improved and strengthened, and a chance given to the boys to develop more corporate spirit by the division of the school into six houses-Carpenter, Hale, Beaufoy, Mortimer, Abbott, Seeley-our eponymous heroes. At present this organisation is merely for games, but it is hoped that its influence will extend in other directions. Already the Athletic Sports Day, which used to be approached in a thoroughly individualistic and " pothunting" spirit by the boys, has been transformed entirely, and many Old Boys who came to lift the eyebrow at the new and intangible "Houses " remained to confess their hearty approval of the

change.

Of Old Boys' societies we have more than is usual. At the present time there are three distinct clubs in existence, all flourishing; the John Carpenter Club, a social and benevolent society; the Old Boys' Reunion, a merely social club for the younger Old Boys; and the Old Citizens' Athletic Union, which includes that small and particular section of the Old Boys who are interested in games. Among "Old Boys' " Association clubs the "Old Citizens have now won for themselves an honourable position. Within the last year what may prove the most important club of all, the City of London School Mission, for social work among the poor, has been started on the initiation of the present headmaster, Dr. Arthur Chilton.

Such is this veritable world of a school. If one were asked to put one's finger upon the distinguishng feature of it, its very size, its individualistic tone and its variety would prove baffling; really it is only this variety that can be called its characteristic. Many schools in England are really little aristocratic, or more frequently plutocratic, hothouses. The City of London School is remarkable in that it draws its scholars from every grade of society and no one class predominates. Free development all round is the very keynote of the place.

It will be noticed that in these remarks the note of sentimental attachment is absent; that is a drawback almost inseparable from the day school, the school where you go as opposed to the school where you live. But an education loses much without it, and thus the few that do attain to it, by upholding its name (often at considerable personal inconvenience) in all those important rápɛpya, athletic or social, which are the life-blood of an English public school, gain more from their school life on the Embankment than the many who, I am afraid, treat it as a mere "thinking shop." thinking shop."

Mr. Oscar Browning has said somewhere that in his opinion the day school is the school of the future. Recent developments seem to be verifying this prophecy, and it is to be hoped that when stock is taken of existing day schools, the methods and the experiments of one of the greatest of them may not be allowed to go for nothing. A. J. SPILSBURY.

The Seamy Side of Secondary Education

V. The Assistant Master

By a Headmaster

"WHAT land in the whole world," runs the well-chosen motto of the Assistant Masters' Association, "is not full of our labour?" One might almost add, at any rate since the decision in the Richmond case, "What journal is not full of our groans?" The exceeding bitter cry of the assistant-master may even some day strike on the deaf ears of the great British public itself. Long, too long it has stopped up its hearing against the just complaint, but there really seem signs now of some awakening at last. Men's minds have been more deeply stirred on the question of education within the last few years than at any time within human memory before, and when they have settled the religious question at last and have built all their stately schools and poured their millions into scholarship funds there is a chance that they may turn their attention to the living factor in the question without whom all this building and all this discussion is a futile and unprofitable thing. There does seem to exist deep down a discontent and a vague feeling of unrest, difficult to formulate in words, that all is not well with the national system of education.

It is the purpose of this article to try and show that the key to the improvement of the system lies in the question of the teacher and particularly of that specimen of his tribe known as the assistant-master. The headmaster may to a certain extent be left alone, first, because it is from the ranks of the present assistantmaster that the future heads will come; and secondly, because it is becoming more and more evident that what is wanted in a headmaster is rather an organiser than a teacher. It is a grievous thing that this should be the case, as usually it is the most successful teachers who succeed to headships, but with the growing cen

tralisation of education and the insatiable demand of the Board for statistics it cannot be otherwise. Getting and spending, but more often the latter than the former, they lay waste their powers. Choked by interminable red tape they lie gasping in the toils spread for them by the Board. But at any rate they have a livelihood-and

