Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-19
SINS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS
IGNORE BIBLE, NEGLECT LIT
ERATURE, SLIGHT HUMANITIEs
Young Men Ignorant Of Subjects
Essential to q Liberal Education.
Examination Answers.
From the Literary Digest.

From the Literary Digest.
Little but Educational disadvantages"
como to many students from a college
course today. charges writer in the
Chicago Dial. The resultant state of
things is pictured to US as IAN educa-
tional scandal Students are advised
that sociology is as good as history"
he asserts. land take to it greedily; they
learn French through the medium Of
trivial fiction, and never hear of Bossuet
and Racine: they absorb themselves in
science. and get no realizing sense Of the
existence Of such thing as art" This
charge may seem to educationalists un-
warranted by the facts. but the writer
attempts to forestall objection by citing
testimony from a certain gathering Of
alumni. One of the older men in this as
sembly declared that "in his student
days college men took a serious interest
in literature and the humanities in gen.
eral, an interest which did not seem to
be shared with them by the students Of
the younger generation. He said by way
of illustration that 1t was not common
out for an afternoon walk, and spend
most of their time in talking about Keats
and Shelley. This speaker, we ere tod,
was followed by one Of younger gen.
something OF that sort-"who frankly ad-
mftted the truth Of what had just been
said, and added, for his own part, that
he had never heard Of 'Sheats and KEEL
Icy" Tho writer has even more EVIL
dence In support Of his contention. Thus:
y Ignorance Increasing.
'The steadily increasing ignorance on
the part Of our young college men Of
matters absolutely essential to any kind
OF education that deserves to be called
liberal is nothing less than an educational
scandal. Prof Wilbur L. Cross Of Yale
has just given us a striking illustration
Of that ignorance in the case OF the Eng
lish Bible. Not long ago. he says. to
recall an extreme case, not one OF forty
students under my instruction could quite
place Judas Iscariot: and a venerable
colleague OF mine discovered Jew
among the seniors who had never heard
OF Moses We have had much other tes-
timony to similar effect Of late years, and
1t seems fairly evident that the Bible.
which Is perhaps the greatest single source
Of liberal culture for English readers. has
become a sealed book to large fraction
of the present generation. The Greek
and Latin classics are in like case, and
the best part OF English literature is fast
growing unintelligible even to those OF
our young readers who have enjoyed
what are euphemistically called educa-
tional advantages. Upon this point we
may quote Prof. Grant Slovenian Of
Wisconsin, who informs US Of students
who have told him that
The CentaufS and Chimaeras were
German tribes conquered by Augustus.
called Dolabeha tho goddess Of peace,
Aristides the goddess Of the "chace," An
dromache a Greek hero at Troy, Asty-
anax an island somewhere in the Medt-
terranean." and defined ''Socratus'' as an
intimate friend Of Horace to whom he
expounded tho carpe diem idea Accord
ing to one Of them, "Pilgrim's Progress
was lone OF the sources of New England
n 1n,s welded the edIfyinr informstion
that Penelope was the muse Of history.
the wife of Achilles. the Trojan Helen
stolen by Agamemnon, the goddess OF
wine, mirth and the like. the mother of
Proserpine, one Of the muses. who pre-
sided over lyric poetry, and kind Of
wine TAR"