the contrary, the college tutors have shown a kind and generous interest in the proposal, beyond what I had allowed myself to expect. Some of the schoolmasters, however, have indicated oppo- sition, and though I trust that they Avill come to see that their fears are unreasonable, it is probable that parents and the public will for a time be subject to unfavourable representa- tions from this quarter. I may be acquitted of any intention to injure schools sucli as I have long laboured to establish. There may, of course, be a reckless institution of new and revival of old schools which, though still far short of the number of bojs who oifgJit to attend them, may be just so far in excess of those who Avill at present be sent to public schools as to cause an injurious competition. It is also certain that the efficiency of a public school depends very much on the last year's residence of the older and more reliable pupils. If, therefore, I am, in proposing this County College, deliberately taking a step which may cause anxiety to the masters of some of tlic 60 County Education^ county schools or others, it is from a conviction that in this way only can a system be arrived at which, without being centralized or op- pressive, shall be able ultimately to regulate the distribution of schools, and mitigate exces- sive competition. It is, also, because I know no more urgent want for the vigorous life of the new or revived provincial schools than a supply of well-toned and well-trained masters, who can teach the more practical studies de- manded in middle-class schools, and yet bring to their work the associations and aspirations which can only spring from personal contact with places and persons devoted to the highest culture. For the sake of the invaluable ad- vantages to be derived from direct connection with the Universities some risks and sacrifices may be submitted to. And I am glad to record, as some evidence that this view is appreciated, and that the opposition of the masters is at least not universal, the fact that already four head- masters have become shareholders in the County College. There have been slight indications of objec- tions of another kind. It is difficult to be pa- tient with a religious exclusiveness which says. A County College. CI plainly, let religious difterences be perpetuated, so far as education goes, by bringing up the children of every separate sect apart, under their own badge ; let them grow up without any con- tact with those whose parents, from choice or circumstance, belono- to a different denomination from their own. Still, it is due to the great im- portance of religious instruction and influence, to give most anxious consideration to the ob- jections of those who urge that comprehension must mean indifference, and that religious teaching and religious services, in a college where the sons of churchmen and the sons of dissenters are avowedly to be consociated and made the object of equal solicitude, must be so vasfue and indefinite as to be valueless or mischievous. I confine myself to a brief practical discussion of this interesting question. Let what is still only a project be assumed to have become an actual institution, and a county college witli 300 students to be in full work. Suppose tliat a third of them are between the age of fourteen and sixteen, a third between sixteen and eigh- teen *, and a third (student-masters) between eigliteen and twenty. It may bo a reasonable 62 County Education. estimate that two-tlilrds would avowedly be members of tlie National Chiircli, and the rest would nearly all belong to one of those non- conformist bodies which have, next to the National Church, a traditional hold on the con- fidence of English families. A small minority mio'ht belono' to the Roman Catholics and the Unitarians, and perhaps a few individuals might seek admission whose parents would not make profession of the Christian faith. The recep- tion and treatment of these exceptional cases might safely be left to the unfettered discretion of the principal. It is only with regard to the instruction and services, common or distinct, that would be intended for the students as a whole (disregarding exceptions) that there is any occasion for considenng whether compre- hension would be injurious to life and truth. It was mainly with reference to this matter that, before I published the proposal at all, I took some pains, with the assistance of the architects of the Norfolk County School, to work out com- pletely the detailed arrangements for a building to hold 300 students, with a principal, vice- principal, and, perhaps, ten resident tutors. Each student is intended to have to himself one I A Count// College. G3 comfortable room, Avltli fire-place. Several common rooms are provided, with diniiig-liall, library, &c., and a large central hall, where the whole community may conveniently be assem- bled for a common worship, morning- and even- ing. In addition, a chapel with corresponding lecture-hall at either extremity of the building are indicated, both large enough to assemble all the inmates. Now the appointment of the principal or warden is to rest with the trustees, among whom one is a professed nonconformist. This gentleman has expressed his opinion that the warden ought to be a mem- ber of the National Church, but his hope that he would be one who would give recognition to nonconformists, as such, if duly qualified to hold appointments among the principal members of his staff. Let me assume that the trustees will have been able to elect a warden worthy of the confidence implied, both in his sincerity and his charity. Let me also assume that he will have appointed as vice-principal, or as a permanent tutor, one who would be personally acceptable to nonconformist parents, and might be recog- nized as an exponent of their feelings and wishes. I grant that from these two men a 64 County Education. very high standard of rehgious principle, pene- trating their moral and mental character, must be looked for. They must be men gifted with insight, not only hito the varieties of religious conviction, but also into the truth and goodness that may underlie and unite them. Such men are to be found, both in and outside the National Church, and the University of Cambridge is constantly producing them. Under their care the services in the chapel would be such, that few students would ask to be excused them; and they would be supplemented by occasional services in the lecture-hall, unfettered by the forms of the National Church, where, equally, the great ma;jority, if not all, of the students would be willing attendants. But the daily com- mon prayer, short, simple and earnest, would be the chief pledge of a common religious life. I have often held the candle for Arnold in the schoolhouse hall, at Rugby, when he read either the prayer printed in Stanley's life, or one hastily written for the day. T recollect the reve- rential feeling, to say no more, that interrupted for those few minutes the careless, and not always innocent, flow of our thoughts and conversation. I, also, as one of the sixth form, was familiar A Counbj College. 65 with tlie other prayer used to begin our daily studies. Across the recollection of more than thirty years, few more real religious influences recur to me than those short and earnest utter- ances of his simple faith, by the strong, braye and wise teacher, among his childish but would-be- manly scholars. The County College is intended mainly for youths of the age of Arnold's sixth form. I would indulge the hope that those prayers of his which I here reproduce, miglit be, if not the form, the model of a common prayer in that college. I belieye there are few English parents who, whatever their views on disputed points of religion, would not desire their boys to have the opportunity to say Amen to sucli devotions. 1. Prayer read every Morning hy Dr. Arnold in the Sixth Form at Bughy. Lord, who, by Thy holy apostle, hast taught us to do all tilings in the name of the Lord Jesus and to Thy glory, give Thy blessing, we pray Thee, to this our daily li 66 County Education. work, tliat we may do it in faith, and heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. All our powers of body and mind are Thine, and we would fain devote them to Thy service. Sanctify them and the Avork in which they are engaged ; let us not be slothfid, but fer- vent in spirit, and do Thou, O Lord, so bless our efforts, that tliey may bring forth in us the fruits of true wisdom. Strengtlien the faculties of our minds and dispose us to exert them, but let us always remember to exert them for Thy glory, and for the furtherance of Thy kingdom, and save us from all pride, and vanity, and reliance upon our own power or wisdom. Teach us to seek after truth, and enable us to gain it ; but grant that we may ever speak the truth in love — that, while we knoAv earthly tilings, we may know Thee, and be known by Thee, through and in Thy Son Jesus Christ. Give us this day Thy Holy Spirit, that we may be Thine in body and spirit in all our work and all our refresh- ments, through Jesus Christ, Thy Sou, our Lord. Amen. A Count?