NOTE ON MINUTE OF THE COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL ON EDUCATION OF THE 29TH JULY. AT the time of the publication of the article on Popular Education in England which stood at the head of our last Number, we were wholly unacquainted with the intentions of the Government on the subject, and we learned, with equal surprise and satisfaction, the prompt and radical remedy which the Lords of the Education Committee were already prepared (as it now appears) to apply to the evils and shortcomings we had endeavoured to point out. The justification of the strictures we had been compelled to make on the then existing system of the Education Committee is therefore complete, since the heads of the department are so conscious of these defects, that they have since promulgated a minute which rescinds the whole of the former code of regulations for the distribution of the Government grants, and substitutes an entirely new system for that of 1846. Our concluding recommendation, that there is great reason 'to reconsider the present state of the question, and to modify the 'system which has hitherto been pursued' (p. 38.), has therefore been followed by decisive results almost as soon as it was uttered. So, too, has our observation (p. 16.) that the moment you begin 'to reduce the bounties or the protection which have fostered a highly 'artificial system, you create a considerable amount of individual 'hardship, and you must be prepared to face a vehement outcry, es'pecially from the managers of schools and the classes which have 'thriven so largely at the public cost.' This prediction has likewise been verified to the letter; the outcry against the New Minute is already vehement; it will probably become still more vehement; but it is raised mainly by those who have an interest, which they conceive to be a vested interest, in the distribution of funds under the minutes of 1846. The subject therefore will demand and obtain from the country and from Parliament the most thorough consideration, and we are glad of it. All that we take to be proved, at present, is, that, although the new system is not yet finally settled, and is quite open to public discussion, the old system is irrevocably condemned by the very persons who have administered it. The remedy applied by the New Minute to the most prominent defects of the old system is direct and simple. The grants to schools are to be regulated by the results obtained; and the contribution of the State, paid to the managers in the form of a capitation grant, is to be applied by the managers to the several purposes of the school, including the wages of pupil-teachers and the augmentation of the master's salary. It by no means follows that the aid given to a well-conducted school will be diminished; but it will be paid in a different form, it will give greater liberty of action to school managers, it will increase with the regular attendance of the children, and it will be conditional on good teaching; so that the assistance of the State, instead of degenerating into a screen for inefficiency, as it is too apt to become in all branches of the public service, will be a powerful stimulant to excellence and activity. We are satisfied that the principle on which the New Minute is founded is a sound principle, and is a great improvement on the former system. As to the details which have been adopted in this Minute to determine the proficiency of scholars and the consequent amount of the capitation, they have been made the subject of considerable animadversion, and no doubt they may be modified with some practical advantage when the principle of the New Minute is established. We should scrupulously recognise the claims of the existing body of certificated teachers, who have accepted the conditions of the former system, and are entitled to all the advantages held out to them by that system, as long as they perform their part of the engagement. But the Government are bound to see that they teach in a satisfactory and efficient manner; and it would be absurd to contend that the possession of a high certificate on leaving a Training College gives a man a vested right to a pension from the State as long as he remains a teacher, whether the work be well or ill done. We know not whether the effect of the New Minute will be to reduce the number of young persons entering upon this profession; perhaps if that be the effect, it would not be an evil, as there is at present some danger of the supply of teachers exceeding the demand; but if the supply be diminished, that will be to the advantage of the existing class of certificated teachers. It cannot, however, be supposed, that a great and necessary change of this nature is to be effected without some inconvenience; but this inconvenience arises, in truth, not from the new system, but from the bad consequences of the old one,-not from the remedy, but from the disease it is necessary to cure. A considerable step has therefore been made in the right direction; and we are satisfied that when the New Minute is well understood by the country, it will be seen that the effect of it is to stimulate and strengthen the promoters of popular education, to improve the schools, to give more self-reliance to teachers, and to substitute a system capable of far wider application to the wants of the population, for one which had already reached its full limits, and which had become, from its extreme intricacy and its protective character, rather a drawback than an assistance to national education. NOTE ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF CARTHAGE. AN error has arisen from the inadvertent omission of a sentence in the article in our last Number on the topography of Carthage (p. 81. 1. 23.) which we are anxious to correct, as the effect of the passage as it stands is to place the fortified camp of Agathocles in a position it never could have occupied. The elevated ground, of which the Hill of St. Louis forms the southern extremity, continues along the coast for three or four miles in the direction N. N. E. The marshy ground to the S. W., on the contrary, extends as far as the low hills upon one of which the Kazbah or Citadel of Tunis now stands; and it was upon these low hills to the W. of Carthage, and not on those previously mentioned, that the camp of Agathocles was placed. No. CCXXXIII. will be published in January, 1862. INDEX. - - A Agriculture of France, 348 -M. Lavergne's account of its progress, Allocuzione detta dalla Santita di N. S. Papa Pio IX. nel Concis- - America, Disunion of, 556- Mr. Ellison's views, 557 — Dr. Lem- B Beulé, M., his Fouilles à Carthage, reviewed, 65. - Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, her Poems, reviewed, 513-Prome- - C Caballero, Fernan, her novels reviewed, 99. Campe, Dr., his Reliquien von Albrecht Dürer, reviewed, 39. - - ---- Cavour, Count Camillo, his death and character, 269. Cunningham, Rev. J., Church History of Scotland, reviewed, 394. D Dasent, G. W., The Story of Burnt Njal, reviewed, 425. Davis, Dr. N., his Carthage and her Remains, reviewed, 65. - Du Chaillu, Paul B., his Explorations and Adventures in Equa- E - Education Minute, the New, 588. See Popular Education. F Faber, Dr. F. W., his Devotion to the Pope, reviewed, 233. |