BOUGHT WITH THE INCOM:^; 
 PROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 Henirg W, Sage 
 
 1891 
 
 Amps lyspp 
 
 00 
 
arV16462 
 
 Industrial education 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 
 3 1924 031 425 675 
 olin,anx 
 
Cornell University 
 Jbrary 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031425675 
 
THE EDUCATION 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 
 
EDUCATION LIBRARY, 
 
 Edited by SIR PHILIP MAGNUS. 
 
 I 
 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HtSTORY OF 
 EDUCATIONAL THEORIES. By OscXS Browning, 
 M.A. Second Edition. 3^. td. 
 
 II 
 
 OLD GREEK EDUCATION. By the Rev. Prof. 
 
 Mahaffy, M.A. Second Edition. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Ill 
 SCHOOL MANAGEMENT; including a General 
 View of the Work of Education. By Joseph Landon. 
 Sixth Edition. 6s. 
 
 London : KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO. 
 I Paternoster Square. 
 
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION 
 
 Sir PHILIP MAGNUS 
 
 .MEMBER OF THE LATE ROYAL COMMISSION ON TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION 
 AUTHOR OF * LESSONS IN ELEMENTARY MECHANICS ' ETC. 
 
 LO'NDON 
 KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO., i PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 1888 
 
( Tlie rights of translation and of reproauction arc reserved) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The following Chapters contain the subject-matter 
 of Articles and Addresses which have been written 
 and delivered on different occasions during the peist 
 six years. Some of them have already appeared in 
 the pages of the ' Contemporary Review ' and of other 
 publications. All of them, excepting the ' Inaugural 
 Address at the opening of the Finsbury Technical 
 College,' have been carefully revised and in part 
 rewritten. They are now offered as a contribution 
 to the study of the important problem : How to train 
 our industrial population, so as to best fit them to 
 engage in technical and commercial pursuits. 
 
 P. M. 
 Athex^um Club : October 25, 1888. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 >■ -CHAPTER l.AOE 
 
 I. Education in Relation to the Needs of Life i 
 
 II. Technical Education — its Aim and Scope . . 20 
 
 III. Mercantile Training — Schools of Commerce . 45 
 
 IV. Technical Instruction in Elementary Schools 109 
 
 V. The Organisation of Higher Elementary or 
 
 Middle Trade Schools . . . .167 
 
 VI. A Foreign Instance of School System — Educa- 
 tion IN Bavaria .... .192 
 
 VII. The Finsbury Technical College— Inaugural 
 
 Address . .231 
 
 INDEX . .269 
 
INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EDUCATION IN RELATION TO THE NEEDS OF LIFE. 
 
 The problem of industrial education is that of adapt- 
 ing education to the practical needs of life. These 
 needs are various, and the term industrial education 
 is employed with reference to the general and special 
 training which is best adapted to that overwhelmingly 
 large proportion of evbry community who are em- 
 ployed directly or indirectly in the production and 
 distribution of saleable commodities. Such -persons 
 may be employed in agriculture, in engineering, in 
 building, or in any other branch of constructive work, 
 such as cabinet-making ; in designing ; in mercantile 
 or banking business. The question, which of late years 
 has been from different points of view very fully dis- 
 cussed, is, what relation, if any, should subsist between 
 school teaching and the work of life ? 
 
 It is usual to distinguish between the education 
 that is preliminary to what, for want of a better term, 
 y^ B 
 
2 Industrial Education 
 
 *may be called apprenticeship, and that which is 
 carried on pari passu with the learning of a trade, or 
 with specific reference to some industrial occupation. 
 The former is the education given in our ordinary 
 elementary and higher schools ; the latter may be 
 called ' professional instruction,' and is obtained in 
 special schools and institutions. When people speak 
 of ' technical education,' they generally mean special- 
 ised instruction ; but the demand for technical edu- 
 cation has made us carefully consider whether the 
 instruction given in our ordinary schools is the best 
 preparation for it. And the consideration of this 
 question suggests a previous one, whether it is neces- 
 sary or desirable that the concerns of practical life 
 should cast their shadow behind them, and influence 
 the education given in ordinary schools. There are 
 many persons who doubt the necessity of establishing 
 any relation between school education and the 
 practical business of life. They tell us that ' edu- 
 cation ' is a word derived from educo, and means a 
 'drawing out' of the faculties. It is training and 
 nothing more. In the gymnasium a man does not 
 exercise his muscles with the view to their use in 
 boating, cricket, shooting, boxing, or riding, but for 
 the development of his physical strength, confident 
 that by such exercise he will be able to apply his 
 powefs to any purposes for which they may be 
 required. In the same way, it is contended that 
 mental training should consist of the development of 
 
Education in Relation to the Needs of Life 3 
 
 the mental faculties, of observation, memory, and 
 reasoning, and that the knowledge acquired is of 
 secondary importance ; and, further, that the instru- 
 ments employed in the processes of education are 
 as indifferent, or nearly so, as are those used in the 
 gymnasium. 
 
 There is much to be said in favour of the view 
 that education is the development of the human 
 faculties, and that its object should be to enable us 
 to observe accurately, to recall easily and vividly, 
 to present to our minds facts and circumstances 
 realised or imagined, and to reason correctly. 
 
 If education did no more for us than this it would 
 do much ; and, in order that it might do this, many of 
 our present methods of instruction would need to be 
 greatly modified, if not entirely changed. But those 
 who advocate this theory, and act upon it, are not 
 altogether consistent. They avail themselves of it in 
 so far as it helps to defend the common educational 
 practice of studying comparatively useless subjects, 
 but they are constantly making concessions, small 
 and insignificant it is true, to the other theory, that 
 education should develop our faculties with the view 
 of enabling us to discharge the varied duties of life. 
 There are certain studies, commonly pursued in 
 schools, which have long since lost the practical use 
 they at one time possessed ; and it is pleaded, in jus- 
 tification of the retention of them, that although not 
 necessarily useful in the sense of being applicable to 
 
4 Industrial Education 
 
 the needs of life, they have a high disciplinary value 
 as exercises for the mind, and as a means of develop- 
 ing and training the intellect. This is now the main 
 argument in favour of retaining the study of the 
 classical languages and of Euclid in nearly all our 
 schools. 
 
 It is not contended that a knowledge of the 
 classics is likely to be of sufficient advantage to the 
 pupils to justify the hours devoted to the study ; or 
 that such knowledge is likely to be of any real use in 
 enabling them to discharge their duties in the various 
 occupations in which they will be subsequently en- 
 gaged. The establishment of a relation between the 
 teaching of the school and the practical work of life 
 is considered neither necessary nor even desirable by 
 those who regard the end of education as develop- 
 ment only. I have said that the advocates of what I 
 may call the •■ gymnastic ' theory are not consistent 
 The pressure of public opinion prevents them from 
 being so. If we look through the subjects of instruc- 
 tion in any one of our schools we shall find that the 
 curriculum is a compromise between what may be 
 called the disciplinary and the useful studies, between 
 exercises that have an absolute and those which have a 
 relative value in the development of the faculties. For 
 some time past there has been a gradual intrusion oi 
 new subjects into the old course of study. The time 
 devoted to classics has been reduced to make room for 
 modern languages and science ; the study of Euclid has 
 
Disciplinary and Useful Studies 5 
 
 been supplemented by that of geometrical drawing; and 
 logic and rhetoric have given way to political economy 
 and hygiene. These changes have not been effected 
 without detriment to the value of classical and mathe- 
 matical studies as a means of culture. The pressure 
 from without and the demands of parents have in- 
 duced school authorities to overcrowd their curriculum, 
 with the result that few if any subjects are well 
 taught, the pupil too often retaining nothing more than 
 a smattering of knowledge, and undergoing a very 
 imperfect mental training. The curriculum of studies 
 pursued in the majority of our secondary schools is the 
 result of a struggle between the ideas of the Middle 
 Ages and of modern times. Those who strongly advo- 
 cate the retention of the classics, as the backbone of 
 secondary education, seem to be unmindful of the 
 fact, that these languages were originally taught, not 
 so much for the sake of the mental discipline they 
 afforded, as for their practical usefulness to those who 
 were intended to enter the Church, and to enable 
 the upper classes, who at that time were the only 
 educated classes, to read the literatures of Greece and 
 Rome, and to communicate with learned men in all 
 parts of the world. The apparent uselessness of the 
 exercise of Latin verse-making and of Latin com- 
 position is - now defended on the ground, that the 
 exercise is valuable as a discipline, and as affording 
 the key to a knowledge of English and of other 
 modern languages ; and until recently parents were 
 
6 Industrial Education 
 
 not only discouraged from questioning the utility of 
 such studies, but the inquiry was regarded as indicat- 
 ing a want of culture on the part of the questioner. 
 
 The study of the history of education shows that, 
 until very recent times, there has always existed a 
 relationship between education and the life interests 
 of man. It is very true that the order in which these 
 interests were regarded has greatly varied, and this 
 fact indicates the importance of considering the edu- 
 cational system of any past period, or indeed of any 
 foreign country, in connection with the activities, the 
 practical needs, and the life interests of the people. 
 
 In ancient times, the development of trade and 
 commerce was seldom if ever regarded as a national 
 concern. Among the Jews, the building up of religious 
 literature and the maintenance of religious rites were 
 the chief objects of national concern. The cultiva- 
 tion of a sense of justice, with the view to the training 
 of citizens and statesmen, occupied a similar place 
 in the thoughts of the Greeks and Romans. The 
 advancement of the Church was a matter of general 
 interest among the cultured classes in mediaeval 
 Europe, and in varying degree, considerable im- 
 portance was attached to individual strength and 
 prowess. Education, therefore, in ancient times 
 was mainly ethical, religious, and physical. More- 
 over, productive industry was in those days in 
 the hands of artificers, who constituted a lower and 
 in nearly all cases an illiterate class of the popu- 
 
Education in Olden Times 7 
 
 lation ; and trade and commerce consisted of a system 
 of barter in which each party was supposed to try 
 to overreach the other, the practice of which was 
 opposed to the ethical idea, and was consequently 
 regarded as an unfitting occupation for the educated 
 few. In Greece and Rome, practical pursuits were 
 but little esteemed, and had little or no relation to 
 the education of the people. Nevertheless, strange 
 as it may appear, Mr. Payne is right in saying, that 
 the prevailing type of education during the whole of 
 the historic period was ' technical or professional, its 
 purpose being to equip men for service as agents or 
 instruments.' ' 
 
 If we examine this proposition a little more 
 closely, we shall see, that not only has there always 
 existed a close connection between the education and 
 the national interests of the people, but that the 
 methods of instruction had a direct bearing upon the 
 aims and objects of the education afforded. 
 
 To go back to one of the apparently most 
 abstract systems of education — to the views of Plato, 
 as set forth in the ' Republic,' we find that the object 
 of education was to draw up from the region of 
 shadows into the daylight of realities men of superior 
 natural aptitude. To train the intellect to the con- 
 templation of realities, and not the senses to the 
 observation of things, was the aim to which, we are 
 told, education should be directed. The practical use 
 
 ' Contributions to the Science of Education, p. 196. W. H. Payne. 
 
8 Industrial Education 
 
 of any study was its least important recommendation. 
 Aritiimetic, for example, should be studied not for 
 purposes of traffic, for which indeed it is useful, but 
 as a discipline to conduct man to the contemplation 
 of number in the abstract, and to the intelligible, 
 indivisible unit, the unum per se. Geometry, like 
 arithmetic, yields useful results in practice, but it is 
 a mistake to teach it for the sake of its usefulness. 
 ' Its real value is in conducing to knowledge and to 
 elevated contemplations of the mind.' Perhaps the 
 contrast between Plato's views and modern methods 
 of instruction is nowhere more forcibly presented 
 than in the statement : ' We cannot learn truth by 
 pbservation of phenomena constantly fluctuating and 
 Varying. We must study astronomy as we do 
 geometry, not by observation, but by mathematical 
 theorems and hypotheses, which is a far more 
 arduous task than astronomy as taught at present. 
 Only in this way can it be made available to im- 
 prove and strengthen the intellectual organ of the 
 mind.' ' 
 
 Here we have apparently an uncompromising 
 statement of the absolutely disciplinary view of 
 education : and yet it is not so ; for education, as 
 understood by Plato, was a special training, the 
 object of which was to enable the superior mortals 
 who received it better to discharge the several duties 
 assigned to them in the scheme of his Republic ; and 
 ' Plato, Republic, vii., quoted by Grote, vol. iii. p. lOO. 
 
Education according to Plato g 
 
 in this sense it was ' professional,' and had relation 
 to the activities of life. But the passages I have 
 quoted are interesting as showing that arithmetic, 
 geometry and astronomy were generally taught with 
 the view of their application to practical pursuits — a 
 method of instruction against which Plato protests, 
 as being suitable enough for ordinary purposes, but 
 as not leading to the acquisition of the highest know- 
 ledge, on which conduct and judgment must ulti- 
 mately depend. 
 
 Here we see, even in the system of education,' 
 which is possibly the least practical that was ever 
 elaborated, that the idea underlying it was not merely 
 the development of the faculties, but the training of 
 the mind with the view to its conducing to a man's 
 conception of the highest good, and to his ability to 
 discharge the highest functions of the State. In this 
 scheme, opposed as it may seem to the utilitarian 
 view, the writer places before him a distinct aim and 
 object to which education should be devoted, and one 
 which has reference to the higher interests of the 
 State ; and to this extent Plato's system compares 
 favourably with the aimless characters of our present 
 educational methods. 
 
 ' ' After going through all these different studies the student will have 
 his mind elevated so as to perceive the affinity of method and principle 
 which pervades them all. . . . He will acquire that dialectical dis- 
 cursive power, which deals exclusively with these intelligible forms, 
 carrying on ratiocination by means of them only, with no reference to 
 sensible objects.' — Grote's P/aio. 
 
lo Industrial Education 
 
 In ancient Rome, the object of education was very 
 different from that set forth in Plato's Republic. Its 
 end was to train an accomplished orator. Oratory- 
 was an art to the practice of which nearly all learning 
 was subservient. What constituted education at the 
 opening of the Christian era is learned from Quintilian, 
 whose well-known work on the subject deals almost en- 
 tirely with the education of the orator, and concludes 
 with a detailed account of the necessary requirements 
 for the professional training of the public speaker. 
 
 In the Middle Ages we find, that the only really 
 educated classes of the community were members of 
 the Church, and that many of those who looked for 
 preferment in the State received their early education 
 as Churchmen. 'The study of the Scriptures them- 
 selves, and of such of the fathers as could be got 
 (or extracts from them), was the governing subject 
 in the whole scholastic system. Every study was 
 esteemed by its bearing on the Bible, and limited by 
 the views of the theologians.' ' In these schools Latin, 
 and to a less extent Greek, were the chief subjects of 
 instruction, and the attention of the principal educa- 
 tional writers of the times was devoted to the 
 consideration of the methods of acquiring most ex- 
 peditiously a knowledge of the Latin language. 
 Ascham's well-known work deals largely with this 
 subject. The Jesuits were particularly successful in 
 their method of teaching the Latin language, the study 
 
 ' Rise and Constitution oj the Universities, Laurie, p. 63. 
 
Why Latin was taught 1 1 
 
 of which was begun very early ; although, according 
 to Mr. Oscar Browning, 'they taught classics not 
 because they were the best means of training the 
 intellect, but because they were fashionable.' ' 
 
 Many of our present criticisms are only an echo 
 of those heard nearly 300 years ago. Comenius 
 frequently complains that ' youth was delayed with 
 grammar precepts infinitely tedious ; ' and he pro- 
 poses a more practical method of familiarising chil- 
 dren with the Latin tongue. But what I particularly 
 wish to point out is that the importance which all 
 these educational authorities attached to a knowledge 
 of Latin was owing to its usefulness in the life-work of 
 all educated men of the times. The impetus which 
 the Reformation gave to education, by exalting to a 
 duty the ability to read and understand the Scriptures, 
 left the means and methods of instruction very much 
 where they were. But the complaints we now hear 
 of the too exclusive study of the Latin language 
 recall similar complaints which were heard when 
 Latin was far more practically useful than it is at 
 present. A writer of the sixteenth century tells us, 
 'We are in bondage to Latin. The Greeks and 
 Saracens would never have done so much for pos^ 
 terity if they had spent their youth in acquiring a 
 foreign tongue.' And Locke well says : ' Can there 
 be anything more ridiculous than that a father should 
 waste his own money and his son's time in setting him 
 ' Educational Theories, p. 125. 
 
1 2 Industrial Education 
 
 to learn the Roman language, when at the same time 
 he designs him for a trade wherein he, having no use 
 for Latin, fails not to forget that little which 'tis 
 ten to one he abhors for the ill-usage it procured 
 himP'i 
 
 Whilst the Church and the Law continued to be 
 the two learned professions, the classical languages 
 remained the chief instruments of a gentleman's 
 education ; and the ascendency of the Church over 
 education gave to these languages a constantly in- 
 creasing importance in the school curriculum. The 
 influence of individual reformers availed very little. 
 The advantage of teaching through the medium of 
 things rather than of words was early seen, but no 
 new instrument of education had as yet been forged. 
 Experimental science was still in its infancy, and 
 no one then thought of making it a subject of school 
 instruction. 
 
 Speaking of natural philosophy, Locke says, 
 ' Perhaps I may think I have reason to say we never 
 shall be able to make a science of it. The works of 
 nature are contrived by a wisdom and operate by 
 ways too far surpassing our faculties to discover, or 
 capacities to conceive, for us ever to be able to reduce 
 them to science.' Even Rousseau, who strikes the 
 key-note of technical education in his ' Emile,' pro- 
 duced in England very little effect, and his strong 
 denunciation of book- knowledge, as compared with 
 ' Locke on Education, Quick's edition, p. 138. 
 
Things versus Words 13 
 
 original observation and experience, did very little 
 to alter the common methods of instruction. The 
 education which Rousseau advocated was distinctly 
 in advance of his times. The professions did not 
 then exist for which a thoroughly realistic education 
 was necessary, and his advice to- people to study 
 nature and things was unheeded because the road to 
 fame and position still lay in the study of books and 
 of words. Rousseau was right ; and we are now 
 following his counsel in pointing out that the true 
 development of the faculties consists in bringing them 
 into direct relationship with the external world. Un- 
 consciously, he unveiled by anticipation the whole 
 method of technical instruction in the well-known 
 words, ' mesurez, comptez, pesez, comparez.' But 
 not only was he crying in a wilderness, but the system 
 of education he advocated was out of relation with 
 the occupations with which the majority of educated 
 people were then engaged. Herbert Spencer, who in 
 many instances improved upon Rousseau's precepts, 
 tells us, that to prepare us for complete living is the 
 function that education has to discharge ; and that 
 to do so, it must have reference to the activities in 
 which we are to be engaged, and therefore to the 
 life-interests of the individual. 
 
 It is interesting to note, as bearing upon a vexed 
 educational question, which is being much discussed 
 in Germany, but which we are gradually solving in a 
 practical way, that the universities were originally. 
 
1 4 Industrial Education 
 
 or soon after their foundation, specialised or profes- 
 sional schools. It was a characteristic of a university, 
 as distinguished from a mere Arts school, that it 
 should teach law, medicine, and theology. Professor 
 Laurie dwells upon this point in his little book on 
 the 'Rise and Constitution of Universities;' and, 
 after showing how the University of Salerno was at 
 first a school for teaching medicine, and that of 
 Bologna a school of law, he tells us, that ' not only 
 were the infant universities specialised schools, but 
 their primary purpose, as indeed manifestly follows 
 from their specialisation, was a " professional " one. 
 They had practical ends : their aim was to minister 
 to the immediate needs of society.' ' The new faculty 
 to which the present needs of society have given rise 
 is that of 'engineering' in the widest signification 
 of the term ; and the history of university education, 
 and its development in England and in other countries, 
 clearly point to the inclusion of this domain of know- 
 ledge among the faculties of a modern university. 
 
 Now I have tried to show, by reference to passages 
 in the history of education, that a relationship has 
 been recognised, as subsisting in past times, between 
 education and the practical needs of life. I have, also, 
 indicated some of the causes which have, so to speak, 
 fossilised the education of this country, leaving us a 
 system altogether out of harmony with the changed 
 interests and requirements of the people. What 
 ' Laurie, p. log. 
 
The New Departure in Education 1 5 
 
 served its purpose well enough two or three centuries 
 ago has been made to do duty in the present day, 
 when the practical needs of the people are to a great 
 extent new, and the number of professions or occu- 
 pations, which demand advanced scientific knowledge 
 and high intellectual training on the part of those 
 who pursue them, has largely increased. 
 
 The necessity for a new departure in education is 
 due to circumstances which have affected the con- 
 ditions under which trade and commerce are now 
 carried on. To these circumstances, reference will be 
 made in subsequent chapters. They are mainly the 
 result of the alteration in the methods of production, 
 consequent on the use of labour-saving machinery, 
 and to the changed conditions, imder which the 
 commerce of the world is pursued, consequent on 
 improved facilities of locomotion and of verbal com- 
 munication. Nearly all the differences that dis- 
 tinguish productive industry and mercantile business 
 as pursued to-day and a century ago are referable to 
 these two causes. The arts of both production and 
 distribution have become more scientific, and de- 
 pendent to a greater extent upon acquired knowledge 
 and skill than upon unaided native intelligence. One 
 feature of these changed conditions is, that the 
 knowledge and, in some cases, the skill, which are 
 now needed for industrial purposes, can no longer be 
 adequately obtained in the actual practice of a trade, 
 but require, as in the cases of law and medicine, a 
 
1 6 Indusirial Education 
 
 preliminary training or specialised school instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 It follows, therefore, if education is to have any 
 relation to the needs of life, that the nature of these 
 new needs must be considered in determining the kind 
 of instruction to be given in our schools ; and this is 
 what the advocates of technical education have been 
 urging during the last ten years and more. Those 
 who have seen how aimless is much of the instruc- 
 tion of our elementary and higher schools, and how 
 ill adapted it is as a preparation for the real work of 
 life, may appear to have been guilty of some exagge- 
 ration in representing the advantages of suitable 
 training for developing and improving our trade and 
 commerce. The cry for technical education, which has 
 been called ' a vague cry,' ' but which is daily growing 
 stronger and more definite, is mainly a demand that 
 the education which our children receive shall be such 
 as to fit them for the work in which they are likely to 
 be engaged, and that the subjects and methods of in- 
 struction adopted in our schools shall be determined 
 with a view to this end. Those who advocate technical 
 education do not regard the teaching of trades or the 
 acquisition of handicraft skill as its real object ; nor are 
 they desirous of stocking the minds of workmen with 
 mere technical information. Such information may 
 possibly be obtained from handbooks, in which the 
 results of the investigations of others are carefully 
 ' Lord Armstrong, Nineteenth Century, July i888. 
 
The Cry for Technical Education 17 
 
 tabulated and made available for all who can read 
 and understand. But it is important that the persons 
 who use such books shall be capable of applying 
 the information they derive from them ; and this is 
 the more necessary in the case of those who are 
 chosen to act as foremen, and whose duty ' requires 
 them,' as Lord Armstrong tells us," ' to work more 
 with their brains than with their hands.' The cry for 
 technical education is ' vague,' because it has a different 
 significance according to the source from which it 
 emanates. It means one thing to the workman and 
 another thing to the foreman, and, again, something 
 different to the manager or manufacturer. It is not 
 the same in reference to hand work as to machine 
 work, and it changes again when considered in con- 
 nection with scientific invention or artistic design. 
 Those who think of technical education in relation 
 to any single industry fail to understand the meaning 
 of the cry that is raised by those who are engaged 
 in other trades. Each knows where his own shoe 
 pinches, but has little sympathy with the complaints 
 of others. The present demand for technical educa- 
 tion, however, is real and earnest ; and how differently 
 soever it may be interpreted, it means that the educa- 
 tion that is to fit men for trade and commerce must 
 be practical and adapted to the needs of industrial 
 life, and that facilities for obtaining such an educa- 
 tion must be freely offered to the whole army of 
 persons, who are employed directly or indirectly in 
 
 C 
 
1 8 Industrial Education 
 
 producing and distributing the necessaries and luxuries 
 of life. We may talk vaguely about the aim of 
 education being the development of the faculties, the 
 training of the mental and physical organs ; but such 
 development and training must be effected by in- 
 struments and means appropriate to the end in view. 
 When I hear the' importance of mere training, with- 
 out reference to its object, unduly insisted upon by 
 educational theorists, I feel inclined to retort that, if 
 the sharpening of the wits be the sole end of educa- 
 tion, I know of few subjects which might with more 
 advantage be introduced into our schools, to stimulate 
 observation, and to develop the powers of rapidly 
 drawing inferences and of calculating probabilities, 
 than modern whist ; and yet the advocates of the 
 disciplinary theory are scarcely likely to recommend 
 that Cavendish shall take its place as a school text- 
 book by the side of Euclid and the Latin primer. 
 
 Useful knowledge is not altogether despicable ; 
 nor is it unimportant that mental training should be 
 effected by exercises that conduce to the acquisition 
 of serviceable information and of aptitudes of real 
 value in practical life. 
 
 In the future, we may expect that education will 
 be governed to a much greater extent thap hitherto 
 by the following principles : 
 
 I. In the selection of subjects of instruction, pre- 
 ference should be given to those subjects that are 
 likely to prove practically useful in the business of life. 
 
The New Education 19 
 
 2. These subjects should be so taught as to 
 develop to the fullest extent the sense organs and 
 the faculties of the mind. 
 
 It is for teachers to devise methods for making 
 what may be called useful studies yield the necessary 
 mental discipline. Almost any subject of instruction 
 may be made a liberal study if so taught as to bring 
 out the innate powers of the student's mind, to make 
 him observe and think, and desire to know all he can 
 concerning it. If instructors can be found capable 
 of so teaching the subjects of the ' New Curriculum,' 
 and likewise the principles of science in theiir appli- 
 cation to different trades, the problem of industrial 
 education, both as regards the general or preparatory, 
 and also the supplementary or professional training 
 of our artisans and of their employers, will be prac- 
 tically solved. 
 
20 Industrial Education 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 TECHNICAL EDUCATION — ITS AIM AND SCOPE.' 
 
 The special education, the object of which is to train 
 persons in the arts and sciences that underlie the 
 practice of some trade or profession, is technical edu- 
 cation, Schools in which this training is provided 
 are known as technical schools. In its widest sense 
 technical education embraces all kinds of instruction 
 that have direct reference to the career a person is 
 following or preparing to follow ; but it is usual and 
 convenient to restrict the term to the special training 
 which helps to qualify a person to engage in some 
 branch of productive industry. This education may 
 consist of the explanation of the processes concerned 
 in production, or of instruction in art or science in its 
 relation to industry, but it may also include the 
 acquisition of the manual skill which production 
 necessitates.^ The term 'technical,' as applied to 
 
 ' Reprinted, by permission of the publishers, with some additions 
 and alterations, from the Encyclopadia Britannica, 9th edition, vol.xxiii. 
 
 ' In the Technical Instruction Bill introduced into Parliament in 
 May 1888, technical instruction is defined as 'instruction in the 
 principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the appli- 
 
Technical Education — its Aim and Scope 2 1 
 
 education, arose from the necessity of finding a word 
 to indicate the particular kind of training which was 
 needed in consequence of the altered conditions of 
 production during the present century. Whilst the 
 changed conditions of production, consequent mainly 
 on the application of steam power to machinery, 
 demand a special training for those who are to be 
 engaged in productive industry, the prevalent system 
 of education has been found to be not so well adapted 
 as it should be to the requirements of these persons, 
 and schools are wanted in which the necessary 
 instruction can be obtained. Other circumstances, 
 resulting mainly from the application of steam power 
 to machinery, have rendered technical education 
 necessary. Production on a large scale has led to a 
 great extension of the principle of the division of 
 labour, in consequence of which it is found economical 
 to keep a man constantly engaged at the same kind 
 of work. Thus employed, the workman learns little 
 or nothing of the process of the manufacture at which 
 he assists, or of other departments of the work than 
 the particular one in which he is employed, and his 
 only opportunity of acquiring such knowledge is out- 
 side the workshop or factory, — in a technical school 
 The economy effected by the division of labour has 
 
 cation of special branches of science and art to specific industries and 
 employments.' This definition includes instruction in science, art, and 
 technology, but does not include ' manual instruction,' which is 
 separately defined, but which, under conditions which will be fully 
 considered later on, is a part of technical education. 
 
2 2 Industrial Education 
 
 led to the extension of the principle to other in- 
 dustries than those in which machinery is largely- 
 employed. There are many trades in which manual 
 skill is as necessary now as ever, but even in these 
 the methods of instruction prevailing under the system 
 of apprenticeship are now almost obsolete. 
 
 In many industries, including trades in which 
 machinery is not as yet extensively employed, pro- 
 duction on a large scale has increased the demand for 
 unskilled labour, numbers of hands being required to 
 prepare the work to be finished by a few artisans. 
 Rapidity of execution is attained by keeping a work- 
 man at the same work, which after a time he succeeds 
 in mechanically performing, and continues to do until 
 some machine is invented to take his place. In most 
 trades, as formerly practised, the master employed a 
 few apprentices who assisted him in his work, and 
 who learnt from him to understand the details of 
 their craft, so that, when the term of their apprentice- 
 ship was over, they were competent to practise as 
 journeymen. But now the master has neither time 
 nor opportunity to instruct young lads, and the old 
 relation of master and apprentice is changed into that 
 of capitalist and workman. In consequence of these 
 altered relations between employer and employed, 
 there is an acknowledged want of properly trained 
 workmen in a number of trades in which skilful hand- 
 work is still needed ; and in these trades a demand 
 has arisen for technical schools, or some other substi- 
 
The Objects of Technical Education 23 
 
 tute for apprenticeship, as a means of suitably train- 
 ing workmen and foremen. The ever-increasing 
 competition in production has led to the employment, 
 in many trades, of children to do work of a mechanical 
 kind requiring little skill ; but, whilst thus employed, 
 these young people have little opportunity of learning 
 those parts of their trade in which skill and special 
 knowledge are needed ; and when they are grown up, 
 and seek higher wages, they are dismissed to make 
 room for other children. Numbers of young men are 
 thus thrown upon the labour market, competent to do 
 nothing more than children's work, and to earn chil- 
 dren's wages, and knowing no trade to which they 
 can apply their hands. To remedy this, by creating 
 some substitute for the old apprenticeship, is one of 
 the objects of a system of technical education. 
 
 A complete system of technical education should 
 provide necessary instruction for the different classes 
 of persons engaged in productive industry. It is 
 usual to divide these persons into three classes : — (i) 
 Workmen or journeymen ; (2) foremen or overseers ; 
 (3) managers or masters. 
 
 The industries in which they are employed may be 
 grouped under four heads : — (i) Those involving the 
 use of extensive machinery, such as iron and steel 
 manufacture, machine making, the textile industries 
 and some of the chemical trades ; (2) those which 
 mainly require the use of hand tools, as cabinet- 
 making, brick-work, plumbing, and tailoring ; (3) those 
 
24 Industrial Education 
 
 depending on artistic skill, as wood and stone carving, 
 metal-chasing, decorative work, and industrial design- 
 ing generally ; (4) agriculture in all its branchesi 
 These industries will be referred to as manufactures, 
 handicrafts, art industries, and agriculture. The fore- 
 going classification comprises groups which neces- 
 sarily, to some extent, overlap one another. Every 
 factory contains a carpenter's and smith's shop, and 
 handicraftsmen of group (2) are required in every 
 manufacturing concern. Whilst the industries in 
 which hand labour is exclusively employed are 
 becoming fewer and fewer, there are many trades 
 which, owing to the frequent invention of labour- 
 saving appliances, are passing gradually from the class 
 of handicrafts to that of manufactures. In these 
 trades, of which watch and clock making and boot 
 and shoe making may be taken as examples, there is 
 still a demand for goods largely if not entirely pro- 
 duced by hand work. In such trades, owing to the 
 absence of facilities for instruction in the ordinary 
 shops, there is a want of skilled hand labour, which 
 there is an increasing difficulty in satisfying ; and to 
 supply this want technical schools of different kinds 
 have been established. Then, again, there are many 
 branches of manufacturing industry which greatly 
 depend for their success upon the designer's art, and it 
 is necessary that the industrial designer should possess 
 a knowledge of the processes of the manufacture in 
 which his designs will be utilised, as well as of the 
 
The Objects of Technical Education 2 5 
 
 properties and capabilities of the material to which 
 they will be applied. Indeed, it is the possession of 
 this knowledge which mainly distinguishes the in- 
 dustrial designer from the ordinary artist. To 
 determine the best training for such designers is one 
 of the problems of technical education. There are 
 many trades, too, in which the handicraftsman and 
 the designer should be united. This is the case in 
 such industries as wood-engraving, metal-chasing, and 
 silversmith's work. In these and other trades the 
 true artisan is the artist and handicraftsman combined. 
 In order to reconcile some of the different views 
 which are held as to the objects of technical educa- 
 tion, it is necessary to keep in mind the broad dis- 
 tinction, above referred to, between the conditions of 
 production on a large scale, as in those industries in 
 which goods are manufactured by the use of exten- 
 sive labour-saving machinery, and in those trades in 
 which hand work is chiefly employed. Much of the 
 diversity of opinion regarding the objects of technical 
 education is due to the difference of standpoint from 
 which the problem is regarded. The volume of the 
 trade and commerce of Britain depends mainly on the 
 progress of its manufacturing industries. It is these 
 which chiefly affect the exports and imports. The 
 aim of manufacturers is to produce cheaper and better 
 goods than can be produced by other manufacturers 
 at home or abroad ; and technical education is valuable 
 to them in so far as it enables them to do so. But 
 
2 6 Industrial Education 
 
 the artisan engaged in hand industries looks to 
 technical education for the means by which he may- 
 acquire a knowledge of the principles of his trade, 
 which the absence of the system of apprenticeship 
 prevents him from acquiring in the shop. Hence, the 
 artisan and the manufacturer approach the considera- 
 tion of the question from different sides. To the 
 spinner or weaver who almost exclusively employs 
 women to tend his machinery, or to the manufactur- 
 ing chemist whose workpeople are little more than 
 labourers employed in carrying to and fro materials, 
 knowing little or nothing of the scientific principles 
 underlying the complicated processes in which they 
 are engaged, the technical education of the work- 
 people may seem to be a matter of little moment. 
 What such manufacturers require are the services of 
 a few skilled engineers, artistic designers, or scientific 
 chemists. From the manufacturer's point of view, 
 therefore, technical instruction is not so much needed 
 for the hands he employs in his work as for the heads 
 that direct it. But in trades in which machinery 
 plays a subsidiary part, technical teaching takes the 
 place of that instruction which, in former times, the 
 master gave to his apprentice, and the workman looks 
 to it to supply him with the knowledge of the prin- 
 ciples and practice of his trade, on the acquisition of 
 which his individual success greatly depends. In the 
 former class of industries, technical education is 
 needed mainly for the training of managers ; in the 
 
' Heads ' and ' Hands ' 27 
 
 latter, for the training of workmen. Hence has arisen 
 a double cry — for the teaching of art and of the 
 higher branches of science, with a view to their ap- 
 plication to manufacturing industry, and for the 
 teaching of trades, and of the scientific facts which 
 help to explain the processes and methods connected 
 with the practice of these trades. This double cry 
 has led to the establishment of technical universities 
 and of trade schools. 
 
 Owing to the conditions under which manufactur- 
 ing industry is now carried on, it is difficult to select 
 competent foremen from the rank and file of the 
 workmen. The ordinary hands gain a very limited 
 and circumscribed acquaintance with the details of the 
 manufacture in which they are engaged, and have 
 little opportunity of acquiring that general knowledge 
 of various departments of work, and of the structure 
 of the machinery in use, which is essential to the 
 foreman or overseer. It is in evening technical classes 
 that this supplementary instruction, which it is the 
 workman's interest to acquire and the master's to 
 encourage, can be obtained. The history of invention 
 shows how frequently important improvements in 
 machinery are made by the workman or minder in 
 charge of it, and adds weight to the arguments 
 already adduced for giving technical instruction to 
 persons of all grades employed in manufacturing in- 
 dustry. To these advantages of technical education, 
 as affecting the workmen themselves as well as 
 
28 industrial Education 
 
 the progress of the industry in which they are 
 engaged, must be added the general improvement in 
 the character of the work produced, resulting from 
 the superior and better trained intelligence of those 
 who have had the benefit of such instruction. 
 
 Schools in which the course of instruction is not 
 specialised with a view to any particular industry, but 
 is so arranged as to form a general preparation for 
 manufacturing or other trade pursuits, are often spoken 
 of as professional, technical, or trade schools ; but such 
 schools must be distinguished from apprenticeship 
 schools, the object of which is to teach trades. Of the 
 former class of schools there are excellent examples 
 in the different countries of Europe as well as in 
 the United States, and some few have recently been 
 established in the United Kingdom. Of the latter 
 class the best examples are found in France and 
 Austria. 
 
 The study of such schools, and of the means of 
 providing fitting education for the different classes of 
 producers, may be simplified by a statement of the 
 following propositions : — 
 
 I. The ordinary education of all persons who are 
 likely to be engaged in productive industry should be 
 determined by the general requirements of their 
 future work. This proposition affects the curriculum 
 of all schools in which different classes of producers 
 are to be trained, i.e. of primary, secondary, and 
 higher schools, and involves the consideration of the 
 
Technical Education — General Principles 29 
 
 extent to which, in such schools, modern languages, 
 science, drawing, and manual instruction should take 
 the place of literary and classical studies. 
 
 2. Special schools or classes should be established 
 {a) for instruction in art, and in those sciences which 
 serve to explain the processes of productive industry, 
 including agriculture, manufactures, and engineering, 
 as well as in the application of art and science to 
 these departments of industry ; {V) for the teaching 
 of, and in certain cases for practice in, various handi- 
 crafts or trades. 
 
 3. The special schools should be adapted to the 
 requirements of the different grades of workers in 
 different localities, and to the different kinds of work 
 in which they are, or are likely to be, engaged. 
 
 A survey of the technical schools in foreign 
 countries shows. how these different requirements are 
 met. Owing to the complexity of the problem, a 
 complete or an ideal system of technical education 
 is nowhere to be found. Schools have been created 
 to meet local and present wants, and the greatest 
 variety exists in the attempts that have been made 
 to establish schools in accordance with the foregoing 
 propositions. 
 
 I. Workmen. — Many attempts have been made to 
 provide a substitute for apprenticeship, but hitherto 
 with no great success. Two classes of workpeople 
 have to be considered — (i) those engaged in manu- 
 facturing industries, and (2) those engaged in handi- 
 
30 Industrial Education 
 
 craft industries. The education of all classes of 
 workpeople begins in the public elementary schools ; 
 and, in view of the future occupation of the children, 
 it may be taken for granted that primary instruction 
 should be practical, and should include drawing and 
 elementary science, with some amount of manual 
 training for boys, and with needlework, cookery, and 
 domestic economy for girls. In nearly every country 
 of Europe, and in the United States, primary instruc- 
 tion includes drawing, in addition to reading, writing, 
 and reckoning. In England this is not yet the case, 
 drawing being taught in very few schools outside of the 
 jurisdiction of the .London School Board. In France, 
 Belgiuni, Holland, and Sweden handicraft instruction 
 is generally included in the curriculum of elementary 
 schools. Rudimentary science is also taught in nearly 
 all the primary schools of Europe. ' Modelling is 
 taught both to boys and girls in many Continental 
 schools ; and in Sweden ' slojd,' or elementary wood- 
 work, in which simple and useful articles are con- 
 structed with the fewest possible tools, is taught with 
 considerable success to children of both sexes. 
 
 In Germany and Switzerland, there exists an ex- 
 cellent system of evening continuation schools, known 
 as Fortbildungs- or Ergdnzungs-Schulen, in which the 
 instruction of the children who leave school before 
 fourteen, and of those who leave at that age, is con- 
 tinued. In England, an attempt is being made to 
 attract children to evening schools by means of 
 
Technical Education for Workmen 31 
 
 recreative classes. These classes are intended to 
 continue the child's general education, and to sup- 
 plement it by some amount of practical teaching 
 between the time that he leaves the elementary 
 school and is prepared to take advantage of evening 
 technical instruction. The training of most work- 
 people, and of nearly all those who are engaged in 
 manufacturing industry, consists of — (i) primary 
 teaching in elementary schools ; (2) practice in the 
 factory or shop ; (3) evening technical instruction. 
 
 Evening classes in all the principal towns through- 
 out Europe have been established for teaching 
 drawing, painting, and designing, and the elements of 
 science in their application to special industries. On 
 the Continent these classes are mainly supported by 
 the municipalities, by the chambers of commerce, by 
 industrial or trade societies, by county boards, and in 
 some cases by the fees of the pupils. They receive 
 little or no support from the State. They are well 
 attended by workpeople of all grades, who are en- 
 couraged by their employers to profit by these 
 opportunities of instruction. In England evening 
 technical instruction is more systematically organised 
 than in any other country. It is under the direction 
 of the committee of the council of education known 
 as the Science and Art Department, assisted by the 
 City and Guilds of London Institute for the advance- 
 ment of technical education, an institute founded 
 and supported by the Corporation and by several of 
 
3 2 Industrial Education 
 
 the livery companies of London. The Department 
 encourages instruction in pure science and in art ; the 
 Institute, in the application of science, and to some 
 extent of art also, to different trades. 
 
 Certificates are awarded and grants are made 
 on behalf of properly registered teachers on the re- 
 sults of the examination of their students. The 
 directory of the Department contains a detailed sylla- 
 bus of the twenty-five different subjects on the teach- 
 ing of which grants are paid, and in the programme 
 of the Institute are found syllabuses of instruction in 
 the technology of fifty different trade subjects. In 
 the evening classes organised by the Department, as 
 well as in those in connection with the Institute, the 
 workman or foreman engaged in any manufacturing 
 industry has the opportunity, by payment of a very 
 small fee, of studying art in all its branches, science 
 theoretically and practically, and the technology of 
 any particular industry. Provided his early education 
 enables him to take advantage of this instruction, no 
 better system has been suggested of enabling work- 
 men, whilst earning wages at an early age, to acquire 
 manual skill by continuous practice, and at the same 
 time to gain a knowledge of the principles of science 
 connected with their work and explanatory of the 
 processes of the manufacture in which they are 
 engaged. 
 
 For those engaged in handicraft trades this even- 
 ing instruction is equally valuable, and in many parts 
 
Technical Education for Workmen 33 
 
 of Europe there exist evening trade schools, in which 
 the workman is able to supplement the ' sectional ' 
 practice he acquires in the shop by more general 
 practice in other branches of his trade. In Vienna, 
 for example, and in other parts of Austria, there are 
 found practical evening classes for carpenters, turners, 
 joiners, metal-workers, and others ; and similar classes 
 have recently been established in England. In 
 London, the new Polytechnics about to be erected 
 on the model of the one in Regent Street will contain 
 many such classes, and will also provide rational 
 amusements for the students. Throughout Europe, 
 schools for weaving, with practical work at the loom 
 and pattern designing, have existed for many years. 
 
