CHAPTER IV.

EDUCATION IN LONDON UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.

Magnitude of the work committed to the London board-Constitution and scope of the first board-Spirit and permanent influence of the first board-Organization in committees-Statistics of elementary schools of London, current and retrospective-Citations from official report for 1901-2: Causes of increased enrollment and average attendance; teaching staff, number, classification, and salaries; subjects of instruction in day schools; higher grade schools; means of fostering interest of pupils; certificates, scholarships, and prizes; financial statement; evening schools, development of, classification, yearly term, progress of students; compulsory school attendance, regulations respecting and means of enforcing; industrial and truant schools-Provision for the physically and mentally defective, inception and development of the work under Mrs. BurgwinThe service of medical inspection of schools.

The new education law for London, which has been considered in the preceding chapter, necessarily brings to a close the existence of the London school board. The moment is therefore opportune for considering the work of this notable body, which, from the election of the first board in 1870 to that of the eleventh and last, presents a remarkable record as regards both its membership" and its achievements. The particulars of this history are set forth in a monograph prepared for the Paris Exposition, in the introduction to which Lord Reay, chairman of the board, characterizes the magnitude of its work as follows:

It must be remembered that London, for density of population and for wealth if not in area, may be compared to a State rather than to a city. Its total population is more than double that of Denmark or of Greece, is larger than that of Scotland, and is only slightly exceeded by that of Bavaria and of Holland. The

a In a complete list of members recently published attention is called to the fact that the present leader of the board, Mr. Lyulph Stanley, has had the largest aggregate service of any member, viz, twenty-three years, broken by a short interval through the failure of his candidacy at the triennial election of 1885. The longest continuous service is that of Mr. Whiteley, twenty years and seven months. Miss Davenport-Hill has had the longest term of any woman member and one of the longest recorded, eighteen years.

By Thomas Alfred Spalding, LL. B., barrister at law, private secretary to the chairman of the school board for London, assisted by Thomas Stanley Canney, B. A., with contributions by members of the staff, and a preface by Lord Reay, G. C. S. I. G. C. S. I. E., chairman of the board.

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child population of London standing in need of elementary education is larger than the total population of any European city except Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Vienna, and is more than double that of Bristol, Dresden, or Prague.

The total sum raised within the administrative area of London for municipal purposes (including education) is equal to the total revenue of Saxony, or Portugal, or Chile, while the sum expended in London upon elementary education alone is equal to the total national expenditure of Denmark, Norway, or Switzerland.

We may add, for emphasis to the American reader, that the population of inner or registration London, viz, 4,536,063 (census of 1901) is exceeded by only three States of the United States-New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, while greater London, with a population of 6,580,616, is exceeded by New York alone.

It must not be forgotten [continues Lord Reay] that these comparisons represent the present facts, not the condition of affairs in 1870. During the thirty years that have elapsed since that date the population and the ratable value of London have increased with great rapidity. One test of this increase may be found in the number of children requiring public elementary school accommodation, which has nearly doubled since 1872. In that year the estimated number was about 455,000, in the present year (1900) it approaches 785,000 (in 1900, 787,678). In the same years (i. e., 1872 and 1900) the ratable valuation of London was about £20,000,000 and £36,000,000, respectively. A rate of a penny in the pound produced £85,000 ($425,000) in 1872; at the present time it produces about £150,000 ($750,000).

The vastness of the population with which the school board for London had to deal was not the only factor which differentiated its work from that which was imposed upon other school boards. London in 1870, with all its concentrated wealth, was more in arrears in the matter of school provision than any other part of the Kingdom. It was estimated in 1872 that there were no less than 196,000 children within the metropolitan area for whom, if they had desired to go to school, no efficient school places were provided. These waifs and strays of the vast city received only such education as they could pick up in its streets and alleys, or at best in establishments which were schools only in name. The voluntary system had not been able to cope with the evil either by its own unaided effort or by help of the subvention afforded to it by Government during the period immediately preceding the establishment of school boards. Lord Brougham, speaking in 1837, had said, in regard to the whole of the country, that the voluntary school system was able to supply the needs of the annual increase of child population, but that it was incapable of overtaking the accumulated deficiency in school accommodation. And this gloomy view of the question was true as regarded London. Between 1837 and 1868 there was apparently but little improvement in the proportion between the number of school places and of school children.

