194 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



mental disorders, as well as all bodily ailments, can be cured by admin- 

 istering the proper combination of drugs continue to delude a credulous 

 public ? 



Modern education starts from quite a different standpoint, first 

 taking into account the biological or inherited trends of the individual, 

 and then trying to estimate his latent capacity or brain-power in the 

 expectation of giving the assistance needed to help the student in the 

 task of self-government and self-improvement. We talk so glibly about 

 " hereditary influences," " individual capacity," " individualism as 

 opposed to collectivism," that, if we had a keen sense of humor the 

 ridiculousness of a system of tutelage which attempts to treat stu- 

 dents en masse, without any reference to their inherited traits and nat- 

 ural capacities, would strike us as farcical. This method has been 

 described as " education by cram and emetic." In the model school or 

 college the different subjects should not be taught as ends in themselves, 

 but in order to train the student how to observe intelligently, concen- 

 trate his attention, repress unhealthy instincts and cultivate those quali- 

 ties making for a broader, saner life. From kindergarten to the day 

 of graduation from the university the mental training of students is 

 dominated to so great an extent by the servile preparation for examina- 

 tions that a special degree of B.E. (bachelor of examination) might be 

 conferred on all applicants who require written evidence of having 

 satisfactorily " passed " in order to be assured of their right to be 

 classed as " educated persons." 



An education should, as Goethe expressed it, make it possible for 

 the individual to live his life to the fullest. Only after the idea has 

 been clearly set forth that education and mental training should be 

 synonymous terms are we ready to comprehend the relationship of the 

 college to the university. Having grasped this principle, we are then 

 in a position to realize that in the school and college every effort should 

 be directed to the formation of good mental habits, while in the uni- 

 versity the student should be given, under general direction, an oppor- 

 tunity to practise these habits, and, in addition, to develop to the fullest 

 extent possible the spirit of intelligent curiosity. 



Without the presence of universities, whose chief aim should be to 

 cultivate the spirit of investigation and of open rebellion against con- 

 ventional teaching-authority, the intellectual vigor of the entire nation 

 is seriously impaired. Political freedom can never atone for the loss 

 of intellectual liberty which should be faithfully guarded by the uni- 

 versity. In a democracy there is constant danger of forgetting that 

 the loftiest ideals of freedom are not those associated with the political 

 life of the nation, but are indissolubly connected with the search for 

 the truth that alone makes its possessor free. How strange that in a 

 nation which boasts of the freedom of its political institutions so little 

 is done by our universities to encourage and protect the agencies which 



