Transcript
"most the schools are kept up for the benifit[sic] of the masters, not of the boys"!
And so it is -- so long as the prevalent system is Easiest to the masters, & schooling is as profitable as it now is, we have little chance of a rapid reform -- except in such Institutions as are accessible to & amenable to public opinion -- & these are the public schools.
With united kind
*1
Royal Gardens Kew
Kew
May 16 [18]/67
Dear Mr Grant Duff *2
Many thanks for your address, which I am reading with very great interest.
I can quite go along with you as far as I have gone, -- the three sorts of Classical training. The difficulty in my case is, to know which to
choose for my lads -- they do develop so unequally, & often so spasmodically.
An eminent school master opened my eyes to a great truth, often overlooked, which lies at the root of much of the evil: the other day -- when discussing Existing modes of Education -- by incidentally saying
"most the schools are kept up for the benifit[sic] of the masters, not of the boys"!
And so it is -- so long as the prevalent system is Easiest to the masters, & schooling is as profitable as it now is, we have little chance of a rapid reform -- except in such Institutions as are accessible to & amenable to public opinion -- & these are the public schools.
With united kind
regards
Very sin[cerel]y y[our]s | Jos .D. Hooker [signature]
1. There are two annotations on page 1 which appear to be later additions and not written in the hand of Joseph Hooker. Written vertically up the left hand margin, in pencil, is "Returned by Lady G D". Written horizontally in the top right hand corner, in ink, is "Hooker".
2. Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff (1829--1906). Scottish politician, author and administrator. He served as the Under Secretary of State for India from 1868 to 1874, Under Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1880 to 1881 and the Governor of Madras from 1881 to 1886. During the last appointment he took great interest in the gardens of Government Houses in Madras [Chennai] & Ootacamund [Udagamandalam]. Letters from Grant Duff to RBG Kew can be found in our online collection of Directors’ Correspondence hosted at http://plants.jstor.org/
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