The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-28
AT COLLEGE STREET HALL
An ADDRESS ON NArIONALIzATI0N
IN EDUCATION

BY U. S. Commissioner of Education Har-
MS Before the Philosophical Club Last
Evening-Comparison of Modern sys-
TENS of Educatlon-Peculi of Eng
| lish, French and German Education.
The Hon. William T. Harris, LID,
United States commissioner of educa-
ton and a graduate Of Yale '5S, spoke
before the Philosophical club in the Col
ltge street hall at s o'clock last even
| ing.
| He was introduced by Professor
Ladd and spoke on the subject of ma
tionallzation In Modern Systems of
Education" The lecture as whole
was q survey of the various systems
| of education in some of the leading
countries in Europe and q comparison
of the continental systems with our
own and the Anglo-Saxon system.
The age is synthetic in its tenden-
| cies. and as each nation compares it's
own school system with those of other
| HolioiiS II may acquire SoiHSlHlHS VI
value to help in its own educational
work.
| England strikes our attention for it's
popularity in combining public and pri-
Vate agencies in it's system of educa-
ton. There nothing is universal but all
things are founded on compromise.
The English statesman would not think
for moment of discussing anything
which has been handed down from the
past. Nearly. all Of the superior educa-
ton is voluntary and about two-thirds
| of 1t is furnished by the universities of
Oxford and Cambridge The secondary
schools are also for the most part vol
untary and it is only when we reach
| the primary schools that we see the
! effetc of strong government influence
in regulation and studies and other
things. In England the constant de-
| mand of the government on the in
dividual is an education In itself. This
| differs widely from the continental sys-
TENS of government where the idea is
that of a government without respon-
sibility to the powers below.
The Anglo-Saxon system of education
is training nationality, and the An
glo- Saxon idea of government is giving
directive power to the individual mind.
Party politics has great power also
in the education Of the English peo-
pie.
| France is in many respects in direct
opposition to England. Here the ira
ditions of classic Greece and Rome are
more strongly felt than in any other
nation. 1t stands pre-eminent in its
love of the artistic and to-day it sets
the fashions Of the world as in former
time it was leader in much higher
| things.
The education has among its pur-
poses a unity of power love of art and
a love of power subordinated to the
love Of display in it's highest sense.
France has established In the last
twenty-five years a wonderful system
of schools.
fits school system is based on the
same idea Of Capitalization, which is
found in its government and the whole
system is easily comprehended and
supervised. The object most constantly
sought is to give training to skilled
labor. Accordingly we find everywhere
drawing and designing taught in the
schools, and many technical schools,
and schools for forestry, mining and
the like establihed. The newspaper age
has formed public opinion among the
AngloSaxon people and the same is
being felt in France and Germany.
In German education the tendency
is toward the theoretical. The Ger
man thinks before he acts, while the
Anglo Saxon is inclined to act before
he thinks, and to know the world as it
is and not as it ought to be. The Ger
man has developed the comparative
sciences and studies and attempts to
find the philosophical basis of all
things. In accordance with this Ger
man characteristic it has reduced its
military system down to a scientific
exactness.
In the United States we do not pre-
tend to have distinct system of edu-
cation but ours is in most respects
the English system. Everything is left
as much as possible to the state rather
than the national government. A
knowledge of other systems than our
own is of the greatest Importance TIC
us for it shows to us our own peculiar
tiles. Our system of education brings
the people UP to the point where they
> come in contact with that great educa-
tor, the press, which forms public opin-
, ion by setting people to thinking about
the same things.