The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-14

! There although there are wide differ
ences, a public school might be likened to
a superior board school. so conducted that
the children of all rich and poor can at
tend Thus enc will find the son of a btg
manufacturing engineer on the same form
as the children of the ordinary mechanics
his father employs. The educational adj
vantages to~ both are very great. The
leveling that ensues is not leyeling down,
but levelng up | am told there is no
hostility between the two classes, but
that their commingling acts as restraint
Oh the one from doing things that are IN
worthy. while the other endeavors to
prove the equality it claims 10 be not I'M
deserved. In Scotland we have somewhat
similar conditions. though not so pro-
nouneed as in America.
1.-The methods of teaching, too. appear
to be different. So far as l can see, the
American system is more truly education
al, less pedagogic; the child is made to
learn, will not say things that are use
full. but things that more develop his in
telligence and reasoning faculties.
think any average Engiishman of middle
age. whether of public or private school,
who looks back on his school days. must
be struck by the vast amount of time and
tears he spent in acquiring knowledge
which he has entirely forgotten. But the
acquiring OF tnlS knOWleuRe, 10 odiu
has developed his reasoning powers and
strengthened his memory The latter, no
doubt, is true. and no one would under
value memory But the memory so ac
quired is of a description that is the least
useful in the business affairs of life. Let
us take a single example. Perhaps the
most marvellous exhibition OF memory Is
that displayed by players of blindfold
chess; but who would select man be-
cause he was an expert in this science to
conduct a business? In regard to the
claim of the development of reasoning
powers, it may be that the absolute re-
verse is the truth, and to learn by rote
things that have no meaning to the learn
er is possibly the surest way to stunt the
intellect.
THE most valuable intellectual gift a
man can possess-I speak with all defer
ence, not as an educationist. but as en-
engineers the power of concentrating
his mind on the problem Immediately be-
fore him; and the learning of meaning
less or object1ess things-they need only
be meaningless or objectless to the learn
er-is the surest way to cultivate dis
cursive mental habit Let anyone who
doubts this watch an average schoolboy
getting by rote Greek verb or any oiber
lesson equally empirical The most rifling
incident will distract his attention. and
that not from willfulness, for the penalty
of not knowing his lesson has many real
terrors. Educational methods. | know,
have improved and are still improving in
this country. but when all is said l attrib-
ute the greater mental alertness of Amer
leans, especially American middle-class
youths. to the lead that American schools
have taken in this respect.
I'VE have now in England to most Gf
our schools a modern side in which
. fc ct hat
has been wrung from headmasters and
others by the dawning perception of par
ents that something more than the old
methods are demanded But concessions
wrung with difficulty are apt to fail in
the performance. Our educational sys-
tenn is in direct succession from the mon
astic foundations in which al learning
was formerly concentrated and the head
masters of today are mostly OF the church,
as were the teachers of old. But what
sufficed for education when commerce and
manufacturing industry, as we know them,
did not exist will not serve our turn to-
day. 1t is fact those who control educa-
ton seem never quite to realize. As
consequence where a modern side has
been established in school it Is too often
neglected and despised by the chief au-
thorities. and the students are looked on
belonging to a class altogether inferior
to those of the classical side There are
exceptions but a nation is not built up by
exceptions.
1T is necessary to say here that purely
classical studies hold a prominent posi-
ton in the curriculum of certain educa-
tional establishments of the United
States. The principal OF one Of the --~~'
important of these informed me tina
considered the dead languages might
advantage receive more attention than
hitherto been given to them. That
ferred to one of the most important
Oldest of the universities OF the coun
a school with which some OF the brig
and best names on the roll of the lite
artistic and professional records Of Al.
lea are connected. What is put forward
here however, is advanced solely from the
business standpoint, and | have founded
my remarks on direct enquiries and per-
sonal observation, not on statistics and
returns
THE character of its people makes or
mars the destinies OF a nation, and the
characters OF men and women are not
moulded in day. China possesses min
eraI riches probably as great as, perhaps
greater than, those of the United States.
but few would anticipate competition from
unaided native Chinese engineering indus
try for half dozen generations or more
yet to come.
ITO me it appears one Of the most dis
quieting factors in the problem before us
that the United States have trained body
of young men who are determined TO make
their country great, ard who have been
educated 10 a living, practical interest in
the things needful to that end