elementary schools. There are now few populous areas in which there is not some suitable secondary school accessible to all classes, and there is a tendency of public opinion to regard a complete national system of secondary schools as, at all events, a desirable ideal.
And yet, in spite of these cheering considerations, our secondary education is in germ only, and is utterly incomplete as yet. At the present date we have only 161,000 scholars in secondary schools, and even these, in most cases, according to the statement of the Minister of Education in July 1911, "come in too late and go out too early." Besides, the nature of the teaching in these schools has been hitherto, and is still, unsatisfactory, for, in the words of the same authority, "there are far too few of the teachers in secondary schools who have had anything in the nature of training."
In a perfect system the next stage for our youth would be to proceed regularly from secondary to what may be termed tertiary, or University, instruction. But of course, in our present stage, such an idea is out of court, and in August 1911 the minister responsible has drawn due attention to "the apathy of the public at large" to this branch of education. Indeed, it is beyond the present hopes of practical men that the generality of our youth should even proceed so far as to attend secondary schools proper. Let us be more modest and more sober in our immediate aspirations. At present, our best efforts are directed to
