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OVERPRESSURE IN EDUCATION

PAYMENT BY RESULTS:

A PROTEST A1-lD

A WARN INe TO PARENTS.

DY

ALFRED J. TAY LOR,

Llllr«(,'ian 7'ccs»l(Ptian rlt~lic L ibra,.!!, (1I1f1 ([Y" orary ao(1 Cor" eRpondi ,lf) ,I[ember DJ lit. B vward

Mr. Cil'iio p:, at 0. recent 111 ting of the Executive oC the National Union of E1oll1 t' nln.I'Y 'I'ca -hen" ,. ' i' lo! l'l'ed to t it · CIl~C v i a ll ile! who lJad then just !lied of bmill . i'(, \7 I' , whose (' ntill ual 'I'y ill hi:; l a~ t delir ium was" I 'Qll 't get it, !'i g-llt! 1 can '\, g 'l it I'i g ll t ! "

3f)obart :

['!UN'rED .AT " TUE llERe I{Y , OFFICE, MACQU.tRIE STREET,

1

2..

5

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11

Overpressure in Education an Inevitable Consequence

of Payment by Results.

As the whole question of education will be cle~ lt with by the Government during nex t session of Pa rliament, and as it is whispered in more than one quarter that an attempt will be made to introdu ce t he system known as pay ment by results, I desire, as one deer Iy interes ted in the welfare of the rising generation, to protest against any in · t erference with our Educatiou Act, which would be calculated to lead to over· pressure in educatiou. As to whetber the claims now being made fo r separate grants and separate denominational schools should be enter· tained 1 do not wish to express an opinion. In the remarks which follow 1 intend to deal only with the One qu e~tion of over. prrss llre, which 1 rega rd as being an inev it. ,.bl~ consequence of any system which neces. sarlly makes a portion of the teacher's in. com" dependent upon the number of scholars he call bring up to any fi xed staudard of ed ll ca.tiol1 .

When M,·. Robert Lowe, who bas been described as " .the first great apostle of the modern edu ca.tlOnal movement " in the home country propounded his scheme be based it upou a 'principle best d escribe~l in his own word ~ , VI Z., H Once p lace a mao's ear 'within the 1·lng of pouuds, shillings and pence, a,ud IllS condll t can be counted ou with the greatc~t ulCety. " In an arti cle written for the NI1~ ' l.cCll l h Cwtlll·Y he publicly ex pressed the 0P."110n that when the money- motive corn ef:! III men's " d eviations from a lioe of c?nuuct wbich C[tll be seen and pre. dl.cted, "re so slight that th ey may ~lhactlCally be considered as non.existeut. " . at ?e correctly gllaged human nature III thiS matter is, I think sll'iIl ciently ~ ho.lVn by ~n oAl ei,,1 letter of 'the Na tional UnIOn of E l -mental'y Teachers to the Educa. tlOn department (N ol'ember 1883) whicb states that .. the teachers ar~ of opin'ion that

80 long as high grants can be obtained by over·pre8sure , and in many caeee in no other wa y, 80 long 118 hnman nature remains what it is, managers will demal'd, and teachers will be compelled to obtain, high grants." As an illustration of how a system based upon such a principle induces .. cram," the following may be given !l8 an example:­(I b ke it from a thoughtful article, written by Mr. Richard A. Armstrong, which ap· peared in the Modem Re6cw for April, 1883) :- " Mr. ---, head master of St. --- School, felt very dissatisfied with the results of bis a rithmetical teaching, although his school passed very creditable examina· tions. Tbe wbole work seemed to him too mechanical, and consequently little helpful in developing tbe intelligence of his 8cholars. H e changed bis methods. He taught next On first principles. H e was delighted to see the ingenuity shown by tbe children in in venting processes. The answers certainly were not always cor· rect, but tbat was owing to mechanical d rill having g i I'en place to rational methods, whicb might be a little less reliable for ans lvers, but whit.h were more fruitfnlof thought.life. The well · known book of Sonneuschein and Nesbitt was hi~ vadc muuln. .rhe exa mina tion came round at las t. If the • intelligence ' of hi s school should be now tested he was sanguine. But Intelllg.ence could not be tested by a d umb ?ard With one or two a rithmetica l puzzles on It. The ' results' of the examination were bad. The g rant was poor. Next year llIr. L-- turned Sonnenschein out and re· turned to the old and profitable pl~n, getting a good grant for his reward. "

.. Untler the stimulus of thili system of 'payment by results' " writes Mr. Arm· strong " the average teacher has, for the past 20 yearR, been pressing bis schola.rs

f t· mol' o.ud more re lllunerative res l. ouse to h is in s truction. T he motiytl appeal LI to ~Y M r. L owe bas b en snceessfu lly brough t mto fu ll a nd constant pby, till in t he miuds of m o.ny it has outdone all others. E xcep· tionally o.h l ami a mbit ious t eachers h;:we driv n their schools even harder t han their neighboUl's, o.nd have obtained r esults from which gold en g rants have flowed in. "

