end is somewhat difficult from that already given effect to in Mysore. On this point the following extracts may be quoted: It is instructive to observe that one of the Indian Universities, and that the youngest-the University of Mysore-has already taken tentative action along the lines suggested by our correspondents. It has organized six of the best High Schools in Mysore so that they may be able to take part of the work hitherto included in University courses; and has provided that no one shall be permitted to present himself for the University Entrance examination unless he has studied for a year at one of the Collegiate High Schools recognised by the University after he has successfully completed his High School course. Though this does not go so far as some of our correspondents recommend, it goes further than any other Indian University has yet gone. (Vol. I: p. 352). The movement for the creation of the new University (of Mysore) originated in a healthy desire to break new ground. In the first place the work of the first year of the old college course is to be conducted in a few specially selected High Schools. We believe that the foundations of the new University have been truly laid and that school boys and college students alike will benefit by the new departure." (Vol. III: p. 306). Next the Report insists upon suitable arrangements to develop the social life of a University, On this point the Mysore University is already ahead of the Report, as will be seen from the following extraet : We warmly endorse the proposal for the foundation of a University Union on the lines of those at Oxford and Cambridge, as a general social centre for student life; and we think, with the Dacca University Committee that all members of the teaching staff and all the students should belong to it. We saw an admirable institution of this kind at the recently founded University of Mysore. We also approve the proposal to establish a professors' club." (Vol. IV: pp. 225-228). The report also recommends that the teachers as a class should have a larger voice in the direction of academic policy than can be secured in the existing constitutions of the Indian Universities. On this subject, though the constitution of the Mysore University does not completely realise this recommendation, yet it is an advance upon the constitutions of other Universities in this regard. This is acknowledged by the Report in the following terms: How widespread is the feeling that great changes are needed in University organisation in India is shown by the fact that in the constitution of the three most recent Universities-Benares, Mysore and Patnathere have been notable departures from the pattern of which the existing constitution of Calcutta University may be taken as the type. In all cases an attempt has been made to give to the teaching body a large voice in the direction of academic policy. The University of Mysore is very similar in its constitution to the older Indian Universities, having a senate of not less than fifty and not more than sixty members; but it departs from existing practice by giving seats on the senate to the University professors ex-officio. (Vol. III: p. 222). The Commissioners have declared themselves against the provincial barriers isolating the Universities. They say : more The signs of isolation is reacted unfavourably both on the Universities and on the teachers. The prospects of the teachers should be widened by hopes of fruitful service, if necessary, by promotion and transference to other Universities; and the prac tice of inbreeding is also unhealthy for education generally. A University or College which depends almost entirely on the service of her sons is in serious danger of stagnation and extreme conservatism. An infusion of new blood is always desirable. During recent years the University of Calcutta has made efforts to combat this evil. It has attracted to its service scholars of repute from other parts of India; and the Bengal Government have been fortunate in the inclusion of some talented Indians from outside the Presidency among its educational officers. Bengal has also been willing to give the services of her scholars to other provinces; for we have met a number of Bengalis serving under other Universities. The newer Universities at Benares and Mysore have also gone for afield in the recruitment of their teaching staff, and with successful results. (Vol. III pp. 294-295). Thus even in this important matter the organi sation of the Mysore University has won its legitimate reward of commendation. In conclusion, it may be noted that one of the most important of Reforms recommended by the Report, namely, that connected with securing proper material for University education, has been due in Mysore to the initiative of one of her best educationists, Mr. Thomas Denham M.A. (Oxon) who suggested it from his unique experience of Indian education extending now nearly over three decades. The Reform was first pressed by Mr. Denham in the preliminary scheme drafted by him for the University of Mysore upon which so high an academical authority as the Educational Secretary to the Government of India, the Hon'ble Mr. Sharp, recorded his warm in the following terms:- approval Instead of outside colleges Mr. Denham proposes High Schools, preparing pupils for entrance to this University at the minimum age of 17, the abolition of the Intermediate examination, the curtailment of the University course by one year and a system of annual examinations spread over a three-year's course, (page 50). In these suggestions (save perhaps that of annual examinations) I heartily concur. This will be a far more perfect scheme than having any outside second-grade colleges. The difficulties inherent in a scheme which seeks to achieve two incompatible ends will be avoided. The colleges will be purged of the school-boy element, the presence of which is so much complained of by professors whether of Government or privately managed institutions. IR Michael Sadler and his colleagues on the Calcutta University Commission have placed the Indian educational world under a deep debt of gratitude by their monumental report which promises to become one of the land-marks in the history of Indian education. As a mere contribution to educational literature, the report should rank very high, independently of all considerations of its usefulness