AMERICA'S INTELLECTUAL PRODUCT 197 



in particular ? What influence do these exert on the ideals of the people ? 

 What is the intellectual or spiritual product of these numerous and 

 well-endowed institutions, and what aspects of them are most prominent 

 in the eye of the public ? At the very outset of this inquiry it is some- 

 what depressing to note the divergence of opinion among experts as to 

 what education is, and what it is for. Those who have attended meet- 

 ings of college presidents or educational conventions can but have been 

 impressed with the diametrically opposite views expressed. To be sure, 

 there are a certain number of pet phrases and theories which we often 

 hear repeated, and one sometimes thinks, in reading the proceedings 

 of " Educators " in session, " Plus ca change, plus e'est la meme 

 chose." Education must be for life, we hear. Undoubtedly, but 

 what is life? Does it consist in eating three meals a day, sleeping at 

 night, and the next day the same? We hear of education for citizen- 

 ship. But is it so hard to be a good citizen that these elaborate and 

 costly institutions are necessary to bring it about? I recently heard 

 a gentleman remark with an air of finality, "Of course ninety per cent, 

 of what a young man gets in college comes from the association with 

 other young men." If this is true, it seems to me that there is some- 

 thing wrong with our institutions, and that the same result could be 

 obtained in a far cheaper manner. This view takes little account of the 

 influence on the young of strong and mature men, veterans in the con- 

 flict of life, and of the passing on of the garnered experience of the race. 

 The maintenance of faculties, at least on their present scale, would 

 seem to be quite unnecessary from this point of view. Under the old 

 college regime, the students had far more time and opportunity for 

 association with each other than at present. Have we, therefore, ad- 

 vanced in the wrong direction? Considering the prevalence of such 

 views, it seems to me to be worth while to emphasize the fact that a 

 college or university is, in the first place, a nursery of learning ; I mean 

 a place where knowledge is not only inculcated, but is produced. It 

 would seem absurd to put forward this view, were it not so often lost 

 sight of. The late Sir Walter Besant, in an article in the Harvard 

 Graduates' Magazine, remarked upon the fact that at the commence- 

 ment exercises that he had attended in this country, he heard much of 

 the public services rendered by the graduates, and of their distinguished 

 contributions to citizenship, but he had heard little of the distinguished 

 scholars that the institution had produced, and that it would appear 

 that that was a matter that was not considered of great importance. 

 At similar occasions at Oxford or Cambridge, he stated, much was 

 made of contributions to the world's thought made during the year by 

 the university's sons, in which achievements the alma mater took great 

 pride. I believe the same fact has also been noticed by others who 

 attend academic occasions. In this respect the colleges do not differ 



