On the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of the principal public schools : a paper read at the monthly evening meeting of the College of Preceptors, May 11th, 1864 / by W.B. Hodgson.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of the principal public schools : a paper read at the monthly evening meeting of the College of Preceptors, May 11th, 1864 / by W.B. Hodgson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    whether they go on to a University or not, —would render classical instruction at onco easier and more effective in three ways : 1st, By the reduced number of those who take part in it; 2nd, By their greater age; 3rd, By the greater develop- ment of their intelligence, due to then- previous training in subjects more level to their juvenile capacities, and more con- genial to their tastes. This innovation was, doubtless, too formidable to be con- sidered by the Commissioners ; but their Report, valuable as it is, is not finally conclusive, and their suggestions, in eo far as they may be adopted, will render the introduction of it easier hereafter. Any one who has had the twofold experience flf teaching to young pupils what they learn willingly, and what they learn invito, (ut aiunt) Minerva, and who is competent to more than gerund-grinding, will hail with gladness a change which will render his labour at once more pleasing and more efficient. There are yet many things of which I should wish to speak, Sed jam tcmpus equum fumantia solvere colla. In conclusion, let me hope that this Report will be of service to the large body of private-school teachers who chiefly con- stitute this College of Preceptors. Dis- paraged and maligned as they too often are, they will not, I trust, rest satisfied in the belief that, bad as private schools may sometimes be, the large public schools have now been shown to be, most pro- bably, much worse. Rather let warning be taken from the signal and melanchoty failure here set forth, all the more strik- ingly because by friendly hands ; let the causes of that failure be anxiously consi- dered ; let all slavish copying of models proved to be bad be thrown aside, and let advantage be taken of the private school teacher's greater freedom, of the greater flexibility of his system, unhampered by charters, and traditions, and long prestige, to adopt whatever changes may seem most accordant, not with the whim of the mo- ment, but with the growing tendencies and necessities of modern life. The tu quoque argument is very well as a retort to one-sided satirists; it is a poor excuse for inaction and indifference to improve- ment. If, as is possible, a Commission be appointed by Parliament for inquiry into the state of middle-class school-teaching, I trust that you will aid, not obstruct, its investigations; that you will not close your doors against examination. You have, or ought to have, nothing to con- ceal. A good school, like a good house- wife, can never be caught en deshabille. I for one do not fear the result. There cannot surely be many private school- masters who, under examination the most rigorous, would rival the evasiveness, the inconsistency, the narrowness, and the petulance displayed by the Rev. Head Master of Eton, or the humiliating want of acquaintance with the moral evil per- vading his own school, and of power to put it down, revealed by the Rev. Head Master of Westminster. But a much higher level than all this would still be too low. To the progress now going on in private middle-class schools, in schools for primary instruction of both sexes, and not least, in schools for girls of the middle and upper classes, much more than even to the direct effect of such a revelation as this, startling as it is, do I look for the steady rise and swell of public opinion which shall sweep away the accumulated abuses in our public schools. London! Printed by C. F. lludgsoifet Son, Gough Square, Fleet Street, L\C.