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tical and speculative teaching;-or on the one hand mathematics combined with classics, and on the other philosophy;—or college lectures, and professorial lectures; and may look upon them as exemplifying a respectful and a critical spirit. And I hope I have satisfied the reader that (allowing fully the value and use of philosophy and of professorial lectures in their due place, of which I may afterwards speak,) we could not abandon the practical teaching, the mathematical and classical studies, and the College lectures of our Universities, without great loss to the intellectual training of our youth, without destroying highly beneficial feelings which exist between them and their teachers, and without putting in serious and extensive jeopardy the interests of the civilisation of England and of the world.

CHAPTER II,

OF DIRECT AND INDIRECT TEACHING.

SECT. 1.-OF EXAMINATIONS, AND OF COLLEGE
TEACHING.

By indirect teaching, I mean the method in which the main object of the student's exertions is presented by examinations, disputations, or some other public trial of his acquirements; and in which he is led to acquire knowledge, principally by the prospect of the distinctions, honours, or advantages, which attend upon success in such trials. I distinguish such teaching from that direct teaching, in which the instructions given claim his attention on the ground of their own value; and in which they are recommended to him by his own love of knowledge, by the advice and authority of his instructor, and the general sympathy of the body in which they are given.

In the English Universities, there has always, I believe, been a combination of these two kinds of teaching; and such a combination is, I conceive, the best scheme of education. In the selection and management of each of these elements, however, there are some considerations which appear to me of great importance, and which I will briefly state.

The College lectures, and other College instructions, appear to have been, till recently, of the nature of direct teaching. The studies thus presented to the pupil were considered as sufficiently recommended by the injunctions of the College and the parental authority of the tutors, without reference to ulterior objects. The public disputations and theses, which must be performed in order to obtain a degree, formed a scheme of indirect teaching; and the College teaching was consistent with this, indeed, but was far from being considered as merely ministerial to it. Several subjects were introduced in the courses of College instruction, and, indeed, are still, which have no reference to these public University trials; and which were selected by the authorities of the College, because they were considered as valuable for their own sake, and proper parts of a liberal education. But though this is still the case, a strong disposition has manifested itself of late years, in the University of Cambridge at least, to give a complete preponderance to the indirect system;-to conduct our education almost entirely by means of examinations, and to consider the lectures given in the Colleges as useful only in proportion as they prepare the student for success in the examinations. On this point I will offer a few remarks.

As I have already said, a combination of direct and

• Pupilli tutoribus pareant, honoremque paternum et reverentiam deferant, quorum studium, labor et diligentia in illis ad pietatem et scientiam informandis ponitur. Tutores sedulo quæ docenda sunt, doceant, quæque etiam agenda, instituant moneantque.-Stat. Trin. Coll. Cant. cap. x.

indirect instruction appears to be desirable. The love of knowledge, and the love of distinction with the fear of disgrace, are the two mainsprings of all education, and it does not appear wise or safe to try to dispense with either of them. Moreover the University must, in the discharge of its proper functions, have tests of proficiency, to be applied before her degrees and honours are granted. There must, therefore, be University examinations. On the other hand, it must always be recollected that examinations are a means, not an end;-that a good education, a sound and liberal cultivation of the faculties, is the object at which we ought to aim; and that examinations cease to be a benefit, where they interfere with this object.

That such a danger is possible, a very little reflection will show. The knowledge which is acquired for the purpose of an examination merely, is often of little value or effect as mental culture, compared with that knowledge which is pursued for its own sake. When a man gives his mind to any subject of study on account of a genuine wish to understand it, he follows its reasonings with care and thought; ponders over its difficulties, and is not satisfied till all is clear to his mental vision. On the other hand, when he studies for an examination only, he does not wish to understand, but to appear to understand; he cares not for unsolved difficulties in his mind, if the examiner detect them not; he wishes to see clearly, only in order that he may express himself clearly. He may thus lose much of what is best in the influence of those studies which tend to educe distinct ideas and sound reasoning

habits. Again--what is acquired for an examination is likely to be soon forgotten: the mind is bent upon it with an effort, which, though strong at the time, is felt to be temporary, and is followed by a relapse into comparative apathy and obliviousness. The student soon lets slip what he has thus collected for a special purpose; just as the busy advocate forgets the circumstances of his client's case almost as soon as he has pleaded it. Again: the habit of preparing for examinations makes the studies which are not recommended by an obvious reference to such an object, appear flat and insipid. The mind craves for the excitement to which it has been accustomed : it becomes restless and volatile; loses the appetite for quiet thought and patient study, and the trust in advantages which must be waited for. Again:—if examinations become too frequent, all good courses of study are interfered with. For it is impossible to arrange public examination so as to point out a succession of subjects which forms a good system for all. That which must be required of every one is far too little to employ and exercise the more powerful and active minds. They, therefore, when they have to conform their pursuits to requirements constructed for smaller intellects, are thwarted and interrupted in their more genuine pursuits.

I urge these objections, not to show that we ought not to have examinations, but in order to point out that the use of examinations is exposed to dangers which must be guarded against, if we would not forfeit some of the best effects of University education.

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