A great controversy has been raging as to the proposal
that all middle-class schools should be inspected by Government In- spectors, just as all elementary schools are. Some of the head masters say it would degrade the character of the profession, and render independent men reluctant to enter it, since their reputation and character might be thus placed at the mercy of very inferior men. But we very much doubt whether the necessity for any compulsory measure will arise. It is quite certain that the best middle-class schools,—whether private or public,—are more and more courting inspection from the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London ; and that very soon parents will not be willing to send their children to schools which cannot show evidence from some independent inspection that they teach in the right method, and turn out a good average of well-educated boys. The need of inspection in order to secure confidence is so great, that the schoolmasters who shrink from it will, before very long, be schoolmasters without scholars.
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