it will be well to leave them out of the question for the present and deal entirely with the assistant. The first thing necessary-one would regard it as axiomatic were it not so completely neglected-is that the career should be made attractive. We are continually being told that the best brains of the country must be pressed into the service, but there is a grave reluctance to take the necessary steps. A living wage must be paid. It is not meant for one moment that large salaries should be offered. It would be futile to urge it, nor would it be a good thing if it were achieved. The world has exploited and will continue to exploit with its usual cynicism its preachers and its teachers. So long as a sufficient stipend is paid to enable a man to marry and to live in frugal comfort and to save up something to add to the pension which he must receive in his later years, it is all that he should either desire or deserve. What exactly that amount should be it is not necessary to put down in detail here, except that it should be at least about three times as much as the average salary paid now to assistant-masters in the smaller schools. At least three times as much! One can imagine the blank astonishment and indignation of the prosperous tradesman or proud pursy business man, who at present condescends in large numbers to govern the schools. And yet this truth must be driven home if needs be with damnable iteration until it is firmly grasped at last. But think of the cost, the awful cost. Think of the rates and taxes! Exactly, and it is because some of us are ratepayers as well as teachers that we do think of them and see that if the standing British dislike to education is to be removed, further contributions to the schools must come from the Imperial exchequer. But to return to the assistant-master. If his salary is to be so largely increased more must be demanded of him. Many of the reproaches cast at education are thoroughly undeserved, but that the teaching in the schools is all that it should be will not be maintained even by the teachers themselves. How should it be? Few teachers are ever encouraged to take their profession seriously. Mark how they usually drift (the word is used advisedly) into their occupation. Probably in many cases promising schoolboy has gone to the University with vague ideas of getting a first and a fellowship, and subequently a fortune at the Bar. The "first" fails and with it the fellowship, and that fortune at the Bar now looks far enough away.

a

Then comes the scholastic agent with his seductive circulars an immediate salary (probably necessary to pay the University debts), good holidays and a pleasant and easy time (save the mark). The bait is taken, the fish is hooked, and at first if one be fortunate in one's school all goes well. Suddenly, almost in a moment, perhaps with the first grey hair, one realises that his first youth is gone, that his stipend remains the same and that before him stretches a prospect absolutely and completely blank-eternal celibacy and at the end—— But why paint the painful picture in detail? What does become of old assistant-masters? It were devoutly to be wished that the A.M.A. would publish full statistics

of the present position and occupation of, say, 200 assistant-masters chosen at random who were teaching in the grammar schools twenty years ago. The results should be instructive. A step in the right direction was not so much taken as hinted at by the Board of Education in a recent circular, where they stated that after a certain time they would insist that a certain proportion of the staff in a recognised school should be trained men. That word "certain" bears an evil sound and smacks of delays and procrastination, but the principle is right and in that way a beginning might be made. Let it be laid down that after not a "certain" but a "specified" date (say 1910-anything for a beginning) each school should have on its staff for every 100 pupils at least three trained and certificated teachers. The expression is taken advisedly from the elementary school code, because the problem is somewhat similar, but of course the standard of attainment must be very much higher. These trained and certificated teachers should (1) have passed an examination equivalent at least to an honours degree at Oxford or Cambridge, (2) have been trained for at least one year at a recognised training college, (3) have passed a probationary period of at least two years (better three) in a recognised school, during which their salary would be very small. The latter question is an important one, as insistence on it might reconcile local authorities to the cost of the higher type of man. Every headmaster knows that a raw, inexperienced man is worth nothing, whereas a thoroughly trained and seasoned teacher cannot be paid too liberally. Yet in practice at the present time the raw man can claim almost as much as the veteran, and perhaps in no other point is the chaotic condition of our educational system so manifest. It is the heartbreaking feature of the whole business and calls aloud for instant remedy.

It may be objected that the initial cost of entrance into the profession will become so high that few will be found to attempt it. That this objection is fallacious in its broader aspects we think closer study will prove. The principle after all is only what obtains in other professions. The barrister, the doctor, the soldier at the beginning of their careers cannot possibly live upon their stipends, and yet it cannot be urged that this fact keeps able men out of the profession. Yet in some cases the working of this law might act as a deterrent, and where the permission to take private pupils would not meet the case a grant might be made by the central authority to eke out the scanty salary. grant should be small, and should be rigidly exacted back when the recipient is in possession of an adequate stipend. This is a principle which we think might be introduced to a far greater extent than it is now. If most of the cost of education is to be paid out of the Imperial exchequer (and we are more and more approaching that position) it would be quite easy to deduct from the grant to a particular school the amount to be refunded by the professor who has been assisted. In the case of wealthy schools a similar grant should come from the foundation, but we are dealing here particularly

