The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-20 00:00:00

Middle-Class Education,

A deputation from the Council of the National Associa-
tion for the promotion of Social Science waited upon Lord
Palmerston at Cambridge-house on Saturday to represent the
expediency of issuing a Royal Commission to inquire into
the grammar schools and other endowed schools in the United
Kingdom not yet reported upon, and generally into the state
of education of the middle classes. The deputation consisted
of Lord Brougb am (president), Earl Fortescue, the Bishop
of London, Lord Lyttelton, Mr Samuel Gregson, M.P., Hon
Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., Mr James Heywood, F.R. 3., Mr
Shaw-Lefevre, M.P., Mr Pollard-Urquhart, M.P., Sir J.
G. Shaw-Lefevre, K. C. 8., Mr George W. Hastings(general
secretary), Rev R. Burgess, Rev F. Dellamere, Rev David
Melville, Rev H. J. Barton, the Archdeacon of Coventry,
Mr Edwin Chadwick, C. 8., Mr Edgar, Mr M'Clelland, and
Mr T. H. Bastard. Lord Brougham having introduced
the deputation and explained its object and the great need
experienced for such an inquiry, the following memorial was
read by Mr G. W. Hastings :

" The Council of the National Association for the Promo-
tion of Social Science desire to represent to your lordship
the expediency of issuing a Royal Commisaion to inquire
into the grammar schools in the kingdom and other en-
dowed schools not reported on, and this obtain much useful
information as to the state of the education of the middle
classes. The association has from year to year collected a
large amount of evidence bearing upon the condition of
middle-class education, and there has been a general con-
currence of opinion that it is at present in a most unsatis-
factory state. Several of the eminent men who have at our
annual meetings filled the office of President of the Depart-
ment of Education have expressed themselves strongly to
this effect. Sir John Pakington, in his address in 1857,
remarked that it was a great error to suppose that the only
educational difficulties were those relating to the working
classes. I know,' he said,—
" "That the middle classes find themselves in a position
of great difficulty on this subject. It is the respectable
tradesman, the small farmer, the clerk, and men of that de-
scription who know not where to get education for their
children, and who, practically speaking, pay very dearly
for a bad article.'

The Right Hon. William Cowper, in 1853, said,—
" The education given in the middle-class and commer-
cial schools is, generally speaking, as faulty, in comparison
with all other education, as it is bad in itself. It has great
pretension and snow without subitance or solidity. There
is no superintendence whatever. There is no test of the
capacity of the master and no test of the success of his
teaching. The parents are left to judge, after their own
uninstructed notions, of the excellence of the school, and
generally pay most attention to what is really of the least
importance.'
In 1859 the Right Hon, C, B. Adderley pointed out that
the middle class have reason to be dissatisfied with their
present means of education, the private, commercial,and en-
dowed grammar schools of the country, and Sir John Shaw-
Leievre in 1861, speaking of the civil service examinations
for appointments, which are filled up from the middle
classes, as a practical test of the education they received,
said—
" I may mention the incredible failures in orthography,
the miserable writing, the ignorance both of the elementary
theory and practice of arithmetic. It is comparatively rare
to find a candidate who can add correctly a moderately long
column of figures, and many do not understand common
notation so as to write down is figures a number described
in words, When the examination extends to English com-
position, or history, the performances of some of the candi-
dates are poor beyond belief, and we are under the necessity
of keeping the standard very low, in order to prevent the
inconvenience which would arise from an indiscriminate re-
jection.'
Mr Nassau Senior, quoting, in his address to the Associa-
tion, last autumn, at Edinburgh, the above passage from
his predecessor's observations, and enforcing it by his own
opinion, proceeded to make the following suggestion :
" ' The first step towards a remedy for this lamentable
state of things is to know accurately the amount and the
causes of the evil—and for this purpose I venture to propose
that this Association petition the Crown to issue a Commis-
sion to inquire into the present state of the education of the
middle classes in the British islands, and to consider and
report what measures, if any, are required for the extension
of sound education to these classes.'

" This recommendation of their President was duly con-
sidered by our Department of Education, and a resolution
was unanimously passed requesting the Council to use their
endeavours fur the issue of such a Commission as was pro-
posed by Mr Senior. In performance of the duty thus cast
on them the Council approach your Lordship to-d ay, and they
may be permitted to say that the recent loss incurred by
the Association in the death of Mr Senior makes them the
more solicitous that his advice, given on the last occasion of
his performance of any public duty, should not be disre-
garded. The Council would further observe that full and
searching inquiry has recently been made into the state
of education among two considerable classes of society ; the
one by the commission to inquire into the revenues and
management of certain colleges and schools, and the studies
pursued and the instruction given therein ; the other by the
commission to inquire into the state of popular education in
England ; that much valuable information was obtained in
each case, and that considerable improvements, by legisla-
tion or otherwise, have already resulted, or may be expected
to result, in the education of the children of the rich and
those of the class who live by manual labour. These facts
seem to constitute a claim for some inquiry on behalf of
that large portion of her Majesty's:subjects who cannot look
for the education of their children either to the great public
schools on the one hand, or the national schools on the other.
Earl Fortescue, in a work just published, has pofnted out
the injustice of leaving this class in their present educational
position, and has shown that an authoritative inquiry may
be conducted on their behalf without involving any more
interference with private instruction than has been the case
with the commission already issued. This appears from the
fact that there are in this country some hundreds of gram-
mar schools and other endowed schools, which have never
yet formed the subject of adequate inquiry, and,which might
probably be made available for supplying in a great degree
the want of efficient education for the middle classes. It is
true that these foundations were inquired into by the Charity
Commissioners, but the investigations of that body were
mainlydirected to the amount and use of she endowments and
not to the education imparted in the schools. The Council
would strongly urge on your lordship the necessity for in-
quiry into the whole condition and management of these in-
stitutions, and while distinctly disclaiming any recommen-
dation of interference with private schools they suggest that
the investigations of a commission, if properly conducted,
would probably lead to the communication of voluntary in-
formation, which would throw much light on the condition of
middle class education and the best means of improving it.
For these reasons the counsel venture to urge on your lordship
the favourable consideration of their request that a Royal
Commission be issued for hwith for the purposes they have
above indicated.

" BROU GRIM, President.
" GEORGE W, HASTINGS, General
Secretary."

Lord Fortescue, the Bishop of London, Lord Lyttelton,
Mr E. Chadwick, C 8., and Mr James Heywood supported
the memorial.
Lord PALMERSTON admitted the importance of the sub-
ject, and promised to give it his best attention.