to the solution of the pressing problems of to day, in the University of Calcutta, or in Indian Universities in general. The writers of the report have wisely gone to the very foundations of all the questions that have come within their purview, and have laid down in every case, in the clearest terms, the ultimate aims and ideals which ought to be kept in mind. It is not often that Government Blue Books contain such lucid exposition of principle and such unswerving adherence to noble purpose, and extend their vision far beyond the removal of present difficulties. It should, for instance, be possible to compile a very handy text-book of education of the most inspiring kind, with extracts from the five volumes which have been issued. In my opinion this is the most valuable aspect of the report which should therefore make a special appeal to the student of education. Without any idea of underrating the value of the recommendations made by the Commission, I should venture to express the opinion that the first three volumes, containing an analysis of present conditions are more valuable than the remaining two volumes which actually lay down the measures which ought to be taken for the improvement of educational conditions in Bengal. Problems of education have often their roots deep in the social and economic conditions of the land and receive their moulding as much from the operations of the accumulated racial inheritance, as from those of the Leitgeist and are therefore most difficult of understanding by foreigners sojourning for a season or two in the country for the purposes of a Governmental enquiry. Ealivened by profound sympathy and breadth of spirit the members of the Calcutta University Commission have however accom plished the task. This will not surprise at least those who have had the privilege of coming into contact with the presiding genius of the body, the wonderful personality of Sir Michael Sadler. Lamenting the death of Goethe, Matthew Arnold said of him in his Memorial Verses: He took the suffering human race, And struck his finger on the place, And said-Thou ailest here and here. And in this kind of work, in the diagnosis of the actual evils of the educational conditions of Bengal, the report is all that can be desired. The perception is as critical and unerring as the statement of the case is sober and in good taste. Having occasion to enter elsewhere, into an elaborate examination of the details of the report, I will only draw attention here to a few directions in which the recommendations seem to stand in need of modification. In the first place, the constitution proposed for carrying on the work of the University is unnecessarily complex and if carried into effect, is sure to clog action. A Board of Secondary Education to manage High Schools and Second grade Colleges all over Bengal including the laying down of courses and the conducting of examination, is not a very attractive prospect of work and efficiency. Nor is it desirable to complicate the machinery by adding two parallel bodies to the Senate and the Syndicate, one of them, the Court to contain several 'hundreds of members.' It is true that the constitutions of our Universities stand in need of liberalising so as to bring them into more living touch with the community, but it should rather be by increasing the elective element in the Senates and also by providing for the representation of non-academic opinion on them, than by complicating the machinery in the contemplated by the Commission. besides a bewildering variety of permanent Committees suggested by the Commission which will prove a serious encumbrance to progress. manner There are It was probably not expected of the Commission that they should have had a scrupulous regard for the financial obligation involved in their recommendations. It has always been the privilege of Secretarial experts with Government, to give a gentle quietus to recommendations of Commissions under the inexorable authority of Finance. But the recommendations of the Commission will mean an amount of financial responsibility which will be difficult of solution. The province of Bengal, especially the land-holders, can probably bear some additional taxation, but it is doubtful if proposals in the direction will receive any welcome in the province. It must however be said in fairness to the members of the Commission, that they are perfectly conscious of this disability and have therefore suggested that the reforms should be carried out into effect by instalments, so that in a few years, the educational system of the Province may stand in rejuvenated strength striking out new paths of progress. It only remains for the other Universities in India, to take up the matter for their consideration with regard to their own educational affairs, so that they may benefit by the findings of a report THE INDEMNITY BY MR. G. A. NATESAN. And so the Indemnity Bill has been passed. The protests of all sections of the public have been in vain. It is but the barest truth and it would be wrong to conceal the fact that the Indemnity Bill has rudely shaken the faith of the people in the British sense of justice. The method and manner in which the Bill was introduced in council, the indecent haste with which it was hurried through, and the specious arguments advanced in its favour by its official sponsors have disgusted not only the Indians but a good section of Anglo-Indians as well. The Indian Daily News, a leading Anglo-Indian daily of Calcutta has thought fit to observe as follows: " "The 'debate' now proceeding at Simla is a fair sample of the way India has been governed in the past. The Government adopt an attitude and defend that attitude to the last gasp. They accept nothing, listen to nothing and decline to budge. They do not listen to Mr. Crum or Mr. Sarma or the 'resuscitated' Pundit. They get the Associated Press to give a full account of Sir William Vincent's 'testy' speech as Capital calls it, which is, in their opinion, so convincing that it has only to be read to be accepted as Gospel. Of course, it is not; for it is merely an angry gabble but Simla sticks to its opinion and lives on in the fools' paradise that Simla has always been." Looker-on Another Anglo-Indian paper, the published in the same city writes more trenchantly still. been The session has been a memorable one for many reasons, and will go