In a speech deli,' · r ed last yea r anon D ani I, of th e 13n. tte rsen. Tra ining College, said "th nltim at e cans R of ov l'·pressure n.re to be ma inly se u" ht for in th e a bn se of the prineipl of pay ment by r csults; a very 'ood pr iLl ipl so 10Llg as we arll dea li ng with r sn lts e mbodi d in brute m.1t ter, but :\ mo~t dangerons principl when incliscrimat ely n.p . plied t o I' ults produ ced iu living chi ldren tor tb b ncfit of oth ers th an chi ld ren them· seh r s. P ay n. brickmak r for Lis talc of bricks, and you wi ll not do mt1(;h ha rm ; bricks hn.ve DO orga nisatiou s, physical or m ntal to iguore. P ay n. body of mn.nagcr~ or n. t each I' for a t a le f passes, n.nd th ere is a ri sk tho.t in th e process some of the chi l· dren operat d u pon may suffer irreparable in jury in body and mind. "

Attempts have bpen mn. :'e to show t hat the over ·pres nre argum ent has been grossly exagg ra ted, and that the ch arges of ov r· stra in in education under the work ing of the payment by re nIts system cannot be sus· t ained. I ask those who hold these views to consider the facts w~ich I am now n.bout to p lace before th m.

The syst m lmowll as payment by results first came into force n.t home und er the V ice · Presidentship of Mr. L owe in 18G2, sin c which year two alterations ha ve b en mdde in the code with a view to redu cing t he temp. t ation to overcramming. This in i tse lf affords a very strong argument in support of the position wh ich I am now contending tor­that the working of th e system ha~ been :~t· t ended with evil results.

4

Quite recently Dr. Chri chton Browne a medical gentleman, who achi eved much 're. putation as superin tendent of one of t he larg at lunatic asylums in t he home cou ntry, an~ who afterwards held the position of

hler Lord Chancellor's visitor to L unatic Asylums, was . u&I,e l to spea k at Bradtord upon t h Cju st lon I am now discussing. 1)1'. Browne was unable to :1t tend, but \Hote l\ I · tt r whlch contained t be sbtcmel)t that he .. wonld h:1:,e b n gl:vl to have joined io t ho pro.test a.galllst .the gL"indiog ty n,ony of e,lu . cat Ion wI th WlllCh we are now t hreat ncd. " He also sa icl io th at letter ''It se 11 18 to Ine that it is high tiu)e fo l' a, d' ela " at i Ol~ of rights on I half of hel.pl ess cbildren, and on behalf nf futur g ' n ratloo8 also. whOln, if \\" :"',, I! ot car fu l , we shall loa,l with " btu'cl n mol' gri.evou8 than the National debt; a burden

of d is integration and disease" SI f I . . ' 101·tl

a t or t l IS lette r appeal'ecl lll p ri n t M.l'. M Y d ella, the vice 'prusid t'nt of t he Edllc~'t~Q · 1 . L I " IOu

l ep'Htment ID onc on , h ad an iutel'v ' . I D]) 1 lew Wit 1 r . .> rowne an e l'efJu sted hi m to visit

some of the clemClltary schools, and r~ po l .t as to th e cITect of t he work don e in t ho upon t he h e;d t h of th e ehiJ drell . Dr. Browu~ ill t erms of the rcq ues t for ward Eld a repol.t of his laboLll's to t he vice-president of the cou ncil, t\nd some :l.ttempt :\ppears to h;1Ve been made to bury it iu t he wn.ste· p<tpel' baske t for th e obv ious r ason t hat it was not in conformity with Mr. Munuella'~ vi ws. But the ParJin.1Il nt of England ca llell for the prod uction and pu blicat ion of the docum ent, amI, of com's , the call had to be complied wi t h. 1\1r. Mu nci elln. then instructed Mr. Fit h, t he priu cipal inspec. tor, to prepar o It criticism of Dr. Browne's l' port. S uch an ord I' cou ld on ly mean one th iug, andlVIr. li' it ch d ealt rdverseJy with t il e repo rt in a docum ent a nythi ng but COUl'­t eous in its t one. Dr. Brow ne wrote his ans wer t hrou gh t he columns of The 'l"imes, a nd refer ring to this controversy t hc West· minste )· Reoiew of January last wr ites (and this is tho point wh ich I wish to maRe clear) - " VVe cannot but adm it t ha t , on t be whole, Dr. Cbrichton Browne's observa tions go to es tablish th e fact th at tbere is over· pressure in the e lementary sc hools in L on· don, and \\'e co.nllot see tha t Mr. Fitcb's unhand some, and in some respects (as appears from Dr. Chr icht.oll Browlle's letter in 'l '/! e 'l'imes of tbe 18th September), misleading criticism has don e anything to skLk e the subs tance of th se ouservations. Th at over·prcssure of th e backward and 11 rvous and stupid chil dren is prod uctive of mu ch n ervous d isease, thn.t headaches and sleeplessness and somLln.mbnlism and short· sightedness are more or less caused by the over work to wbbh these child ren n.re sub· jected , seems to ue made out past t he paltry ca.vil of the chief inspector, tha t D I'. Browne only exam ined 6,000 children, while there are some 4, 000,000 children io elementa.ry SClIOOls, and tha t Dr. B rowlle's method of encluiry was not scientifi c." I have only room for one 'J Ilotatioll from D r, Browlle's report, "The s'lhoolm asters of to.clay, " he wr ites , " have an un easy t im of it owing to p"'Y lll ent IJy res ul ~s . To all modera te men it \ i 11 ~eem th at th e system of p,)ym ent by re· au I t~ , that is to afty by pl"OX illl a te or p,wtbl 1'0 '

