The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-27

'uiiH6 NHe uecdQ1 now drawing 10
close. American journals Of educa-
tion have published remarkable num-
Der OF contributions expressing Gissutis-
faction either with the methods, the
scope, or the results Of our schools.
such articles, appearing with incrcas-
ing frequency, contributed both by in
telligent parents and professional
schoolmen. and advanced without con-
certed agreement. give evidence of some
serious defect in our educational sys-
tenn which may not longer be ignored.
The trouble is probably deep seated
and complicated. else 1t would lvnx
since have been identihcd and re-
,medied. 1t is with no expectation of
being able to say the final word on
education. but rather guided by the
proverb. Where many bring. much la
Drought" that L venture to offer the
lspbjolned thoughts which have oc-
Cured TO me at various times when
considering the curriculum.
A cursory survey OF the educational
Held suftices to convince one that but
little intelligent planning has gone
into the making of current schemes
of study. Obviously here, US in ma
iture. the laws of heredity and environ
ment suffice to explain what we see.
And II SO be that we adhere TO that
school of philosophy which teaches that
is likely that we may content our
selves with the role which II
assigns US of being mere observers
lof what has become by the process
of becoming. However. l fancy tina t
even the most blsoted determinist
when he turns pedagogue proceeds
practically upon the hypothesis that
the human brain may serve as con :
trolling and directing agency.
the three centuries ,,.ar nave gone
10 the making OF our national history
were utilized by our ancestors in trans
forming primitive continent into a
suitable theatre for high type of
civilization This was strenuous
task and for its accomplishment the
traditional tools. machinery. and busi-
ness methods of the tatherland were
not always adequate. Departures from
conventional methods of procedure
were made from time to time, but
none OF them was inaugurated TIL cir
cumstances compelled It's adoption.
Resultant changes never appeared radi-
cal to contemporaries. But to-day
America is indeed, the New World and
traveller st,!l may see grain sowed and
reaped and threshed by hand, and the
business of great establishment con-
Quoted by the laborious and time-co
cunning methods of the Middle Ages.
Here, ingenious equipment enables one
man to do the work OF ten In bust
ness. and in some instances that OF
thousand in laborious enterprises
So great Is the contrast between Eu-
rope and America along economic lines
that superficial anthropoiogist from
another planet might be pardoned for
concluding that the civilizations of the
TWO continents are independent in ORR
gin and development. But the lines
OF our evolution are easily traced nor
Go all OF them exhibit transforms ton
In running back TO the colonial settle
m-ats. AS in the geological record
We often find type OF life existent
throughout dozen epochs and evil
uoncinE but little or no morphoioglcal
Change. SO also in human institutions.
in this instance, the arrested type
is education.
The frst settlers brought from Eng
land the same faces and the same
clothes that they had worn there: and
when they set up colleges ct Cambrfage
and Williamsburg they modelled them
upon the colleges tina. they had known
there. which is 10 say that the en-
lbryonic curriculum OF all American
colleges was the medieval monastery.
Dimcu'. as it may be for us 10 rea-
liize. II Is nevertheless fact thst the
priginaldis cipline OF the convent was
pre-emlnenly unitarian. II embraced
reading. writing, arithmetic. the rudi-
Fhents Of music rhetoric. and Aristo-
teiian logic and philosophy The med
iium of instructiCA was Latin. whicn
having 10 be mustered as a living
language. may b. regarded as really
,comprehending within itself all Tho
learning of these times. The reasons
why Latin came to occupy this peda-
EoSlc position are obvious For fifteen
centuries Rome was the world. All
International correspondents. all law.
All theology-in short all learninp
was Roman. Although no peonle IN
Whom Latin was vernacular survived
yet the language of Cicero was never
more truly living than during the mil.
fennium ending with the eighteenth
century. And IL is positively essentiai
10 the success OF the inquiry which We
are now prosecuting that we 10 not
ior moment lose sight oil IN. fnct
thai this educdtion was, ur.il ubout
Silly years ago. specific TRAINING, Tor
a definite career. Its obje.'v,. US
'cleurly prescribed as that ser b,fnrn
shoemaker. But since none other tb.n
the clergy. lawyers. d.-pI,mats and
courttrrS were educated the cl.,,-r
of palaces and roy personages was
thrown about the sphere In which H. ase
eject Few moved And the common
nerd came to ascribe Il magical value
TO the instrument which thus miracuI.
CIV" the sons Oh bah.is and
caniiestick makers into bishops and
cardinals, judges and statesmen. ana
invested born pumpkins with the artI-
hclal polish OF royal courts.
have used the expression New
World. This is more than figure of
speech. II may help us 10 recall how
new the world of our day is If we re-
member that Gnlilco's proof OF the
Copernican theory of the constitution
OF the universe was not given till three
years after the settlement at James
town had been effected. The Ptolemair
conception of the universe as a hollow
sphere ten thousand miles in diameter
with our earth at its middle part, still
held possession OF the vulgar mind
~hen 'Ienerson was n student nj WIZ
liam and Mary College. 1. Is only
during the last 100 years that America
and Europe have been Transformed
from Leo ta.i