Abstract
MR. LLOYD GEORGE is presumably busy forming his new Government, and rumour has it that many changes of personnel are imminent. Some two years ago, on the formation of the second Coalition Government, a novel departure was made under the stress of war conditions in the selection of men for certain appointments, not in virtue of political services for which due reward must be found, but in respect of peculiar fitness and proved experience of the work to be done. Among those invited to accept office was Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, who had won the confidence of all classes in the area covered by the operations of the University by the tact, judgment, and broad sympathy with all forms of education he had displayed in the discharge of his duties. He was invited by Mr. Lloyd George to accept the Presidency of the Board of Education vacated by Lord Crewe, and he consented, a seat in the House being found for him in the Hallam division of Sheffield. Mr. Fisher has proved a success, not merely in the discharge of his duties as President, but also in the advocacy of a far-reaching, not to say revolutionary, Education Act, and of a measure of long-delayed justice to the teachers in the shape of a Superannuation Act, which will go far to make the profession of the teacher attractive. He has won golden opinions by the skill and judgment he displayed in piloting these measures through the House, and he has breathed a new atmosphere into the Board of Education which “brings hope with it and forward-looking thoughts.” These two measures stand to his infinite credit; they still need careful guidance in order to reap their full fruit and to make way for further developments; and yet it is said that a change in Mr. Fisher's position is imminent, born of his very success. No department of the State has suffered more than that of education by the constant changes of its chief—there have been no fewer than ten since 1902—but it would not be so were its status and its vital importance to the national well-being rightly regarded. It ought to rank with the highest Cabinet offices, and be remunerated accordingly. It demands special knowledge and experience for its due discharge, and in Mr. Fisher we have the man who rejoices in both, united with an enthusiasm and devotion but rarely witnessed. That he should be assigned some other duties in the political sphere would excite a feeling of grave disappointment throughout the country at this critical time.
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Mr. Fisher and the Board of Education . Nature 102, 376 (1919). https://doi.org/10.1038/102376a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102376a0