/ CnUegp. G7 2. Prayer used on Sunday Evening in the School- house. O Lord our God, we are once again arrived at the evening of Tliy holy day. May Thy Spirit render it truly blest to us. We have attended the public service of Thy Church ; Thou knowest, O Lord, and our own consciences each know also, whether, while we worshipped Thee in form, we wor- shipped Thee in spirit and in truth. Thou knowest, and our own consciences know also, whether we are or are likely to be any the better for what we have heard with our out- ward ears this day. Forgive us, Lord, for this great sin of de- spising the means of grace which Thou hast given us. Forgive us for all our carelessness, inattention, and hardness of heart ; forgive us for having been far from Thee in mind, when our lips and outward expression seemed near to Thee. Lord, will it be so for ever? Shall we ever hear and not heed? And when our life is drawing near to its end, as this 5— 1> OS Coiint'ij Education. day Is now, shall we tlien feel that we have lived without Thee in the world, and that we are dying unforgiven ? Gracious Father, be pleased to touch our hearts in time with trouble, with sorrow, with sickness, with disappointment, with anything- that may hinder them from being hard to the end, and leading us to eternal ruin. TJiou knowest our particular temptations hei-e. Help us with Thy Holy Spirit to struggle against them. Save us from being ashamed of Thee, and of our duty. Save us from the base and degrading fear of one another. Save us from idleness and thought- lessness. Save us from the sin of falsehood and lying. Save us from unkindness and self- ishness, caring only for ourselves and not for Thee, and for our neighbours. Thou who knowest all our weaknesses, save us from ourselves, and our own evil hearts. Renew us with Thy Spirit to walk as becomes those whom Thou hast redeemed, through Thy Son Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Amen. The instruction in religious knowledge would be a good deal regulated by the requirements A County College. 60 of the public examinations. These, whetlier for the local or the regular University course, are designedly comprehensive. Besides these, accurate scriptural study would be required from all, and some standard works generally accepted might be selected for the tutors' guidance. The Bible itself has its undisputed as well as its disputed portions. The same may be said of Christian theological literature. There are works of great and good men which all would put upon a student's list, just as there are hymns in which no good man of any de- nomination ever hesitates to join, even though they may contain more or less than others that he specially approves. And happily those ac- cepted works are not so few that the limited time of a young student's preparation need ever be wasted for want of subject-matter. Again, at the risk of being thought a mere worshipper of one name, " Unius addictus jurare in verba magistri^^^ I would suggest that Arnold's sermons, though they have been followed by a whole literature of religious instruction for youth, are yet unsurpassed in the special merit of simplicity, of force, and of sympathy with the reverent yet questioning spirit of those who 70 County Education. are travelling tlirougli the uncertain border- land between children and men. The lapse of more than a generation since the writer's death entitles writings that have any special excellence of their kind to be adopted among text-books, and I submit that these sermons have merit which may place them by the side of Butler and Paley. I have the peculiar plea- sure of possessing a volume of these sermons, in which the author of the "Christian Year" inserted at my request, and with assurance of unfeigned esteem for his early friend, the sio'nature "John Keble." The differences be- tween Keble and Arnold were, it is well known, very grave, and it is possible that their respective schools of thought may prove more and more divergent. But they were college friends because they were almost boys at college. There is an age at which religious and intellectual activity tends more to unity than difference. It is where boys are growing together into men. There is a place, the genius of which is favourable to the inter- mixture of religious with other aspirations. It is where boys, fresh from home or school, begin to minn-le with those who are proud that they An Educational Province. 71 belong to a University, and in study and pur- pose claim to have all the world opened to them. That Oxford will ever admit a similar institution to that which Cambridge is en- couraging, and allow an " Arnold College " to make the preparation of English school- masters a special object in the University which he so loyally loved, is more than I am at present allowed to expect, though it is one of the "suggestions" I have been bold to make. But I may, at least, hazard the assertion that whatever Keble did towards carrying Christian thought and feeling into the region of culture and taste, Arnold did as much towards carry- ing the same pure influences into the sphere of action and real life. CHAPTER VI. AN EDUCATIONAL PROVINCE. AS a desire for public education becomes diffused through the middle classes, the re- vival of old, and establishment of new schools 72 Cotinlij Education, and colleges force on the question, by wluit system are these numerous institutions to be regulated ? Are enlarged powers, not only of renovating the constitution, but of controlling the administration of endowed schools, to be given to the Endowed Schools Commission, or more directly to the Education Committee of the Privy Council ? Is a central educa- tional: council for the examination and certifi- cation of all masters and schools, as sketched in Mr. Forster's Endowed Schools Bill (No. 2), to be constituted? In short, are all middle- school masters to become State teachers, and the schools and colleges State institutions ? There are many who think that no greater calamity could befall England than such a centralization. There are some who doubt whether the benefits of our extended ele- mentary education are not dearly purchased at the cost of an army of State teachers, already numbering more than 16,000, and very shortly to be doubled. If the middle classes are drawn into the same or a similar system, can the result be anything but a death blow to all originality, and to that indepen- dence of character which, if not virtue itself, IT" MATHEMATICS LANGUACE.S ^"'^ (Vtemieai Mechanical '^^ Applied RELIGION LITERATURE. HISTORY GRAWMAB GEOGRAPHY B EADING WRITIMC AMCIEHT LATIN CREEK MOOtRM FRENCH GERMAN \ MUSIC DRAWING POPULATrON 1 VlUOOO ineooc S £70.000 H ■ RATEABLE VALUE 0?5SStW V.CO0M0 ;j.«2rtw uamm CAPITAL [ietputfii ll'THOOO JJSSWM ;,«i«.. tmsoo IMMOP ENDOWMENTSy.lW; 77ZMO yuxfo 41,000 15*000 SiMC 2148$ 7.1 7C 3.S70 S£3S S.000 Untj Boi/s U«i we 3.670 ^«5S iooo 2","! GRADE Beitnifis H4C4 V.S2S 11.010 (WW UOA) Pay Bpi/s «!« WW tt.SiO ■iZMO ««Jj 3»? GRADE BtHjnitr^ :i.m me s.e7v hSSS ^ Daif Bfiys mm 43M6 n/y^ XlflO H| LIGHT BLUE /uJSfiT/i Prmiiicc ('(unhridifr Cciiiir DARK BLUE Western Provincr (Ixil'ni Centre LIGHT YELLOW Xvliliif/i hvniin Yoi'k (eiiOr DARK YELLOW ,S'piit/ivni fliniiice Lomliin Cendr PI NK ./// Hnifloiui The huUhrx nfirsn.f n Irifl,- srjst, im'iialu>n.v fbritvli-rnunintf l/ifi'e tfrtitU-.v of S'cJiaols . The tkukcr.v/niiiiw M-ilhtii cac/i ivnire reprt\ieu( f/ie (ot/iift/ Cii/iff/cr w 'Ivainiiu/ Instiiuiioiu- forMastecs. wUii unices tor lidiicatitmal Cvutieil . for cuclt Prpvina- . Tin- .muiU Oitilvons represent thv Jiitf/ier /tii/i-F/ininftal Pnhlic tS'clniols. .The eefitre Hioi lumi mdtcatv the "i-e.siduum "oftmfit'nid itfiivraticf.^ Thv l/inr inrur dnlis llii IHviiicnlnri/ Schools, tiiid the tJuTC nc.rf circles, which ihc ladilers traverse, the Proviminl Schools of three orades C c An Educational Province. 73 Is the inseparable condition of all personal and national excellence ? Without, however, declaiming agahist dan- gers of which men are sufficiently aware, I will roughly attempt to sketch an alternative system which might possess all the advan- tages of a State system, and yet have a machinery and Influence quite independent of tlie government of the day, and as free as possible of political parties; and above all find in a plurality of honourable and self- regulating centres, an adequate controlling authority not inconsistent with spontaneous vigour and emulation. The accompanying diagram, though fanciful in appearance, may serve to show how a complete system may be organized, which shall be independent of any one centre. It is not worth more tlian a glance, but a glance will show that England might, for educational (or other) purposes, be conveniently divided into four provinces ; and if Cambridge were taken as the centre of the Eastern province, Oxford of the Western, Lon- don of the Southern, and York (or some other place) of the Northern, in each of these centres an educational council might be appointed for 74 County Education. the conduct of local examinations, for the registration of masters and schools, and for the supervision of the endowed and other re- cognized schools within the province. The independence of these coinicils might be abso- lute within their several provinces, without, however, limiting to these provinces the range of their examinations and certificates. That honourable emulation which only indepen- dence can sustain might have full vigour. But the limitation of local jurisdiction would ensure that the whole country should be covered. The local examinations mio-ht ema- nate independently from tlie four centres, and those of London and York be held, for con- venience, at Easter and Michaelmas, as those of Oxford and Cambridge are actually held at Midsummer and Christmas. For all ordi- nary purposes of examination, the certificates of the several centres might be equivalent, but one university might be free to give special prominence to one branch of studies, as science, another to another, as languages. The one imposed duty on each centre should be to supplement, to the schools within its own province, by its own examinations, what- An Educational Province. 