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TABLE XIV.-Comparison of the eleven years 1890–1900 and 1902 with 1870 and 1876–

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a In Table II will be found separately the average attendance in board and voluntary schools. Men teachers and women teachers are given separately in Table XIII.

TABLE XIV.-Comparison of the eleven years 1890–1900 and 1902 with 1870 and 1876—

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Men teachers and women teachers are given separately in Table XIII.
b Annual grant only.

THE EDUCATION LAW (EDUCATION ACT, 1902, 2 EDWARD VII, CHAP. 42).

The year under review has been marked by the passage of an education law of scarcely less importance than the Forster law of 1870. The new law virtually brings to a close the administrative system provided by the earlier act, and introduces new policies of far-reaching consequence. The elected school boards which the law of 1870 called into existence are abolished and the schools maintained by them transferred to the charge of the county and city councils. The "voluntary" schools are allowed to share in the local taxes, and by an unexpected amendment to the original provisions are brought under a slight measure of local public control. The law, moreover, has extended the sphere of the public system of education to include both elementary and secondary education.

The measure is applicable to England and Wales, excluding only London, which is to be dealt with separately. A bill to this effect already introduced into the House embodies the same policy as the general law.

To understand the tenacity of the dual system of elementary schools which for the moment seems to be strengthened by the law, it is necessary to keep in mind the origin of that system. Board schools, as we have seen, date from 1870, but denominational schools have a much longer history-as long, in fact, as the history of the Christian church in England. Moreover, these schools had been organized into a system under Government supervision prior to the passage of the education law of 1870. This result had been achieved largely through the efforts of two societies formed early in the nineteenth century to provide schools for the common people. The earlier of the two societies was started in 1808 by the educational philanthropist Joseph Lancaster. It still exists as the British and Foreign School Society, and provides at present a small proportion (about 4 per cent) of the elementary schools of the country. The second society, which was organized in 1811, under the auspices of the established church, has steadily advanced and controls at present more than one-half the elementary schools, with accommodation for a little more than 40 per cent of the school population of the country. (Table II, p. 1005.)

The extension of the franchise, through the passage of the reform law of 1832, increased solicitude as to the instruction of the masses, and the appeal of the two societies named for Government aid in their work received powerful support both at court and in Parliament.

In 1833 an appropriation of £20,000 ($100,000) for elementary schools was made, to be disbursed by the two societies. The appropriation was annually renewed, and

other denominations (in particular the Wesleyan Methodists and Roman Catholics; see Table II), stimulated by the prospect of public aid, entered into the work. In 1839 the Government appropriation was increased to £30,000 ($150,000), and the same year a committee of council was created to superintend the disbursement of the education grant. This committee at once decided to require the right of inspecting the schools aided; so that, at the time of the passage of the education law of 1870, there was in existence a system of denominational schools aided and inspected by the Government, and under the general supervision of a Government department. But this system, though sustained by the zeal of the church and fostered by the Government, failed to stem the ever rising tide of illiteracy. In his speech before the House of Commons in 1870 in support of his bill, Mr. Forster stated that "not more than twofifths of the children of the working classes between the ages of 6 and 10" were on the "registers of Government schools, and only one-third of those between 10 and 12." It was estimated that in Liverpool, with 80,000 children between the ages of 5 and 13, there were 20,000 children who attended no school and 20,000 more in schools not worth the name. In Manchester 16,000 children out of 65,000 were destitute of school accommodation. The conscience of the English people and the instinct of self-preservation were aroused at these disclosures, and for the time differences of opinion were sunk in view of the common danger.

While

The spirit which was making for civic control in many departments of public affairs asserted itself in this, and the duty of making up the educational deficiency of the nation was intrusted to school boards to be elected for the purpose. it was evident that these boards were not intended to supplant the denominational agencies, it was equally evident that they were regarded as the hope of the future. The law carefully provided for their election, the whole country being organized in school districts for this purpose. Each district was authorized to elect a school board for the maintenance of public elementary schools in such number as the circumstances might require. In case a district failed of its own motion to elect a school board the Government would order the election upon proof that adequate provision of efficient elementary schools did not exist therein. The sincerity of the purpose thus expressed is shown by the fact that up to 1900 the election of school boards had been ordered in 57 municipal districts and in 1,298 towns and rural parishes. (Table III, p. 1005.) The school boards were authorized to borrow money on the security of local taxes for the purchase of sites and the erection of schoolhouses, and to levy taxes to meet such part of the current expenses of the schools as were not provided by the Government grant. The denominational schools were to receive the Government grant on the same terms as the board schools, but were not allowed any share in the local taxes, the excess of their expenditure above the Government grant being met by endowments and subscriptions. By reason of their more stable finances and freedom from traditional restrictions, the board schools have made almost phenomenal development, and have even invaded the province of secondary education by their upward extension. The disparity between the two classes of schools has been emphasized by differences in location, the board schools being chiefly city schools and the church schools most numerous in rural districts. The obvious evils of this inequality have been aggravated by the very natural antagonism of the church to the extension of civil control in a province so long exclusively its own. With the return of the conservative party to power in 1895, this antagonism reached an acute stage, and the educational problem assumed from that time the aspect of a partisan conflict. The new law should therefore be viewed in a

a Forster's speech in support of the education bill of 1870.

The school districts were the metropolis, all municipal boroughs except Oxford, the district of the local board of Oxford, and all civil parishes not included in these. It should be noticed that there are three classes of parishes in England: Civil parishes (about 14,900), ecclesiastical parishes (13,000), and highway parishes (14,700).

double aspect, (1) as an effort to eliminate serious evils by equalizing the educational provision of the country, and (2) as an effort to meet pledges a made by the conservative party to their clerical adherents.