The main cause of this paralysis was the cost of obtaining sites for the erection of schools. In the heart of a crowded city the price of land runs up to a figure which is prohibitive to the charitably inclined, and it is precisely where population is densest that school buildings are incst required. The task had become impossible save by a State or municipal effort, coupled with the power of acquiring sites compulsorily in districts where school accommodation was needed. The problem of London education was so complex and presented such apparently insuperable difficulties that the first educational scheme of the Government in 1870 excluded London entirely from the operation of the bill which ultimately became the education act of 1870. It was the intention of the Government to deal with the question in London at a later date and by different methods. It was only after much hesitation that they finally decided to apply to London similar machinery to that which they had devised for the rest of the country.

The constitution and work of the first school board for London.-The following citations from the monograph referred to set forth in brief the constitution of the first school board for London and the problems with which it was confronted:

The impending election of members of the first school board for London, which was fixed for November 29, 1870, stirred the interest of the community profoundly. Never before had any municipal contest called forth so much excitement. Many of those who had heartily supported the policy of the education act deemed that policy to be a grand experiment which would have to justify itself by its success. Not a few ardent advocates of elementary education for the people doubted

whether the machinery created for the provision of that education was the best that could be devised. No less than 135 candidates appeared to contend for the 49 seats upon the board, and as the contest proceeded those who most sincerely desired the success of the new policy noted with regret, and almost with despair, that the battle raged as it had raged in Parliament around the narrow question of the nature of the religions instruction which should be given in the schools of the board, ignoring the broader educational problem which was submitted to the ratepayers of London.

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There was another element of interest in the approaching election besides the question of education. The act, and the powers exercised by the education department under the act, had imported into English municipal life two changes which were foreign to all its traditions. The London school-board election of 1870 was the first election of any importance which was conducted by ballot (except in the city of London) and with a cumulative vote. It would be foreign to the purposes of this inquiry to deal at large with the prophecies of accident, mistake, and fraud which it was declared would result from the abolition of the system of open voting which was at one time deemed a bulwark of the constitution. It is enough to say that in the result the working of the election proved these prophecies groundless. The cumulative vote, devised especially for schoolboard elections, gives to each elector a number of votes equal to the number of candidates to be elected, which he may give to one candidate, or divide as he pleases among a number of candidates. It was the outcome of the religious controversy, and was designed to assuage the fears of the smaller religious sects that their views would obtain no representation upon the board. Even the permissive application of compulsory by-laws contemplated by the act would have been impossible if the board had been composed of members of one dominant creed, and the government hoped that by adopting the cumulative vote the representation of minorities would be secured. In this respect it is to a certain extent effectual, more especially in periods of apathy which result in a small poll. On such occasions the pastor of a strong and energetic church or the favorite orator of a political club can, by a concentration of all the votes of a following comparatively small in relation to the whole constituency, secure his own return. But on occasions when the feeling of the electorate is deeply moved, as was the case at the first election of the London school board, the minority candidate has far less chance of success. The fact that the most diverse opinions were represented upon the board was due to the formation in many divisions of influential committees to promote the return of suitable candidates irrespective of their religious and political views, rather than to the operation of the cumulative vote.

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The result of the poll was the election of a board remarkably representative of the varied schools of thought. Upon it were to be found politicians, two of whom subsequently attained to Cabinet rank; clergymen, two of whom afterwards rose to the Episcopal bench; and representatives of various dissenting bodies. Science and literature were represented; men well known for philanthropic work found seats on the board, together with many who had earned a reputation as educationists. Ladies succeeded in gaining seats in two divisions.