 To provide a training more like the old system of 
 apprenticeship, schools have been established in many 
 parts of Europe which are known as professional, 
 trade, or apprenticeship schools {^coles professionnelles, 
 Scales des apprentis, Fachschuleri). The object is to 
 train workmen ; and the pupils, after completing 
 their course of instruction in such a school, are sup- 
 posed to have learnt a trade. The school is the 
 substitute for the shop. In such a school the pupils 
 have the advantage of being taught their trade syste- 
 matically and leisurely, and production is made sub- 
 sidiary to instruction. But the system of production 
 is necessarily artificial, and the pupil is less likely to 
 acquire excellence of workmanship and smartness of 
 habit than in the mercantile shop, under the strain of 
 
 D 
 
34 Industrial Education 
 
 severe competition. Moreover, the cost of maintenance 
 of these schools renders it impossible to look to them 
 as a general substitute for apprenticeship. By send- 
 ing into the labour market, however, a few highly- 
 trained workmen, who are absorbed in various works 
 and exert a beneficial influence on other workmen, 
 these schools serve a useful purpose. Schools of this 
 kind have been tried with more or less success in 
 different countries. In Paris there is the well-known 
 Ecole Diderot for the training of mechanics, fitters, 
 smiths, &c. ; and similar schools have been established 
 in other parts of France. A furniture-trade school of 
 the same category has recently been opened in Paris, 
 and for many years a society of Christian Brethren 
 have directed a large school in which several different 
 trades have been taught. In this establishment, situ- 
 ated in the Rue Vaugirard, all the secular and general 
 instruction is given gratuitously by the brothers, and 
 in the several shops attached to the school skilled 
 workmen are employed, who instruct the pupil ap- 
 prentices, and utilise their labour. This system com- 
 bines many of the advantages of shop work and 
 school work, but it depends financially for its success 
 upon the religious spirit which actuates its promoters 
 and supporters. The Artane school, near Dublin, is 
 conducted on somewhat similar principles, but is 
 intended for a lower class of children. In Austria, 
 particularly in the rural districts, there are numerous 
 schools for the training of carpenters, joiners, turners, 
 
Apprenticeship Schools 35 
 
 cabinet-makers, workers in stone and marble, in silver 
 and other metals, &c. Schools of the same class are 
 found in Germany, Italy, and elsewhere. It is only 
 in certain cases, however, that apprenticeship schools 
 can be said to satisfactorily answer the purpose for 
 which they have been established. Where a new in- 
 dustry, especially in rural districts, has to be created ; 
 where decaying industries need to be revived ; where 
 machinery is superseding hand work, and, owing to 
 the demands for ordinary hands, there is a dearth of 
 skilled workmen ; where through the effects of com- 
 petition and other causes the trade is carried on under 
 conditions in which competent workmen cannot be 
 properly trained in the ordinary shop — in these cases, 
 and in various art industries, an apprenticeship school 
 may prove to be the best means of training workmen 
 and of advancing particular trades.' Generally, an 
 apprenticeship school should be looked upon as a tem- 
 porary expedient, as a form of relief applied at the 
 birth or during any temporary depression of a par- 
 ticular industry. The proper training school for 
 workmen is the factory or shop. 
 
 2. Foremen. — The foreman must be familiar with 
 the various branches of work he is to overlook, and 
 the training which the workman receives in the 
 factory or shop affords him but scanty opportunities 
 
 ■ In many parts of Ireland and in some of the rural districts of 
 Britain the experiment of teaching certain trades in schools might be 
 tried. The establishment of a good weaving school might be the means 
 of bringing back the silk trade to London. 
 
 D2 
 
36 Industrial Education 
 
 of obtaining this general knowledge. The foreman 
 needs also a generally superior education. How then 
 are foremen to be trained ? The problem is some- 
 what easier than that of training workmen, because 
 the number required is fewer. The variety of schools 
 in Europe devoted to this purpose is very great. 
 There are three distinct ways in which foremen are 
 being trained. 
 
 («) The evening technical classes in Britain and on 
 the Continent offer to ambitious workmen an oppor- 
 tunity of acquiring a knowledge of other departments 
 of the trade than those in which they are engaged, as 
 well as of the scientific principles underlying their 
 work. These classes serve the double purpose of 
 improving the workpeople and of affording a means 
 of discovering those who are best fitted to occupy 
 higher posts. 
 
 {b) Special schools have been established for the 
 training of foremen. There are many trade schools 
 of this kind in which selected boys are received after 
 leaving the elementary school. The best known are 
 those at Chalons, Aix, Nevers, Angers, and Lille in 
 France. These schools are intended for the training 
 of foremen in engineering trades. They are State 
 institutions, in which practical mechanical work in the 
 shops is supplemented by theoretical instruction. 
 The first of these schools was founded in 1 803. The 
 course lasts three years, and the number of students in 
 each school must not exceed three hundred. The 
 
The Technical Education of Foremen 37 
 
 students spend from six to seven hours , a day in the 
 workshop, and are trained as fitters, founders, smiths, 
 and pattern-makers. As in all such schools, saleable 
 goods are produced ; but, as production is subordinated 
 to instruction, the school does not bind itself to 
 deliver work at a given date, and therefore does not 
 compete with any manufacturing establishment. The 
 students on leaving these schools are competent at 
 once to undertake the duties of foremen, managers, or 
 draughtsmen. At Komotau, Steyr, Klagenfurt, Fer- 
 lach, and many other places schools have been estab- 
 lished on somewhat similar principles. In Germany 
 there are special schools for the training of foremen 
 in the building trade, which are chiefly frequented in 
 the winter, and numerous schools are found in all 
 parts of the Continent for the training of weavers. 
 At Winterthur, in Switzerland, a school has been 
 established for the training of foremen. In Italy 
 there are numerous technical institutes, the object 
 of which to is prepare young men for intermediate 
 and higher posts in industrial works. In the United 
 States, the manual training schools, the number of 
 which is rapidly increasing, have somewhat similar 
 objects. In London, the Finsbury technical college 
 of the City and Guilds of London Institute has a 
 day department, the main purpose of which is the 
 training of youths as foremen, works managers, &c. ; 
 but in this school, as well as in those last men- 
 tioned, the character of the instruction deviates con- 
 
38 Industnal Education 
 
 siderably from that given in French schools, and 
 aims rather at preparing youths to learn, than at 
 teaching them, their trade. 
 
 ((?) A third method adopted for the training of 
 foremen is by encouraging selected children of the 
 ordinary elementary schools to continue their educa- 
 tion in schools of a higher grade of a technical 
 character. It is thought that, by developing to a 
 higher degree the intelligence and skill of those 
 children who show aptitude for scientific and prac- 
 tical work, they will be able, when they ienter the 
 shop; to learn their trade more quickly and more 
 thoroughly, and to acquire that general knowledge of 
 their work, and to exhibit those special aptitudes, 
 which may qualify them for the position of foreman 
 or manager. The education given in these schools, 
 although having direct reference to the future career 
 of the pupil, is mainly disciplinary in character, and 
 consists of the subjects of primary instruction further 
 pursued — of drawing, modelling, science, mathematics, 
 and manual exercises. The curriculum is varied to 
 some extent according to local requirements, the 
 technology of the staple industries forming in many 
 cases part of the instruction. Such schools, under 
 varied forms, have been established in most Con- 
 tinental countries, some of the best examples of them 
 being found in Paris, Lyons, Rheims, Rouen, and in 
 other towns of France. A large number of poor 
 children showing talent are selected from the primary 
 
The Technical Education of Foremen 39 
 
 schools and are received into these schools with 
 scholarships ; and the objection sometimes urged 
 against the establishment of higher elementary 
 schools — that the better classes only are able to 
 benefit by them — is thus obviated. In Germany, the 
 real-schools in which Latin is not taught, known as 
 Ohnelatein-Realsckulen, have very nearly the same 
 objects as the higher elementary schools of France. 
 The instruction in these German schools is not yet 
 so practical as in the schools of France. Drawing 
 is always well taught, and the schools generally con- 
 tain good chemical laboratories, as well as collections 
 of physical apparatus and museums. From the 
 children of these schools the ranks of foremen are 
 largely recruited. They receive no special trade in- 
 struction, but the general training is so arranged as 
 to qualify them for higher posts in industrial works. 
 The cost of this higher education seldom exceeds 3/. 
 per annum. In Bavaria it is two shillings a month. 
 In most of these schools, as well as in the chief 
 intermediate commercial schools, the exit certificate 
 exempts a lad from two of the three years' com- 
 pulsory military service, and this regulation, ot which 
 nothing corresponds in England, is an incentive to 
 parents to allow their children to receive higher in- 
 struction, which operates very forcibly in largely 
 increasing the number of well-educated youths in 
 Germany. In these opportunities for higher educa- 
 tion England is still very deficient, and the complaint 
 
40 Industrial Education 
 
 is generally heard of the difficulties of obtaining 
 competent foremen. 
 
 3. Masters. — The best special schools for the 
 training of future masters, managers, engineers, 
 manufacturers, and industrial chemists are in Ger- 
 many, and are known as technical high schools or 
 polytechnic schools. Schools of a similar character 
 are found in other countries, and in England the 
 facilities for higher technical education have within 
 the last few years greatly improved. 
 
 In Germany the polytechnic or technische Hoch- 
 schule is an institution of university type in which the 
 education has special reference to industrial purposes. 
 In many respects the teaching coincides with that 
 given in the universities. The chief distinction con- 
 sists in the arrangement of courses of instruction in 
 the several departments, in the admission of students 
 having a non-classical preliminary training, in the 
 absence of certain faculties found in the university 
 and in the addition of others. It is not correct to say 
 that the polytechnic is a professional school as dis- 
 tinguished from the university ; for the faculties of 
 law, medicine, and theology give to the university as 
 distinctly a professional character as the faculty of 
 engineering gives to the polytechnic. Nor can it be 
 said that the scientific studies at the universities are 
 less practical than at the polytechnic. For, whilst 
 workshops for instruction in the use of tools are found 
 in very few of the polytechnic schools, the labora- 
 
Higher Technical Education '41 
 
 tories, for the practical study of chemistry and 
 physics, are perhaps better fitted and are under more 
 eminent professors at some of the German universities 
 than at the polytechnic schools. At the same time, 
 engineers of every description, architects, and builders, 
 besides a great number of manufacturing chemists, 
 find in the polytechnic the scientific and technical 
 training which the lawyer or physician, and in many 
 cases the industrial chemist, seeks in the university. 
 
 In some of the large cities — in Berlin, Vienna, and 
 Munich, for instance — the university and polytechnic 
 co-exist ; and in certain cases, in which a very special 
 training is required to fit a youth for his career, the 
 German student, after spending three or four years at 
 a polytechnic school, passes on to another institution, 
 such as a dyeing school, in which his studies are 
 further specialised with a view to his future work. 
 
 In France, the institutions in which the highest 
 technical instruction is given are centred in the 
 capital. There are a large number of provincial 
 colleges where the education is somewhat more prac- 
 tical, but where the mathematical and scientific teach- 
 ing is not carried to so high a point. Such are the 
 Ecole Centrale at Lyons, the Ecole des Mineurs at 
 St. Etienne, and the Institut du Nord at Lille. The 
 Ecole Centrale of Paris, in which the majority of 
 French engineers who are not employed in the Go- 
 vernment service are trained, is a rare instance of 
 an institution for higher technical instruction which 
 
42 Industrial Education 
 
 is self-supporting and independent of Government 
 aid. 
 
 In Switzerland, the federal polytechnic of Zurich 
 is similar to the polytechnic schools of Germany and 
 Austria. Italy has three superior technical institutes 
 — one at Milan, one at Turin, and one at Naples — in 
 which technical education is given on the same lines 
 as in German polytechnic schools. Holland has an 
 excellent institution at Delft, which was opened in 
 1 864 ; and in Russia the imperial technical school at 
 Moscow is a high-class engineering school, in which 
 the theoretical studies are supplemented, to a greater 
 extent than in the German schools, by workshop 
 practice. 
 
 In some of the German schools the fees charged 
 vary according to the number of lectures and to the 
 number of hours of practical work which the student 
 takes per week. Thus, at Munich, the entrance fee for 
 each student is los., and the lecture fee is 2s. 6d. for 
 each hour's lecture per week, including the use of 
 materials. At Zurich, the cost of instruction in the 
 chemical department, including laboratory practice, 
 does not exceed 12/. per annum, and in other depart- 
 ments it does not exceed 4/. per annum. At Delft, 
 the student pays about 16/. per annum for a com- 
 plete course. 
 
 In England, there is a growing tendency to asso- 
 ciate technical with university education. This is 
 mainly owing to the fact that the colleges which have 
 
Higher Technical Education 43 
 
 recently been established to give university education 
 are poorly endowed, and have found it necessary to 
 attract students by meeting the increasing demand 
 for technical instruction. Most of the provincial col- 
 leges may indeed be regarded as technical schools 
 with a literary side. In order that they may provide 
 university education in addition to sound technical 
 instruction, it is necessary that they should be placed 
 on a financially satisfactory footing by means of State 
 endowment. Of the more recently erected English 
 colleges, the Owens College at Manchester is the 
 most important, combining the faculties of a German 
 university with those of a polytechnic school. The 
 Yorkshire College, Leeds, possesses a special school 
 for the teaching of weaving and dyeing. Other some- 
 what similar institutions are found in Birminghami, 
 Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Dundee, Cardiff, 
 and elsewhere. The university of Edinburgh has a 
 good school of chemistry, physics, and engineering, 
 and the university of Glasgow has been long dis- 
 tinguished for the excellence of its physical labora- 
 tories. In University College and King's College, 
 London, the metropolis possesses two institutions, 
 each of which may be likened to a University and 
 a polytechnic combined. In the university of Cam- 
 bridge there are mechanical workshops in connection 
 with the chair of engineering. The Royal School of 
 Mines and the normal schools of science and art in 
 South Kensington are the only technical institu- 
 
44 Industrial Education 
 
 tions in England supported by State aid. The 
 Central Institution in London has more in common 
 with the German polytechnic school than any other 
 institution in Britain. This school is designed for 
 the technical instruction of teachers, engineers, archi- 
 tects, master builders, and industrial chemists. It 
 was built and equipped at a cost of 100,000/., and is 
 at present maintained by an annual grant from the 
 City and Guilds of London Institute. 
 
 Such is a brief outline of the means provided for 
 the technical education of masters in different parts 
 of Europe. It will be seen from the foregoing state- 
 ment that efforts are now being made to bring Britain 
 more nearly on a level with other countries in the 
 provision of those kinds of instruction which are best 
 adapted to the different classes of producers. But as 
 yet only a beginning has been made, and in England 
 the number of technical students receiving the higher 
 education is far less than in Germany. 
 
45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MERCANTILE TRAINING — SCHOOLS OF COMMERCE. 
 
 The question of how best to adapt our existing 
 educational machinery to the requirements of com- 
 mercial life, and of the additions, if any, that should 
 be made to it, is now engaging the serious attention 
 of merchants, manufacturers, teachers, and statesmen. 
 The importance of the question is no longer doubted, 
 and discussions of the subject are invited, with the view 
 of eliciting the opinions of persons who, by their own 
 knowledge and experience, are able to contribute to 
 the solution of what must be regarded as a problem 
 of national importance. To this end, an important 
 conference was held under the auspices of the Chamber 
 of Commerce, on November 23, 1887, when Sir John 
 Lubbock, who is specially qualified to speak on 
 this subject, delivered a very suggestive address, in 
 which he pointed out many of the reasons which pre- 
 vent our children from obtaining in our secondary 
 schools, as at present organised, the preliminary train- 
 ing which might best prepare them for practical 
 and commercial pursuits. He was followed by Dr. 
 
46 Industrial Education 
 
 Percival, who rightly said : ' The true educational 
 method for an industrial and commercial population 
 like ours is to fix our attention far more than hitherto 
 on the practical needs of our population, and so to 
 endeavour to liberalise what were called the practical 
 studies ; and to dismiss, once for all, the old-world 
 idea that studies which have a direct bearing on the 
 needs of boys growing up in our schools somehow 
 lose their humanising qualities.' 
 
 The development of our trade and commerce may 
 be said to depend on knowing not only how to pro- 
 duce at least cost what is most wanted, but also how 
 to buy and sell with the utmost advantage. We may 
 take it for granted that the full benefits of technical 
 instruction will fail to be realised unless opportunities 
 are afforded by which our youths may obtain that 
 especial kind of training which is calculated to make 
 them good business men. 
 
 The economy of production is closely associated 
 with that of distribution in the machinery of com- 
 merce, and the connection between the factory and 
 the merchant's office is very intimate, and tends daily 
 to become more so. The progress of science is gradu- 
 ally converting the factory into a laboratory, in which 
 raw materials are altered in substance or in form ; and 
 the success of productive industry depends on the skill 
 and ingenuity with which this process of conversion is 
 carried on. But mercantile success depends not only 
 on the skill and ingenuity shown in the production 
 
Mercantile Training 47 
 
 of goods, but also on the care exercised in the pur- 
 chase of the material employed, and on the special 
 knowledge and ability displayed in the sale of the 
 manufactured products. The highest technical know- 
 ledge might be employed in producing goods for 
 which there was no demand ; or, as has so frequently 
 happened, for which the demand had ceased, and 
 commerce would not thereby be advanced. Or, goods 
 might be produced, excellent in quality, but unsale- 
 able except at a loss at places already fully supplied. 
 What is needed for the development of commerce is 
 not only the faculty of production, but also of distri- 
 bution. A market is a necessary adjunct to a factory. 
 
 The consideration of the kind of training which is 
 best calculated to fit a person to buy and sell, and to 
 engage in any of the operations, including banking 
 operations, connected with the work of distributing, 
 and of bringing home to the consumer, the products 
 of industry, is the problem of commercial education. 
 
 The questions of technical and of commercial edu- 
 cation are so closely associated, that it is difficult to 
 consider them except in connection with each other. 
 Speaking generally, technical education may be said' 
 to have reference to the work oi production, and com- 
 mercial education to that of distribution \ but, as the 
 character of the goods produced by the manufacturer 
 must depend, to a great extent, upon the tastes and 
 requirements of the consumer, which should be ascer- 
 tained by those engaged in the work of distribution. 
 
48 Industrial Education 
 
 mercantile success may be regarded as a function of 
 two factors, one of which has reference to the skill 
 displayed in the processes of manufacture, and the 
 other to the activity and economy shown in bringing 
 the products of industry into the hands of the con- 
 sumer. 
 
 Hitherto, owing to the necessity of previously 
 considering the question of technical education, the 
 closely allied question of commercial education has 
 remained somewhat in the background. The progress 
 that has been made during the last few years in pro- 
 viding the necessary supplemental instruction for per- 
 sons engaged in productive industry is, on the whole, 
 satisfactory. Our University Colleges, under the in- 
 fluence of the demand for technical teaching, have 
 recently added on important technical departments. 
 In the Polytechnic Institutions which it is proposed to 
 erect in London on the model of the People's Palace, 
 provision will be made for the technical instruction of 
 a large proportion of the workpeople of the metro- 
 polis. The Charity Commissioners have framed 
 schemes for the curriculum of endowed schools, in 
 which science instruction and manual training occupy 
 part of the time formerly devoted to the study of 
 classics. Some of our School Boards have, so far as 
 the iron regulations of the Code permit them, intro- 
 duced the teaching of drawing, science, and handi- 
 craft into the schools under their control. The 
 Science and Art Department has made its examina- 
 
Altered Commercial Conditions 49 
 
 tions in science somewhat more practical, and has 
 given more prominence to industrial designing in the 
 teaching of art ; and to the City Guilds is due the 
 credit of having organised, in the principal trade 
 centres throughout the kingdom, a large number of 
 technical as distinguished from ordinary science 
 classes, and of having thereby given a powerful 
 impetus to the creation of technical schools. 
 
 This record of progress may be regarded as satis- 
 factory, and the time has now come for considering 
 the kind of training which is needed by young per- 
 sons preparing for a mercantile career. 
 
 The altered conditions under which trade is now 
 carried on have given to the solution of this problem 
 a new and, until recently, a not sufficiently recognised 
 importance. The application of science to the means 
 of locomotion and of communication have changed 
 many of the essential features of the geography of 
 fifty years ago. Distant countries are now closely 
 united by swift ocean steamers, by a network of rails, 
 and by telegraphic wires. This development of scien- 
 tific applications to the modes of transit and of com- 
 munication has produced a revolution in our system 
 of commerce, the effect of which we are only gradu- 
 ally coming to realise. It has intensified the severity 
 of competition between different countries ; it has 
 diminished the value of the raw material in relation 
 to that of the manufactured product ; it has lessened 
 the advantages due to natural resources ; it has 
 
 E 
 
50 Industrial Education 
 
 narrowed the margin of profit, necessitating the 
 exercise of the greatest economy in the management 
 of the mercantile department of a manufacturing 
 business, and the utmost vigilance in securing the 
 advantages of differences of exchanges, and in search- 
 ing, wherever they may be found, for new and promis- 
 ing markets. When we hear, as we often do, successful 
 manufacturers and merchants speak discouragingly 
 of the importance of commercial education, and tell 
 us how, sent into the factory or office at an early 
 age, they there acquired the practical experience to 
 which they ascribe their fortune, we cannot but feel 
 that such men overlook the fact that the conditions 
 under which trade is now carried on are wholly 
 different from what they were fifty years ago ; and it 
 is owing to this difference that a different and special 
 kind of training has become indispensable. No one 
 can contemplate the changes which have taken place 
 during the present half-century without realising 
 their levelling influence upon the development of 
 commerce, and the growing importance, as a factor of 
 mercantile success, of that wider knowledge which 
 enables those engaged in commerce to understand, and 
 to take advantage of, all favourable conditions in the 
 conduct of business operations. The merchant's 
 vision must extend beyond the limits of his own town 
 or country. His observation must be widened, so 
 that literally he may be able ' to survey mankind from 
 China to Peru.' The range of his markets is con- 
 
Commercial Education : why Needful ? 51 
 
 tinually extending, and his knowledge should be co- 
 extensive with the area of his transactions. 
 
 The success which, owing to our natural resources, 
 attended our early efforts to apply steam-power to 
 productive industry, induced a feeling of over-confi- 
 dence among our people, and led us to disregard the 
 connection which ought to subsist between school- 
 training and the business of life ; whilst the absence 
 of similar prosperity in other countries resulted in an 
 earlier recognition of this important relationship. For 
 this reason, technical and commercial schools were 
 established abroad many years before the necessity 
 for their creation was realised in this country ; but the 
 levelling influences of scientific progress, to which I have 
 referred, have placed us at a comparative disadvan- 
 tage with other countries, or rather have lessened the 
 advantages we formerly possessed on account of our 
 natural resources, and have made it imperatively 
 necessary that we should seek compensation in the 
 endeavour to reap all the benefit we can from the 
 improved and adequate education of our industrial 
 classes. 
 
 I. That our own school system does not afford 
 the requisite training to _ enable our youths to com- 
 pete on equal terms with the youths of other countries, 
 especially of Germany, is shown by such evidence as 
 may be found in the Reports of the Commissioners 
 on ' Technical Instruction,' and on ' the Depression of 
 
5 2 Industrial Education 
 
 Trade and Industry,' as well as in the reports of 
 several of our Consuls in different parts of the world. 
 From these documents it appears, that it is mainly 
 owing to German competition that our foreign trade 
 is shrinking ; and it is in Germany that the most 
 abundant provision has been made for the fitting 
 educational equipment of young persons who are 
 engaged in mercantile pursuits. The Commissioners 
 tell us that the increasing severity of this competition, 
 both in our home and neutral markets, is especially 
 rioticeable in the case of Germany, and that in every 
 quarter of the world the perseverance and enterprise 
 of the Germans are making themselves felt. ' In the 
 actual production of commodities we have now few, 
 if any, advantages over them ; and in a knowledge of 
 the markets of the world, a desire to accommodate 
 themselves to local tastes or idiosyncrasies, a determi- 
 nation to obtain a footing wherever they can, and a 
 tenacity in maintaining it, they appear to be gaining 
 ground upon us.' ' 
 
 This advance of German trade does not appear to 
 be owing to any falling off in the efiEciency of the 
 British workman, but solely to the superior fitness of 
 the Germans, due unquestionably to the more syste- 
 matic training they receive, for mercantile pursuits. 
 The Commissioners tell us that whilst, ' in respect of 
 certain classes of products, the reputation of our 
 workmanship does not stand as high as it formerly 
 
 ' Commissioners' Report, p. 20 (7S). 
 
Depression of Trade 53 
 
 did,' ' those who have had personal experience of the 
 comparative efficiency of labour carried on under the 
 conditions which prevail in this country and in foreign 
 countries appear to incline to the view 'that the 
 English workman, notwithstanding his shorter hours 
 and his higher wages, is to be preferred.' ^ They 
 further state : ' In the matter of education we seem 
 to be particularly deficient as compared with some of 
 our foreign competitors, and this remark applies, not 
 only to what is usually called technical education, but 
 to the ordinary commercial education which is required 
 in mercantile houses, and especially the knowledge of 
 foreign languages.'* 
 
 The recommendation* of the Commissioners, that 
 her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers abroad 
 should be instructed to report any information which 
 appears to them of interest as soon as they obtain it, 
 and that it should be as promptly published at home 
 when received, has resulted in the publication of a 
 series of reports, which fully bear out the conclusions 
 at which the Commissioners have arrived with regard 
 to the deficiencies of our commercial education, to 
 the activity displayed by foreigners in the search for 
 new markets, and to the readiness of manufacturers 
 abroad to accommodate their products to local tastes 
 and peculiarities. 
 
 In several of the reports recently published, atten- 
 
 ' Commissioners' Report (77)- ' Ibid. (80). 
 
 'Ibid.ls^). * Ibid. {100). 
 
54 Industrial Education 
 
 tion has been called to the importance to this 
 country of possessing an army of commercially trained 
 agents, who shall be able to discover foreign markets, 
 to inform English manufacturers as regards the 
 requirements of these markets, and to push the sale 
 of home-made goods. 
 
 The consul at Malaga, writing on the necessity of 
 pushing our trade in Spain, says : ' Unless our 
 manufacturers are prepared to make some sacrifice in 
 this direction by the employment of commercial 
 travellers acquainted with the language of the country, 
 and qualified to study the requirements of their 
 customers, they can, it is feared, hardly regain the 
 ground that has been lost in this country. There are 
 at Malaga a number of young German clerks, who, 
 on their return home, will be well prepared for em- 
 ployment in German firms having business with this 
 country.' ' 
 
 According to the consul at Trebizonde, 'British 
 trade would no doubt greatly develop by commercial 
 travellers visiting the country with samples, studying 
 the requirements of the people, and meeting local 
 tastes in the nature, quality, and value of the goods 
 most in demand.' ^ 
 
 Another consul tells us that ' the vast majority 
 
 of British merchants have yet to learn the lesson, so 
 
 well understood by their foreign competitors, that 
 
 all the advertising pamphlets, journals, circulars, and 
 
 ^ Annual Series {Xit,). '^ Ibid. (135). 
 
Consular Reports 55 
 
 letters of inquiry with which the consuls are inundated 
 will never enable them to compete with the intelli- 
 gent economical French and German commercial 
 travellers, who are thoroughly acquainted with the 
 language, manners, customs, and wants of the people 
 in the highways and byways of the country, among 
 whom they spread like a swarm of bees in unweary- 
 ing collection of the honey, which will never stick to 
 the British traders' illustrated reams of paper and ink.' 
 
 In a report of a visit to Kharkoff, Consul- 
 General Perry says that, owing to the absence of 
 travellers, British goods are at a discount, and the 
 Germans have it all their own way. ' The landlord 
 of the Grand H6tel de I'Europe informed me that, 
 during the last fair, thirty German travellers were 
 staying at his hotel against one Englishman, and that 
 more Germans were at other hotels and lodging- 
 houses.' ' 
 
 These statements, which might be considerably 
 multiplied, show that our trade with foreign countries 
 is distinctly suffering in consequence of the want 
 of commercial knowledge and activity among our 
 mercantile classes. At home, the pinch of compe- 
 tition is equally felt, and is due partly to the same 
 cause. The answers to a circular addressed by the 
 London Chamber of Commerce to the leading City 
 houses have shown the extent to which foreign clerks 
 are employed by commercial firms in London, and also, 
 ' Miscellaneous Series (55). 
 
5 6 Industrial Education 
 
 what is less flattering to us, the reason of the prefer- 
 ence shown for them. It appears that 35 per cent, of 
 the firms replying to the circular employ foreign clerks, 
 and that less than one per cent, of English clerks are 
 able to correspond in any foreign language. From 
 several of the answers received, it also appears that 
 preference is given to foreigners on account of their 
 generally superior education, and of their special quali- 
 fications for commercial work. According to many of 
 the witnesses, ' the foreigner is, at present, the better 
 " all-round " man ; better equipped both with the 
 special technical knowledge of his particular industry, 
 and with the wider culture which enables him to 
 adapt his knowledge and his training to the varying 
 demands of modern commerce.' Now, not only is 
 the recognition of this fact somewhat humiliating to 
 us as a nation, but the fact itself serves to explain 
 some of the causes of the success of foreign competi- 
 tion of which we complain. In the first place, every 
 foreigner employed in an English firm displaces an 
 Englishman, who might, and would be, so employed 
 if only he were properly educated. Moreover, many 
 of these foreign clerks, after having learnt what they 
 can as regards our manufactures, our markets, and 
 modes of conducting business, return to their native 
 land to utilise that knowledge as our competitors and 
 rivals ; and even of those who remain here, and 
 establish new firms, a large number, -naturally, show a 
 preference for foreign manufacturers with whom they 
 
The German Clerk 57 
 
 stand in relation, and from whom they obtain goods 
 for the supply of the markets in which they deal. 
 
 It may not be out of place here to quote from a 
 recent novel of Mr. Walter Besant his description of 
 the German clerk, which experience shows to be only 
 slightly over-coloured. 
 
 ' In every office,' says the German, ' there must 
 be clerks who can write and speak foreign languages. 
 Your young men will not learn them, and your 
 schools cannot teach them. Then we come over — 
 we who have learned them. For my part, I can 
 write and read English, Swedish, Danish, French, 
 Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and German. Do you think 
 we shall be content to stay here as clerks ? No, no. 
 . . . We are learning your trade ; we will find out 
 all your customers and your correspondents ; we 
 learn your profits and we undersell you. We do not 
 go away. We remain. And presently, instead of an 
 English house, there is a German house in its place, 
 because your young men are so stupid that they will 
 not learn.' 
 
 II. Having regard to the importance of these facts, 
 it is well that we should acquaint ourselves with the 
 systems of commercial education that exist in foreign 
 countries, with a view of ascertaining in what respects 
 the training there afforded is better adapted to qualify 
 young men for commercial pursuits than that pro- 
 vided in our own schools. 
 
58 Industrial Education 
 
 France. — In France and in nearly all the countries 
 of Europe there is found a system of intermediate 
 and secondary education, which has been organised 
 with reference to the careers which the children are 
 likely subsequently to follow; and there exist, also, 
 numerous special schools, or departments of schools, 
 which are intended to provide a distinctly profes- 
 sional training. The French system of intermediate 
 education has been fully described, and is highly re- 
 commended, by the Commissioners in their Report 
 on Technical Instruction. They tell us that in the 
 whole system of French instruction they ' have found 
 nothing, except as regards art teaching, so worthy 
 of attention as these higher elementary schools.' ^ 
 These schools, many of which come under the pro- 
 visions of the Pubhc Elementary Education Act, and 
 are consequently free, have a technical and commercial 
 department. In the commercial section, the subjects of 
 study include modern languages — English or German, 
 and often both — history, geography, . law, political 
 economy, mathematics, practical science, bookkeep- 
 ing, office practice, and, in some cases, manual training. 
 Examples of such schools are found in Bordeaux, 
 Havre, Amiens, Marseilles, Rheims, Rouen, Lyons, 
 and in other large towns. The Ecole Martiniere of 
 Lyons is one of the oldest and one of the most 
 interesting of these schools. It is presided over by a 
 council of members, who are nominated by the 
 ' Vol. i. p. 84. 
 
Commercial Education in France 59 
 
 Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, on the 
 recommendation of the municipality. The children 
 are admitted to the school between the ages of 
 thirteen and fifteen. From 60 to 75 per cent, of the 
 boys go into commercial houses, and about 25 per 
 cent, take up other industrial pursuits. The Ecole 
 Professionnelle of Rheims is a more modern school 
 of the same kind, having a commercial department, 
 with a course of instruction specially adapted to the 
 wants of those children who are likely to be engaged 
 as clerks in merchants' houses, as commercial agents, 
 or travellers. At Vierzon, a school is now being 
 erected, which, when completed, will be equipped 
 with all the newest appliances for improved technical 
 and commercial instruction. 
 
 Of French schools specially devoted to commer- 
 cial training, and having no technical department, 
 the most important are in Paris. The Paris schools 
 are of two grades — middle and higher schools. 
 There are two middle schools — the Ecole Commer- 
 ciale, in the Avenue Troudaine, founded by the 
 Chamber of Commerce in 1 863, and the Institut Com- 
 mercial, in the Chauss^e d'Antin, founded, in 1 884, by 
 a number of merchants, as a public company, with 
 a capital of 8,000/. These schools differ somewhat 
 in their methods of instruction, but their general 
 object is to take lads who have received a primary 
 education, and to train them in those subjects which 
 will be useful to them in a mercantile career. Modern 
 
6o Industrial Education 
 
 languages, commercial law and geography, mathe- 
 matics, bookkeeping, and shorthand are the chief sub- 
 jects of instruction. In the Institut more attention 
 is given to the practical details of office work with 
 special reference to foreign trade. ' Different trade 
 operations are illustrated from the books of extinct 
 firms ; and the mathematical teacher has ready to his 
 hand coins, weights, and measures of all nations.' ' 
 The school contains an extensive museum, created by 
 gifts of samples from a large number of firms, which 
 is used to illustrate the lessons on the technology of 
 the raw materials and finished products of commerce. 
 Besides these schools, which are for the train- 
 ing of boys from thirteen to sixteen years of age, 
 there are in Paris two higher schools, or colleges, 
 which are intended to give a distinctly professional 
 education to young men who have received an ordi- 
 nary school training in one of the lyc^es of France, as 
 well as to continue the education of a few of those 
 who have passed through one of the middle schools. 
 These higher schools are known as the Ecole Supe- 
 rieure de Commerce and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes 
 Commerciales. The main object of these institutions, 
 but especially of the latter, is to attract to the pursuits 
 of commerce some of the better educated youths, be- 
 longing to families of good social position, who are 
 too generally disposed to enter the overstocked ranks 
 
 ' Report on Commercial Education, presented to th Associated 
 Chambers of Commerce, 1887, p. 33. 
 
French Schools of Commerce 6 1 
 
 of the so-called learned professions, and to give them 
 a thorough training in the principles and practice of 
 mercantile and banking business. ' In France,' says 
 M. Gustav Roy, ' commerce has too long been re- 
 garded as a second-rate calling ; it is time to disprove 
 this idea, and to show that the professions of mer- 
 chant and banker demand as much intelligence as 
 any other.' ^ 
 
 The view of the founders of the school was 
 that the study of commercial, equally as of other, 
 subjects may be made the basis of a. liberal education. 
 What the Ecole Centrale does for engineering and 
 manufacturing industry, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes 
 Commerciales is intended to do for mercantile pursuits. 
 This school is situated in a fashionable quarter of 
 Paris, in the Boulevard Malesherbes. The site on 
 which it stands cost over 20,000/., and is now worth 
 considerably more. The building contains spacious 
 apartments for administrative purposes, two lecture 
 theatres, twelve class-rooms or comptoirs, ten exa- 
 mination rooms, a mercantile museum, a chemical 
 laboratory, and a good commercial library. It con- 
 sists of a boarding establishment, as well as of a day 
 school. The school was opened in the year 1881, 
 and the number of students has since then increased 
 from 50 to 128. The fees are high — 40/. a year for 
 day students, and 1 1 2/. for boarders ; but, in order to 
 enable poor students to enter the school, several exhi- 
 
 ' Ecoles de Cimmerce, Leautey, p. 190. 
 
62 Industrial Education 
 
 bitions have been provided by the Government, by 
 the Chamber of Commerce, by the Municipal Council 
 of Paris, by the Bank of France, by a large number 
 of public companies, and by private individuals, 
 amongst whom M. Gustav Roy, late President of the 
 Chamber of Commerce, to whose initiative the school 
 owes much of its success, should be specially men- 
 tioned. These facts indicate the estimation in which 
 the education afforded in this school is held by 
 different public bodies, as well as by merchants and 
 bankers in Paris. 
 
 As regards the curriculum, I will here only 
 mention that ten hours a week are given to the study 
 of foreign languages, in addition to the time devoted to 
 foreign correspondence, and that English or German, 
 and either Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese, are obliga- 
 tory. To some of the more important subj ects of special 
 instruction reference will be made later on ; but the 
 purpose of the ten examination rooms requires some 
 explanation. In this school, as in all the higher 
 schools of France, the periodic examination of the 
 students forms an essential part of the instruction. 
 The salles dexamen serve a very different purpose 
 from the examination room of an English college or 
 university, in which the student is employed for three 
 hours in writing answers to printed questions. In 
 France, examinations like laboratory practice or exer- 
 cises form part of the machinery of instruction. The 
 salles d^examen are small compartments, each of which 
 
French Examinations 63 
 
 is just capable of accommodating the examiner and 
 two students. The furniture consists of a black-board, 
 a desk, and two chairs. About once in three weeks 
 each student is separately examined on every subject 
 in which he receives instruction. The examinations 
 take place daily from 4.30 to 6, and every student is 
 expected to attend two or three times a week to 
 answer, orally and in writing, questions on his work, 
 and to submit for inspection and correction his notes 
 of lectures, drawings, accounts, exercises, &c. At the 
 end of each course there are also general examina- 
 tions, which correspond more nearly with our own, 
 but differ in this respect, that each student draws by 
 lot the questions he is to answer from a large number 
 of questions previously prepared by the examiners. 
 The system of marking, on the result of these exami- 
 nations, is very complicated. 
 
 In Paris, and in nearly all the large towns of 
 France, there are evening courses of instruction in 
 commercial subjects open to persons of either sex. 
 The courses embrace writing, bookkeeping, short- 
 hand, commercial arithmetic, geography, political 
 economy, common law, and modern languages. 
 These classes are supported by contributions from 
 various sources. Some of them have been organised 
 by the Philotechnic Society, founded in 1848 for the 
 purpose of giving gratuitous instruction to adults of 
 both sexes on subjects connected with their industrial 
 occupations. In 1884-5, these classes were attended 
 
64 Industrial Education 
 
 by 1 1, ooo students. To obtain a certificate in com- 
 merce, a candidate must pass a satisfactory examination 
 in four at least of the following subjects — viz., French, 
 some foreign modern language, commercial history 
 and geography, bookkeeping, law, mathematics, poli- 
 tical economy. 
 
 A somewhat similar society has been fourided 
 by the different Masonic Lodges of France. In con- 
 nection with the Ecole de Commerce, in the Avenue 
 ■Troudaine, free classes have been opened by the Paris 
 Chamber of Commerce, which are attended by about 
 i,ioo students. In addition to these classes, the City 
 of Paris has opened evening classes in commercial 
 subjects for women and young girls. The first of 
 these was opened in 1 870, and the success of this ex- 
 periment induced the Chamber acting in connection 
 with the school authorities of different parishes to 
 establish similar evening courses. Such classes are 
 now held in fifteen arrondissements, and are attended 
 by about 700 young women of not less than fourteen 
 years of age. Similar classes have been established for 
 young men, and are held in sixteen centres of Paris. 
 The course of instruction occupies three years, and 
 each student is expected to devote twelve hours per 
 week to his school lessons. 
 
 Another important society, established in 1879, 
 to give commercial instruction to young people of 
 both sexes, is the Union Nationale des Chambres 
 Syndicates. These classes are held every evening of 
 
Paris Evening Schools 65 
 
 the week, and the attendance has increased from 
 180 students in 1879-80, to 716 in 1885-86. There 
 are also special courses of instruction in bookkeep- 
 ing only ; and an institution has been founded in 
 which boys, after having left school, may keep up their 
 knowledge of English or German by attending evening 
 classes for conversation and correspondence in these 
 languages. It appears that in the school session 
 1885-6, the number of students entered upon the 
 books of the several societies of Paris, as attending 
 systematic courses of instruction in commercial sub- 
 jects, was 8,657, of whom 6,179 were men and boys, 
 and 2,478 women and girls. These commercial 
 classes exist not only in Paris, but in all large centres 
 of industry, and are generally well attended. 
 
 Schools of commerce in France are not yet placed 
 on the same footing as other high schools, i n afford- 
 ing exemption to the students from military service. 
 This is a boon much sought after. At the Inter- 
 national Conference on Industrial Education in 1887, 
 held at Bordeaux, one of the resolutions agreed to 
 was, ' that the Minister of War be asked to assimilate 
 the leaving certificates of schools of commerce to 
 those of other schools, in so far as they confer the 
 rights of the voluntary service.' ' This concession, it 
 is believed, would have the- effect of considerably in- 
 creasing the number of schools of commerce, and of 
 
 ' Congris International de Bordeaux : Compte rendu des travaux, 
 p. 203. 
 
 F 
 
66 Industrial Education 
 
 the students attending them ; and the fact that it is 
 accorded to similar schools in Germany is urged as an 
 additional reason for seeking it. 
 
 Germany. — Germany still stands ahead of all other 
 nations in the excellence of its primary and secondary 
 schools. The well-known Realschulen, many of which 
 now comprise ten classes, and are co-ordinate with the 
 Gymnasia, afford an education, which is perhaps the 
 best possible general preparation for commercial or 
 trade pursuits. Several of the Real schools have a 
 commercial department ; but besides these, there are 
 in Germany seventeen special schools of commerce, 
 the leaving certificate of which is recognised as con-, 
 ferring the right of one year's military service ; nine 
 middle schools, with a less extended curriculum ; 
 and a large number of evening schools, which are 
 attended by clerks, merchants' apprentices, and other 
 persons engaged in mercantile houses. The fees in 
 the ordinary Realschule vary from 2/. to 4/. a year. 
 In the commercial schools the fees are three or four 
 times as much. Few of the commercial schools are 
 as well housed as are the Real schools, nor do they 
 possess the same appliances for practical teaching. 
 Nevertheless, they are well attended ; and the reason 
 assigned is that lads who have received their educa- 
 tion in a commercial school are more sought after in 
 commercial houses, and more readily find places, 
 than those coming from an ordinary school. The 
 difference in curriculum is not great ; but whilst, in 
 
Mercantile Training in Germany 67 
 
 the commercial school, due provision is made for the 
 child's general education, the requirements of the 
 merchant's office are carefully considered in the 
 teaching of all the subjects in the school programme. 
 Thus, additional time is devoted to the study of 
 modern languages, and especial attention is given to 
 instruction in foreign correspondence. The study of 
 mathematics is pursued so far only as is likely to be 
 required by the future merchant, and the pupils are 
 exercised in questions of exchange, arbitrage, and 
 commercial arithmetic generally. The course of 
 study also includes political economy, bookkeeping, 
 and commercial geography. But the instruction is 
 by no means as practical as in many of the French 
 schools. Although the teaching in these schools is 
 excellent of its kind, and evidently much sought 
 after, it would be unsafe to ascribe to the existence of 
 these schools the remarkable industrial success of the 
 German people. Much more is due to the excellence 
 of the primary instruction, to the fact that children 
 remain at school till they have been able to fix in 
 their minds the knowledge they have acquired, to the 
 evening continuation schools in which they build upon 
 early education a sure foundation for higher special- 
 ised instruction, to the well-organised system of 
 secondary education, and to the general appreciation 
 and love of learning, which, owing to the existence of 
 these educational agencies, is diffused throughout all 
 grades of society, and has produced habits of thought 
 
68 Industrial Education 
 
 and aptitudes for work which unfortunately are at 
 present wanting among the same classes of our own 
 people. 
 
 One of the best known of the Higher Schools of 
 Commerce is the Handelslehranstalt of Leipsic. The 
 school is under the direction of a committee of 
 merchants, who themselves contribute to the cost of 
 its maintenance. Since 1880, it has been placed under 
 the general management of the Saxon Government 
 and of the Municipal Council of Leipsic. The school 
 consists of three divisions : (l) the higher division ; 
 (2) the professional course ; (3) the division of appren- 
 tices. Boys are admitted into the higher division at 
 the age of fourteen on the completion of their ele- 
 mentary school course. The fees are 18/. a year and 
 lOJ. entrance fee. The course lasts three years, and it 
 is intended to give a sound general education ap- 
 plicable to commercial purposes. The professional 
 course is open only to those who are provided with a 
 leaving certificate of one of the higher schools, which 
 exempts the pupil from two of the three years' obliga- 
 tory military service. The course of instruction oc- 
 cupies one year only, and is purely of a commercial 
 character. The third division consists of a con- 
 tinuation school, which is intended for clerks employed 
 in commercial houses in the City. In the regular 
 three years' course of instruction, which is given in 
 the higher division of the Institute, the pupils receive 
 a good secondary education, based on instruction in 
 
German High Schools of Commerce 69 
 
 those subjects which are likely to prove useful to them 
 in their subsequent work. The programme includes 
 modern languages, mathematics, commercial arith- 
 metic, science, technology, geography, history, com- 
 mercial law and office work, bookkeeping, political 
 economy, writing, drawing, and gymnastics. The 
 lessons in technology embrace the description of some 
 of the principal machines used in spinning, weaving, 
 paper-making, &c. ; the office work consists of lessons 
 in preparing commercial documents and commercial 
 correspondence ; and about fourteen hours per week 
 are devoted to the study of modern languages. The 
 course of instruction for apprentices or clerks occu- 
 pies ten hours a week. The lessons are from seven till 
 nine in the morning, or from two till four in the after- 
 noon, according to the convenience of the employers. 
 These courses are given in addition to the ordinary 
 continuation classes which are established and main- 
 tained by the Municipal Council, and are found in 
 nearly all the principal cities of Germany. 
 