In submitting the bill to the House Mr. Balfour stated that its purpose was "to fulfill the pledge given in the King's speech that a bill should be introduced dealing not with secondary education or with primary education in their isolation, but with both in one measure and with a view to their better coordination."

For the accomplishment of this purpose it was proposed to establish in each specified area a single local authority responsible for carrying the law into effect.

The bitter opposition to the bill which was maintained throughout the Parliamentary proceedings centered in two points, namely, the scope of the new local authority and the proposition to apply local taxes to the support of church schools without subjecting them to public control. The adoption of clause 1 after hot controversy settled the first point. It swept out of existence the elected school boards, which, said Mr. Bryce, leader of the opposition in the House, "have been the most potent and active force in education since 1870," and transferred their functions to the county and borough councils. To the accusation that the boards had trespassed on the field of secondary education, Mr. Bryce said further: "They only did so because there was a void that nobody else attempted to fill, and they did it with the approval of successive ministers of education."

The opposition of the large cities in which the school boards had achieved their great success was partially overcome by their recognition as independent areas of school administration. The fear also that the higher-grade schools would be sacrificed by the change was measurably allayed by an amendment to clause 2. As originally drawn, the local education authority was simply authorized to supply education other than elementary. The amendment made the action compulsory, and specified particularly the duty of making provision for training teachers and for coordinating all forms of education. It will be noticed also that the councils of cities not recognized as independent areas of school administration have concurrent powers with the county councils in respect to the expenditure for higher-grade schools (clause 3). This provision, which gives to all populous centers a certain initiative in respect to higher-grade schools, was, however, severely criticised as a departure from the "one authority" policy which had furnished the strongest argument for the sweeping change in the local administration of education. The clause virtually introduced "about 850 new units of organization to deal with the serious matter of higher instruction." Said Mr. Bryce:

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The bill does not give us the single authority that we are promised. * the case of a large borough the area is suitable for both classes of education, and here, I think, the arrangement is satisfactory. The third case is the small boroughs which have a population exceeding 10,000, and suburban districts with a population exceeding 20,000. In these boroughs and districts the local authority is the authority for elementary education, but they are not an authority for secondary education. Therefore, in these small boroughs and suburban districts, representing 5,000,000 of the population of the county, you are so far from having a single authority that you have one authority for elementary education on the spot, while the authority for secondary education is the county council. This work would have to be disposed of in Essex, for instance, by the county council, and in West Ham by the borough council. Similar instances will occur in Lancashire and Yorkshire, where there are numerous large parishes in which there are borough councils, and thus there will be two local authorities administering secondary education. Thus the bill fails to provide the administration that the House has been promised. c

a For accounts of the successive efforts to fulfill these pledges and the opposition thus excited, see Reports of the Commissioner for 1895-96, Vol. I, pp. 78-121; 1898-99, Vol. I, pp. 42-17; 1901, Vol. I, pp. 944-956.

b By the local government act of 1888, the whole of England and Wales was mapped out into 60 administrative counties, and 61 county boroughs having more than 50,000 inhabitants, making with the county of London 122 new administrative areas for the purpose of local self-government.

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Although under the new law the councils (county and city) have become the local authorities in charge of education, they are not directly responsible for the creation and maintenance of schools. These functions will be discharged through education committees appointed under schemes which must be approved by the education department. (Part IV, clause 17.)

We need not here dwell upon the constitution and powers of these committees, excepting with reference to the single provision that women must be appointed upon them. This provision is a significant admission of the great service women have rendered as members of the school boards, although it fails to give them a place in the really authoritative bodies, i. e., the councils, which was urged by progressive men and women all over the country. At a public meeting held in Manchester to excite action in this matter the Dean of Manchester said:

We think that women ought to be eligible for appointment (whether by a public authority or by cooptation) upon both sets of authorities (county and borough), and that it is indeed desirable to provide that a certain number shall be women, as experience seems to have shown that the interests of girls often receive insufficient attention, and that there is also a risk that women may not be chosen unless some special provision for their presence is made. «

In a similar meeting held in London the same view was earnestly supported by Sir Joshua Fitch and Mr. Bryce.

The direct control of elementary schools will be in the hands of managers appointed in accordance with the provisions of clause 6 (Part III). The former board schools will henceforth be known as public elementary schools provided by the local education authority (or, briefly, "provided" schools). If city schools, they will be in the charge of the city councils, or of managers appointed by those councils, and if rural schools, they will be in the charge of managers appointed by the county council and the minor local authority.

The "voluntary" schools (i. e., church schools) will hereafter be known as "nonprovided schools." They will be in the charge of a body of managers of whom four out of every six will be appointed under the terms of the trust deeds of the respective institutions, and two out of every six appointed by the local authority. The combination of local authorities, education committees, and school managers seems to have complicated rather than to have simplified school administration. Such was the view taken by Mr. Bryce, whose analysis of the administrative provisions of the new law is cited among the appended papers. From another point of view, as will be seen by an article cited from the London Times, the law, in spite of these complications, appears to be an advance toward a unified national system.

The slight concession of two managers appointed by the local authority out of every six managers in charge of a denominational school was brought about by ominous signs of discontent, even within the conservative ranks, at the bold proposal that the Government should assume the entire support of church schools without imposing upon them any degree of public control. The importance of this slight concession was emphasized by the subsequent adoption of the now famous Kenyon-Slaney amendment with respect to the control of religious instruction in "nonprovided” schools. The amendment reads as follows:

Religious instruction given in a public elementary school not provided by the local authority shall, as regards its character, be in accordance with the provisions (if any) of the trust deed relating thereto, and shall be under the control of the managers. (Clause 7, p. 4.)

The full bearing of this amendment, which is discussed in an appended paper, seems not to have been grasped by either party till the bill had become law. Taken

a Manchester Guardian, March 15, 1902.

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