down to history as the occasion on which unlimited white-washing was done, or sought The Frontier Blunderers have to be done. plastered with praise by the Viceroy. The Punjab Blunderers are to be indemnified against the findings Both attempts at of the Enquiry Committee. coddling bureaucrats,-at protecting undeserving fools of outraged public from the slings and arrows opinion, are as futile as they are unwise. And the sequel to the Punjab affairs is the greater political crime, for it is the more foolish. The high-handed doings of the officials in the Punjab, the light-hearted manner in which the Viceroy, gave carte blanche order to Sir Michael O'Dwyer to repress the so-called rebellion, the proclamation of martial law and the scandalous and outrageous orders promulgated under it, the arrest, the imprisonment of aged and honoured public citizens and the indignities and cruelties to which some of them were subject, the flogging of students, the compelling of innocent citizens to crawl in a public lane where an english lady cruelly had been assaulted by a wretched infuriated mob, the absence of a word of regret for such barbarous actions, the appointment of a commission of inquiry by the very authority whose doings have been severely called answer in the into question, the refusal to Imperial Legislative Council a series of interpellations carefully prepared by the Hon. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, which prima facie suggest grave official misdoings, and to crown all, the passing of an act of Indemnity to protect the very officials against whom the injured have a right to proceed, these and other ugly episodes prove once more how utterly irresponsible is the Government of India as at present constituted and what imperative and immediate necessity there is to make the Government really responsible to the people. In the name Many grave mistakes have in the past been committed by the authorities; some of them have happily been forgotten, but it will be long before the memories of the cruelties and wrongs inflicted on the people of the Punjab by martial law administration are forgotten. of justice and in the best interests of the British Empire it behoves the authorities to proclaim a general amnesty and adopt other measures to regain the confidence of the people. We sincerely hope that the new Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab who has already begun a change of policy in the right direction will pursue his work undeterred by the cry of "prestige." The sorest spot in India to-day is the Punjab and the saddest hearts are there. It is heartrending to read in the papers the accounts of the tale of desolation and despair prevailing in hundreds of homes in the Province where the administration of martial law. has had its many victims. We earnestly trust that the stirring appeal for funds in aid of the sufferers in the Punjab will meet with a very wide and generous response, BY RAO BAHADUR K. B. RAMANATHA IYER, M.A., F.M.U. is ILTON'S cynical remark that her one tongue was enough for the woman capable of a wider application. The fewer the languages one has to learn the less time one has to devote to the mastery of what is only a tool for learning. In the conceivable situation of a world dominated by a single nation, believing itself as alone the elite of the earth and its language as the only fitting one for universal culture, there might be the ukase going forth that all the various peoples ought to accept its language as the only medium for the transaction of business and for conveying thought from one to another. If there should be enough dragooning and disciplining, mankind might go back to the unilingual stage preceding the Babylonian confusion. Whatever philologists might urge regarding the inherent tendencies of man to diversify his speech, rigorous education would go a great way towards preserving its unity. And for purposes of thought and intellectual advancement, this single-speech world would be more advantageously placed than the present polyglottic Babel. There would be less of the mere study of words and more of the study of things. Such a chance there was really for the world but the Entente powers most ignorantly interfered and defeated the consummation of educational reform in this direction and there is to be for sometime to come the continuance of the word-chopping education because of the diversity of tongues. If, however, language is regarded as something more than a mere tool and as in some fashion enshrining the genius of the speaker, there is sure to be an eager desire to keep it alive and make it flourish exceedingly, rendering it more and more adequate for the needs of the growing spirit of man. This point of view will explain why Charles V rejoiced on his mastery of new languages it meant for him taking down the walls that separated him from the thoughts and the feelings, the hopes and desires of his fellowmen. Mastery of one's own language means entering on the full inheritance of the spiritual path of his race or nation and the mastery of another is annexing the like heritage of the stranger, only annexation that does not leave any bitterness behind it. As things are, much of what is called education is, for the majority of those who get the benefit, the study of the mother-tongue and, the Per perhaps, of another language and the final achievement an imperfect mastery of these. fect mastery is the result of native aptitude and painstaking culture and language as other artistic tools can be satisfactorily handled after a great deal of preliminary training. It is wielded with power and beauty only by the well-dowered few. Any ambitious standard of language acquisition is, for the ruck of us, out of the question. There must be no difficulty with regard to the medium of instruction in the normal condition of things. The mother-tongue is the only natural medium we can think of. That is the pou stʊ whence the world of knowledge has to be moved in. For the mass of men to whom the wherewithal to be clothed and the wherewithal to be fed are matters of pressing concern, and they form the majority every where, the language they hear from the lips of their mother is the only one to learn. If from gabbling brutishly, inarticulately and coarsely, they learn to use words articulately and with refinement and in a way adequate to express their purposes, it