The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-08-16 00:00:00

MR. W. E. FORSTER, M.P. ON BOARD

SCHOOLS.

On Monday afternoon the Right Hon. W. E.
Forster, M.P., opened at Bradford one of the higher
Board schools which have been established in that
town, and said he had pleasure in doing so; first,
because an excellent education would be given in
these schools; secondly, the Bradford School Board
were setting a very good example to other School
Boards ; and lastly, because of his connexion with
Bradford, the School Board being really in advance of
other School Boards throughout the country. He was
rather sorry that his successor in office in London—
the present Vice-President of the Council on Educa-
tion, Lord George Hamilton—was not there in his
place that day, because they were really carrying out
in Bradford the most excellent suggestion which he
was delighted to hear Lord George Hamilton make
when he brought in the Education Estimates a week
or two ago. The report of his remarks appeared in
The Times of July 11. He said :
"We should apportion the cost of elementaay education
to the means of the parents. In his opinion we ought to en-
deavour to grade our elementary schools. In the large
towns, where we had the advantage of very able administra-
tive School Boards, it will be possible for them to make pro-
gress in this direction if they receive encouragement from
the Education Department. They should be able to grade
their schools to a certain extent, and give an opportunity to
the poorer children to pass from the cheaper schools to the
more expensive schools."

That was precisely what was being done in Brad-
ford. They had got the highest grade school they
could get as an elementary school. He was very glad
to hear Lord George Hamilton make that speech,
because he not only thought it very good advice,
but that it proved that he had seen what would be
the mischievous result of a proposition which he
made a few weeks before in consequence of the
debate on the London School Board. On looking
simply at the cost of teaching by that Board, Lord
George Hamilton suggested that where the cost
was more than two guineas a year the excess should
be deducted from the Government grant. He (Mr.
Forster) told him immediately that he was quite
sure he was not aware what his proposed minute would
do. It would stop all the higher grade scheols, or, at
least, it would put them under a tremendous disadvan-
tage, and they would thus be discouraging parents
from paying the high fee for their children's education,
which was exactly what they ought to encourage. He
supposed Lord George Hamilton saw the justice of the
remark, for nothing more was heard of the proposed
minute, and he now gave the excellent advice which
he had quoted. How would that minute have dis-
couraged parents from paying the high fees? He wanted
to impress this fact on the public—that whatever better
education was given in these higher public elementary
schools, the parents paid for it. He believed that
when these higher schools got more into working order
the objections against them would gradually dis-
appear. There were two chief objections: The first
was that the education given in them was too good
for a Board school. But that objection entirely dis-
appeared if the parent paid for the excess of goodness
in the education over that which was given in
another school. (Applause.) But the objection which
was much more persisted in was that children came
to these schools who ought not to go to a Board
school at all. He had seen letters in the news-
papers. People said, "Oh, dear me, what an unjust
thing! Here are men living in houses, paying £3O
a year rent, actually sending their children to these
schools!" He replied, "Why not 7' (Hear, hear.)
The education rate for Bradford was Bd. in the pound.
A man paying £3O a year rent would thus pay a
sovereign towards the rate, The average cost of a
child's teaching in the Board school was £1 Os. 10d.
per annum. Thus a man who paid a rent of £3O a year
was already paying for the teaching of some child.
Did not that give him some degree of right to have his
child taught there? (Applause.) But a man lived in
a house all his life; he did not, however, have children
of school age all his life. (Laughter.) Suppose he lived
in his £3O house for 20 years. He paid £2O; that
would be £2 more than the education of three children
for six years. Talk of justice to the ratepayer! There
was an injustice to that man if he did not get his
share out of the school rate. But take a very extrava-
gant hypothesis—take a large ratepayer, a man who
paid £l5O a year. He paid for the education of five
children in a year. If he found a higher Board school
so good a school that he was willing to send his child
to it before he was ready for the grammar school or for
higher teaching, had he not a right to send him there?
He had a perfect right to do so. What had prevented
his doing so hitherto? The class feeling—the feeling
that he did not like his children associating with
the children of much poorer parents than him-
self; but if the poorer children were respectable
and well behaved, as he was sure they would
be in these higher schools, that feeling would
gradually disappear. (Applause.) In the school he
now had to open the fee per child would amount to
30s. a year. He believed that the school would not
be far off being self-supporting. The school rate
would keep up, because the number of children to
educate would increase, but the cost per child would
get less. That would make the injustice to a man of
£3O, who should not be allowed to send his child to a
higher Board school, even greater, because he would
be paying for the education of more of his neighbours,
and ought, therefore, to have some education for his
own child. _ _

After pointing out that these higher schools would
also be available for the children of the better class
of working men, Mr. Forster replied to the objec-
tions of bachelors to pay rates towards their support.
It was necessary that in this country "the three
R's" should be taught to all the children; but we
were not going to be content with these mere rudi-
ments. If we were inclined to be thus content, we should
find that the manufacturers would not be content
very much longer, for they would have to compete
with foreign workmen who had been raised by a
higher education than the mere "three R's." We
were bound first to give the elementary education—read-
ing, writing, and ciphering; but after that it was our
duty to see that the children got as good an education
as it was possible for them to get in the time their
parents were able to keep them at school.