768 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



things? Already in some of them we 

 have two distinct systems of education. 

 A principal of one of these institutions 

 in the West said to the writer : " "We 

 are working under the disadvantages 

 of a double curriculum. We have a 

 scheme of studies, scientific and practi- 

 cal, drawn with reference to the larger 

 number of our pupils who come from 

 the common schools, and who close their 

 studies with us. We take them through 

 an English course, with mathematics, 

 book-keeping, political economy, phys- 

 ics, chemistry, botany, and physiology. 

 And we have also a classical course for 

 a small number of students who are 

 preparing for college. But the exac- 

 tions of Latin and Greek are so great 

 upon these that they get hardly a smat- 

 tering of the subjects pursued by the 

 other students." The tactics of Dr. 

 McCosh were admirable. To keep the 

 proceeds of the public lands from going 

 , to the agricultural colleges and scien- 

 tific institutions, he is willing to resign 

 all claim upon them for the benefit of 

 the classical colleges ; at the same time, 

 if the money is expended for the ex- 

 tension of high-schools, as the doctor 

 says, "these schools would aid colleges 

 far more powerfully than a direct grant 

 to them." Yet, as long as the two sys- 

 tems of education remain so diverse that 

 the regular high-school graduation is 

 not accepted as preparation for college, 

 there will be conflict for the control of 

 these establishments. Only as the col- 

 lege curriculum becomes more broad, 

 modern, and scientific, and the classical 

 studies are restricted to the special 

 classes who have need of them, can 

 American education become harmon- 

 ized in its elements and unified in its 

 system. 



TnE report of President Eliot, of 

 Harvard, on a national university, was 

 a strong document. We publish the 

 last portion of it, which deals with the 

 main question, and ask attention to the 



high grounds on which he bases his de- 

 mand for the non-interference of gov- 

 ernment with the system of higher edu- 

 cation. His paper started a warm 

 debate on the broad and important 

 question of the proper relations of gov- 

 ernment to the work of instruction, 

 and, of course, his views met with 

 vigorous opposition. It was maintained 

 that there is no break in the logic by 

 which government action is prescribed; 

 and that, admitting the propriety of 

 state action in primary education, there 

 is no halting-place until the govern- 

 ment takes charge of the entire school 

 machinery of the country. And such 

 is the overshadowing influence of poli- 

 tics, and so profound the superstition 

 regarding government omnipotence, 

 that this view found its urgent advo- 

 cates, who seem blind to the conse- 

 quences that are certain to follow when 

 the people shirk the responsibilities of 

 attending directly to the education of 

 the young, and shoulder it off upon a 

 mass of politicians holding the offices 

 of government. The friends of stato 

 education certainly pressed their case 

 to its extreme conclusions. Govern- 

 ment contributes money to support 

 common schools, and appoints officers 

 to regulate them; therefore let it 

 appropriate $20,000,000 to establish 

 a national university at Washington, 

 with $1,000,000 a year to be divided 

 among the congressional appointees, 

 who will hold the professorships. Dr. 

 McCosh suggested that recent congres- 

 sional experiences were hardly calcu- 

 lated to inspire confidence in the action 

 of that body, and asked what guarantee 

 we should have against a university 

 ring and systematic educational job- 

 bing ; and it was objected by others 

 that the class of men who congregate 

 in the capital, and the whole spirit of 

 the place, would make it more unfit 

 than any other in the country for such 

 an institution. Prof. Eichards, of 

 Washington, came to the rescue of the 

 reputation of his town, and asked, em- 