 With the view of meeting the requirements of 
 young men who desire to receive instruction on 
 commercial subjects, some of the Polytechnic schools 
 of Germany have arranged courses of lectures, which 
 are mainly intended for those who are seeking places 
 under Government in the customs or excise offices, 
 but are followed by other students, who have received 
 their early education at a Gymnasium or Realschuk, 
 
yo Industrial Education 
 
 and whose circumstances enable them to spend a year 
 or two at college before commencing business. 
 
 In Berlin, a school of Oriental languages wa3 
 opened in October 1887, as a special department of 
 the university of the city. The school is maintained 
 at an annual cost to the State of a sum not exceeding 
 3,600/., a vote of 2,000/. having been made for the 
 equipment. The teaching is gratuitous, and exhibi- 
 tions amounting to 450/ a year are awarded to needy 
 students. The languages taught are Chinese, Japa- 
 nese, Hindostani, Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and 
 Suaheli. The instruction includes descriptions of the 
 several countries in which these languages are spoken, 
 lectures on the religion, manners, and customs of the 
 people, exercises in grammar, in reading, writing, and 
 speaking. The chief instructor in each language is a 
 German who has resided abroad, and he is assisted 
 by one or two natives, who help the students with 
 their exercises. When vacancies occur in the public 
 service, preference is given to students who have 
 completed their course in this school. 
 
 Austria- Hungary. — In Austria-Hungary there are 
 nine high schools of commerce, eleven intermediate 
 schools, and forty-two schools intended principally 
 for clerks. There is nothing that calls for special 
 notice in the subjects of instruction in these schools. 
 The course of study is very similar to that in the 
 corresponding schools of Germany. The most im- 
 portant of the high schools is in Vienna, and is known 
 
The Vienna High School of Commerce 7 1 
 
 as the Handels-Akademie. It gives two courses of 
 instruction, the one occupying three years and the 
 other two years. The subjects of instruction are 
 nearly the same as those of the French high schools. 
 The methods are different. Great attention is given 
 to the analysis of trade products with the view of 
 detecting adulteration. The school is attended by 
 700 students, who are taught by 34 professors and 
 instructors. The fees for paying students are 16/. a 
 year, and about 150 students are admitted with ex- 
 hibitions covering the whole or part of the cost of 
 instruction. In Germany proper, there is no school 
 exactly corresponding with the Handels-Akademie of 
 Vienna, which has more the character of a com- 
 mercial university than any other institution I have 
 visited. ' The aim of the present Director, Herr 
 Geheimrath Dr. Sonndorfer, has been to make the 
 training suitable not merely for clerks and managers 
 and the like, but more especially for the principals 
 and heads of business concerns, for future bankers, 
 merchants, manufacturers, and political economists of 
 Austria. . . . His object has been, further, not only 
 to train the minds of his pupils, but also to form their 
 characters, and he believes it can be done by the 
 mercantile subjects, with a due admixture of mathe- 
 matics and modern languages, equally as well as by 
 the purely Gymnasial or Real school courses.' ' 
 
 During the winter months the academy is open in 
 
 ' Refort to Associated Chambers of Commerce, p. 27. 
 
72 Industrial Education 
 
 the evening for the instruction of clerks and others 
 engaged in business during the day. 
 
 Italy. — \w Italy, the subject of commercial educa- 
 tion is receiving careful attention. The system of 
 bifurcation commences immediately after a child has 
 left the elementary school. Those intended for indus- 
 trial pursuits pass on to the sorcalled technical school 
 (scuola tecnicd), and thence to the technical institute. 
 Others pass through the corresponding classical 
 schools to the university. The technical institute 
 corresponds to some extent with the higher RecH 
 schools of Germany ; but each institute contains three 
 or more separate departments, in which the instruc- 
 tion is specialised with a view to different branches 
 of industry. 
 
 These institutions, located, for the most part, in 
 ancient convents or monasteries, are found in sixty- 
 five of the principal towns of Italy. They are gene- 
 rally well provided with collections of objects illus- 
 trating natural history, with models of construction in 
 engineering, with specimens of raw and manufactured 
 products, with good chemical laboratories and draw- 
 ing offices. They comprise four or five departments 
 or faculties, one of which is generally devoted to agri- 
 culture and another to commerce. With the specially 
 technical departments I am not now concerned, but 
 the well-arranged collections of natural objects with 
 which these schools or colleges are furnished are most 
 serviceable in illustrating the courses of instruction 
 
Mercantile Training in Italy 73 
 
 in the commercial section. In this section, the study 
 of natural history, chemistry, physics, and mathe- 
 matics occupies a large part of the students' time ; 
 and from twelve to fourteen hours a week are devoted 
 to foreign languages. There is nothing in the pro- 
 gramme of these schools corresponding to the Bureau 
 Commercial of the schools of France and Belgium. 
 The several subjects of instruction are taught by pro- 
 fessors of great ability and reputation, and embrace 
 those of a good modern school. In a country where 
 the commerce consists, to a great extent, of transac- 
 tions in agricultural products, the study of biology, 
 especially in its application to those products, be- 
 comes an important part of the education of the 
 future merchant. Special attention is, therefore, 
 given to the study of organisms affecting the growth 
 of those plants and animals which enter into the 
 commerce of the nation. All the ills to which the 
 vine and cereals, the silkworm and the bee, are liable 
 are minutely studied ; and in this way, the commercial 
 student not only acquires a large amount of informa- 
 tion which will be useful to him in his subsequent 
 career ; but, what is more important, his mind is 
 cultivated and his faculties are developed by studies 
 which are scientifically pursued, and which have 
 direct reference to his work in life. 
 
 But the Italians themselves are not altogether 
 satisfied with their present system, and contemplate 
 making some important changes, with the view of 
 
74 Industrial Education 
 
 better defining the instruction given in their several 
 schools. A professor of the institute at Udine com- 
 plained to me, when I visited the school in the year 
 1 883, of the want of efficient inspection, and of the 
 tendency of the school teaching to become stereo- 
 typed, from the absence of the necessary contact of 
 the professors with the life and trade that is going 
 on outside the school. Others have complained that 
 the technical institute attempts too much, and is 
 too economically managed. It serves as a finishing 
 school for those who on leaving it go at once into 
 mercantile or manufacturing pursuits, and as an inter- 
 mediate school for those who are preparing for higher 
 technical education. It is said to fail between these 
 two objects. Moreover, a great part of the instruc- 
 tion is common to all departments, and is not equally 
 well adapted to the students of each section. The 
 future agriculturist does not want the same mathe- 
 matical teaching as the future engineer ; the professor 
 must go too far for one or not far enough for the 
 other. These complaints, arising from the difficulty 
 of adapting instruction to every one's needs, are 
 heard in other countries also, and have reference to 
 other schools which are not sufficiently specialised. 
 Then, again, it is said that these institutions do not 
 attract the best pupils, and that many of those who 
 subsequently elect industrial, as distinguished from 
 literary pursuits, are educated in the classical schools ; 
 and, further, that the instruction of a technical insti- 
 
Italian Schools of Commerce 75 
 
 tution is deficient in those humanistic elements, the 
 study of which is necessary to the cultivated man, 
 who is to organise or rule other men, be his special 
 calling what it may. 
 
 In Italy, as in other countries, many of the young 
 men who enter commercial life have received their 
 previous education in an ordinary classical school. 
 This is, of course, more frequently the case with sons 
 of well-to-do parents. As children, their careers have 
 not been definitely settled, and their parents have 
 sent them to schools, where they receive the training 
 which enables them to enter the so-called liberal 
 professions. Their future occupation having been 
 determined, it is found necessary to give them some 
 special training before they can enter a merchant's 
 office, and to provide this training the higher schools 
 of commerce have been established. But not only 
 for students of this class has the want of such esta- 
 blishments been felt. The fact already referred to — 
 that in the technical institute many of the courses 
 are common to the several departments, and are 
 followed by all the students — prevents that particular 
 extension and specialisation of the studies, which is 
 thought desirable for those about to enter upon a 
 commercial career. 
 
 The high schools of commerce provide this special 
 instruction for the mercantile profession. One of 
 the best of these schools is that recently opened in 
 Genoa, which has been founded on the model of the 
 
76 Industrial Education 
 
 well-known, but somewhat antiquated, school at 
 Venice, with a curriculum following more closely 
 that of the high schools of Paris. When I visited 
 this school, in April 1887, only the first year's course 
 of study had been arranged ; but I was struck 
 with the thoroughness with which the subject of 
 geography was being taught, with the attention given 
 to the practice of map-drawing, and with the care- 
 fully selected library of works on the history of 
 commerce, on mercantile law and statistics. In a 
 few years the school will take rank with some of 
 the best schools in Europe. 
 
 Belgium. — This country possesses numerous 
 middle schools, the object of which is to prepare 
 youths for commercial pursuits. The fee for instruc- 
 tion in these schools is 2/. iBj. per annum. The fact 
 that the children of the middle classes are destined, 
 for the most part, to earn their livelihood in trade 
 or commerce, is recognised in the general scheme of 
 intermediate education adopted in Belgium, and the 
 course of school studies is arranged accordingly. 
 The youths who are trained in these schools receive 
 that kind of instruction which can be made at once 
 available in their several subsequent occupations. 
 Besides these schools, in which the bulk of the popu- 
 lation, whose education is extended beyond the limits 
 of primary instruction, receive their training, there 
 has existed for some years at Antwerp a commercial 
 academy, in which the principals of a large number 
 
The Antwerp Academy of Commerce 77 
 
 of Belgian firms have obtained their business educa- 
 tion. This academy is one of the oldest of the com- 
 mercial schools of Europe. It sends out annually a 
 number of young men proficient in foreign languages, 
 well trained in commercial science, and with an inti- 
 mate knowledge of the ordinary details of office work. 
 The school is provided with an excellent museum, in 
 which are found well-arranged specimens of all kinds 
 of raw materials and manufactured products. By its 
 system of travelling scholarships the school has been 
 able to form centres of trade in different parts of the 
 world, and the value of the education afforded in the 
 school is fully attested by the readiness with which 
 those who obtain the leaving certificate are enabled 
 to find places in merchants' offices. The reputation 
 of the school is such that for many years it has been 
 attended by a large proportion of foreign students. 
 In the session 1874-75 there were 134 students, of 
 whom 81 were Belgians and 51 foreigners, and in the 
 session 1886-87 there were 134 students, of whom 
 55 were foreigners. The cost of the education is 
 4/. a year for the preparatory class, 8/. for the first 
 year's course, and 10/. for the second year's course. 
 The fee for any special course is 24r. The academy 
 is supported by the students' fees, by a grant of 
 1,800/. a year from the State, and of 450/. from the 
 city. The State and the different provinces in 
 Belgium provide a large number of exhibitions ten- 
 able at the academy. These exhibitions vary in 
 
^ 8 Industrial Education 
 
 value from lo/. to 32/. a year. They are renewable 
 after the first year, and are given to those students 
 only who pass the entrance examination. Such ex-, 
 hibitions are giyen by the provinces of Antwerp, 
 Brabant, Hainaut, Liege. The academy is distinctly 
 the central school for the whole country, 
 
 III. There are several subjects in the curriculum 
 of foreign schools of commerce which require special 
 notice. As has been already pointed out, a large 
 amount of time is devoted to the ^tudy of foreign 
 languages, and the pupils are exercised in reading 
 and writing the forms of documents which they would 
 be likely to meet with in the mercantile office. This 
 system of teaching foreign languages differs essentially 
 from that adopted in our own schools. A boy may 
 leave school, where he has learned for some time 
 French or German, and may be capable of reading, 
 with or without the help of a dictionary, portions of 
 Racine or Moliere, of Schiller or of Goethe. But 
 when he finds himself in a commercial office, and has 
 a French or German business letter placed before him, 
 he discovers that his previous knowledge helps him very 
 little to understand it, and that he is quite unable to 
 reply to it. Even the handwriting presents an initial 
 and not inconsiderable difficulty, and he is wholly 
 unfamiliar with the technical expressions the letter 
 contains. The employer's confidence in the youth's 
 knowledge of foreign languages is thus shaken, and 
 
The Teaching of Foreign Languages 79 
 
 the letter is handed over to the foreign correspondence 
 clerk, who, owing to the special instruction he has 
 received in a commercial school, enters the office with 
 a knowledge and experience which he is able at once 
 to utilise. 
 
 Practice in corresponding in foreign languages 
 is afforded in all schools of commerce abroad ; but 
 one of the distinguishing characteristics of the high 
 schools of France and Belgium, and to a less extent 
 of the academy at Vienna, is the instruction in office 
 practice, which goes by the name of the ' Bureau Com- 
 mercial ' or ' Muster-Comptoir.' By the ' Bureau 
 Commercial ' is meant practice in carrying on between 
 different classes, or comptoirs, mercantile transactions, 
 similar, so far as circumstances permit, to those carried 
 on between mercantile firms in different parts of the 
 world. For example, a student in the German comp- 
 toir is told to suppose himself at Hamburg, and is 
 required to purchase a certain quantity of cotton, say 
 from New York. He writes a letter in German to his 
 supposed agent in New York, asking for particulars 
 as to the cost of the cotton required. This letter, 
 before being sent, is submitted to, and corrected by, the 
 German professor. He receives from another student 
 a reply written in English, in which the particulars of 
 prime cost, package, freight, duty, &c., are expressed 
 in the coinage and weights of the United States. This 
 reply the student translates into French, and his 
 translation is revised by his instructor. The trans-. 
 
8o Industrial Education 
 
 action is then completed by forwarding a bill, which 
 is duly made out by the student. As far as possible, 
 all the incidents of the transaction are brought under 
 the notice of the student, and all the office work con- 
 nected with it is done in the different comptoirs of the 
 school. It is contended that, by introducing a certain 
 appearance of reality into the correspondence con- 
 nected with a commercial transaction, the student's 
 intelligence is exercised, and habits of care and 
 accuracy are formed ; and that a facility is acquired 
 in corresponding in foreign languages which could 
 not be otherwise obtained. It is evident that, in a 
 course of exercises and correspondence extending 
 over a year, and dealing with different kinds of mer- 
 chandise, the student must acquire the ability to read 
 and write foreign business letters, as well as an 
 acquaintance with foreign systems of weights, 
 measures, and coinage, and with arithmetical pro- 
 blems in which these occur. But whether such 
 practical knowledge could be better acquired in 
 a merchant's or banker's office, and whether the 
 time thus occupied at school or college might be more 
 usefully employed in the study of the ordinary sub- 
 jects of instruction, is an educational question which, 
 without further experience of the working of the 
 system, I find it difficult to answer. The evidence I 
 have been able to gather from masters and merchants 
 abroad leads me to believe that this special instruc- 
 tion is highly valued, and the fact that it has been in- 
 
The 'Bureau Commerciar 8i 
 
 traduced into the new school of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce of Paris, and that it is about to be extended to 
 the more recently opened school of the same kind at 
 Genoa, would seem to show that those who have 
 had experience of the working of the system regard 
 this instruction as a useful introduction into com- 
 mercial life. On this point, however, as on many 
 others, doctors differ. The director of the Antvirerp 
 academy informed me that students who had com- 
 pleted the course of Bureau Commercial were much 
 sought after by merchants, who attached the highest 
 value to the instruction. On the other hand, we are 
 told that the director of the Vienna school is of 
 opinion that the system, ' especially for large numbers 
 of pupils, is superficial, and tends to no really useful 
 results.' It is, however, still retained in a somewhat 
 modified form at Vienna, although confined to the 
 work of the last year. In Prague, the French system 
 prevails. What is evidently wanted is to inform 
 young men as to the kind of correspondence 
 which is carried on in commercial houses, and to 
 teach them to conduct the correspondence in foreign 
 languages. Whether this can be best effected by the 
 method adopted in Paris, Antwerp, Prague, or Vienna 
 must for the present be left undecided. 
 
 There is another subject of instruction common to 
 all schools of commerce, of the value of which there 
 can be no doubt — viz., commercial geography. It is 
 a wide subject the study of which, if properly pur- 
 
 G 
 
82 Industrial Education 
 
 sued, might by itself constitute a liberal education. 
 It implies even more than geography, as understood 
 by Professor Geikie, who, regarding it as the study 
 of the earth ' as the dwelling-place of man,' gathers 
 up into it all the sciences which are subservient to 
 man's uses ; for commercial geography may be con- 
 sidered as the study of the earth — first, in its relation 
 to man generally, and secondly, in its relation to the 
 commercial pursuits of man. Such a study involves 
 a knowledge of the elements of physical, political, 
 and ethnological science, and should dominate the 
 greater part of the general science instruction which 
 a student would receive in a commercial school. It 
 includes, among other things, a knowledge of the 
 natural products of different countries, and more 
 especially of those which are of common use in 
 commerce. 
 
 In this country, the subject of commercial geo- 
 graphy has never yet received the attention which 
 its importance demands. In a letter to the late 
 Lord Iddesleigh, appended to the Report of the 
 Commissioners on the Depression of Trade, Com- 
 mander Cameron specifies the various heads under 
 which commercial geography should be studied, and 
 shows how essential is a knowledge of the subject 
 to those engaged in mercantile business. ' In Ger- 
 many,' he says, 'there are no less than fifty-one 
 publications devoted to the cause of commercial 
 geography, and there are many societies specially 
 
Commercial Geography 83 
 
 founded for its study.' ' These societies have agents 
 in various parts of the world, who conduct all sorts of 
 inquiries. They iind out not only what goods are 
 required in various markets, but also the precise mode 
 of packing to suit the idiosyncrasies of buyers. After 
 referring to a number of questions which might be 
 elucidated by a knowledge of commercial geography, 
 Commander Cameron further states, ' The extension 
 of our commerce and its maintenance on a sound and 
 remunerative basis depends greatly upon the know- 
 ledge of commercial geography with which it is con- 
 ducted.'^ And the Commissioners, in their final 
 Report, say, ' In connection with the development of 
 new markets for our goods, we desire to call special 
 attention to the important subject of commercial 
 geography.'' They might have added that it is 
 carefully taught in every foreign school of commerce, 
 and that thousands of youths are annually sent out 
 from these schools with a respectable knowledge 
 of the subject, and with the aptitude for further 
 knowledge, which travelling, and the reading of con- 
 sular reports and the journals of geographical and 
 trade societies, enable them to obtain. In England, 
 the Society of Arts has arranged for examinations in 
 commercial geography, and in other subjects useful to 
 the mercantile student ; but of late no examination 
 has been held in commercial geography, owing to the 
 fact that less than twenty-five candidates, not from one 
 
 ' Commissioners' Reprt, p. 71. ^ Ibid. p. 74. » Ibid. (loi). 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Industrial Education 
 
 centre only, but from the entire kingdom, have presented 
 themselves. Nothing, perhaps, could show more 
 strongly the total neglect of commercial education in 
 this country, 
 
 Closely connected with the teaching of com- 
 mercial geography is the instruction given in all 
 foreign schools in the technology of merchandise {etude 
 des marchandises, Waarenkunde). The teaching of 
 this subject is illustrated by reference to specimens 
 of raw and manufactured products exhibited in the 
 museum which is a part of the equipment of nearly 
 every foreign school. The museum is generally fur- 
 nished by gifts from the Chamber of Commerce, and 
 from merchants resident in the city. The specimens 
 are carefully selected with a view to their educational 
 value. They generally comprise samples of some of 
 the principal raw materials used in commerce in their 
 natural state, and as met with in trade. These are care- 
 fully classified and arranged. The museum also con- 
 tains various substances, principally local, as altered 
 by different processes of manufacture ; diagrams and 
 models illustrating the diseases to which substances 
 of vegetable- and animal growth are liable ; specimens 
 showing the effect of adulteration, and the differences 
 between genuine goods and their counterfeits, and a 
 variety of other things too numerous to mention. In 
 these museums, objects having reference to the trade 
 and commerce of the district occupy a prominent 
 position. In all the newest schools the museum 
 
Commercial Museums 85 
 
 communicates with the lecture-room, in which these 
 commercial ' object lessons ' are given ; and every 
 opportunity is afforded to the students, by the actual 
 handling and tasting of the specimens, by the chemical 
 analysis of some of them, and by the microscopic 
 examination of others, and by general descriptive 
 lectures, of becoming practically acquainted with 
 many of the principal mercantile commodities. 
 
 It is .impossible that a student, during his 
 school course, or, indeed, during life, should obtain 
 a complete knowledge of the various objects found 
 in such a museum. But just as the geologist, quA 
 geologist, is satisfied to know the general characteris- 
 tics of the minerals of which any rock is composed, 
 and the organic remains which are found therein, 
 without possessing the intimate knowledge of these 
 matters which the chemist or biologist should possess, 
 so the commercial student may be satisfied to know 
 such of the properties of the substances he meets with 
 as are essential to his being able to distinguish them 
 as commercial products, without necessarily possess- 
 ing that deeper and more detailed knowledge which 
 the specialist would seek to obtain. Professor Geikie 
 rightly attaches much importance to this study in 
 the teaching of ordinary geography. In his little 
 book on ' The Teaching of Geography ' he says : 
 ' If there are any special industries for which the 
 school district is remarkable, these will, of course, 
 receive due attention. In a village school, situated 
 
86 Industrial Education 
 
 in a rural and agricultural district, for instance, the 
 operations of farming will be fully considered ; in a 
 mining district all that can be intelligibly presented 
 regarding mines and miners will be given with every 
 available illustration. Among spinning mills the 
 history of weaving will be readily appreciated ; and 
 as weaving and spinning are of such universal im- 
 portance they should be fully explained, with such 
 samples of works and drawings of machinery as 
 will give an adequate conception of the nature 
 of these arts.' If it is desirable that the teach- 
 ing of geography should be so illustrated in the 
 lessons given in ordinary schools, how much more 
 important is it that the commercial student should 
 have access to a properly equipped museum, and that 
 he should learn at school something of the properties 
 of the materials he is likely to meet with in his mer- 
 cantile career? Such museums are necessarily of 
 slow growth. Those in the high schools of Vienna 
 and Antwerp • are among the best equipped. The 
 museum of the new school at Paris is full of speci- 
 mens, and is carefully arranged ; and the commercial 
 departments of the district technical institutes of 
 
 ' Besides the school museum connected with the Institut, a com- 
 mercial museum on a much larger scale has been established at 
 Antwerp, and was finally inaugurated on August 4, 1887. Several 
 countries in Europe have forwarded specimens of their produce. 
 Attached to the museum is an Intelligence Department, and all needful 
 information is supplied to manufacturers and merchants respecting 
 foreign markets, trade products, modes of transport, freights, packing, 
 &c. 
 
Commercial Museums 87 
 
 Italy contain museums which are full of objects 
 illustrating all the principal branches of trade carried 
 on in home and foreign markets. 
 
 The study of modern languages and of com- 
 mercial geography, including the technology of mer- 
 chandise and the elements of science underlying it, 
 constitute the groundwork of a commercial education. 
 Of course there are other subjects which a pupil would 
 need to learn. • The importance of an adequate know- 
 ledge of arithmetic and of mathematics cannot be 
 over-stated ; and, under arithmetic, should be included 
 the principles of bookkeeping, and practice in the 
 solution of mercantile problems. Good handwriting 
 is a matter which should receive more attention than 
 is generally given to it in ordinary schools. In the 
 higher schools, there are other subjects, such as 
 mercantile law, the history of commerce, and the prin- 
 ciples of political economy, which should be taught, 
 in order that the student may gain that wide and 
 comprehensive knowledge of his business which gives 
 to professional studies a value as a means of intellec- 
 tual discipline and culture. 
 
 Another important feature of the instruction is 
 the periodic visits of the students, under charge of 
 their professors, to various industrial works. These 
 visits are sometimes extended to factories and busi- 
 ness houses at a distance, and occupy some days. 
 At the Ecole SupMeure de Commerce of Havre, these 
 excursions form a very important part of the instruc- 
 
88 Industrial EducattoH 
 
 tion. In 1883, under the conduct of the director and 
 of the professor of merchandise, eighteen of the stu- 
 dents visited Hamburg and Lubeck. In 1884, two 
 excursions were made, the first to the principal centres 
 of industry in Belgium ; the second, by first year's 
 students, to Hamburg and Bremen. Some of the 
 high schools of commerce have travelling scholarships, 
 tenable for one, two, and three years, which enable 
 the student to reside abroad, to perfect himself in 
 foreign languages, and to learn foreign methods of 
 conducting business. The Belgian Government, be- 
 sides paying three-fourths of the cost of the mainte- 
 nance of the high school at Antwerp, makes an annual 
 grant of 1,800/. for travelling scholarships, which are 
 given, under certain conditions, to the most distin- 
 guished former students who desire to spend some 
 years out of Europe. Each scholarship is of the 
 annual value of between 200/. and 300/. ; and one of 
 the special objects of these scholarships is to en- 
 courage the establishment of commercial houses in 
 colonial and other settlements. The result of this 
 expenditure is said to have been most satisfactory, as 
 shown by the establishment by old students of the 
 Antwerp Academy of flourishing commercial houses 
 in Brazil, Mexico, Melbourne, Sydney, Calcutta, Chi- 
 cago, and other places. To award such scholarships 
 to students who had not previously acquired a know- 
 ledge of foreign languages, and an acquaintance with 
 the commercial geography of the country they intend 
 
Travelling Scholarships 89 
 
 to visit, would be of little use. ' He that travelleth 
 into a country before he hath some entrance into the 
 language, goeth to school, and not to travel,' Bacon 
 tells us ; and what is true of the language is almost 
 equally true, so far as the commercial traveller is con- 
 cerned, of the geography of the country. Of the value 
 of such scholarships, when awarded to those whose 
 minds are previously prepared to take advantage of 
 the opportunities they offer of opening up new com- 
 mercial relations, there can be, I think, very little 
 doubt. 
 
 This brief notice of the facilities for commercial 
 education enjoyed by the principal Continental na- 
 tions, and of the methods of instruction adopted in 
 their schools, cannot fail to impress us with the fact 
 that Englishmen are seriously handicapped in the 
 struggle for their fair share of the commerce of the 
 world. 
 
 IV. In considering what is needful to place us 
 more nearly on a level than we are at present with 
 our Continental rivals in the matter of mercantile 
 training, we should, I think, turn our attention 
 rather to the improvement and adaptation of our 
 existing educational machinery than to the creation 
 of new schools exactly corresponding with any of 
 the different types of foreign schools of commerce. 
 Every encouragement might be given to private en- 
 terprise, to the action of trade societies, or to chambers 
 
go Industrial Education 
 
 of commerce, in the establishment of a limited number 
 of schools of this kind, which, if adequately equipped 
 and properly conducted, might be nearly self-support- 
 ing. But, having regard to the fact that an over- 
 whelming majority of the children who are being 
 educated in our elementary and higher schools are 
 destined for employment in commercial or productive 
 industry, what is needed is not so much the establish- 
 ment of special schools as the adaptation of our 
 whole system of education to their wants and require- 
 ments. 
 
 The demands of commerce alone do not neces- 
 sitate any special alterations in our system of ele- 
 mentary education. As has been pointed out by 
 numerous witnesses who have been heard before the 
 Royal Commission on the Working of the Education 
 Acts, our system of elementary education requires 
 modification, but not specially with a view to the re- 
 quirements of those who are to be engaged in com- 
 merce. The fact that nearly all children educated in 
 our primary schools are likely to begin life by occu- 
 pying humble positions in factories, shops, or mer- 
 cantile houses, should be taken into consideration in 
 framing a curriculum of studies for our elementary 
 schools. It is the neglect of this consideration which 
 has led to the demand for the introduction into these 
 schools of teaching that is at once more useful and 
 more practical. 
 
 There is, however, one matter which affects our 
 
Decimal Units 91 
 
 •primary instruction, whilst it has an important bear- 
 ing on our commerce generally, which ought not to 
 be omitted from the consideration of the question of 
 commercial education, viz. the advantage that would 
 be derived from the general use of a decimal system 
 of coins, weights, and measures. I think that the 
 desirability of such a change ought to be im- 
 pressed upon our Government in connection with 
 the present demand for improved facilities for com- 
 mercial instruction. No very accurate estimate can 
 be formed of the time occupied in our elementary 
 schools in teaching children our unscientific method 
 of estimating measures, weights, and values. It is, 
 however, considerable. In this respect our children 
 are at a great disadvantage compared with the chil- 
 dren of other countries. Their progress in arithmetic 
 is retarded, and the time spent in learning by heart 
 their ' tables ' might be employed in the real work of 
 education. I should say that the substitution of a 
 system of decimal units for our own would result in a 
 saving of time in which a child might acquire a useful 
 elementary knowledge of some foreign language. 
 Perhaps more important than a decimal coinage is 
 the adoption in commerce of the system of weights 
 and measures employed in all scientific investigations, 
 and now in general use throughout Europe. The 
 assimilation of our own to foreign systems would be a 
 great benefit to us. Not only would all commercial 
 calculations in our home trade be greatly simplified. 
 
92 Industrial Education 
 
 but in our dealings with foreign countries the margin 
 of profit, which for reasons already adduced is grow- 
 ing narrower and narrower, could be more exactly 
 determined, and profitable transactions might be 
 undertaken which, from want of precise knowledge, 
 are often neglected as being of too doubtful advan- 
 tage. Trade has become too exact a science to be pro- 
 fitably carried on by those who are not quite certain 
 of the commercial value of their vulgar fractions. 
 
 Whilst it is not desirable for the purposes of 
 commerce that primary instruction should be special- 
 ised, it is most important that it should be continued 
 until the child has obtained a firm grip of the subjects 
 he is taught To this end, leisurely and systematic 
 study is indispensable, and this cannot be hoped for 
 unless children are required to remain at school till 
 the age of fourteen. 
 
 On leaving the elementary school a great ma- 
 jority of the children go at once into the office, 
 the factory, or shop. A few continue their education 
 in some higher school. For both these classes a 
 special training is desirable if they are to be occupied 
 in commercial pursuits. For those who leave school 
 at an early age, ' continuation classes ' are indispens- 
 able, if the greater part of the nation's outlay on ele- 
 mentary education is not to be absolutely lost. I 
 have known numerous instances in which lads of 
 eighteen and twenty years of age have been unable 
 to avail themselves of the instruction given in the 
 
Evening Commercial Classes 93 
 
 technical and science classes now established, in 
 consequence of their having forgotten the little they 
 had learnt in school. In my official capacity I have 
 been asked whether oral examinations might not be 
 substituted for written examinations, in consequence 
 of the difficulty experienced by the candidates of 
 expressing themselves in written language. Among 
 the many excellent features of the German system 
 of education, none is to be more commended than 
 the regulation which compels children who leave 
 school at an early age to attend ' continuation classes ' 
 till the age of sixteen. In this country, where no 
 compulsion exists, every encouragement should be 
 afforded to apprentices in business houses to attend 
 such classes. 
 
 The organisation in all large towns of evening 
 classes, with a well-arranged programme of studies 
 extending over three years, is a necessary part of any 
 system of commercial education. If our clerks are to 
 hold their own against the competition of foreign 
 clerks, opportunities must be afforded to them of 
 making up, by evening instruction, for the deficiencies 
 of their early education. In order that such classes 
 may be established, commercial instruction must be 
 placed on a similar footing to the teaching of science 
 and technology. So long as the system of payment 
 on results continues in force, it should be extended to 
 the teaching of commercial subjects. Until the sense 
 of local responsibility has been further developed, and 
 
94 Industrial Education 
 
 the advantages of local self-government are more 
 fully appreciated, municipal authorities cannot be 
 expected, even if permissive powers are conferred on 
 them, to defray the entire cost of this additional 
 instruction. The State must step in and help. More- 
 over, for some time, at least, the general guidance and 
 control of some central body, which understands and 
 pays due regard to local requirements, would be 
 advantageous ; and this guidance and control could 
 best be secured by a system of examination and in- 
 spection, and by some modified system of payment 
 by results. It is well known that, partly owing to 
 the absence of such system, the Society of Arts failed 
 to organise classes in technology, or to attract candi- 
 dates, except in very small numbers, to its examina- 
 tions ; and the inability to give pecuniary assistance 
 has undoubtedly been one of the causes of the paucity 
 of candidates for its commercial examinations. 
 
 But, in order that the mass of the middle 
 classes may be properly trained for commercial, and, 
 indeed, for industrial pursuits generally, our entire 
 secondary education needs to be remodelled, and . for 
 the first time properly organised. It is the defects of 
 our secondary education which are most affecting 
 the trade interests of the country. And by secondary 
 education I here mean all education between primary 
 and university teaching. It includes the instruction 
 given in the higher elementary, the 'middle,' and the 
 endowed public schools. The technical and com- 
 
Some Present Needs 95 
 
 mercial education which the country needs cannot be 
 provided until the teaching in our secondary schools 
 has been reformed. We are constantly pointing to 
 Germany, as a country, where higher education is more 
 generally appreciated, where scientific knowledge is 
 more widely diffused, where the cultivated classes are 
 more numerous than they are in England. The ex- 
 planation of the difference lies in the better system 
 of secondary education in that country. Our higher 
 elementary schools have yet to be created. Our 
 middle schools are, for the most part, parodies of our 
 higher secondary schools, and these latter provide a 
 training wholly unadapted to the existing requirements 
 of the majority of the people. 
 
 It is not only — nor, indeed, principally — because 
 Germany possesses numerous schools of commerce 
 that she sends forth hosts of well-trained young 
 men to occupy the best posts in foreign commercial 
 houses, and to establish trading stations in all parts 
 of the globe. It is mainly because her system of 
 secondary education is adapted to the wants of the 
 people. Her sons are trained to observe and to think, 
 and what they learn they can utilise in after life. 
 This is not so with us. What we most want are good 
 higher elementary or middle trade schools, and a 
 systematic organisation of our secondary education. 
 
 The higher elementary schools should be similar 
 in many respects to the excellent schools which are 
 to be found in Paris and in the principal manufactur- 
 
96 Industrial Education 
 
 ing towns of France. These schools should have a 
 technical and a commercial side. To the course of 
 study to be pursued on the technical side I shall 
 refer in a later chapter of this book. The commercial 
 side might adopt. a curriculum similar to that of the 
 schools of commerce in Germany, and especially in 
 Bavaria ; but many of the subjects might be studied 
 by the pupils of the technical as well as of the com- 
 mercial side of the school. This is especially the 
 case with English literature, the value of which, as a 
 subject of school instruction, I am glad to see, has 
 not been overlooked in the regulations of the Oxford 
 and Cambridge Board for commercial certificates. 
 Much of the time now spent in teaching disputed 
 grammatical distinctions and antiquated forms of 
 English words might with advantage be devoted to 
 the study of the masters of English, as a preparation 
 for the practice of English composition, and as a 
 means of developing the imagination and of stimu- 
 lating an interest in good books. The claims of litera- 
 ture to occupy a prominent place in our education 
 have been well expressed by Mr. John Morley, who 
 tells us that it ' furnishes the ideas which guide the 
 conduct and mould the character, and it is upon 
 conduct and character that the future of this nation 
 will depend.' 
 
 The curriculum of these schools on the commer- 
 cial side should embrace the following subjects : — 
 English, including literature and history, foreign Ian- 
 
Mercantile Training — Middle Schools 97 
 
 guages, commercial geography and the technology of 
 merchandise, elementary science, arithmetic, including 
 bookkeeping, mathematics, writing, and drawing. 
 
 Many of our existing middle-class schools, if 
 they would give up the profitless teaching of the 
 rudiments of Latin grammar, might provide a com- 
 mercial and technical training adapted to the children 
 of small shopkeepers, of clerks, foremen, teachers, 
 and others, most of whom would be likely to be 
 afterwards engaged in mercantile or manufacturing 
 business. The fees in these schools should be low, 
 and a large number of children, too poor to pay such 
 fees, should be admitted by exhibitions from the 
 public elementary schools, and should thus be enabled 
 to pursue their education on the technical or com- 
 mercial side, according as their tastes or chances of 
 subsequent employment mig^t suggest. By such a 
 system, a boy's life's occupation would be, to some 
 extent, determined for him during his school course, 
 and his education would serve as a fitting preparation 
 for his future work. 
 
 The curriculum I have indicated for the commer- 
 cial side of these intermediate schools would, with 
 some slight modifications, be equally serviceable for 
 girls, who, it may be expected, will be every day 
 more generally employed in public offices, and in 
 certain departments of mercantile houses.' 
 
 ' A few excellent middle schools of modem type have already been 
 established under schemes prepared by the Charity Commissioners. 
 
 H 
 
9 8 Industrial Education 
 
 But besides the creation of such schools, other 
 changes are needed for the satisfactory organisation 
 of our secondary education. The course of study in 
 many of our public endowed schools, including our 
 first grade schools, needs to be modified, that it may 
 be better adapted to the requirements of the several 
 careers in which the pupils of these schools are likely 
 to be engaged. 
 
 In the organisation of our secondary education, 
 our aim should be to prevent, as far as possible, any 
 sudden break between the training of the school and 
 the training we obtain in the active business of life. 
 This discontinuity in our education can only be 
 avoided by teaching in school those subjects the 
 knowledge of which a man or woman may utilise in 
 after life. Now, it may be very desirable, as a pre- 
 paration for certain careers, that children should com- 
 mence at nine or ten years of age to write Latin and 
 Greek verses, and that they should spend from ten to 
 sixteen hours a week in the endeavour to read and 
 write two. ancient languages, which they will never 
 require to write or speak, and the literature of which 
 is well translated. But even if such an education is 
 the best possible trainiing — and I do not deny that it 
 is so — for a small and limited number of children, it 
 -does not follow that all children, how diverse soever 
 their tastes and future careers, should be passed 
 through the same mill. Of course, it is said, that the 
 classics are taught not for their use, but -for the 
 
Mercantile Training — Secondary Schools 99 
 
 intellectual discipline which their study yields, and 
 for the advantage, which is very doubtful, of under- 
 standing the derivation of scientific terms. But, with- 
 out entering upon the arguments for and against the 
 study of Latin and Greek, we may assume that the 
 varied occupations in which men are now engaged, 
 requiring for their successful pursuit highly trained 
 minds, demand greater diversity of preparatory 
 studies than was necessary when the range of learned 
 professions was much more limited. Engineering in 
 all its branches, manufacturing industry, and com- 
 merce now claim to be regarded as callings or pro- 
 fessions, and need as broad and liberal an education 
 as theology, medicine, or law. 
 
 What we want, therefore, are good secondary 
 schools, which offer a wide choice of studies to the 
 pupils. For those who are to be engaged in 
 practical pursuits, the necessary linguistic training 
 should be obtained through the medium of foreign 
 languages, which, in the case of students preparing for 
 commercial life, should form the backbone of their 
 studies. For those who show a taste for technical 
 pursuits, or are likely to be employed in engineering 
 or manufacturing industry, physical science should 
 form the principal subject of instruction ; whilst the 
 classical languages might continue to occupy the 
 major part of the time of those pupils who exhibit 
 any literary aptitude. We require, therefore, schools 
 consisting of three departments — {a) classical, (Ji) 
 
TOO Industrial Education 
 
 science, and {c) modern languages. In each of these de- 
 partments the curriculum'would embrace several other 
 subjects in addition to tlje principal subject ; but 
 neither in the science, nor ip the modern languages 
 department, would the classics form a necessary 
 part of the instruction. The omission of classics 
 would leave time, which does not now exist where 
 even Latin only is taught, for the practical study of 
 physical and chemical science, without neglecting 
 mathematics, literature, and other subjects, which are 
 necessary parts of a liberal education. 
 
 If our secondary schools were thus remodelled, 
 the necessity for separate commercial schools, such 
 as exist in France and Germany, would not be so 
 keenly felt as it is at present. Our clerks and others, 
 who occupy the lower rungs of the commercial ladder 
 would find a fitting training in the elementary 
 school, supplemented by evening instruction ; or on 
 the commercial side of the higher elementary or 
 middle school, supplemented by advanced lessons in 
 evening classes. Others, whose means and social 
 position enable them to hope to obtain higher places, 
 to become representatives abroad of mercantile houses, 
 or to occupy the continually increasingly important 
 post of foreign consul, would find, in the modern 
 language department of a good secondary school, the 
 best preparatory training for a commercial career. 
 
 What is needed to give completeness to the 
 scheme I have sketched out are places of higher 
 
Mercantile Training — Higher Education loi 
 
 instruction corresponding, to some extent, to the Ecole 
 des Hautes Etudes Commerciales of Paris, to the 
 Handds-Akademie of Vienna, and to the new school 
 of Genoa. These establishments are all intended to 
 give the necessary professional training to young 
 persons who have previously received only a general 
 education. Having regard to existing circumstances, 
 it would seem well that these higher commercial schools 
 should form special departments of our metropolitan 
 and provincial colleges. It would be desirable that 
 a distinct course of instruction should be arranged 
 for the students of this department, occupying at least 
 two years, and embracing most of the subjects taught 
 in the corresponding foreign schools. Students should 
 be admitted to this course on passing an entrance 
 examination, and a diploma should be awarded to 
 those who satisfactorily complete it. 
 
 To place this higher commercial training within 
 reach of the poorer classes, leaving scholarships 
 tenable at one of these colleges should be estab- 
 lished in connection with the higher elementary 
 and middle schools to which I have referred. It is 
 often said that scholarships do not benefit the poor, 
 but only those who are in easier circumstances. This 
 is frequently the case when the scholarship is given 
 on the results of a competitive examination open to 
 all comers. But whilst scholarships of this kind are 
 useful, in raising the tone and character of the instruc- 
 tion of the school or college in which they are ten- 
 
I02 Industrial Education 
 
 able, it is desirable to attach leaving scholarships to 
 particular schools, for the benefit of students who can 
 pass the entrance examination of the institution in 
 which they may wish to pursue their education, but 
 whose circumstances are such as not to enable them 
 to compete on equal terms with better-off candi- 
 dates. If some of these scholarships were made 
 available for children from the public elementary 
 schools, who had gone on to the middle schools, 
 another gate would be found through which the 
 children of the poor might enter the university. 
 
 If these changes were introduced into our 
 educational system, facilities for commercial educa- 
 tion would be afforded («) on the commercial side of 
 the higher elementary or middle school ; {p) in the 
 evening commercial classes ; (c) on the modern 
 language side of the endowed public school ; (d') in 
 the commercial department of the local university 
 college ; and adequate training would be thus pro- 
 vided for the various grades and classes of persons 
 who are engaged in the conduct of commercial 
 affairs. 
 
 In the organisation of courses of instruction in 
 some of the specially commercial subjects, which 
 should be taught in most of the schools above re- 
 ferred to, the Imperial Institute might render valuable 
 assistance. This Institute might do for commercial 
 education what the projected Science Museum, with 
 its collection of instruments and apparatus, was in- 
 
The Imperial Institute 103 
 
 tended to do for science teaching. If it fulfils the 
 expectations of its promoters, it will be the centre 
 from which the newest knowledge on commercial 
 matters will radiate. In his address on the work of 
 the Imperial Institute^ delivered in April 1887 at the 
 Royal Institution, Sir Frederick Abel said : ' It will 
 be well within the scope of the Imperial Institute, as 
 an organisation for the advancement of industry and 
 commerce, to promote a systematic improvement and 
 organisation of commercial education ; ' and he indi- 
 cated various ways in which its resources might be 
 made available for the purpose. In helping to 
 systematise and to disseminate the varied and con- 
 stantly growing information which constitutes com- 
 mercial geography, it will perform a useful function. 
 The teachers of this important branch of knowledge 
 have yet to be formed. In the Imperial Institute it 
 is expected that they will have the opportunity of 
 receiving some training. The Institute will contain 
 rooms in which the newest maps of different countries 
 may be studied, and libraries of reference on all 
 subjects connected with the statistics and progress 
 of trade and the history of commerce. Digests 
 will be made and circulated of the valuable consular 
 reports now periodically published ; and gratuitous 
 lectures might be given on the various aspects of 
 commercial geography, and on the best methods of 
 teaching it 
 
 In the organisation of school museums further 
 
1 04 Industrial Education 
 
 assistance may be looked for from the Institute. 
 Such museums, we have seen, are an essential part of 
 the equipment of every foreign commercial school, 
 or department of school. The Imperial Institute 
 will contain numerous well-arranged specimens of 
 the raw and manufactured products of different 
 provinces and districts. From these specimens 
 typical examples of school museums, adapted to 
 different localities and different grades of schools, 
 might be provided, so that the teacher or school 
 manager might see at a glance the kind of museum 
 he ought to endeavour to secure. The conferences 
 to be held at the Institute on mercantile subjects will 
 have their value for the commercial teacher as well 
 as for the commercial agent. Indeed, the Institute, 
 so far as commercial knowledge is concerned, may 
 be expected to serve the purpose of a world in 
 miniature, in which those engaged in education may 
 learn something of the conditions and circumstances 
 under which trade is carried on in different countries, 
 without the trouble and expense of travelling through 
 the world itself 
 
 I have now shown in what ways our existing 
 educational machinery should be modified to meet 
 the new demands on it. A slavish imitation of 
 Continental systems of instruction is not recomr 
 mended, for the educational system of any country is 
 a part of its social and political constitution ; but 
 much may be learnt from the study of foreign schools 
 
A Minister of Education 105 
 
 of commerce, which cannot fail to be of use to us in 
 our endeavours to adapt our own school teaching to 
 the modern requirements of commercial industry. 
 