sui ts, must ba very ca.uti ously applied, :lOci smrou nded by m'l ll Y safeguards if it is Dot to prove i nj u riouB t o tbe masters and chi ld ren. Every child that th e teacher f:liJs t @ . pass is so I!l nch Inoney out of pocket. It IS unfortunately poseiul uucler t he pre­scnt system th at th , L acher who deserves best of his country might receive least froUl

1 '1 I e wllo is most da.mag ing it migbt iL, IV)\ to ':ehJy )'ew;1fded. It is possible th at b.e J1l0eS1 ty11"'nt who is ruthless ly ov ·rdr iving [I 'rLl '" . l'

f mis raillo chIldren, a ll C sOlVing teams 0 . ' ht .

1 at Lhe seeus of d ,sease, HlJg l' cel ve uroa( ca I I I' llent ' t ilo 1I1eri t grun t, i.o )o .c asset exc" .' whil o a hum ane and WISC nl as ter , w ho 18

,out ly Jead illg I,i a flock a long th e path of grogresB, inIusiug s trengt h and h ~pp l n ~s8 into m[lllY lives , m igh t be d arn~ ed Wit h fam t

. ise an d cutdownasregal'da lJlsemolurn ents f~ ~i)e' lowest point." Corn rnonting fu,'·ti.' er upon the report the Wpstmtrlster 1," "tP11' writes :- " No w let ns Bay at once, to s llm Llp t ha.t Dr. Chricb ton Browne has prov!:d wl;at no ono wit h any I nowledge ~f human nature ancl red · tape systcm as uean ng. upon it could for an instant have doubted. Th ere must with n. baru and· fas t sys tem be over· pressuro. Y ou mllst w hen you have st an­lards ha ve them for t he ave rage child . Tbese standards lTIust uecessarily be t oo easy for the clever chi ldren and too severe for th e stupid ones. If you havo to get all the flock in at 0. door in a certa in time, those which run fast relJuire no herdin g, those th a t a re lame must bc hurried. T his we say oug ht to have been obvio lls. W hat Dr. Browee has done is not only t o show t ha t t hat is the case, but to some extent to point out the results of t he over'l ressure. The most star tling resu lt, which he br ings und er t he notice of t he pu blic, is t he curious pre· valence of headaches amongst children. H e found th at out of 6,580 children examined, 3,034 suffered from headaches, or a pecentage of 46'1. " I ask my r3ad ers to k\l;:e this statement in con nect ion wit h the statistics rei:1ting to Scotbn I, which I quote further on. " It must be rememberecl " continues the wri ter of t he ar t iole I am n'olV quoting " th a~ Dr. Chriohton BrolVne is not a lone i~ the " ,ews which he has advoca.t ed or ill us. trat l' h' ~( IJ) IS r port. A large n umber of med'clll meu ha.ve come to the conclusion th at . schoolwork in elementary sciLOols i causmg . Llisp-ase in the child ren \\' ho ~ re subJ ~ct to this s train. It IS son:etlllles saicl, in answer to th ese eomplalJ)ts, t hat t here ar6 f cases 0 . d very w . ~l I ecor \I' hel'e ol'crwork has

I esu.lted ~'~ t he actual break 10 WD of the pup ils. Ihat may be t rue, but to wb~ has any know:edge of t h subj ~~~~~: obVIOUS t hat YO II may be proLl uciug a vast amount of . menta l aucl nervous disease amongs t children without . deaths." causmg many

ISpelal iug of t he clangers of overworl- in sc 100 s 'IS a COllS f ' ' . I " eq uence 0 the payment by ~~~) f~?t~;~nt ~efO I~~ t he Natio~a l Associa-D AI . 10,mo Ion of SOCln.l Science i k'UOlVe~~~t~r ;~~Iltlt· said, "There are (anci

s 0 lem are of these opiuions

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in t his matter) < commission ra of l unacy,' whose du ty it is to sec t ha t facts are ?-Bcer · ta ined, a l cl wisely a od prudeDtly met In r~· ga rd to those who are brou ght under t heIr specia l comm ission'!i scrutiu y . ~be said commis ion l'S in lunacy , a od l unatIC asy lum sup rintentlcnts, aro entirely wit h us in. the vicws n w exp resser); t hey u,o l1?t hesltat c t o report ag • .inst th c m:lUdolllng. lOfl u ~"ce of undu e edu cational efforts, espeCia lly III re· gal'd to th e tran ~mi ssi o.n of h ereditaril y ac· qnired or more l ':"ln:,cd l t ely aroused men tal d is turbance. It IS tn d ~ed not too mu ch t o say of this edu cational. d isturber ?f r equired nl cntal repose, tha t It IS t he crylllg eVIl of t he age."

