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and in another way by the common school. The directors of higher education affirmed that Latin, Greek, and mathematics furnished the truly disciplinary studies fit for the foundation of all literal education. Modern literature and the sciences on the other hand were not and could not become culture studies, although they might be useful in the way of accomplishments in practical life. Accordingly, the colleges proceeded to recognize the moderns by admitting them into the course of study at the end. During the fourth or senior year of college the student was given a rapid survey of the sciences and of some of the great works of modern literary art. But the college did not encourage the introduction of modern literature and natural science into the preparatory school. Consequently the pupil who left school during his preparatory course or before the senior year of college found himself ignorant of these two great and rapidly growing provinces of human learning.

But the public-school system has taken a different direction in the matter. It has been under the supervision and management of less highly educated menthat is to say, of men less thoroughly instructed in the forms of the past, and as a result less conservative. When the moderns appealed for a place in the course of study some concession was at once made to the demand. A tendency has been established to recognize the moderns throughout the course of study. First, modern literature was admitted in the shape of a graded series of school readers containing many of the gems of English and American literature, and much, too, that was written in mere colloquial English, and much that was trashy in its style and thought.

In the geographical text-book there was an attempt at a survey of the physical world in its relations to man, the world in its mathematical features of size, shape, and motions, in its physical aspects of interacting forces of light, heat, moisture, and gravitation, and finally, in its biological aspects of plant life, animal life, and the races of men.

This geographical text-book also drew on the social sciences and introduced scraps of information regarding political economy, the occupations of men, and also the political institutions, the laws and customs and religion. Geography has therefore developed from the beginning into a sort of compend of natural sciences, affording the pupil a survey of the results of the modern sciences, both in the physical and social world.

Having conceded to the demands of the moderns in the elementary school in these respects and in the introduction of a history of the fatherland, it remained next to emphasize this tendency still more in the secondary public school, and to make the high-school course of study include more thorough work in English literature, universal history, three or four selected sciences like geology, astronomy, physiology, and chemistry, in addition to the mathematics and some modern or ancient language.

It might be claimed that the graduates of the high school had a broader education; his education, under good teachers, might even be thorough, but certainly in his preparation in Latin and Greek the amount was not sufficient to give the high-school pupil a fair chance by the side of the graduate of the special preparatory school.

The directors of the common schools have therefore been compelled to establish a double course, a classical and an English course, in the public high school, a procedure so foreign to the spirit of the entire common-school course of study that it has only partially succeeded.

Adapt the high schools to the colleges.-Superintendent N. C. Dougherty, of Peoria, Ill. What could be more natural than that the higher should reach down and adapt the lower to itself? The high schools are here to stay. If the education given by them in the past is not in all respects just what is needed, let us improve upon it. Let us make it better and better, as the years go by, until it shall supply just what is needed. Let us remember that we do the best for the boy who stops with a high-school education when we do nothing to impede the progress of the other boy who goes on to a college graduation.

The specific problem at the present time.-Nicholas Murray Butler: The marked difference at the present time between the general educational organization in this country and in Europe is to be found in the fact that in Europe the elementary school is not as a rule in complete coordination with the secondary school and the university; while in the United States the connection between the elementary and the secondary school is complete, but that between the secondary school and the university is wanting. Therefore the specific problem in educational organization that the American people have to deal with at the present

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time is the coordinating of the secondary and the superior instruction. This will be done by the high schools, the academies, and the colleges. In this organization the American college will always continue to occupy a prominent place. * * The college should rest upon the high school, and should not raise its requirements for admission to such an extent that high school graduates may not pass easily and naturally into it. The contemporary demand for a shortening of the time devoted to obtaining both a college and a professional education is a sound one, and must be heeded. The shortening, however, should not take place at the expense of residence in college. That is in many ways the most valuable feature of American higher education. It can not be sacrificed without gravest loss. The problem can best be met by welding the college and the professional school together, and admitting certain preliminary professional studies, as clectives, into the course leading to the degree of bachelor of arts.

Shortening the preparatory course.-President H. E. Webster, of Union College (N. Y.): Nothing can be better established than that the colleges are entirely dependent on the secondary schools for their support and success. If the schools are weak, inefficient, the college that draws from them can not have a high standard. The eastern colleges have been for many years demanding more and more of the preparatory schools. The requirements for admission to college have been increased; the age of graduation for the average student is much greater than it was in the past. Meantime, competition for places in life has become sharper than ever. And now the cry goes out, college graduates are too old; the course must be shortened; men must get into life earlier. And so they ought. But if a change is to be made, let it be in the requirements for admission to college, not in the length of the college course. Any college man will maintain that college life is worth more to a young man than life in a preparatory school, no matter how well conducted. As it seems to me, no greater mistake can be made than to shorten the college course. This, of course, for the average man. Every college course is arranged for the average man. The excep tional man-let him graduate whenever he has done his work.

