BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-04-30
The ElQ|iSl b|u0IIOl Bill.

Even amidst the turmoil OF war Talk
there is a strong undercurrent of Brit
ish opinion concerned with the new
education bill, which the present gov
ernment is trying for the third time to
enact into law. There is an aroused
conviction in British educational circles
that all this tide of criticism, home and
foreign, which has been surging upon
the country for the last few years can
best be accounted for by the faults of
the elementary school system Conse-
quently there is vigorous attempt to
pass a law this session which shall
bring the two components of that sys-
tenn, the board schools and the volun-
tary schools, into more harmonious
working order.
1t is hardly necessary to say that to
an American the British elementary
school system is incongruous, for the
reason that it tries to combine the prin-
ciple of public or board schools paid for
by public taxation, with voluntary or
denominational schools, which are I'm
der the religious oversight of different
denominations and are supported by
private funds The attempt of the
pending bill is, briefly stated, to approx
innate the voluntary or denorinational
schools to the system of public or
board schools. so that the former shall
be partly, at least, supported by public
taxation and in return therefor shall
surrender part of the denominational
control to public authorities. AT hest,
however, the proposed bill is half way
measure framed to conciliate extremists
on both sides and not attempting a
thoroughgoing reform, for which The
present agitation is only preparation.
The British reviews during the past
year have been full of criticisms of the
school system, and its defects have been
| laid bare to the core The gist of their
complaints is that methods of teaching
are more to blame than the constitution
of school authorities. What is the
chief fault of these methods? It is sug-
gestive to think that nearly fifty years
ago England had started on the true
educational path and was in fair way
Iof applying sound principles in the in
struction of her youth. In the training
colleges the methods Of Pestalozzi had
been introduced, and there was a
splendid force of educational reformers
ready to teach them. A writer in the
"Fortnightly Review asserts that all
these pros cects were ruined by the code
Iof 1862, which provided for payment by
results, that is to say, the schools
having the greatest number of pupils
and the highest percentage in examina-
tions received the largest grants Of
honey. AS a result the cramming
system was introduced. marks" not
methods of teaching, became the great
desideratum, and instead of the patient
incnlcation of educational reforms there
was vulgar competition for money
grants.
1t is easy to understand how thirty
years of this sort of education lowered
the intellectual training of millions of
children, and as payment by results
was abolished only few years ago by
the present Board of Education, it will
take some time to recover from the eff
fects Of thirty years regime of cram
eau ght youth. This is the chief cause
Of the educational inef6ciency IF Great
Britain. That it is recognized now
with passionate regret there is rs doubt
and its fine implications ale being dis.
cussed en- every hand. That the present
bill goes to the root of the matter so far
as uniformity is concerned there is no
pretense; it sill recognizes the dual
s7stem, and leaves recognized difficult
ties untouched, This defect has, how
ever, been seized upon by the friends
Of reform for the purpose of urging a
thorough study of the American and
colonial elementary systems, and of
eventually incorporating their best
features in English schools. But these
as well as other reforms of the most
q rgent character, wait for the restora-
ton of peace in South Africa.