any Public School. It seems, indeed, to be clear, even in the comparatively few cases in which this has been done, that experience has justified the experiment. By the supposition, none but trained, experienced, and successful Assistants would have a chance of being accepted, and this consideration would, in its turn, encourage them to make themselves a success in their Preparatory School. It would be one of the means of giving hopefulness to what is now usually an almost hopeless outlook. Last, and in some respects most interesting of all. Assuming what has been stated, or may be naturally inferred therefrom, as to the position and prospects of the Assistant Master-an expert in his profession, well known among the parents and old boys of the school, and a probable successor to the Headmastership-is there any reason why there should not be set on foot, to take operation after some stated period of years of faithful service, some system of profit-sharing, by the operation of which there might be brought about a greater equalisation, not merely of the pecuniary profits of the school, but of its burdens, risks, and responsibilities? Such a proposal may well be expected to be received with a good deal of general surprise and distrust. It has not been advanced without much deliberation, nor without the firm conviction that the present generation of Preparatory School Masters will not have ceased to exist before it has been put into motion in some schools, with results of such large benefit to the schools and the boys and masters of the same as I will not trust myself now to forecast. It is difficult to believe that, when the circumstances of the present situation are fully appreciated, some means will not be adopted to remove what I must repeat is to be regarded as nothing less than a blot upon the profession affected by it. I hope from my heart that I may not prove to have been mistaken, and that by some such means as those mentioned above the prospects of a body of men who are working devotedly and unostentatiously in their various schools may be more hopeful than they can fairly be regarded as being, under the present conditions. How closely bordering upon hopelessness those conditions now are, and how revolutionised that lot would be by the presence of hope is known only to these men themselves, and known to them also in exact and cruel proportion to the number of years of work that lie behind them. C. C. COTTERILL. PREPARATORY SCHOOL EQUIPMENT. PART I. STATISTICS. Questions referring to the subject of Equipment were sent to 252 schools. An analysis of the answers furnished by 120 schools gives the following results: I. THE SCHOOL (a) Boarding and Day Schools. Boarders only are received in 66 schools. Day boys and boarders received in 53 schools. Taking the whole number of boys in the 120 schools. Day boys are 18% of the whole. Taking the 54 schools in which day boys are received. (i.) Resident, or exclusively attached to the school. Masters, 471) Mistresses, 59}=530, (ii.) Visiting. Masters, 229)=314, Mistresses, 85 =314, average 27 per school. To the question as to the kind of desk used or preferred, 104 answers were given. 40 use or prefer Single Desks. Dual Desks. (8 consider the form of desk immaterial.) To the question as to "fixed" or "reversible" Desks, 81 answers were given. Of these 44 favour the fixed desk 20 favour the reversible. (ii) Lockers. To the question" should each boy have a private cupboard for books and other possessions?" 109 answers were given. 102 consider a locker desirable, but 9 add "not locked." (b) Other Rooms used for School Purposes. To the question as to the desirability of having separate rooms for Library, Music Room, Museum, Play Room, the answers received were as follows: 5 suggest a combination of Library and Museum. + 5 suggest a combination of Playroom and Gymnasium. |