ABSTRACT
THE traditional curriculum of the grammar school was based upon the study of Latin, 'which down to the first half of the eighteenth century was still to a great extent the language of theology, law, science, and even diplomacy'. 1 With the later addition of Greek, this narrow curriculum was continued, in spite of repeated attempts at reform, right into the nineteenth century, although sometimes the elements of history and geography were included, and French, arithmetic, writing and drawing were taught as 'extras'. In the latter half of the century the demand for reform grew more urgent, and men like Professor T. H. Huxley, John Tyndall and Michael Faraday campaigned for the inclusion of the natural sciences. Uneasiness as to the industrial progress of Great Britain, aroused by the Paris Exhibition of 1867, led to the demand for the extension of both scientific and technological education. At the same time, the success of foreign competitors, especially Germany, aroused interest in foreign educational systems. A Royal Commission which reported in 1884 was set up specifically 'to inquire into the instruction of the industrial classes of certain foreign countries'.