75 ever ground had not been covered during the previous year by the other centres. In indicating: on the diao-ram these local examinations by a series of triple ladders, I am illustrating' a suo-o-estion I ventured to make in a paper read at the Social Science Congress last year. At present, the University local examinations are conducted in two main divisions, for juniors under sixteen, and for seniors under eighteen years of age. If these were supplemented by a distinct preliminary examination, the whole rano-e between the elementary and the higher schools might be spanned, and there would result a public and popular gauge by Avhich the various schools might gradually be adjusted to the work of first, second, and third-grade teaching. A few extracts from that paper will sufficiently explain the suggestion it has occurred to me to make. Though, perhaps, it may seem to some ou lirst thoughts a formidable undertaking to examine all the secondary schools of England, and though if one general examining council were formed by the State, its oflicial staff would be a serious addition even to the elastic Civil-servant list of these generous days, yet the same 7G Counfy Education. work undertaken by the Universities, and distributed among their graduates, resident and non-resident, would be to a great degree no real burden or strain, but a quiet conversion of much unwilling inertia into cheerful activity. This distributive power of a University has not, perhaps, been sufficiently considered by those who advocate the transfer of all examinations to an official council in London. It really admits of indefinite expansion, and even those who have obtained local certificates with honours might, on their responsibility being ascertained, be employed in extending the examinations by which they themselves were tested and approved. And here, perhaps, is the place in which I may best in- dicate what extension of the present University examina- tions would be necessary in order to satisfy the require- ments of the secondary schools and the nation generally. It has been recommended that all secondary schools shall be classified into three grades, and confined by authority within the limits of age and studies respectively assigned to each grade. Without committing myself to an assent to this proposal, which if arbitrarily carried out might be far too Procrustean in its first operations, and too stereotypic in its general results, I quite admit that a threefold classification would broadly and suffi- ciently include all schools above the elementary, and below the higher public schools. But I venture to think that the advantages of this classification would be better attained by a triple system of jiubhc examinations than by any arbitrary allocation of the schools themselves. My suggestion would be that the present Local Examina- tions, which are on a dual system,, providing for seniors An Edi(catioiKi] Proviace. 11 and juuioi's, with a proliminary portion for each, should be extended into a triple system, by separating that preliminary portion, and making of it an examination applicable to "third-grade" schools. The "junior" examination would then generally tost the " second grade," and the "senior" the "first grade" schools. Then those schools which, in the opinion of their masters and governing bodies, had better confine themselves to one or other gi-ade, would regulate their studies principally by one or other of these examinations, while some schools would practically include all three grades in their own organization, and others would rise or fall from circum- stances or merit. These three examinations should, I conceive, to some extent overlap each other, and would thus serve, not like one rigid ladder, but like ascenduig and descending plat- fopns constantly playing, to enable students with ad- vancing age and merit to ascend regularly from the lower to the higher grades ; and at the same time to mark for stimulus or reprobation those who, still professing to be scholars, were standing still or falling back in the pro- portionate progress of their compeers. The present local examinations do not span the whole- interval between elementary and higher education, but leave unpenetratcd a broad stratum of the lower middle-class and third-grade schools. Unless some great check and relapse occurs in the progress of elementary education, this neglected por- tion of the community will be di-awn into the Government system from beneath, and greatly add to the momentum with which that system is tending to become dominant in England. The legitunate wish of the couuti7 is that there 78 County Education. slioulcT be au educational ladder reacliiiig from the lower to the higher grades, both of learning and of social position. We can conceive of this ladder either as thrust up from below by the force of a centralized power embedded in the masses of the population, or as let down from above by the spontaneous action, generous or mterested, of the upper classes and the higher institutions. In either case, if the whole middle mass is to be j)enetrated, a strain and effort is implied which would be avoided if au inter- mediate series of self-adjusting ladders could be devised, each resting on a local basis, and each reaching to an assigned level. Then the whole scale of social gradations on the one hand, and the full range of studies on the other, might be comprehended in one complete, though free and elastic, system. In such a system the following important principles might be combined : — 1 . In lieu of one x^i'edominant Government centre, three, or perhaps four, free University centres might be entrusted with the work of regulating and conducting the j)ublic examina- tions. 2. In co-operation with these Universities, three or four educational provinces might be charged, each within their respective portions of the nation, with the general grouping of examination-centres, of endowments, and of schools and colleges. 3. These larger groups might again be subdivided into their own counties, boroughs, and unions of parishes, each to become local educational areas, with a corresponding adaptation of the three grades of secondary examination, the senior, the junior, and the preliminary, and a further local adjust- ment of endowments and schools. Eeverting to a suggestion that the great energies and An Educational Province. 79 aspirations of what are called the mauufacturiug districts, that is, of the Northern and Midland portion of the king- dom, might he drawn into a new University system, with Eughy for its base, we should in that case have Oxford, Cambridge, London, and Eugby, four equidistant centres, whence the cncuits of the local examinations could be systematically conducted. From each of these centres once, annually, though in different quarters of the year, a full com'se of triple examinations would traverse the country. The several examinations would be, on the whole, of equal value in the respective x)ortions, though freedom in the selection and appraisement of subjects would be maintained. One class of studies might obtain greater prominence than another, according to the older traditions or present bias of the several Universities. Thus, careful observation in one case, facile communica- tion in another, correct reasoning in a third, and appre- ciative taste in the fourth, might be the favourite objects of the examiners, and without any unfairness give a colouring to the examination. Monotony and uniformity, the great danger of all systems, would be avoided. Free play would be given to the preference of parents, students, and teachers, in selecting such of the examinations as the after destination, the natural taste, or the necessary train- ing of individuals or classes might require. But the chief advantage of four University centres Avould bo found in the greater scope given to the training of secondary teachers. I take it to be assumed by all who know something of the practical problem of middle-class, and indeed of higher, education, that in future some trauiing of masters in the art of tuition, in addition to certificates of knowledge, will 80 Couni'ij Education. be insisted on. Where cau tliese future training institu- tions be founded with the best prospect of teaching the required art mthout separating the technical accomplish- ment from the wider influences of general knowledge and culture ? The simplest answer is, place such institutions in the very focus of the University systems. Let Cam- bridge and Oxford each have not only their graduated series of examinations and local circuits, but also their framing colleges for teachers, with competent staff and appliances. And if it is reasonable to suppose that, with- out excessive effort, Oxford and Cambridge could not between them expect to cover more than haK the wide field of national education, the deficiency might be sup- plied by corresponding training institutions, planted in the metropohs and in some convenient Northern or Midland centre, such as I have suggested in naming Eugby, or what, perhaps, would be on some grounds a better centre, York. The future masters of England would not then be all of one type, though nonfe need fall below a definite standard. Wherever classical or mathematical teaching might be specially in demand, an Oxford or Cambridge master would, in addition to his personal attainments, bring assurance that his training had been of the best kind. Similarly, if modern languages or appHed science were preferred, the London or the Northern Universities might be presumed to have given to the masters trained in them the best possible guidance. At the same time, each train- ing college being by supposition planted within a Univer- sity, no branch of knowledge need be ignored in any, but competence and excellence in all subjects would be encouraged. All Educational Province. 81 The successful establishment of training institutions for secondary masters within the Universities would, perhaps, principally depend on such arrangements being made as would make their influence and attraction felt at an earlier age, if not in somewhat lower strata of society, than is the case in the existing system of undergraduates and gradu- ates. A modification of the pupil-teacher system might apply to schools far above the elementary. And now that it is insisted that the benefit of endowments ought to be assigned solely according to merit, i.e. according to the ability and perseverance of students as ascertained through competitive examinations, it is a fair question to ask whether endowments so apportioned should not be re- garded somewhat in the nature of apprenticeships, binding those who receive the emoluments to make some after repayment, or to communicate as teachers to other learners some of the advantages they, through the founders' pro- vision, have themselves enjoyed. Wc must remember that the term "merit," or "earning," implies service rendered to others, and involves a prmciple which is entirely neglected when the reward of public endowments is appropriated to those who have been rendering service only to themselves. So important, indeed, is it to the community that as many as possible should be stimulated to exertion, even for their own advantage, that public honour may very properly wait upon distinguished per* Bonal acquirements. But emoluments, as distinct from honours, when assigned for " merit," ought to be either a reward for past or a pledge for future services. There is frequently a well-founded disappointment and even disgust at tlie result of endowments, when it is found that they G S2 Count?