 What is most needed is better organisation. 
 Very few countries possess more efficient educational 
 agencies than England, and nowhere, perhaps, are 
 they worse organised. Our elementary education is 
 systematically developed ; so, too, are our evening 
 classes in science, art, and technology. All else is in 
 a chaotic condition. The remedy for this state of 
 things has been pointed out by more than one autho- 
 rity on educational matters. It consists in the organi- 
 sation of an Educational Department, presided over 
 by a Minister of Education, whose jurisdiction shall 
 extend to all grades of education, from the primary 
 school to the university. The institution of such an 
 office need not in any way interfere with the valuable 
 assistance which education must always receive from 
 private efforts in the initiation and management of 
 new movements. On the contrary, such movements 
 would, to the extent only that would be necessary 
 and no further, receive State aid. Abroad, it is com- 
 mon to find organisations for providing technical 
 and commercial education, although locally controlled, 
 receiving regular subventions from the State. In- 
 deed, Government supervision may prove an advan- 
 tage, if properly directed, in securing a high standard 
 of efficiency in educational institutions, and in draw- 
 ing public attention to the work they are doing. If 
 
io6 Industrial Education 
 
 such an office were created, the Minister would have 
 cognizance of elementary, secondary, and university 
 education, and many of the anomalies that now exist 
 would disappear, and much uselessly expended energy 
 would be avoided. 
 
 In recommending State interference in secondary 
 education, it is necessary to point out the limits 
 within which such interference is practicable and 
 desirable. The universities have already undertaken 
 the examination, and, in certain cases, the inspection 
 of schools ; and these bodies, with the College of 
 Preceptors, possess greater facilities for such work 
 than the Government would be able, except at a great 
 cost, to provide. What is needed is that all secondary 
 schools should be scheduled, and all teachers regis- 
 tered ; that the Government should be made cog- 
 nizant of, and should have the right of approving or 
 of disapproving, the several schemes of instruction 
 adopted in our schools ; that care should be taken 
 that every town and district is provided with adequate 
 facilities for secondary education, and that the cur- 
 ricula of different schools be adapted to the require- 
 ments of different districts ; that schools in the same 
 district should not unnecessarily, and to their mutual 
 detriment, compete with one another ; and that 
 scholarships should be so employed as to place second- 
 ary education within reach of every child from an 
 elementary school capable of deriving real benefit from 
 it. As regards examination and inspection, it is not 
 
A Minister of Education 107 
 
 desirable that any rigid system should be adopted 
 similar to the Government examination of individual 
 pupils of elementary schools. The greatest latitude 
 consistent with efficiency should be permitted. It 
 should be the duty of the State, however, to see that no 
 school escapes inspection ; and to entrust to certain 
 authorised bodies the duties of examining and in- 
 specting. It might be left to the governors of endowed, 
 and to the principals of private schools, to elect to be 
 examined by any one of such duly nominated public 
 bodies. No one who advocates the appointment 
 of a Minister of Education desires to discourage 
 the multiplication of schools of the most varied 
 character, nor to introduce uniformity either in the 
 methods or subjects of instruction ; nor, indeed, to 
 restrict in any way the free choice of the parent in 
 the selection of the school to which he shall send his 
 son or daughter. What is desired is that the fullest 
 publicity shall be given to the character of the 
 educational work carried on in different schools. 
 Without attempting, except when required to do so, 
 to undertake the duties of examination ; without un- 
 duly interfering with different schemes and methods 
 of instruction, there is abundant useful work in 
 the field of secondary education, which might with 
 advantage be undertaken by the State, and which, if 
 properly discharged by a department responsible to a 
 Minister, might be the means of placing our second- 
 ary education on a more satisfactory basis. 
 
io8 Industrial Education 
 
 It is to the organisation of our secondary 
 education that we must largely look for that improve- 
 ment in the efficiency and capabilities of our industrial 
 classes which we are too apt to believe can be brought 
 about by the establishment of professional schools, 
 whether technical or commercial. Professional in- 
 struction is now an indispensable complement of 
 workshop or office practice, but its efficacy is alto- 
 gether conditional on the fitness, for the practical 
 needs of the people, of our elementary and secondary 
 education, the organisation of which — and, especially 
 as regards commercial training, of the latter — should 
 engage the serious attention of thoughtful statesmen. 
 
I09 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION IN ELEMENTARY 
 SCHOOLS. 
 
 The establishment of large factories, in which goods, 
 formerly made by hand and in small numbers, are now 
 turned out by machinery in thousands, and the prac- 
 tical cessation of the system of apprenticeship, have 
 given rise to various educational wants which now for 
 some years people have been endeavouring to satisfy. 
 Some persons have thought that a new and improved 
 method of teaching trades was needed ; and in many 
 places an attempt has been made to solve the problem 
 by the establishment of apprenticeship schools for the 
 training of workmen. Others have believed that 
 technical universities, in which the highest branches 
 of science might be studied, would supply trained 
 heads of departments ; and that the ' hands ' might 
 be left to pick up their training in the shops. It 
 seemed, indeed, that the development of the principle 
 of division of labour was tending to separate the 
 thinkers from the workers ; and that whilst the 
 former needed the best scientific teaching, the latter 
 required only manual skill. Gradually, however, we 
 
no Industrial Education 
 
 have come to understand that the changed condi- 
 tions of production demand what approaches very 
 nearly to a revolution in our educational methods, 
 and a shunting on to new lines of the instruction given 
 in the several grades of schools. 
 
 All education, to be useful, should have reference 
 to the life-interest of those who receive it ; it should 
 aim at the development of man, with a view to his 
 work in life. For this reason, it is necessary, that the 
 educationist should understand the nature of the 
 subject he has to develop, and should, at the same 
 time, have regard to the environment in which it is 
 to work. 
 
 ' To prepare us for complete living is,' according to 
 Herbert Spencer, ' the function which education has to 
 discharge ; ' and foremost among the ' activities ' which 
 constitute human life, he places those which directly 
 or indirectly minister to self-preservation. A man must 
 be able to gain the means of living before he can dis- 
 charge any of the duties or enjoy any of the pleasures 
 of life. One of the first objects of education, there- 
 fore, should be to give a child such a training as 
 shall prepare him for gaining a livelihood. This is 
 not the only function of education, but is a most im- 
 portant one. A man has to discharge the duties of 
 citizenship, for which social and moral habits have to 
 be formed, based on a knowledge of social and moral 
 laws. His education, if complete, should also enable 
 him to furnish himself with the means of enjoying life 
 
Instruction in Elementary Schools 1 1 1 
 
 irl the wisest manner, and of making the best use of 
 his leisure. But, in any theory of education, it is im- 
 portant to regard education not only as a discipline 
 for the development of mind and body, but also as a 
 training for the proper discharge of the functions and 
 duties of living. Education is not simply a drawing 
 out of the faculties, but is a development of the facul- 
 ties with a view to certain ends. 
 
 Supposing this view to be correct, we have now 
 to apply it to that grade of education which is known 
 as elementary or primary, in order to see to what 
 extent our present system is satisfactory. In dealing 
 with the education given in our public elementary 
 schools, which are intended for the training of children 
 of the poorer classes, we have to remember that 
 the years devoted to school life are necessarily few, 
 and that the schoolmaster's work has to be accom- 
 plished in a very limited period of time. The case 
 is different with the education of the middle and 
 upper classes. The age at which a child leaves 
 school is an important factor in determining the curri- 
 culum of studies to be adopted. For this reason, the 
 primary education of all children cannot be laid on 
 exactly the same lines. If a child is likely to remain 
 at school till the age of eighteen, his education may 
 be built on a broader foundation than if he leaves at 
 the age of thirteen. This fact is recognised in all our 
 public elementary schools, and explains what one so 
 often hears — that the poor man's child knows more 
 
112 Industrial Education 
 
 at the age of ten or eleven than the rich man's child. 
 But the acquisition of knowledge does not by itself 
 constitute education, although there is much in our 
 present system of examination and inspection which 
 might lead one to suppose it does. Whether school 
 life be long or short, it is desirable that it should pre- 
 pare the child for complete living, and should aim at 
 enabling the child to acquire for himself the know- 
 ledge that will prove most serviceable to him. In the 
 education of the children of the poor, due import- 
 ance should be attached to the cultivation of their 
 faculties by exercises, which have reference to their 
 future occupations, and are likely to facilitate the 
 acquisition of manual skill. In our Elementary 
 Education Code of 1870 these principles were not 
 sufficiently considered. The education which it en- 
 couraged was too literary ; it appealed too much to 
 the memory and not enough to the senses ; it relied 
 on teaching too much through the medium of words, 
 and too little by things. The Code of 1 870 had other 
 defects, which subsequent Codes have sought to lessen 
 without attempting entirely to remove. 
 
 It is now, I think, generally understood that the 
 system of ' payment by results ' cannot, in its present 
 form, continue to regulate the distribution of the 
 parliamentary grant in aid of elementary education. 
 Many of the defects in our present methods of in- 
 struction, and in the results that follow therefrom, are 
 traceable to the operation of this system. That some 
 
Payment on Results 113 
 
 such principle may have been at first necessary, and 
 that it has been the means of securing a fairly just 
 distribution of public funds, and of encouraging, up to 
 a certain point, a wholesome rivalry among different 
 schools, may be readily admitted. But the working 
 of the machinery has given rise to evils which were 
 not contemplated when the system was first set in 
 motion ; and the time has now arrrived for the recon- 
 sideration of the whole question. To provide a satis- 
 factory substitute for the present system is not, how- 
 ever, as easy as is sometimes supposed, and must 
 involve some change in the methods of inspection, and 
 possibly in the proportion of the amount of imperial 
 grant to that of local rates in aid of elementary schools. 
 If, however, our teaching is to be improved, the system 
 must be remodelled. Our teachers have shown them- 
 selves worthy of a larger share of confidence than they 
 can possibly receive under the existing Code ; and 
 there can be little doubt that their teaching would be 
 better in proportion as that confidence is increased. 
 
 The restrictions under which the elementary 
 schoolmaster works require to be relaxed. There is 
 no essential difference between his duties and respon- 
 sibilities and those of the head master of a middle- 
 class school largely dependent on endowments for 
 support. What is needed in both cases is that the 
 teachers shall be well trained, and that the inspection 
 shall be thorough, so that the public may be assured 
 that the funds provided are properly applied. If,, under 
 
 I 
 
114 Industrial Education 
 
 the present system, our elementary teaching is me- 
 chanical, the fault is largely due to the machinery by 
 which the teaching is paid for. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Code of 1870 was a great step 
 forward in the educational progress of this country. 
 With all its defects, it laid the foundations of a broad 
 national system of education. If our artisans are 
 behind the artisans of other countries in technical 
 knowledge and skill, they would have been still more 
 backward if the passing of that great measure had 
 been delayed. Among the most active and ardent 
 supporters of technical education at the present time, 
 are the artisans, who have received their education at 
 some of the Board schools, called into existence by 
 the Code of 1 870. The knowledge they have tasted 
 makes them thirst for more. They are able to tell us 
 wherein their early training was defective, and it is 
 they who have helped us to understand the changes 
 in our system that are needed in order to make our 
 elementary instruction a more fitting preparation than 
 it now is for the practical work of life. 
 
 I. — Reading, Writing, and Reckoning. 
 
 The best system of primary education would be 
 one based on an extension of the principles of the 
 Kindergarten. The ideas underlying Frobelism are- 
 applicable to education generally. There should be 
 no break between the training of the Kindergarten 
 and that of the elementary school ; there should be 
 
Reading 1 1 5 
 
 a progressive development in the exercise of the 
 senses by bringing them into closer relation with 
 natural objects. As regards technical education 
 nothing else is needed than that the method of the 
 Kindergarten should be extended to the elementary 
 school. All that is wanted follows from the ap- 
 plication of this principle. Children must, of course, 
 learn to read and write in order that they may com- 
 municate with, and participate in the thoughts of, 
 others. Reading and writing are adjuncts of speech. 
 They are a necessary part of the equipment of every 
 child for the discharge of all the duties of life. At 
 best we can hope to gain by actual experience a 
 small fraction only of the knowledge we should desire 
 to possess. The rest we must acquire by availing 
 ourselves of the experience of others. A great 
 portion of all knowledge can be obtained in no other 
 way. Personal experience cannot tell us what hap- 
 pened a hundred years ago. For a knowledge of the 
 events of past times we are entirely dependent on oral 
 traditions or on books. Geography might be learnt 
 exclusively by travelling, and science by actual ex- 
 periments ; but if we were restricted to such means 
 of information, our knowledge might be much more 
 exact than it is at present, but it would be much 
 more limited. We must depend to a great extent 
 on the labours of others, both of those who have pre- 
 ceded us and of our contemporaries. But education, 
 to be of any value, should enable us, by placing us 
 
1 1 6 Industrial Education 
 
 in similar circumstances, to understand and realise 
 the processes by which the knowledge which we 
 receive, so to speak, second hand, through books, has 
 been acquired. We should know how to verify what 
 we accept as true, by having learnt, by actual ex- 
 perience, how such truths have been ascertained, and 
 how such knowledge has been built up. This applies 
 even to the teaching of history, which is a record of 
 events more or less similar to those which we our- 
 selves from day to day experience ; and, according 
 to the method of instruction, are we enabled to dis- 
 tinguish among the records of the past, between fact 
 and fiction, between what is probable and improbable. 
 Reading, therefore,_is in reality a means of widening 
 our actual experience, and as such is an essential 
 part of education. But, although, in the hands of a 
 skilful teacher, instruction in reading may be made a 
 useful mental discipline, its main object is to fit us to 
 acquire the indispensable means of self-cultivation. 
 
 After reading, writing is the most important part 
 of primary education. Writing is a new language, 
 enabling us to communicate at a distance with our 
 fellow-creatures, and to preserve for future reference 
 our own thoughts. But writing is an art, and as 
 such may be regarded as a part of technical educa- 
 tion. To write well is a useful accomplishment, 
 which has a commercial value. Of late, the art of 
 penmanship has been too much neglected. There is 
 difficulty now in finding youths who write well enough 
 
Writing' 117 
 
 for the various purposes for which good writing is 
 required in business and other offices. More time 
 might, with advantage, be spent in acquiring an art, 
 which would be found serviceable to youths seeking 
 employment at an early age. To enable children to 
 write' clearly and distinctly is a part of primary in- 
 struction ; to enable them to write elegantly belongs 
 to technical or professional education. But, with a 
 very little additional expenditure of time, writing 
 might be so taught as to be commercially useful. 
 
 It has been suggested by very competent autho- 
 rities that the teaching of drawing in its earlier stages 
 may be combined with the teaching of writing. This 
 has not been widely tried. But there is no doubt 
 that the ability to form straight and curved lines, 
 which is acquired by learning to write, may be utilised 
 in drawing exercises, and that very simple combina- 
 tions of the lines used in writing large text-hand 
 may be made to produce various patterns and designs, 
 and help not only to train the hand, but also to 
 exercise the imagination. Much more, however, than 
 this is needed if drawing is to be taught as a useful 
 art in our elementary schools. 
 
 The third of the essential elements of primary 
 instruction is reckoning. I am not here concerned 
 with the best methods of teaching arithmetic. The 
 discussion of this subject belongs to special works on 
 Method. But in the teaching of arithmetic, a basis 
 may be laid for the superstructure of technical educa- 
 
1 1 8 Industrial Education 
 
 tion. To this end too much time should not be 
 devoted, in the earlier stages of instruction, to the 
 explanation of processes. Arithmetic should be 
 taught in the first place as a useful art. The ex- 
 planation of processes involves methods of reasoning 
 with which a young child cannot be expected to be 
 familiar ; and the object of the study is not to teach 
 the theory of numbers, but to give the child the 
 ability to reckon. As an exercise in reasoning, the ex- 
 planation of processes is most valuable, but it belongs 
 to a later period of the child's education. Facility 
 and accuracy of work should first be aimed at. 
 
 In teaching children to reckon, concrete examples 
 ^that is, examples dealing with measurements of 
 actual things — should be preferred to calculations 
 with abstract numbers. 
 
 Far too much time is often spent in complicated 
 exercises in long division, in reducing complex frac- 
 tions to simpler forms, in finding the greatest common 
 measure of two numbers, and in problems which a 
 knowledge of the elements of algebra enables the 
 scholar to solve with ease. A child wants to learn as 
 soon as possible to work out simple exercises on the 
 length and area and contents of things, on weights 
 and measures, and on money values ; and the units 
 of weight and measurement should be such as are in 
 common use, and not those which are found in tables 
 only. As far as possible the child should be exer- 
 cised on measurements which he can himself verify. 
 
Reckoning 1 1 9 
 
 or with which he is at least familiar. A foot-rule 
 may be made to illustrate a number of useful exer- 
 cises in arithmetic, and is a piece of apparatus 
 with which every child should be provided. Sets 
 of weights and measures should, of course, be found 
 in every schoolroom in which arithmetic is taught. 
 The approximate verification of arithmetical ex- 
 amples by actual measurement is a most valuable 
 exercise, as preliminary to technical instruction. 
 The realisation of abstract calculations is most im- 
 portant at all stages of the pupil's progress. Again, 
 short methods should always be encouraged, and ap- 
 proximate results should be accepted, the limit of the 
 error being fully indicated. The time spent in obtain- 
 ing accurate results involving fractions with several 
 figures in the numerator and denominator might be 
 more usefully employed in solving such questions as 
 are likely to occur in actual practice. Indeed, much 
 that is found in nearly all books on arithmetic, under 
 the heading of ' vulgar fractions,' might be altogether 
 omitted or postponed for more advanced instruction. 
 On the other hand, an early introduction to decimal 
 fractions is most serviceable, both in helping to ex- 
 plain our system of notation, and in familiarising the 
 child, at an early age, with the kind of calculations he 
 will afterwards have to make. As illustrating the 
 application of decimals, the child should learn the 
 metric system of weights and measures, a knowledge 
 of which he is likely to require in his .subsequent 
 
1 2 o Industrial Education 
 
 technical work. The several measures should be 
 found in the school for illustration, and should be 
 used for verifying arithmetical exercises. Indeed, no 
 opportunity should be lost of quickening the intelli- 
 gence of children, and of stimulating their observing 
 faculties, by constantly directing their attention to 
 actual things. It is the teaching through the medium 
 of abstract ideas that fails to impress, and generally 
 wearies the child. Technical education is essentially 
 a real education, and as such its method is to proceed 
 from things to their properties, and thence to the prin- 
 ciples that connect these properties with one another. 
 To no class of children is methodical instruction of 
 so much moment as to those who are being educated 
 in our elementary schools. If children continue their 
 schooling to the age of seventeen or eighteen there 
 is time to correct early mistakes; but in the case 
 of children who leave school at the age of twelve 
 or thirteen every hour is of importance, and should 
 be fully utilised. In the teaching of arithmetic an 
 excellent opportunity occurs of laying the founda- 
 tion of a child's technical education. No subject of 
 instruction lends itself more easily to the development 
 of habits of accurate and exact thought, and to the 
 training of the rudimentary reasoning faculties of 
 the child. And this disciplinary value the study of 
 arithmetic may be made most readily to yield, by 
 teaching the subject in connection with its practical 
 applications. 
 
Elementary Technical Instruction 121 
 
 II. — Drawing and Modelling. 
 
 If education is to prepare us for complete living, 
 the instruction given in our elementary schools must 
 do more for our children than place them in a posi- 
 tion to gain information through the medium of 
 books. It has been often said that if you enable a 
 child to read, and to understand what he reads, you 
 place him in a position to gain, by his own efforts, any 
 further amount of knowledge, and that the duty of 
 the State, so far as education is concerned, is thereby 
 discharged. But this view of the functions of educa- 
 tion is too limited. Reading is not the only, nor 
 indeed the chief, key to knowledge. Reading can 
 only give us facts and truths at second hand. No 
 education is complete, how elementary soever it may 
 be, which does not show us the methods by which 
 knowledge has been created, and give us some train- 
 ing in their use. Observation and experiment are 
 the instruments of knowledge which we employ con- 
 tinuously through life ; and education, if it is to fulfil 
 its purpose, must prepare us to use these instruments. 
 The recognition of this fact brings into prominence 
 the importance of the early training of our senses, and 
 the advantages of exercising the organs we employ in 
 observing and in testing. 
 
 If I were writing on elementary education gene- 
 rally, I should have to consider the best means to 
 be adopted for the development of the social and 
 
122 Industrial Education 
 
 moral faculties of the child, the necessary training for 
 the inculcation of habits of truthfulness, unselfishness, 
 and thrift, and for the formation of character. It is 
 needless to point out that success in life depends as 
 much upon the possession of these qualities as upon 
 the power of acquiring scientific knowledge or tech- 
 nical skill. But our inquiry is limited to the con- 
 sideration of the subjects and methods of instruction, 
 which should be introduced into the curriculum of our 
 public elementary schools, in order that the education 
 provided in them may prove a suitable preparation 
 for industrial life. 
 
 For this purpose, it is now evident that the old 
 literary or ' bookish ' education is inadequate, and we 
 have to consider in what way it needs to be supple- 
 mented. In the first place, we have to realise the 
 fact that, for the majority of mankind, to live by the 
 sweat of the brow means to live by the labour of the 
 hand ; and that the hand is a powerful and delicate in- 
 strument, capable at once of answering to the call of 
 the strongest muscles of the body, and of responding 
 to the keenest perception of the eye. It is the instru- 
 ment of skilled and of unskilled labour ; and it is the 
 function of education to adapt it to the uses of the 
 former. The recognition of the importance of culti- 
 vating the hand, not only as an instrument of artistic 
 skill, but also as an organ for acquiring knowledge, is 
 a distinguishing feature of the New Education. The 
 hand, properly cultivated, helps to convey to the mind 
 
Hand-culture 123 
 
 accurate information of the external world, and is 
 the instrument by which mental images of form and 
 beauty are impressed upon crude and shapeless 
 matter. It is a channel through which the mind is 
 enabled to perceive the properties of things, and the 
 impleqient by which it impresses upon things its 
 own ideas. The artisan who fixes in clay, in wood, in 
 ivory, or in silver the forms of beauty projected from 
 his mind is a true poet. 
 
 There are many ways in which hand-culture may 
 be made a part of elementary education. The 
 methods of the Kindergarten should be continued. 
 Part of the value of Frobelism lies in its suggestive - 
 ness for utilising the hand in acquiring knowledge 
 through things, and in representing in things the 
 pictures of the mind. One of the first and simplest 
 means of cultivating the hand and of making the hand 
 and eye work in harmony is in the teaching of draw- 
 ing. Educational theory and the needs of practical 
 life alike prove to us that drawing lies at the very 
 root of what we call ' technical ' instruction. It seems 
 strange to us, that whilst many subjects should 
 have been taught in our elementary schools the 
 usefulness of which, whether considered from the 
 point of view of educational discipline or of value in 
 practical life, is very questionable, drawing, which 
 fulfils all the conditions of a subject for school 
 instruction, should have been, in this country so 
 generally neglected. 
 
124 Industrial Education 
 
 .There is almost a consensus of opinion among 
 persons who have thought about the subject, as to the 
 necessity of making drawing an obHgatory part of 
 elementary education. It is the most important of 
 all the means suggested for the training of the hand 
 and eye ; its practical uses in industrial life are 
 universally recognised ; and, as mental discipline, its 
 value is attested by the stimulus it affords to the 
 accurate observation of things. As a universal 
 language, it ought to be taught to all. By writing, 
 we are understood by those only who know the 
 language in which we write ; but drawing affords a 
 means of expression which all who run may read. 
 To the artisan, drawing is essential that he may 
 be able to receive or to give instructions arid to 
 properly understand his own work. To be taught 
 to draw is as essential to a child who is to be employed 
 in any one of the mechanical arts as to be taught to 
 speak or to write. It is one of the three modes of 
 expression which every one should have the oppor- 
 tunity of learning. To make the teaching of drawing 
 obligatory in all elementary schools is the first reform 
 needed to adapt our system of education to the 
 practical requirements of life. 
 
 A distinction must be made between freehand and 
 geometrical or linear drawing. All children may and 
 should be taught a little of both ; but some children 
 show an aptitude for the former which should be 
 encouraged, and may be the means of determining 
 
Drawing 125 
 
 their future occupation. There are many children, 
 however, who have Httle or no artistic perceptions ; 
 and these, after having learnt the elements of freehand 
 drawing, should be permitted to discontinue it for the 
 more essential study of geometrical or linear drawing. 
 If the Kindergarten teaching be followed up without 
 any break, it will be found that the majority of children 
 of the second or third standard will be able to sketch, 
 with more or less accuracy, some of the simpler things 
 they see around them. Very few of these are likely 
 to develop into artists or designers ; but all will have 
 derived immense benefit from the habit of looking 
 at things closely and carefully, as they must do, to 
 represent them, how imperfectly soever, on paper. 
 The cultivation of the habit of accurate observation, 
 which is acquired by drawing, is a part, and a very 
 important part, of the discipline of science ; and in 
 this way, and indeed not only in this way, the one 
 study assists the other. But, in order that drawing 
 may yield its full value as a means of mental training, 
 the pupil must be brought face to face with natural 
 objects. It helps him little or nothing that he can 
 copy copies. He must depict things. He must look 
 at things till he knows them, and must acquire the 
 ability to represent them on paper. There is this in 
 common between science-teaching and art-teaching, 
 that both should bring the pupil into immediate con- 
 tact with nature. It is because drawing may be made 
 the means of directing observation to the form of 
 
126 Industrial Education 
 
 things that the teaching of it is valuable, apart alto- 
 gether from the use which the pupil may make of the 
 skill acquired. It is desirable, therefore, that the 
 pupil should be taught from the very first to draw 
 from natural objects. Much difference of opinion ha.= 
 been expressed as to the advantage of letting children 
 commence by drawing from things ; but the prevailing 
 practice of the best foreign schools is found to fully 
 support the views of educationists as to the importance 
 of accustoming the child, as soon as he can use a 
 pencil or a brush, to draw from real objects. 
 
 And in teaching drawing, the brush should be 
 more generally used than it is at present. Children do 
 not see things in outline, but as occupying a coloured 
 portion of space. They should be taught to represent 
 them as they see them ; and should, therefore, be 
 encouraged to draw with the brush in colour. Not 
 only do they thus obtain a more adequate representa- 
 tion of the external object, but the exercise of painting 
 is more interesting to the child than that of outline 
 drawing, and he obtains, in addition to his knowledge 
 of extended form, a knowledge of differences of shade 
 and colour. Many children who show little aptitude 
 or inclination for drawing with the pencil are pleased 
 and interested by the use of paints ; and there is little 
 doubt that drawing would be more generally liked as 
 a study, if the brush were substituted for the pencil in 
 teaching it. 
 
 But there is no better way of selecting for further 
 
The Teaching of Drawing 127 
 
 training those children who exhibit any decided art- 
 aptitude than by teaching drawing indiscriminately to 
 all. From those who exhibit such an aptitude the 
 bulk of industrial designers would be formed. It has 
 been shown by competent authorities that design can 
 be taught more easily than has been generally 
 supposed, and at a much earlier stage of a pupil's 
 progress. With a view to the training of industrial 
 artists, it is a matter of the greatest importance that 
 children should be early taught the principles of 
 design. Much of the Kindergarten practice is exer- 
 cise in design, and this should be continued in the 
 elementary school.' Children showing any special 
 skill in drawing will afterwards apply that skill to 
 the practice of this craft, and will thereby add beauty 
 to every piece of work that passes through their 
 hands. Notwithstanding the great development of 
 production due to the application of machinery to 
 nearly every branch of industry, the taste and desire 
 for handwork is on the increase. But such hand- 
 work, to be readily saleable, must bear upon it the 
 impress of artistic skill. Moreover, as the ability 
 to create beautiful and suitable designs — not only 
 in materials to be fashioned by the hand, but also 
 in those to be wrought by machinery — depends 
 greatly upon the designer's knowledge of the ma- 
 terial itself, and of its adaptability to the pattern, the 
 
 ' See Caurs EUmentaire de dessin dmain libre, by Van Der Haeghen, 
 for a notice of the Belgian system of instruction. 
 
128 Industrial Education 
 
 artisan who is familiar with the material, and with 
 the processes by which the design may be repro- 
 duced, is better qualified than any one else — provided 
 only he has received a proper training— to become an 
 industrial designer. Here we see the great economic 
 advantage of teaching drawing and design to the 
 children of the working classes, i.e. to our future arti- 
 sans. If they receive a suitable art training there is 
 nothing their hand touches which their hand may not 
 beautify. Not only will the worker in metal, wood, 
 or lace prove the best designer of new patterns to be 
 wrought in these materials, but he may add original 
 grace and beauty to his labour which will enhance 
 considerably its value. It is nothing else than the 
 neglect of art training that has made us as dependent 
 as we have hitherto been on foreign artists for 
 original designs in nearly every kind of material and 
 fabric, and has led to the importation in such large 
 quantities of fancy articles, showing taste and beauty 
 and artistic skill. If our handwork and the products 
 of our machinery are to hold their own in beauty of 
 design with those of other countries, the foundations 
 of artistic training must be laid in our elementary 
 schools. 
 
 But there is another branch of drawing which is 
 equally, if not more, essential as a part of the in- 
 dustrial education of all children, viz. mechanical or 
 linear drawing. Nothing is better worthy of imita- 
 tion than the methods by which this kind of drawing 
 
Linear Drawing 129 
 
 is taught in the day and evening schools of France 
 and Belgium. The absence of such instruction has 
 already proved a serious disadvantage to many of 
 our English artisans. By drawing to scale, children 
 learn to represent the plan and elevation and the 
 different sections of simple objects, and also to read 
 and understand working drawings when placed be- 
 fore them. Such instruction lies at the very root 
 of technical education. Although more essential to 
 boys who are likely to be engaged as carpenters, 
 masons, cabinet-makers, mechanics, or in other con- 
 structive industries, drawing to scale is scarcely less 
 useful to tailors, shoemakers, and dressmakers. More- 
 over, whilst there are many children who show no 
 natural aptitude for freehand drawing, and who are 
 wanting in imagination and in the faculty of repre- 
 sentation, which might enable them to become suc- 
 cessful artists or trade designers, there are none who 
 cannot be taught to use drawing instruments, and 
 scarcely any to whom the instruction will not prove 
 serviceable. There is, too, an educational value, as 
 mental discipline, in the instruction, quite apart from 
 its usefulness, in the practice of the arts, that fully 
 corroborates the important dictum of Herbert Spencer, 
 which should be exalted into a pedagogic axiom : 
 The education of most value for guidance must at the 
 same time be the education of most value for dis- 
 cipline- 
 
 There is another hand-exercise, which, following 
 
 K 
 
1 30 Industrial Education 
 
 on Kindergarten practice, should form part of the 
 curriculum of elementary schools, viz. modelling in 
 chiy. Modelling may be regarded as the complement 
 of drawing. In its earlier states it is an easier, and 
 is generally found to be a more interesting exercise. 
 The first efforts of the pupil should be directed to 
 the production in clay of a fac-simile of some simple 
 solid object, such as an orange or a pear. The 
 resemblance between the object and the clay model 
 will be more easily recognised by the child than the 
 likeness of the object to its outline on paper. In 
 the production of the solid model there is a gratifica- 
 tion of the sense of power, which affords the child 
 more satisfaction and pleasure than in making a re- 
 presentation of the object on a flat surface. The 
 training of the eye in appreciating form and size is 
 very valuable, as is also the exercise of the hand in 
 translating into the concrete the visual impressions. 
 Any one who has witnessed the concentration of 
 thought shown by children engaged in modelling, and 
 their successive efforts to make their model similar in 
 shape and size to the object before them, will realise 
 the value of such lessons as sense exercises. Lessons 
 in modelling may be easily graduated, and as the 
 pupil advances he may be taught to model from ordi- 
 nary drawings, producing in relief what he sees in 
 the flat. The relation between an object and its pic- 
 ture will be best understood when a child can correctly 
 depict the object on a flat surface, and can, conversely, 
 
Modelling 1 3 1 
 
 produce a solid object from its pictorial repreisenta- 
 tion. The skill acquired by modelling is of great 
 practical use in the plastic arts, but as a subject of 
 elementary education its value is greatest as an edu- 
 cational discipline. 
 
 Modelling requires very simple and inexpensive 
 appliances, and it can be taught with equal advan- 
 tage to boys and girls. 
 
 Ill . — Woodwork. 
 
 The advantages of a further development of hand- 
 culture than is possible through the teaching of draw- 
 ing and modelling have been much canvassed of late 
 years, but the prevailing opinion is decidedly favour- 
 able to the introduction of some kind of handwork 
 in schools, by which boys may learn the use of ordi- 
 nary tools, and may acquire some skill in the con- 
 struction, in an easily workable material, of simple 
 objects from properly executed drawings. It is to 
 the French that we mainly owe the encouragement 
 which has lately been given to the teaching of wood- 
 work in schools. Although the system adopted in the 
 well-known Communal School in the Rue Tourne- 
 fort ' has not been generally followed in France, nor 
 in other countries, the efforts of M. Salicis, the founder 
 of the school, seconded by M. Laubier, the present 
 
 ' For a full description of the work of this school see Le Trmiai 
 Manuel, by D. Laubier and A. Bourgerret, Paris, 1887. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Industrial Education 
 
 head master, have been successful in directing atten- 
 tion to the importance, both from an educational and 
 economical standpoint, of handicraft instruction ; and 
 in the year 1886, out of 174 primary schools sup- 
 ported by the City of Paris, 95 were provided with 
 workshops ; 90 for instruction in carpentry and wood- 
 turning, and 5 for metal work. 
 
 In these schools, the manual teaching has hitherto 
 been given either before or after the ordinary school 
 hours, but the Municipal Council of Paris attach such 
 importance to this training that it is proposed to 
 make the workshop instruction a part of the regular 
 school curriculum. In the higher elementary schools 
 of France the training is carried to a much more ad- 
 vanced stage. Belgium has followed France in recog- 
 nising the advantages of workshop training, and in 
 the United States a public opinion in favour of 
 manual training is being rapidly formed, which pro- 
 mises to exert an important influence upon the 
 educational and industrial progress of the American 
 people.' In Germany and Switzerland, workshop 
 instruction has not yet been introduced into the 
 popular schools ; but a seminary has been established 
 at Leipzig for the training of elementary teachers in 
 woodwork and in other branches of handicraft. In 
 Sweden, ' Slojd ' is generally taught in elementary 
 schools. The Ambachts schools of Holland and the 
 
 ' See the monographs and other publications issued by the ' Indus- 
 trial Education Association,' New York, U.S. 
 
Instruction in the Use of Tools 133 
 
 Fachschulen of Austria contain workshops, but these 
 are properly higher elementary or trade schools. 
 
 It cannot be too often repeated that the object of 
 workshop practice, as a part of general education, is 
 not to teach a boy a trade, but to develop his facul- 
 ties and to give him manual skill ; that although the 
 carpenter's tools may be employed as instruments of 
 such training, its purpose is not to create carpenters. 
 The absence of any good word to express all that is 
 implied by manual instruction, as given by a com- 
 petent teacher, is one of the causes of the lingering 
 belief that the object of the instruction is to make 
 tradesmen, who, it is justly said, can be much better 
 trained in the shop. To dispel this illusion it is 
 necessary to explain what are the objects and advan- 
 tages of the instruction, and by what means they can 
 best be realised. It would be some gain if the Swedish 
 word ' Slojd ' could be employed to indicate the sys- 
 tem of instruction. But, unfortunately, ' Slojd,' which 
 is a very good term, supposed to be connected with 
 the English word ' sleight,' as used in the phrase 
 ' sleight of hand,' implies a particular system of 
 hand culture, which is, no doubt, well enough adapted 
 to the industrial conditions of Sweden, but differs in 
 many respects from the system which, with such ex- 
 perience as we have already gained, can be recom- 
 mended for adoption in this country. The term ' Slojd,' 
 or ' Sloyd,' however, might be accepted as a general 
 name for workshop instruction, the object of which is 
 
134 Industrial Education 
 
 not the teaching of any particular trade ; whilst the 
 method of the instruction might vary in different 
 countries, or even in different parts of the same 
 country, according to the views ol the teacher or the 
 wants of the pupils. 
 
 As a discipline supplementary to that of drawing 
 and modelling, workshop instruction, by whatever 
 name it may be called, is valuable as teaching a 
 knowledge of substance in addition to that oi form. 
 Moreover, under competent instructors, it may be 
 made an instrument of education similar in many 
 respects to practical science. The operations to be 
 performed in the workshop are less delicate, the in^ 
 struments are more easily understood, the substances 
 employed are more ordinary ; but the training is very 
 similar, and in so far as the faculties exercised are 
 those of observation rather than of inference, the 
 training, educationally considered, is a fitting intro- 
 duction to laboratory practice. Moreover, the skill 
 required in the workshop is particularly useful to the 
 laboratory student, in enabling him to make and 
 fit apparatus, and in giving him that adroitness on 
 which progress in scientific work so much depends. 
 Whilst manual training is valuable in the education 
 of all persons — a fact which is already recognised 
 by the head masters of several of our public schools 
 — the usefulness of this kind of training is much 
 greater in the case of the children of the working 
 classes, whose education is too limited, and often too 
 
Advantages of Manual Training 135 
 
 hurried, to admit of any practical science teaching, 
 such as older children obtain, and to whom the skill 
 acquired is of real advantage in inducing in them an 
 aptitude and taste for handicrafts, in facilitating the 
 acquisition of a trade, and possibly in shortening the 
 period of apprenticeship, or of that preliminary train- 
 ing which in so many occupations takes the place 
 of it. 
 
 An objection is sometimes raised to the introduc- 
 tion of wood-work into elementary schools on the 
 ground that, as the children of the poorer classes 
 necessarily leave school at an early age, and spend 
 their lives for the most part in manual labour, such 
 time as they can give to study should be occupied in 
 other pursuits — in cultivating a taste for reading, and 
 in the acquisition of useful knowledge. This objection 
 is due to a misconception of the true objects and 
 aims of education, and to an imperfect acquaintance 
 with the methods adopted in workshop instruction. 
 People often talk and write as if school-time should be 
 employed in teaching those things which a child is not 
 likely to care to learn in after-life ; whereas the real 
 aim of school education should be to create a desire 
 to continue in after-life the pursuit of the knowledge 
 and the skill acquired in school. In other words, 
 the school should be made, as far as possible, a pre- 
 paration for the whole work of life, and should natur- 
 ally lead up to it. The endeavour of all educators 
 should be to establish such a relation between school 
 
136 Industrial Education 
 
 instruction and the occupations of life as to prevent 
 any break of continuity in passing from one to the 
 other. The methods by which we gain information 
 and experience in the busy world should be identical 
 with those adopted in schools. 
 
 But in order that the teaching may not degenerate 
 into mere craft lessons, the methods of instruction 
 must be carefully considered. That the training of 
 the hand and eye, and the development of the mental 
 faculties are the objects to be aimed at, should never 
 be lost sight of In many respects the instruction 
 should partake of the character of ordinary object- 
 lessons. Before the pupil commences to apply his 
 tools to the material in hand, he should learn some- 
 thing of its nature and properties. The teacher should 
 briefly explain the distinguishing characters of the 
 different kinds of wood, as met with in the shop, and 
 as found in nature, and also the differences in the 
 structure and the properties of wood, according to its 
 treatment. He should further illustrate his lessons 
 by reference to specimens and examples, a collection 
 of which should be found in every school workshop. 
 Something should be said of the countries from which 
 timber is imported, and the conditions under which 
 it is bought and sold. In this way the material to 
 be manipulated should be made the text of a series 
 of scientific object-lessons. Concurrently with the 
 practice in the use of any tool, the pupil should learn 
 its construction, and the reason of its shape. The 
 
Method of Workshop Instruction 137 
 
 foot-rule, the saw, the plane, and the chisel, might 
 each serve as an object-lesson for the pupils. The 
 teacher should also explain the purposes of the dif- 
 ferent parts of constructive work, and should have 
 models of tenon, mortise, dovetailing, and other joints 
 to illustrate his explanations. Fifteen or twenty- 
 minutes thus spent might be made the means of 
 stimulating and of exercising the observing and 
 reasoning faculties of the children, and of enabling 
 them to fully understand the work they are doing and 
 the instruments they are using. 
 
 Further, the children should be taught as soon as 
 possible to work from correct scale drawings from their 
 own rough sketches. However simple the object may 
 be which 'the pupil is to construct, it should exactly 
 correspond with his own drawings. In this way, the 
 workshop instruction supplements and gives a mean- 
 ing to the drawing lesson, and the school teaching is 
 made to have a direct bearing upon the subsequent 
 work of the artisan. Dr. Woodward, the instructor of 
 the St. Louis Manual Training School, who has had 
 considerable experience in organising and superintend- 
 ing workshop instruction, tells us : — ' The habit of 
 working from drawings and to nice measurements 
 gives to students confidence in themselves altogether 
 new ; ' and he justly claims ' that it is the birthright 
 of every child to be taught the three methods of ex- 
 pression : — 1st, by the written, printed, or spoken 
 word ; 2nd, by the pencil and brush, using the various 
 
138 Industrial Education 
 
 kinds of graphic art ; 3rd, through the instrumentality 
 of tools and materials which enable one to express 
 thought in the concrete.' ' 
 
 Great use should be made of the black-board in 
 these lessons, and the pupil should be practised in 
 copying on paper, from drawings produced on the 
 black-board by the teacher, plans and sections of 
 different kinds of joints, and of simple objects. The 
 value of the lessons consists in the combination of 
 descriptive object lessons with geometry, drawing, 
 and constructive work. 
 
 Both as regards the descriptive and practical in- 
 struction, a careful scheme of lessons should be pre- 
 pared by the teacher, so that the pupils may be taken, 
 step by step, from simpler to more difficult tasks. 
 
 The experiment of introducing workshop instruc- 
 tion into public elementary schools has recently been 
 tried, under very favourable conditions, by the School 
 Board for London. Six schools were selected, three 
 on the north of the Thames, and three on the south, 
 and children were admitted to the classes from the 
 neighbouring schools. The necessary funds were 
 supplied by the Drapers' Company, and the scheme 
 , of instruction was elaborated by a joint committee of 
 the School Board and of the City Guilds Institute^ 
 The syllabus, as approved by the committee, is given 
 on the adjoining page. 
 
 ' International Conference on Education, London, 1884, vol, ii., 
 p. 58. 
 
Scheme of Workshop Instmction 139 
 
 
 
 
 bfi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 •S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 '>^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 blo 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 = 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 ) Hingi 
 
 ) Knots 
 &c. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 .^ VJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 &H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 M 
 
 -a 
 
 •s 
 
 OJ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 go. 
 
 cordmg 
 
 odel 
 
 rawing. 
 
 c 
 .2 
 
 1 
 
 to 
 
 mple Ubj 
 unded 
 mple Joi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 U 
 
 §i« 
 
 SSQ 
 
 gm'SK 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 b 
 
 u 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 -< 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 K 
 
 _a_ 
 
 
 *5S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Ph 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >*- 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 **- ^ 
 
 «*- 
 
 L4-1 
 
 
 1 L 1 
 
 
 g 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 0_c 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 D 4) bJO 
 
 ■^■s.s 
 
 5 
 
 OS 
 
 < 
 u 
 
 5 
 
 Oh 
 
 Measuring and S 
 ing to line. 
 
