The Sun.
London, England, 1870-11-04 00:00:00

THE NEW SCHOOL BOARDS.

The Bishop of London, in a letter to the Times,
says that whatever may prove to be the working of
the Education Act of last session it has given a
powerful impulse to voluntary effort and private
beneficence. One of the objects of the Bishop of
London's Fund was to provide schools in poor and
populous districts, and to this object no less a sum
'than £33,000 has been devoted. At the
close of last year a careful investigation was
made into the result of six years efforts
in this direction, and it was found that while the
increase in the number of ecclesiastical districts,
churches, clergy, and lay-helpers had, under the
operation of the fund, surpassed expectation, the
number of schools had not increased in the same
proportion. It was then determined to appropriate
a larger sum for the provision of schools. The
passing of the Elementary Education Bill rendered
more vigorous action necessary. A timely legacy of
£lO,OOO enabled the Board to apply that sum towards
the supply of educational deficiences in the
metropolis. Fourteen districts have been
selected where the need of education is most pressing
and where there is the greatest probability that
the grant made will secure the completion of the
schools. There is reason to belieye, says the Bishop,
that accommodation will then have been provided
for nearly 8,000 children. Still other applications
have to be met, and a special appeal has been made
for £7,000 to be raised if possible during the pre-
sent month. •
FUNCTIONS OF A UNIVERSITY.

The inaugural address of the winter session of the
University of Edinburgh was delivered by the
Principal, Sir Alexander Grant, LL.D. lie c!qssed
the idea of a university under three heads.: A
university may exist as an examining Board, like the
London University, and may confine its functions to
laying down standards of learning and science; and
thus guiding the teaching bodies from which it
remains distinct; or, secondly, it may exist like
Oxford and Cambridge as an aggregate of college
and tutorial teaching, with professorships as a sort
of accidental appendage ; or, thirdly, it may exist,
like the Scotch and German universities, as a pro-
fessoriate, with large classes of otherwise indepen-
dent students. Each of those forms contains some-
thing good, which the others would do well to
assimilate. The examining system, said the Princi-
pal, if judiciously carried out, is very useful in giving
definiteness to the aims of students, and the entrance
examination, especially, is a landmark with which
no university ought to dispense. The tutorial
system has very great advantages, especially in the
teaching of languages, and to contrast, in short, the
tutorial with the professorial system, it may b 0 said
that under the one the pupil is made to do every-
thing ; under the other everything is done for the
teacher. It is to the tutorial system that the
superior accuracy of classical scholarship in England
is to bo attributed. Professorial lectures, however,

seem more proper to a University, and fitted for
those who have finished their school course. Many
subjects such as those connected with experimental
science, are best taught by professorial lectures.