EDUCATION AND TRAINING

SYNOPSIS.

CHAPTER I.-OF THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PARENTS AND OF SOCIETY FOR THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF CHILDREN.

Progressive development the order of Providence, 9-Human motive power, its capacity for reversing and impeding as well as of accelerating progress, 10-The indelible prints of human action on the path it travels in, 10-11-The responsibility of human action, 11—Child-mind as a domain of human power and responsibility, 11-12—Characteristics of the child-mind as a passive germ of latent and irrepressible force, 8-13-The power of habit, 13-15Illustrations of neglected training, 15-17-Education and training of children necessary to their personal happiness, 18-Parents apt to overlook training, 19-Education and training necessary to the welfare of society and to personal success in life, 20.

CHAPTER II.--THE EVIDENCES OF DEFICIENT EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN THE COUNTRY.

Ignorance allied to want, the reasons of this, 21-22-The fallacious excuses for pauperism and crime of an over-stocked labour-market, and of the introduction of machinery, 22-24— Crime and pauperism as tests of deficient education and training; the Registrar-General's test of the marriage register, 24-Judicial statistics, 25-26-The census tables of occupations, which show that paupers are almost universally derived from the least educated classes, 26-27-The Poor-Law Reports, which indicate that 1-20th part of the whole community is in a state of extreme want, ignorance, or crime, 27-28-Evidence from reliable witnesses of the extent and degree of the destitution and misery of the country, 28-31-Vagrants, 31—The condition of the poor in the country not better than in the towns, 32-34-Cattle sheds, and human sheds, 34-35-The accompaniments of poverty, typhus fever, 35—Drunkenness, 35-Deficient food, 36-38-Pauper children, the number of, in the metropolis, 38-41; the number in ragged-schools, 41Condition of, in rural and town districts and in schools, 42-46Reflections on the sad state of things disclosed, 46-47.

21384

CHAPTER III.—THE EFFORTS OF SOCIETY AND THE STATE to MITIGATE THE EVILS OF DEFICIENT EDUCATION AND TRAINING.

The children of the poor, instead of reinforcing the strength and progress of the country, are trained or neglected for evil or destruction, 48-49-The early stage of humanity represents a force with a small beginning, but an infinite extension for benefit or mischief, 49-Origin of the Poor-Laws, 49-The repressive policy of the Poor-Laws, 50-Dr. Richardson's inquiries into the management of workhouses, 50-53-Origin of charity schools, 53-Of Sunday-schools, 54-Of Lancasterian schools, 54-Of the national society for educating the poor, 54-The Charity Commission and Education Grants, 54-The Home and Colonial school society, the voluntary school society, the congregational board of education, and ragged-schools, 55-The action of the Poor-Law Board, 55District and separate schools, 56-Distribution of children in workhouse, district, and parish schools, 57-60-Denison's Act, 61 -The State aid to education, its method and machinery, 62-64-Its results and cost, 64-66-Review of Revised Code, its merits and its failures, 66-74-The causes of failure, 75-76.

CHAPTER IV.-SCHEME FOR THE GENERAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF CHILDREN.

The inferences deduced from a consideration of parental and social responsibility, the large amount of pauperism and crime in the country, and from the failure of the public means employed to mitigate it, 77-78-The necessity for a compulsory law, 78-79— The example of Prussia and other foreign countries, 79-80-The authority of Mr. Mill, 81-83-Arguments in support of the opinion that Government should intervene, 83-84-In what spirit should Government intervene, and what should be the scope of its enactment, 85-86-The school age; the number of children within the school age, and what number are found under education, 86-89— Anticipation of objections, 89-Scheme for supplying the pecuniary means to carry out a general requirement for education, 91School fees; voluntary subscriptions; Government rewards for results; child labour; and rate in aid for parochial schools, 92-94 -How to defray the cost of the Government machinery, 94-The education and training, its method and mechanism, 94-97-The amount to be paid by Government in rewards for results, 97-The different kinds of elementary schools, endowed, denominational, self-supporting, normal, and parochial, 98-100-Recapitulation of claims for the consideration of this scheme, 100-105.-Interferences with the appropriate action of education and training, 105-108.

PREFACE.

Ir an apology be required of a Physician for publishing views on a subject not directly connected with the science of medicine, he may fairly plead that no man's daily path in life is beset with more abundant evidence of the countless ills which flow from the want of education and training, and common humanity alone would supply him with sufficient motive for the emphatic utterance of his testimony; but love of country and anxious thought upon the stirring and troubled times in prospect, may also excuse the public expression of strong convictions respecting a question of paramount importance to the welfare of the community.

John Stuart Mill has said-"Let not any one pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion. Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that others should look on and do nothing. He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his