 Squaring piece 
 wood. 
 
 
 
 
 Is 
 1 
 
 c ^ 
 
 .2 ° 
 
 P 
 
 bO 
 
 c 
 '0 
 *— > 
 
 (f) Connection 
 tween Mi 
 and Draw 
 
 
 
 
 tion. 
 ation. 
 
 i 
 
 
 Set. 
 
 .bove, 
 etail. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Q. 11 
 
 s 
 
 
 "ti 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■Ji H 
 
 ri 
 
 I 
 
 
 Descri 
 Manipi 
 
 
 
 Centre 
 
 /), c) As 
 less of 
 
 •si 
 1 
 
 •3 
 3 
 
 
 i 
 
 be spi 
 reated. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 " ■" 
 
 
 kJ 
 
 
 -S. £- 
 
 VJ 
 
 
 -S- 
 
 
 _e. 
 
 
 -*i 
 
 ■ H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 w ^^ 
 
 fO 
 
 
 
 
 ■* 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Q 
 
 "0 
 
 £ S 
 
 
 'o 
 
 g- 
 
 
 
 
 
 i'o'S 
 
 
 P 
 
 « . 
 
 cfip 
 
 
 
 « el 
 
 
 
 
 
 of p 
 mens 
 2 form 
 re. 
 
 
 > 
 2 
 
 .i| 
 
 
 
 
 Woods. 
 
 rf) Heartwood 
 wood, & 
 
 
 
 
 
 P-H 
 
 
 
 E 
 
 
 U 
 
 P 
 
 
 1.^ 
 
 2 
 
 i) Felling 
 sonin 
 ber. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Museum 
 pared speci 
 woods to bi 
 in each cent 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 "^^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
140 Industrial Education 
 
 This scheme has not been sufficiently long in 
 operation to enable any judgment to be passed on 
 the results. But it would seem that it is on such lines 
 as these that workshop instruction must be given, if 
 it is to form a part of the ordinary curriculum of our 
 elementary schools. 
 
 In organising a scheme of technical teaching in 
 connection with our elementary schools, the difficulty 
 has to be met of obtaining good teachers and 
 competent inspectors. The artisan who is a skilful 
 workman and nothing more may succeed in teaching 
 the elements of carpentry and joinery ; but he is not 
 the kind of teacher needed. It is of the utmost im- 
 portance that the teacher should be a good draughts- 
 man, should have some knowledge of physical science, 
 should be a fairly expert workman, and should have 
 studied the art of teaching. To obtain at first such 
 ideal ^ instructors would be impossible ; but there is 
 no reason why gradually they should not be trained. 
 Two processes suggest themselves. We might take 
 a well-trained elementary teacher, having an aptitude 
 for mechanical arts, and give him a course of instruc- 
 tion in the use of tools, either in a technical school or 
 in an ordinary workshop. Or, we might take an in- 
 telligent artisan, who had studied science and drawing 
 in some of the excellent evening classes which are 
 now found in almost every town, and give him a 
 short course of lessons on method in relation to 
 workshop instruction. Good teachers might be ob- 
 
Technical Instructors 141 
 
 tained by either of these processes. But the former 
 is certainly preferable, for the simple reason, that the 
 instruction should be regarded as a part of the general 
 education of the boy, not as a part of his apprentice- 
 ship. The trained teacher who has received a course 
 of workshop instruction will undoubtedly be better 
 able to make his lessons yield educational discipline 
 than the tradesman who has had no pedagogic ex- 
 perience. On the other hand, the expert carpenter 
 would be preferable if the object of the instruction 
 were to teach the boy a trade. The great difference 
 between the two instructors is — that the one has a 
 deeper insight into the nature of the children, and 
 the other a more thorough acquaintance with the 
 practical details of the work in which they are en- 
 gaged. Of course, a knowledge of the materials 
 employed and sufficient manipulative skill are abso- 
 lutely essential for the teacher of woodwork ; but no 
 less essential for the teacher of young children is a 
 knowledge of the methods of instruction, founded on 
 some acquaintance with the psychology of child-life. 
 
 At the Central Institution of the City Guilds, 
 classes have been formed for the instruction of school 
 teachers under the direction of the professor of en- 
 gineering assisted by competent artisans ; and in 
 these classes the teachers have had the opportunity 
 of acquiring manual skill and also a knowledge of 
 the best methods of instruction. If workshop in- 
 struction is to take a place in elementary education. 
 
142 Industrial Education 
 
 it is desirable that the teachers should be trained 
 schoolmasters. The ordinary mechanic, who will be 
 found to be most serviceable as an assistant to the 
 teacher, is generally unaccustomed to deal with very 
 young children, is unacquainted with the graduated 
 methods by which all sound instruction is imparted, 
 and is too apt to treat his pupils like apprentices, 
 who learn their trade by being shown ' how to do it ' 
 without understanding the reason why. It is an 
 essential part of the Swedish system of ' Slojd ' to 
 place the workshop instruction under the direction 
 of a trained schoolmaster. In some other respects, 
 however, the system should not, I think, be too closely 
 followed in our own schools. Those who practise 
 ' Sl5jd ' do not appear to attach sufficient importance 
 to the connection of drawing with woodwork. They 
 regard the usefulness of the object to be made as an 
 essential factor in the choice of exercises ; and they 
 are over particular in limiting the number of tools to 
 be used by the child. 
 
 The cost of introducing manual training into 
 elementary schools is not so great as is sometimes 
 supposed. An ordinary classroom, about 26 feet 
 by 22 feet, will take five carpenters' benches, each 
 about 14 feet long by 2 feet 6 inches in width, and 
 provided with six vices, affording places for thirty 
 boys, the maximum number to be taught in one class. 
 The benches should be well made, and fitted with 
 every appliance for facilitating the pupil's progress, 
 
Cost of Workshop Instruction 143 
 
 the object of the instruction being strictly educational, 
 and the benches and tools being regarded as appa- 
 ratus for instruction. The cost of the five benches 
 would be about 25/. 
 
 The room should contain a cabinet for holding 
 tools for general purposes, and specimens of wood. 
 Where several classes receive instruction in the same 
 room, a set of tools should be appropriated to each 
 group of boys who in turn occupy the same bench. 
 This set of tools may be provided at the cost of i 5j. 
 Besides these tools, some few larger and more ex- 
 pensive tools are required for general use, the cost of 
 which, for each centre, should not exceed 12/. 
 
 In arranging the scheme of instruction, it will 
 suffice to give each class of thirty boys one lesson a 
 week, of two hours and a half or of three hours' dura- 
 tion. The lessons, as previously explained, should 
 consist partly of oral teaching on the growth and 
 nature of woods and the use of tools, partly of draw- 
 ing, and partly of practical work at the bench. 
 
 The shop thus fitted may be used in succession 
 by different sets of boys from neighbouring schools ; 
 but it is preferable that the class, in each case, should 
 receive instruction from its own school-teacher. To 
 employ one teacher continuously to instruct different 
 sets of boys would prove, after a time, tiresome to the 
 teacher, and the teacher himself would gradually lose 
 that sympathy with his pupils' studies in other subjects 
 which it is essential to maintain, if workshop instruc- 
 
144 Industrial Education 
 
 tion is to become a part of the general education of 
 the school children. On the other hand, it is an 
 advantage that the artisan assistant should be per- 
 manently attached to the school workshop. With 
 such arrangements the. cost of the teaching appliances 
 would fall lightly upon each school ; for supposing the 
 workshop to be used on only three whole and two half 
 days in the week,' it would serve for eight sets, that 
 is, for 240 pupils. The cost of the material would, of 
 course, increase with the number of pupils ; but as 
 the work would consist more of exercises illustrating 
 principles than of the construction of useful objects, 
 the quantity of material consumed would not be large, 
 and the cost of it should certainly not exceed \os. a 
 month for each class of 30 boys. Differences of opinion 
 exist as to the age at which workshop instruction 
 should commence ; but if the teaching of drawing be 
 continued throughout the standards, and be followed 
 or accompanied by lessons in modelling, so that there 
 be no break in the manual training of the child from 
 the time he leaves the infant school, I am inclined to 
 think that, as a general rule, boys should have passed 
 the fifth standard before commencing to use wood 
 working tools. 
 
 Whilst advocating the general introduction of 
 manual training into elementary schools, I cannot 
 lose sight of the fact that such instruction is likely to 
 
 ' Time must be left for cleaning the classroom, removing shavings, 
 and arranging the work executed. 
 
Workshop Instruction 145 
 
 prove more serviceable to children of urban than of 
 rural schools. In the latter, it would certainly be ad- 
 vantageous to supplement the teaching of woodwork 
 by practical instruction in agriculture. But although 
 a relation must always be maintained between the 
 subjects of school teaching and the activities of life, 
 necessitating elasticity and variety in any code of 
 instruction, practice in the use of woodworking tools 
 will be found almost, if not quite, as serviceable to the 
 children of an agricultural as of a town population. 
 Indeed woodwork is selected as the subject of manual 
 training because the exercise is in itself educational, 
 and because some skill in the use of the tools em- 
 ployed is needed in nearly every trade and occupa- 
 tion. In a recent report of the Committee of Council 
 on Education it is stated : — ' After the three elemen- 
 tary subjects and sewing, no subject is of such impor- 
 tance [as cookery] for the class of girls who attend 
 public elementary schools ; and lessons in it, if pro- 
 perly given, will be found to be not only of practical 
 use, but to have the effect of awakening the interest 
 and intelligence of the children.' Surely, what is true 
 of sewing and cookery in the case of girls is true to 
 a greater extent of drawing and handicraft in the case 
 of boys. The argument for teaching needlework to 
 girls applies with almost equal force to the teaching 
 of woodwork to boys. The object of teaching girls 
 to sew is not to train professional dressmakers and 
 milliners, but to make girls useful and tidy in their 
 
 L 
 
146 Industrial Education 
 
 homes ; and, apart from the educational value of 
 workshop instruction, one great advantage of it is that 
 it makes boys generally handy. It does not make 
 them carpenters nor cabinet-makers, but it enables 
 them to learn any trade more easily. The tools used 
 in carpentry are wanted in many trades, and the boy 
 who has acquired facility in the use of the plane, the 
 saw, and the chisel will find it much easier to learn 
 the use of any special tool he may subsequently need 
 in the practice of his trade. But no small part of 
 the value of workshop instruction is the skilfulness 
 acquired which enables a man to make his home 
 more commodious, to fit a shelf or cupboard, to 
 repair a broken piece of furniture, or possibly to 
 decorate his room. The comfort and cheerfulness 
 of a poor man's home depend almost as much upon 
 the husband's handiness as upon the wife's tidiness. 
 
 Nor must we overlook the moral influence of this 
 kind of training. Dr. Woodward, from whom I have 
 above quoted, rightly says, ' It stimulates a love for 
 intellectual honesty.' It teaches a boy to find out 
 things for himself, to substitute personal experience 
 for the statements of others ; it creates, moreover, 
 habits of industry and order. It forms a pleasing 
 alternation to purely literary work, and enables a 
 child tA be constantly actually employed. It further 
 teaches self-respect and a respect for the honest work 
 of others. ' A boy who sees nothing in manual labour 
 but mere brute force despises both the labour and the 
 
Influence of Workshop Instruction 147 
 
 labourer.' 'With the acquisition of skill in himself 
 comes a pride in the possession, and the ability and 
 willingness to recognise it in his fellows.' 
 
 It is often said that all boys have not an aptitude 
 for manual work. This is doubtless true, but it is 
 equally true that every child has not an aptitude for 
 spelling or reckoning. Nevertheless, the three R's are 
 taught to all children indifferently, and when we come 
 to realise the importance of cultivating in children 
 some amount of manual skill, workshop instruction 
 will doubtless, also, find a place among the subjects of 
 primary instruction. 
 
 Nearly all educationists have pointed out the many 
 advantages of enabling children at an early age to 
 realise the connection between knowing and doing. 
 Comenius has well said : ' Let those things that have 
 to be done be learnt by doing them.' Rousseau has 
 pithily expressed a similar idea in saying, ' Souvenez- 
 vous qu'en toute chose vos lecons doivent 6tre plus en 
 actions qu'en discours ; car les enfants oublient ais6- 
 ment ce qu'ils ont dit et ce qu'on leur a dit, mais non 
 pas ce qu'ils ont fait et ce qu'on leur a fait' Richter tells 
 us, ' To know nothing is not so bad as to do nothing.' 
 Locke, speaking of the education of a gentleman — 
 for in his day the education of the poorer classes was 
 scarcely thought of — says : ' I would have him learn 
 a trade, a manual trade ; ' and Emerson, in the choice 
 words, ' manual labour is the study of the external 
 world,' tersely states the whole aim and purpose of my 
 
 L % 
 
148 Industrial Education 
 
 remarks. ' The introduction of manual work into our 
 schools is important,' says Sir John Lubbock, ' not 
 merely from the advantage which would result to 
 health, not merely from the training of the hand as an 
 instrument, but also from its effect on the mind itself 
 Rabelais, Montaigne, Pestalozzi, Fr5bel, Combe, 
 Spencer, and others have urged the importance of 
 practical teaching, of studying things before words, 
 of proceeding from the concrete to the abstract. A 
 very valuable and interesting report has recently been 
 issued by a committee of the School Board for 
 London, of which Mr. Bousfield was chairman, in 
 which it is recommended, 'that special manual in- 
 struction should be given under the following prin- 
 ciples : (i) That manual work be always taken in con- 
 nection with school teaching of underlying sciences 
 and drawing ; (2) that no special trade be taught.' 
 The report further states : ' Woodwork supplies the 
 most convenient mode of giving manual instruction 
 to elder boys. The material is cheap and easy of 
 manipulation, and can be made illustrative of the 
 intellectual work of the school.' 
 
 In what I have said I have endeavoured to show 
 that workshop instruction may and should be made a 
 part of elementary instruction ; that, as an educational 
 discipline, it serves to train the faculties of observation, 
 to exercise the hand and eye in the estimation of form 
 and size and the physical properties of common things ; 
 that the skill acquired is useful in every occupation of 
 
Elementary Technical Instruction 149 
 
 life, and is especially serviceable to those who are 
 likely to become artisans by inducing taste and 
 aptitude for manual work, by tending to shorten the 
 period of apprenticeship, by enabling the learner to 
 apply to the practice of his trade the correct methods 
 of inquiry which he has learnt at school, and by 
 affording the necessary basis for higher technical 
 education. 
 
 In this country, we frequently complain that chil- 
 dren leave school at too young an age, before they have 
 had time to properly assimilate the knowledge they 
 have acquired, with the result that they soon forget a 
 great part of the little they have learnt. At the age 
 of fifteen or sixteen, when they begin to feel the want 
 of technical instruction, they are wholly unprepared 
 to avail themselves of the opportunities for obtaining 
 it now brought within their reach. A large part of 
 what the nation spends on education is thus practically 
 wasted. It is to remedy this state of things that con- 
 tinuation schools and recreative classes are much 
 needed. But there can be little doubt, if elementary 
 education were made more practical, that parents 
 would be more willing, even at some sacrifice, to let 
 their children benefit by it. They are often led to 
 take their children away from school because they do 
 not see much use in the ' schooling.' Of course the 
 desire to secure the child's early earnings operates in 
 very many cases ; but I am convinced that it would 
 be easier to persuade parents to forego these earnings 
 
150 Industrial Education 
 
 if the school teaching had more direct reference to 
 the work in which the children are likely to be sub- 
 sequently engaged. 
 
 It was said of James Watt, when a mere child, 
 that ' he had gotten a fortune at his fingers' ends ; ' 
 and the same might be said of many other children, if 
 workshop instruction were made a part of the curri- 
 culum of our elementary schools. 
 
 IV. — Science-Teachinq. 
 
 On the advantage of^ knowing something of the 
 properties of the different materials by which we are 
 surrounded, and of the laws which regulate the action 
 of the forces which we are constantly endeavouring to 
 control and utilise, it is unnecessary to spend many 
 words. In nearly every action of our lives we are 
 reminded of the services which science renders to our 
 means of living. There can be no longer any question 
 of the necessity of making science-teaching an im- 
 portant element of general education. The late Pro- 
 fessor Guthrie well said : ' Though a boy may not be 
 intended for an occupation in which science is required, 
 and though he show little or no aptitude for it, it is as 
 unjust to hide science from him as it would be to hide 
 a knowledge of history, or literature, from those who 
 are not intended to become historians or authors.'' 
 
 The principles of instruction insisted upon through- 
 
 ' Cantor Lectures on Science Teaching. (Society of Arts, i886.) 
 
Science- Teaching 151 
 
 out this chapter are equally applicable to the teaching 
 of science as of other subjects. Looked at from its 
 disciplinary side, the object of the instruction is to 
 cultivate in the pupil habits of accurate observation 
 and of close reasoning ; and, from the utility stand- 
 point, to impart serviceable information and to pro- 
 vide definite training in the methods of investigation 
 applicable to all kinds of enquiries. 
 
 If these be the objects of science-teaching, they must 
 be kept in view, so far as possible, even in the rudimen- 
 tary stages of instruction ; and we have now to enquire 
 to what extent, and in what way, science can be taught 
 in elementary schools so as to effect these objects 
 and at the same time to serve as a preparation for 
 higher technical instruction. 
 
 Having regard to the age of the children attending 
 elementary schools, and to the conditions of their 
 home life, which prevent them from gaining much 
 information from their parents with respect to their 
 ordinary surroundings, it is necessary that the school 
 should seek to supply the place of home, and that the 
 teacher should encourage and try to satisfy that spirit 
 of enquiry which is common to all children. It is not 
 desirable that children should commence at a very 
 young age the study of any isolated branch of science ; 
 least of all, that they should try to learn it by such 
 methods as are laid down in any of our approved 
 text-books. Science may become as ' bookish ' as any 
 other subject of instruction if imperfectly taught, and 
 
152 Industrial Education 
 
 may even yield less intellectual discipline than gram-- 
 mar. The study of science is valueless unless it stimu- 
 lates accurate observation by bringing the mind con- 
 stantly into direct communion with external things. 
 The instruction must be of the kind which the Germans 
 call 'Anschauungsunterrtcht,' i.e., instruction, by means 
 of direct perception, in the properties of things, and 
 in the laws, if any, which connect these properties 
 with one another. The spirit of enquiry common to 
 every young child should be encouraged and directed 
 into channels through which the pupil may obtain 
 some insight into the laws and processes of nature, 
 and some knowledge of the methods by which these 
 laws may be ascertained. It is needless to say that 
 the teacher must throw life into the lessons, that 
 he must possess -a much higher knowledge of the 
 subject than he can hope to impart to his pupils, 
 and that he should speak from the results of his 
 own experience and investigations. For this reason, 
 it is most important that the teacher of science, 
 even in elementary schools, should have received a 
 proper scientific training, and should be acquainted 
 with the best methods of instruction. The teaching 
 of elementary science to small children is no doubt 
 more difficult than the teaching of science in its ad- 
 vanced stages to older pupils. As the student pro- 
 gresses he instructs himself, and he avails himself of 
 the services of his teacher or professor as a guide only 
 or referee. In the early stages of education, highly 
 
The Value of Science-Teaching 153 
 
 trained teachers are indispensable, and these are 
 equally needed for the proper teaching of science as 
 of other subjects. 
 
 As a foundation of technical education, which 
 consists almost entirely of instruction in the appli- 
 cation of science and art to different industries, the 
 study of science cannot be commenced too early, and 
 should be continued throughout the whole period of 
 education. ' For, leaving out only some very small 
 classes,' Mr. Herbert Spencer pertinently asks, ' what 
 are all men employed in ? They are employed in 
 the production, preparation, and distribution of com- 
 modities. And on what does efficiency in the produc- 
 tion, preparation, and distribution of commodities 
 depend ? It depends on the use of methods fitted to 
 the respective natures of these commodities ; it depends 
 on an adequate acquaintance with their physical, 
 chemical or vital properties, as the case may be, that 
 is, it depends on science.' ' In order that this science 
 may be profitably taught, and that our elementary 
 school teachers may know not only what to teach but 
 how to teach it, it is necessary that they should have 
 further opportunities than they at present possess of 
 being trained under the best masters. 
 
 In answer to the question, what to teach ? I would 
 say : Some knowledge of the things that immediately 
 surround us — the earth we walk on, the air we breathe, 
 the water we drink, the food we eat, the clothes we 
 
 ' Education, by Herbert Spencer, 
 
154 Industrial Education 
 
 wear, the trades we practise. These are the sub- 
 jects, properly investigated, that should constitute the 
 science-lessons in elementary schools. In answer to 
 the question, how to teach them ? I would say : By 
 Kindergarten methods, i.e. by means of object-lessons 
 systematically pursued. The pedagogic principle — 
 to proceed from the known to the unknown — fur- 
 nishes the key'to the true method of science-teach- 
 ing. 
 
 Taking such subjects as I have indicated as texts, 
 many of the lessons might be made as suitable to one 
 locality as to another ; whilst some would have special 
 reference to the geography of the neighbourhood 
 of the school, and to the occupations of the people 
 of the district. In manufacturing towns, a talk 
 about the simpler kinds of machinery in common 
 use might lead up to a study of the rudimentary 
 principles of mechanics ; whilst in schools situated in 
 rural districts, lessons on agricultural practice might 
 prepare the way for the systematic study of elementary 
 chemistry. The teachers being competent, and pos- 
 sessing a wide knowledge, and some enthusiasm in 
 the pursuit of science, the lessons ought not to be 
 regulated by any fixed code, nor should the value of the 
 teaching be assessed by the results of any definitely 
 arranged system of examination. Indeed, consider 
 able latitude should be given to teachers and to 
 school authorities ; but it is important that the 
 teaching should be based on some fixed principles by 
 
Object-Lessons 155 
 
 which it might be made the means, not only of impart- 
 ing useful information about a variety of common 
 things, but of leading, by sure and regular steps, to a 
 knowledge of the simple facts and laws of one or 
 more branches of science. It would be desirable, 
 therefore, that the methods and results of the 
 teaching should be carefully inspected by competent 
 judges. 
 
 Under the headings above indicated the paths are 
 very numerous along which the springs of pure science 
 may be approached. As the complex phenomena that 
 present themselves to the senses are stripped of their 
 accidental circumstances, and the laws underlying them 
 laid bare, these laws should be demonstrated by simple 
 experiments, which it should be the endeavour of the 
 teacher to associate in the pupil's mind with the de- 
 scription of the object under consideration. It is only 
 in this way that science-teaching can be made to yield 
 that most important of all educational exercises, the 
 discipline of careful reasoning. 
 
 The late Professor Guthrie in the suggestive series 
 of Cantor Lectures, from which I have quoted, indi- 
 cates the broad lines upon which such object-lessons 
 should be given, and illustrates them by reference to 
 the ' stuffs ' that are met with in the building of a 
 house. After considering concrete, sandstone, slate, 
 and other stuffs used in house-building, he says : 
 ' The method of obtaining a light leads to the in- 
 teresting and instructive subject of matches, and the 
 
156 Industrial Education 
 
 stuffs of which they are made. Perhaps, here, the 
 heat produced by friction may be examined, and so a 
 foretaste obtained of the great doctrine of the mutual 
 relationship of the forces, tjie indestructibility of energy 
 — a doctrine not second in importance to that of the 
 elementary constitution of matter.' The temptation, 
 however, to pass on too rapidly, from the observa- 
 tion of the properties of things, the explanation of 
 their uses, and the causes underlying those uses, to 
 the great generalisations of science has to be carefully 
 guarded against. In science-culture, as in house- 
 building, there are many courses between the founda- 
 tion and the roof 
 
 Of object-lessons Mr. Herbert Spencer well says : 
 ' They should not be limited to the contents of the 
 house, but should include those of the fields and 
 hedges, the quarry and the sea-shore. They should 
 not cease with early childhood, but should be so kept 
 during youth as insensibly to emerge into the inves- 
 tigations of the naturalist and the man of science.' 
 The difficulty of arranging systematic object-lessons, 
 so as to make them the means of teaching the rudi- 
 mentary principles of science, is well pointed out by 
 Professor Bain in his excellent work on the ' Science 
 of Education.' ' It is possible,' he tells us, ' by means 
 of the object to approach the primary sciences, 
 namely physics, chemistry, and the rest, with the 
 view of explaining matter and motion, gravity, heat 
 and light; but the manner of doing so needs the 
 
Object-Lessons 157 
 
 gravest consideration.' Object-lessons, leading up to 
 the study of natural history, are undoubtedly a most 
 valuable part of elementary education, and are gene- 
 rally found to be most serviceable in stimulating 
 observation among young children ; and for this 
 reason they may well form part of the science-teach- 
 ing in all schools. Moreover, in rural districts, and 
 as a preparation for agricultural education, they have 
 a special value of their own. But I am now more 
 particularly concerned with science-teaching as a part 
 of the education of our future artisans ; and for this 
 purpose it is necessary that the object-lessons should 
 be directed towards the ultimate study of the elemen- 
 tary principles of physical science. For the ordinary 
 student, there are advantages in studying physical 
 science by the regular systematic methods as ■ laid 
 down in science text-books. But for the young pupil 
 the case is different. Nevertheless, it is so much 
 simpler to follow the regular order that Mr. Bain is 
 right in saying that ' the teacher should always be 
 looking forward to the time when the advancing in- 
 telligence makes that possible, and further, he should 
 tacitly keep this order in his mind even when work- 
 ing on the seemingly desultory plan.' 
 
 Nearly all writers on education are at one as to 
 the value of object-lessons in teaching the first rudi- 
 ments of science. The difficulty occurs in finding 
 teachers who are capable of so arranging a series of 
 lessons as to prepare the way for the systematic study 
 
159 Industrial Education 
 
 of any one branch of science. As regards method 
 there is general agreement, and few would be found 
 to dissent from Rousseau, who in his ' Emile ' tells 
 us : ' Dans la recherche des lois de la nature com- 
 mencez toujours par les ph^nom^nes les plus communs 
 et les plus sensibles.' 
 
 It is easier to point out what should not than what 
 should constitute a good object- lesson- Of the examples 
 of such lessons that have been published, many serve 
 their most useful purpose in indicating what the prac- 
 tical teacher should avoid. We should guard against 
 the error of making the lesson too desultory or a 
 mere verbal explanation of terms. Certain fixed prin- 
 ciples, which should dominate the lesson, ought always 
 to be present to the teacher's mind, and perhaps the 
 main purpose of the teacher in these lessons should 
 be to guide and forward the spontaneous powers of 
 observation and reasoning which all children exhibit. 
 It must be remembered that the aim of science-teach- 
 ing in elementary schools is not to make specialists in 
 science any more than it is the object of workshop 
 instruction to make tradesmen. The real difficulty of 
 the object-lesson consists in the attempt to explain 
 all that the object suggests, and at the same time to 
 keep in view the scientific principles which the lesson 
 ought ultimately to bring out. The full explanation 
 of all the phenomena which are associated with any 
 single natural object demands a knowledge of many 
 different branches of science. In order to avoid 
 
Method of Science-Teaching 159 
 
 exuberance of explanation, and a too desultory treat- 
 ment of the matter, the teacher, who should be in full 
 mental sympathy with his pupils, knowing clearly how 
 much, or, rather, how little they can understand, must 
 aim steadily at eliminating some single physical law, 
 which afterwards he should endeavour experimentally 
 to prove. Whilst scientific information is doubtless 
 interesting and of considerable value to the pupil, 
 what is educationally important is to train the child 
 in the methods of science. Starting from the same 
 object, the teacher may arrive, in the process of ex- 
 planation, at a simple fact or law in dynamics, heat, or 
 electricity. From the very outset, however, he should 
 have clearly in view the goal he desires to reach, and 
 he must avoid the temptation to explain too much. 
 Just as the anatomist in dissecting a limb picks out a 
 particular muscle and demonstrates its function, so the 
 science teacher must try to show the operation of a 
 single law in the bundle of complex phenomena that 
 may be presented to him ; and the law having been 
 evolved the teacher should proceed to prove it by 
 rudimentary experimental methods. In this way, by 
 a proper choice of subjects, a few of the leading facts 
 of chemistry, physics and mechanics may be im- 
 parted to children by means of explanations of things 
 with which they are familiar, and a good basis may 
 thus be laid for more advanced and more systematic 
 instruction. 
 
 For science-teaching, such as I have attempted to 
 
i6o Industrial Education 
 
 describe, some amount of apparatus is needed ; but the 
 apparatus should be of the simplest character, and the 
 pupils themselves should, as far as possible, be em- 
 ployed in constructing it, utilising the skill they may 
 be expected to have acquired in their workshop classes. 
 It matters very little that the apparatus employed is 
 rough and simple. The pupil will learn more of 
 scientific method by registering the results of his own 
 experiments with apparatus he has himself made, 
 than by seeing any number of successful experiments 
 performed by his teacher. On this point Rousseau 
 may again be quoted. After expressing his dissatisfac- 
 tion with the ordinary methods of teaching science, he 
 says : ' L'air scientifique tue la science. ... Je veux 
 
 que nous fassions nous-mdmes toutes nos machines 
 
 J'aime mieux que nos instruments ne soient point si 
 parfaits et si justes, et que nous ayons des idees plus 
 nettes de ce qu'ils doivent etre, et des operations qui 
 doivent en r^sulter. Pour ma premiere le9on de 
 statique, au lieu d'aller chercher des balances, je mets 
 un biton en travers sur le dos d'une chaise, je mesure 
 la longueur des deux parties du baton en ^quilibre, 
 j'ajoute de part et d'autre des poids, tantdt dgaux 
 tantot in^gaux ; et, le tirant ou le poussant autant 
 qu'il est n^cessaire, je trouve enfin que I'dquilibre 
 rdsulte d'une proportion r^ciproque entre la quantity 
 des poids et la longueur des leviers.' And again : 
 ' Sans contredit ou prend des notions bien plus claires 
 et bien plus s4res des choses qu'on apprend ainsi de 
 
Scientific Ivlethod i6i 
 
 soi-tnime, que de celles qu'on tient des enseignements 
 dautrui' ' In this sentence Rousseau shows his- 
 knowledge of the true educational method, but in its 
 application to science we may now proceed some^ 
 what further than would have been thought possible a 
 century ago. 
 
 In order that the pupil may fully realise the 
 results of his own simple experiments, he may, even 
 at this early stage of his scientific progress, learn the 
 use of squared paper for graphically expressing the 
 relation between two varying and dependent factors. 
 Dr. Wormell, in the preface to a little book on 
 ' Plotting,' points out that ' although the educational 
 methods which are associated with the name of 
 Frobel have been brought very near to perfection in 
 the Kindergarten, they are to a great extent sus- 
 pended when the pupil passes from the infant school.' 
 The use of squared paper is well known in Kinder- 
 garten exercises, and also in the experimental science 
 classes of technical schools. It might be made to 
 serve equally useful purposes in the teaching of 
 rudimentary science in elementary schools. If we 
 take a simple pulley experiment, as an example, the 
 pupil might easily note the exact weights that balance 
 each other in different trials, and then by registering 
 the results see how nearly he could arrive at the 
 theoretical law. After a time, the pupil would suc- 
 ceed in obtaining the true law for the apparatus iij 
 
 ' Emile, livre iii. 
 
 M 
 
i62 Industrial Educdiion 
 
 use, and the divergence of this law from the theoretic 
 law might yield useful suggestions for other lessons. 
 Other simple experiments might lead to the graphical 
 representation of the law of falling bodies, and to the 
 relation between the pressure and volume of a gas 
 under constant temperature. But such instruction 
 would necessarily be restricted to the highest stan- 
 dards, and might, perhaps, be more appropriately 
 given in schools of a higher grade. 
 
 To provide every elementary school, having upper 
 standards, with a teacher competent to give scientific 
 instruction on the lines I have indicated, and with 
 the necessary apparatus, might be considered as in- 
 volving an unjustifiable expenditure of public funds. 
 In Birmingham, Liverpool, and recently in London, 
 a very successful attempt has been made to overcome 
 this difficulty by appointing a teacher of high attain- 
 ments, with a wide knowledge of his subject, and 
 skilled in the methods of instruction, to go round 
 from school to school, and to give science lectures 
 to the children and their teachers. This peripatetic 
 philosopher carries with him his apparatus and visits 
 in turn all the chief schools of the town or district. 
 The experiments are carefully prepared at the central 
 dep6t, and the lessons are given once a week or once 
 a fortnight. Nothing can exceed the interest which 
 these lessons arouse. Nevertheless, the system, not- 
 withstanding the economy of teaching power, has 
 many drawbacks, and ought to be regarded as tern- 
 
Itinerant Science Teachers 163 
 
 porary only, to be discontinued as soon as the ordi- 
 nary school teachers shall be as well qualified to 
 teach science as history or grammar. What is true 
 of the workshop instructor is still more true of the 
 science teacher, viz., that he should not be a specialist 
 having no share in the general education of the child, 
 but one of the ordinary class teachers. We may take 
 it for granted, as pointed out by Dr. Butler, of New 
 York, ' that any subject which is taught by a special 
 teacher is regarded as an excrescence on the regular 
 curriculum, and as not standing on the same level 
 with reading, writing, and arithmetic' ^ 
 
 Another defect of the system is that the children 
 are not made sufficiently familiar with the apparatus 
 which is used in the experimental lectures. Of the 
 ordinary science teachers of the present day it has 
 been said : ' As a rule, even now, the teacher stands 
 before a black-board and behind a row of bottles, and 
 chalks, and talks, and mixes, and calls it chemistry, 
 or involves himself in a tangle of wires and brass and 
 ebonite fittings, and calls it electricity.' The itinerant 
 teacher is at a still greater disadvantage. He brings 
 with him the apparatus required to illustrate his 
 demonstrations, but, unfortunately, he takes it away 
 again, and the children are apt to look upon his 
 experiments as clever tricks which he may be able 
 to perform but which they cannot. To learn science 
 
 ' Report of President of Industrial Education Association, May 
 1888. New York. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Industrial Education 
 
 properly the pupil must himself perform the experi- 
 ments. He needs to be brought not only face to 
 face, but into hand-to-hand contact, with Nature's 
 operations. It is in the practice of science that its 
 chief value lies. A repetition of the lesson by one of 
 the teachers would be very serviceable if the experi- 
 ments could also be repeated, and if the children 
 could take part in them ; but otherwise there is a 
 want of reality about the teaching which deprives 
 it of some of its educational value. The advantage, 
 however, of such instruction in awakening the intelli- 
 gence and of stimulating a spirit of scientific enquiry, 
 even if the method of teaching is not as perfect as it 
 might be, cannot be over-estimated. 
 
 Systematic science - teaching by experimental 
 methods can be given only in the highest standards 
 of elementary schools ; and there is much to be said 
 in favour of drafting the children of these standards 
 into higher elementary or graded schools, where the 
 more ex^jensive fittings and apparatus which are 
 needed for practical teaching can be more economi- 
 cally provided. 
 
 I have now indicated some of the changes needed 
 in our elementary teaching to make it a more fitting 
 preparation than it is at present for the practical 
 work of life. There is reason to hope that many of 
 the suggestions contained in this chapter will be em- 
 bodied in the recommendations of the Royal Com- 
 missioners appointed to enquire into the working 
 
Practical Instruction 165 
 
 of the Education Acts.' Except as regards work- 
 shop teaching, and possibly as regards that also, 
 nearly all the suggestions I have made are in every 
 way as applicable to girls as to boys. The analogy 
 between needlework and woodwork has been fre- 
 quently pointed out ; but, in addition to needlework, 
 girls even now receive what may be regarded as 
 technical instruction in cookery and domestic eco- 
 nomy. But as regards our future artisans, no great 
 improvement can be effected in their education, and 
 in their fitness to engage in the several crafts and 
 occupations on which the industrial progress of the 
 country so greatly depends, unless the instruction 
 which they receive in our elementary schools is prac- 
 tical in character, and based on the now generally 
 
 ' Since this chapter has been in type the reports of the Com- 
 , missioners have been published. A perusal of these reports will 
 show that many of the suggestions contained in the preceding pages are 
 supported by the recommendations of the Commissioners. Subject to 
 certain qualifications, the Commissioners regard the following as 
 essential subjects of elementary education : reading, writing, arith- 
 metic, needlework for girls, linear drawing for boys, singing, English, 
 and object-lessons ; and they state that ' some ekmentary instruc- 
 tion in science is only second in importance to the three elementary 
 subjects. ' They recommend ' that object-lessons should be continued 
 in the lower standards in succession to similar lessons in the infant 
 school. ' They are practically unanimous in recognising the importance 
 of drawing as a subject of school teaching ; but as regards manual 
 training they pronounce no very decided opinion, recommending only 
 that manual instruction in the use of tools might often be introduceed 
 into elementary schools, but that ' it should not be applicable to boys 
 under ten years of age.' The Commissioners in their report survey 
 the whole field of elementary education, and consequently discuss many 
 debatable matters to which reference would be here out of place. 
 
i66 Industrial Education 
 
 recognised educational principle, that the child must 
 be intellectually stimulated, not so much by literary 
 studies as by bringing his mind, through the medium 
 of his hands and eyes, into direct contact with the 
 objects that surround him. 
 
16; 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ORGANISATION OF HIGHER ELEMENTARY OR 
 MIDDLE TRADE SCHOOLS. 
 
 Although some progress has been made during the 
 last few years in the provision of schools of a higher 
 grade than the ordinary elementary school, adapted to 
 the requirements of the working classes, the want of a 
 sufficient number of such schools remains one of the 
 most conspicuous deficiencies in our system of edu- 
 cation. Evening instruction, although it may supple- 
 ment the deficiencies of early education, can only, in 
 exceptional cases, compensate for that systematic 
 training which a boy or girl receives at school 
 between the ages of twelve and fifteen. 
 
 In a paper read before the Society of Arts in 
 May 1883, which included much of what follows, I 
 drew attention to the want of higher elementary 
 schools for the education of the children of our 
 working classes. In the following year, the Report 
 of the Commissioners of Technical Instruction was 
 published, in which numerous instances were given 
 of the provision made in foreign countries for the 
 
1 68 Industrial Education 
 
 establishment of these schools. The subject was 
 further considered by the Select Committee of the. 
 House of Commons, of which Sir Lyon Playfair was 
 •chairman, and numerous witnesses have prominently 
 ■brought the matter under the notice of the Commis- 
 sion appointed to enquire into the working of the 
 Public Elementary Education Acts.' 
 
 No part of our educational machinery has hitherto 
 been more defective than that which connects elemen- 
 tary with higher education ; and it will be well if the 
 demand for technical instruction shall result in such a 
 1 eorganisation of the curriculum of our middle schools 
 as shall better adapt them to the requirements of 
 scholars who will have to earn their livelihood in 
 some branch of trade or commerce. 
 
 In England, there exist already a number of 
 schools, which are intended to give a complete educa- 
 tion to children belonging to the lower middle class^ 
 and which, as regards their educational rank, are in- 
 termediate between secondary and elementary schools. 
 As preparatory to the modern side of our public 
 schools, these establishments may serve a useful pur- 
 pose ; but as offering a complete and suitable training 
 to the children of the better class of artisans, foremen, 
 and small shopkeepers, who have to earn their living 
 
 ■ In the minority report, the Commissioners recommend 'that 
 higher grade schools should be encouraged, which will prepare 
 scholars for advanced technical and commercial instruction,' and they 
 further state that ' these schools are an important and necessary 
 element for the completion of the popular schools of the country. ' 
 
Some Defects of Middle Schools 169 
 
 in manufacturing or commercial pursuits, they fail of 
 their object. Their curriculum is overcrowded, and 
 is a compromise resulting from the conflict of too 
 many studies. In many of these schools, boys con- 
 tinue to devote several hours a week in acquiring a 
 smattering of Greek ; and Latin is generally regarded 
 as indispensable, in order that the pupils may pass 
 the Oxford and Cambridge examinations. Then, 
 again, arithmetic and algebra are frequently taught, 
 as if the boy would spend his life in solving enigmas ; 
 and geometry is made a discipline in logic, the study 
 of which leaves the pupil with a thorough distaste for 
 the subject, and with no practical knowledge which 
 he can apply to the simplest problems he will meet 
 with in his ordinary work. In deference to public 
 opinion, the boy is taught in many of these schools, 
 but not in all, what is called science, and studies che- 
 mistry and physics from books, or by aid of lectures, 
 accompanied by the black-board, or, in some cases, by 
 table illustrations, which pass for experiments. He 
 learns a certain amount of French grammar ; he can 
 translate a piece of simple French prose into English ; 
 but he can neither speak, nor understand when spoken, 
 two simple sentences. Of German he is generally 
 absolutely ignorant. Drawing is still taught from 
 copies of landscapes, or elaborately shaded heads. 
 Some schools have workshops ; but in very few of 
 them is there any approach to what may be called 
 real practical instruction. It may be thought that I 
 
170 Industrial Education 
 
 am exaggerating the defects of some of our inter- 
 mediate schools ; but it is not so. For many years 
 I had opportunities, as examiner, of making my- 
 self acquainted with the education given in these 
 schools, and the experience I thus gained, confirmed 
 as it has been recently by further experience, has led 
 me to conclude that the curriculum of these school* 
 must be greatly modified if they are to give to the 
 children of our industrial population a raticaial and 
 serviceable education. 
 
 We often hear an outcry raised .gainst the over- 
 education of the so-called working classes. We are 
 told that the higher instruction contemplated by our 
 School Boards is calculated to make the children of 
 these classes, dissatisfied with their lot, and unfit for 
 the work which they will be required to perform ; 
 that education takes the artisan out of his proper 
 sphere, and leads him to seek remunerative employ- 
 ment in other walks of life which are already occu- 
 pied by active workers. There are many persons of 
 considerable practical experience who seriously doubt 
 the advantage of giving any education, beyond such 
 as can be obtained in an ordinary elementary school, 
 to boys who are to be occupied in technical pursuits. 
 They tell us that boys who have come into their works 
 with this higher education are generally less ' smart ' 
 than those who have entered at an earlier age, and 
 that the knowledge they have, acquired has failed to 
 quicken their intelligence. But this complaint is 
 
Want of Middle Trade Schools I'ji 
 
 really directed, not so much against education itself, 
 as against the education of existing schools. If, how- 
 ever, the education given in these schools were such 
 as to develop the boy's faculties in a practical direc- 
 tion, to give him the knowledge and the skill that 
 would be serviceable to him in productive industry 
 — such knowledge as he would always desire to 
 increase, and such skill as he would be always 
 endeavouring to perfect — then the outcry against 
 over-education would be less frequently heard. 
 
 It is to be regretted that, owing to the absence 
 of good middle schools, some of the best boys of 
 the elementary schools of London have been taken 
 from occupations in which their talents and skill are 
 so much needed, and transferred to other pursuits. 
 Until very recently, the few scholarships which 
 the School Board of London possessed have been 
 mainly employed in drafting the most promising 
 pupils from these schools to the public schools lead- 
 ing to the older universities. 
 
 The curriculum of studies and the general asso- 
 ciations of these ancient seats of learning are not 
 such as^ to render them the best training schools for 
 the would-be engineer, for the industrial chemist, or 
 for the manager of a factory or mill; and, conse- 
 quently, it is more than probable that, owing to the 
 absence trfgosd -middle schools, these boys have been 
 ■trained to some professional or literary calling, by 
 which productive and manufacturing industry has 
 
172 Industrial Education 
 
 lost the acquisition of intellect it so much needs. A 
 good feature in the schemes of the new Polytechnic 
 Institutions, which promise to exert so beneficial an 
 influence upon the working population of the metro- 
 polis, is the arrangement for connecting with them 
 higher-grade day schools, in which selected pupils 
 from the primary schools may be able, by means of 
 scholarships, to continue their education on practical 
 lines. 
 
