Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-05-04


the better-and realize that our happi-
ness and welfare depend on the degree In
which the best part of the community
can bring its power to bear there Is an
archy and utter woe In store for US The
salvation of public life depends upon the
acceptance of the fact that there are
inevitably, strata In the body polite. and
upon the existence Of an aristocratic
Observation-Disclosures, with the sense of
distinctive quality, of capacity OF re
sponsibility, that attaches to 1t.
This class-c consciousness IS what we
must look to In the intellectual world,
also for the salvation of liberal educa-
ton. l dare say everybody has his own
definition of liberal education" To mo
IT means that training of the mind.
that discipline of taste, that enlargement
Of view which enables man to know,
to Judge, and to understand the best
achievement of mankind in every field
of human activity.
It is not classical phlology. nor calcu-
us, nor geology, nor engineering. nor
medicine, nor law, nor history. nor liter
allure, nor theology, nor philosophy.
Each OF these studies may contribute to
liberal education some contribute more
dispensable. But the days Of the old
rigid, Procrustean curriculum are past:
nowadays It is every man his own bed
maker.
The end that liberal education pro-
poses is the same to-day that II has al
ways been; but the mechanism now is
adjustable, and 1t turns out its product
n a variety Of shapes. or, maybe, IN no
Lilo
stage to Proteus. and the Procrustaccao
are in danger OF succumbins to race
Of educational amphibi,ns who cannot
live in the water of the Castalian spring
and who die on the dry ground Of uti-
tarianism. For this happy state Of af-
fairs the reason is not far to seok It
lies In the decay of the spirit of liberal
education under the pressure of demo-
cratic ideas of culture
The English universities, though they
ere beginning to feel this pressure, have
no such problem as ours TO face They
stu deal, as they have dealt for centuries.
with picked men. mon who feel that they
constitute a select class. Not only that.
but It Is the best men I'm that class who
are the prime, one may say almost th,.
sole, concern Of their teachers Their best
'iiOi - ar c'l'e"' r"'e' On tHe hohor
i''e"' I,i" '''e PASS me" ee' along some
'''"' "e! NAY ' NJ con''P'o" " "ha' an
amer va" Coi'Tto '''"HeI '"SK IS 'HeF
'''"'o' ic"'"' no" ""N" clIp't ID costs
u" "i"S 7'oHI '"P LHI'| IN" Nh"hlnE'
i've nam -""'hr' l"eH are "'aIihS' as
.i''' SAN" WIN ''''ES' We ''ai HAhks
''I key ~ ""i '''i'''''' entrance 'tfLH-
..r 'SS'''''' "i'I' '' 'S''-
'"e' ca" ana 40 ''tk" very much
'"rH'r delhah'S upon men students than
we cam tH'F can ana l1eS no. with
Sreat part OF tHeli S'HH' at.' como very
inUCh nearer the attainment Of tie ideal
II Hoefal educAuoo' as nave defined il.
man we 90. ne Ilhe mat separates well
educated men from Inedt'lted Is sharp
er VIII" 'neil 'hth VITA u.s. not SO mu'h
'eoa' use the ~" ieNeI ~ IoWer-as u Is
~ oeoauSe ''c h'sh level Is higher
Oui curry '""o't'o'laI engineers set up
mere an euu'auohal machine patterned
III iiioSt rts pe'tS arler the bnSIsh uniVer-
SUES ana oeS't ned 10 perform the same
N,ru vi "rfN '''a' 'hey did. But grist OF
Ai Soi'S ms come 10 our mill and we
''-so N.Y. "'''' We couid win H. even
wen nc inns we "eeusu was an IN
- 40 ''''"PS ''H'olu"oie mat our mag
81 PoPu."E education
"oN. ''''N any "ouE VINO
'''''N nave SSe'ieu 10 nm
f' f-'-'''' ~ 'S'P'' ''"'1y MAKES
- ' ''' 'i''"oS WIN
.,-,, 90 " eG'''' PioP'9'''o"
vac e4-'N' mas 0eeii
r'''' IA -A!i'e''oa
i"''''i '"'" vi 4u""'S'
- - 80 "a ''o'''o II - "'o'e
'"7 VI out ooH'''ry 'nNn Oh
''' '"e S''"e '''l''s Is Observable
"a v,--e'
ms -o''o'ues 50 c'pS'N WIN
ne 1P' a" u "',"o0' "'ir iu'aS '''a' II can
''", ''V'' II " 'e'"tloh
% "''N ecu e'"'r" 'ne,"' ANA
- "'' ei'"I" ~ say III reply that
vac INCREASING ''sue"eSs oil Inc Inc mat
apparatus '"e genus hoiho 'o'tus from the
remainder OF tAe intellectual Kingdom
result" merely from the acquisition of
ne" 'haTdc'erlsucS ny the anthropoid
genera. Inc standard OF the highest type
N"s necessarily been lowered At the same
me by the mixture with strains less in
i"iEiVelN cultivated.
WIN the lowering Of the standard of
..shcr education there has come also,
nd. think, from the same cause, a dis
trust Of the older regimen. or discipline
THAT was the so-called literary education.
or training in what used to he termed
polite learning" II was not all study
Of literature. by any means, but it, staple
was books. real books. am reminded