There is one great trouble with the high schools. They are doing much of the work that ought to be done in colleges, and for this they have good grounds. Only a small number of students in high schools expect or intend to enter college. It is well that those who can not enter any higher institution of learning should receive instruction in many branches which properly belong in the college course. But in every such school there ought to be a course arranged for young men and women who do intend to "go up higher." The time of preparation would then be much shortened, because many subjects would be omitted. This would encourage students to go on with their education. For many years I was a teacher of natural science in various colleges. I say without hesitation that better work can be done (in colleges) with a student who comes fresh to the subject than with one who through his high-school training thinks that he understands the subject. I conclude in this wise:

In our high schools the teaching is excellent. All honor to those who give their lives to it. But there ought to be preparatory courses for colleges, including only such subjects as are required for admission in colleges.

That if any change is to be made so as to shorten the time for college students, it should be made in the preparatory course.

There comes a "moment of instinctive readiness” for every subject of study.—William James, professor, Harvard University: In all pedagogy the great thing is to strike the iron while hot and to seize the wave of the pupil's interest in cach successive subject before its ebb has come, so that knowedge may be got and a habit of skill acquired-a headway of interest, in short, secured on which afterward the individual may float. There is a happy moment for fixing skill in drawing, for making boys collectors in natural history, and presently dissectors and botanists; then for initiating them into the harmonies of mechanics and the wonders of physical and chemical law. Later, introspective psychology and the metaphysical and religious mysteries take their turn; and, last of all, the drama of human affairs and worldly wisdom in the widest sense of the term. In each of us a saturation point is soon reached in all these things; the impetus of our purely intellectual zeal expires, and unless the topic be one associated with some urgent personal need that keeps our wits constantly whetted about it. we settle into an equilibrium, and live on what we learned when our interest was fiesh and instinctive without adding to the store. Out-ide of their own business the ideas gained by men before they are twenty-five are practically the only ideas they shall have in their lives. They can not get anything new. Disinterested curiosity is past, the mental grooves and channels set, the power of assimilation

gone. If by chance we ever do learn anything about some entirely new topic we are afflicted with a strange sense of insecurity and we fear to advance a resolute opinion. But with things learned in the plastic days of instructive curiosity we never lose entirely our sense of being at home. There remains a kinship, a sentiment of intimate acquaintance, which, even when we know we have failed to keep abreast of the subject, flatters us with a sense of power over it and makes us feel not altogether out of the pale. Whatever individual exceptions to this might be cited are of the sort that prove the rule."

To detect the moment of the instinctive readiness for the subject is, then, the first duty of every educator. As for the pupils, it would probably lead to a more earnest temper on the part of college students if they had less belief in their unlimited future intellectual potentialities, and could be brought to realize that whatever physics and political economy and philosophy they are now acquiring are, for better or worse, the physics and political economy and philosophy that will have to serve them to the end.

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Modern studies may furnish a liberal education.-J. E. C. Welldon, head master. Harrow School, England (in the Academy): Speaking generally, with the experience of a school in which a modern education has been tried on a large scale, I may give it as my clear opinion that the boys who have been educated in modern subjects deserve to be accredited with a liberal education in the same sense and to the same extent as other boys. In their intellectual characteristics, so far as I can estimate them, they are not altogether like the classical boys; but they are not inferior. *They are, in many instances, boys of keen and active intelligence. In the range of their culture and the discipline of their mental powers they are the equals of boys who have received a classical education; in the intellectual interest which they feel in their studies they are not infrequently superior. They win their share of the prizes and distinctions which are accorded to intellectual merit in public schools. If it is necessary to mention one particular point in which they sometimes fall below their classical rivals it may be said to be the habit of accuracy, of perseverance, and of sustained and concentrated attention to a subject which is not at once interesting and attractive and demands a large amount of patient, painstaking effort if it is to be effectively pursued.

