Cambridge Essays on Education | Page 2

Biology in the University of
Cambridge
VIII. ATHLETICS
By FREDERIC BLAGDEN MALIM, M.A., Master of Haileybury

College; formerly Assistant Master at Marlborough College, Head
Master of Sedbergh School
IX. THE USE OF LEISURE
By JOHN HADEN BADLEY, M.A., Head Master of Bedales School
X. PREPARATION FOR PRACTICAL LIFE
By Sir JOHN DAVID MCCLURE, LL.D., D.MUS., Head Master of
Mill Hill School
XI. TEACHING AS A PROFESSION
By FRANK ROSCOE, Secretary of the Teachers Registration Council

INTRODUCTION
In times of anxiety and discontent, when discontent has engendered the
belief that great and widespread economic and social changes are
needed, there is a risk that men or States may act hastily, rushing to
new schemes which seem promising chiefly because they are new,
catching at expedients that have a superficial air of practicality, and
forgetting the general theory upon which practical plans should be
based. At such moments there is special need for the restatement and
enforcement by argument of sound principles. To such principles so far
as they relate to education it is the aim of these essays to recall the
public mind. They cover so many branches of educational theory and
deal with them so fully and clearly, being the work of skilled and
vigorous thinkers, that it would be idle for me to enter in a short
introduction upon those topics which they have discussed with special
knowledge far greater than I possess. All I shall attempt is to present a
few scattered observations on the general problems of education as they
stand to-day.
The largest of those problems, viz., how to provide elementary
instruction for the whole population, is far less urgent now than it was
fifty years ago. The Act of 1870, followed by the Act which made
school-attendance compulsory, has done its work. What is wanted now
is Quality rather than Quantity. Quantity is doubtless needed in one
respect. Children ought to stay longer at school and ought to have more
encouragement to continue education after they leave the elementary
school. But it is chiefly an improvement in the teaching that is wanted,
and that of course means the securing of higher competence in the
teacher by raising the remuneration and the status of the teaching

profession[1].
The next problem is how to find the finest minds among the children of
the country and bring them by adequate training to the highest
efficiency. The sifting out of these best minds is a matter of educational
organisation and machinery; and the process will become the easier
when the elementary teachers, who ought to bear a part in selecting
those who are most fitted to be sent on to secondary schools, have
themselves become better qualified for the task of discrimination. The
question how to train these best minds when sifted out would lead me
into the tangled controversy as to the respective educational values of
various subjects of instruction, a topic which I must not deal with here.
What I do wish to dwell upon is the supreme importance to the
progress of a nation of the best talent it possesses. In every country
there is a certain percentage of the population who are fitted by their
superior intelligence, industry, and force of character to be the leaders
in every branch of action and thought. It is a small percentage, but it
may be increased by discovering ability in places where the conditions
do not favour its development, and setting it where it will have a better
chance of growth, just as a seedling tree brought out of the dry shade
may shoot up when planted where sun and rain can reach it freely. I am
not thinking of those exceptionally great and powerful minds, of whom
there may not be more than four or five in a generation, who make
brilliant discoveries or change the currents of thought, but rather of
persons of a capacity high, if not quite first rate, which enables them,
granted fair chances, to rise quickly into positions where they can
effectively serve the community. These men, whatever occupation they
follow, be it that of abstract thinking, or literary production, or
scientific research, or the conduct of affairs, whether commercial or
political or administrative, are the dynamic strength of the country
when they enter manhood, and its realised wealth when they are in their
fullest vigour thirty years later. We need more of them, and more of
them may be found by taking pains.
The volume of thought continuously applied to the work of life,
whether it be applied in the library or study or laboratory, or in the
workshop or factory or counting-house or council chamber, has not
been keeping pace with the growth of our population, our wealth, our
responsibilities. It is not to-day sufficient for the increasing vastness

and complexity of