Mr. Hrodie, ao insp ector of schoolA, de· fends the t est by p rcentages of passes. "They at test, " he says, " when high, to at least much solid hard work, dogged labour, and persis ten t every-d a.y d rudgery!" Alas for t he children, wben the system of educa­tion now in voaue can be defended upoa such grounds. o\Yhat does such teaching amount to ? Mr. Barrington -\Vard gives hie experience as followb :-" Too many elemen­t ary t eachers, men and women alike, still fancy that it ie snfficient to :1im at mere mechanical excellence, to the exclusion of the de\7elopment of those rational faculties wbich raise man t o bis noble rank above the brute eTeation. ' Vith some t eacbers whom I cou ld name a pa rrot or a monkey would a lmost form as ap t a pupil as hie present charges . . ,

Mr. A lderson , one of the best of inspectors, complains tha t he finds in t oo ma ny of tbe schools <. reading wbicb does DOt expand the mi11d : grammaT w hich does n o t leaven sp~ec h and. writing : arith meti c, whicb d oes not form a habit of exact t binking; geog­raphy which does not interes t t he ima,' inu,­tion ; lite rature t hat does not improve" the taste ; phYSiology t ],at has n o bea rint7 on the simple laws of health; Llomestic ~onomy t.ba t does not contribute to t he comfor t of homes. "

Row far can th e charg of over· pressure as a consequence of p:lYlll eut by results be SUpported by a n ap13eal to stati tics?

l .n a dehate 011 tbe present education cod e whICh t ook place in th 'l House of Commo ' ~ 11 13th Apd l last, Sir 1. P layfai r sa.id, "I: Scotland , w here nn.t,lolla l edu ca t ion had beeu :~~llct longe.r eS,tab lls ilecl, and was of a hi <>he.r ,1l1( than IU England, and where t here "was

a lso much more pressure, w ho ever beard of Over'l ressure '? " . '';,-Iell' llet us take t he statist ics relatlUg to

t l~O an c , a nd what do we find ? At one of Ede re~ent annual meet ings of t he Scot ch

I l\ ~a~LOnal I nsti tu te D r. Robert Beverid e p lYSlcla n to t he Aberdeen Ro yal I fi ~ , g 'we t t ' . , n Irmal y

, s a IS t ICS of t he increase of deaths fro~

I"IC .

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4-5

7

10

11

dis as s of tho brain am ng childl'on of school age in eig ht of thc t OWIlS of l:icotlnnd fo .· t he yea rs 1872-81, whon tho Ed uca tion Act wa in force, compared with th years ! 859- 68. '1'h e comp:u'ison gi ves th follow· mg resul ts :-

~ bU, 1 6S I ~ ~7 2-1 S ~ 1 50:~ J 872- J~

A. berdc(,l1 Dundee . . Ed inburgh

7'5 0'2 11 '3 12'7 5 .~ S·~ 1" --' 6'6 77 10'_7 13'4

C:h\ gow... . . The eight Inrge

5'5 7'S '4 9 '9

t owns of Scot­] lInd 58 7.7 9'05

Mr. R. A . Al'mstl'ong has pointed out that as these fignres cover about a thir 1 of t'le p opulal ion of Sco tland, and compare whole d ecade , tbey are on a scale la rge enough t o exclude casual sou,'ces of fallacy. H e also calls at t ention to the fact t hat the signifi­can cy of the fi gures abovc quoted is more a pparent w hen convcrted into t he following form :-

I nc r ase of lncrea e of P r o port ion

Pr op o r t ion 0 f D eaths of D eath from B rai 11

from Bra in Disea e to Disease to D eaths f rom D eaths from all sources all sources. except zym-

otics. ------- - 1- - --- 1-----

Aborleen .. .. ....... , .. , D undee .. .... .... , .. , .. . E dinburgb . ... , .... , .. . Gluosgow . ..... . .. . ..... . 'I'Re Eight L a"ge

Towns of Scotland

P er Cent. P er Ceut_

2-2'G7 G I l6 'G7 32 '73

32'76

12 '~!) 45'2! 30'48 17'8G

20 .!)!)

G

The retur ns of the Reg istrar -G eneral, from wl,i ch Dr. Beveridge t a k s his fi gores for tbe periods nttlned , show th at the chief disease of the brain or nervous syst em t\llIong persons between 5 an 1 20 t o be ceph aliti s, or io BammatioLl of the brain prop r. Thus, out of 969 who <li ed of bra in di seases b -tween t he age 0-5, 350 d iecl of cephalitis­(of the balance 453 d ied of con vulsions). Out of 267 who died of brain di seases be­t ween the alles of 5-20, 110 d ied of cephalitis.