/ Education. merely have helped tlie idle to enjoy themselves, and the ignorant to wear badges of learning. But that disappoint- ment and disgust are not altogether removed when the gifts of benefactors become merely so much addition to the gains of the clever, the savings of the careful, and the prosperity of the prosperous. I must not dwell further on this subject, now, except to repeat that any institutions intended to produce masters for the future schools should, while centering in the Uni- versities, be made to descend lower than the ordinary University limits of age and station ; and further, be so combined with general and local endowments as to ensure to the whole nation, and to successive generations, the ultimate advantage of improved teaching over and beyond the immediate benefit to individuals already gifted by Providence, or to localities favoured by founders. But while the Universities, acting at once independently and in concert among themselves, might undertake generally the conduct of examinations and the training of masters, it should devolve on those really interested — the inhabitants, the citizens — to sustain the machinery through which these examinations and teachers are to be brought in connection with schools, public, semi-public, or private, and so educate, in ascending yet harmonious grades, the wdiole population. For this purpose some- thing more (some would say something less) than an Endowed Schools Commission is necessary. While heartily agreeing with the Schools Inquiry Commission that a county organization would ultimately be the best, I venture to think that as an intermediate step a simpler and more massive grouping than that of the registration An Educational Province. 83 counties would be practicable and efficient. Four educa- tional provinces, a northern, southern, eastern, and western, each with an educational council and office of its own, closely connected with one or other of the Universities, would, I imagine, call into existence and expression that effective public opinion without which any educational reforms are so difficult to attempt, and so barren when effected. Much disappointment has been felt that the Govern- ment when dealing with secondary education did not attempt to carry out the provincial portion of the recom- mendations of the Schools Inquiry Commission, but confined themselves to the creation of a Central Endowed Schools Commission, while indicating their purpose to create also a Central Examining Council. It has been explained that the Government did not disapprove of the " local " recommendations, but was deterred from dealing ■u-ith them by the great difficulty it foresaw in determining any principle upon which provincial or county educational authorities should be appointed. At a time when the whole local machinery of England is confessedly out of gear, and the statesman who shall be able to restore or replace it, if born, has not yet been indicated by any premonitory success, a Government may, perhaps, be pardoned which hesitated to embarrass further the creak- ing and groaning wheels with any share of the troublesome work of Educational Reform. There is, however, room to think that the difficulties which have notoriously checked and jeopardised the operation of the Endowed Schools Commission would have been removed or lessened if the problem, as proposed for practical solution by the G— 2 84 County Education. Inquiry Commission, bad been grappled witb in its integrity. As it is tbere is a real danger tbat more barm tban good will bave been done to tbe cause of education. A snubbed commission, an arrested reform, are ominous of discouragement and stagnation, to be followed by tbe violence and confiscation wbicb bave, so far, been botb menaced and feared ratber in imagination tban reality. Tbe Conservative reaction will bave set in before a Liberal impulse bas been effectually received. It is, bowever, possible, tbat a political lull may offer a favourable opportunity for re-considering tbe difficulty about local education wbicb bas confessedly baffled tliose entrusted witb tbe cbarge of secondary scbool legislation. Tbere are four distinct interests concerned in public education. Tbere is tbe interest of tbe instructor ; of tbe instructed ; of tbe community, local or general ; and lastly, of tbe property embarked, Tbe two former inte- rests will probably be best confided for protection and representation to tbe Universities as tbeir operations and influence are extended. Tbe interest of tbe community, wbetber small or large — a district, a borougb, a county, or a province — can be readily represented tbrougb tbe magnates and notables, tbe Lords-Lieutenant, tbe Mayors, tbe Cbairmen, &c. Tbe interest of tbe educational property would, I believe, be best secured by combining, as far as possible, in joint undertakings, tbe commercial principle witb tbe endowed principle, tbat is, by a union of dii-ectors and trustees, tbe one representing ordinary capital, tbe otber endowed capital. Tbe more education is becoming every year an object of desire in all classes, tbe more does tbe commercial principle apply to it. Wbat An Educational Province, 85 people are anxious to buy will not really be given, but sold ; tliougli the halo of endowment may somewhat bewilder both tutor and parent, and, whether by corusca- tion or obfuscation, take school and college bills out of the ordinary complexion of commercial transactions. One important result of the general demand for education should be that the capital of endowments should pass gradually from its present position of secure investment to that of productive, if hazarded, employment. Unless this is done the endowments wiU continue to have an obstructive effect. They will hinder the free operation of ordinary capital, and perpetuate the discreditable state which now characterises the secondary education of England, which may be summarised as ineffective grammar schools, supplemented by unsuccessful com- mercial schools. The suggestions I have ventured to make in reply to the questions proposed are: — 1. That the University Local Examinations be extended so as to cover the whole range of secondary schools, and sustained in three divisions, "senior," "junior," and "preliminary," applicable sever- ally to first, second, and third grade schools. 2. That training colleges for secondary masters should be estab- lished in each University, and that these training colleges should be adapted to receive students at a younger age than that at which they are now ordinarily admitted into the Universities, in order that the influence of the Univer- sity may be felt at a lower level of society than it now reaches. 3. That the University system should cover the country by adding to Oxford, and Cambridge, and London, a Northern or Midland University, and so distributing the 86 County Education. greater work which the country is beginning to expect from Universities into four centres. 4. That instead of one educational council in London, four provincial councils, each connected with a University, should group the middle classes, with the secondary schools and exami- nations, into a northern, southern, eastern, and western system. 5. That subordinate to these provinces, the counties, boroughs, and unions of parishes should each become educational areas ; and, (6) lastly, that the administration of the endowed property should be con- ducted more and more on commercial principles, the capital being embarked in the business of education, and the accruing profits assigned so as to advance education as a whole; and, while paying due regard to founders' special intentions, to ensure that their combined benefac- tions shall (as they would indisputably have desired) confer progressive benefit on the nation at large. CHAPTER VIL AUTHORITY AND ADMINISTEATION. IF the schools of England should ever be brought under some such provmclal organiza- tion as I have suggested, distinguished by University centres, it would be necessarv to Authority and Administration. 87 determine carefully the several sources of authority and the respective limits of admin- istration. Simply as an indicating signal to arrest attention, I will try to sketch a scheme of school government with subordinated func- tions and areas. 1. My first postulate is that the several grades of public middle- class schools shall correspond with already recognised civil divisions of the country, so as to have in all cases a familiar local basis to rest upon. Just as the elementary schools are distributed by parishes or parochial school-districts, so I would connect the schools immediately above the elementary, 2.e., the third-grade middle schools, with the iTuion or enlarged parochial township. It may be ex- pected that the union will become more and more an important civil division, and it is possible that some of the obsolete or scattered functions of parishes may be revived or re- combined in the wider area, and that these larger districts, at least in the case of the rural imions, may merge their merely pauperised associations among more liononrable attri1)utcs, and be incorporated with municipal })owers. Notliing \YOuld more tend to give a new dignity 88 County Education, to the union than that it should be accepted as the basis of the super-elementary schools, and perhaps gradually draw the elementary schools themselves into a position of less de- pendence on State grants and religious rivalry. The second-grade schools I would assign, for the range of their work and its control, to counties, single, or contiguous and united ; and the first-grade schools to larger divisions, con- sisting of three or more counties. In order effectually to carry out this civil and local distribution, I should like to see the larger towns (say with a population over 150,000) taking rank as counties. 