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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 85

The Growth of Technical Education

The Growth of Technical Education.

The system of teaching in classes those arts of production which formerly could be learned only in the mine or the workshop was first adopted by Germany, when, towards the end of the last century, she commenced the establishment of schools of mines. To some extent France, under the First Empire, followed this lead, but the French schools, to use the words of the report, for many years "simply vegetated." The real beginning of technical education is marked by the Exhibition of 1851. Continental nations began at that time to recognise page 4 the fact that if they were to compete with the manufacturing skill and energy of England they must train their managers, foremen, and work-people; while England on her part began to perceive that with all her advantages she was seriously behindhand in taste and in that knowledge of principles which enables manufacturers to adopt their productions to changing requirements. Continental nations—Germany again taking the lead—now proceeded to institute elaborate technical schools for managers and evening classes for artisans; while England endeavored to supply her defects by the establishment of the South Kensington Science and Art Classes, the success of the English movement was by no means inconsiderable, for in 1857 there were 12,509 students instructed in the local schools of art, and 396 in the Central Training School; while 43,212 children in elementary and other schools were being taught drawing. From this good beginning the system grew till in 1882 there were 909,206 persons receiving art instruction in connection with the department, and 68,581 students in science, in 1,403 science schools. But, South Kensington not with standing, it is plain that the foreign manufacturers gained considerably on England during several years after 1851. They enlarged the sphere of their operations, dispensed with the English foremen and managers they had previously been obliged to employ, and, though hampered by the Protection established for their own benefit, began seriously to threaten Free trade England in neutral markets. England, on the other hand, still depended on foreigners for frist-class work in designing, dyeing, and other opera operations requiring taste and high technical knowledge. Within the last few years, however, England has made a new ad- page 5 vance of a most practical character, marked by the establishment of such great technical institutions as the City ana Guilds of London Institute, Mason College (Birmingham), the Technical School (Bradford), and hosts of smaller schools, evening classes, and technical museums spread throughout the manufacturing districts. The success of recent efforts has been such as will surprise most people: it has brought England nearer to perfection in the means of technical education than any of her rivals. The Commissioners state that though societies for extending technical teaching are very numerous in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Germany, "their sphere of action is limited, and the facilities they offer for evening instruction in science and technology are inferior to those which are at the disposal of our own workmen. No organisation like that of the Science and Art Department, or of the City and Guilds Institute, exists in any Continental country; and the absence of such organisations his been lamented by many competent persons with whom we came in contact abroad."