 In considering the most suitable kind of instruc- 
 tion for the children "of artisans who are able to re- 
 main at school till the age of fourteen or fifteen, we 
 must first of all cut ourselves adrift from the traditions 
 of the old grammar-school system, and endeavour to 
 establish some relation between the education of the 
 child and the career in which he is likely to be en- 
 gaged. We may take it for granted that in the cur- 
 riculum of these schools there is neither room nor 
 necessity for the study of Latin or Greek. The chil- 
 dren of these schools must be educated, as were the 
 Athenians of old, without the advantage of knowing 
 any dead language. The vernacular proved suffi- 
 cient, even as mental discipline, for the education of 
 Phidias and of Archimedes, and I see no reason why 
 it should be found wanting in the training of their 
 modern prototypes. The backbone of the instruction 
 to be given in these schools should be mathematics. 
 Of mathematics a boy cannot well know too much. 
 It is applicable at all stages of his work, in the solu- 
 
Curriculum of Middle Schools 173 
 
 tion of the most elementary and of the highest prac- 
 tical problems, and without this necessary knowledge 
 the pupil's progress is continually impeded. ' He who 
 knows not mathematics cannot know other sciences,' 
 wrote Roger Bacon. But mathematics should be 
 taught with a view to the possibility of its applica- 
 tion ; and for this reason Euclid should be banished 
 from the school, or confined to the instruction of the 
 highest classes. The subject next in importance is 
 science, and the branches of science of most value 
 to the technical student are chemistry, mechanics, 
 and physics. Science should be made the chief in- 
 strument for the exercise and development of the 
 reasoning and observing faculties. It should be 
 taught rather with this object than for the sake of the 
 information imparted ; and, consequently, the success 
 of such teaching should be judged, not so much by 
 the extent of the pupil's acquirements, as by the 
 thoroughness of his insight into the principles and 
 methods by which scientific laws have been estab- 
 lished. It always seems to me that it is owing 
 to the absence of the discipline of science-teaching 
 in our public schools that the experienced school- 
 master, feeling the necessity of some equivalent for 
 stimulating observation, attention, comparison, and 
 reasoning among his pupils, has been compelled to 
 apply the methods of science to the teaching of 
 classics, and has therefore attached less importance 
 to the linguistic skill acquired by his scholars than to 
 
174 Industrial Education 
 
 the mental discipline which the study has afforded. 
 But although Latin or Greek may thus be made the 
 instrument of scientific teaching, the study of these 
 languages can never do the same for us as the study 
 of any one branch of natural or physical science. It 
 has been said, that ' all learning is scientific which 
 is systematically laid out and followed up to its ori- 
 ginal sources, and that a genuine humanism is scien- 
 tific' Scientific it is, but it is not science ; and the 
 argument of the humanists in education seems to me 
 to be faulty in this, that they think that the teaching 
 of scientific method in reasoning about words is an 
 adequate substitute for the teaching of science in ob- 
 serving and reasoning about things. 
 
 It is superfluous to say that the schools should be 
 provided with a laboratory, in which the pupils may 
 receive practical instruction in chemistry. Too much 
 importance, however, should not be attached to the 
 scholar's ability to analyse a simple salt. Although 
 qualitative analysis may be made the instrument of 
 sound teaching, it may also degenerate into little 
 more than a rule of thumb process — the mere carry- 
 ing out of definite instructions. The value of this 
 practical work depends upon the method of teaching 
 adopted, upon the care with which the pupil is 
 taught to observe, and the logical accuracy with 
 which he is trained to reason upon the observations 
 he has made. In the study of physics and mechanics 
 the pupil should be exercised in practical work ; and 
 
Curriculum of Middle Schools 175 
 
 the experiments he performs should have for their 
 object the teaching of the methods of observation, 
 which will prove invaluable to him when thrown 
 among the more complex phenomena of after-life. 
 
 Much that I have already said about the teaching 
 of science to the children of elementary schools is 
 equally applicable to the teaching of this subject in 
 schools of a higher grade, where better facilities for 
 practical instruction can be provided. Although I 
 have laid great stress on the importance of experi- 
 mental work in teaching even the elements of physical 
 science, it must not be supposed that the pupil's 
 knowledge of science should be absolutely restricted 
 to those facts which he himself is capable of demon- 
 strating. This would be to overlook altogether the 
 value of books and of oral lessons. Books have their 
 use in the teaching of science as of other subjects, 
 and not only as guides to knowledge, but as means 
 of instruction. Much that a pupil cannot expect to 
 be able to prove for himself he may know through 
 the medium of lectures or books. But such know- 
 ledge must be distinguished from that which the 
 student has himself verified. Its value, however, is 
 increased when the pupil, by virtue of the training 
 he has received, is able to understand the processes 
 by which it was evolved, and can estimate the worth 
 of the evidence on which it rests. In science, as 
 in history, it is necessary to accept many facts on 
 the authority of others, and to utilise and build upon 
 
176 Industrial Educahan 
 
 their labours. At the same time, in science as in 
 history, the student should be able to discriminate 
 between the results of actual experiment or original 
 research, and between facts the accuracy of which 
 depends on the testimony of others. Indeed, much 
 of the knowledge obtained from books is correctly 
 described as ' information,' the use and importance of 
 which, however, must not be lightly esteemed ; for, . 
 by means of such information, the pupil learns a 
 great many facts and methods of which he might 
 otherwise remain in ignorance ; and, if properly 
 trained in the methods of scientific investigation, he 
 is able, thereby, to add greatly to his own experience, 
 to see things under a new light, to avoid errors, and 
 so to save time and labour, and in various ways to 
 reap the benefit of others' work. Access to books, 
 therefore, is invaluable to the scientific student, and 
 knowledge so acquired is not to be despised. But 
 without actual practice one cannot learn science, nor 
 can the teaching of the subject be made to yield 
 that rigid mental discipline which constitutes its real 
 value in education.' 
 
 What I have said about drawing in elementary 
 schools also applies to schools of a higher grade. 
 
 ' ' Much interesting and useful information on matters which are 
 the proper subjects of science may no doubt be obtained from books 
 alone, and the reading of such books ought not to be discouraged. 
 But the true learning of science cannot be said to begin till the learners 
 are taught to use their own senses in the study.' — Report of Educational 
 Commissioners, p. 142. 
 
Value of Book Knowledge I'j'j 
 
 The pupils should have the opportunity of further 
 pursuing their instruction in this subject, so that they 
 may be able to discover any latent talent they may 
 possess for art work, and thus determine for them- 
 selves their own careers. And modelling should 
 form part of the art instruction, for modelling may 
 be taught, and successfully taught, to very young 
 children. Abroad, the number of technical schools 
 in which this subject is taught is very large. In 
 nearly every art industry it is considered an indis- 
 pensable preliminary training — in metal work of all 
 kinds, sculpture, pottery, wood-carving, &c. The 
 educational value of this instruction is, no doubt, 
 considerable ; and in many of the arts in which boys 
 and girls are likely to be engaged, facility in model- 
 ling, as showing the power of appreciating and 
 realising solid forms, is of the utmost service. 
 
 It is important that the humanistic elements of 
 education should not be omitted from the curriculum 
 of these schools. It is in the combination of literary 
 with scientific and practical instruction that many 
 foreign schools are so superior to our own. Language 
 and literature may be regarded as indispensable 
 requisites of all higher education. Indeed, I believe 
 the educational value of knowing another language 
 than our own is fully equal to the use it may be to 
 us in enabling us to speak it or to write it. Words 
 occupy in our minds a different meaning, and bear a 
 different relation to the things for which they stand 
 
 N 
 
178 Industrial Education 
 
 when we know that the same thing may be expressed 
 by more names than one. For this reason, but still 
 more on account of the undeniable and increasing 
 usefulness in commerce and in industrial pursuits 
 generally, of a knowledge of modern languages, 
 French or German, and, if possible, both, should be 
 included in the course of instruction to be given in 
 such schools. Sound instruction in English is more 
 important in schools in which the curriculum consists 
 largely of science and manual training than where 
 Latin occupies many hours a week of the pupil's 
 time ; it should include literature, composition, his- 
 tory, and economics. As regards the value of the 
 study of literature in the future education of artisans 
 I think' it necessary to add one word, because I be- 
 lieve that, apart from the pleasure afforded to the 
 pupil by the power to appreciate the writings of 
 great men, and apart from the humanising and ele- 
 vating influence which the love of good literature is 
 calculated to exercise on the man's life, there is no 
 subject the study of which so well serves to stimulate 
 and develop a boy's imagination, to fill his mind 
 with noble impulses and high ideals, and thus to 
 beneficially affect his modes of thinking, his habits, 
 and his works. 
 
 So far, the course of study I have suggested 
 would be common to all pupils of these schools. But 
 beyond this point, in all large schools, particularly in 
 great commercial cities, such as London, Liverpool, 
 
Development of Workshop Teaching 179 
 
 Birmingham and Manchester, the principle of bifur- 
 cation might be introduced, with a view of giving to 
 the school a commercial as well as a technical charac- 
 ter. Boys who have opportunities of entering com- 
 mercial houses, or who show any special aptitude, for 
 languages and business pursuits, should receive special 
 instruction in these schools in commercial subjects ; 
 whilst the pupils on the technical side, those who 
 expect to earn their living by the use of their hands 
 ■ — and in all our great manufacturing centres these 
 would constitute the larger class — should have work- 
 shop instruction and lessons in machine drawing. 
 The practical work to be done in the shops attached 
 to these schools should be further developed, and 
 should involve the use of other tools than those used 
 in elementary schools. It should give the boy some 
 really valuable constructive skill, so as to form a 
 fitting preliminary to his apprenticeship. Indeed, 
 it has been found that in schools of this grade, 
 in which workshop instruction has been introduced; 
 not only have the pupils been eagerly sought after., 
 but the period of apprenticeship has been sensibly 
 reduced. This practical instruction in the shops 
 would vary according to the district in which the 
 school is situated. In our manufacturing towns the 
 instruction would be general, consisting largely of 
 woodwork, and of metalwork at the bench, at the 
 lathe, and at the forge. In other places, practical 
 agriculture might be taught. Where a new industry 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o Industrial Education 
 
 has to be created, the teaching might be specialised 
 with the view to a particular trade. In our commer- 
 cial cities, the pupils of the technical as well as of the 
 commercial department should learn something of the 
 technology of the several raw products, the manu- 
 facture of which may form the staple industry of the 
 place, and the scholars should be encouraged to bring 
 specimens to the museum with which all such schools 
 should be provided. In girls' schools, the time set 
 apart for work in the shops might be devoted to 
 dressmaking, cooking, laundrywork, china-painting, 
 and other occupations. 
 
 It is in the education of foremen that these higher-* 
 grade schools are likely to prove of the greatest bene- 
 fit. In consequence of the extreme subdivision of 
 labour, which often condemns a man for the greater 
 part of his life to the same task, it is becoming more 
 and more difficult, in certain industries, to select com- 
 petent foremen from the general body of workmen. 
 We are often told that the foreman, like the poet, 
 nascitur, non jit ; that he is chosen not so much for his 
 superior knowledge or skill as for his innate power of 
 influencing others, for his tact, and other qualities 
 which mark him out for a position of command. But, 
 other things being the same, the better educated 
 workman, who had been trained in such a practical 
 school as I have described, and who, as a boy, had 
 been selected for such training in consequence of his 
 superior intelligence and skill, would have advantages 
 
Organisation of Middle Trade Schools i8i 
 
 over his fel4ow-workpeople which would bring him to 
 the front, and render him more capable and efficient 
 than the man who is scarcely in any way superior to 
 those whom he directs. 
 
 It might be well in such schools to arrange the 
 hours of instruction from 9.15 to 11.15, from 11.30 to 
 I, and from 2 to 5 ; i.e., six and a half hours daily, 
 of which at least three hours should be spent in 
 practical work. The school course should last three 
 years, children being admitted at about the age of 
 twelve, on the results of a simple examination, or 
 on having passed the fifth standard in an ordinary 
 elementary school. The course of study on the 
 technical side should be practically the same for all 
 pupils in the first and second years ; but some spe- 
 cialisation might take place in the third year accordi^ 
 ing to the tastes and capabilities of the pupils. 
 
 The hours of instruction for the first two years 
 might be apportioned somewhat as follows : — 
 
 
 
 Hours per Week 
 
 
 First 
 Year 
 
 Second 
 Year 
 
 Mathematics and Arithmetic .... 
 Geometry and Mechanical Drawing 
 Science (Lessons and Laboratory ) 
 English and Geography .... 
 
 French and German 
 
 Art (Drawing and Modelling) 
 
 Workshop 
 
 
 S 
 4- 
 
 5- 
 5- 
 3 
 4| 
 
 45 
 
 I 
 
 6 
 3l 
 
 a* 
 
 Total 
 
 
 32^ 
 
 34 
 
1 82 Industrial Education 
 
 In the third year about eight or nine hours a week 
 would be given to workshop instruction, and an equal 
 time to laboratory or art work, according to the apti- 
 tudes displayed by the pupils. On the commercial 
 side of the school, the time would be differently 
 arranged, more time being given to modern languages 
 and to commercial geography at the expense of the 
 workshop training. 
 
 As regards accommodation, the school buildings 
 should comprise a sufficient number of class-rooms, a 
 laboratory, a lecture-room, and a preparation room fot 
 chemistry, the same for experimental physics, in- 
 cluding mechanics, a school museum, art studies for 
 drawing and modelling, a room for geometrical and 
 machine drawing, a master's room, and the necessary 
 offices for administrative purposes, a shop for wood- 
 work and a shop for metalwork, a dining-room to be 
 used as a general hall, kitchen, &c. 
 
 In the girls' department there would be required 
 a room for needlework and dressmaking, and a sepa- 
 rate kitchen for lessons in cookery. 
 
 These schools might frequently be worked in con- 
 nection with the evening school for artisans, clerks, 
 and others. The class-rooms, laboratories, and work- 
 shops, with possibly some additional accommodation, 
 might with advantage be made available for evening 
 students. An arrangement of this kind exists in 
 many Continental towns, and is now being tried in 
 this country. Here, the day school has been added 
 
School Accommodatton 183 
 
 to the evening school, often with the view of utilising 
 the rooms during the daytime ; but it is important 
 that the efficiency of the day school, both as regards 
 teaching staff and teaching accommodation, should 
 not be in any way sacrificed to the necessity of meet- 
 ing the requirements of evening students. 
 
 Intermediate schools, such as I have described, 
 ought to be placed within the reach of the better 
 class of artisans, of foremen of works, small manu- 
 facturers, and small shopkeepers. The fees ought to 
 be such as persons in what is called the lower middle 
 class of society could afford to pay. They should 
 not be so high as to place the instruction beyond the 
 reach of such people, nor so low as to give to the 
 education a too distinctly eleemosynary character. 
 Considering the prevailing feeling in this country, 
 that persons able to pay for the education of their 
 children should not avail themselves of the instruction 
 given in the public elementary schools, most of these 
 intermediate schools of which I am speaking might 
 have a junior department attached to them, for the 
 children of parents capable of paying fees in excess 
 of the maximum fee chargeable by the School Board. 
 If intermediate education were under the direction of 
 the State, there would be no difficulty in the esta- 
 blishment of such schools ; but as School Boards 
 throughout the country are unable to earn grants, 
 and at the same time to make a higher charge than 
 (jd. a week, a difficulty presents itself. For the edu- 
 
184 Industrial Education 
 
 cation given in these schools would be largely sought 
 after by parents willing and able to pay higher fees, 
 and it would be in opposition to the best interests of 
 the school to exclude this class of children from its 
 benefits. The admixture of the poorer, but in some 
 cases more gifted, children of public elementary 
 schools with other children having a higher standard 
 of living, and occupying a somewhat better position 
 in the social scale, would tend to improve both classes 
 of pupils, and would give a good tone to the school 
 work. 
 
 In what way the means may be found for the 
 establishment of these schools without State aid, it is 
 difficult to say. If any endowments still exist which 
 were originally intended to provide elementary edu- 
 cation, now no longer needed, for poor children, they 
 might be utilised in this direction. Private generosity 
 might step in and help to set such schools afloat, as 
 has been done in the case of some of the existing 
 middle schools for boys. Again, some of these 
 schools might adapt their curriculum to the require- 
 ments of the industrial classes, and help to fill up this 
 great lacuna in our educational system. But if no 
 endowments can be found available, if public enter- 
 prise will afford no aid, and if existing schools con- 
 tinue to cling to the traditions of the past, then I 
 think it will become necessary for the School Boards, 
 or other local authorities, to provide suitable instruction 
 for the selected children of the public elementary 
 
Ways and Means 185 
 
 schools ; and if, as certainly will happen, the children 
 of a somewhat wealthier class avail themselves of this 
 rate-aided teaching, it seems to me that it is better 
 that a few persons who can afford to pay should 
 accept eleemosynary instruction, than that hundreds 
 and thousands of promising children should go with- 
 out it. But both on moral and on social grounds, 
 and for the assistance that would be thus afforded in 
 the maintenance of these schools, it would be well if 
 the maximum school fees in these higher elementary 
 schools could be raised from '^s. to 6s. or 8j. per 
 month. It may be said that I have grouped together, 
 without distinction, higher elementary and middle- 
 class schools. I have done so because I can see no 
 reason, beyond one resting on very insufficient social 
 grounds, to separate them. Such schools might be 
 made to serve for those who can, and cannot, afford 
 to pay for their own education. The School Board 
 or local authority should be empowered to pay part 
 or the whole of the fees of the deserving children 
 drafted by competition into the higher schools ; and, 
 in certain cases, the most needy of the children should 
 receive scholarships to help towards their maintenance, 
 and to compensate their parents for the loss of the 
 children's early earnings. These scholarships might 
 be of rising value — say 1 2/. for the first year, 1 3/. for 
 the second, and 1 5/. for the third year. The expenses 
 of the maintenance of schools having no endowment 
 would be defrayed partly by fees, partly by the grants 
 
1 86. Industrial Education 
 
 obtained from the Science and Art Department, and 
 by funds provided out of local rates for technical 
 schools. 
 
 From what I have said, it will be seen that I am 
 inclined to agree with those persons who consider 
 that this higher instruction should be given in sepa- 
 rate schools, into which the selected pupils of the 
 ordinary elementary schools would be drafted. It 
 must be remembered that the necessary teaching 
 appliances in intermediate schools such as I have de- 
 scribed are somewhat costly, but that, when they are 
 adequately provided, they serve for the education of 
 a larger number of children than are likely to be able 
 to avail themselves of such advanced instruction in 
 any one school. Indeed, one such school would serve 
 to gather together the more promising pupils from 
 twenty-five or thirty of the surrounding elementary 
 schools of a lower grade.' Moreover, I think it a 
 waste of national strength to over-educate, at the 
 country's expense, the dullards of a school. There 
 must be hewers of wood and drawers of water to the 
 end of time. What we have to see to is that, whilst 
 we send out into the world, adequately equipped with 
 
 ' ' We are of opinion that in any school district where the popu- 
 lation, within a radius of two miles, amounts to 10,000, there should 
 be such a higher elementary school, or a higher department attached 
 to an ordinary elementary school, with a curriculum limited to chil- 
 dren up to fourteen or fifteen years of age. In more populous districts 
 these schools should be increased.' — Minority Report of Education 
 Commission, pr 308. 
 
Selection of Scholars 187 
 
 knowledge, the rank and file of our children, to 
 occupy the lower rungs of the great industrial ladder, 
 we lose no opportunity of selecting the children of 
 special aptitudes and brighter intellects, and of train- 
 ing them for higher posts, so that there may not be 
 lost to the industry and commerce of our country, 
 which so greatly needs their aid, a spark of genius 
 nor a stroke of skill. 
 
 Of schools giving an education somewhat on the 
 lines that I have indicated there are some few examples 
 in Great Britain. Of these, one of the most successful, 
 perhaps, is the upper department of the Central School 
 at Sheffield. This school has nearly 800 pupils, and 
 the total cost of maintenance is very little more than 
 3,000/. a year. Manchester, Birmingham, Notting- 
 ham, Bradford and Keighley, and other towns have 
 schools of different grades, which are intermediate 
 between the Elementary School and the Technical 
 College; but many of these suffer from a want of 
 funds which prevents their free development, and 
 they find their course of study fettered by the con- 
 ditions under which alone grants maybe earned from 
 the Education and the Science and Art Departments. 
 In London, we have the United Westminster School, 
 and the Cowper Street School, which latter may be 
 regarded as the pioneer of middle schools, affording 
 to its pupils the opportunity of specialising their 
 studies with a view to commercial as well as to tech- 
 nical pursuits. 
 
1 88 Industrial Education 
 
 But the best examples of these schools are found 
 abroad, and particularly in France, where a very 
 complete system of higher elementary education 
 exists. 
 
 In France, nearly every large town has its icole 
 primaire supMeure, in which the instruction is gra- 
 tuitous, and is organised on lines very similar to 
 those above indicated. A full description of these 
 schools will be found in the Report of the Royal 
 Commissioners on Technical Instruction.' In most 
 of these schools nine hours a week are given to 
 literary instruction, including the French language, 
 nine hours to scientific instruction, four hours to 
 modern languages, three hours to drawing, four hours 
 to workshop practice, and one hour to singing. One 
 of the first founded was the Ecole Martiniere at Lyons, 
 to which reference has already been made.'' In Paris, 
 there are the Ecoles Turgot, Colbert, Lavoisier, Say. 
 and Arago, attended by 3,163 pupils. A more recent 
 school of a somewhat similar kind is the Ecole Pro- 
 fessionnelle Municipale of Rheims. This school was 
 established in 1875, in order to impart to the youths 
 of Rheims special knowledge of their own manu- 
 factures, and to train them for the requirements 
 of trade and commerce. The leading industries of 
 
 ' For later particulars, and in some cases fuller statistics, see the first 
 part of a Report on Technical Education in Europe, by J. Schoenhof, 
 Washington, 1888. 
 
 2 See Chapter III,, p. 58. 
 
French Higher Elementary Schools 189 
 
 Rheims and of the neighbourhood are the woollen 
 trade, the wine trade, and commerce generally. The 
 technical instruction has special reference to these 
 occupations. The school contains, in addition to 
 the ordinary lecture theatres and class-rooms, good 
 chemical laboratories, weaving and spinning sheds, 
 fitted with machinery of the most recent construc- 
 tion, workshops for wood and iron, furnished with 
 a steam-engine, and with the necessary hand and 
 machine tools, and rooms for drawing. The boys 
 are not admitted under twelve years of age, and 
 are required to pass an elementary examination, 
 or to produce the leaving certificate of the primary 
 school. 
 
 The school consists of three departments — a tech- 
 nical, an agricultural, and a commercial department. 
 In the technical and agricultural departments the 
 course lasts, three years, and during the first two 
 years the instruction is the same for all, whilst in 
 the third year the workshop and laboratory teaching 
 is specialised according to the requirements of the 
 pupils. For the agricultural pupils, there is a special 
 chemical laboratory, in which pupils of the third year 
 study the chemical composition of earths, waters, and 
 of the principal food-stuffs. 
 
 The school buildings consist of a principal build- 
 ing facing the street, which contains the ordinary 
 class-rooms, drawing-rooms, and offices, the museum 
 and the weaving workshop. In the rear, are two 
 
I90 Industrial Education 
 
 wings, 1 20 feet by 33 feet, one of which contains the 
 engineering workshop and the other the chemical and 
 physical laboratories and lecture-rooms. Besides the 
 laboratory for agricultural pupils, there are two others 
 with places for 80 and 50 pupils respectively. Before 
 the passing of the Public Elementary Education Act 
 of 1881, the fee for day pupils was 4/. a year ; but 
 since 1 88 1, the instruction at this school, and at all 
 other similar higher elementary schools in France, 
 has been gratuitous. 
 
 The school has accommodation for 100 boarders, 
 who are charged 30/. a year ; but there are about 
 forty bursaries, which cover the expense of boarding 
 and provide free education. According to the 
 Budget for 1884-5, the annual expense of mainte- 
 nance was 2,698/., of which 1,880/. was contributed by 
 the State, the remainder by the municipality. The 
 erection and equipment ■ of the school cost about 
 24,000/. 
 
 From the subjoined time-table it will be seen that 
 in the industrial department a large amount of time 
 is given to drawing and workshop instruction, and a 
 corresponding number of hours to modern languages 
 in the commercial department. Latin is not taught ; 
 but three hours a week are devoted to Spanish, which 
 is seldom or never taught in any of our own schools 
 although it is scarcely less useful to the mercantile 
 traveller than German. The importance of manual 
 training, as a part of general education, is recognised 
 
A French Middle Trade School 191 
 
 by giving two hours a week to it in the commercial 
 section. The hours of instruction are much longer 
 than would be tolerated in an English school ; but 
 it must be remembered that workshop instruction 
 affords a distinct relief to purely literary teaching. 
 
 
 
 
 Industrial Schools 
 
 Commerce 
 
 Subject of Instruction 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 Third 
 
 First 
 
 Second 
 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 Year 
 
 French .... 
 
 S 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 German 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 English 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 Spanish 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 History 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Gec^aphy 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Law 
 
 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Political economy 
 
 — 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 Bookkeeping and office work 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 Mathematics 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 
 S 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 Physics .... 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Chemistry .... 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Natural history . 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 — 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Workshop, including weaving 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Ornamental drawing 
 
 — 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Industrial drawing 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 — 
 
 
 
 Singing .... 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 Gymnastics . 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
192 Industrial Education 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A FOREIGN INSTANCE OF SCHOOL SYSTEM — 
 EDUCATION IN BAVARIA. 
 
 As an example of school organisation in Germany, I 
 have selected the Bavarian system — not because it is 
 better than the school systems of Prussia or of Stutt- 
 gart, with which it has many points in common, but 
 because it has been less frequently described, and 
 presents a fairly complete system, well adapted to the 
 needs of an industrial people. 
 
 The. first thing that strikes the observer in com- 
 paring German and English education is the better 
 organisation and gradation of the foreign schools. 
 What the Germans call Schulwesen scarcely exists in 
 England. This is mainly owing to the fact that for 
 many years education in Germany has been under 
 State control, whereas in England it is only recently 
 that the State has, to any considerable extent, inter- 
 fered with the education of the country ; and even 
 now, that interference is restricted to the instruction 
 in elementary and evening schools. There are, of 
 course, advantages both in the systems of Germany 
 
Education in Bavaria 193 
 
 and of England. Where the schools are all under the 
 supervision and the direction of the State, improve- 
 ments are more readily introduced into the methods 
 of instruction than where no such control exists. On 
 the other hand, the freedom of instruction and the 
 great variety in the types of schools which we find in 
 England present features which are favourably re- 
 garded by those who are compelled to work in accord- 
 ance with a rigidly defined programme. Nothing, 
 however, is more difficult than the endeavour to 
 classify English schools. As regards the elementary 
 schools, there is, of course, no difficulty, because they 
 are all organised on the same plan ; but as soon as we 
 proceed one step higher in the educational ladder the 
 difficulty of presenting in a tabular form the various 
 grades of secondary schools is very considerable. On 
 the other hand, it must not be supposed that althouc h 
 our secondary education is free from Government con- 
 trol it is therefore wholly unfettered by external in- 
 fluences. Of late years, the universities have assumed, 
 to some extent, the position occupied by the Govern- 
 ments of foreign countries. Secondary education in 
 England is very much influenced by the examina- 
 tional systems of the universities, and the necessity 
 of preparing pupils for the different local and matri- 
 culation examinations limits free teaching almost as 
 much as State inspection. Indeed, I am not certain 
 but that the Germans would prefer that the general 
 outlines of their instruction should be defined by a 
 
 O 
 
194 Industrial Education 
 
 superior authority, than find themselves obliged to 
 prepare pupils for various examinations and judged 
 to a very great extent by the results. But where 
 the foreign system seems to me to be undoubtedly 
 superior is in the closer definition of the objects which 
 each school endeavours to fulfil. In England, social 
 distinctions have more reference to the classification 
 of schools than the relation of the teaching to the 
 future career of the pupil. This is not so on the Con- 
 tinent. The consequence is that in England nearly 
 all schools, except the primary, aim at teaching the 
 same subjects, and have a very extensive curriculum, 
 adapted to the requirements of pupils with very dif- 
 ferent objects in life. Where all the schools are con- 
 trolled by one central authority this is not the case, 
 and whilst the number of subjects taught in each 
 school is more restricted, the curriculum is made to 
 depend upon the age at which the pupil leaves, and, 
 to some extent, upon his future career. More time 
 can thus be devoted to each subject, and the teaching 
 is more thorough. 
 
 Another defect in our own school system, 
 arising from want of organisation, is that different 
 schools, which ought to aim at educating different 
 classes of pupils, overlap one another in their aims 
 and objects, and are with difficulty distinguishable. 
 Parents, consequently, in selecting the school to 
 which they shall send their sons, are less influenced 
 by the kind of education which that school provides 
 
School Organisation in Germany 195 
 
 than by the social position of the pupils attend- 
 ing it. This overlapping of instruction increases 
 the expense of school teaching quite as much as it 
 lessens its efficiency. Moreover, modifications in the 
 system of instruction and in the methods of teaching 
 are less readily adopted where schoolmasters are com- 
 pelled to follow rather than to lead public opinion, 
 and educational progress is less rapid than when a 
 central board guides and controls it. 
 
 In Germany, technical instruction commenced with 
 the highest and not with the lowest grade of educa- 
 tion. Its influence has spread downwards. The first 
 persons technically educated were the masters and 
 not the men, and the first efforts of the State were 
 directed towards the establishment, as separate in- 
 stitutions, or in connection with the universities, of 
 special schools for teaching the higher branches ot 
 science and the application of science to industry. 
 The Germans believed that the best way of improving 
 the technical knowledge and skill of the intelligent 
 workman was to commence by educating those who 
 had to guide and direct him. 
 
 There is probably no country in the world in 
 which national prosperity has been so clearly indebted 
 to education as in Germany. Generally, education 
 follows, and at a great distance, social changes, but 
 the Germans owe it to the wisdom of their rulers that 
 this was not the case in their own country. The 
 great expansion of the empire, and the growth and 
 
 o 2 
 
196 InaustriaC Education 
 
 development of native industries, are largely due 
 to the excellent system of education which they have 
 gradually established. 
 
 When Germany was divided into a number of 
 petty states, and its political influence counted for 
 little, it was regarded as the natural home of the 
 schoolmaster and the professor, and the excellence 
 of its educational institutions attracted students from 
 all parts of Europe. Few persons then realised the 
 influence which the increasipg culture of the people 
 would, before long, exercise on the destinies of the 
 nation. The different states of Germany were at that 
 time constantly endeavouring to rival one another 
 in the excellence and perfection of their schools and 
 colleges. In the place of a land-greed there was 
 a culture-greed. The distinguishing feature of the 
 teaching in all their schools was thoroughness — a 
 feature which had its effect not only on the intellec- 
 tual but also on the moral character of the people. 
 To the lessons learnt in school has been due much of 
 the assiduity, the perseverance, the devotion to duty, 
 and the power of work, which have enabled Germany 
 to succeed as a nation, and individual Germans to 
 prosper in competition with foreigners in nearly all 
 parts of the world. 
 
 A typical example of the organisation of German 
 schools is presented in the school system of Bavaria. 
 This system is well illustrated in the city of Munich, 
 which contains specimens of nearly all the different 
 
School Organisation in Germany 197 
 
 schools existing throughout the country. I first 
 became acquainted with the Bavarian system of edu- 
 cation during a visit paid to Munich and Nuremberg 
 in the spring of 1882, in company with my colleagues, 
 the members of the Royal Commission on Technical 
 Instruction. At our request, Dr. Bauernfeind, the 
 Director of the celebrated Polytechnic School of 
 Munich, prepared for us the annexed diagram (see 
 p. 199), which gives a general view of the Bavarian 
 school system. During the spring of the year 1887 
 I again visited Bavaria, with the view of verifying 
 and supplementing my former experiences.' 
 
 The population of Bavaria is about 5,420,000, 
 and in 1885-86 there were 7,131 elementary schools, 
 attended by 855,463 children, or two in fifteen of the 
 population. The population of Munich is about 
 262,000, and it contains twenty schools, the average 
 attendance at which is nearly 28,000 children, or one 
 in nine of the entire population. The smaller pro- 
 portion in the capital is due to the fact that in 
 Munich, a larger number of children are privately 
 educated, or leave the elementary schools at an 
 earlier age to attend some higher school. The or- 
 dinary elementary school age is between six and 
 thirteen. The education is compulsory and nearly 
 
 ' Many of the statistics contained in this chapter have been taken 
 from Die Ergebnisse der Unterrichts-Statisiik fiir das Schuljahr i884_ 
 85, by Carl Rasp. For later facts and other suggestions I am indebted 
 to Dr. Bauernfeind, to Mr. Drummond, H.M.'s Charge d'Affaires, 
 and to Mr. Cadogan, Secretary to H.M.'s Legation, at Munich. 
 
198 Industrial Education 
 
 everywhere gratuitous. The cost is borne partly by 
 the State and partly by the locality, and amounts to 
 about 640,000/. a year. 
 
 By reference to the diagram, in which the age of 
 the pupil is indicated by a scale on either side, it will 
 be seen that children leaving the primary school at 
 the age of thirteen pursue their studies in a ' continua- 
 tion school,' which they must attend for three years 
 and may attend for five years. These continuation 
 schools are held on the evenings of the week days and 
 on Sundays and holidays. The instruction consists 
 of the same subjects as are taught in the primary 
 school, further continued, in addition to elementary 
 science, bookkeeping, and what may be called indus- 
 trial drawing.' In 1885-86, throughout Bavaria there 
 were 244 such schools attended by 26,645 students, in 
 which 1,300 teachers were employed. In Munich only, 
 the attendance in these schools averages 3,907 yearly. 
 
 Besides these continuation schools, which are 
 known as Gewerbliche Fortbildungsschulen, there were, 
 in the year 1884-85, 55° Landwirthschaftliche, or 
 agricultural continuation schools. In these schools, 
 the subjects of ordinary elementary instruction are 
 continued ; and, in addition, lessons are given in 
 various branches of agriculture, and in matters re- 
 lating to the rearing of cattle and to farming opera- 
 
 ' ' Boys desire to learn what will be of use to them. Give them, 
 it is said, drawing, modelling, book-keeping, and the like, and they 
 will attend the evening %<^ooi.' —Education Commission Report, p. 162. 
 
The School System of Bavaria 1 99 
 
 tions. In some of these schools courses of instruction 
 are given during the day The number of pupils 
 
 Age 
 22 , 
 
 <S>^ 
 
 -^> 1 
 
 Age 
 22 
 
 2; 
 
 «K^ 
 
 r%^o 
 
 21 
 
 
 ^Z<y\ \ 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 V \ \\#- 
 
 ifQyr\^ 
 
 20 
 
 
 ^7 ti\S^ 
 
 
 73 
 
 m 
 
 n- 
 
 
 'M-^ — ny^_ 1^ 1 ^ txL. Cn, 
 
 19 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 
 0/ \ 
 
 
 s>» 
 
 1! 
 ii 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 ■^/-s^V 
 
 "%<T 
 
 
 
 re- 
 
 
 CD 
 
 a: 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 s/ "i \ 
 
 
 
 16 
 75 
 14 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 13 
 
 . 
 
 Co 
 
 5 
 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 5" 
 
 
 '3 
 
 
 
 
 
 CD 
 
 
 ki 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 cc 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 to 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 - 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 ELEMENTARY or PRIMARY SCHOOL 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 
 7 
 
 r 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 _ 
 
 
 R 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 FACULTIES. 
 
 A. Theology. 
 
 B. Jurisprudence. 
 
 C. Cameralistic. 
 
 D. Medicine. 
 
 E. Philosophy. 
 
 POLYTECHNIC 
 DIVISIONS. 
 
 F. General. 
 
 G. Engineering. 
 H. Architecture. 
 
 I. Mechanics. 
 K. Chemistry. 
 L. Agriculture. 
 
 TECHNICAL COL- 
 LEGE DIVISIONS. 
 
 M. Mechanics. 
 
 N. Chemistry. 
 
 O. Building. 
 
 P. Commerce. 
 
 attending these schools in the session 1884-85 was 
 9,961, and the number of teachers was 899. In very 
 
200 Industrial Education 
 
 few localities is any fee charged for attendance, the 
 whole amount of fees received in one year not 
 exceeding 26/., gainst an annual expenditure of 
 6,977/. 
 
 The elementary schools are attended by the great 
 majority of the children of the country, be the social 
 position of their parents what it may ; and the idea 
 that such schools are for the children of the poor 
 only, and that those who contribute most to their 
 support have no right to take advantage of them, 
 certainly never occurs to a German mind. They are 
 essentially Volksschulen, or people's schools. Many of 
 those who are intended for higher education leave the 
 elementary school at the age of ten, and proceed to 
 the Realschule. Into this school they are only 
 admitted on passing an entrance examination. The 
 fees are about twenty-five shillings a year, but a large 
 number of the children are admitted at half-fees or 
 quite gratuitously. In Bavaria there are about forty- 
 six such schools, in thirty-four of which the course of 
 study occupies six years, and in twelve four years- 
 Besides these, there are the private schools of the 
 same kind. The children enter at the age of ten, and 
 leave at the age of fourteen or sixteen. The course 
 of instruction comprises German, at least one other 
 modern language, science, mathematics, geography 
 and history, and drawing. Latin is not taught, nor 
 is there any workshop instruction. They are dis- 
 tinctly higher elementary schools, giving that kind of 
 
Bavarian Realschulen 201 
 
 general instruction which will be most useful to those 
 who will enter manufacturing or commercial life at 
 the age of sixteen, or who may be preparing for a 
 course of technical instruction with a view to some 
 higher post in industrial works. 
 
 The only school of this type I visited was situated 
 in the Eisenmanns-strasse, and contained about seven 
 hundred pupils, divided into six classes. The school 
 is well provided with apparatus for practical scientific 
 instruction. It has a good chemical laboratory, in 
 which boys of the fifth and sixth classes receive in- 
 struction for about three hours per week. There is a 
 good lecture theatre, with a preparation room attached 
 to it, and a private laboratory for the master. One 
 or two rooms were occupied with collections of 
 scientific objects. There is a mineralogical museum, 
 and a well-arranged cabinet of physical apparatus, 
 besides the apparatus needed for chemical instruction. 
 The lessons in physics consist almost exclusively of 
 oral teaching in the lecture theatre, illustrated by 
 experiments ; the note-books of the pupils being 
 carefully examined and marked by the instructor. 
 
 Laboratory instruction in physics, in which the 
 pupils themselves are exercised in practical work 
 had not, at the time of my visit to Germany, been 
 introduced into any of the schools. The class-rooms 
 of the school are well supplied with maps, diagrams 
 of mechanical and physical apparatus, as well as of 
 the different parts of plants and insects. The teach- 
 
202 Industrial Education 
 
 ing of natural history forms an important feature in 
 the school curriculum, and is illustrated by an excel- 
 lent collection of models of flowers. Besides these 
 diagrams and models, which are freely employed as 
 aids to the teaching given in this school, part of the 
 courtyard is used as a garden, in which plants are 
 grown to illustrate the botanical lessons. I may here 
 mention that the teaching of botany is an essential 
 part of the scientific instruction given in nearly all the 
 Realschulen of Germany, and precedes the teaching 
 of physics and of chemistry, as exercising the observ- 
 ing rather than the reasoning faculties of the children. 
 Similar schools in Berlin, one of which I recently 
 visited, are supplied once or twice a week from the 
 Royal Botanical Gardens with fresh specimens of 
 flowers for the instruction of the pupils. In the 
 Munich school, natural history is taught to the pupils 
 of the second and third classes, physics and chemistry 
 to those of the fourth, fifth, and sixth. 
 
 The standard of mathematical teaching in these 
 Real-Schools is liigh, and the teaching of geometry is 
 facilitated and rendered more directly serviceable to 
 the pupil by not insisting on the use of Euclid as a 
 text-book. In the school I am describing, there was 
 a good collection of models, illustrating the different 
 geometrical forms, and the intersection of surfaces. 
 Geometry is taught together with drawing, so as to 
 prepare the way for the teaching of mechanical draw- 
 ing, excellent specimens of which were submitted to 
 
Middle Schools in Bavaria 203 
 
 us. There is also in the school a good studio, fur- 
 nished with casts, in which the pupils receive instruc- 
 tion in freehand and in model drawing. 
 
 In the year 1884-85, the total number of boys 
 in attendance at these schools was 8,076. 
 
 By reference to the diagram it will be seen that 
 pupils leaving this school at the age of sixteen are 
 admissible, and some of them proceed, to the Tech- 
 nical College, which is known in Bavaria by the name 
 of Industrie- S chute. The number of students for the 
 session 1883-84, in the four technical colleges found 
 in Bavaria, was only 370, the school in Nuremberg 
 being the best attended. The total annual cost to the 
 State for the maintenance of these schools is about 
 1 1,300/., the cost of the education of each student 
 being about 30/. a year. This corresponds very nearly 
 with the cost of the education of the day students of 
 the Finsbury Technical College. 
 
 The aim of these schools is to enable the students 
 to obtain a practical education, less theoretical in 
 character than that given in the universities or at 
 the polytechnic schools, which shall fit them to 
 enter upon commercial or industrial work, with a fair 
 chance of immediate employment, and of obtaining 
 steady promotion in their careers. Those students 
 who are not admitted by exhibitions pay an en- 
 trance fee of four shillings, and thirty-six shillings 
 per annum, or twenty-two shillings for the half-year. 
 The school course lasts two years. There are four 
 
204 Industrial Education 
 
 divisions, according as the student is intended for 
 engineering, chemical, building, or commercial work. 
 Like all the educational institutions of Germany, the 
 school is well provided with apparatus, specimens, and 
 collections. It contains a room replete with mechani- 
 cal models of nearly every description, including 
 pumps, valves, steam-engines, and hydraulic appara- 
 tus, beautifully constructed and showing the working 
 of the different parts. There is also an art studio, 
 well fitted with casts ; and screens are carefully ar- 
 ranged between the windows so as to produce proper 
 effects of light and shade. A point worthy of note is 
 that the smaller casts are kept in cabinets with glass 
 doors until they are required for use, so as to prevent 
 their being discoloured by dust, which often interferes 
 with the student's perception of natural shade. In 
 this college considerable at|:ention is paid to the 
 teaching of mathematics and of machine drawing ; 
 and in the chemical laboratory, besides quantitative 
 and qualitative analysis, the students spend a large 
 amount of time in synthetical chemistry, and the 
 museum attached to the laboratory contains a number 
 of substances prepared by the students. 
 
 A special feature of the instruction in these 
 colleges is that given in the workshops. Workshop 
 instruction has only of late years been given in 
 the technical schools of Germany, and the opinion is 
 still very generally held throughout Germany that 
 practice in the use of tools is best commenced in the 
 
Technical Colleges in Bavaria 205 
 
 commercial works, and that the period devoted to school 
 education should be wholly occupied in the teaching 
 of principles. ' Die Praxis,' they tell us, ' kommt 
 bald genug.' There is, however, a gradually increas- 
 ing tendency to adopt the opposite view ; and the 
 importance attached to workshop instruction in other 
 countries, notably in France and in the United States, 
 is not without effect on German educationists. In 
 Austria, workshop schools are numerous, and in 
 Rhenish Prussia the number of such schools is 
 increasing. 
 
 In each of the four technical colleges of Bavaria 
 there are workshops. In the Munich school, the 
 workshop is fitted with thirty-six vices, two planing 
 machines, ten lathes, two upright drills, the power 
 being supplied by a two horse-power gas-engine, and 
 a six horse-power steam-engine. The instruction is 
 obligatory on all students in the engineering section, 
 but is voluntary for those in all other divisions. Each 
 student has his own box of tools, which is fitted to the 
 wall above the benches and kept under lock and key. 
 The steam-engine is tended by the students, each one 
 taking charge of it for a week at a time. The work- 
 shops are under the direction of a practical scientific 
 mechanic, and no extra fee is charged for this kind of 
 training. Many of the machines used in the shops 
 have been made by the students. 
 
 The opinions which we received from different 
 authorities, as to the value of these schools, varied 
 
2o6 Industrial Education 
 
 very much. More than one of the professors of the 
 university attached very little to the instruction. On 
 the other hand, the testimony of managers of machine 
 works in Bavaria, who had had the opportunity of 
 testing the results of the training given in these 
 Industrie-Schulen, is very much in favour of the 
 education they provide. An English foreman, en- 
 gaged in the works of a large machine-maker at 
 Nuremberg, referred to it in the highest possible 
 terms, and distinctly stated that he gave a decided 
 preference to boys who had received during their 
 school course some amount of workshop instruction. 
 We ourselves came to the conclusion that in those 
 technical colleges in which workshop instruction 
 formed a part of the curriculum, the machine drawing 
 was generally much better than in other schools, where 
 no such instruction was given. 
 
