The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-06-12 00:00:00

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT, M.P., ON
EDUCATION.

The distribution of prizes to the candidates who dis-
tinguished themselves at the Cambridge Local Exami-
nation for London Centre, held in December last, took
place on Monday, at the London University, in the
presence of a large and fashionable company.
Sir William Harcourt, M.P., who presided, said he
of the r greatsw.ithyi
chovvwae lerur eet
that
af
t theg
r extendingCz
great
mtmhbierdi
influenceddlgee L
class o caol f
wtEhh Examina-
tions, at
was extremely glad to be present and testify his sense
society.
form
r.tahnekeidertehimbrsceelpahmeonbgacthkobsoenwea mustin great
.
tuimo pvse,
that examination might at times be overdonhe
not much
rmeiemft
nutuhcp the examinations
gettings and i nf
treatedao n u onh, fit
preawelartaaent,rti,hte,nseagnirinontdht
rettloahohoubeutsignrmhurngttawho thought
f H ewevery
awas
laughter.)
se. d)er gardens, mindnu
shßs,ouaaswnt takingdatbhfotteoyeyosr
often repeated, they were very good things in them-
selves. After regretting that in a metropolis with Eh
population of nearly four millions those who took ad-
vantage of these examinations were not more DU-
merous, Sir William proceeded to comment on the
report of the examiners, which remarked upon the de-
ficient knowledge of accidence, the grammar of lan-
guage. In an assembly of this kind he need not insist
upon the value of accuracy of language, which cor-
respond to accuracy of thought. In English compo-
sition the subject was " Shakespeare " and while the
boys failed in power of expression and handled the sub-
ject clumsily, the girls, characteristic of their sex,
were fluent, but with a tendency to guess-work. There
was also a great want of knowledge of the history of
English literature, a defect which ought to be
corrected in a country which had so much
reason to be proud of its literature. After
some further remarks on the report, the hon.
and learned gentleman said it would be his duty and
privilege to address a few words at once of encourage-
ment and warning to the youths of both sexes who
were to receive the prizes before him. Some of them
were of a sanguine temperament, and they were prob-
ably doomed to the mortification of finding the world
faila n
a toor
es a
tt is d t ht
ee
mi r
pe
exrpa
me c teantti o
who
sh ;0 t hwe
er
re e wperroeb
aobt hl
ye r o
des-
pondent, es
pondent, and they would perhaps meet success. far
beyond their desires. To each was given a single
talent—the talent of a good education, which these
examinations and the schools upon which they were
founded conferred on them. It would be in their
euse b
jtehc7oey mf
eadduecoaf.
tion was not the immediate knowledge which it com-
municated. That was a very small portion of it. It
was to give them the means of acquiring knowledge
hereafter, a process which would continue as long as
they lived. It was in point of fact placing in their
hands something like a steam-engine, which
was available to be turned to every kind of machinery,
and to do all sorts of work. The object of education
was not to supply the pupil with the thoughts of others,
but to enable him to think for himself. It was not to
give him a certain modicum of education—it was to
help him to make ideas for himself and to develop the
ideas that were in him. It was to teach him how to
regulate his mind so that ho Might make use of and
apply the facts of his future life. It would teach him
how to deal with those facts, how to estimate their
importance, how to arrange them, and how to make
use of them. To use a rather common place expression,
a well-regulated and well-tutored mind was like the
most valuable possession of anybody—a good digestion.
Many of them would find the study of accidence, to
which he had alluded, dry and dreary; and would
wonder what was the use of going through the drudgery
of learning all about adjectives, substantives, verbs,
and adverbs. But when the study was completed
they would find thA all these were master keys, a sort
of "Open Sesame" which would enable them to give
some expression to the divine gifts of genius and
imagination. Such training must not therefore be des-
pised, and above all they must not underrate the value
of a training in accuracy of thought and correctness of
expression. It would save them from that which they
would find in life to be one of the greatest mischiefs
and dangers—the tendency to exaggeration. It would
teach them to estimate the importance of facts, not to
mistake great things for small, and small things for
great; and if by cultivation and training accuracy was
once acquired they would be astonished to find how,
by an insensible process, facts would slip into their
proper places. Stout hearts and sound minds
marked the steps of knowledge, and if they fought
hard they would be astonished, on gaining some
summit, at the extent and vastness of the panorama
of learning beneath them. After urging the
necessity of remembering what was once acquired,
he said he was speaking in the presence of two gene-
rations. One, the generation to which he and seve-
ral of those around him belonged, was beginning
to pass away ; the boys and girls who would receive
the prizes formed part of the other generation, which
was just beginning to come up. There were no doubt
fathers present who felt the sentiments so beautifully
expressed by the oldest of poets—Homer—when he
puts into the mouth of Hector the wish that his child
might be better than his sire. There were children,
no doubt, present, who were the heirs of that accu-
mulated mass of knowledge and learning which the
generation before them had piled up and saved by
great exertions for their use. They must remember
that they came into existence the heirs of that
knowledge which men like Newton and Bacon had
left behind. They owed a great debt of gratitude
to the past, and that debt could only be paid by
good conduct, and also by performing their duty
to tho future. (Hear.) It was their business to
increase the stock they had received. He had
said they had received a single talent, and it
olewaevde udetebtwthoertehetphareyenftosnwndho
had
pLucte
was not for them to wrap that talent up, and
that j ,d
tifheratheiny