MR. SENIOR ON POPULAR EDUCATION.*
THE appearance of this volume shows that the immediate results of the Commission of Inquiry into the state of popular education in England are not to be confined to the production of the six bulky octavos which embody its report. That commission being designedly composed of individuals of widely different opinions, the arrival at a perfectly unanimous conclusion on all points was not to be expected; and the general principle adopted by the commissioners in the con- struction of their report was that of rendering it a faithful expres- sion of the views of the majority. In one instance only—viz. on the proposal that the inspectors of Church of England schools should be relieved from the duty of reporting on the religious education in those schools—was that principle departed from ; the opinions both of the majority and minority on this subject being simply stated, and no definite recommendation being made. The report, therefore, cannot be regarded as necessarily expressing, even on any one point, the Unanimous opinion of the whole commission ; and, when we con- sider the ability and experience of each individual commissioner, and the magnitude and variety of the subjects which came within the province of their inquiry, it may fairly be presumed that an acquaint. ance with the views of the minority will be an object both of interest and advantage to the general public. Mr. Senior has provided us with the means of fully acquiring this knowledge in his case by the publication of the present volume, which is simply a collection of all the written communications which lie addressed to his colleagues during the progress of their investigation, whether in the form of resolutions, of heads of inquiry, or of actual portions of the intended report. Some of his suggestions were rejected, while others were adopted, and form part of the report. The following are the prin- cipal points on which he dissents from the majority of his colleagues. He does not share the fears which they express as to the indefinite increase of expense and pressure on the central office which is likely to result from the continuance or extension of the Privy Council grants ; he disapproves of their proposal to remedy this evil by the establishment of borough and county education rates ; and he depre- cates strongly their omission of any express recommendations that the hours of school attendance should be shortened, and that some measure should be adopted for securing the education of those chil- dren who are occupied in trades which are at present unregulated by Act of Parliament. We shall, we think, be adopting the course most likely to attain our object of conveying an adequate idea of Mr. Senior's peculiar views, if we confine our remarks principally, though not exclusively, to these points of difference. In his opening chapter, Mr. Senior enumerates and briefly dis- cusses the various general conclusions at which the commission might possibly arrive. They might, in the first place, adopt one of the two extreme courses, and recommend either the withdrawal of all Go- vernment interference in education, or the maintenance of the exist- ing Privy Council system without any alteration whatever. Mr. Senior approves of neither of these alternatives, holding, on the one hand, that the labouring classes are, as yet, neither able nor willing spontaneously to educate their children; and, on the other, that the existing system is not free from defects, some of which, at least, are not inherent in its essence, and are, therefore, susceptible of palliation or remedy. Besides these two extreme measures, there was also a choice of middle courses open to the commission ; they might re- • Suggestions on Popular Education. By Nassau W. Senior. One of the Com-
mtamonere appointed to inquire into the State of Popular Education In England. Murray.
The bulk of Mr. Senior's work consists of special recommendations on various points in which he thinks the existing system open to im- provement. Foremost among these points, both in interest and importance, are the arrangements now in force for the education of workhouse children and of out-door paupers. For the improvement of these classes of children, the state, which stands to them is loco pareslis, is, by every consideration both of justice and policy, bound to make an adequate provision. The fact, however, is, that the exist- ing, condition of workhouse schools is unsatisfactory to the last de- gree. These establishments are conducted upon principles which seem to have been purposely designed to place both master and pupils at the greatest possible disadvantage. The position of the master is most anomalous. He is appointed by the guardians, and paid by the Treasury, according to a scale fixed by the Poor-Law Board; his rank in that scale, which regulates his emoluments, is fixed by the Privy Council Inspector ; and lie is dismissed by the Poor-Law Board. lie is in a galling, position of subordination to the master of the workhouse, who is, almost invariably, a man of inferior education to himself.. Not only is his pay very small, but it depends, to some extent, upon the number of his pupils ; an arrange- ment which actually operates as a premium upon inefficiency, since, the better a workhouse school is, the more rapidly are its scholars drafted of into independent situations. For all these reasons, it is very difficult• to induce a good and, efficient man to accept the office of workhouse schoolmaster and the attempt to supply a better class of teachers for these posts, by means of the Training Institution of Kneller Hall, has resulted in complete failure. As to the pupils in workhouse schools, any good that they may chance to get from their education is more than neutralized by their proximity to, and occa. sional intercourse with, the adult paupers. The reader may, perhaps, find some difficulty in believing that institutions which, like our work- houses, are governed by a strict code of regulations, and provided each with a special chaplain, can, after all, be nothing better than dens of depravity of the worst description; but such, if Mr. Senior is to be believed, is undoubtedly