Flexibility in courses of study-F. W. Parker, Cook County Normal School: A course of study is an arrangement of topics and subjects in the line of development. It shows the teachers the direction of work and is a general guide in the preparation of lessons. A course of study should be adapted to the abilities of teachers. An ironclad course of study that demands compliances in every detail is a dire means of compelling uniformity. The differing circumstances of pupils demand flexibility in the adaptation of a course of study. A class badly taught through several grades can not be made to follow a course of study without disastrous results. A course of study should be under constant discussion and should be changed when necessary. It should aid teachers in doing their best work.

IV.-EDUCATION.

Education should be adapted to individual requirements-Influence of heredity and environment.-President D. C. Gilman (Johns Hopkins), in the Cosmopolitan Magazine: Every boy differs from every other boy in character as he does in appearance. Even twins, while they closely resemble one another in many respects, may differ essentially in fundamental tastes and talents. Mr. Grafton says that extreme similarity and extreme dissimilarity are nearly as common between twins of the same sex as moderate resemblance. If this is confirmed, what becomes of heredity?

The corollary is obvious that plans of education should as far as possible be adapted to individual requirements; but as every boy is preparing for life among his fellows, and as Providence has so ordered it that he is strongly influenced by other boys, it follows that to treat him alone, away from comrades, in the backwoods, in a cell, under exclusive instruction, is only justifiable under extraordinary circumstances. He comes into the world not only as an individual with his own responsibilities and possibilities, but as one of a family, a neighborhood, a race, from which he can not be extricated except by death. Isolation is therefore as unnatural as it is undesirable and difficult.

Every boy is influenced both by his inheritance and his environment; yet the laws of heredity in the human species are not well enough known to give

us any certain indications of what the child of any parents will become, while the conditions in which a person lives are as complex as the elements that nourish his body, the air he breathes, the water he drinks; as subtle and insinuating as the tones of the voice, the glance of the eye, the nod of the head, the pressure of the hand; as influential as religious faith, the forms of civil government, the habits of society, the lessons of antiquity, the examples of good men; and as trifling as a careless word, a thoughtless joke, a timely hint, a friendly warning, or a loving smile.

Seeking-wisdom rather than knowledge.-Prof. C. A. Collin (in the University Magazine): The student undergoing the process of liberal education ought to pursue some studies in which he can not see any practical utility. His soul should grow and expand under the influence of quiet and unforced reflection and meditation which has no reference and in which he can see no reference to bread and butter. In this overpractical age the student's mind sometimes needs to be forcibly turned away from the pursuit of the practically useful to the cultivation of higher wisdom of greater value than is included within the range of what is ordinarily denominated practical. There is a certain influence from the study of Greek for which there is no equivalent. In every college or university there should be at least a small body of teachers and disciples to whom the life is more than meat, who are seeking wisdom rather than knowledge, and who, from the pursuits of philosophy, the reverence of the Lord, and the culture of the soul, gain the breadth of view, the clearness of vision, the warmth of heart, and the soundness of judgment which make the strong man; and who despise the mere keenness and agility of intellect which makes men shrewd and smart. There is no danger that men taking such courses of liberal education will be too numerous. By all means encourage every man who can take such a course and has the soul capable of receiving it to do so, whether afterwards he is to pursue a professional or a business career.

The bearing of heredity upon education.-Philadelphia Ledger: One of the most important truths which science has disclosed to us, and one which is replete with suggestions as to the conduct of life, is that of heredity. Instead of conceiving, as some have done, that each child came into the world like a blank sheet of paper, on which could be inscribed at will whatever characters we chose to imprint, we now know that he is a reproduction of past generations-the result of many combinations of character, with certain aptitudes, tastes, powers, faculties, and tendencies derived from his various ancestors. Just as some of his features are said to resemble father or mother, or more distant relatives, and some are combinations of several, so in his character will be represented certain qualities of one or of another, and often a mingling of many, which together produce an individuality all his own, yet gathered from past sources. It may be thought that if this be so there can not be much left for us to do. If each child is to reproduce the past in various forms, and under laws over which we can have no control, how can we hope to alter, by our interference, what is so irrevocably settled? How can we trace fresh characters on tablets already so full of permanent inscriptions? If heredity were the only element in the building of humanity, there might be force in such an inquiry but this is not the case. Prof. Bradford, in the last number of the Educational Review, says: "Evolution works by two factors, namely, heredity, or that which tends to permanency, and environment, or that which tends to variation. The characteristic of the first is that it reproduces the past; of the second, that it adapts to new conditions that which has come from the past." This nature, so wonderfully complex, and so faithfully bearing within it the records of the past, is yet responsive to every touch from without. The environment or surroundings of the child or man always exert a potent sway over him. The influence of the air and the sunshine, of the climate, of town or country, of wealth or poverty, of civilization or barbarism, of care or neglect, of affection or indifference, of everything external, in fact, with which he comes in contact, is momentarily molding him into new forms, and modifying in various ways the nature which he has derived from the past.

