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A History of Higher Education
Wells began his higher education at 14 when he started to apprentice with a chemist. Unfortunately, he was unable to pay an adequate amount of money to continue with the chemist. Before his money problem was discovered Wells was able to take some Latin lessons at the local grammar school in Midhurst. H. G.'s hunger for education made him an incredibly fast Latin study, in about one month Wells was able to learn more than some students learned in a year. His incredible proficiency in Latin gave Wells the self-confidence that he needed to overcome his problems.
After Wells was unable to continue his apprenticeship with the chemist, his mother sent him to be a boarder with his Latin teacher. Wells was then encouraged by his Latin teacher to take an exam that he held in the field of physiology, mainly because the government gave him money of each person that passed the exam. Wells spent his time studying, with little guidance from his "teacher," and passed the exam.
After Wells had worked for two years apprenticing as a draper's shop assistant, he very nearly committed suicide. His realization that suicide was the easy way out motivated him to do something about his life. Wells then wrote Horace Byatt, his Midhurst headmaster, and asked if he could be of any help to him. Sure enough his gamble paid off and he left his apprenticeship two years early to go to Midhurst once again.
H. G.'s schedule at Midhurst was very hectic and left no time for entertainment or sufficient rest. At Midhurst Wells taught grammar school in the day and at night he went to classes. Once again Wells worked under little guidance because Byatt just wanted examination grants for students who passed. At the time there was a teacher shortage in the country and all students that passed their exams were invited to receive free training at London University's Normal School of Science. Wells took the offer and went to live in London with the 21 shillings that he received a week.
Wells was 18 when he started at the Normal School of Science and now lived in Westbourne Park. H. G.'s house in Westbourne Park was dirty, noise, overcrowded, and in a bad part of town that brought him very close to the "corsets." Wells' first teacher was T. H. Huxley who inspired Wells and grabbed his attention right away. Wells soon found that an allowance of 21 shillings a week in London was scarcely enough to feed a person. For lunch Wells would eat a roll of bread and when the end of the week came around he did not even have enough money for that. Luckily, a fellow student that was well off noticed Wells' half-starved apparency and invited Wells to eat with him on occasion.
During his time at the Normal School of Science Wells discovered that he was a socialist. Wells was so interested in developing his ideas on socialism that at times he neglected his studies. At any given time H. G. would only research and develop his ideas in one area of socialism so as to devote as much of his time to one area.
In the 1885 - 1886 school year Wells passed his exam in Zoology and was then forced to take physics. His physics professor, professor Guthrie's, was a slow and mournful man and did not inspire or excite Wells in the same way as did T. H. Huxley. In physics Wells was clumsy with the equipment and could never use the tools quite right. H. G. would often burn his hands when preforming experiments and when making things like a barometer he would often foul up.
Wells passed his physics exam and was the forced to take geology. H. G.'s geology professor was much better than his physics professor but still failed to excite Wells' curiosity in the subject. Wells became bored with geology and began to cut classes to go to the library to study sociology or go to friends and try and convert them to his social beliefs. Wells and his friends started a school paper called the Science School Journal which they would use for literature and socialism. Wells' professor at the time noticed that he was beginning to grow inattentive in class so ordered him to give up his editorial in the magazine to another student. In 1887 Wells failed his geology examination which ended his stay at the Normal School of Science.
Later when Wells was in pursuit of money, so Isabel would agree to marry him, he took a course in the summer of 1889 for intermediate science. He passed his exam and was awarded a diploma from the College of Preceptors.