CLASSICS AND THE COLLEGE COURSE 559 



diverting men from consideration of the spiritual to love of the material. 

 Then came the genius who, remembering the classical statement that the 

 first step in education is the study of words, asserted that the chief thing 

 is the study of words ; and he discovered that in the study of Latin and 

 Greek words one gains an all-around training, a " mental culture " which 

 is imparted by no other study. "With that came the conception that 

 colleges are to give a " liberal education " without any reference to 

 utility. For more than half a century the gospel of culture has been 

 preached by college graduates, who, too often, are themselves living 

 proofs of its falsity. 



It is difficult to speak or to write meekly respecting the ceaseless 

 chatter about " culture " and the " education of a gentleman." If 

 study of Greek and Latin in college should make men " cultured," 

 should convert them into " gentlemen," there must be something wrong 

 in the mode of teaching or in the mode of study, for the results are not 

 wholly gratifying. Of course, there may be a difference of opinion as to 

 the meaning of " culture." If it mean comfortable self-satisfaction 

 without basis of knowledge, certainly a very great number of men have 

 acquired " culture " at slight cost ; an insignificant quantity of classical 

 or other lore found lodgment in their minds and their chief relic of col- 

 lege days is the recollection that they took the classical course. But if 

 " culture " mean intellectual breadth, judicial attitude of mind, the 

 ability to express one's thoughts clearly, not much of it could be ac- 

 quired in the old classical course and still less in a modern classical 

 group. 



But one is told that a tree is known by its fruits, and the classicist 

 proceeds to prove results by presenting a long list of brilliant authors 

 who studied classics, while he challenges his opponent to show a similar 

 list made up from graduates of non-classical courses. This can not be 

 regarded as a legitimate argument. A field of blasted corn always con- 

 tains a considerable number of good ears. If one should take the whole 

 product, he might be inclined to say that the classical course is destruc- 

 tive of culture and that the men on the list were those who had escaped 

 the blasting influence of the study; for a very great proportion of the 

 graduates who have entered professional life, exhibit a charming indif- 

 ference to the rules of rhetoric and notable inability to express their 

 thoughts clearly. But the argument is worthless in either direction. It 

 is absurd as an argument for teaching the classics; nearly all of the 

 polished writers in this land and Great Britain were graduated before 

 the change in curriculum came about ; they had to study the classics or 

 nothing. 



The writer holds no brief for defence of any special type of educa- 

 tion or of any special curriculum but he maintains that a curriculum 

 which ignores utility is wasteful. All training should aim to make a 