Some of these influences are beyond our control, but many of them are within our power, and it is on this well-grounded truth that all our efforts at training, education, and self-culture should be based. Many of our failures in these attempts come from not bearing constantly in mind these two elements in every life. Every intelligent workman must have some appreciation of the materials with which he works. He must know what can and what can not be done with them if his skill is to be effective. To deal with them all alike and to expect

that the same treatment will produce the same results would appeal even to the most ordinary laborer as an utter absurdity. Yet in the infinitely more intricate and complex nature of man, where no two minds or hearts or dispositions are exactly similar, how common it is to apply the same methods, to urge the same motives, to exert the same influences, to use the same drill, and then to be utterly astonished that the same results do not supervene. If the builder gave no more attention to the different varieties of wood than we give to the varieties in human nature we should justly deem him incompetent and untrustworthy. It is for this reason, far more than for any curious research, that the great principle of heredity should be studied in its manifold bearings by those who aim to train children, to influence men, or to improve themselves. If it is true, it is full of meaning to us all. It suggests that if we would make impressions, or form habits, or instill virtues, or correct faults, we must know something of the nature we thus attempt to influence. What may be effectual in one instance may be powerless in another and ruinous in a third, for the needs are as varied as the natures. It is because that which the individual inherits from past ages, while ineradicable, is yet being constantly modified by what comes to him from without, and because these two forces are always cooperative that he who would direct the one must understand the other. If it be said that this view fills the whole subject of education with difficulty, it can not be denied. But if it is a real and honest difficulty, who would bury it out of sight? Must it not be faced courageously and grappled with earnestly? The possible has always spring out of what seemed at first impossible, and this is no exception. So far from producing discouragement, it opens up new fields for thought and for work, which afford the richest promises for future harvests.

The true ideal of education.-President O. D. Smith, of the Alabama Educational Association: The highest end of education is not the advantage of the power it gives a man for his own selfish uses or gratification, but it is to enable him to discharge the immutable obligations laid on him by his position in the world, by his relation to God and his fellow-man in all complex relations and activities of life. He who pursues knowledge solely for the sake of knowledge is little better than he who pursues money for the sake of money.

In our ideal of education and in our processes of working to that ideal we must not ignore the individuality of the pupil, his special talents and aptitudes. For his success and usefulness in life will be in working in fields of labor indicated by these special endowments. Therefore in his education those subjects should be selected as instruments of discipline and drill which will best develop them. Why waste time and effort to make a musician of one who has little musical talent or a mathematician of one who has no aptitude for mathematics? There is no Procrustean mold by which mind may be fashioned like castings in a foundry. It is not to be beaten, like iron, into a desired form by sledge-hammer blows of drill. Let the teacher also remember he can not create a faculty, or a power, or an aptitude that does not exist. Rather let the teacher direct his efforts to the development of those powers and faculties that respond most readily to discipline and drill in a vigorous growth and give promise of most fruitful results. This principle is being recognized in our educational institutions by wider latitude of selection in elective studies and in the differentiation of courses.

But in the selection of courses of study we should always be guided and limited by the true ideal of growth and development, and not sacrifice it to the mere acquisition of knowledge, however desirable. Let the teacher never forget that in real education we seek for results in the man himself. The object of disciplinary mental training is not to amass knowledge, but to enlarge, strengthen, and sharpen the mental powers.

While education and the acquisition of knowledge are generally coincident, they are by no means necessarily identical. It is a fact of common experience that a man may be educated in the true sense of the term without having acquired much knowledge. In fact, the amount of knowledge of any subject one can acquire at school is necessarily limited. So on the other hand a man may be a walking encyclopedia and yet have but little education, because such a man can not transmute his knowledge into power, into dynamic intellectual and moral force.

The question the busy, bustling, rustling world asks is not, How much does a man know? but, What is he? Every avocation and profession has a place for the man that is most, not the man that knows most. It is a matter of comparatively little importance whether he was educated at this or that school, or any school, whether he graduated from this or that college, or any college. The plain ED 90-72

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