The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-05-02 00:00:00

KR. FORSTER ON SCHOOL BOARD
EXPENDITURE.

The annual meeting of the British and Foreign
School Society was held at the Mansion House on
Tuesday afternoon—the Lord Mayor presiding. Mr.
W. E. Forster, M.P., in moving the adoption of the
report, after referring with satisfaction to the work
of the society, said that a great deal of attention had
been of late directed to the question of over-pressure.
His feeling about that was that it hadnot been proved
that a very great injury had been caused. It had,
however, been shown that there was great danger of
injury, and that there were influences at work which
made it most necessary that they should guard
against that danger. One was that many of the
children were utterly untaught children, who, taken
from their homes, were seht to school alongside of
those who came from a cultivated home, and there-
fore it was very difficult to keep the poorer children
up to the same level of learning as the others. Then
there was the difficult question of apportioning the
respective claims that the child should be made to
help his parents and that he should be educated.
After urging that reading,writing, cyph erin g, and teach-
ing of the Bible were necessaries, ard that beyond that
teaching might be considered as a luxury, he said that
as to the conditions of payment be was in favour of
the principle of the merit grant—that the school
should be rewarded according to its actual efficiency.
As to the important question of free education, he
hoped that those who advocated it would bear in
mind the tremendous expenditure that it would
entail. It would be felt by many of the middle-class
as a great injustice. The great question of the day,
however, was not whether they were to incur a larger
expenditure, but whether the present expenditure of
the boards was not too large. (Hear, hear.) He
thought that the authorities of the London School
Board would have to give an answer to the state-
ment charged against it that their schools cost more
than the schools in many of the large towns. He
saw no particular reason why the cost in
London should be more than in Birmingham,
Leeds, or Manchester. (Hear, hear.) It was desirable
that economy should be exercised, but he trusted that
it would not be in the direction of diminution of the
teaching staff. (Hear, hear.) The present teaching
staff was lower than it ought to be. Mr. Forster then
spoke of the value of the training colleges. Mr.
Theodore Fry, M.P., seconded the motion, and the
report was adopted. The meeting thanked the Queen
for her continued patronage of the society, and also
passed the following resolution: "That this meeting,
recognising with thankfulness the marvellous educa-
tional progress which has been made throughout the
country, as shown in the number of buildings,
teachers, and scholars, especially since the passing of
the At of 1870, and hailing with satisfaction the
greatef elasticity of the code, the wider intelligence
of the %teachers, and the growing interest in the
physical condition of the scholars, earnestly hopes
that the chief aim of education—the harmonious
development of aft the powers', of: the:children and
the formation of sterling character—will be kept
Drominently in view."