'rho fi g ur s I hav qllot cl spea l f sel l' s, bu t it may h as w .11 to ' 8' or t hOll1 . tho e vidence th y a lfo n! a" beadn ce l OW fat q uestion of ovc"-p,' S8 U.'O in ' I

g UIl? " tho

b b Cl Il CiiL ' Oll •

.o,·no out y a l' fe"cn'o to indiv '.l . I ' i I ' I I l II a CU Be

w l1 e 1 Ill ay '} ta k ~n as typictd of ot i . "'I the samo class. ' C' s of

D." AI'xa ndor K oillcr, in t ho " ]1\rCSS' b referred to, mention d a caso iu w hi~~' 01'0 ,~a~ eam cs t ly "e'jllest od by t heir Pllrcnts 1;0 v.s.t a t t heu' suhool two YOll ug ladies b 0

B .ym~rs of age, who had bocn fo r some\~~! s~,tl e \'l u g from s leeplessness ~nd loss of a~'po . t. te. lie had. no d.fnculty ID dec iding that they wer.:: SUUel'lllg from over -Iressure. " ID the evenlllg of the ~" lll e day ," he snid, " [ met a. well -known teacher whose very lar e e xpe n ence nf el!ueatioll le:! t o his bei~g selec~ d to fi ll o~,e of the best ed ucational apP.Ol ntm.cnts go.ng, a.nd I ould not help asklllg hlln the questIOn • Are you not un, ~. sually bus.y at this time of t he year, and is It not provlllg t oo llluch of a good thing to wor k on s? very ha rd, as I suspec t you and yonr stafl are now doing ? . . . The answer I got was in th ese unequivocal word, • U nusua lly bu y. ,Ve are a ll a t it now: worklllg a t killing pacc : the exam inations and prize competitions arc ri ght ahead, and there is now no rest for us unt il all is over . J H

Mr. R. A . A rmstrong, whose name I have mentioned mOre than once, made it hiB business to acquaint himself by COl'l'eSpOll ' d ence or cOD\'ersation with t he experi ence of a large number of head t eachers of wide experi ence, and of th ese 75 per cent. re: parted that they themselves, or members or their st a ff, had sufr~red f rorl'. the pressure of Code requ ircmcnts. " Some of the state­ments which have reached mc," writes Mr. Armstrong, "deserve a more special .·erel" ence. The hcadmaster of a brilliantly suc' cessful school ill Li verpool writes to mo that, though hc is enthusiast,ically food of his work he is, at 39, prematurely grey, and has undergone a surgical operation for a disease bro\1gh t on by o\'erworl" , H e add s that t he mastcr of a ueighbOul'lng school di ed of di sease of the heart at. the a~ of 42,. brought on, in . the words ~f b~l phys.clan, 'by the WO.T.es an 1 allluetlCs I school work .' ' On ly those,' says the heaC' master of one of t he largest board schools .~ the E as t of London, I who know the "Dx.et)e of the t eacher for a few weel,s b fo re th inspect ion can f llll y cntor into the stralU upon the min d , t ho xcessive ner vo ~1S0 C Ssl and even sO ll1 ctill' os irrita bility caused ~y the desire to do woll on inspec tion d~y.' 'r:lo

t eachcr of a clllll'ch school ill a thnv.n!: ''d' to land town tells rne- I two years ago I ha t r exercise the greatest cal'O, or the docT~e sa id tbe mind wonld collapse. ' I

