Thus  the  educational  system  produces  inferiority  and  then  sterility .sx   This  amiable  practice  , so  far  as  it  affects  the  adult  end  , has  been  described  by  one  authority  as  " taming  wild  students .sx   " A  still  higher  authority  probably  regards  it  as  castrating  the  commune .sx   
A  sincere  adult  educational  association  fearlessly  recognizing  the  political  nature  of  its  existence  and  the  futility  of  its  own  exertions  would  soon  effect  an  alteration .sx   Such  a  change  , however  , seems  hopelessly  remote  , for  the  adult  educational  movement  has  been  functioning  long  enough  to  have  become  highly  respectable .sx   This  quality  is  augmented  by  the  prevalence  of  cap  and  gown  , symbols  of  authority  , and  the  predominance  of  the  grant-grubbers .sx   One  can  confidently  anticipate  the  continuance  of  the  status  quo  , for  no  wise  government  will  abolish  grants  even  although  other  services  may  be  curtailed .sx   Indeed  , a  government  may  go  so  far  as  to  hold  out  hopes  of  increased  support  as  times  grow  more  difficult  , assured  of  the  fact  that  the  university  tutorial  class  will  remain  the  apotheosis  of  the  village  pump .sx   
Until  the  political  consciousness  emerges  on  the  plane  of  reality  one  can  only  hope  for  a  major  internal  reform  to  be  effected .sx   The  nature  of  this  reform  becomes  apparent  when  one  observes  the  adult  class  in  action  , that  is  , in  discussion .sx   Here  the  most  pronounced  feature  is  the  heterogeneous  nature  of  the  class .sx   The  mutual  exchange  of  opinions  by  people  of  different  type  has  its  advantages  , especially  during  the  study  of  such  subjects  as  the  social  sciences  where  each  student's  experience  may  be  unique  and  therefore  valuable .sx   But  to  extol  the  advantages  of  heterogeneity  and  ignore  the  disadvantages  is  simply  to  refuse  recognition  of  the  major  symptom  of  the  disease  that  is  threatening  adult  education .sx   The  age  distribution  alone  of  most  classes  is  sufficient  to  produce  tremendous  barriers .sx   Older  members  , mostly  the  product  of  the  cane-and-cram-them  period  , naturally  approach  adult  education  from  a  different  angle  than  the  young  student  who  has  lately  left  some  form  of  consecutive  study .sx   No  better  place  exists  for  observing  the  results  of  a  continuous  education  than  the  adult  class .sx   Those  whose  memory  of  the  secondary  or  technical  school  is  still  green  are  clearly  marked  from  the  older  people  , not  so  much  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  more  systematic  organization  of  factual   .sx

knowledge  , but  that  most  young  students  have  formed  good  mental  habits .sx   The  ability  to  discriminate  and  generalize  is  far  more  pronounced  in  the  continuous  student  than  in  one  whose  educational  career  has  suffered  an  hiatus .sx   One  hears  much  of  the  educating  influences  of  life  and  one  must  agree  that  there  is  something  in  this  assertion  if  life  be  understood  as  being  full  and  free .sx   The  life  of  most  adult  students  , however  , is  a  syncopated  affair  from  one  Friday  to  the  next .sx   Dogmatism  , although  natural  to  age  , is  at  times  annoying  , and  certainly  of  doubtful  value  in  discussion .sx   None  can  but  admire  an  old  man  whose  enthusiasm  leads  him  publicly  to  proclaim  the  virtues  of  proportional  representation  or  the  taxation  of  land  values  , but  to  sit  through  a  twenty-four  lecture  course  with  such  an  advocate  demands  something  more  than  enthusiasm  on  the  part  of  the  younger  student .sx   
The  sex  grouping  of  adult  classes  is  becoming  important  in  view  of  the  fact  that  women  students  are  numerically  in  the  ascendant .sx   Although  many  of  these  students  are  of  the  utmost  value  to  voluntary  educational  associations  by  rendering  services  that  men  usually  avoid  it  cannot  be  said  that  they  have  received  any  special  consideration .sx   It  is  false  to  assume  that  men  and  women  are  mentally  similar  and  that  the  same  educational  technique  is  suitable  for  both  sexes .sx   There  is  , it  is  true  , a  growing  number  of  masculine  women  , the  sort  who  proclaim  the  independence  of  their  sex  concurrently  with  the  imitation  of  masculine  habits  , dress  and  tonsure  , and  for  such  folk  co-education  seems  essential .sx   But  what  may  be  called  the  feminine  woman  is  a  student  vastly  different  from  the  male .sx   Her  interests  , powers  of  observation  and  self-expression  are  on  an  altogether  different  plane .sx   In  a  class  of  men  and  masculine  women  the  purely  feminine  student  is  neglected  and  the  hostile  atmosphere  may  be  sufficient  to  cause  her  to  take  no  further  interest  in  the  class .sx   The  institution  of  women's  classes  would  do  much  to  remedy  this  state  of  affairs .sx   
