Papers for the Schoolmaster. No. XXXVI.-NEW SERIES. DECEMBER 1ST, 1867. COMPULSORY EDUCATION. (Communicated.) Among the grave questions now agitating the educational world is that of compulsory education. Both in and out of Parliament the enquiry has been set on foot-Shall the children of our industrial population be educated or not, according to the will and caprice of their parents or guardians? Are those who have the charge of these children to remain at liberty to provide them with suitable instruction or not, just as they please, or must they be compelled by law to make such provision? This is indeed a great problem, and the recent extension of the elective franchise has much augmented its importance. The proportion which the number of children actually at school bears to the entire population is smaller in England than in Prussia, Holland, Bavaria, Switzerland, and the United States of North America. These countries are considerably ahead of us in the extent, if not in the quality, of primary instruction. The standard of attainments in our primary schools is lamentably low, and seems the more so when considered relatively to the countries we have named. Those "stubborn things" called facts show but too conclusively how sadly deficient is the great mass of our population even in elementary attainments. Not to Knowledge has, of late years, no doubt, rapidly increased in our country. Through the wisdom and liberality of the age great facilities for the spread of education have arisen. Still, the great fact remains-and there is no denying it—that very much more has to be done to place the British nation on a level with the nations now in advance of us. speak of those who grow up without any education at all, in far too many cases to read is a task, to write a painful necessity, to reckon a drudgery. What ignorance prevails as to the simple matter of letter-writing! How many are the blunders made in style, in arrangement, in spelling and composition! Schoolmasters as a body will be well prepared to bear us out in these statements. They are by no means exaggerated. Those only know the details of this ignorance, who have moved freely among the They have no time to smaller tradesmen, the clerks, and the artizans. spend on education. "Time is money," say they. pay the school fees. Their boys and girls must be turned at once into money-makers. Labour is exacted from them, for they must be breadwinners. The principle that "the child's claim to education is antecedent to the right of its parents, or of society, to any benefit frem its labour," is not recognized. Or, if the child be allowed a modicum of learning, it must be just such as can be obtained in the least possible time, at the least possible expense. The question therefore arises, how is this indifference to be met? Is it to be overcome by persuasion, or by law? In many instances the suasive principle has succeeded, but in many others it has entirely failed. Our rulers have hitherto shrunk from imposing education on the masses of the people, and have preferred the voluntary principle. This principle we prefer and should recommend, if only we could persuade all who have children in charge to educate them. But experience has shown this to be impracticable. It is beyond question that compulsory education is still repugnant to the instincts of Englishmen, and is more at home on the continent than here. But has not such interference with the liberty of the subject often resulted in the public good? Who now denies the benefit which has been derived from the operation of the Factory Act? How soon will that measure be extended to all branches of labour where children are employed? There are many who believe that the optional principle must eventually be superseded by legislative enactment. Many others would be only too glad to find it law that henceforth every child in Her Majesty's dominions must be provided with a suitable instruction extending over a definite period; and if any parents, employers, or guardians, through causes not under their control, cannot afford the necessary fees, the children in charge of those persons must be educated at the public expense. In Prussia, where public instruction is more highly advanced than that of any other country, the education of the people is wholly under the direction of the State, enforced by State authority, and supported by State aid. All the children there (with a few exceptions in Posem) are compelled to attend schools provided at the public expense. The country pays for the country's benefit; and it is a benefit not easily calculated where every child receives a systematic education. Holland ranks next to Prussia, and a few of the smaller German States, in regard to its education. There are the Armen, or poor schools, and the Tusschen, or intermediate schools-all elementary-regularly organized, and established by the State. In these all classes of the Dutch population receive instruction at a very trifling cost. Next in order of merit on this head comes Switzerland. Here, espe cially in the Protestant Cantons, elementary instruction is generally diffused among all classes. The United States of America can boast of a good and general education-especially the States of New England and New York. Provision is made by all the States for popular instruction. Does it not become this country also to take the matter seriously in hand, and to institute such measures as will bind all who have children in charge to fulfil one of their most sacred responsibilities, that of supplying them with the great boon of education ? THE STATE OF WRITING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, IN 1866. The following extracts show the opinions of H.M. Inspectors on this point : Mr. Byrne, (Gloucestershire,) Report, p. 32. "The writing in my district is not only for the most part free, distinct, and legible, but continues to partake less and less of the objectionable characteristics of what is called a running hand." Mr. Capel, (Warwickshire,) p. 54. "In writing, the smallest number of failures is in Infant Schools," (5.2 per cent.,) "and the largest