r head ll1 ru! t er of Low r . M osely'

~~~"t ach .. oI8, Mnn hester nl entlOns two I, of I,' •• aCIJIl intonc , "(I t.11 of whOln

toa<" ra I I weN paralyscd , awl says that t IPY a w"'y·

tt ,' lu tl'l l their urcal" IO\\ Jl to LI, ," halTass­a ll " I' . f t l ' le'-' ing nnd u n y i (' lcl ~ ng . poll ( It lQII H o . le c.oe . l ~ ·

I. t'OI)" cOl nblOcd I,erll "ps w. th t li e con ­gll a. 0, ., 1 - ' 1 d' 8taut inlia,la tioll of \~ l t l:.1tC( a ll'. JJ Y , tn e . I· 011 1 ,,,] vis 1', says " Bl'ls to l t acher , IhlS d .s­ti llct ly " . r lled mo of t he re' ,llt of t) 1I8 pr RSlll'e goillg 80 rar as to "sse l·t that , If not stopped,' 1 shCille! mater ially 81,0.' tOIl my ch.Ys. A fd ead. o~ my OW l! wilose ~ch oo l stands lorelllost III .ts t a wn has b eo a t the pains to place in my hauds " .s tatem n t which derives great weight f"om b.s loug ~nel wide experience. I n t h conrs of a re~ lew of t he eU· ·ct. of t he sys tcm on the phys.q ue of teachers he says the nervous power of tbe dig s ti v~ .o.-gaus !"i1 fi rs t_ g nerall y. l:Iead affectIOns pr vall. Paralys.s, a poplexy, demeut ia sup r venc. W ere it possible to got at the vita l statist ics of the great bod y of cert ifi cated teachers during the last 25 years, a sad history would be r evealed . I judge of t il e mass from my act ual knowledge of soven teac h rs whom I Im ew best during my coll ege life . Of the seven only two sur ­vive, anel these ha vC had since passing their fortieth year very severe and protracted ill­nesses. f beir lives are no longer such as a careful in surance otfice wou ld accept a t Ol'dinary rates.' A few days since a suc­cessfullllistress told me of one a fter another of her successful pupi l t eachers who had founel their way to the asylum Or otherwi'>e utterly collapsed . S be hcrself suffers acutely from chro ~ ic nervous s train, a Dd cl scrihes how a~ lllght, not sleeping, but alrakc, sbe w.1l ote,. lll tO some expla nat ion to. her pupil t eacher to find after manv mmutes that there is no pupil teacher there and that it is the walls of her chamber not those of t he schoolrooll1 t hat SlllTOlllld her. An accompli sed hel1dmistress in Suffo lk re­ports :- ' After the honest work 01 nine m .nths, and the overst raill of the t hree in whICh the examill " tion falls, I often feel as .fIh~d been put UpOll the rack-bruised and sore ID body as well as mind. About fi '-e years ago I had a complete hl'eakdowu wh en I became very deaf. and rn y m e l1l0r ~ seemed suddenly to have failed me_ 1 long l est restored the headn!! but t h memory has ncver re"a ined t b -- , 11 e

_ 0' e 0 l pow r . - . When I go to b d the.'. is sti li

the array of hildren to to"ment me I'n sleep. ' 11 my

lIra.ny SllCh. expe"i uces as thosc a bove mentlOn ecl lll 'ght be quoted b t I ' 11 ~ere ly a In as "egar,ls teacher~ th:t acc~~~1 A~~;~l t~~e ~rh~ot"'C( ,,{u., the mortali ty' amon~

U . Ol S amOlln ts to ~ per ent. p •.

7

annum, as against ~ per cent. among police a nd sai lors.

" 1it li I'Pga rrl to th U'ects of (J,' er -prrs-sure on cld ldren, Mr. A rmst rong ~ays , .. The most common "ym pto.ns of t h .n]"r?" 8 00 -

a Ij u~nce is t he ta lking _of le8soD8 ' " sleep, to which a chorus 01 ", speetors, t pnchers , a" rl parents bear u nited witn SB. .' Dn ns of inst ances,' says M r., Quayle: of L.~crpoo l , li eD ,1 master of ~t . Thomas and il t . M"'t ­thew's, 'of complail1 ts from pnren~ concc!n­ing tbeir chi) el l'en :- IOS8 of npp tl te, t lklllg ill sleep, languo r, ner vous stat e, incliffi rence Lo childi sh sporta, e tc. N o rouustnc8S or energy.' M r. J Obll_ S t~edman, of Not ­tinghan" Rays that, ID h.s former school, wliere mu h ha rd work wall done con­tinnously, and where the population was settled , tb e r egnlar bOy8 were vor~ small. ' ' The ch ildren won ld be botter, writeil a mistress, I both in body and mind, if their scbool life was happier; the .train of the code prevents this. 'The children'. health is p laced, unfortunately,' writes a. mas ter, 'in competition with the Bchool· master 's means of livin!!.' 'About a week ago,' said a La ncasbire mother, • they began to cra m my little one, and ahe not leven ye",rs old , for examination . It wu lessons morn ing, afternoon, and Digbt, and ynu Dever saw her without her books. I don't underst llud all this learninl', bnt at last I saw that they were ki lling bel'. So I went to the school, and said that I could DOt let her wo.-k 0 hard. But t hey would not let her stop. They said she wou ld do g randly_ B ut I wanted to keep my child_ So a t l:lSt, with no end of difficulty, I got a mpdical certificate, and now I mean to keep her at home t i~1 t he inspector 's been and gone, I do.' In NottlUg bam not long since t he parents of a li t t le girl, seeing her overdone and talk ing of les.ons in her sleep, gave notice that they would keep bel' from sohool for a time. The ~ear h e r jJromptly call ed and offered a present ~f t~e chtld a ttended regula rly I A mistress 10 l orkshlre was called before a committee of her boa rd for uumercifully heating a girl