But this

with those schools which need and receive State help. These "professors" (no other word seems adequate despite its evil association with conjurers and quacks) would correspond to a certain extent with the German Oberlehrer and would form the backbone of each school. Their salaries would be adequate, their position secure, their pensions certain. But the approach to this responsible post should certainly not be made too easy. All that is needed is that the goal should be displayed openly to view. For such men when once approved (the details of setting the final stamp upon them need not be laboured), every inducement and facility to further their studies should be granted. One could wish it were a more common practice for assistant-masters to write books (not edit text-books), not necessarily for publication, but simply as a guarantee that they are still students. For it cannot be laid down too em

phatically that directly the teacher ceases to study he ceases to teach. Education authorities might do a great deal to stimulate and encourage secondary teachers by organising lectures in suitable centres. Assistant-masters in the country particularly, who suffer from their remoteness from great centres of population, need every encouragement to keep up their interest in their work, and one wants particularly to strengthen the education in the smaller towns. Moreover it is most desirable to break down that narrow particularism unfortunately too prevalent among teachers-and professors too for that matter-who can see no value in any study but their own. Opportunity should be given not only for help in a man's particular subject but for knowledge of some other. One feels that the somewhat embittered controversy which has been raging of late in the pages of SCHOOL might be speedily allayed if the classical master would attend a series of lectures from the science professor, or if the latter would study the structure of the Virgilian hexameter under the fond and anxious guidance of his adversary. To recapitulate then each school should possess (1) A competent head upon whom would devolve the direction" and supreme control-the task of correlating the studies and of dealing with the governors, the masters and the parents. Of him no more need to be said here, as he will be dealt with in another article. (2) A select number of professors-small at first so as not to frighten the ratepayer-who should have gone through the course prescribed summa cum laude if possible, and who, though of course subject to the direction and control of the head, should yet possess considerable liberty of action and above all a secure position, dismissible only with the consent of the central authority, yet liable to be removed to other schools should friction arise between them and the head. (3) A few "lesser men" consisting of (a) probationers gradually advancing towards the completion of their apprenticeship," and (b) teachers of inferior attainments who yet would be useful adjuncts to the school. Elementary trained teachers might come in under this category unless they wished to take the higher post, when of course they would have to go through the

66

recognised course, which should include attendance at a good secondary school in boyhood. There would be no hardship in this requirement considering the present facilities for secondary education. The number of (3) would possibly in time tend to diminish, but for a considerable period their services would be required and some would be always with us. In their case the salaries would have to be small while the probationers should receive very small stipends indeed. Moreover, over this class the headmaster should have complete control. By this or some such system the status and salary of the assistant-master would be raised and our educational system brought some steps nearer to perfection.

The Book and Its Writer

Professor Sadler's "Continuation Schools"

I

By J. C. Medd, M.A.

FEW volumes by or under the direction of Professor Sadler have been more opportune than the one on Continuation Schools.* The fact that every child, not being otherwise educated, should attend such a school for at least two or three years after leaving the elementary school was emphasised in SCHOOL for June 1904, and the point is one to which Professor Sadler costantly refers. Progress during the past few years has been fairly satisfactory, and it is estimated that one out of every three of the children in England and Wales, who might be expected to do so, regularly attend a continuation school. The total attendances for 1904-5 was 718,562, an increase of more than 61,000 for 1902-3, and this total takes no account of those attending classes organised by private societies and not under the Board of Education. For purposes of comparison it may be mentioned that for the same period the attendances in cities of the United States with a population over 8000 was 292,319. statistics published by the Board are not an accurate index to the situation, for a student attending more than one school is counted once for each school, so that the same student may be enumerated several times. As Professor Sadler rightly points out: "We need two tables-one showing year by year the number of children who left the public elementary schools, precisely classified according to age; the other showing year by year the number of pupils (also classified according to each year of their age) who were in attendance at continuation schools. In each case boys and girls should be shown separately. The first of these tables would show us whether the elementary school leaving age is

The

*Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere. By M. E. Sadler (Manchester University Press. 8s. 6d. nett.)

rising, and, if so, in what degree: how many boys and girls leave between twelve and thirteen, how many between thirteen and fourteen, how many between fourteen and fifteen, how many above fifteen. The second of the tables would show how far the continuation schools dovetail into the close of the elementary school course, and to what extent the continuation schools catch the boys and girls when their day-school course is over." This is a matter of vital importance. The pupils should proceed inevitably and without any break from the one school to the other. When an interval has occurred, much waste of time, money and energy is necessitated by the repetition of day-school lessons. From the Government Reports it appears that instruction in reading, composition, writing and arithmetic (which does not include commercial arithmetic) was given to 3463 pupils in 1904-5, and in elementary drawing to 2186 pupils. The schools ought to be in reality a continuation of what has been previously taught, but under existing circumstances it may be impracticable and imprudent to insist upon an adequate entrance examination. The prime difficulty is to attract pupils.