number in mixed schools under a master," (21.5 per cent.) There is no subject in which the effects of the Revised Code have been more marked than this." Mr. French, (Yorkshire, North and East Ridings,) p. 69. "Only about 7 per cent. failed in writing. And, indeed, good, bold, clear handwriting is, almost without exception, taught in the Schools in my district. I almost always feel myself bound to praise all the teachers for doing well here." Mr. Fussell, (Middlesex,) p. 78, reports the percentage of passes in writing as, in Boys' Schools, 79.59; Girls', 76.60; against 73.38 and 75.92 respectively, in his last report. Mr. Hadley, p. 98, states that both his Lancashire district and the Isle of Man appear below the average in writing; though the actual caligraphy is remarkably good, yet defective spelling lowers the average." Mr. Howard, (Devon and Dorset,) p. 113. "The greater use of paper in the upper Standards, and the attention paid to the writing in the lower Standards, in order that the children may "pass," have greatly improved writing in most schools." Mr. Koe, (Kent and Sussex,) p. 119. "The number of children presented for examination was 12,332. Of these 11,075 passed in writing." Mr. Nutt, (Wilts and Hants,) p. 140. "In writing, including dictation, the failures amount to 21 per cent. These occur almost entirely in the upper classes of schools, and are due generally to faults, not of handwriting, but of spelling. Most children are taught to write with sufficient distinctness to pass muster.' Mr. Parez, (Cumberland, &c.,) p. 152. "Penmanship, I find, as a rule, better in the old-fashioned schools than in those which conform to the modern systems. The angular style of writing, so much affected by foolish parents for their girls, I have always set my face against, and I am happy to report that it is gradually, being exploded." Mr. Pickard, (York,) p. 165. 1 The "The character of the handwriting is on the whole good. character which was once called "" ladies' hand," is now, I am thankful to say, rapidly disappearing, and a bold, round character is taking its place. Out of 13,290 day scholars examined, 11,274, or 84.83 per cent., passed in writing. Mr. Routledge, (Yorkshire, West Riding,) p. 185. "The writing on the whole in my district creditable." Mr. Tregarthen, (Northampton, &c.,) p. 230. The writing in a great number of schools is very good, especially in the lower Standards. I can trace a marked improvement in this exerciseduring the past year, in nearly all the schools of the district. The writing is sufficiently large, the letters not too slanting, but upright, round, and well formed." Mr. Middleton, (Scotland,) p. 323. ༔ ན "Infants' slate writing is in many schools new, and not very skilfully. taught. Where slate writing is carefully and systematically taught, the transition to paper is easy and natural, and good writing is the result." Mr. Wilkinson, (Scotland,) p. 349. "Of the skill in penmanship I cannot speak much in favour. I should have expected that the requirement in the Revised Code of dictation on paper, would have produced a better style of writing. In some schools a skill in caligraphy has been attained, in others a very creditable progress is to be seen; but in the large majority of schools, clean, legible, wellformed letters are the exception, ill-formed letters and slovenly copy-books the rule." The failures in writing in 1866 were 10 per cent., against 18 per cent, in 1865," THE HIGHER SUBJECTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. The position now occupied by Grammar, Geography, and History, is thus described by H.M. Inspectors. Mr. Byrne, (Gloucestershire,) speaks, p. 38, of the neglect of these subjects as much to be lamented, and suggests higher Standards and an extension of the present system of payments on examination." Mr. French, (Yorkshire, North and East Riding,) p. 70. Many teachers in my district say that they have now no time to teach other subjects over and above the required ones of "reading," "writing," "arithmetic," and religious knowledge. I am very happy to say that I have many laudable exceptions to this. And where I find that the teacher is not quite sure of the children being able to answer questions bearing on the lessons they have received in English History, and Geography, yet the elder children can generally make a very fair attempt at writing a piece of composition, either on a scriptural subject, or concerning some animal, or excursion they have made, and also do some parsing. I give the greatest encouragement to the teaching of these subjects, and I believe that as my wishes are now very well known, the teachers will do their best to comply with them." Mr. Hadley, (Lancashire and Isle of Man,) p. 91. "Another point was the absence, in all but the best schools, of all knowledge of Grammar, English History, higher Arithmetic, and the very, limited existence of any knowledge of Geography. These subjects, or at least two of them, viz., Grammar and Geography, are, I am happy to say, no longer so conspicuous by their absence from the time table and the examination paper, as they were when I took charge of the district. But at first, from causes which I need not enter into, no instruction whatever was given in Grammar in the majority of Schools, and only such teaching in Geography as consisted in reading geographical lessons out of the Fourth Irish or other reading books." Again, p. 101. "I gratefully and cordially acknowledge the readiness with which nearly all the teachers in my district have responded to my request for a re-introduction of these subjects into the curriculum of school study. Nay, I must go further and state that many schoolmasters rejoiced at a return to those branches of education in which they had previously taken a great delight, and from which they thought themselves to be, at any rate in some degree, debarred by the Revised Code. In the very best schools, but in them only, had an appreciable remnant of the old teaching survived. I can confirm by experience the opinion that the Revised Code does not prevent, even though it discourage, such additional |