2. My second assumption is that the autho- rities of the several schools in the union, the county, and the division, might be partially subordinated to each other, and find their ultimate appeal and control in the educational centre of the province, which is to be a Uni- versity: subject, of course, in the rare cases requiring its intervention, to a supreme national authority. Thus there would be reference from the educational council of the union to that of the county, and from the county to the division, and from the division, lastly, to the Authority and Administration, 89 provincial centre, and tlience, if really neces- saiy, to the Government. 3. My third expectation is that a satisfactory source of authority would be found in the ownership and charge of the educational pro- perty. If a School Fund were formed for each district — divided into shares with limited liability, so that the school capital of the district, in the shape of school buildings, sites, and furniture, could be easily valued into this fund, with the addition of any reserve property — then both private individuals interested in the district, and also the trustees of endowments, might be reasonably expected to become share- holders, and in proportion to their shares would be entitled to election of trustees, directors, or governors. This ownership, actual or entrusted, of school property seems to me, after much reflection, to be the only sound source of authority in a system that is intended to be public, without State subsidy or direct official administration. A moderated desire for commercial profit, combined with an honour- able concern for public interest, would, I be- lieve, in any district bring together out of the gentry, farmers, and tradesmen, a body who 90 County Education. would do their best (and perhaps, on the whole, the best) for the schools entrusted to their care. Such a body would partially, at least, be annually renewed by election of the share- holders, but it would be well that a portion of the governing authority should be permanently constituted, and that to this permanent portion the appointment or removal of the head-masters should be solely intrusted. This reserve seems to me essential in order to sustain the pro- fessional status of the teachers. Head-master- ships, indeed, will not in future be either freeholds or sinecures in England. But it is most important, in order to call out the best men and their best energies, to give them the confidence that they shall not be liable to mere capricious interference. As schools multiply, head-masters will be in demand, and the difficulty, Avhich grows with our complicated civilization, of finding- men fit by nature, as well as training, for high responsibility will be sorely felt. Ex- travagant estimates have perhaps been formed of the pecuniary reward that should attract and await their services. But, certainly, the emoluments of a head-master should place Autlioriiij and Administration. 91. him, if a prudent man, out of the reach of excessive family anxieties. He should be free and -willing to live in, and for, as well as by, his school. The first personal recom- mendation of a head-master should be, I think, the peculiar gift of a quick and accurate dis- cernment of character. He may be very simple-minded, in the sense of having had no great communication with the world and its affairs, but it is essential that he should have a quick and true insight into the latent capa- bilities and subtle peculiarities of his pupils, and of his assistant-masters. His mistakes or inadvertences may be a life's detriment to those whose good or evil tendencies he failed to observe, to foster, or to check. He assumes the locus parentis^ and should know, by vicarious instinct, what parents generally do know of their children's dispositions. But while able to know others, even to their more secret qualities, the head-master should be himself transparent. Boys are penetrating beings, and unless they see through a man (or a book) they are apt to feel an aversion to what battles them. Besides this moral per- ception, and moral transparency, which are 92 County Education, the best gifts a master can covet, there is, of course, need that he should have a corre- sponding intellectual penetration, that he should see clearly and thoroughly, from sur- face to principle, whatever he undertakes to teach; and, again, this keen perception of truth should be accompanied by great readi- ness of communication, checked only by the duty of eliciting search, and enforcing work. Lastly, he should have physical vigour, or, at least, animal spirits. If denseness and cloudiness are a boy's aversion, flatness and dulness are his abomination. In short, the keen eye, the open countenance, the vigorous presence, to know, to be known, to be felt, — these are the qualities of character and intellect which seem to me most requisite in one who is to reign supreme in a boy's world. The question whether assistant-masters shall be appointed and removed by the head-master alone, without appeal, is very important, and obtaining much attention. My own opinion is that, provided the head-master is required to communicate his appointments and dis- missals to the chairman of the governing Aiithoi'ity and Administration. 93 body, and that the chairman, at his discretion, is at liberty to ask or receive explanations or communications from the subordinates affected by the head-master's action, all that is neces- sary and equitable will be secured. The head-master's responsibility will be inviolate, but cognizance of his conduct will also be ensured, and if either a gross act of unfair- ness, or persistent minor indiscretions, become known to the chairman, he would have the opportunity, and with it the duty, first, of private remonstrance, and ultimately of repre- sentation to the permanent trustees. Having been called to hold the office of chairman of trustees and directors in Devonshire, in Nor- folk, and now recently in Cambridge, I may be allowed to say that it seems to me an office singularly suitable to the maintenance of kind and just relationships between the several authorities and subordinates implied in public educational institutions. In a complete provincial system, the chaii'- nien of the several union councils would pro- bably be members of the educational council of the county, and tlic county chairmen again would have seats in the divisional council ; 94 County Education. wliile the chairmen of the divisions woukl, with some special University appointments, constitute the council of the province. Assuming an average union to consist of 20,000 inhabitants, and a county (single or united) of 400,000 ; and that three such coun- ties would compose a division, and three divisions a province, there would be 180 union councils, nine county councils and three divi- sional councils to each province. Perhaps twelve would be a convenient number for a union to furnish of trustees and directors, while the county council, and the divisional, as represent- ing wider areas, might be composed of twenty or thirty members. The centi'al provincial council, again, might be more effective as a smaller body, and be limited to twelve or eighteen. I have endeavoured to arrive at an estimate of the capital that might be required if a complete series of schools for all grades were once fully equipped, and organized in a pro- vince. It will be miderstood that the same estimates would approximately apply to girls, and is in fact only a moiety of what I should be glad to see actively employed. Accepting the estimate of the Schools Inquiry Commission, ■T3 O O ■a o CO >> o a o o S3 o o ■n o m tio a •a o ^- o s> a o o a 7} o o o o o_ o o CO o Pi >) Q =< ■^ CO TO TO ^ .1 n g ^ to 60 2§ o =(^ ■^ =^ =*i P5 ftn 3 o <^ o I.-5 ^ II =^ ■** c3 *>i X B. o o ttj o lO ^< «r <§ 1 - the o&or«— iVb. Of Boijt tttiiiialfd tit Hi jifr l.OOO o/ /V;jufjfi.'/'. AsBigalDg I Boy in IC to let Omde Day Schools, imying J!M2 10». Amiual i'eea. BonrdlDj; ., i.vj 0. 1 Hoys 2nd Grade Day School.i ,, Boarding -trd Grade Day School» „ Boarding £7 16«. £3 lU. £15 Mil. Qroup A, contaiuiDg — 1. LmccilOBhiro ... ■2. Derby and Nulls ... 3. Lciceslerand Itutland „ B, ,, 1, Cambridgoaml Hunla '2. North HoDta and Beda 3. Bucks aud Heria ... lat Grade Schools. 50,036) I DO,lQ5|l,008.785 ; f 08.5V5J 430,510) I 348,480 ll,253,*20 G2G.7IO 4«B,43i)j Dny Beys, ], 427 i Boardcn, 1.4V7 ) (Day Boya. 1,008 . Boarders, 1,00S > TDay BoyB, 1,SS3 > iBoardeM, 1.2.53 > ■JU = 28,UU 100 = 143,700 20= :iO,lGO 100 = lOO.ttOO 30 = S-5,0fiO 100 = 12r>.300 i;442,5eo SAMPLE COONTIES, I Population. Capital. Qroup A Group B ( Norfoli: SofTollv ilBoardera, 4.381 x 70 = 2011,070 /Day Boys. 1,303 X 15= 20,880 LBoardera, l,i>H x 70 = 73.0S0 SAMPLE AVEKAGE UNION. 3rd Grade Schuuls. £ £ Population 20,500 ... Day Boya, 132 x 10 = 1.230 Capital ... £1(1.1/50 ... Boarders, aoj x 50 = I.02a £^.255 X 180 : = £4»5,!)IJ0 r AutlioviUj and Administration. 95 that the middle classes ought to furnish sixteen schoolboys in every thousand of the population, I have calculated, to the best of my judgment, that they might be assigned to the several grades in about the following proportions. Two to the first grade, seven to the second, and seven to the third grade ; and that, on the average, of the first-grade boys one would be a boarder, and one a day scholar; of the second grade three would be boarders, and four day scho- lars ; while, of the third grade, one only would be a boarder to six day boys. I have also estimated that the capital, per boy, of boarding schools, might average in the first grade, 100/.; in the second, 70Z.