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New Zealand Mail, Issue 244, 22 July 1876, Page 12

M. Graindorge, whose amusing “Notes on Paris ” M. Taine has edited for us, relating his education, tells us how hi 3 father °sent him to Eton, in England, where he learnt to make large quantities of Greek verses, and also the sciences of blacking the boots of the bigger boys, and of'fisticuffs, how the Greek verses were of no use at all to him in after life, but the boot-blacking and the fisticuffs were. He further tells us how, after spendinG some five yeai’S at a German University, he went to America to. seek a livelihood, and how his education was completed by what passed at a public dinner table at Baton Bouge, on which occasion he asked his left-hand neighbor to pass him a certain dish : how the left-hand neiGhbor took it, smelt it, found it to °his taste, set it before him, and ate it; how the right- hand neighbor asked the waiter to hand him a slice of ham ; how the waiter did not hear him, whereupon the right hand neiGhbor shied a plate, which laid open the waiter’s ear, who thereupon knocked down the right-hand neighbor with a chair, and was immediately felled by another gentleman with another chair; and how all this time several American

gentlemen sat tranquilly whittling sticks and whistling by the fire, with their heels upon the mantelpiece. This very matter of fact passage in practical life was in sharp contrast to the making of Greek verses at Eton and the German metaphysics, and it seems to have deeply impressed the mind of the narrator, who tells us :— 1 1 That was enough for me. My education was finished. With my first savings I hired a professor of single-stick. I bought a gun, I got rid of metaphysics and politeness, and began to walk straight ahead in the right direction—that where the money lies. He walked to some purpose, having subsequently made a large fortune in the salt-pork and oil trade. We fear much that the majority of persons, who, not being born with a silver spoon in their mouths, have to find a living by their own industry in this work-a-day world, if they began life by writing Greek verses, or indeed any other verses, will meet with a debut on the stage of life equally unpromising and rude to that of M. Graindorge. The world now lives by the sweat of its brow and by the book of arithmetic, and it is by these aaeans that the good things which it has to bestow are acquired. If parents have means enough to give up the entire first third of their son’s life to education and culture, and afterwards launch him in a profession, with reasonable chances of his success in it, then, perhaps, no training can surpass a classical education. We have read a letter by Professor Sale, of Dunedin, which has a bearing on this point, and which was published in the Otago Daily Times. A controversy seems to have arisen respecting the work done by the Scotch Universities and the merits of the secondary schools which supply them. These schools, according to Mr. Sale, do their work in a very imperfect way, and the Universities suffer accordingly. These schools send up young lads so unprepared to the classrooms of the Universities, that the grammatical drilling has to be done there by the professors; and, says Mr. Sale:—“lf so small a proportion of the students who enter those Universities are fit for the work, then no matter how excellent the lectures may be, it is quite impossible for any but a small minority to get any good out of them.” This may or may not be absolutely true, but it has its practical application to New Zealand, where we have a most ambitious University and affiliated colleges, but almost no secondary schools. Again, Mr. Sale says:—“Many persons think that because boys attend University classes in Scotland they should do so here. ... In my opinion no

student ought to be admitted to the University until he is eighteen years of age. Our present limit is fifteen years.” He also insists upon raising the standard of the entrance examination, having more time allotted to classical studies in the schools, more subdivision of the classics, and the employment of more numerous and better masters.

Now, there is very much more underlying this question, both in its present applications and prospectively, than Mr. Saln dreams of. He appears to set up in his mind’s eye an ideal scheme, a sort of Procrustean model, and into conformity with this all our social and educational interests must be crushed. The plain fact is, that we are, as we showed on a former occasion, quite premature with our ambitious University scheme, and the shoe begins to pinch. We have very few schools in any sense fitted to prepare lads for the University, and we have still fewer families that can afford to give up their children’s time to such an extent to education and culture as Mr. Sale appears to wish. That gentleman does not seem to realise the fact that he is at the antipodes—he is standing on his head, and he sees everything in a false posture. The truth is that as we are not at all prepared either socially or educationally for a University, there is a constant tendency in the University to become a large and expensive public school. Mr. Sale speaks of boys attending the Scotch Universities, and deprecates the same thing occuring here : this is very significant of the point where the real rub is. Does Mr. Sale really in sober seriousness expect that in this infant society, with its 300,000 people, any considerable number of young men can be found to continue preparing for the University till they are eighteen years of age, and after that devote some three or four more years to classical studies or other such culture % If he does, we have a strong opinion he reckons without his host, and not only so, but we firmly believe that almost to the extent that such a result could be brought about, to the same extent will poverty and mischief ensile. No doubt if we were to look at this matter absolutely, without any reference to the surrounding social circumstances, the case would stand on a different footing. But this is just what no sane man in any social matter would do ; we must take every social or political question in strict connection with its surroundings. We must look not only to the “ ought ” but also to the “is.” Mr. Sale tacitly

assumes a very important proposition, which when stated in terms some people will not be disposed to concede, viz.:— “ Classical studies are not only the most important and useful, but so much the most important that all the school arrangements must be made secondary to them.” It needs only to state this to ensure opposition to such an assumption. We believe we put the entire question in a nutshell, if we say that classical culture is most desirable for those who can afford the luxury; but the number of these in this colony is at this time almost infinitesimal. The whistle is a good whistle, but we may pay too dear for it. The price of the whistle may be made up not only in the money expenditure, by whomsoever borne, the parents or the State, but also, and still more, of the valuable time lost in studies which are unproductive, and the destitution and suffering resulting from an artificial attempt to deflect human industry from channels where it is fruitful into others whence it must issue into dreary morasses of stagnation and sloughs of despond. Now let it be clearly understood that we are not here questioning the positive value of classical studies viewed solely in themselves; our point is, that granting that value, our circumstances are such that at present, and for many years to come, we cannot afford to pay the price of them, and any attempt to do so will produce great and cruel evils. We think Mr. Sale takes an entirely one-sided view of the Scotch Universities, shutting his eyes to all but their defects. How is it that that school and University plan has sent forth such numbers of men all over the earth to become distinguished in every walk of life ? Although a Livingstone may enter Glasgow College a raw lad, yet he may open up a vast continent to light and civilisation. The education in Scotch Universities is extensive; in English it is intensive. Both have their merits ; but it may well be questioned whether the former is not better suited to this or any other new country.