'
Hence useless, fanciful subjects were in vogue;--algebra, as it were,
before arithmetic;--and the poor made every sacrifice to give their sons a
smattering of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. The desire of entering the
'professions' naturally affected the standard of education. What is still
wanted at Sa Leone is to raise the mass by giving to their teaching a more
practical turn, which shall cultivate habits of industry, economy, and
self-respect, and encourage handicrafts and agriculture as well as trade.
I have already noticed the Fourah Bay College. The Church Missionary
Grammar-School, opened in 1845, prepares boarders and day-scholars for
university education; and the curriculum is that of an ordinary English
grammar-school. The establishment, which has already admitted over 1,000
boys, is now self-supporting, and has an invested surplus, with which
tutors are sent to England for higher instruction in 'paedagogia.' The
Wesleyan High School for Boys, opened in 1874, receives youths from
neighbouring colonies; that for girls, originating with Mrs. Godman, the
wife of a veteran missionary still on the Coast, was founded in 1879. It
was cordially taken up by the natives, who subscribed all the funds.
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