*, and in the third, 50/. Again, for the day schools, 20/., 15/., and 10/., may be taken for the average capital, per boy, in the several grades. This calculation 2;ives an aggregate capital of 500/. per 1000 of popula- tion, or 105. per head ; and if only approximately correct, it furnishes a very ready reckoner for ascertaining the capital required in any given area. Tho«e who will take the trouble to apply it either to a union, or a county, or a wider dis- trict will not find tliat the task of supplementing the existing schools with whatever capital may be 96 County Education. necessary to bring good schools of three grades fairly within the reach of all middle-class families need be considered very formidable. The great deficiency I suppose would be found in third-grade schools if these are to be distinct from, and superior to, the elementary schools. But even if no existing schools were available, and my estimate for the requirements in this grade were doubled in order to provide equal advantages for girls, the necessary capital for a union of 20,000 inhabitants would be only 4400Z. The rental or ratable value of such a union would vary from hi. per inhabitant in the Western to 6^. in the Eastern counties ; and may be set down at 110,000^. If, therefore, the whole of the capital for third-grade schools were borrowed, the interest would not amount to a half-penny rate. But, on the assumption that these schools are to be self-supporting, and to pay 5 per cent, dividend to shareholders, it ought not to be difficult to raise a third of the capital, or 1500/. in local shares. If, as I would venture to recommend, the Endowed Schools Commissioners were empowered and required to make advances out of the capital of local en- dowments for the purpose of building requisite Autliority and Administration, 97 schools in the neighbourhood of the several endowments, provided a minimum interest equal to that of the present investments were guaranteed, then the remaining two-thirds would, in many unions, be at once forthcoming from this source, and the needed schools might be provided without delay. Again, for the second-grade schools, in a county of 400,000 inhabitants 108,000/. would be the outside capital required for boys, and probably 200,000?. ample for boys and girls. Whatever addition to the existing endowed, proprietary and private schools would be re- quired, might be provided by raising two-thirds of the capital in private shares, and borrowing one-third of the endowments. I beg it may be observed that my suggestion to advance the capital of endowments, as distinct from their income, for the building of new schools in areas contiguous to but more extensive than the places intended by the founders, is in no way liable to the imputation of confiscation, or inter- ference with founders' intentions. The trusts would not be impoverished ; their income need not be diverted ; but this investment of their capital would promote the general education 7 98 County Education. which founders may, of all persons, be pre- sumed to have had at heart. I am less anxious to propose the help of endowed capital for the building of first-grade schools, because these higher schools would not only supply an edu- cation which wealthier parents will value, but as soon as ever a fair system was at work they would receive a share of those deserving scholars whom the income of endowments ought to be con- stantly lifting out of the lower grades- Good first-grade schools should be always good invest- ments, as they would receive at the flood the stream of applicants for higher teaching, who either from their own resources or from exhibi- tions and scholarships would be able with com- parative ease to defray its cost. Such schools might be so conducted that their shares, even with a limit to the dividend, would be in request. But of course there can be no reason why the capital of endowments especially applicable to the higher schools, and particularly university and college endowments, should not be so in- vested. Indeed, I look forward to a time when the value of school funds, whether debentures, or ordinary shares, may be a topic of interest to Fellows and Bursars. Tuition^ Examinations^ and Sapervision. 99 CHAPTER VIII. TUITION, EXAMINATIONS, AND SUrERVISION. IT Avoiild be presumption on my part to say mucii on the subject of studies, and teachers. My own experience as a teacher has been limited to the almost paternal relations of a pri- vate tutor. I have abstained from interference with the discretion of the two very competent head-masters of the county schools in which I am directly interested. I have thought that on the whole the general studies of such schools may with advantage be regulated by the public local examinations of a university 5 and that those examinations may be made so comprehe.n- sive as to offer an ample selection of studies, whether for classes or individuals. These general competitive examinations, Avhen once a school has adjusted its work to them, do not necessarily entail the evils of cramming or over-pressure. Tlie " senior " examinations might perhaps eventually include a wider range pf subjects, and the *' first-grade " provincial 7—2 100 County Education. schools should generally be large enough to command a staff of masters who would, in addi- tion to the common subjects taught to all, be able with special capability to take charge among them of distinct branches of advanced study. It has been a question much discussed in agricultural circles — what are the best school- studies for an intending farmer? Ought any special preparation for his destined career to be attempted at school ? Many will think that this is both desirable and practicable, if only it is recognised that a branch is not a root, and that special studies should grow out of general, notjgeneral out of special. A school or college in which agriculture is the main subject of instruction, and others are made subordinate, is very likely to sacrifice the man to the metier^ with ultimate detriment to both. But good schools, especially in rural districts, might with- out injury to their general instruction turn boys' minds towards some at least of those facts and recurrences of nature, the correct obser- vation, the careful comparison, and obedient following of which are essential to a farmer's real success. As yet few capable teachers or Tuition^ Examinations^ and Supervision. 101 professors of knowledge applied to agriculture are to be met with. Yet surely for the educa- tors of a o;reat countrv to take for o-rautcd the non-scientific character of an occupation, in conducting which tlie most numerous and not the least influential class above the industrial are directly engaged, is not reasonable. Of education and agriculture it may be said that they are both sciences, of teaching and farming that they are both arts, the principles and rules of which may be learnt systematically. How to select and regulate the productive forces of nature so that man may benefit by the increase is an object that must ever invite and reward man's highest efforts of mind and will ; and to prepare the mind and will of the boy for the after-efforts of the man is the proper object, and should be the practical work, of education. It is true that no amount of general education can come amiss to a farmer. He who must live a good deal by himself, and for many hours of his life and in his main struggle be his own oidy companion, cannot have too many avenues early opened to him into tlie thoughts and doings of liis fellowmen. But reckoning the limited years 102 County Education. he can afford for preparation, it is very possible that there may be in those years a great waste of time and resource, unless while receiving the best general instruction within his reach lie should also be learning as soon as possible how to direct his studies towards the main purpose of his life. And here it may be that a real advance and improvement in education gene- rally is yet to be made. The conflict, often disastrous, between earning and learning, be- tween studying to live and living to study, between school time [i.e. leisure time) and work time, may in all classes be mitigated, though it can never disappear. Whether, indeed, the strong measure of legal compulsion by which the child, helping his father to win the honest bread, is to be forced back in his early steps towards a certain independence, to swell the number of those who are to earn for their schoolmaster a Government grant by " at- tendance," is likely to produce any beneficial effect on the labourer's education, many must gravely doubt. But outside the range of arbi- trary educational laws it may well be urged that instead of sacrificing general instruction to special, or special to general, an earlier blend- Tuition^ Examinatiom^ and Supervision. 103 ing of the two may be attempted and coiitinned without detriment to either. Only to effect and sustain this interfusion of studies there must be constant communication between expe- rienced practitioners in the various occupations and professions on the one hand, and the leaders of education on the other; those, in fact, who by determining the range of the public examinations will practically have it in their power to include or exclude special studies upon the time-tables of public schools. Without deciding on any details, the studies of middle-class schools may broadly be grouped into five main divisions : — 1. English. — Including, besides correct read- ing and writing, so much arithmetic, history, geography, literature and political economy, as the age of the different classes will allow, and the general expectation of the public will call for. This division woukl apply to all the scholars, and would naturally include religious instruction. 