As might be expected the towns display the best results. In Manchester scholarships in the form of free tuition for one session have been offered to all who begin attendance at an evening school immediately after leaving the day school. In 1904-5, 4052 pupils took advantage of the offer. For the session 1906, 9805 boys and 7312 girls from sixteen to over twenty-one years of age were in attendance. Great efforts have been made to secure the co-operation of employers. A return, published apparently since the issue of Professor Sadler's book, shows that in all thirty-five separate firms are paying the fees of their employés during the current session. To stimulate such co-operation, monthly reports are furnished to the firms of the attendance, progress and conduct of each student whose fees they pay. Similar reports are supplied in respect of 192 students in the employment of twenty-five separate firms who do not pay their fees. In several cases advances of salary are to a considerable extent dependent upon their progress at school. The proportion of those who go direct from the day to evening technical schools in Leeds is extremely high-75 per cent.--but the total attendance of 5733 does not compare favourably with that at Manchester. Employers are said to be apathetic or even antagonistic, and Professor Sadler throws some blame upon the methods of work in some of the elementary schools, as being calculated to create a distaste for further schooling. He confesses that his opportunities for observation were limited, and the present writer has seen exhibits from Leeds elementary schools which could not be surpassed by any town and which were closely related to the industries of the town. Halifax, with a population of 108,000, has a most encouraging record. It is noted for its large number of evening schools, the outcome of a voluntary movement in 1886, and for the number who come straight from the day school. A good deal of the success may be attributed to the comprehensive

schemes of scholarships and to the organised system of special courses. Many other northern towns, with which Professor Sadler's investigations were mainly concerned, present features of interest, but call for no detailed description. The key to the solution of the whole problem lies in the active co-operation of employers, and in the provision of subjects that will increase wage-earning capacity.

In the rural districts peculiar difficulties have to be encountered. The principle consists in the placing of continuation schools in the category of higher education, the funds for which are already inadequate to the proper provision of secondary schools and to the training of teachers. Want of money rather than want of inclination deters local authorities from dealing with continuation schools as they would wish to. Professor Sadler selects six counties as examples, none of which, with the exception of Cambridgeshire, merit special notice. Cambridgeshire, as has been previously observed in these columns, proves that a skilful director of education, who possesses tact and enthusiasm, can bring a continuation school within reach of every child. Everything depends upon making the instruction attractive and useful. As Mr. Austin Keen has himself remarked: "After all, subjects are only the vehicles of education; and yet one cannot help noticing that many people do not see the immense advantage of choosing those subjects which will be useful in the after life of the pupils. In rural evening schools for boys it is difficult to find a better group of subjects than woodwork, drawing and mensuration, with gardening chiefly as summer work. In woodwork almost endless opportunities are offered for teaching how to do things the right way, accurately, neatly, and in good proportion and form; at the same time the practical arithmetic and mental calculations that arise will give an insight into rules, and set boys reasoning out many difficulties. Drawing, associated with woodwork, becomes concrete and interesting, and anticipates the tool, thus opening a large field of new usefulness and application. Then gardening, with the changes of season, introduces new thoughts and operations. Unfortunately, in country districts every one thinks he understands gardening, but it is only those who have practised and studied it closely for many years who appreciate the appalling ignorance that prevails in the commonest but most interesting of all occupations or pastimes." No better advice could be given to any education committee. Much may be effected by the grouping of villages, and it is curious that Professor Sadler ignores the experiment in Gloucestershire, where in three groups of villages over 800 applications for instruction were received.

Considerable space is devoted to the vexed question of compulsion. On moral, economic and educational grounds some form of compulsion is urgently needed. To train a boy or a girl carefully until the age of thirteen or so and then to abandon them to their own resources is suicidal from every national standpoint. Professor Sadler is conscious of this and quotes extensively