years old on the head, because slie fa iled to work a problem in arithmetic (Standard ill.) 'll'hen t he mother complained the answer was that the child was clever eno ugh, and could do the sum if she cbo.e_ T he parents pleaded tha t she was deli­cate, a!ld t hat they would much rather she d .d not pass the examination till t~ e n e~t year ii any severity had to he nseel. 'I o whlllh answered tbe t eacher I But I want ~y mouey and I'll make her' pass .' That

acher put the whole syst em of payment by result s in a n utshell. Mr. Sykes the PTI~laent of the Teachers' Union, 'says, b : e pale faces, lack -lustre eyes aching

rains of the litt le ch ildren, and tlle 'repeated

eomplnin ts of brain fev 1', loss of ey sight , and borl il y d cpression an w akn ss plain ly

vin e the cruel ty as well as scnsclesBll ' ss of the system.' '. 'omo t\ 0 Y a l'S ago,' says a Li vcrpool mast er, • a v ry int lIigent but d licat c boy cut l' d t h school a nxiou s to compete for on of tho schola rships .)s tab­lishe 1 by t he Liverpool 'outlcil of J ~duc,­tion. Aftcr being in th c school I ss th un six m onths h d ied, tho innn d iat c C(l ll b6 of d nth I ein g rh umatism of tll c heart; but during t h

8

d l il'lum of tho last f IV days he moaned sadly about his school work. '" A lad V t 'aoher l' lates to Mr. Armstrong t h case of a par ent obj cting to her IlUving put forward one of her children on t he ground that" last year but ono my oth I' girl was served thc same, and the very week after t he examina­t ion she was t n,ken i ll n,ncl died. " A Brad­forcl master writes : "I have hoard of m n,ny instatl s in town of pel'manent br akdown or death r esn lting from the strain of school work. A few years ago a girl committed suicide owing to uepressioll of spirits oaused by h r iuabil ity to do the homo work pre­scribcd at schooL"" 1\11'. ·irl ing at a r ecent meoting of the executi\'e of th e National Union of E lementary T eachers, referrcd to the case of a cllild who had then just d ied of brain fever whose continual ry, in his last d el irium was, " I can' t get it right ! I can't get it right !"

And no IV, sir , to bring t he matter more closely home to those for w hose benefit I have written th is paper, let me refe r briefiy to our own experience of tbe syst em of " payment by results," for we have had some experience of that system in t he work­ing of our so· called higher educat ion. Of t he number of lads wLo have taken the scholarship more than one has been consigned to the lunatic asylum. I could point t o quite a number who have suffered in body and mind from over-pressure. One candi­date for the scholarshi p broke down hefore the day apTlointecl for t he examinat ion and for a t ime I was his close compJ-nion. I shall never forget how much he sl1flel'ed, aod t he poor, moping, help less object t hc bri~ht boy o! former yea rs had become. By entire cessation h om mental work and care­fu l treatment, he was sntficiently restored t o go up and win t he pri ze he bad worked so hard to ga-in. I n another case a lad after complaini ng t hat his head was bad, fell senseless upon the 11001' and remained UUCOn­Bcious and bovering between life and detlth for sever:>l days-anotiJ cr victim to Ov~r ­p ressure.

A Kukhlu :lH :t rOI;\J lt o( ovcl"p rOSsuro nh;o o " u"'eel i ll Aplil lHat .-A.:I.T.

If all th boys \V ho havo t o stud work ::L! lott ' cl to thorn f" idy, fowY ;l~cllh! pass, or mol' wou ld break dowo ('0 VQ\ld~ d · ]- . 1 f -, . ' b 111 a, le. ut. lIIStc", 0 UOtng t ltiij t h . ,01

down to th 1' llb lic L ib l'al'Y and' mll l(~ Olll! the translations, fro m w bich th ey copyUSUOI after p go. pagi

A geotleman told me only t he other d th t wll -n ho C:1l1le to Tasmania and saw t~Y . lIrricu lum \~ h i ch boys have to go throu b In order to WID th e prIzes t o be gained und

g

our system of higher ed nca.t ion , he resol\'~ th at none of his sons should r isk the 108B OI bodily and menta.l be:1lt h by compet ing.

