change in the Education
Department's regulations, which, by making two-thirds of the Government
grant depend upon a mechanical examination, inevitably gives a
mechanical turn to the school teaching, a mechanical turn to the
inspection, is, and must be, trying to the intellectual life of the
school. In the inspection the mechanical examination of individual
scholars in reading a short passage, writing a short passage, and
working two or three sums, cannot but take the lion's share of room and
importance, inasmuch as two-thirds of the Government grant depend upon
it.... In the game of mechanical contrivances the teachers will in the
end beat us; and as it is now found possible, by ingenious preparation,
to get children through the Revised Code examination in reading,
writing, and ciphering without their really knowing how to read, write,
and cipher, so it will with practice no doubt be found possible to get
the three-fourths of the one-fifth of the children over six through the
examination in grammar, geography, and history without their really
knowing any one of these three matters.'

Throughout the whole of his career as an inspector of elementary schools
Arnold had to reiterate this complaint again and again. He saw the
incentive to cramming provided by the mode of distributing the grants,
and he perceived the uselessness of the type of instruction engendered
by it.

To-day all this has been changed. There is no such thing now as a
compulsory annual examination in the three elementary subjects. It has
been finally abolished by the central authority. The duty of the
inspectors is no longer to examine the children, but to investigate the
methods of teaching, the qualifications of the teachers, and so forth.
They are, it is true, empowered to examine children when they think it
advisable to do so; but they are directed to use this power sparingly,
and in exceptional cases.

The Department at Whitehall does not, unfortunately, exist for the
purpose of abolishing education systems. It has been called into
existence for the sole purpose of distributing grants of public money in
aid of elementary education and for the support of training-colleges for
teachers. The exercise of this function has necessitated the framing of
a code of regulations to be observed by schools wishing to qualify
themselves for the grant. This code is revised each year, and has
undergone some remarkable changes of late. There is a distinct tendency