2. Languages^ both ancient and modern., and specially French and German in the latter, Latin and Greek in the former. The in- struction (as in the case of English) would in 104 County Education. eacli language extend beyond correct grammar to an enlarged knowledge of history, geography and literature, with the moral, political, and social studies connected. 3. Mathematics. — Including the principles and laws of time and space, and also of mind and matter, so far as they have been exactly determined. 4. Science^ pursuing the universal laws of nature into detailed departments, as chemistry, mechanics, animal and vegetable life, &c. 5. A7% teaching the processes by which men's genius and labour have subdued the Ibrms and forces of nature to useful and en- joyable purposes, e.^/., drawing, music, archi- tecture, agriculture. Every school above the elementary should, in some slight measure, teach each of these divisions if it is to be a public school. Thus, J^atin or French in a third-grade school, Latin, or French, or German in a second-grade school should be offered to all, and required of at least a third of the scholars. In a first-grade school Greek should be added, not only because it is retained in the University compulsory ex- aminations, but because it should certainly be Tuition^ Examination^ and Supervision. 105 required of all teachers aspiring to be licad- masters of first-grade schools. A man wlio cannot read the Greek Testament, and has no conception of Homer, can have no pretensions to be with any pre-eminence an instructor of English youth, or a king of English boys. I do not, however, urge that high classical attainments should be indispensable for the head-master of first-grade provincial schools. He should, like the head-masters of the schools of lower grades, be qualified to excel in teach- ing that essential portion of the studies to be required from all the students, viz., the English section. He should also liave proved his excellence in one or other of these divisions — Languages, Mathematics, Science or Art, and possess a practical acquaintance with the remahider. Thus he should be able to teacli in tlie highest form all the highest branches of the English section, and also the highest branches of cither languages, mathematics, science or art. He should also undertake personally to superintend and examine the instruction in English, and in one other de- partment throughout the school ; and he should further be able to form a practical, rather than 106 County Education. an expert judgment of the proficiency of the several classes in the other divisions. He should be supported by at least four assistant- masters, who should be strong in the general work, and each be excellent in one of the special departments. I have assumed that " first-grade " schools should generally consist of at least 200 scholars. In such schools it may be expected that if five principal teachers, with a proportionate number of assistants, were competent to be carrying on eff'ective classes more or less simultaneously in all or any of the five divisions, the difficulties which attend all time-table arrangements might be got over. The chairman of the governing body, as well as the four principal assistant-masters, might always be consulted as to the arrangement or re-arrangement of the time-table ; though the privilege of ultimate determination should rest with the head-master. Particularly would tliis conference be desirable if extra and optional subjects and fees should be allowed. These optional additions to the ordinary charge seem to be a legitimate extension of the resources of a school*, enablhig special advantages to be offered at their fair cost ; such as instru- Tuition^ Examinations^ and Supervision. 107 inental music, laboratories and worksliops ; technical instruction — as architectural or estate plans ; or again, higher lectures in compo- sition, or additional languages. These optional fees might, in some cases, be paid to the ordinary staff for extra work on their part; and in smaller schools some such addition to the ordinary salaries Avould no doubt be ne- cessary to retain the services of able men; especially if the abuse of making profit out of board were abolished. But in a well-arranged full-sized school I submit that the allowance I have suggested of 9/. per boy for the or- dinary salaries is ample without any irregular additions, and that extra fees might all go to procure fresh and special instruction. As it will probably be asserted in some quarters that I am, in my zeal for economy, screwing my estimates down below what is reasonable, I submit the following detailed scale of remu- neration which I am prepared to recommend for the Norfolk County School, as soon as the time has qome for permanent regulations. 108 QoimUj Education. Scale of Masters' Salaries for a First- Grade County School. Prospect of Salary at Eate per Scholar. Mini- mum. 100 boys. 150 boys. 200 boys. 250 boys. 300 boys. Head Master and Chaplain Second Master ... Third Fourth „ Fifth „ ... £ .?. rf. 4 1 10 10 15 12 6 £ 200 100 80 65 55 £ J!. 400 150 100 75 62 10 £ s. 600 225 150 112 10 93 15 £ *. 800 300 200 150 125 £ .<:. 1,000 375 250 187 10 156 £ s. 1,2C0 450 300 225 187 10 Surplus at £9 per] boy for addi- tional masters 12 6 — 112 10 168 15 225 281 5 337 10 I need not attempt to show a proportionate .scale for second-grade or third-grade schools. The subjects taught in them would be less numerous and less advanced. But the accom- panying table will sufficiently enable those interested to judge whether I have, or not, reserved on the whole sufficient to pay liberally for tuition ; and whether, further, what I propose to set aside (a) for the cost of examina- tion and supervision, and (b) for the expense of secretaries, are on the whole sums that would pro- perly remunerate those very necessary contribu- tions to an effective system of public education. o o -=1 « •il « *^ • 3 ai o *»» »o •s w uo fc cp «rt _o 5^ .- < ■a K^ o o ?!, o o Oi C ^ - ^>b — ' d CO y> v: "-C O O ^ OQ o s o o* •3 ** Cl d d C H .; i^ a u £h a t^ a n o O n C 'D c c C3 o CQ 3 A o 3 -H, t^ fl) ^ •A «^ O C5 o c-a o o •- - - *■ •■ - a O 1-5 g o '-t ^ ■•t §g8 O CO •-< o? f*< »0 CO TC *-^ o «^ «^ o oo o « « c; o n o o o O Cl •-•5 <-r O O a? » H H «! O 5 w o) d ^ ^ C^ CO £ = = >5 ' • O I— ( O) t— t > ' * tf M (!( I : & • • W « o ^ "3 = t— 1 n H •< « a s *-< CI a -^ o - oo o -* o « II II II •3Sg . ° ■ s 0*^0 = d j; c => *?^ .ca — ' CO CU(0 ----K _- '>^ S --S ^ O 3 o •3 -■a o s rf-a -a ° o ^ O O O O O O lO CT Ci CO t- ■^*" ooo »0 CO „„^ , . _. ^. „ , . • xo'2 4.S-. m Boarding Schools, portmg J = Estimated capital required ... | fO per boy in Boarding Schools. l£lo „ Day Assuming 400,000 as population of an average county, tliere would be required — £24,000 capital for Day Schools. £84,000 ,, „ Boarding Schools. £108,000 capital 'per county for second-grade schools for Boys. C. — First-grade Middle Schools. Establisli or recognise in each division, of three or more associated counties, schools suitable to those whose education may be continued to 18, and rising to the standard of the senior local examinations. Estimated number of boys for !„ . i,-,aa £ i x- . „ ^ 1 , / 12 m 1000 of population, such first-grade schools ... j ^ ^ And of these 1 in 1000 Day Boys. 1 ,, Boarders. Estimated charge to parents to Ip,,, ia • i^ a ^ i , ,, , , ,p £1- lO.v. in Day Schools, make the schools self-sup- ' porting £52 in Boarding Schools. Estimated capital required ... f^lOO per boyin Boarding Schools 124 County Education. Assuming 1,200,000 as population of average division, there would be required — £24,000 capital for Day Schools. £120,000 ,, „ Boarding Schools. £144,000 capital per division for first-grade schools for Boys. D.' — Provincial Educational Councils. Connect these first-grade schools directly with the Universities through a provincial or- ganization and "county colleges ;" and as soon and as far as possible extend the whole system to girls ; and expect that the endow- ments, no longer obstructing, will combine and co-operate w4th commercial enterprise. Having distributed the third-grade schools through unions, the second-grade through counties, and the first-grade through divisions of three or more counties, let a provincial educational council be established in Cam- bridge, Oxford, London, and a Northern centre, with subordinate and corresponding councils in the divisions, counties, and unions. If the system were in full work, according to the previous calculations, an annual fee of 105. per head from first-grade scholars, of 6^. Summary. Vlh from second-grade, and of 4s. from third-grade, would provide for secretaries and office -work above 3000/. for each provincial comicil, 8i0?. for each division, 5G0/. for each county, and 30/. for each union. E. — University Centres. From each University centre let a complete series of local examinations traverse the country, each with a senior, junior, and preliminary division. It might be expected that first- grade schools should as a rule present all their bovs for examination, perhaps In the proportion of a third in each division. Again, the second-grade schools might present half their boys in the junior division, with perhaps a sixth both in the senior and the preliminary. Lastly, the third-grade schools should be able to present not less than a third In the prelimi- nary and a sixth in the junior. If the respective fees were fixed at 1/. for the senior, 10,9. for the junior, and 5.s'. for the preliminary, the result would be that the first- grade schools In a province would contribute 4500/., the second grade 11,000/., and the 126 County Education. third grade 2000/., or altogether 17,500?. to to the cost of local exammations. And if from the ordinary charges for tuition there were reserved for the purpose of examination and supervision 11. in the first grade, 125. in the second, and 5.s. in the third on all the scholars, there would result beyond the local examination fees more than 10,000/. for inspection and supervision, of which 2500/. would apply to the first grade, 3500/. to the second, and 4000/. to the third. In addition to the educational office, and local examination, let each University centre have its " county college,'' or training college for schoolmasters. Estimating the number of boys of all grades in the schools of an average province above the elementary at 56,000, and allowing on an average 35 masters to 1000 boys, there would be about 2000 masters employed and an annual issue of 100 masters would be readily absorbed. The average salary of these 2000 masters (allowing 900/., 540/., and 225/. for teaching salaries per 100 boys in the three grades respectively) would be about 125/. Allowing 35 boys to a master in the third grade, 26 in the second, and 20 in the first, there would be Summary. 