Th compet ition between ollr present pti. vato ed ucat ion:11 cst ab lishments is doiog more harm in Ollr communit y than l11aoy are aware of, :tnd I have ample proof of thiJ fact. I will only relat e one instance aB aD ill ustration of the way in which children are subjected- in mn,ny cases t hrough grOii i ~ uorauce on t he pa rt of the t eacher of the sllnplest la ws of p hys iology-to over-preBBure even in 011 1' private schools. A lady said to me th e other day, "A short t ime ago I beot my grandchi ld t o school. She is only 8 yem old . For a t i me her lessons were a pleasure to her . I never had t o p ress her to learn t hem. She is a. bright intelligent child and after a very short t ime was advanced to t he next class. T hen I often noticed that her cheeks were stained with t earB. She often complained of headache, One day she came to me and said, "Grandma, I can ' t do it." I too k the book from her hand, and to my borror found t hat my darl· ing was expect ed to learn for the nex t moro· ing a page of st atis tics, w hich would pu~zle an adu lt brain to remember. N ext mornlDg I sent fo r t he teacher, and when she cn,mc, t old her that I wished my child t o be edu­cat ed, and not crammed. I sh Juld be ob· liged if sha would put her back t o her first c lass again ." W ould t hat every mother would fo llow such an example.

" On ental'ing the Dome Saloon of tb~ New Capitolil1o Museum at R~me, writes Mr. Armst roJ g, "the VISitor may see 011 his left- hand side the t ombst.on6

of one Q. Sll lpicius Maximus. T he subJcct of t hi s monumcnt was ~o hero of t he cam~ or t he Senat e, bnt a little fellow not II yen,rs old, w hose t it le to fame was t he ~ofcaf of 5'2 compet it ors iu the i mprovi8atLOnk~1 Greek versos. Specimells of bis pretty 8 1'0 are graven on t he marble. But t he pn.thetl f cpitttph relates that dea th was t he p rico .o the ovcr· stimulation of t he boyish br~l ll ' Such , as far as I know, outside of Chll1a,

' t ,IV was the firs t case of deat h from competl I examillatioll . '~T h en wi ll be t he last ?"

]~ rjll t{;(\ at 11 T it ..., M U)'CUl'Y 11 Off'h.:u, H ubart .

"3

THEATRE ROYAL, AUCKLAND,

On APRIL 14th,

llY Tll1t

I-IoN. ROBERT STOUT, Premier of New Zea.la.nd.

SUBJECT : "TECHNICAL EDUCATION."

[ NEW hEALAJlD HERALD, T UI!lSDA.T, APRIL 14, 1885).

h Premie]' (~tr. R. tout) would add re .. a TUE an1l0Ul~cem.e~lt that the k~onci ;t ~he Theatr" noval laBt nigh t, at t be rMJu~ t of meeting of tDe CllJ.ze ~ 8 of Auc ffiu . t t bring togeth'er almost as JarJ;e 110 Budlene tb e Liberal ASBOCl :l tL?n, . wa. 8U cleo ~he buu of the ball wa_ a dense maM of as ever assemll ed wlthlll Ita wall ~__ Y _, f r lad',n an" gentlemen who d . I I h wa~ r e-c r \'cu 0 •. , u human ity, and the ress C1rc e, .w llC . -h ' b a char"e \Vu. made Wii well filled . accompanied thLm, ~od for. ad mlQ Ion to Vi ~\ of leadin citizen, 'member of the T he stage was a l 0 filled wltb a larj!;e nuill ~r b d g A.mon" t them wer e the C ity Coun<:}l , H arbour Boaru'handH oth er,,, PU;::; ~~n ';n I "~ie~ ra. Th"omp&oll, Peacock, Hon. S ir :F1'~uk. 'W hltaker, t e 0 11. 1 . ,

llamlin and Durga\' ill ,~l.H.R's . . \, I ' I "'r ' . d anie! by ITI Ol'S 11]' le .' <l )'OT,

W hen Lhe Hon. th e Prem ier entere ,a~com!J' • - 1 . he advanced lO the l,e was !(reeted with prolon~ed applaustl, wlllch was contlllUt:l t'rout and took his seat. d - b d '

His -Worship Lhe MAYOR pIr. \V. n. Wad del ) op 11 d the pl'ocee lOgs y rea IIlg

the advertisement and briefly illtro.lucing th e speake r. . Ma STOUT who 00 ri ~i l1 to peak, \\'a~ rec~ivell wiLh renewed CheE-TS, a!d:

Mr. Mayor, La lies a~d Gentlemen, - Betore I begin to ad.i re s ~?U on the , uhJ ect tha t I have hosen to-night, I wish to say n few worus as t DIy po III , 0 ~Iere. . · ... we time ago th e Auckland Liberal As,oeiation S~l1 t a rel~" e_ t to me that If I c:1lIe to Aucklalld I sbould add regs a nwet ing uncler 11 au . IJIC~e , .tlBU I at once a __ ente~, becau e I ca t I myself " L iber al-(cbe r. ),-a ncl ~ alll \:xc~e,llll~ly ~h~J to see that IU A uckland tb t' re is still pol itic"llife an ti st ill allxlety for hb~ I" 1 principle. (lIear. 1 havc nodorgo tt n that in vea r ~one bY-In 1875-1 was l1!!\'t ll~g ~ II . the·tllllC <1.le as the majori ty of ll1 Audd anJ people. figh ti ng in favour of Prol' llIclall <m, anJ I fdL sure that the pe pIe who th en h ad fOll_ght s o ubly for 10,·,,1 s If-gon~rnwe ll t Wel e actuated by some hig h political principles, and h~d not f()rgo t tL II them. [(",.Ie, h owever, in a diffi ult) in choo iog a subject on wbt,eh to speak. :'Ily c?lkug'le, ,Ir J. Vog I, bad spoken to YOll 11 general politics . lOur own r epr".elltat." e. 11'11 e U u

doubt a ll d oth ers will no doubt giy YOII "n account of what touk place III the lluu.e of R epreseotatiYes, and I do ~ot desire in a m eeting of this kind to e nter upon any questiol1 of party politics.

P olitical Ideale. I th Ollgbt I wOllld be doing myself the better justice and pLlying y 1I tl hig her com ­p liment hy see ing if I could poin t out some political ideals that I be lieve every ~1'11t! colon iti t Aholll,l havu ever bef re hil11, anu l' ·rhaps Le lp YU II to see hillY w ' mlght attain t hem. (Chee rs.) TO-Ilig ht, th " l'e fol' e, 1 ha e I!Lu~c lI thi ; .ulij , .ct tu r. In

address. .Before I begin t spe(lk UpOll it I wallt to sbol. you \ by I th lll k Il b an exceedingly practical subject.