Horace Mann

“ There is no work, however humble or mechanical, which cannot be better done by an intelligent than by a stupid officer; and if it be feared that the victors in competition would be above their duties, we may be assured that this is an evil which, independently of the remedy to be found in official discipline, would work its own cure as competitions became thoroughly established and familiar. ”

“ The old fable would again be realized: the young men digging up the field for the sake of the hidden treasure, would find in the fruitful soil a greater treasure than the one which they had vainly sought for. ”

“ Without saying that open competition is not perfectly applicable, it may nevertheless be advisable, especially with reference to the class of officers now under consideration, that the first alteration in the present system should be of a less thorough character, and such as might afterwards be treated either as a step towards, or a substitute for, open competition, just as experience should recommend. It certainly also appears to me that the plan of nomination might be made of essential use in providing satisfactory guarantees of the character of competitors. ”

“ As none of the prizes could be realized before the age of 17, and most of them not until 19 or 20, there would necessarily be in almost every case an interval between the school and the competition. This would no doubt be passed in labour of some description; and beneficially so, for labour is itself a part of education, and a very valuable part. But the tendency of the plan proposed would be to induce the young men attracted by these prizes to unite with the education afforded by labour the knowledge gained from books and personal instructors. ”

“ When, therefore, it is said that a literary examination furnishes no sure test of official aptitude, which consists mainly in industry, intelligence, sound judgment, and various moral qualities, the reply is—Does it not furnish a better test of these qualifications than the system of Patronage? It is quite true that success in a literary competition affords only a presumption of the existence of the requisite ability and fitness ”

“ Superiority in a literary contest reveals at least the existence of industry and intelligence; and, without contending that these qualities must necessarily be accompanied by all the other important requisites, it is at all events more likely that the latter will be found where the former are known to be present than where they have not been discovered. No doubt, it is quite possible that the very best man in such a contest might not be so well adapted for the situation to be filled as one of his unsuccessful rivals ”

“ Not only Schools, but also churches, chapels, effective preaching, public libraries, newspapers, better dwellings, postal facilities, the possession or the prospect of the franchise—in short all things which are calculated to arouse ambition or awaken curiosity in men—are so many means of extending education. And of such means Competition would be one, and probably no unimportant one. It is true that six hundred prizes annually may seem an insignificant affair amongst the multitudes of our young population ”

“ If the nominators of candidates were such as could speak of them from the results of a personal, rather than a mere political acquaintance, and especially if this personal knowledge had been acquired in the discharge of semi-public functions rather than from the circumstance of private relationship or friendship, we should have not merely a much better security than we have at present, but also about the best security attainable, that such as might be admitted into the public service could be persons of unexceptionable character and conduct. ”

“ Then, again, to take those moral qualities which are even more essential than are mental qualifications to the efficiency of a public servant; are not the means of investigating the character of candidates as available under the system of competition as under that of Government nomination? ”

“ Would not many parents of lads 14 years old, when scheming for their settlement in life, be glad to look forward to the chance of their employment five or six years afterwards in the Post Office, Excise, or Customs? and would they not therefore be induced, for the sake of increasing this chance, to continue the school instruction for (say) two years more? A parent of this class is not without shrewdness in such calculations, and probably he would argue with himself, acutely enough, that if he took his boy away at once, the chance of a nomination would be almost worthless ”

“ The fallibility of the competition test could only be fatal to the principle of competition if the existing test, or some other practicable test, were proved to be infallible. As the facts at present stand, the real question is, whether, as a means of discovering fitness, Competition is not better than mere Nomination. If the alternative were—fallible Competition against infallible Patronage, the question of a choice between them could be raised only to be dismissed ”

“ In the first place, as the Reports of the Civil Service Commissioners prove that, on an average, one out of every three of the Candidates who come before them is incompetent to pass even a test examination, the competition is virtually between two only for each vacancy. In the next place, the present plan affords no security for the proper allocation of the successful competitors. ”

“ The objection seems to me to be peculiarly inapplicable under present circumstances; for, in the first place, nearly all the appointments in the Customs and Excise are now made wholly irrespective of the heads of those departments, and in the next place, it is notorious that the great majority of appointments, whether made by the Treasury or not, are made for considerations not exclusively connected with the public interests. The result is, that a government situation now is regarded by the nominee much as if it were a piece of property in the gift of his patron ”

“ The permanent number of expectants would probably not be much greater than the present plentiful supply; but they would be of a different and a better class—persons who would rely for success upon their own qualifications and not upon political services—persons also whose very training for the competition would facilitate their employment in another sphere of labour, in case they should fail in their endeavours to enter the service of the State. ”

“ For practically the course pursued by parents with respect to their children's education, will generally be determined by a rough, shrewd calculation of the balance of material advantages. If it is likely to pay to keep the children at school, they will be kept there; if it is likely to pay better to take them away, they will be taken away. The question, therefore, which I put is, whether the distribution every year of 700 prizes, each worth from £50 to £80 per annum, with further prospects, would not be likely to make education appear to very many parents a better speculation than ignorance ”

