i8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



As to science, our knowledge of that was only in its special 

 application to the manly art of boxing, and we always supposed 

 that, athlete as he was, he had enough of that to meet all the re- 

 quirements of his position. 



The author just quoted further says, "Be the condition of 

 other branches what you please, the melancholy fact stands that 

 the classics are taught in such a way as to benefit only those who 

 by superior talents or inordinately long continuance at school 

 eventually emerge from the darkness overhanging their element- 

 ary training." Of his own class he says : " Of one entire half of 

 their long school probation the majority carried away no intel- 

 lectual memento. Upon that half had been brought to bear the 

 most expensive part of the educational machinery; masters of 

 arts instead of ushers ; clergymen instead of laymen ; dictionaries 

 and lexicons instead of copy books and slates. There had been 

 no lack of sowing, but there had been no reaping ; the ground 

 had been well harrowed and the seed had been watered plenti- 

 fully and with tears. Many of his associates who had no special 

 calling for a sailor's life had entered the Naval School, with the 

 mere view of escaping a life of Latin and Greek drudgery on 

 land." 



The original design of the colleges in America was the train- 

 ing of a learned clergy, and the ancient languages naturally and 

 properly constituted a main feature of the college curriculum. 

 The best secondary schools naturally were classical schools. The 

 heads of these schools were chosen on account of their classical 

 ability, and in these schools the ancient languages were taught by 

 the ablest and best paid instructors, while the teaching of modern 

 languages, mathematics, and science was generally intrusted to 

 subordinates. From these conditions it is easy to see the evolu- 

 tion of the belief that a liberal education meant a classical educa- 

 tion, a knowledge of ancient languages and literatures. 



The college requirements for admission, the traditions or su- 

 perstitions of the past, and the inclinations of those in charge of 

 secondary schools have all tended to maintain and strengthen this 

 view. At a time when the only opportunity for advanced study 

 was offered by institutions which made the classics the principal 

 feature of their instruction, it was natural to measure all learning 

 by the classical standard. To do so to-day is pedantic if not fool- 

 ish. And yet with the prestige of age and tradition, aided per- 

 haps by the somewhat different class of pupils who attend the 

 strictly classical schools, there pervades these schools a sentiment 

 of superiority which possibly enhances the dignity and honor of 

 the instructors therein. 



Now, if there is any such thing as a pedagogical hierarchy, at 

 the very head should be placed the successful teacher of English ; 



