The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-06-23
Mr.. Gladstone on Education.

Mr.. Gladstone on Education.
Even his political opponents have nothing
but praise for the views recently expressed
by Mr.. GLADSTONE In regard to the inter-
mediate education which follows primary
instruction and precedes university train
ing. He had occasion to discuss the ques-
ton often debated in the United States, to
what extent the classics should figure In an
intermediate course.
It will be remembered that some years
ago Mr.. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS had the
candor TO acknowledge, in presence Of
large assembly Of Harvard graduates, that.
for his own part, he could not read a line OF
Greek or q paragraph Of Latin. and the de-
duction drawn from his personal experience
was that q Harvard degree should be at
tainable without any knowledge OF the clas-
steal languages. The President and faculty
Of Harvard College seem to have so far
agreed with him that they have since made
1t possible to obtain a Harvard diploma Of
Bachelor Of Arts without knowing the Greek
alphabet, even rudimentary acquaintance
with Greek being no longer required for adj
mission to the college.
Very different Ia the position taken by Mr..
GLADSTONE. He believes that all the schools
organized under the intermediate Education
act should teach Greek, although it might
often prove impracticable for such pupils as
would be compelled to leave school at the
age OF g to earn livelihood to avail them
selves OF the instruction offered. He would
give them the opportunity, however. and to
that end would have an intermediate insti-
tuition combine the functions OF what we
should call an English high school and
classical academy. Mr.. GLADSTONE evil
IDENTIFY thinks that, no matter what might
be young mans circumstances and inten-
tions, It would do him good to study
Greek, considered as an invigorator and
humanizer of the mind. The shorter the
time which pupil is able to spend at school
the more important Is It, in Mr.. GLAD
STONES opinion. that his education should
keep in view the true object, which Is the
cultivation Of the intellect for Its own sake,
and not for the accomplishment Of any spe-
ciao practical work. Tho purpose. he said,
Of an intermediate school-a purpose all the
more paramount In the case of pupils who
will not proceed to the university-ls not to
furnish tho mind, as workshop is fur
nished, with salable products, but to make
1t "a supple, strong. effective instrument"
| fit for any uses to which 1t may be applied.
Could it be proved that the study Of Greek
is better adapted than any other intellectual
gymnastic to make the mind supple and
strong instrument, 1t would matter little
whether knowledge Of the language sur
wives to middle life. For 1t would then be
possible to say to Mr.. CHARLES FRANCIS
ADAMS, You may have forgotten Greek
but Greek has not forgotten you. 1t Ia
partly to be credited with the very neatness
and point Of the utterance In which you re-
pudiate the debt" Unfortunately, the COM
parative value Of Greek, regarded as men,
tai exercise, cannot easily be subjected to
a decisive test. An approach to such trial
was supposed to have been made at the
University Of Berlin during the ten years
preceding 1880. At the beginning OF that
decennlal period Greek ceased to be a
requisite OF admission to the university, and
q concerted attempt was made to compare
the aptitudes and achievements OF Hellenists
and non-Hellenists in other fields OF study.
At the end OF the decade reports were sub
mitted, and 1t turned out that almost all the
members OF the faculty, including con-
spicuously the representatives OF science,
bore testimony to the superior mental
alertness and efficiency of those I'M
dergraduates who had studied Greek at
preparatory schools. At first sight the con-
clusiyeneBs OF this experiment seems patent,
but 1t is disputed on several grounds. 1t is
said. in the first place. that ten years is too
short n time for a satisfactory test that you
could not expect SO speedily to break prac-
tIce which has been traditional in Germany
for centuries, tho practice namely, OF send
ing the brightest boy in family to a CLASH
cal school where the study OF Greek is I'M
avoidable 1t Is pointed out, in the second
place, that the timc gained at preparatory
schools by the non-Hellenists had for the
most part been frittered away upon studies
i'll calculated to invigorate the intellect, in
stead Of being devoted to the higher mathe-
MATES, the only study which can seriously
be put forward as equal. II not superior, to
Greek from the viewpoint OF intellectual
gymnastics. So far as 1t goes, however, the
Berlin experiment undoubtedly supports
Mr.. GLADsToNE's position that Greek should
be taught In intermediate schools.
1t is well known That at very many Eng
lish schools proficiency is stimulated and
rewarded by scholarships or exhibitions
tenable at one or another Of the English
universities One OF Mr.. GLADsToNEs most
judlcious suggestions Is that such aids To
merItorious but needy students should no
longer be confined to the young men. It u
obvious, indeed, that women will not COM