Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1857-06-06

EAucation Among the Aigher Glasses in
! England.
Some thirty years ago, says the n. York
Tribune, it used to be the boast of Mr..
Walsh. Mr.. Edward Everett, and other
young champions Of tho United States
alas, how fast time flies !-as against the
insolent and arrogant sneers and assump.
tions Of the British Reviews, that in all
matters Of reform upon old and antiquated
usages and institutions, whether legal re.
form or administrative reform, we had set
many examples which our British older
brothers might do we'll to follow. The
boast was true enough then, and the re-
tort we'll put; but Of late years, since we
have devoted ourselves to slavery and
conservatism. Great Britain has stolen a
march upon US, and has set us many ex.
a,nples Of improvement and reform, some
Of which we have initiated with advan.
tage, and many others which we might
initiate with no less. ~, --
One ofthe most recent Of these reforms
is the establishment Of a civil service
commission, so called, before which all
persons seeking commissions Of any kind
in the civil service-those of the highest
rank e1cepted-are obliged 10 appear and
pass an examination. Tho English, it
would seem, are not above taking lessons
from an enemy. Much as we may ridi-
cule the Chinese, they are in all practical
matters very shrewd and sensible peo.
pie. This practice Of requiring candi-
dates for Office to qualify themselves by
preliminary studies, and TO prove their
qualifications BY passing an examination,
is the Chinese practice; teough, perhaps
the example more Immediately before the
eyes Of the British was that Of the Prus-
sian and other continental governments.
The British examining commissioners
entered upon their duties in May, 1885,
and u recently published report contains
an account Of their labors for the first
eighteen months. During this period they
acted on the cases Of no less than 3,OOl
candidates, Of whom, however, only 1856
actually underwent examination-,he re-
mainder having declined it or been found
morally or physically disqualified. Of
those examined, $50 were absolutely re-
jectsd-the rejections of 1855 being 295
per cent. and those of 1856 38.e per cent.
Of these applications. "The ordinary
examinations which we supsrintend." say
tho commissioners, "are Instituted for q
double PurPose-to ascertain the candi.
dates fitness for the actual duties which
he will be called upon to perform upon his
tirst admission 10 office, and to test his
education and intelligence" The first
test which they apply is handwriting,
which figures for los cases among the re-
jections. The commissioners, we observe,
were obliged to reject one accomplished
candidate solely on account Of his execra-
bic penmanshiP. There are some other.
wise tolerably accomplished persons
among our acquaintance who, we appre.
hend, were this test ever ever to be ap-
piled here, would be forever excluded
from al hopes Of Office, or, at the least,
would be driven to the aecessity of hunt.
ing up writing master.
Orhography comes next. and proves q
still more serious stumbling block, since
out Of the whole number Of rejected can.
didases, 76O fell short in their spelling,
and were rejected either for this fault, or
for that combined with other shortcomings.
Out Of 66 sorts Of northern gentlemen
who were rejected, a. per cent. did not
know how to spell. Ofthose deficient in
this respect 20 were candidates for the
higher departments. Tho commissioners
furnish no less than "a folio pagas Of spe-
cimens Of fmisspelling. among which are 6
false spellings Of " ecclesiastical" 6 of
|" grievances" and IA Of /" Mediseransan. !"
II is ingeniously suggested that, IS the
English orthographical system is the
worst in Europe, and indeed in the world,
il therefore affords Z better test Of educa.
ton than that Of any other poodle. E'
A graduation It IN English university
IL, Il appears, by no means = certain guar.
antee for competent knowledge Of com.
mon arithmetic. Such . graduate is moro
apt to have At his tongues end Greek me.
ters than English measures. Out Of silty
six reiectious Of candidates for tho higher
public Offices, sixteen were deficient in
this respect. The examinations intended
to test superior degrees Of education and
intelligence !" relate chiefly to English
history and geography, and for the higher