is so much to the gain of humanity. If further they learn to interpret rightly the symbolism of the alphabet and use the symbols for reading and writing they make further progress in mental culture. With nothing more than a proper understanding of his mother-tongue, with such opportunities as he had of oral instruetion, the Athenian attained to a pretty enviable level of intellectual advancement. If the world should consist of a number of autonomous counttries, with homogeneous peoples, in well-defined geographical areas, using distinctive languages fairly equipped for purposes of civilised communication, there would be no problem to discuss as to which language must serve as the educational medium. If South India be composed, say, of two Tamila' and 'Telinga' provinces, their peoples speaking Tamil and Telugu, each a political entity with no more relation to the outside world than they might bear to each other, Tamil would be the medium as the language of instruction in Tamila, and Telugu in Telinga. Similar statements may be made of other parts of India like Bengal and the Maharashtra and the Punjab. It may be conceded at once that Sir Rabindranath logic is irrefutable (Vol. I, p. 227 of the Calcutta Commission's Report). The deepest and the most intimate things of the heart are learnt through the mother tongue; language study as such is a costly acquisition and leaves less energy to spare for the study of things that really matter. Coming to the question as a matter of practical politics, for the elementary grade of education terminating for the ordinary pupil at about 12, the medium must be the mother tongue of the pupil. There can be no difference of opinion on this point. There is, however, another on which we may not be agreed. What exactly is the function of education in the lowest grade? Who are to benefit by it? Is it for the exclusive benefit of those who, under the present arrangement of things, are to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, doing the rough work of the world? Are the elementary schools to be the counter part of the Volks Schulen' of Germany with no chance for the better endowed pupils to work their way up to the higher grades? *Are the grades to be isolated pyramids or are they to be different parts of a ladder? The idea most in favour seems to be that the better type of students should be given scholarships and exhibitions and thus enabled to pursue higher courses of studies. In South India educational authorities favoured the 'pyramid' theory at one time but there has been some relaxation since and pupils may pass on from the elementary schools to the middle and high schools. In order that such advancement in studies be not hindered we would suggest that the vernacular language should be studied under teachers trained in up to-date methods of language instruction. The pupils must be carefully drilled in phonetics with special reference to the mother-tongue. A knowledge of the phonetic value of the International Alphabet can be easily made a part of the acquisition in connection with the phonetic drill. An elementary knowledge of spoken English would form part of the course or it might be made optional-from the 2nd or 3rd year. A much better type of the elementary grade teacher and a much better paid one alone can do justice to the work assigned to him, The training schools must equip him with the needed knowledge of phonetics with reference to his vernacular and 'spoken English. And what Mr. Wyld says with regard to the training of the Primary Teacher in England may be applied with the necessary changes to the teacher's special language:. "I feel that the mother-tongue should be the chief subject of his training. Not the niceties of English Grammar and Analysis, nor the more specialised re * Vide Moore: Educational Reconstruction last No. International Journal of Ethics. finements of English Philology, but a broad and humane study of English as a means of expression. The primary teacher does not read enough, does not write enough, does not speak enough. It would be well for him if he were soaked in English literature from Chaucer to Stevenson and Kipling." Trained by such Teachers, the pupils would begin the secondary course in a more advantageous manner than now. Those that might go out into the world for the practical training in the rough work of the world would be a manlier, a womanlier set. What should be the medium of instruction in the secondary course? What is the rôle to be played by the mother-tongue of the pupil and by English? And is there to be any basis for further language acquisition in the high school classes? If in European countries there are the claims of the modern languages and the classical, here in India there are those of English and Sanskrit and Arabic. In the secondary course we deem it necessary for all pupils to carry on the study of two languages, and when the more ambitious parents or parents require it, of three. The first in importance will be the mother-tongue. And the student may be expected to make sufficient progress in it and be qualified at the end of the high school course to appreciate the best available modern literature as also the great poets of the earlier period. He will be able to express his ideas in intelligible and correct modern speech, a happy mean between the pedantic and the vulgar. With regard to the proficiency in English, the start the pupil has had in oral English must be continued and specially trained men— a matter of course-must adequately paid as be made to teach English according to the direct method which has been adopted by all earnest teachers of the modern or classical languages.* It would be an advantage if the work of the earlier English course be regarded as the more responsible and dignified work and the later work in the higher classes be assigned to comparatively fresh accessions to the profession. The instruction in 'information' subjects would go on in the language of the pupil. Mathematics and Science, Geography and History in due correlation would be taught and and in the best up-to-date manner and teachers would use when convenient English technical terms and not go in search of Vernacular periphrases as difficult as their English equiva lents. With regard to the additional third language it is a question for the pupil concerned * Adam's New Teaching: Chapters ij. iii & iv. |