PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1234, 16 February 1878, Page 3

PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON TECHNICAL EDUCATION.

The following is a brief summary of a lecture on “Technical Education,” recently delivered by Professor Huxley, being the second of a series in connection with the Working Men's Club and Institute Union : Professor Huxley commenced by saying that he was a handicraftsman, and had been so for thirty years past. Referring to the qualities which he thought desirable in anyone who came to him to learn his handicraft —that of anatomy —he spoke of the practical part of anatomy and not of the science connected with it. The first waa a good elementary education, and the second some knowledge of the physical properties of objects. It was eminently desirable that he should be able to draw more or less —not drawing in its artistic sense, which was a faculty which could not be given where it did not exist, but drawing for the sake of giving a fair imitation of any desired object. It was also necessary that he should know one or two languages besides his own, in order to be aware of what was going on in other lands, and it was above ell things desirable that he should keep up the freshness and youthfulness of his mind. By the latter he (the lecturer) meant that vigor and elasticity which was the special property of youth before it was cleansed out of a man by the form of intellectual debauchery involved in incessant grinding for passing all sorts of examinations. £Cheers.] At the present time anybody using his eyes could see that too frequently young people were made to use their callow brains before they were set, so that by the time the strain and pressure came upon them the spring of their intellectual faculties was quite gone. It was said of early risers that they were conceited all the morning and stupid all the afternoon. He wm aprtii tfeat people who “ got up early "

intellectually ■were very apt to bo conceited nil the morning of life and stupid all the afternoon. [Cheersand laughter.] Speaking of the defects current among young people of this country, he said that many of the places which might be occupied by our own young people were now filled by Germans, because the Germans took pains to learn other languages than their own in early life. The time was coming when, in consequence of more rapid intercourse between different nationalities, it was very desirable that all who were engaged in trade, or even in mechanical occupations, should have a knowledge of the language of nations with whom we were brought into communication. He would rather that his supposed pupil know but little before he came to him of his especial handicraft, for if it were a hard thing to teach, it would be a much harder thing to unteach. He deprecated any system of technical education which would involve too much deferring the period at which a youth could enter upon the practical duties of life, because there was no time like youth for the breakingin and becoming accustomed to the strain of continuous work, which was necessary for every man who had to earn his bread by his labor. There was no discipline better for a youth than the wholesome restraints of daily occupation. He admired the Education Act of 1870, which he believed would in future ages stand out as the most important event of this century. Even if he took the standard which some people seemed to desire to reduce all action to, that of “ British interests,” ho suspected that it was still the most important event affecting such interests, for we should see that the result of that Act would be to get rid both of the BashiBazouks of ignorance and the Cossacks of sectarianism. That was what the Education Act had done already. (Cheers.) He contrasted the education given in elementary schools of the present day with the inefficient education which in almost all cases was all that was open to even the middle classes of the last generation, and he advocated the teaching of science and drawing in schools, provided it did not displace the more elementary branches of education. Speaking of what was being done for the advancement of education beyond the school-room, he referred in terms of admiration to the work of the Science and Art Department at South Kensington, pointing out, however, a few faults connected with it. The Government was doing as much as it could be expected to do at present, but he looked rather to the great wealthy corporate bodies of the country for action in this matter. Anybody who looked upon the world must see that there was a mass of common things to be done, and that the great mass of the people, who ought not to have too much labour, and who should have a fair amount of ease, would have to get those things done. In quoting Mr Gallon, the lecturer said that there was perhaps one man in 4,000 or 5,000 who was a person of special talent, whilst perhaps there was only one man in a million who was what might be called a man of genius. Now he know of nothing which was more important, looked at as a matter of social organisation, oven looked at from its operation upon political equilibrium, than that we should seek out such men as those, and utilise their services for the good of the country. [Cheers.] Ho said that the economical value to the nation of men like Watt or Davy could not be estimated—they would be cheap at hundreds of millions. With regard to the question of art training for children, he held that the great thing was not to teach a boy in his earliest years any particular handicraft, but rather to look well after bis general education : too much technical training would make a man still more that which they were too much already—mechanical. The City Guilds had been very earnestly and carefully seeking for information as to how they could apply the great resources at their disposal in the best way for the promotion of our handicraftsmen. He believed an executive committee had been formed for that purpose, and he trusted that it would be successful in its efforts. At the conclusion of the lecture the Professor received a hearty vote of thanks for his remarks.