“ The public has as much right as have private persons to decline to be ill-served, and no tenderness need be felt at getting rid of those who, knowing the conditions of the contract, voluntarily enter the service of the State. ”

“ It is therefore evident that the prizes could not be awarded for prolonged School-attendance alone, so as to be enjoyed immediately upon the performance of that condition. But would not the practical result be even far more beneficial? Could we not secure, in fact, not only a longer attendance at School, but also a better employment of the after-School life, so that not only should there be more time in which to plant the seeds of knowledge, but greater security that whatever has been planted will be saved from perishing? ”

“ The great evil of the present mode of treatment is that the good men are not adequately rewarded and the bad men are not sufficiently punished. I believe that the introduction of competition would render both courses more easy; though, singularly enough, it is one of the objections brought against that plan, that it would weaken the authority of the Heads of Departments, who, it is said, could not be fairly held responsible for the conduct and efficiency of officers imposed upon them by an external power. ”

“ There always will be a certain number of situations to be filled up every year: it is impossible therefore to prevent the existence of a large class of persons desirous of filling them. It can scarely then be considered a disadvantage that this inevitable number of applicants should consist of those who have ability and industry to give in exchange to the Government, instead of those who have only votes to sell to members of Parliament. ”

“ As each competition has reference to one particular appointment, it is not merely probable but certain that some of the best men will be placed in the least important positions, and that far inferior persons will obtain the highest prizes and be intrusted with the most responsible functions. ”

“ For, in the first place, although these situations cannot be bestowed as the rewards of longer school-attendance merely, yet the point is, whether—if prolonged School attendance were found to be practically the most certain method of obtaining a nomination—the desire of contending for a prize at a future time would not be sufficient inducement to insure in many cases the adoption of this means of attaining the wished for opportunity. ”

“ But, if it be apparent that a certain alteration would not only attain this prime and essential object but would also produce, as one of its results, a wide extension of popular education, there can be nothing which should prevent a friend of education, or an Educational Conference, from advocating such an alteration for the sake of that result. ”

“ And then, lastly, it is no unimportant advantage of this scheme, at a time when financiers are disposed to look with alarm at the annually increasing burden of the Educational grants, that the improvement, of whatever extent, it might be, thus effected in the Educational position of the working classes, would be effected at an insignificant expense to the State. Beyond a slight addition perhaps to the amount of capitation grants, the work would be done at the cost of the people themselves. ”

“ Surely such a spectacle, continually repeated, would produce even in the minds of the mass of non-competitors a sense of the value of instruction, when they should see, as see they would, that the benefits obtained were not confined to the victors, but that even the vanquished gained some prize, though not the one expected. ”

“ But it must be remembered that their power is limited to this prevention of abuses: they can turn back those who are absolutely too bad to be admitted; but they cannot secure the admission of those only who are the best amongst the competent. The effect of the present scheme is (1) that the utterly-incapable are all excluded, which is an evident advantage, and (2) that those who are admitted are not-utterly-incapable, which is also satisfactory, though not so satisfactory as would be the assurance that all were actually capable and the most capable that could be procured. ”

“ Especially are we entitled to expect that with a Government anxious to promote the education of the people such collateral benefits as would flow from the change now proposed would have considerable influence; and that a plan which would stimulate the people in some measure to educate themselves would be felt to be quite as legitimate an encouragement for the State to offer as the direct payment of £1,000,000 per annum from the public taxes. ”

“ As to subsequent advancement, the chances depend upon so many varying elements—such as the different number of clerks in each sub-department and in each class, the different scales of salary established for each sub-department and class, the different rates at which salaries annually increase in different sub-departments and classes, and the number of offices, above the rank of clerkships, to which clerks may be promoted—that it is next to impossible to make any average valuation. ”

“ As the examination papers would be prepared at the Central Office in London, and as the performances of the candidates would all be transmitted thither for analysis and judgment, it would only be necessary to secure the presence at the local examinations of a trustworthy, intelligent, and business-like officer, capable of carrying out the requisite mechanical arrangements, and ensuring order and fairness in the contest. ”

“ As to a supposed inexpediency, on economic grounds, of attracting persons from private to the public service, there can be little doubt that things would soon arrange themselves as regularly and quietly in this branch of employment as they do in every other. ”

“ Temple, whatever may be the merit of any single victor in such a trial as compared with any single nominee, it is quite certain that the first twenty victors will be better and fitter than any other twenty. And what he says with respect to candidates for clerkships I venture to say with respect to candidates for inferior positions, and to express my belief that twenty Tidewaiters who could read, write, and cipher well, and compose a sensible letter on an ordinary topic would be not only better men but better Tidewaiters than twenty less-instructed officers. ”

“ This, indeed, is perhaps the most critical period in the educational life; and it is to be feared that at present, without adequate inducements to the preservation of what has been acquired at School, this critical period is employed by great numbers of young persons in simply getting rid of all they had previously learned. ”