VII. My Lords will be glad to know from time to time of any special difficulties which appear to be connected with the work of evening continuation schools with a view to their being lessened or removed. They attach a very high importance to the work which may be done under this code, as effective continuation schools supply one of the most important means for turning to better account than at present the money and time now spent in the day schools. In connection with the survey of the elementary schools of Great Britain, it is not out of place to consider the agencies created by the Government for the restraint and correction of vicious and lawless youth. The following citation from a recent article by Mr. A. A. W. Drew, who has been officially engaged in the work, will put the reader in possession of its salient features. To this statement is added a short extract from a recent article touching the new lines of educational work which have been assumed by the London County council in its effort to rescue the slum population: INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS AND JUVENILE CRIME. About the year 1866-i. e., four years before the introduction of the school board system which gave new life to the work of public elementary education in Englanda great wave of doubt had passed over the minds of our senators, which made them question whether the old plan of committing juvenile offenders to prisons or to reformatories was either a wise or a judicious one; and the result was the introduction into Parliament of a bill to deal with that question, and the passing of an act, known as the industrial schools act, which made a great change in our method of dealing with youthful criminals. In 1869, the year before the first school board act was passed, as many as 10,314 juvenile criminals, under the age of 16 years, were committed to prisons in England; while the last completed returns-viz, those for 1891-show that in that year only 3,855 were so committed. Also, in 1869 there were sent on to reformatories 1,331 children, of whom 1,075 were boys and 256 were girls; while in the year 1891 there were only 1,020 children committed to reformatories, of whom 885 were boys and 135 were girls. What had become of the balance of juvenile criminals from 1869 to 1891, so that the number sent to prisons or reformatories had decreased from 10,314 in the former year to 3,855 in the latter? Is it true that education, by a curative process, had largely diminished the number of such children, notwithstanding the enormous increase in the population of the country? Of late years there has sprung up, under the fostering influence of the industrial schools act of 1866, a large number of schools, differing absolutely from prisons and very widely from reformatories, known as "certified industrial schools." In 1866 there were in this country, not including Scotland, only 57 such schools, containing a total of 2,566 children, of whom 1,893 were boys and 673 girls. In 1861 there were in Great Britain 153 certified industrial schools, containing 23,688 children, of whom 19,292 were boys and 4,396 girls. These numbers include those detained in truant schools under the elementary education act, and also in certified day industrial schools; so that it will be seen that although the number of children committed to prisons and reformatories has decreased, the numbers in industrial schools has increased from 2,566 in the year 1866 to 23,688 in the year 1891. From this it will be seen that public elementary education has not yet reformed our juvenile criminals, only that the policy of the country has transferred them from prisons or reformatories to industrial schools. Even this is a great step to have taken, but the same policy requires to be vigorously followed up by the removal of those blots which still remain as hindrances to the reformation of youthful offenders. And this our Parliament alone can bring about by legislation. The fact of the matter is that, short of Utopia, there must of necessity exist for corrective, industrial, and educational purposes a graduated series of establishments suitable for the many varying cases which come under treatment. After nearly thirty years of close acquaintance with the juvenile population of this great metropolis, I have no hesitation in saying that truancy is to be credited with nearly the whole of our juvenile criminality, and that if much more energetic steps were taken to deal with our young truants, the list of convictions for criminal offenses would be very largely reduced, and in my opinion it is well worth while seriously to make the attempt. The percentage of truants cured by a single short visit to a well-managed truant school has already been given as 80 per cent, and, to take the latest return of the home office, the percentage of industrial school children in 1891 who have passed through these schools, and are now reported as doing well, is, for boys, 85.5 per cent, and for girls, 84 per cent; thus incidentally showing, what actually is the fact, that the reformation of a bad boy is just a shade easier than that of a bad girl. The industrial schools amendment act of 1880 is a most useful one, especially as regards girls; and I marvel to find that so very little use is made of it. I can only say that our committee never neglects to deal promptly with any case which comes before it under this act, which adds to section 14 this further condition under which a child may be sent to an industrial school, "that is lodging, living, or residing with common or reputed prostitutes, or in a house resided in or frequented by prostitutes for the purpose of prostitution, or that frequents the company of prostitutes." Yet another very useful act is that of 1891. It is entitled "An act to assist the managers of reformatory and industrial schools in advantageously launching into useful careers the children under their charge," and its provisions authorize the managers of all such schools, with the child's own consent, and, if necessary, without the parents' consent, "to apprentice him to or dispose of him in any trade, calling, or service, or by emigration, notwithstanding that his period of detention has not expired, and such apprenticing or disposition shall be as valid as if the managers were his parents." But in the case of emigration the consent of the home secretary must also be obtained. (Andrew A. W. Drew, Contemporary Review, May, 1893, 732-742.) TECHNICAL EDUCATION UNDER THE LONDON COUNTY COUNCIL. If it be asked what new thing the