In  discussion  the  effects  of  vocation  on  an  individual's  mental  characteristics  become  apparent .sx   Undoubtedly  such  effects  are  diminishing  , but  their  existence  in  however  small  a  degree  is  sufficient  to  increase  the  complexity  of  the  adult  class .sx   Time  was  when  the  craftsman  was  in  emotional  and  intellectual  contact  with  his  material  , and  his  creative  faculties  were  given  full  rein .sx   Now  that  production   .sx
is  being  revolutionized  by  treating  the  labourer  as  a  non-rational  being  , which  process  it  has  pleased  some  wag  to  call  the  rationalization  of  industry  , employment  cannot  be  said  to  be  of  educational  value .sx   Indeed  , the  nature  of  some  men's  work  is  sufficient  to  prevent  further  intellectual  development .sx   Most  parents  are  aware  of  the  dehumanizing  effects  of  the  factory  and  advise  their  children  to  seek  a  more  congenial  vocation .sx   The  adolescent  does  not  require  much  persuasion  in  this  direction  , for  an  office  life  has  attractions  and  advantages  unknown  in  the  factory .sx   Recruitment  to  industry  is  thus  affected  and  the  rough  differentiation  of  mental  types  into  black-coated  and  manual  workers  becomes  more  marked  when  a  few  years  of  employment  have  elapsed .sx   Already  the  results  of  such  differentiation  are  apparent  in  the  adult  educational  sphere  , for  an  analysis  of  the  vocations  of  students  shows  that  black-coated  workers  are  becoming  more  numerous  than  their  brothers  in  the  workshop .sx   This  tendency  cannot  be  regarded  as  desirable  and  attempts  should  be  made  to  divert  some  of  the  interests  of  the  manual  worker  to  cultural  affairs .sx   A  monotonous  factory  existence  demands  a  leisure  of  sensation  and  excitement  and  unfortunately  this  cannot  be  found  in  the  adult  class-room .sx   There  is  a  psychological  limit  to  the  degree  of  sensation  that  an  individual  can  experience  and  it  is  evident  that  adult  education  organizers  are  confidently  anticipating  that  event .sx   
The  motives  prompting  students  to  join  and  remain  interested  in  the  adult  education  movement  vary  from  extreme  egoism  to  a  polite  desire  to  keep  the  show  going .sx   Students'  contributions  to  the  adult  class  and  the  treatment  that  they  expect  differ  sufficiently  to  constitute  a  positive  hindrance  to  serious  study .sx   The  dilettante  who  treats  his  education  like  a  menu  card  is  bound  to  cause  trouble  in  a  class  of  students  who  are  anxious  to  devour  every  scrap  of  knowledge  and  apply  it  to  their  political  pursuits .sx   Similarly  , the  student  who  considers  himself  the  advance-guard  of  some  ultra-revolutionary  movement  can  be  such  a  nuisance  as  to  cause  some  of  the  members  to  leave .sx   
Clearly  the  complex  heterogeneity  arising  from  differences  of  motive  , age  , sex  and  vocation  is  sufficient  to  call  for  a  special  educational  technique .sx   The  administrator  and  organizer  have  failed  to  formulate  and  foster  the  correct  method  of  conducting  adult  educationand  their  inefficiency  in  this  respect  has  been  a  principal  cause  for  the  apathy  with  which  the  majority  of  our  citizens  regard  cultural  institutions .sx   The  class  system  is  quite  all  right  when  the  students  are  comparatively  homogeneous  , indeed  , the  word  class  becomes  a  misnomer  if  the  students  are  not  mentally  similar  , but  to  make  it  universal  in  adult  education  simply  shows  a  complete  lack  of  understanding  of  the  nature  of  the  adult  student .sx   
Individual  tuition  is  the  student's  ideal  and  although  this  will  eternally  remain  financially  impossible  yet  a  sufficiently  good  enough  approximation  can  be  made  with  the  existing  machinery  to  satisfy  the  majority  of  students .sx   By  substituting  a  regional  plan  for  the  existing  system  of  separate  classes  and  allowing  a  student  to  pass  from  one  tutor  to  another  a  new  lease  of  life  would  be  given  to  the  adult  educational  movement .sx   The  most  popular  subjects  at  present  studied  can  be  conveniently  generalized  as  Sociology  , Art  and  Natural  Science .sx   Tutors  within  a  given  area  and  possessing  the  necessary  qualifications  to  lecture  in  one  of  these  main  divisions  could  correlate  their  syllabuses  , and  a  comprehensive  programme  containing  names  of  tutors  , times  and  places  of  meeting  and  a  precis  of  the  subject  matter  of  each  lecture  could  be  published  some  time  before  the  commencement  of  each  session .sx   Armed  with  such  a  pamphlet  the  voracious  student  could  spend  a  winter  of  delight .sx   Whereas  now  one  has  to  sit  through  two  or  three  lectures  specially  designed  for  fellow  class-members  whose  requirements  differ  from  one's  own  , under  a  regional  system  a  selection  of  lectures  on  those  particular  aspects  of  the  general  subject  of  greatest  appeal  to  the  individual  could  be  made  and  attendances  planned  accordingly .sx   