the case. As a general sample of workhouse morals, he cites the following statement by a workhouse schoolmistress : " One girl, and not a bad specimen of a pauper girt, mid to me the other day, 'My cousin Sally left the house some time ago, and now she has come beak with a baby. I hope soon to go out, and to conic back too with a baby.' " In such an atmosphere we can readily believe that school instruction can be of little avail ; and we are quite prepared to agree with Mr. Senior that the only way to provide effectually for the education of workhouse children is to make the school a separate establishment, distinct from, and not in too close proximity to, the house. An attempt has already been made in this direction by the establishment of district and separate schools; but the acts passed for this object have been practically in- operative, because their enforcement has hitherto been made depen- dent, in each case, upon the consent of the guardians. Still, in the few cases in which suck schools have been set on foot, their working has been so successful as to afford every ground for believing that their compulsory establishment would be attended with the best results. So, too, the practical failure of the measures which have been hitherto taken to provide for the education of out-door pauper children, is owing to the fact that the acts in which they are em. bodied are not compulsory but permissive ; the guardians being merely authorized to grant relief for educational purposes, if they deeps it proper to do so, and being absolutely forbidden to impose, as a condition of relief, that such education should be given. Some idea of the effects of these restrictions may be gathered from the fact that is 9 counties, containing 38,451 out-door pauper children, the guardians educate °alp 11 children, at an aggregate expense of 21. 8s. 4d. a year. The truth is, that no more certain method ean be devised of entirely preventing the education of pauper children, than that of leaving it in the hands of the guardians. All who have any practical acquaintance with poor-law guardians, especially in rural districts, will be prepared to agree with Mr. Senior that they are, as a body, not only indifferent, but actually hostile, to the spread of education among the poorer classes. Even the most enlightened among them are apt to look only at the immediate expense of educa- tional measures, without taking into consideration the benefits which will ultimately result from them. Mr. Senior cites two cases in which the guardians actually refused relief to poor persons, because they had boys at school. We most heartily agree with his recom- mendation that the act to, provide for the education of out-door pauper children be at once made compulsory, and that the guardians be peremp. toril y required to impose the education of his children as a necessary condition upon every applicant for out-door relief. The two remaining points on which Mr. Senior differs from the majority of his colleagues relate to the expediency of making some provision for the education of children who are employed in unregu- lated businesses, and of shortening the hours of school attendance in all cases. On both these points Mr. Senior expresses an affirmative opinion; and he makes out a very strong case in support of his views. The Factory Acts and the Printworks Act are the only existing measures which provide for the education of children who are em- ployed in manufacturing pursuits. Of these, the former appear to be tolerably efficient.; but the latter is a mere mockery, the extent of its requirements being that, during every half-year in which a child under thirteen is employed, it shall attend school for one hundred and fifty hours, which are to be distributed over thirty days, not more than five hours to be reckoned in one day. Of the businesses which are unregulated by Act of Parliament, Mr. Senior directs his atten- tion principally to the lace and hardware manufactures. In the for- mer of these businesses children are set to work when they are not more than two years old, and even. at this tender age they work for twelve hours a day. It is scarcely necessary to add that it is found to be impossible to sustain their flagging energies without the free use of the cane. Children employed in the hardware manufacture do not begin to work at quite so early an age, but they are treated with far greater barbarity ; the apprentice being, in fact, though not in name, the slave of his master. In neither business is it possible for the children to get any schooling whatever, except on Sundays ; and we cannot wonder if they are unwilling to spend their only day of recreation within the walls of a Sunday-school. It is not altogether easy to imagine the grounds on which Mr. Senior's colleagues de- clined to join him in calling for legislative interference with such a state of things. As regards school hours Mr. Senior has collected a considerable mass of very interesting evidence, all tending to prove that children cannot, as a general rule, be profitably employed in mental cultivation for a longer period than, at the outside, four hours a day. Accordingly, he is anxious that the Privy Council should materially reduce its requirements in that respect. Such a reduction would, he anticipates, meet with considerable opposition, not, as is commonly supposed, from the parents of the children, but from the managers of the schools. Want of space precludes us. from doing more than merely directing the reader's attention to Mr. Senior's very sensible remarks on the defects in the instruction which is at present afforded by the Privy Council Schools, or to his suggestions for diminishinob their denomi- national character. For these, as well as for the full development of the various heads of argument to which we have more particularly alluded, the reader must turn to the volume itself. It is, we can assure him, well worthy of an attentive perusal; and it cannot fail to convince him of the wisdom of the choice which selected its author as one or the commissiouers to inquire into the state of popti- lar education in England.
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