 In Bavaria, as in other parts of Germany, are 
 found a number of schools especially intended for 
 the instruction of apprentices and workmen engaged 
 in different branches of the building trade. These 
 schools are known as Baugewerkschuien. The schools 
 are open during the winter months only, from 
 November to March, when, owing to the prevailing 
 frosty weather, all building operations are to a great 
 extent suspended. In Bavaria there are iive such 
 schools attended by 650 students. For admission 
 into these schools the pupils must be at least sixteen 
 years old, and must already have had two years' 
 
Building Trade Schools 207 
 
 practical experience at some branch of the trade. 
 The course of instruction lasts four semesters, and 
 includes German, arithmetic, bookkeeping, mathe- 
 matics, freehand drawing, elementary science, model- 
 ling, stereotomy, the principles of building construc- 
 tion and of architecture, the nature of building ma- 
 terials, &c. At the schools in Munich and Nuremberg, 
 examinations are held, to which all students who 
 have completed their four years' course are admitted. 
 Although the instruction given in these schools is 
 mainly theoretical, it is distinctly professional, and is 
 specialised with a view to the exact requirements of 
 those who receive it. The instructors are, in all cases, 
 practical men thoroughly acquainted with the subjects 
 they profess to teach. 
 
 Besides these schools, in which the instruction is 
 more or less of a general character, there are found in 
 Bavaria 19 Fachschulen, or special trade schools, w '' 
 an attendance of 2,923 students. Some of these 
 approach most nearly to the apprenticeship schools 
 of France and to the trade schools of Austria. They 
 include schools for instruction in weaving, pottery, 
 wood-carving, brewing, and in drawing, painting, 
 and modelling. 
 
 In Bavaria, children who are intended to receive 
 a higher secondary education, which shall extend to 
 the age of eighteen, leave the primary school at nine 
 years of age and enter a first-grade classical school, or 
 a modern school. These schools, to which reference 
 
2o8 Industrial Education 
 
 has already been made, constitute a characteristic 
 feature in German education. It is pre-eminently, 
 perhaps, in secondary education that the Germans 
 have been for so long a time in advance of all other 
 people. The late Mr. Matthew Arnold, in his ' Higher 
 Schools and Universities in Germany,' published in 
 1 868, first made us fully acquainted with the system 
 of instruction adopted in these schools. The organisa- 
 tion of these secondary schools is the subject of con- 
 stant discussion in educational journals and in educa- 
 tional societies in Germany ; and in no two states is 
 the system of instruction pursued absolutely identical. 
 The question as to the age at which Greek should be 
 commenced determines to some extent the character of 
 the instruction given in these schools. ■ In Bavaria, the 
 classical and the modern secondary school are respec- 
 tively known as the Humanistic-Gymnasium with 
 Greek, and the Real-Gymnasium without Greek. In 
 the former, as will be seen from the diagram, the 
 study of Greek is commenced at the age of twelve. 
 The three junior forms, in which Latin only is taught, 
 are common to both schools. The advantage of this 
 system is that the child is not required definitely to 
 choose between the literary and the more scientific 
 education until he shall have reached an age at which 
 his taste and aptitude can be more readily determined. 
 If he has already entered the Gymnasium, where 
 Greek is taught, he can leave it at the age of twelve, 
 should his parents desire him to do so, and continue 
 
Secondary Education in Bavaria 209 
 
 his studies in the Real-Gymnasium, where he will 
 pursue his Latin, but will learn no Greek ; and if he 
 has entered, in the first instance, a Real-Gymnasium, 
 he can pass out of it into the classical school, without 
 any break whatever in the continuity of his studies. 
 It is interesting to note that the head masters of three 
 of our principal public schools have issued a circular 
 bearing date July 1887, in which they suggest that 
 Greek shall not be taught in the preparatory school, 
 ox Pro-Gymnasium, and shall not be begun before the 
 age of twelve. 
 
 The Real- Gymnasium corresponds very nearly 
 with the modern side*of English public schools. At 
 one time, there were six schools of the Real-Gym- 
 nasium type in Bavaria. But, owing to the gradual 
 falling off in the attendance, the number of these 
 schools has been reduced to four, in Munich, Nurem- 
 berg, Wurzburg, and Augsburg. In the year 1884, the 
 number of pupils in these four schools had fallen as 
 low as 426, the reason assigned being, that the leaving 
 examination from these schools does not admit the 
 pupils to any one of the four professional faculties of 
 the university A, B, C, or D, in which, of late years, the 
 attendance has considerably increased. The cost to 
 the State of the maintenance of these schools for the 
 year 1884 was about 9,600/., or over 21/. per annum 
 for each scholar. On the other hand, the attendance 
 at the humanistic or classical schools has of late 
 increased, and is very large in proportion to the popu- 
 
 P 
 
2IO Industrial Education 
 
 lation. Some of the Gymnasia have not their full 
 complement of classes. These are called Pro-Gym- 
 nasia, or preparatory schools. They have only the 
 five lowest classes. Of such schools there are 44 in 
 Bavaria, with an attendance roll of 3,089 pupils. Of 
 complete Gymnasia with nine classes there are 33, at 
 which the attendance for 1884 was 14,069. Many of 
 these classical schools are supported, as in this country, 
 from funds derived from ancient endowments. But 
 the State contributions to the maintenance of the 
 
 « 
 
 schools amounted in 1883-84 to 109,000/., the cost of 
 the education of each pupil being about 10/. per 
 annum. * 
 
 Of the entire male population of Bavaria, 2,639,242 
 (December 1885), about 32,646 are receiving a secon- 
 dary education in one or other of the schools already 
 referred to, in addition to those who are being educated 
 in the specially commercial schools. 
 
 There cannot, of course, be too much variety in 
 the different classes of schools, provided their aims 
 and objects are well defined, to which parents may 
 send their children ; and for this reason it is well that 
 the Real-Gymnasium should exist side by side with 
 the more strictly classical school. But there can be 
 little doubt that, if any really valuable instruction is 
 to be given in Latin, the time devoted to it in the 
 Real-Gymnasium must be such as seriously to interfere 
 with the requirements of mathematical and scientific 
 teaching ; and the practical teaching of science de- 
 
Classical and Modern Schools 2 1 1 
 
 mands more time than can be given to it if Latin is 
 to form part of the school curriculum. For this 
 reason, in Prussia and in the northern states of Ger- 
 many, the curriculum of the Realschule, in which no 
 Latin is taught, has been extended, and additional 
 classes have been added to it, so as to make it cor- 
 respond in grade with that of the classical and modern 
 schools. Schools of this kind, in which there are ten 
 classes, as in the Gymnasium, are found in Berlin 
 and in many other cities in Germany ; and it is 
 probable that the distinction between a literary and 
 a scientific training will gradually become more and 
 more pronounced, and the choice will lie mainly 
 between the training of the classical and of the purely 
 scientific school. The figures above quoted show that 
 this is likely to be the case, and as science comes to 
 be more practically taught, the necessity of lightening 
 the curriculum of modern schools by the omission 
 of Latin will be more generally recognised. In the 
 Bavarian system of education, the Realschule has not 
 a full complement of classes, and is distinctly of a 
 lower grade than the Realschulen of North Germany 
 generally. Indeed, it is intended mainly for those 
 children whose position is such as not to enable them 
 to take advantage of the opportunities of the higher 
 education of the universities or of the polytechnic 
 school. 
 
 In Bavaria, as in other parts of Germany, the 
 higher secondary schools are the channels through 
 
 p 2 
 
212 Industrial Education 
 
 which students pass to the university or to the 
 polytechnic school. The classical training of the 
 Gymnasium is still inferentially regarded as the 
 highest type of education, and the pupils leaving 
 this school with the matriculation certificate are at 
 once admissible into any of the several faculties of 
 the university or of the polytechnic. But this is 
 not so with those who have passed through the 
 Real-Gymnasium, which answers to the modern side 
 of our public school. The leaving certificate of the 
 Real-Gymnasium does not qualify them to continue 
 their studies at the university in the faculties of law, 
 theology, or medicine. This is indicated on the 
 diagram by the circular arrow which, starting at the 
 Gymnasium, extends from A to L, and, starting from 
 the other side, from L to E. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of German secondary 
 schools, a few words should be said about commercial 
 schools, because they occupy a position somewhat 
 outside the general school system. In Bavaria there 
 are eight commercial schools, of which the more im- 
 portant are at Munich, Nuremberg, and Marktbreit- 
 am-Main. Those at Munich and Nuremberg I visited 
 in 1 887. The education is very similar in all. The 
 programme of the Munich school clearly states 
 that the purpose of the school is to 'afford to its 
 pupils a higher general education for das bUrger- 
 liche Leben, and a special preparation for a mer- 
 cantile calling ; ' and it goes on to show how, by 
 
Commercial Education in Bavaria 213 
 
 the exclusion of Latin from the curriculiim, thorough- 
 ness is obtained for instruction in those subjects- 
 which exert a great influence on the practical affairs 
 of modem life. 
 
 The Munich school has six classes, and children 
 enter between the ages of 10 and 12 with the acquire- 
 ments of the fourth class of the elementary school. 
 The curriculum comprises mercantile arithmetic, 
 bookkeeping, and commercial science. In all the 
 subjects of instruction a bias is given to the future 
 mercantile needs of the pupils, and it is mainly in 
 this respect that the instruction differs from that 
 given in the ordinary Real schools. I cannot say 
 that I was favourably impressed by these schools. 
 It seems to be an undoubted fact that the pupils 
 easily find places in business houses, and this accounts 
 for the comparatively high fees (7/. los. per annum) 
 which seem to be willingly paid by parents for the 
 education of their children in these schools. From 
 what I heard, however, and from what I saw of the 
 education they afforded, I did not think that these 
 schools were likely to increase in number. The 
 attendance, however, continues satisfactory. In 1884- 
 85 there were 1,1 11 pupils in these schools, which 
 is about 3'5 per I,CX)0 of the male population of 
 Bavaria. 
 
 The German university is an institution in many 
 respects similar to University College and King's 
 College, London, and to Owens College, Manchester, 
 
214 Industrial Education 
 
 but on a much more extensive scale. It corresponds 
 more nearly with a Scotch university than with that 
 of Oxford or Cambridge. It is at once a teaching and 
 a degree-conferring body, with faculties of instruction 
 covering the whole area of human knowledge except 
 the application of science to the several branches of 
 engineering. The University of Munich consists of 
 five faculties — those of theology, law, medicine, philo- 
 sophy, and what, for want of a better title, may be 
 called the civil service or commercial faculty. The 
 philosophical faculty comprises all branches of what 
 is generally understood by philosophy proper, in- 
 cluding logic, psychology, metaphysics, and the 
 history of philosophy, as well as the whole range of 
 the natural and physical sciences. For many years 
 past, the science faculties of the German universities 
 have been more completely organised than those of 
 any other country. The University of Munich is 
 specially distinguished for its chemical teaching. 
 The laboratories, under the direction of Professor 
 Baeyer, are very extensive, and have been erected 
 by the State at a cost of about 30,000/., and were, 
 till very recently, the best equipped of all the 
 laboratories of Europe. They consist of four large 
 laboratories for qualitative and quantitative analy- 
 sis, and for the study of organic and inorganic 
 chemistry, besides several smaller laboratories in 
 which teachers and students are occupied with ori- 
 ginal research. 
 
Tke German University 215 
 
 To the chemical laboratories of the universities 
 Germany undoubtedly owes much of the success of 
 its manufacturin gindustry. Although the polytech- 
 nic institutions are essentially schools for the training 
 of those who are intended for technical pursuits, the 
 education provided in the universities has exerted 
 considerable influence on the development of produc- 
 tive industry in Germany. By means of their research 
 laboratories the universities have done much to add to 
 the store of human knowledge, and to train men in the 
 methods of discovery. The legion of professors and of 
 subordinate teachers attached to these higher schools, 
 all striving to push science beyond its present limits, 
 and to force nature to reveal fresh secrets, are vir- 
 tually enrolled in the service of trade and commerce. 
 In chemistry, in physics, in mechanics, and in biology, 
 the teachers in the universities of Germany have been 
 foremost among those whose researches have led to 
 important discoveries that have materially added to 
 the wealth of the country. Indeed, it is essentially in 
 the extent and in the general diffusion of the higher 
 education, in its accessibility, and in the appreciation 
 of its importance by all classes, that the German 
 people are so much ahead of us. Prussia is said to 
 spend 391,000/. yearly out of taxation on her univer- 
 sities alone, and looking to the great development in 
 the last few years of trade in Germany, there can be 
 no doubt that the German nation has done wisely in 
 
2i6 Industrial Education 
 
 making this ample provision for the higher scientific 
 and technical instruction of the people. 
 
 The principal chemists of Germany have been 
 trained in the universities, and there has been a con- 
 stant rivalry between the chemical teaching of the 
 universities and of the polytechnic schools, the former 
 being generally regarded as the more advanced, and 
 the latter as the better adapted for the training of 
 those who are not intended to be mere analysts, but 
 masters or managers of chemical works. The relative 
 advantages of the university and of the polytechnic, 
 as a school for the education of industrial chemists, is 
 one of the many educational points which cannot 
 yet be considered as definitely settled. Indeed, the 
 whole question of the relation of the university to 
 the polytechnic school is full of difficulty, some 
 eminent authorities being in favour of the combi- 
 nation of university and of technical teaching, whilst 
 others think that the study of pure science and the 
 cause of the higher learning would suffer from the 
 too close association of the university and the pro- 
 fessional school. Into this vexed question I do not 
 propose to enter, but refer my readers to pp. 207-216 
 of the first volume of the Commissioners' Report on 
 Technical Instruction, in which the subject is fully 
 discussed. This only I will say, that whilst such a 
 fusion cannot in any way affect the efficiency of the 
 technical teaching, provided the supply of funds is 
 adequate for the maintenance of the general as well 
 
The Universities of Bavaria 217 
 
 as of the special schools, the introduction of a com- 
 mercial element into the instruction is likely to alter 
 the aim and purpose of what is generally understood 
 by university teaching ; and for this reason, if for no 
 other, the German system has much to recommend it. 
 At the same time it must be remembered, as pointed 
 out in the opening chapter, that from the earliest 
 times professional schools have formed parts of the 
 university; and there can be little doubt that if the 
 organised knowledge we call science had existed 
 eight centuries ago, and if its application to engi- 
 neering, architecture, agriculture, and productive in- 
 dustry generally had been as well understood then as 
 now, a faculty of applied science would have been 
 added to the faculties of law, medicine, and theology, 
 and the technical high school would have been in- 
 cluded in the university. 
 
 In Bavaria, besides the University of Munich, 
 there are two other universities, the one at Wiirzburg 
 and the other at Erlangen. They are supported by 
 ancient endowments, the incomes from which are 
 supplemented by subsidies from the State. In the 
 year 1884-85 the sum expended on the three uni- 
 versities was 104,517/., towards which the State con- 
 tributed 73,718/. The number of students in the 
 year 1S85-86 was 6,341, distributed as follows : 3,835 
 in Munich, 1,580 in Wiirzburg, and 926 in Erlangen. 
 Of these, 5,549 were matriculated. The attendaiice 
 at the universities is steadily improving. 
 
2i8 Industrial Education 
 
 In addition to the theological faculties of the uni- 
 versities there are in Bavaria seven Lycies, or training 
 schools for the profession of theology. These are 
 attended by 637 students. In Germany it is not 
 uncommon to find ' special ' schools in some pro- 
 fessional or trade subject, in which higher instruc- 
 tion is given supplementary to that of the uni- 
 versity or polytechnic. The weaving and dyeing 
 school of Vienna is an example of such an establish- 
 ment. 
 
 In Munich, side by side with the university, exists 
 the well-known polytechnic school, for instruction in 
 science in its application to industry. This institu- 
 tion is co-ordinate with the university, and its teaching 
 overlaps it in many respects. Without having seen 
 one of these institutions it is almost impossible to 
 realise their vast extent, the beauty of their construc- 
 tion, the completeness of their arrangements, and the 
 luxury with which they are fitted. The provision of 
 polytechnic schools in Germany is, however, in ex- 
 cess of the present requirements of the people. This 
 arises from the fact, that when these institutions were 
 first established, Germany was divided into several 
 states, each of which tried to excel the other in the 
 magnificence of its schools, and to attract to itself 
 the largest number of students. These schools are 
 known in Germany by the name of Technical High 
 Schools, the word High School being synonymous 
 with University. The annual cost of the main- 
 
Tlie German Polytechnic School 219 
 
 tenance of these establishments is about a quarter 
 of a million of money, and the erection and equip- 
 ment of them has cost not less than three millions 
 sterling. 
 
 It says much for the desire for higher educa- 
 tion in Bavaria, that, although the university and 
 the polytechnic school exist within a few yards of 
 each other in the same city, and although the chemi- 
 cal laboratories of the university were, till recently, 
 the largest in Europe, the laboratory of the poly- 
 technic was, at the time of my visit, fully occupied, 
 and the question of extending it was under con- 
 sideration. The building with its collections has 
 cost little less than 200,000/., and the annual expen- 
 diture on maintenance is 20,000/. The institution 
 consists of six special schools — the general school, 
 intended principally for the training of teachers, the 
 civil engineering school, the architectural school, the 
 mechanical engineering school, the chemical school, 
 and the agricultural school. The leaving certificate 
 of the Real-Gymnasium is accepted as a qualifying 
 certificate for admission to the polytechnic ; the 
 students obtaining a similar certificate from the 
 Technical College or Industrie Schule, which I have 
 described, and which they leave at the age of eigh- 
 teen, are also admissible to the polytechnic. Of 
 course, the students coming from the Technical 
 College or Industrie Schule bring with them to their 
 studies at the polytechnic a different kind of prepara- 
 
2 20 Industrial Education 
 
 tion from that of the students of the modern side of 
 the Gymnasium. As represented in the diagram, the 
 education given in the former is intended to be com- 
 plete and well rounded off, fitting the student at once 
 to enter industrial work. The student leaving this 
 school has received less general education, less theo- 
 retical teaching, and more practical instruction than 
 the student who enters the polytechnic direct from 
 the Gymnasium. It is another moot point whether 
 students who have received this more practical teach- 
 ing are better or worse adapted to take advantage of 
 the higher instruction given in the polytechnic school, 
 and many educational authorities in Germany are 
 strongly of opinion that a broad basis of general 
 instruction is that which best enables a student to 
 succeed in the higher walks of science ; and some go 
 so far as to regret that students from the Industrie 
 Sckule, who have received from the beginning a 
 different kind of training, are permitted, without 
 further preparation, to continue their studies in the 
 polytechnic schools. It appears that at least sixty 
 per cent, of the students of the Industrie Schule 
 pursue their education till the age of twenty-one or 
 twenty-two at the technical high school ; and these 
 students, it should be observed, have been three times 
 passed through the sieve of examination, and weeded 
 from their less successful competitors — first, on leav- 
 ing the elementary school to enter the Reaischule ; 
 secondly, on leaving the Reaischule to enter the 
 
Preparatory Training for the Polytechnic 221 
 
 Industrie Schule ; and thirdly, in passing on to the 
 polytechnic. 
 
 A special feature of the German technical high 
 school, as well as of the university, is the great 
 subdivision of such subjects as engineering, archi- 
 tecture, and chemistry, each special branch of the 
 subject being placed in the hands of a separate 
 professor. Thus, for example, there are forty-five 
 distinct courses of lectures given in the engineering 
 department of the Munich school, and the number of 
 professors who give these courses is eighteen. There 
 are, in all, 196 different courses of lectures mentioned 
 in the programme, and these are assigned to thirty-six 
 professors and thirty-four teachers besides assistants. 
 This distribution of teaching among professors, each 
 of whom is specially conversant with the details of 
 some portion of the subject, is in striking contrast 
 with the English system, in which the instruction is 
 generally placed under the direction of one professor 
 as head of the department, assisted by two or three 
 lecturers or teachers. A much closer specialisation 
 of study is needed in our own institutes for advanced 
 technical instruction, if they are to fulfil the functions 
 of a German Polytechnic School. 
 
 The most interesting and important section of the 
 Munich Polytechnic is the engineering school. This 
 department consists of numerous rooms for instruc- 
 tion in mechanical drawing, of collections of models, 
 and of laboratories for special practical work. It com- 
 
22 2 Industrial Education 
 
 prises six large rooms, used exclusively for machine 
 drawing, one of which is furnished with lOO tables. 
 The machine workshops contain a compound steam- 
 engine having complete appliances for registering the 
 various degrees of expansion and speed developed. 
 Another laboratory is furnished with a testing 
 machine, working up to loo tons, for determining 
 the strain and the elasticity of various substances. 
 This laboratory has been largely utilised by manu- 
 facturers and others for the testing of different ma- 
 terials, both in Bavaria and throughout Germany. 
 The total number of students in attendance at the 
 Munich polytechnic for the year 1887-8 was 733 in 
 the winter and 701 in the summer session. The 
 attendance previously had at one time been as high 
 as 1,300 ; the falling off in the number of students, 
 due to the completion of the railway system of Ger- 
 many and to the general depression of trade, has 
 been less in this polytechnic than in many other 
 institutions of a similar character. The number of 
 students is now again increasing. 
 
 The Director's annual Report contains a notice 
 of the various contributions to the advancement of 
 Science and Art, made by the professors and their 
 assistants, outside their ordinary educational work. 
 This notice, given under the heading ' Wissenschaft- 
 liche und Kiinsterliche Thatigkeit der Professoren, 
 Dozenten und Assistenten,' which is a bare index 
 to the research-work of the teachers, occupies ten 
 
The Munich Polytechnic School 223 
 
 closely printed quarto pages of the Report for 
 1887-88 of the Munich School. When we consider 
 that similar ' activity ' is shown by the professors of 
 other polytechnic schools, and of all the German 
 universities, we get some idea of the encouragement 
 which these institutions afford to the advancement of 
 science. 
 
 Of other polytechnic schools, the largest and 
 most recently constructed is the Polytechnic School 
 of Berlin, which was completed in 1 884. It is situated 
 at Charlottenburg, a fashionable suburb of the capital, 
 and has been erected and equipped at a cost of about 
 450,000/. This school and the new University of 
 Strasburg are probably the most extensive and the 
 most elaborately fitted educational institutions in 
 Europe. Attached to the Berlin Polytechnic School 
 are sixty-three professors, in addition to several lec- 
 turers, demonstrators, and assistant teachers. The 
 academic session lasts from October i till the end of 
 July; in Munich, from October 15 to August 15. 
 The fees are low, so that the education is brought 
 within the reach of all classes of society above the 
 poorest ; and for the benefit of these the fees are 
 readily remitted, and scholarships are provided. For 
 a single course of one lecture per week, the fee is five 
 shillings for the session, and three shillings for the 
 corresponding exercise class. 
 
 Side by side with the polytechnic, or school of 
 applied science, is found in very many of the largest 
 
224 Industrial Education 
 
 German cities the industrial art school, or Kunst- 
 gewerbeschule. The object of this school is to give 
 instruction in art, and in its application to special 
 industries. No similar type of school exists in France. 
 Like all other great educational institutions, the 
 school is generally located in an architecturally beau- 
 tiful and tastefully decorated building. The temple 
 dedicated to art or science must be no mean struc- 
 ture. Such schools are found in Berlin, in Dresden, 
 in Munich, in Nuremberg, in Vienna, and in other 
 German cities. They contain a large number of 
 special departments, in which the student is taught 
 to draw, to model, to paint, and to design, and to 
 work out his designs in appropriate materials. An 
 important part of the instruction consists of lec- 
 tures on the history of Art as applied to particular 
 trades. 
 
 The Art School of Munich is itself a university 
 of art, divided into numerous sections, in which in- 
 struction is given in drawing, in modelling, and de- 
 sign, as well as in their applications to a variety of 
 different industries. The ceramic department of the 
 school is fitted with a furnace, in which the students 
 fire the ware after painting on it, as at Sevres. The 
 school also contains a room in which the students 
 are engaged in full-sized decorative work, such as a 
 builder or architect might be required to execute. 
 In the textile department the pupils prepare designs 
 on ' point ' paper, which are largely used by manufac- 
 
Industrial Art Schools 225 
 
 turers. There is also a department for glass-staining, 
 in which designs are prepared and completed. 
 
 The school has a most important influence upon 
 trade, and its advantages are fully recognised and 
 appreciated by the merchants and manufacturers who 
 purchase designs prepared by the students, and whose 
 employes receive their training there. Such a school, 
 provided with the necessary plant and apparatus for 
 the execution in the material itself — be it glass, porce- 
 lain, wood, metal, or some textile fabric — of the design 
 prepared by the artist, affords facilities for experi- 
 mental art -work which, when successful, may be, and 
 often is, the means of introducing into the country 
 new industries. 
 
 The fees are ten shillings the semester for Ger- 
 mans and twenty shillings for foreigners. The annual 
 expenses amount to 4,390/., of which the sum of 223/. 
 is received in fees. Bavarian students in needy cir- 
 cumstances pay nothing. 
 
 In other German cities there are similar schools. 
 The Industrial Art School of Vienna is a State institu- 
 tion, connected with the Industrial Art Museum. It 
 is maintained at a cost of 4,000/. a year. It contains 
 special departments for wood-carving, wood-turning, 
 metal-chasing, ceramic art, furniture designing, design- 
 ing for textiles, &c. The instruction is essentially 
 practical. In the metal-working class, for instance, 
 the student first makes the drawing of the design ; he 
 next makes a model in clay from the drawing ; he 
 
 Q 
 
226 Industrial Education 
 
 then casts the object in bronze, brass, or other metal, 
 chases, and finishes it; and, finally, he makes a draw- 
 ing of the figure thus completed, and compares this 
 drawing with the original design. 
 
 In the school at Berlin the teaching is less prac- 
 tical, in accordance with the educational ideas preva- 
 lent in Prussia. The school corresponds more nearly 
 with the Art Training School at South Kensington, 
 on the plan of which it was modelled. A special 
 feature of the Berlin school is the magnificent art 
 library, open to students and to artisans generally. 
 
 In France, where art teaching has been so fully 
 developed, there is no institution that exactly cor- 
 responds with the German Kunstgewerbeschule. The 
 existence of such a school opens up the vexed ques- 
 tion of the distinction between industrial art and fine 
 art. In France the difference is scarcely recognised. 
 Students who are training to be trade designers are 
 taught art. Their eyes are saturated with nature, 
 and their hands are taught to represent it. Through- 
 out France, the evening art schools are filled with 
 artisans, who are instructed in the general principles 
 of design, but who are taught to find in natural 
 objects, and particularly in the human figure, their 
 inspiration. Nowhere, perhaps, are the artist and 
 artisan so truly united as in France ; and this arises 
 from the fact that the workman is taught to draw, 
 first at the primary school, then at the higher school, 
 and later on in evening classes. 
 
Art as applied to Industry 227 
 
 In some of the French art schools, especially in 
 those located in the centres of particular industries, as 
 at Lyons, St. Etienne, Limoges, and Vierzon, draw- 
 ing is taught with a view to its application to weaving 
 and pottery. What makes the instruction special is 
 that the students are for the most part engaged in 
 the industry, and are familiarised, through the aid of 
 local museums, with the best specimens of art work, 
 and learn the history of Art in relation to their trades. 
 Nearly all the French teachers emphatically protest 
 against the idea that there are two sorts of art. The 
 teaching of art, they say, must be liberalised. Art 
 must be taught as art, and not with a view to its 
 application to silk-weaving, calico-printing, china- 
 painting, paper-staining, or any other trade. In the 
 German school, the applicability of the design to the 
 material is a matter of instruction and not of in- 
 spiration, and the teaching of drawing is specialised 
 accordingly. 
 
 There are in Bavaria other educational institu- 
 tions, fulfilling various purposes, such as training 
 colleges for teachers, music and dramatic colleges, 
 needlework schools, military and veterinary schools ; 
 but the description of these is outside the purpose of 
 the present chapter. 
 
 The cost of education in Bavaria is considerable. 
 No expense is spared to render these several schools 
 thoroughly efficient, both as regards the number 
 and character of the teachers and the excellence of 
 
 a 2 
 
2^8 
 
 Industrial Education 
 
 the appointments and fittings. According to the 
 returns most recently published, the annual charge of 
 these educational establishments on the State is as 
 follows : — 
 
 Elementary Schools 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 238,421 
 
 Evening and Sunday Schools . 
 
 
 
 26,570 
 
 Real Schools .... 
 
 
 
 76,620 
 
 Industry Schools . 
 
 
 
 
 11,125 
 
 Real Gymnasia 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 9,040 
 
 Classical Gymnasia . 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 93.324 
 
 Universities . 
 
 
 
 
 78,612 
 
 Polytechnics . 
 
 
 
 
 20,164 
 
 Technical Art Schools 
 
 
 
 
 8,367 
 
 Training Colleges . 
 
 
 
 
 49,870 
 
 Girls' Higher Schools 
 
 . 
 
 (about) 15,000 
 
 Other Educational Estab 
 
 ishments 
 
 (about) 100,000 
 
 ;^727,ii3 
 This annual expense is borne by the State, in 
 addition to sums contributed from local funds and 
 from ancient endowments, in a country having a 
 population of less than five and a half millions. 
 
 In the preceding pages I have desired to draw 
 attention to the system of school organisation in 
 Bavaria, and principally in reference to industrial 
 education. To do so, it has been necessary to refer 
 to the elementary schools and to the universities — at 
 the ends of the educational ladder, and also to the 
 cost of the maintenance of these institutions. Of the 
 curricula, and of the methods of instruction, I have 
 said very little. The former can be obtained from 
 the programmes annually published, and to enter 
 fully into a description of the methods of teaching the 
 
The Cost of Education in Bavaria 229 
 
 several subjects comprised in the curricula would 
 occupy considerable time and space. An acquaint- 
 ance with the German system shows that, notwith- 
 standing many undeniable objections, there is much 
 to be said in favour of State control of secondary and 
 higher education. The rivalry among different schools, 
 and the competition for pupils, involving various forms 
 of expensive advertisement, which characterise the free 
 system of England, do not exist in Germany. The 
 Government takes care that each district is provided 
 with the schools adapted to its wants, and the curricula 
 of these schools are determined by the requirements 
 of the locality. The gradation and co-ordination of 
 schools under such a system is far more complete than 
 is at present possible in England. The lowness of 
 the fees, too, and the more general appreciation of the 
 advantages of education, together with the desire of 
 parents, even in humble circumstances, to secure for 
 their sons immunity from the three years' military 
 service, are among the causes which increase the at- 
 tendance at the higher schools, and raise the standard 
 of education among all classes of the German people. 
 As regards the teachers, their average earnings may 
 be lower in Germany than in England, but their salary 
 is secured to them, and is independent of the number 
 of pupils in attendance at their schools. They are 
 also entitled, as Government servants, to a pension, 
 and their social position is good. In the zigzag 
 and indirect way in which progress is made in this 
 
230 Industrial Education 
 
 country, we are, I believe, approaching to a condition 
 in which the State will exert more influence over 
 secondary and higher education, and, provided only 
 that local requirements are sufficiently carefully con- 
 sidered, the change will be an advantage to our 
 schools, and a gain to our teachers. 
 
 If the preceding sketch of a ' school system ' 
 has shown us anything, it is this : that in Bavaria 
 secondary education is carefully organised, and that 
 adequate provision is made for all the various educa- 
 tional requirements of the people. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FINSBURY TECHNICAL COLLEGE — INAUGURAL 
 ADDRESS.' 
 
 In laying the foundation-stone of this college some 
 twenty-one months ago, his Royal Highness the 
 Duke of Albany described it as ' the first Technical 
 College ever erected in London,' and the remarks I 
 have to make this evening, at the opening of the 
 college, will be partly directed to the justification of 
 the epithet employed by his Royal Highness. Con- 
 siderable misapprehension still exists in the public 
 mind as to the aims and possibilities of technical 
 education. Some persons look to technical education 
 to remedy all our industrial shortcomings ; others fail 
 to see its advantages or its necessity. Some, again, 
 regard all science-teaching as technical ; others restrict 
 the word 'technical' to the teaching of an actual 
 trade. The majority of people take a very narrow 
 view of the extension of this term ; and very few 
 seem to understand the different kinds of training to 
 
 ' This address was delivered at the opening of the College on 
 February 19, 1883. 
 
232 Industrial Education 
 
 which it is properly applicable. I often wonder what 
 kind of idea those persons can have formed on this 
 subject who speak, and even write, of teaching 
 ' technical education,' and of placing it in a schoo 
 curriculum, side by side with history and geography, 
 as if it were some newly discovered branch of 
 knowledge. 
 
 But the main purpose of my address this evening 
 is to point out the objects which the founders of this 
 college have had in view, to indicate the character 
 of the instruction to be given in this college, and to 
 snow its position in the gerferal scheme of technical 
 education, as elaborated by the Council of the City 
 and Guilds of London Institute. 
 
 In nearly all discussions about technical educa- 
 tion it is customary, I find, to commence with a 
 definition ; and I am unwilling to deviate from so 
 general an observance. But as every definition is 
 a statement about words, and everything technical 
 relates to things, I would reconimend those who want 
 to know what is here understood by technical educa- 
 tion to visit the Finsbury College when the students 
 are at work, and to apply the word ' technical ' to the 
 education they are there receiving. The definitions 
 that have been given of this term by various writers 
 are almost as numerous as the occupations to which 
 it refers, and consequently any definition, to pass 
 unchallenged, ought to be expressed in as general 
 terms as possible. Without attempting, therefore, 
 
Finsbury Technical College 233 
 
 any exact explanation of the term, I propose to call 
 that education, training, or instruction ' technical ' 
 which has a direct reference to the career of the 
 person who receives it. Considered thus generally, 
 there is nothing new in this kind of education, except 
 the name, and the careers and occupations which, 
 owing to the recent developments of science, have 
 come into existence. It is because the system of 
 education to which for centuries we have been at- 
 tached is no longer the best preparation for the 
 several employments in which a large and increas- 
 ing proportion of the population, previously wholly 
 uneducated, is now occupied, and not because no 
 relation hitherto existed between the boy's training 
 and the man's career, that the term technical educa- 
 tion has come into use ; and the term is difficult 
 of precise definition, because it applies to other 
 kinds of training than to those to which it is gene- 
 rally assigned. Thus, the special education of the 
 soldier, the surgeon, the lawyer, or the schoolmaster, 
 is as technical as that which the City and Guilds of 
 London Institute aims at providing for the engineer, 
 the weaver, the manufacturing chemist, or the 
 cabinet-maker. 
 
 If I were asked to say what has given rise to the 
 necessity of technical education in its narrower signi- 
 fication, as commonly understood, I should answer, 
 the invention of the steam-engine. It is to the 
 steam-engine, primarily, that we owe production on 
 
234 Industrial Education 
 
 a large scale ; and to production on a large scale we 
 owe the breaking up of the old apprenticeship system, 
 and the necessity of some other kind of preparatory 
 training. The result of the introduction of machinery, 
 and of its substitution for hand labour, has been a 
 keen international competition for trade, which, among 
 its other effects, has reduced the margin of profits, 
 and has consequently led to the necessary utilisa- 
 tion of so-called waste products, and has stimulated 
 scientific research as applied to the processes of 
 manufacture. We might, if time served, trace back 
 to the steam-engine many of the changes which, 
 during the last thirty years, have been creeping over 
 our educational system — changes which mark only 
 the beginning of a revolution that promises to sweep 
 away much that is time-honoured in our methods of 
 instruction. The wave that is pushing forward tech- 
 nical education will not subside until our primary 
 and middle schools, our higher secondary schools, as 
 well as our ancient universities, shall have felt its 
 influence. 
 
 One of the determining causes which have guided 
 the council of this institute in the organisation of 
 their scheme of technical education has been the 
 desire to supplement, where it seemed deficient, with- 
 out duplicating the existing educational machinery. 
 They have consequently regarded primary instruc- 
 tion, which is the basis of all education, and is now 
 happily cared for by the State, as outside their sphere 
 
The City Guilds Institute 235 
 
 of action ; • and they have left to local efforts, sup- 
 plemented by such aid as may be elsewhere obtained, 
 the provision of higher elementary or intermediate 
 schools, the want of which is now generally expe- 
 rienced. Acting on the same principle, they have 
 endeavoured to utilise the science teaching, so exten- 
 sively encouraged by the Science and Art Depart- 
 ment, by supplementing it with special instruction in 
 technology ; and this department of their work, which 
 is represented by their system of technological exa- 
 minations, has already taken root in all the large manu- 
 facturing centres of the country, and has been the 
 means, in many cases, of establishing well-organised 
 and properly equipped technical schools.^ 
 
 ' As the School Board of London was prevented by the conditions 
 of the Code from making any provision for manual instruction in the 
 schools under its control, the Council of the Institute were induced, by 
 the offer of a grant for that purpose from the Drapers' Company, to 
 give the Board temporary help by equipping six centres in London for 
 workshop teaching, and by paying the instructors for one year (see 
 pp. 138-40). 
 
 ^ The progress in this department of the Institute's work has been 
 very marked. The examinations were originally conducted by the 
 Society of Arts, to whose initiation so many movements for the im- 
 provement of our trade and commerce have been due. In the year 
 1879, when the examinations were transferred to the Institute, 202 
 candidates were examined in 7 subjects in 23 different centres. In the 
 year 1883, the date of the opening of the Finsbury Technical College, 
 2,397 candidates were examined in 37 subjects in 154 centres ; and in 
 1888 these numbers had increased to 6, 1 66 candidates, 49 subjects, and 
 240 centres. Several new technical schools have been erected during 
 the past few years, and many of the old mechanics' institutes have 
 been partly rebuilt and entirely reorganised, with the view of pro- 
 viding practical instruction in science, and also in the application of 
 
236 Industrial Education 
 
 Without at present attempting to interfere with 
 primary and higher elementary education, the 
 Council of the Institute are endeavouring to esta- 
 blish, in the metropolis, schools and colleges of 
 diiferent grades, as well as evening classes for the 
 technical instruction of persons who are engaged, 
 or intend to engage, in purely productive, as distin- 
 guished from commercial, industry. In the develop- 
 ment of this scheme, every improvement that is made 
 in the elementary and intermediate education of 
 the country facilitates their work. Possible improve- 
 ments are not difficult to suggest. Our elementary 
 instruction would certainly be improved if drawing 
 were taught, and better taught, to all the children 
 of the primary schools ; and if, also, in accordance 
 with the suggestions of the Commissioners on 
 Technical Instruction, handicraft work were made 
 a part of the ordinary curriculum of some of these 
 schools. In two of the Board schools of Manchester, 
 the experiment of training children in the use of 
 wood-working tools is now being tried ; and should 
 this experiment prove successful, there is very 
 little doubt that the example set by Manchester 
 will be followed by other towns. The difficulty of 
 the want of time, to which reference is so frequently 
 made, might be got over by lengthening the school 
 
 science to special industries. During the session 1887-88 the number 
 of artisan students in attendance at the registered classes of the Insti- 
 tute was 10,404. 
 
The City Guilds Institute 237 
 
 hours, which are shorter in England than in any 
 other country which the Commissioners have visited. 
 
 The question of higher elementary or intermediate 
 education is daily attracting more attention. At pre- 
 sent no part of our educational system is more de- 
 fective. The fault of nearly all our middle-class 
 schools is that they give an education of the same 
 kind as that of the higher secondary schools, but 
 of distinctly inferior quality ; and that no attempt is 
 made to adapt the curriculum of these schools to the 
 special requirements of the pupils who frequent them. 
 These defects are partly owing to long-standing 
 educational traditions ; partly to the powerful in- 
 fluence of the older universities, which almost entirely 
 control school education of every grade above the 
 primary ; and partly to the fact that there does not, 
 at present, exist any recognised Technical Institution, 
 having the educational rank and position of the uni- 
 versities, which could make its influence felt over all 
 schools leading up to it, and into which pupils might 
 be drafted by successive stages from these schools. 
 Indeed, the deficiencies of these middle schools seem 
 likely, for some time to come, to somewhat lower the 
 character of the education, which might be given 
 to better prepared pupils at this college. 
 
 At present the universities are the only represen- 
 tatives of higher training, and there is no other avenue 
 leading to them except a literary education. Of the 
 need of schools, giving instruction superior to that of 
 
238 Industrial Education 
 
 the elementary schools, and preparing students for 
 institutions like the Finsbury Technical College, there 
 can be no question ; but in order that this want may 
 be supplied, it is necessary, in the first place, that the 
 character of the teaching to be given in such schools 
 should be settled, and in this matter nothing definite 
 seems as yet to have been determined. Numbers of 
 existing schools, by a rearrangementoftheir curriculum 
 of studies, might be converted into the missing links 
 between primary schools and technical colleges, pro- 
 viding to the children of artisans the training which 
 would be the best preparation for their subsequent 
 work. This question, however, is full of difficulties, 
 and its further consideration would take me far be- 
 yond the limits of my present purpose. My only 
 reason for referring to it is to indicate the kind of con- 
 nection that should exist among the several grades 
 of schools forming the educational ladder, from the 
 elementary to the highest technical school, and in 
 order to show what place the Finsbury College occu- 
 pies in this graduated series. 
 
 The Finsbury College consists really of two 
 schools — a day school and an evening school. The 
 day school gives that preparatory training which 
 will fit students for practical work in the factory or 
 engineer's shop ; and the evening school is intended 
 to help those who are already engaged in various 
 industries to understand the scientific principles 
 underlying the processes they see exemplified in their 
 
Objects of the Finsbury College 239 
 
 daily work. This day school is a technical school of 
 the third grade. It will receive its pupils from middle- 
 class or intermediate schools ; and whilst the majority 
 of the students will complete their education within 
 its walls, some will proceed, by means of scholarships 
 or otherwise, to the Technical University or Central 
 Institution, now in course of erection at South 
 Kensington.' 
 
 The programme of this school, which has recently 
 been published, states that the Technical College, 
 Finsbury, has for its objects the education of — 
 
 (i) Persons of either sex who wish to receive a 
 scientific and practical preparatory training 
 for intermediate posts in industrial works. 
 
 (2) Apprentices, journeymen, and foremen, who 
 are engaged during the daytime, and who 
 desire to receive supplementary instruction 
 in the art practice, and in the theory and 
 principles of science connected with the in- 
 dustry in which they are engaged. 
 
 (3) Pupils from middle-class and other schools, 
 who are preparing for the higher scientific 
 and technical courses of instruction, to be 
 pursued at the Central Institution. 
 
 As such, the day department of this college may 
 
 ' Such scholarships have already been established. The Mitchell 
 Trustees have founded two and the Clothworkers' Company have 
 founded five, which are open to those students only who have received 
 their early education in a public elementary school. 
 
240 Industrial Education 
 
 claim to represent a new grade of school in our educa- 
 tional system. It is not a technical high school 
 like the polytechnics of Germany and Switzerland, in 
 which professional engineers, manufacturing chemists, 
 architects, and technical teachers are trained, and in 
 which a wider and more exact knowledge of theo- 
 retical science is imparted to the students, and de- 
 manded from them as a condition of entrance. On 
 the other hand, it is not a school in which any actual 
 trade will be taught, except it be some art industry, 
 in which taste and skill, and knowledge of the capa- 
 bility of the material in which the work is to be 
 executed are the main conditions of success. Nor is 
 it a school like the apprenticeship schools of France, 
 which, notwithstanding much that has been said and 
 written in their favour, are not generally regarded by 
 experts on either side of the Channel as the best means 
 of training workmen or foremen, and are certainly not 
 in accord with the conditions of industrial success of 
 this country. It is, however, a school in which work- 
 men, desiring to become foremen, will have the oppor- 
 tunity of supplementing the training of the shop, 
 by receiving practical instruction in the principles of 
 science in their application to the industry in which 
 they are engaged ; and the evening department of the 
 college has been especially organised with a view to 
 their requirements. But workmen will not learn, in 
 this school, that rapidity of execution which can only 
 be acquired in the factory or workshop, where, under 
 
A Foremen s School 241 
 
 the severe strain of competition, saleable goods are 
 manufactured.' 
 
 The day students will enter the college between 
 the ages of fourteen and seventeen. They should 
 have previously received a sound English education, 
 and have acquired an elementary knowledge of 
 mathematics, physics, and chemistry, as well as some 
 familiarity with the French and German languages. 
 