Such  an  arrangement  calls  for  ingenuity  on  the  part  of  organizers  and  tutors  and  discrimination  by  the  students  , but  its  universal  adoption  would  serve  to  create  a  new  interest  and  stimulate  everyone  to  fresh  endeavours  sufficient  to  more  than  balance  any  initial  disadvantages  that  the  change-over  may  entail .sx   The  organizer  will  have  to  do  some  organizing  and  drop  the  supervising  attitude  that  he  has  adopted  in  recent  years .sx   He  will  have  to  plan  each  regional  unit  so  that  it  is  small  enough  for  students  to  experience  minimum  difficulty  in  getting  from  one  meeting-place  to  another  and  yet  large  enough  to  admit  of  a  good  selection  of  tutors .sx   Rural  areas  may  be  difficult  to   .sx
plan  and  a  sparse  population  may  necessitate  the  continuation  of  the  class  system .sx   Fortunately  rural  students  are  much  of  a  type  , and  the  resulting  homogeneity  of  the  class  allows  a  high  degree  of  efficiency  to  be  obtained .sx   
The  public  exhibition  of  his  syllabus  and  the  harassing  prospect  of  a  strange  voice  in  discussion  will  stimulate  the  tutor  to  nobler  efforts .sx   The  too-frequent  syllabus  that  commences  " Lecture  No .sx   i.  Introduction .sx   Nature  and  scope  of  the  subject  , " and  concludes  with  the  last  lecture  styled  " Summary  of  the  above  , " will  have  to  go .sx   It  is  a  wonder  that  such  feeble  syllabuses  have  been  accepted  and  tolerated  for  so  long  , as  the  adult  student  likes  to  make  a  flying  start  and  finish  with  a  click .sx   Tutors  will  have  to  take  a  wider  interest  in  the  main  division  of  knowledge  in  which  their  subject  falls .sx   The  perennial  single-subject  tutor  who  confidently  expects  to  repeat  his  orderly  array  of  lectures  word  for  word  , as  he  has  done  for  the  last  ten  years  or  so  , will  find  the  regional  system  unsuitable  to  his  technique .sx   Adult  education  will  suffer  no  real  loss  , however  , by  the  retirement  of  the  mono-mentor .sx   Some  tutors  may  object  to  the  loss  of  personal  contact  that  a  migrating  studenthood  entails .sx   Such  an  objection  arises  from  a  false  estimate  of  the  students'  wishes .sx   All  that  is  required  of  the  tutor  is  that  he  should  lecture  and  not  employ  those  music-hall  artifices  that  make  the  teacher  something  between  an  actor  and  an  acrobat .sx   The  elementary-school  antics  of  some  tutors  are  positively  repulsive  to  the  adult  student .sx   It  is  quite  bad  enough  to  attend  lectures  in  an  elementary  class-room  , adapt  the  form  to  infant  desks  , write  notes  on  one's  knees  and  sample  an  atmosphere  already  exploited  by  forty  or  fifty  other  human  beings .sx   
A  possible  effect  of  the  regional  system  is  the  closer  co-operation  and  even  partial  amalgamation  of  the  various  bodies  promoting  adult  education .sx   The  prevailing  overlapping  , antagonism  and  inefficiency  that  one  finds  could  easily  be  remedied  if  the  separate  associations  stopped  worshipping  their  birth  certificates .sx   Honest  rivalry  has  its  advantages  , but  the  competition  in  adult  education  cannot  be  honoured  with  such  a  lofty  title .sx   Some  bodies  have  sought  to  increase  their  strength  by  prostituting  their  resources  , corrupting  culture  and  presenting  the  student  with  a  false  scale  of  values .sx   One  particular  organization  is  fond  of  week-end  schools  to  which  so-called  delegatesare  sent  carriage-paid  from  branches  near  and  far .sx   Usually  the  tutor  at  these  week-end  parties  has  been  at  the  game  before .sx   Knowing  the  political  bias  and  prejudices  of  his  audience  he  can  deliver  his  lecture  in  such  a  way  as  to  evoke  a  rapturous  response  , and  if  he  tells  the  students  something  that  they  already  know  the  success  of  the  school  is  assured .sx   Votes  of  thanks  are  passed  and  the  tutor  is  promised  another  engagement  , and  a  fee  , at  some  future  date .sx