Educational Reform

Abstract

THE President of the Board of Education, who has by common consent done so much to stir and enlighten the public interest in the cause of education by his numerous addresses in all parts of the country, has wisely resolved to issue in this cheap and accessible form a selection of his principal speeches, two of which he delivered in the House of Commons, the first on the occasion of presenting the Education Estimates in April, 1917, and the second on the introduction of the first Education Bill in the following August. He has accompanied the publication by a highly illuminating preface of sixteen pages, in which is resumed all the more important features of the revised draft of the Education Bill of 1918, and of the chief points of his many speeches in support of his reforms, characterised by a felicity of phrase and diction which will go far to hearten supporters of the measure and even to conciliate and win opponents. Mr. Fisher's addresses are instinct with a broad humanity and a spirit of real helpfulness. He is a man consumed with the idea that the welfare of the child is the nation's most vital concern, and his arguments and pleadings rest “upon the right of human beings to be considered as ends in themselves, and to be entitled, so far as our imperfect social arrangements may permit, to know and enjoy all the best that life can offer in the sphere of knowledge, emotion, and hope.” In this faith he goes forward on his high mission, confident that he will win the support of all who desire the highest well-being of the nation.

Educational Reform.

Speeches delivered by the Rt. Hon. H. A. L. Fisher. Pp. xvi + 101. (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1918.) Price 1s. net.