New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-09-30

each other IN tne ChSe VI ho"'' :.
one of the twenty universities here ois-
cussed-in Australia, Japan. emma III
dia, at Cairo. as we'll as In Europe. Ana
I'm every case, except that OF the UNI
versIty Of Melbourne. the study Is inc
result Of personal observation.
Thus DIR. Thwing presents us with
general survey of what the higher eau
cation OF the world is achieving at the
nresont time. and what it is aiming 10
attain. The report Is sometimes saoly
disappointing. as in the case of the Uni
yersity of Madrid, which. almost of ne
cessity. is dealt with mostly In the his
toric sense. Spanish education being
indeed, a matter Of an already distant
past Striking congratulations are met
with on almost every page, as, for IN
stance. this summing up Of the present
state of university training in Italy:
Technique has taken the place Oh t ne;
interest force, spirit, have ned. ledSue..s
seem on the whole sluggish. ana stude e.s
either unruly or listless. Inc lsoSs
is, the Italian people are not a people %
education; they are peopd,e, rom %, ne re-
lIgious life into the aesthetic. What
strength therefore, they nave leit Loa
cation, II any, usually becomes forna.
is to be regretted that their 9sthetlclssiii
IS not seen in schooirooms or UNIVERSITY
halls There is more appreciation OF Wn VIA
Italy represents n art found IN the 49,,
rooms and university halls OF CailUr ,id a.,
New Haven or cleveland than Is found In
the city Of Rome itself University educa.
ton throughout Italy is moriound IN ''S
Journalism.
Throughout Europe the higher educa-
ton is still the privilege Of the children
Of the wel-to-do only in Greece and
to some extent in Russia, the American
custom of working" ones way through
college prevails. DR.. Thwing compares
and contrasts the student life In different
countries. the total freedom from re-
straint Of the German with the control
Of English and American universities
OF I'psala. the centre Of the higher edu-
cation I'm the scandinavian countries ne
saws that its rich historic past Is an
intimation Of the place that Harvard
fills I'm Massachusetts,, or Yale In Con-
necticut. Again, he compares the SWed-
Ish university with St Andrews, DE-
cause, like that institution it has held
I'D the lamp Of truth in the northern wet
and cold for more than four hundred
years" And everywhere he contrasts
the place held by institutions OF learn
ing in large cities with that they hold
in smaller places, where town and uni
versity are one, or the latter prevails
I'm madeleine
Of Vienna leads him into another COM
parison. this time with America. The
scientific laboratories Of this country ne
saws. are on the whole far more adequate
than those Of Europe AS the teaching
Of the applied sciences In the American
schools is in Europe regarded as or
peculiar scholastic excellence, so the
laboratories in which the sciences are
housed possess similar superiority.
1t is in the Far East that DR.. Thwing
finds the prevailing type of university 10
be that aiming at practical efficiency
and It is in his chapters devoted TO them
that are found some curious observations
Of the mental equipment of Indians
Chinese and Japanese The Chinese
mind, he holds. has been impaired by
centuries Of unreasoning education. 1t
is given to forms, subject to presidents,
devoid Of originality, absorbing fact
fable and fancy as readily as truth
through a retentlve memory. II is not
an accurate mind, content, Ike the
Chinese mechanic, with being and doing
things about right" AS for the Japan
csc, his IS a knowing rather than a
thinking mind. 1t IS rather acquisitive
than inquisitivc, rather memorizing than
reasoning" and il is not an accurate
tool. The place held by Latin and Greek
I'm Western education through the CEN
turtles is in japan taken by the Chinese
classics. This leads DIR. Thwing to the
following observation:
Ia Confucius as we'll worth reading as
Plato? To such n question there can ne
but one answer The answer lies IN the
fact that Confucius Is chiefly an etnlcai
philosopher he is concerned with tho rela-
tons OF men TO each other, ana or man 10
himself Plato is indeed concerned with
this egoistic and this altruisuc relation
! bnt also he is concerned with the relation
Of men to ultimate oeihg; ne Is PM PM
I
| is indeed worth studying. =. But 10
me the Greek Is as superior 10 the Cnlhese
as Athens in the time OF Pericles was gu
! perlor to Picking in the time OF Confucius
The universities of the Slavic coun-
tries Dir. Thwing deals with as institu-
tons still mostly Of the future. Turkey
is represented by the American Robert
College, on the Bosphorus, the mother Of
many other educational institutions
! throughout the Sultans domains.