present council has done, apart from extending the first council's work, I think we may with some confidence refer to the starting of its department of technical education. The circumstances of London differ so much from those of other cities and counties, the difficulties and complications of its educational problems are so great, the chaos of uncoordinated authorities is so bewildering, that the first council may well be excused for not immediately adding technical education to all its other duties. But the second council grappled with the problem in its very first summer. Having been, from the outset, the chairman of the special committee and then the technical education board, to which the council has delegated its educational functions, I am disqualified from expressing any opinion as to the success of this new departure, but I think it will be admitted that we have made good use of our time. The technical education board, which carries on this part of the council's work, has already established a comprehensive "scholarship ladder," from the board school right up to the highest technical college, the best art schools, and the university. It has done much, by its liberal grants and skilled inspection, to develop and improve the various "polytechnics" now growing all over the metropolis. Under the expert guidance of Dr. Garnett it has worked a beneficent revolution in evening science and technology classes, and made more practical the instruction in these subjects given in the public secondary schools; whilst the London schools of art are, under its fostering care, springing into new life. By the appointment, as its art advisers, of such expert craftsmen as Mr. George Frampton, A. R. A., and Mr. William Lethaby, a distinguished sculptor and a no less distinguished architect, the board has shown how keenly it is alive to the need for a thorough reorganization of the "arts and crafts" side, and we need not now despair of London one day possessing a municipal art school to rival that of Birmingham. Nor have the women and girls been forgotten. Besides sharing in all the preceding advantages, they enjoy a special department of their own. The board has set up three "schools of domestic economy" (shortly to be increased to five), which intercept the maidens of thirteen who would otherwise be leaving school to "take a little place." It has started at Battersea a domestic economy training school which is already turning out skilled teachers accustomed to the housekeeping of the London poor; and, by a permanent staff of qualified instructors in cookery, dressmaking, laundry work, and hygiene, it has given thousands of lessons in these subjects to groups of working women in all parts of London, who are too old or too poor, too hard worked or too apathetic, to take advantage of any existing institutions. (Sidney Webb, Contemporary Review, January, 1895, pp. 141-142.) UNIVERSITY COLLEGES AIDED BY THE GOVERNMENT. The report of the Commissioner for 1891-92 gave an account of recent provision for technical instruction developed in the chief industrial centers of Great Britain. Along with this movement, and in many cases intimately connected with it, is the establishment of university collegesthat is, colleges which maintain the courses of instruction required for degree examinations (usually of London University) or which are affiliated with Durham or Victoria universities. In 1889, Parliament allowed a grant of £15,000 ($75,000) to these colleges, a policy which has been renewed each succeeding year. In consideration of this allowance the colleges participating in the £15,000, and also the three colleges in Wales which receive from the treasury an annual grant of £4,000 each, were invited in 1893 to furnish a report to the education department. This was to comprise in each case a historical outline, a statement of the constitution and purposes of the college, and its present status. The statements submitted have been published as a report of the Department, and from this source the following tabulated particulars are derived. Of the colleges included it may be said that, while they present great divergence in respect to origin, government, endowment, and facilities, they have certain common characteristics. They have all arisen in response to the need of a wider diffusion of higher education than is possible through the agency of Oxford and Cambridge alone, coupled with the equally urgent demand for special training in the applications of science and the methods of scientific research. As will be seen by reference to the table, women share freely in the provisions of these colleges. With regard to the showing in the table as to scholarships, it should be said that both items given, i. e., the number and the annual value of the scholarships, are approximates only. From the nature of the data presented in the original report exact statements are impossible. In several instances free scholarships are mentioned, of which neither the number nor the money equivalent is specified; in others, one or the other item is given, but not both. Again, a scholarship is sometimes available in any one of two or more colleges, according to the choice of the successful competitor, so that there may be even duplication of funds in the tabulation, but this could occur in a few instances only. The showing, with all imperfections, is important, as it gives a fairly clear idea of the provision for higher education available for young men and women of marked ability, but who could not otherwise afford the expense of advanced instruction. In England, where free high schools are almost unknown and free universities entirely so, the provision of endowed or of free scholarships is a matter of great public moment. It should be added that while in the majority of instances the scholarships secure tuition in the colleges to which they pertain, a few are intended to secure university advantages for the holders. b Average. c Originally incorporated as the University of London, 1828. с 1,900 Arts and science; medical; theol- Arts and laws and science: medi- Arts and science; law; medicine. Arts and science; technical; agricultural; normal. Arts and science. Arts and science; technical; medical. 4,800 Arts and science; agricultural; normal. Arts and science; technical. Arts; science; applied science and technology; domestic science; medical; normal. 10 f800 Arts and science; medical. d 19 scholarships, varying from £10 to £25. e Other demonstrators and lecturers, number not given. f Also proceeds of £1,950. |