PREPARATION FOR COLLEGE. 23 



from entering college nor from pursuing that study. Since the 

 extension of the elective system at Harvard neither Greek nor 

 Latin studies are pursued by so large a proportion of the students 

 as formerly, and yet a greater proficiency in classics is obtained. 

 By this plan the graduates of our best English high schools could 

 postpone until after graduation the choice of a career. They 

 would then be in a fair condition to make a proper estimate of 

 their ability, their special capacities and leanings, and their prob- 

 able fitness for a commercial or a professional life. 



It has been said that the recent changes in the requirements 

 for admission to college have operated only for the benefit of infe- 

 rior scholars who would not otherwise have been able to enter 

 college. If we admit for a moment the truth of this statement, 

 the change has some merits even on these grounds. So-called 

 dunces are often only so many visible evidences of an imperfect 

 and too narrow educational system. They are the results of at- 

 tempting to fill square holes with round pegs, to mold and develop 

 the manifold and diverse characteristics of human nature of both 

 sexes by the same method and with the same appliances, in con- 

 formity with a prearranged, harmonious, and symmetrical system, 

 just as blocks of wood are run through a machine. Many dimces 

 at school often become distinguished in social, business, and polit- 

 ical life, and, even in school, show ability in subjects congenial to 

 them. Conscious of their skill in art, in music, or of their ability 

 to do many things outside the routine of school duties better than 

 the ordinary not specially gifted pedagogue, they feel justified 

 from their point of view in believing that, as between themselves 

 and their instructor, if there really be a dunce, the question is 

 certainly debatable as to who best answers the description. 



But the youth who enters college without Greek is by no means 

 inferior in mental equipment to him who enters under the old 

 system. From what I have seen of both methods I should advise 

 plodding mediocrity to stick to the old lines. Hard work and 

 good teaching have always enabled this class of pupils to pass the 

 entrance examinations, and even sometimes to distinguish them- 

 selves. But distinction in science and mathematics is only ob- 

 tained by industry plus something very closely allied to genius. 

 In fact, at Harvard it seems to me that the new method has been 

 handicapped by requiring too much in mathematics. Boys m 

 secondary schools can learn and assimilate their elementary alge- 

 bra, their geometry, plane, solid, and analytic, and their trigonom- 

 etry, but they are not mature enough to undertake the study of 



advanced algebra. 



The present scheme of requirements for admission to Harvard 

 College was adopted in 1886. Since that time one hundred and 

 forty-eight persons have entered Harvard without Greek. Thirty- 