127 about 700 third grade, 950 second, and 350 first- grade masters employed in the province. The average saharies of the third-grade masters would be 80?., of the second 140/., and of the first 180?., the head-mastership ranging from 200?. to 1200?. With proper promotion through the three grades, and where qualified to the higher public schools, these average salaries would command the services of able and high-toned men. F. — Combined School Funds, In order to make the local endowments as efficient as possible without interfering capri- ciously with the intention of the founders, their capital might be combined into School Funds, and a net income equivalent to that at present enjoyed guaranteed to them. It ap- pears that the net income of the middle-class endowed schools in the counties, which would form an eastern province, is 45,000?. This is about the same amount as would be yielded by a half-penny rate on the rental of the province. The capital of these endowments, estimated at thirty years' purchase of the net 128 Coiiyity Education. income, would be 1,350,000?., or three-foiivtlis of the whole capital that would be required if IO5. per head of the population should prove to be a sufficient estimate of the requisite capital. If, therefore, the Endowed Schools Commission were authorised to combine the capital of the endowments, and to distribute the schools through unions and counties so as to cover the ground without unnecessary competition, three-fourths of the whole capital might at once be forthcoming, and it may be assumed that the schools actually built and equipped, together with the proprietary capital that would be attracted by a 5 per cent, dividend, would, combined with this endowed capital, provide immediately all the school accommodation required, not only for boys but for girls. And the only public charge incurred would be a ratable guarantee not exceeding a half-penny in the pound, whenever the schools of a union, a county, or a division, might fail to yield the income now enjoyed by the endowments. It should be noticed that the endowed schools of the eastern province, with this net income of 45,000/., Avere, at the time of the Schools Inquiry Report, educating X « a -M n — 1^ c ^ 1- X o ^» r t^r — -- — -^ o X o c: — o r? -t" tt* rj ■-? ■^^ ».? — r. o< o 2? a c; :^ :c 3D o o o^ »-"? '^ =C -TJ"* X "^ CC — . "t — „ '0 t.0 X O > ^^, i--^^ct VtT -t^ w ri C5 :2 o o 1^ -f ^» O CO *-i Ci b- LO t- — rH C: — ■ n o cc — -X -ft- "■: cc Tf r- o ^ Ol ^•X'Z C 01 cf o c*i=^.-n-'-v'-.-i- t^ o f-i Ci c: !.■:• o ■M 1- -M -r cf o t-t C^ to -* CO -!}• of'W CO^iS" cc o' -o' co' cT CO CD CD f— ( 05 r-f T^i l-H ^ CO ^ OJ X ^ I—I ::i -f -HOO - ^-^ to t^i-* Ci rH O' CO -t -+* C5 -^ r^ t^ , -^ -,. ^ CS C: o ,— 1^ ^ o cc n 1^ t^ C: Ci r^ CD t- r:> i^ -* r^ ;c r^ fH r* ^ CO t- TT « cc »0 CO X X *■ C^ I— T cT co'cs sT CO >> o — o :o i-T- W C^ i-( O O X ^ o -+- Ct CO t^ n ~ CD t:T 1^ O X r» err ^ C^ »o o CO 1— 1 'N o: CO ? Q t-T ^ v.-^ :o r^ L-;: t^ -M c^ rH o CO c^ -r 1^ c; c: 1'^ rf rf (m' oI r^' ?"' ^ o -^ r: ^.^ifi t- -^ o Ci :o Cs to o r^ ^- o T? r- o -+< X c^ :c cc o 3i t-. ■M Tti i-( C^ CO 00 i-O ^ "^ 1- X Ci •c .:^ s^ rj 00 1—1 1— 1 CO r^ -* 3^ X X CO X — < o of p; . ct ■^^ -H ^. T*H -t* L-r c:; CO -^ r: u* CO w rr _< 01 -f c ^ X »-( S^ rH CD X LO ?D Izi^S rH K .7 -,. -^ -/: = cc CO <,* -^ ^. -^ ^ i-O c: — < CO -T" CO LO CO :i — ' Ci :£ 71 o -* r^ X r» -*i ■^^ -f -t- -r CO C O CO 5 =s X n w CC 1^ X) cr. *. t- ^ -^ ^ rf cc 00 t"-_ Ol X^"*" 0^ ^ S»? CC => — ' LT -o ^M O I- o» ..o ^ CO CO iCoi x" cf g g 1 P4 ■* raco ?« C< 1— 1 i-H rH rl 1-5" -<^ CO-* o^ . • = ::•:: : : : « •M w . - . Q : : . : : > fi :::::: Q :.: •? Tf 1* -f«^ 1 ^" X CO o o • = ^ ■ = M « *^ c u : : : o c (id cd ji r -s .a "3 f- tj s a o t- s .S O o o 3 O ^ S 05 3 *1> O 3 00 a o rH ^ a H M Summary. 129 only 8867 boys in all out of the presumed 56,000; only 2158 boarders out of 17,500; and only 6716 day boys out of 38,500. I believe I may add that the average payment of the parents in these schools for tuition, m addition to the income of the endowments^ was much higher than that which I have estimated as ample to remunerate fairly the masters in a well-combined system. I have now, in conclusion, only to ask a temperate consideration of these suggestions. I am afraid I shall not escape hostile criticism, and I anticipate the charges that will be made. To some my proposals will seem too large, to others too mean. They will be called extravagantly comprehensive, and at the same time parsimo- niously moderate. It will, however, I hope, be acknowledged that if there had been left any great gaps in the outline, these proposals would not be worth much as the sketch of a system ; but such they are intended to be. Nor will it, I trust, be overlooked that if I had not in detail sought to make them correspond with real resources, actual wants, and attainable supply, they would have deserved only to be ranked among the many well-intended, but 9 130 County Education. tiresome and useless contributions, with which the subject of education seems of all others beset. I have to express my thanks to Messrs. Giles and Gough for allowing me to illustrate my pages by the plans which they have prepared for the Norfolk School, the Cambridge College, and for a suggested third-grade school. The first of these is no longer a plan ; and I must hope that as satisfactory an execution of the others will further show how suggestions and estimates may lead to permanent works and to institutions that will long outlive the original sketches. BICKERS & SON'S LIST OF THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK ISSUED DURING THE PRESENT CENTURY. Selected Pictures from the Galleries and Private Collections of Great Britain. A Series of 150 Engravings from the Best Works of the Best British Artists. Edited by S. C. Hall, Esq., F.S.A., &c. Limited to 350 impressions, viz. : 150 copies Artists' Proofs (half grand eagle size), 200 copies Proofs on India Paper (folio columliier). Aktists' Proofs, 4 vols, in portfolios, published at 100 guineas, offered at £31 10 Ditto 4 vols, in 2, half morocco elegant, gUt edges, offered at Ditto bound in 4 vols., half morocco, gUt edges „ Pboofs on India Paper, 4 vols, in portfolios, published at 50 guineas ....... offered at Ditto 4 vols, in 2, half morocco, gilt edges. offered at Ditto 4 vols, half morocco, gilt edges „ *^* The above may also be had elegantly bound in morocco, super elegant. Messrs. Bickees it SONS have the pleasure to announce that they are now in a position to offer this superb Work of Art at the above extraordinaiy low prices. In order to give some idea of the genuine value and rarity of this collection of Gems of Art, and of the enormous original cost of its production, it will be well to state here, that the impressions in the volumes now offered to the connoisseur were taken from the previously unwoi-tec! original plates, in their choicest and sharpest condition : and that, if the plates were now for the flrst time engraved expressly for these volumes, not a copy of the work could possibly he offered for less than One Hundred Guineas. Nor can it be said that their genuineness and superioritij are at all impaired by the fact that many, if not all, of these gems have appeared in the " Art-Jourual," since the Impressions in that artistic periodical were taken, not from the plates themselves, but from Electro- type copies. Tbis is a rare opportunity of securing a copy of this truly national work at a REMARKABLY LOW PRICE. £3G 10 £40 £21 £25 £28 Turner's Views. Oblong folio, half morocco gilt, £3 o«. A Series of Twenty-Four Engravings of Views in Lancashire and Yorkshire, from Original Paintings by J. M. W. Turner, R.A., and others. With dcscriptivo Letterpress. Mr. RuHKiN thus notices some of the fibove-mentioned seriex of Turinr's Drawings : — •»* " I do not know in what district of England, Turner Urst or longest studied, but the licenery whose influence I cau trace most detlnitcly, throughout his works, varied iift they are, ia that of Lancashire and Yorkshire. Of all his drawings, I think those of the Yorkshire series have the most heart in them, the most affectionate, simple, unwearied, serious Unishing of trutli. There is in them little seeking aftereffect, but a strong love of place; little cxhihition of the artisfs own powers or peculiarities, but intense appreciation of the; simillest local niinuliw • * • • * It is, I telieve, to those broad wooded steeps and swells of the Yorkshire downs that we in part owe the singular massivoness that prevails in Turners mountain drawing, uikI gives it one of its chief elements of grandeur." BICKERS % SON'S LIST OF BICKERS & SON'S Libra ry Editions of Stoddard Authors. 4 vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra. 31s. Gd. Shakespeare's Plays and Poems. Edited with a scrupulous revision of the text, but without Note or Comment, by Charles and Maby CowDEN Clarke, with an Introductory Essay and Copious Glossary. Ditto ditto calf extra, Ditto ditto morocco, gilt edges. *,* This splendid edition of Shakespeare's Works is copyright, having been carefully revised and amplified by Mr. and Mrs. Cowden Clarke. 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