HIGHER EDUCATION.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3094, 28 May 1881, Page 4

HIGHER EDUCATION.

The following letter on higher education in Scotland has been sent by Professor Blnokie to the editor of the Con rant :— " I have read with pleasure your remarks on the elevation of tho teaching profession in Scotland, with which in the main I heartily agree. But there is one element not mentioned by you, without which all other forces, however vigorously applied, must remain comparatively ineffective. The schoolmaster must have a career —that is, an honorable career of advancement within the range of his own profession ; and this he cannot have till the middle schools of the country, corresponding to the gymnasia of Germany, and as sketched in the book of discipline by our great Reformer, shall have been established in the centre of every commanding district of the country. Twenty such schools with a head master worth £10C0 a-yeai", and the subsidiary teachers with an income of from £400 to " £800 per amuim, would do more to elevate the whole standard of teaching in Scotland, whether at school or college, than any limping help the school boards or universities can at present supply. Give to the teacher, through this topping structure—at present so abnormally wanting—the social position of lawyers and clergymen, and you will bring talent into the schools, just as you catch salmon by putting on the proper bait and the proper tackle. Why do the Scottish people not follow the example of the mericans by putting on a moderate county rate for this necessary purpose ? To praise education and stint the educator is a sorry policy, of which an intelligent people should be ashamed,"