The first meeting of the board was held at the Guild Hall on Thursday, December 15, 1870, at the invitation of the city corporation. The first business before the board was the election of a chairman. Before the election took place a preliminary question had to be settled. The act of 1870 conferred upon the school board for London the power to pay its chairman such salary as the board should fix, subject to the consent of the education department-a power which was not granted to any other school board. A motion was at once made "that no salary be awarded to the chairman," and this, after some discussion, was carried by a large majority. This decision practically settled in the negative the question whether the chairman of the board should receive a salary. Although two attempts have been made to reverse it, neither was successful. In 1879, soon after the fourth triennial election, a memorial was presented to the board praying that a salary might be paid to the chairman, on the ground that the growing work of the board renders it desirable in the interest of the ratepayers that the board should have the full advantage of the entire services of its chairman, who would thus be enabled to exercise a more efficient control over the expenditure and general work of the board. A very heated debate ensued, acrimonious out of all proportion to the importance of the question which had been raised by the memorialists. The board eventually resolved "that the memorial be respectfully received, and that an answer be returned stating that it is inexpedient at the present time to entertain the prayer of the memorial." The" inexpediency" of "the present time was alleged to be due to the fact that the board had only just been elected and that new members were on that account unable to judge of the wisdom of the

proposal; but the terms of the answer were merely the courteous cloaking of a refusal to consider the memorial. Rather more than a year afterwards, when members had enjoyed a full opportunity of measuring the merits of the proposal, the question was again raised in the form of a motion to pay the chairman of the board an annual salary of £1,500. Only three members voted for the motion, while 30 voted against it. Since that time the question has never again been raised. The chairmen of the board have always discharged their onerous duties gratuitously, although there is a very prevalent opinion that they have been in receipt of a substantial salary. The chairmanship of the board is only one more instance of the fact that in English public life men of position are frequently found who are willing, often at considerable personal sacrifice, to undertake onerous, and sometimes thankless, offices without reward.

Another peculiarity in regard to the chairmanship of the London school board may be mentioned here. The education act empowered the board, if it saw fit, to elect a chairman who was not one of its members. An outside chairman, if so elected, was created by virtue of his office a member of the board in all respects as if he had been elected by the ratepayers. He could therefore exercise the right of voting as a member of the board as well as give a casting vote in the event of an equality of votes. It does not appear that the suggestion was ever made that the first board should seek a chairman from outside its own ranks. Within the board there were many men of ability who were capable of performing the duties of the office; but one of them, Lord Lawrence, who had filled the post of viceroy of India, a man of rare business capacity and universally esteemed, was more particularly marked out for the post. Three other candidates were nominated, and the selection was conducted by two ballots, after each of which the lowest candidate retired. Lord Lawrence headed the poll in each ballot and was eventually elected chairman by an unanimous vote. The practice of electing a member of the board as chairman was continued until 1894. After the election in that year, which resulted in a somewhat equal balance of parties, an outside chairman was elected. Since that date this precedent has been followed.

The problem with which the board had to deal presented itself in six main sections, as follows:

I. Statistical.-This included the methods of ascertaining the number of children of school age who required accommodation and the number of school places already in existence. Until these figures could be ascertained the board could not know precisely for how many children or in what localities it would be necessary to build schools, although it was notorious that a large amount of school provision was immediately necessary.

II. School buildings.-Having thus ascertained the amount of school provision that was needed, the next questions which arose were the acquisition of sites for new schools and the character of the buildings which should be erected upon those sites. In regard to school buildings, the board inaugurated a policy of improvement upon the old type of school which was almost revolutionary. In the light of modern construction the older schools of the board are now deemed ill-designed and inconvenient, but when they are thus criticised it is necessary to bear in mind the type of school which they supplanted.

III. School management.-Having examined the character of the school buildings which the board designed to erect, the next subjects of investigation are the scope of the instruction which was to be given to the scholars, the nature of the school apparatus, and the organization of the teaching staff. The first branch of this subject must include the vexed question of religious instruction. When it is remembered that under the new code of 1871 the only subjects of instruction which earned Government grant were reading, writing, and arithmetic, and not more than two specific subjects in Standards IV-VI, and that the cost of teaching any other subjects must of necessity fall upon the rates, it will be seen that the temptation from the point of financial economy to place a narrow limit upon the curriculum was great. Fortunately the board took a broad view of its duties in this respect. Indeed, it may be said that in regard to school curricula the locally elected educational bodies have as a rule led the education department. They have introduced subjects of instruction into their schools without the financial aid and often without the encouragement of the permanent governmental organization. When the experiment has proved a success the education department has tardily admitted the subject into the code and allowed it to earn a grant. The result of such a policy has been the piling up in the code of an aggregation of subjects of instruction which, viewed as a curriculum, seems designed rather to confuse than to guide the teacher. Nothing is more remarkable in the history of English education than the lack of initiative, which has until recently been char