 ' Reference has already been made (p. 35) to the conditions under 
 which apprenticeship schools may become the means of advancing any 
 particular industry. Such schools cannot permanently take the place of 
 apprenticeship. They are useful in the training of foremen, but only 
 under exceptional conditions do they serve for the creation of work- 
 men. Dr. Bouvy, in a little work entitled Enseignement Professionnel 
 et r Apprentissage, published in Liege, 1888, has well pointed out the 
 impracticability of attempting generally to substitute school instruction 
 for workshop training. He rightly says, ' In order that such schools 
 may succeed, they must fulfil many conditions which it is difficult to 
 combine ; ' and he refers among other things to the constant changes 
 which are made in the machinery used in actual production, which 
 cannot be effected, except at a prohibitive cost, in any school. Having 
 regard, too, to the number of schools needed, the expenditure needed 
 for the proper training of the workmen of different trades would be 
 enormous. Abroad, these schools, when successful, are largely sup- 
 ported and administered by members of the respective trades, and 
 receive only a subvention from the State or the municipality. In many 
 cases they are supported partly by the trade, and partly by the State, 
 the province, and the city. The tailors' school at Brussels receives a 
 subsidy of 1 20/. a year from the city. Its annual cost of maintenance 
 is 450/., and it has 30 pupils. The course of study lasts four years. 
 This school is a good example of an apprenticeship school for the 
 teaching of a trade in the practice of which little or no machinery is 
 required. The cost of the erection of the well-known Ecole Diderot at 
 Paris for the training of mechanics was 16,000/. ; its annual budget is 
 6,000/., and the number of pupils is 330, of whom about 80 pass 
 through the three years' course. Many of the trade schools found on 
 the Continent are, in reality, schools for foremen. 
 
 R 
 
242 Industrial Education 
 
 With the view of indicating the kind of education 
 that should be given in schools of a lower grade from 
 which students will be received into the college, it is 
 the intention of the Council that the pupils shall be 
 required, after a time, to pass an entrance examina- 
 tion in these subjects. The courses of instruction 
 are arranged to occupy at least two years. On 
 entering, the student will state whether he wishes to 
 be trained as a mechanical engineer or an electrical 
 engineer ; whether he wishes to be educated with 
 the view to some branch of chemical industry, or of 
 the building trade ; or, finally, whether he desires to 
 study applied art. In any of these cases except the 
 last he will find mapped out for him a complete 
 course of study, occupying about seven hours a day, 
 and involving laboratory instruction, tutorial work, 
 and attendance at lectures, exercises in mathematics, 
 mechanical and freehand drawing, instruction in the 
 workshops, and lessons in French and German. The 
 hours of attendance are longer than in most English 
 schools ; but as a great part of the student's time is 
 occupied in practical work, some of which exercises 
 the hand and eye rather than the brain, the mental 
 fatigue consequent on longer hours is not likely to 
 be excessive. On the contrary, the alternation from 
 brain work to physical work, which is a part of the 
 system of education adopted at this college, is calcu- 
 lated to lighten the burden of theoretical instruction, 
 whilst it affords training to bodily organs, which in 
 
Progressive Instruction 243 
 
 other systems of education are not at present suffi- 
 ciently exercised. 
 
 The programme recently published shows the 
 courses of instruction which have been arranged for 
 students in each department. The separate curricula 
 comprise instruction in subjects having a direct 
 bearing on the industry which the student proposes 
 to follow. Whilst the utilitarian side of education has 
 been kept steadily in view, no subject having been 
 included in these curricula a knowledge, and an ever- 
 increasing knowledge, of which the student will not 
 find it desirable to possess, the methods of instruction 
 adopted are such as will, at the same time, stimulate 
 and develop the reasoning faculties of the pupil. The 
 instruction will be technical in so far as it refers to 
 the career of the student ; but it must not be supposed 
 that because it is in this sense technical, and conse- 
 quently strictly useful, it is therefore less disciplinary. 
 One of the yet unsolved problems of education is to 
 discover subjects of instruction which a schoolboy, 
 in after-life, shall not cast aside as unprofitable, either 
 for the purposes of his daily work or recreation, and 
 the teaching of which shall have the same disciplinary 
 effect as that of other subjects, which for so many 
 centuries have been the sole instruments of education. 
 In this college, an attempt will be made to partially 
 solve this problem by teaching science with this 
 double object ; and we may be certain that whenever 
 methods of science-teaching shall have been elaborated 
 
244 Industrial Education 
 
 and generally approved, which shall yield the same 
 mental exercise as classical studies have hitherto 
 afforded, the present system of school instruction will 
 everywhere undergo an entire change. 
 
 There are several features in the curriculum for 
 day students of the Finsbury Technical College 
 which mark it out as a new departure in educational 
 work, and distinguish it from other schools hitherto 
 established in this country. As an educational in- 
 stitution, it is intermediate between what we are 
 accustomed to regard as a college and a school. The 
 instruction afforded is that of a college ; the discipline, 
 that of a school. A definite course of instruction is 
 laid down for each pupil ; and this course, if properly 
 pursued, is intended to give him a wide and culti- 
 vated acquaintance with science and art in its relation 
 to the industry he is to follow. No narrow view has 
 been taken of the educational requirements of the 
 student ; and in this respect the college curriculum 
 is a protest against the opinions of those who see 
 a practical antagonism between mental culture and 
 technical training. The late Professor De Morgan 
 used to say that every subject of study may be made 
 the element of a liberal education if properly taught ; 
 and in this college will be tried the experiment of 
 developing the faculties of the student by the study 
 of subjects having a direct bearing on his future 
 career. One great advantage of this kind of instruct 
 
special Features of the Day School 245 
 
 tion is that the pupils attending the courses laid 
 down for them will be educated, in the true sense of 
 the word, at the same time as they are undergoing 
 a special training for the real business of their life. 
 Those who have a correct appreciation of the scope 
 and aim of technical education rightly speak of it as 
 the borderland between the school and the factory. 
 It is such. Adopting the methods of the one, it 
 familiarises the student with the processes of the 
 other. It enables him imperceptibly to pass from 
 books to work, and to apply the theories of the former 
 to the practical details of the latter. 
 
 Although the pupils of each department of the 
 college receive instruction in the same subjects, the 
 amount and character of the instruction they receive 
 depend, so far as these are able to be ascertained, 
 upon the future occupations of the pupils. Thus, 
 whilst all the students learn mathematics, mechanics, 
 physics, chemistry, and mechanical drawing, each 
 student will be chiefly occupied with the laboratory 
 work connected with the department which he 
 enters ; and his lessons in mechanical drawing will 
 be specialised with a view to the trade for which he 
 is being trained. If, after a time, a student shows 
 more aptitude for chemical than for physical studies, 
 or vice versd ; or if circumstances induce the parent 
 to think that there is a better opening for his son as 
 an industrial chemist than as a mechanical or elec- 
 Jrical engineer, the student will be able easily to 
 
246 Industrial Education 
 
 pass from one department of the college to another, 
 and his previous studies will be almost equally- 
 valuable to him in the new department which he 
 enters. 
 
 Importance is attached to the fact that instruc- 
 tion in French and German is obligatory on all 
 students who are not already conversant with these 
 languages. These lessons will constitute the only 
 literary training the student will receive in the col- 
 lege, and as such they are valuable ; but the chief 
 importance of the instruction lies in the power it 
 is expected will be given to students of being able 
 to ascertain, through the trade journals of different 
 countries, the progress which is being made in the 
 industries in which they are severally interested. The 
 foreman or manager who keeps his eyes open to what 
 is being done in his own country, and who can avail 
 himself of the published accounts of other nations, 
 who can communicate freely with foreigners, and can 
 render a fortnight's holiday abroad profitable as well 
 as pleasurable, will have undoubted advantages over 
 his competitors in the same trade, and the benefit 
 which he personally will derive from his wider know- 
 ledge and experience will be of service not only to 
 himself and to his employer, but also to others en- 
 gaged in the same industry. 
 
 Another feature in the school curriculum must be 
 noticed. In all departments, except that of chemistry, 
 where students work from ten to twelve hours per 
 
special Features of the Day School 247 
 
 week in the laboratory, every pupil is required to 
 spend a certain amount of time in the college work- 
 shops, in gaining some acquaintance with the mani- 
 pulation of wood and iron, and with the nature 
 of the tools employed in working these substances. 
 Although the workshop is thus introduced into the 
 school, no attempt will be made in it to train expert 
 workmen. In this country it is now an almost re- 
 cognised fact that the efficient workman can only be 
 trained in the workshop of life ; but it is expected 
 that students, profiting by this course of instruction, 
 will gain some serviceable knowledge of the qualities 
 and capabilities of the commonest materials, of the 
 use of ordinary tools, and of such machines as are 
 found in every workshop, as well as a dexterity of 
 hand and a power of self-help, which cannot fail to 
 be of value to them in whatever occupation they may 
 afterwards be engaged. As time goes on and pupils 
 come to the college better prepared to use their hands 
 this special instruction may become less necessary ; 
 but at present it is indispensable ; and it is expected 
 that this instruction will shorten somewhat the period 
 of the student's apprenticeship or preliminary work- 
 shop training by enabling him the sooner to become 
 useful to his employer, and to gain for himself the 
 full benefit of his new and more extended ex- 
 perience. 
 
 The evening classes, as the programme informs 
 us, are intended for those who are already engaged 
 
248 Industrial Education 
 
 in some industrial work. Unlike the day school, 
 which represents a new type of educational institu- 
 tion in this country, the success of the evening de- 
 partment of the Finsbury College may be considered 
 as already assured. During the three years in which 
 instruction has been given in the class-rooms rented 
 from the Cowper Street Schools nearly 2,000 stu- 
 dents have received instruction in technical science, 
 and there is already reason to apprehend that the 
 new building is too small for the anticipated attend- 
 ance.' A special feature of the evening instruction to 
 be given at the Finsbury College are the definite 
 courses of instruction which have been progressively 
 arranged to occupy the students during four or five 
 evenings in the week for a period of two or three 
 years. It is possible that some time may elapse 
 before students will be made to appreciate the im- 
 portance of methodic study in connection with their 
 special work. Where the students are almost all 
 adults it is difficult to induce them to attend any 
 other classes than those in which the instruction con- 
 sists of what may be called ' straight tips ' and no- 
 thing more, having a direct reference to the details of 
 their daily work. Mere information of this kind, not 
 involving any scientific training, does not constitute 
 education, and is not likely to prove of any real 
 service to the student in enabling him to deal with 
 
 ' The number of evening students in the session 1887-88 was 1,054, 
 and the attendance has long since outgrown the accommodation. 
 
The Evening School 249 
 
 unexpected and exceptional cases of difficulty which 
 are certain to arise and impede his progress. 
 
 Workmen, generally, make a great mistake in 
 taking a very narrow view of their own educational 
 requirements. Instances of this are continually com- 
 ing under my notice. It is difficult, for example, to 
 make them understand that a knowledge of intimately 
 associated and cognate branches of their trade is 
 likely to prove serviceable to them — that in order to 
 become efficient foremen it is necessary that they 
 should possess an intelligent and comprehensive ac- 
 (juaintance with the entire area of the work in which 
 they are engaged. It is partly to correct the cramp- 
 ing influence of the extreme division of labour that 
 technical instruction has become necessary. Speak- 
 ing from my own experience, I should say that work- 
 men, generally, care to learn in the school very little 
 more than they might learn in the shop : they only 
 want to learn it more quickly. The desire of work- 
 men to learn those parts only of a subject which 
 seem to them to be intimately connected with their 
 special occupation reminds me of a fact told me by a 
 medical friend — that among his students of anatomy 
 was one who expressed his decided unwillingness to 
 dissect the abdominal cavity, because, as a surgeon, 
 he intended to devote himself exclusively to diseases 
 of the eye. This narrow view of the scope and objects 
 of technical education needs to be steadily and per- 
 sistently discouraged, and it is one of the object of 
 
250 Industrial Education 
 
 this college to bring home to the workman the ad- 
 vantages of a wider and more comprehensive system 
 of instruction. 
 
 A similar difficulty is experienced in inducing 
 adult artisan students to attach sufficient value to a 
 knowledge of the elementary principles of the sciences 
 bearing upon their industry. This is due partly to the 
 method of science-teaching commonly adopted, which 
 does not distinguish between the requirements of 
 school children and of adult workmen,' and partly to 
 the fact that such students are too impatient to see 
 the immediate applicability, at each successive stage, 
 of the knowledge they are gaining to their particular 
 work. It is possible that the fundamental principles 
 of science are not always presented to the artisan- 
 student in as attractive a form as they might be, and 
 that he is not made to see at a sufficiently early stage 
 the connection between the instruction he is receiving 
 and the occupation in which he is engaged ; but of 
 the value and the importance of this elementary 
 knowledge as preliminary to, and as an essential part 
 of, technical instruction, we must take care never to 
 lose sight. 
 
 These and other difficulties will doubtless be 
 
 found to gradually disappear in the training of young 
 
 apprentices, who will constitute the workmen of the 
 
 > The new alternative syllabuses in Chemistry and Physics, recently 
 included in the ' Science Directory ' of the Department, are much 
 better adapted to the requirements of artisans than the previous sylla- 
 buses for the elementary stage of those subjects. 
 
Artisans need Systematic Teaching 251 
 
 future, and whom, in the interests of trade, quite apart 
 from the material advantages which they themselves 
 may derive from such instruction, it is most desirable 
 to carefully educate. In Belgium, and in some parts 
 of Germany, where technical teaching is better sys- 
 tematised than in this country, the class-rooms, in the 
 evening, are filled with young students who attend 
 five or six nights a week, and follow the several 
 courses of instruction in the order in which they are 
 recommended to them ; and, in the hope of being 
 able to introduce a somewhat similar system into 
 this college, courses of instruction have been arranged 
 adapted to the requirements of apprentices engaged 
 in various industries, but affording at the same time 
 an education in the true sense of the word. These 
 curricula have been drawn up with special reference 
 to the educational wants of the mechanic, the elec- 
 trician, the metal-plate worker, the cabinet-maker, 
 the carpenter, the bricklayer, the plumber, &c., and 
 are intended to supplement, without interfering with, 
 his workshop training. Although in this college no 
 slavish imitation has been attempted of foreign 
 methods of instruction, I must own that in the sug- 
 gestions I have been able to make to the Council of 
 this Institute for the organisation of these evening 
 classes, I have been greatly assisted by the insight 
 I have gained into the foreign system of evening 
 instruction, which, as regards its well-ordered and 
 progressive character, as well as its applicability to 
 
252 Industrial Education 
 
 the trades of the pupils, compares favourably with the 
 desultory kind of teaching afforded in many of our 
 science classes, where the student too often jumps from 
 the elements of one science to the elements of another, 
 without any consideration of order or of method, or 
 of the necessity of continuity in his studies.' 
 
 With the view of encouraging young artisans to 
 pursue their studies pari passu with their apprentice- 
 ship, the Council have arranged to admit this class of 
 students to the benefits of the college at merely nomi- 
 nal fees ; and it is hoped that this concession will 
 induce London employers to follow the example of 
 many of their foreign competitors — to pay the fees 
 of the most promising of their apprentices, to remit 
 to them half an hour of their day's work, and to 
 show an interest in their progress, by insisting on 
 their regular and punctual attendance at their several 
 classes. 
 
 And now a word or two as to the methods of 
 
 ' In Belgium the evening instruction is given in institutions known 
 as Ecoles Industrielks. The course lasts three years, and is gra- 
 tuitous. It consists of two parts, a general and a special course. The 
 general instruction corresponds with that given in the German con- 
 tinuation schools, and consists of mathematics, chemistry, mechanics, 
 physics, industrial economy, and drawing ; the special instruction is 
 adapted to the trade of each locality. The direction of the schools is 
 in the hands of local authorities. The cost of these evening schools 
 for the year 1884 was 22,650/., towards which the State contributed 
 about 8,600/. It is thought by some educational authorities in Belgium 
 that the instruction in many of these schools is still too general, and 
 not sufficiently adapted to the requirements of the workpeople engaged 
 in different trades. 
 
Method of Technical Instruction 253 
 
 instruction to be adopted in this college. In the 
 ordinary teaching of pure science, the preliminary 
 stages of instruction are such as afford, or are in- 
 tended to afford, the best basis on which the super- 
 structure of higher knowledge can afterwards be 
 raised ; and where the pupil has a long course of 
 study before him, to which he can devote himself 
 before being required to apply his knowledge to any 
 special art or industry, no better method of instruc- 
 tion can be devised. But the case is different where 
 the pupil's period of study is necessarily limited, and 
 is not long enough to enable him to attain to that 
 higher knowledge which would justify the time spent 
 in preparation for it. Indeed, in this respect the 
 practical educator may take a lesson from the builder 
 who adapts his foundations to the superstructure to 
 be raised upon them. This question of time is an 
 important factor in the consideration of all schemes 
 of technical instruction, necessitating the early speci- 
 fication of the student's work. For we may take it 
 for granted that the pupil requires not only a know- 
 ledge of the principles of science, and of the details 
 of practical work, but the ability to apply the one to 
 the other ; and for this reason it is essential that 
 theory and practice should be combined in his 
 instruction, and that both should have reference to 
 his particular work. 
 
 In this college, all the subjects of instruction will 
 be taught, as far as possible, with reference to the 
 
254 Industrial Education 
 
 careers or occupations of the students ; that is to say 
 the teacher will keep steadily before him the purposes 
 to which the student will apply his knowledge in the 
 instruction which he gives him. Indeed, the techni- 
 cal teacher ought to be so constituted as to be able 
 to keep one eye on the general principles of science, 
 and the other upon the industry which his pupil in- 
 tends to follow. Instruction of this kind must over- 
 lap ordinary science-teaching and the teaching of a 
 trade, and must yet be distinct from either. Between 
 the ordinary or scholastic teaching of the elements of 
 physics, and the instruction, for example, that might 
 be given to a novice in the manipulation of a tele- 
 graphic instrument, there is a wide difference ; and it 
 is within this difference that a technical teacher is 
 called upon to do his work. So, too, between the 
 teaching of Euclidian geometry and the rules that 
 would be given to an apprentice for the construction 
 of a particular kind of joint, or the cutting out of a 
 sheet of metal to a given pattern, lies the borderland 
 for technical instruction in the application of geometry 
 to joinery and to metal-plate work. 
 
 Speaking generally, the method of teaching 
 science in this college will be based on the well- 
 known educational principle that all teaching should 
 proceed from the concrete to the abstract, from the 
 known to the unknown. The student will be brought 
 into contact, first of all, with the actual working ma- 
 chine, and he will then proceed to analyse it into its 
 
Method of Technical Instruction 255 
 
 different elementary parts, and to deduce the laws of 
 their action. In this way the principles of science 
 will be derived from the mechanical contrivances 
 exemplifying them, just as the laws of growth and 
 decay are inferred by the student of biology from the 
 observations of living animals and plants. This 
 method of science teaching has been tersely described 
 by Professor Ayrton as the analytical, as distinguished 
 from the synthetical method ; and it is satisfactory to 
 know that in this college it will receive a fair trial. 
 To the adult student the advantage of this system 
 of instruction must be plainly manifest ; for he, being 
 already familiar with the general character of the 
 machinery he uses, will arrive at a knowledge of the 
 abstract principles of science by a natural and easy 
 method of enquiry into the causes that explain the 
 processes he sees ; and, apart altogether from the 
 material advantages he may derive from this higher 
 knowledge, he will be enabled to reach the state of 
 happiness ascribed by Virgil to the similarly educated 
 agriculturist, 
 
 ' qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.' 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that the teaching 
 in this school will be essentially practical ; that more 
 will be done in the laboratories, in the drawing-rooms 
 and workshops, than in the lecture-theatres. Indeed, 
 it may be rather said that the lectures will form a 
 commentary on the practical work than that the 
 
256 Industrial Education 
 
 practical work will serve only to illustrate the 
 lectures. 
 
 It must be remembered, in considering this differ- 
 ence of method, that the main purpose of the teach- 
 ing to be given in this institution is not to make 
 scientific men, nor to train scientists as the Americans 
 call them, but to educate technikers, as the Germans 
 say, — to explain to those preparing for industrial work, 
 or already engaged in it, the principles that have a 
 direct bearing upon their occupation, so that they may 
 be enabled to think back from the processes they see 
 to the causes underlying them, and thus substitute 
 scientific method for mere rule of thumb. It is almost 
 superfluous to remark that instruction of this kind can 
 be given by those only who possess a wide and deep 
 knowledge of their subject, and a full and accurate 
 acquaintance with the practical and commercial de- 
 tails of the industry or trade to which their teaching 
 refers. Indeed, it is now generally recognised that 
 technical teachers must be familiar with the processes 
 of the factory or workshop. Teachers of this kind the 
 President of the British Association must have had in 
 view when in his opening address at Southampton, con- 
 trasting them with the ardent students of nature, the 
 ' High Priests of Science,' he said : — ' It is not to them 
 that we must look for our excellence and progress in 
 practical science, nor must we look for it to the rule of 
 thumb practitioner who is guided by what comes nearer 
 to instinct. It is to the man of science, who gives 
 
Technical Teachers 257 
 
 attention to practical questions, and to the practitioner 
 who devotes part of his time to the prosecution of 
 strictly scientific investigations, that we owe the rapid 
 progress of the present day.' Such men, of whom the 
 writer himself ' is so illustrious an example, are difficult 
 to find ; and yet the progress of technical education in 
 this country depends upon their supply. The teacher 
 who is to inspire confidence in his artisan students 
 must address them in the language they understand, 
 and must show that he is not beyond appreciating 
 practical difficulties which occur to them in their daily 
 work. Dr. Siemens further tells us that ' theory and 
 practice are so interdependent that an intimate union 
 between them is a matter of absolute necessity for our 
 future progress ; ' and certainly none are more alive to 
 the truth of this proposition, as regards educational 
 progress, than artisan students, for it is to them a 
 constant source of regret that they are unable to 
 see the relation of scientific truths, as they are gene- 
 rally imparted to them, to the work in which they are 
 engaged ; and in this complaint, which is so often 
 heard, is found the protest of workmen against the 
 divorce of practice from theory in the instruction 
 which they frequently receive. With the view of in- 
 dicating the requisite qualifications of the technical 
 teacher, the Council of this Institute have inserted 
 in their Programme of Technological Examinations 
 a paragraph stating that persons having a practical 
 ' The late Sir William Siemens. 
 
 S 
 
258 Industrial Education 
 
 acquaintance with their trade, acquired in the factory 
 or workshop, and possessing at the same time such 
 knowledge of pure science as enables them to teach 
 under the Science and Art Department, will be 
 registered as teachers by the Institute. 
 
 Of the four departments into which the college 
 is divided, that of electrical engineering promises, for 
 some time at least, to be the most attractive to 
 students. The applications of electricity to telegraphy, 
 telephony, illumination, machinery, and locomotion 
 are among the most recent of the practical develop- 
 ments of science, and seem to aiiford a glimpse, if 
 nothing more, of the wider field of invention which 
 is yet to be explored. The appetite for wonders 
 grows with what it feeds upon ; and never before 
 perhaps was the world more willing to believe in 
 the possibilities of science than now. This univer- 
 sal credence almost constitutes a new Faith. The 
 numerous discoveries fetched within the last few 
 years from the seemingly boundless world of physi- 
 cal science, verify and give a special significance to 
 ■Cicero's words : — 
 
 ' Omnibus fere in rebus, at maxime in physicis, quid non sit citius 
 quam quid sit, dixerim. ' 
 
 Although electricity may be regarded, just at 
 present, as the most popular of the sciences, the 
 discoveries which have recently been made in other 
 branches of knowledge are scarcely less important. 
 The skill and the inventive power of the mechanician 
 
Inventive Genius 259 
 
 have been called into requisition with every advance 
 in physics and in chemistry. Indeed, it is only when 
 the inventions of physicists and chemists are capable 
 of being adapted to machinery that these inventions 
 can be said to be practically serviceable. The great 
 discoveries which have recently been made in chemical 
 science, in the application of which to industrial 
 purposes the Germans and the Swiss have left us 
 so far in the rear, are among the causes that have 
 given rise to the demand in this country for the 
 technical instruction which the City and Guilds of 
 London are engaged in providing. It may reason- 
 ably be supposed that many of the students of this 
 college will entertain the laudable ambition to have 
 their names enrolled among those who have pushed 
 discovery one step further, and have added something 
 to the sum-total of human knowledge ; and it may 
 be encouraging to these students to be told that they 
 will here receive a preparatory training that should 
 help to place the power of discovery within their 
 reach. For discovery in science, like design in art, 
 does not depend entirely upon, although it is greatly 
 aided by, inspiration and genius. Any one who is 
 carefully trained in the methods of research, who is 
 shown the processes by which the system of organised 
 knowledge, known as science, has been gradually built 
 up, may reasonably hope to unravel fresh secrets of 
 nature, and to add something to our knowledge of 
 what is or may be. Except perhaps in the region of 
 
26o Industrial Education 
 
 chemistry, it is not the masters of acquired know- 
 ledge, the professors of abstract science, but rather 
 those who have made Science minister to Art, prac- 
 tising first and then calling theory to their aid, — who, 
 as discoverers, have exerted most influence upon the 
 material progress of the world, and have chiefly as- 
 sisted in the development of its trade and commerce. 
 
 There is one department of the college to which 
 as yet I have made little or no reference : it is the 
 department of Applied Art. This department has 
 been organised partly to meet the wishes of the 
 numerous cabinet-makers of the district who peti- 
 tioned the Institute that courses of study should be 
 arranged adapted to this industry, partly because it 
 was thought advisable to affiliate to the college the 
 City School of Art, originally established as a school 
 of design for the Spitalfields weavers, and partly be- 
 cause no technical college is complete which does not 
 provide its students with art instruction. In assisting 
 the cabinet-makers of the neighbourhood, this school 
 will doubtless prove of great benefit in the develop- 
 ment of this important industry. For although 
 cabinet-making is one of the art industries in which 
 the English may be said to hold their own against 
 foreign competition, it is nevertheless a fact, which 
 may not be generally known, that foreign designers 
 and foreign workmen have been, and are, frequently 
 employed on some of the best work executed by- 
 English firms. 
 
The Teaching of Industrial Art 261 
 
 As an adjunct to the science classes of the col- 
 lege, the art instruction to be given to all the regular 
 students is of the utmost importance. A glance at 
 the time-table given in the Programme will show that 
 every day student must devote from two to four hours 
 a week to lessons in drawing. There can be no doubt 
 that the artisan population of this country are still 
 lamentably deficient in elementary artistic skill, and 
 until drawing is made one of the essential requisites 
 of education, and is regarded in all our elementary 
 schools as of equal importance with reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic, the artisans of this country will be, in 
 many respects, inferior to those of France and Ger- 
 many. The Institute's examiners in technology are 
 almost unanimous in their complaint of the inability 
 of the candidates to illustrate their answers by in- 
 telligent sketches. In this college all students will 
 be taught drawing ; and it is expected that the 
 lessons they will receive in this department will not 
 only give them that power of drawing from natural 
 objects so essential to workmen of every grade, but 
 will also help to elevate their taste, to develop their 
 imagination, and to cultivate in them that love of the 
 Beautiful, wiiich may not be found in the search for 
 the Useful and the True in the other departments of 
 the college. 
 
 But it is especially as a school for the training 
 of industrial artists and trade designers that this 
 department of the college will supply a long-standing 
 
262 Industrial Education 
 
 want in the east end of London. This school is not 
 intended to train young men and women- to paint 
 pictures, which if favourably received may gain a 
 place on the top row of the exhibits of the Royal 
 Academy : it is essentially a school of applied art 
 — a school in which persons of either sex will be 
 taught to produce designs adapted to various ma- 
 terials, and whenever it is possible to execute them 
 in such materials. The pupil who is studying as 
 a glass-stainer will receive different instruction from 
 the wood-carver or metal-chaser. Much of the pre- 
 liminary teaching must necessarily be common to all 
 the pupils. The animal and vegetable creation must 
 be studied, in order that they may yield material for 
 rearrangement and reproduction ; but here, as in 
 other departments of the college, the instruction will 
 have as close a reference as possible to the career of 
 the pupil. It is the desire of the Council to con- 
 siderably extend this department, so that the cabinet- 
 maker, the house decorator, the metal-chaser, the 
 silversmith and jeweller, the glass-stainer, the stone- 
 mason, and the lace-designer may have the opportu- 
 nity, in this college, of studying art in its application 
 to their several trades.* 
 
 ' As regards the teaching of industrial art, we in this country may 
 be said to be still groping our way, and to have arrived at no very 
 definite conclusions. Indeed, we cannot point to any country in 
 Europe in which the problem we are trying to solve at home has found 
 a thoroughly satisfactory solution. The question of industrial art teach- 
 ing involves the consideration of the best training for the trade designer, 
 
The Teaching of Industrial Art 263 
 
 Schools of this kind are not numerous in England ; 
 but abroad, especially in Germany, they abound. In 
 Munich, Nuremberg, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, and 
 elsewhere, the Kunstgewerbeschule, or Industrial Art 
 school, is lodged in a palatial building, decorated 
 frequently by the students themselves, and divided 
 into different departments, in which the pupils, male 
 and female, after going through the general course of 
 instruction, are taught to work in different materials, 
 
 the decorative artist, and the industrial artist ; also the particular stage 
 in the art training of a student at which his work should be specialised 
 with a view (l) to the trade for which he is to design, (2) the material 
 in which he is to work. In England, hitherto, no special system 
 has been adopted. The principles of design have been taught in 
 some of our art schools, but very often the teacher of the school 
 established to promote a local industry is himself ignorant of the 
 capabilities of the material to which his pupils will have to apply their 
 design, and the mechanical appliances by which the design can be 
 reproduced in the material. Such knowledge, founded on practical 
 experience in the factory, is necessary to the successful trade designer. 
 But the designer must be first of all an artist ; and it is in artistic skill, 
 rather than in technical knowledge, that our own designers still fail. 
 In this respect they are improving, as is shown by the fact that industrial 
 designs are not now purchased from Paris to the same extent as pre- 
 viously, but a far greater spread of artistic skill and artistic perception 
 among our working classes is needed. 
 
 Many of our art schools are too small and too imperfectly supplied 
 with the necessary appliances for good ait teaching. Modelling is 
 too little taught, and drawing and painting from the female figure is 
 too rare. We may take it for granted that the human figure is of all 
 living forms the most suggestive for decorative purposes. It is im- 
 portant, therefore, that artisans should have facilities for drawing from 
 such models. The schools of Paris and of other large cities are 
 crowded at night-time with artisan students drawing and painting from 
 the living figure, nude and draped. The Finsbury Technical College 
 was one of the first schools in England in which regular instruction 
 from the nude was afforded to artisans. 
 
264 Industrial Education 
 
 to understand the history and technique of their 
 several trades, and to produce in the school itself 
 finished works. Of the influence of these schools on 
 the industries of the several countries I cannot now 
 speak. The matter will be referred to in the Report 
 of the Royal Commissioners. But of the desirability 
 of establishing such a school in this particular neigh- 
 bourhood I have no doubt whatever ; and the Council 
 of this Institute continue to cherish the hope that the 
 wealthy Corporation of this city, at whose suggestion, 
 partly, the City School of Art was transferred to the 
 college, may be induced to place at the disposal of 
 this Institute sufificient funds for the erection of a 
 n,ew wing to the college in which art may be taught 
 in its application to some of the principal industries 
 of London.' 
 
 In its general features the Finsbury College, with 
 its four departments, may be regarded as a type of 
 other colleges which, it is hoped, in course of time, 
 will be erected in the great manufacturing centres of 
 this kingdom. In the establishment of such colleges 
 it is important that due regard should be paid to the 
 special wants and requirements of each particular 
 district. Uniformity is not to be desired in any kind 
 of education, least of all in technical education. 
 Throughout Europe, the greatest possible diversity 
 is found to exist among the technical schools and 
 colleges. London itself is uniquely situated as re- 
 
 ' This has not yet been accomplished. 
 
Local Requirements 265 
 
 gards technical instruction. A large number of 
 different and important trades are carried on in and 
 near to it, which render it advisable, in a college 
 such as this, to adapt the instruction to a few parent 
 industries, and to specialise it according to the 
 requirements of small classes of pupils. In the 
 provinces the trades are generally more localised, 
 and special attention should in all cases be given to 
 the staple industry of the district. Thus, whilst it 
 may be found advisable to create a special school of 
 mechanical engineering, and possibly one for the 
 building trades, in almost every technical college, the 
 other departments should be devoted to instruction 
 in weaving and dyeing operations ; to mining and 
 metallurgy, with special reference, in some places, to 
 the manufacture of iron and steel ; or to chemistry in 
 its application to the alkali trade, to gas manufacture, 
 brewing, spirit distilling, &c. 
 
 Abroad, under different names, several large and 
 flourishing technical institutions exist, which may be 
 compared, to some extent, with the Finsbury College. 
 They will be found in Lille, Rheims, Lyons, Chem- 
 nitz, and Mulhouse, which, in the linen, cloth, silk 
 hosiery, and calico-printing trades, are the rivals of 
 Belfast, Bradford, Macclesfield, Leicester, and Man- 
 chester.' Such schools are to be found in Crefeld, 
 Winterthur, Munich, and in other places. In Italy, 
 where technical instruction, although not as highly 
 
 > Each of these cities has now its technical school. 
 
266 IndustHal Education 
 
 developed as in other countries, is well and syste- 
 matically organised, there exist, under the titles of 
 Istituti Tecnici, and of Scuole Professionali, sixty-nine 
 schools, some of which have departments of marine 
 engineering, weaving, dyeing, and agriculture, but 
 many of which resemble in their general objects this 
 college. 
 
 In order to indicate the relation that should exist 
 between the middle-class schools of the metropolis 
 and this college, the Council bf the Institute have 
 agreed to offer annually for competition to the 
 adjoining middle-class school six free studentships, 
 tenable for two years, and one to each of twelve 
 other schools in or near London, including the United 
 Westminster School, the Haberdashers' School, the 
 Mercers' School, the Drapers' Schools, and the schools 
 of other companies ; and further, to enable the more 
 promising pupils from these schools, after passing 
 through the Finsbury College, to obtain the highest 
 technical instruction, the Council contemplate the 
 establishment of one or more scholarships at this 
 college, tenable at the Central Institution, and they 
 look to the benevolence of other corporations and 
 individuals to found more. 
 
 Passing in review the various schools which, 
 during the last eighteen months, in company with 
 my colleagues, the members of the Royal Commission 
 on Technical Instruction, I have had the opportunity 
 of inspecting, I think I may say that I have not seen 
 
Review of Foreign Schools 267 
 
 any school abroad, which for the completeness of its 
 arrangements can compare with the electrical depart- 
 ment of this college. Indeed, it is only recently 
 that physical laboratories, in which the students 
 themselves are exercised in quantitative experimental 
 work, have been added to the technical schools of 
 the Continent. Within the last few months I have 
 heard that a practical school of electricity, somewhat 
 similar to our own, is to be founded in Paris ; and 
 not long ago I read an announcement in the ' Times ' 
 that ' in view of the great and growing importance 
 of electric art, lectureships on this subject have 
 already been established at Stuttgart, Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 Karlsruhe, and Hanover ; and this winter students 
 will be specially instructed in the same subject in the 
 University of Berlin.' If we can claim precedence 
 over other nations in having established a good 
 practical school for the training of workmen and 
 foremen in electrical engineering, we cannot conceal 
 from ourselves the fact that, notwithstanding the 
 great progress that has been made during the last 
 few years in the erection of technical schools in dif- 
 ferent parts of the country, we are still considerably 
 behind our Continental neighbours in the matter of 
 technical education. 
 
 In France, Germany and Switzerland, technical 
 schools are out of all comparison more numerous 
 than they are in this country, and are more organi- 
 cally connected with the educational system of those 
 
268 Industrial Education 
 
 countries. Moreover, they are so graded that pupils, 
 can pass from the elementary to the highest technical 
 school, without any break in the continuity of their 
 studies ; and they are so diverse in character as to be 
 adapted to the requirements of nearly every different 
 industry or occupation. That the Germans are proud 
 of their educational system there can be no doubt. 
 That they are satisfied with it is not equally clear, 
 for they are constantly endeavouring to improve it ; 
 and latterly opinion has set strongly in favour of the 
 introduction of more practical work into school 
 instruction. To their technical schools the Germans 
 rightly ascribe, to a great extent, their industrial suc- 
 cess, and they point with pride and satisfaction to 
 the fact that they have weighed their knowledge and 
 their technical training against our material advan- 
 tages in mineral wealth, and have not found them 
 wanting. But upon these natural advantages it is 
 quite certain we cannot continue exclusively to rely, 
 and I venture to hope that the opening of this new 
 college, which occupies an important place in the 
 Institute's scheme of technical instruction, may help, 
 to some extent, to take away from us the reproach 
 that we are educationally inferior to other nations. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ABE 
 
 Abel, Sir Frederick, 103 
 
 Albany, Duke of, 231 
 
 Antwerp, Academy of Com- 
 merce, 77, 88 
 
 Armstrong, Lord, 16, 17 
 
 Arnold, Matthew, 208 
 
 Artane School, 34 
 
 Austria-Hungary, commercial 
 education, 70-72 
 
 Ayrton, Professor, 255 
 
 Bacon, Lord, 89 
 Bacon, Roger, 173 
 Bain, Professor, 156, 157 
 Bauemfeind, Dr., 197 
 Belgium, commercial education, 
 76-78 
 
 — Evening Instruction, 252 
 Berlin, School of Oriental Lan- 
 guages, 70 
 
 — Technical High School, 223 
 Besant, Walter, 57 
 
 Bologna University, 14 
 Bouvy, Dr., 241 
 Browning, Oscar, 11 
 Brussels, Tailors' School, 241 
 Building Trade Schools, 206-7 
 Bureau Commercial, 79~^i 
 Butler, Dr. (New York), 163 
 
 Cadogan, Mr. H., 197 
 Cambridge, University, 43 
 
 DRU 
 Cameron, Commander, 82 
 Central Institution, London, 44, 
 
 141, 239, 266 
 Chambers of Commerce, Re- 
 port to, 60, 71 
 Charity Commissioners, 48, 97 
 Christian Brethren's Society, 
 
 34 
 
 City and Guilds of London In- 
 stitute, Evening Technical 
 Classes, 31, 49 ; general 
 scheme, 232-7 ; grant to 
 Central Institution, 44 
 
 Clothworkers' Company, 239 
 
 College of Preceptors, 106 
 
 Comenius, 11, 147 
 
 Congris International de Bor- 
 deaux, 65 
 
 Consular Reports, 53-55, 103 
 
 Council on Education, Commit- 
 tee's Report, 145 
 
 Cowper Street School, 187, 248 
 
 Delft, Technical Institute, 42 
 De Morgan, Professor, 244 
 Depression of Trade, Commis- 
 sioners' Report, British 
 Workmanship, 53 ; Com- 
 mercial Geography, 82, 83 ; 
 German competition, 52 
 Diderot, Ecole, Paris, 34, 241 
 Drapers' Company, 38, 235 
 Drummond, Mr., 197 
 
270 
 
 Industrial Education 
 
 Edinburgh University, 43 
 Education Acts, Commissioners' 
 Report, Higher Grade 
 Schools (Minority), 168, 
 186 ; science and manual 
 instruction, 165 ; scientific 
 information, 176 
 Education Code, 112, 114 
 
 — Committee of Council Re- 
 
 port, 14S 
 
 — Minister of, 105-108 
 Emerson, 147 
 Erlangen University, 217 
 
 Fachschulen, 33, 207 
 Finsbury Technical College, 37, 
 
 ch. vii. 
 Fortlildungsschulen, 30, 198 
 France, commercial education, 
 
 58-66 
 Frbbel, 114, 123, 161 
 Furniture Trade School, Paris, 34 
 
 Geikib, Professor, 82, 85, 86 
 Genoa, High School of Com- 
 merce, 76, lOI 
 Germany, commercial educa- 
 tion, 66-70 
 Glasgow University, 43 
 Guthrie, Professor, 150, 155 
 Gymnasium, 208-212 
 
 Haeghen, Van Der, 145 
 Handels-Akademie, Vienna, 71, 
 
 lOI 
 
 Havre, Ecole suplrieure de Com- 
 merce, 87-88 
 
 Higher Elementary Schools, 
 38, 39 ; ch. V. 
 
 Imperial Institute, 102-3 
 
 Industrial Education Associa- 
 tion, 132, 163 
 
 Industrie-schukn, 200-206, 220 
 
 Istituti- Tecnici, 266 
 
 Italy, . commercial education, 
 72-76 
 
 PAY 
 
 King's College, London, 43, 
 
 213 
 Kunstgewerbeschule, 224-227, 
 
 263 
 
 Laubier, M., 131 
 
 Laurie, Professor, 10, 14 
 
 L^autey, 61 
 
 Leeds, Yorkshire College, 43 
 
 Leipzig, Handelslehranstalt, 68 
 
 Lille, Institut du Nord, 41 
 
 Locke, 12, 147 
 
 Lubbock, Sir John, 45, 148 
 
 Lyons, Ecok Centrak, 41 
 
 — Ecok Martiniire, 58, 188 
 
 Manchester, Owens College, 
 
 43. 213 
 
 Milan, Higher Technical Insti- 
 tute, 42 
 
 Morley, John, 96 
 
 Moscow, Imperial Technical 
 School, 42 
 
 Munich, Commercial School, 
 213 ; school attendance, 
 197-8; school fees, 42; 
 Polytechnic, 218, 220; Uni- 
 versity, 214 
 
 Museums, Commercial, 84-87 
 
 Naples, Higher Technical In- 
 stitute, 42 
 
 Nuremburg, Art School, 224 ; 
 Builders' School, 207 ; 
 Commercial School, 212 ; 
 Technical College, 206 
 
 Oriental Languages, School 
 of, 70 
 
 Oxford and Cambridge commer- 
 cial examinations, 96 
 
 Paris, Commercial Schools, 59- 
 62 
 
 — Ecok Centrak, 41 
 
 — Evening Art Schools, 263 
 Payment by results^ 93, 112-114 
 
Index 
 
 271 
 
 PAY 
 Payne, W. H., 7 
 Percival, Dr., 45 
 Philotechnic Society, 63 
 Plato's ' Republic,' 6 
 Playfair, Sir Lyon, 168 
 Polytechnic Institutions, Lon- 
 don, 33, 48 
 — Schools, 40, 216, 218-224 
 
 Quick, Rev. R. H., 12 
 Quintilian, 10 
 
 Rasp, Carl, 197 
 
 Realschulen, 66, 200-Z03, 213, 
 220 
 
 Rheims, Ecok Professionnelle, 
 59, 188 
 
 Richter, Jean Paul, 147 
 
 Rousseau, 13, 14, 147, 158, 160, 
 l6l 
 
 Roy, M. Gustav, 61, 62 
 
 Royal School of Mines, 43 
 
 Rue Tournefort, Paris, Commu- 
 nal School, 31 
 
 Salerno University, 14 
 
 Salicis, M., 131 
 
 School Board for London, Mr. 
 Bousfield's Report, 148 ; 
 Scholarships, 171 ; work- 
 shop instruction, 138, 235 
 
 Science and Art Department, 
 Evening Classes, 31, 32 ; 
 grant to day-schools, 187 ; 
 science examinations, 48 ; 
 qualifications of teachers, 
 258 
 
 Science Directory, 250 
 
 ScuoU Professionali, 266 
 
 Sevres, 224 
 
 Sheffield, Central School, 187 
 
 Shoenhof, J., 188 
 
 Siemens, Sir William, 256, 
 2S7 
 
 ZUR 
 
 Slbjd, 30, 133, 142 
 
 Society of Arts, commercial ex- 
 aminations, 83 ; techno- 
 logical examinations, 94, 
 
 23s 
 Sonndorfer, Dr., 71 
 Spencer, Herbert, 13, no, 129, 
 
 153. 156 
 Spitalfields weaving, 35, 260 
 
 Technical Instruction Bill, 20 
 
 Commissioners' Report, 
 
 French intermediate in- 
 struction, 58 ; handicraft 
 work, 236; Higher Elemen- 
 tary Schools, 167 ; Univer- 
 sity and Polytechnic, 216 
 Turin, Higher Technical Insti- 
 tute, 42 
 
 Udine, Technical Institute, 74 
 Union Nationale des Chambres 
 
 Syndicaks, 64, 65 
 United Westminster Schools, 
 
 187 
 University College, London, 43, 
 
 213 
 University, German, 40, 41, 
 
 312-317 
 
 Vienna, Art School, 225 ; Com- 
 mercial Museum, 86 ; Dye- 
 ing School, 41, 218 
 
 Vierzon, 59 
 
 Watt, James, 150 
 Winterthur, Foremen's School, 
 
 37 
 Wormell, Dr., 161 
 Wiirzburg University, 217 
 
 Zurich, Federal Polytechnic, 
 42 
 
 Spottisivoode &' Co. Printers, New-street Square, London. 
 

 
 wmi^amm^mmm