554 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



PRESIDENT ELIOT ON PUBLIC-SCHOOL 

 EDUCATION. 



THE article contributed by President 

 Eliot to the December Forum, 

 under tbe title Wberein Popular Educa- 

 tion has Failed, is one of tbe weigbtiest 

 utterances on tbat subject tbat bave 

 fallen under our notice in recent years. 

 It is weighty in its moderation, in the 

 clearness and force of tbe indictment it 

 formulates, and in the precision with 

 which it indicates the remedial meas- 

 ures to be taken. Need we add that it 

 is weighty also through the recognized 

 eminence of its author in tbe field of 

 education? It would be bard to men- 

 tion any voice in this country that speaks 

 with more authority upon any educa- 

 tional question than that of President 

 Eliot. 



The opening statement of the article 

 is terse and pointed : " It can not be de- 

 nied that there is serious and general 

 disappointment at tbe results of popu- 

 lar education up to this date." During 

 two whole generations State-supported 

 schools have been in full operation. 

 These have been devised and maintained 

 on such a scale as to bring the whole, or 

 nearly the whole, population under their 

 influence ; and yet, with elementary edu- 

 cation almost universal, we do not seem 

 to have a wiser, a more virtuous, or a 

 happier people. President Eliot admits 

 that some important improvements bave 

 taken place during the last two genera- 

 tions : penal codes have been reformed ; 

 prisons are better ordered ; hospitals, 

 asylums, and reformatories have been 

 provided on a much larger scale than 

 formerly; the general condition of the 

 working classes has improved ; the av- 

 erage duration of human life has been 

 increased ; and education, he is disposed 

 to believe, bas had some share in bring- 

 ing about these ameliorations. In say- 



ing this the writer of the article goes 

 perhaps as far as can be done with safety. 

 Prison reform and tbe abolition of the 

 slave trade were burning questions be- 

 fore any great movement for popular 

 education had set in, and the same might 

 be said of other humanitarian and so- 

 cially useful movements. At the same 

 time there is no doubt, as President El- 

 iot suggests, that, where the population 

 in general can read, there is formed a 

 public opinion which renders the reten- 

 tion of abuses more difficult. 



Still, notwithstanding all that educa- 

 tion and other agencies of an enlighten- 

 ing character have done, the condition 

 of things as regards popular intelligence 

 is far from satisfactory. To quote from 

 the article before us : " In spite of every 

 effort to enlighten the whole body of 

 the people, all sorts of quacks and impos- 

 tors thrive, and one popular delusion suc- 

 ceeds another, the best-educated classes 

 contributing their full proportion of the 

 deluded. Thus, the astrologer in the 

 middle ages was a rare personage and 

 usually a dependent of princes ; but now 

 he advertises in the public papers and 

 flourishes as never before. Men and 

 women of all classes, no matter what 

 their education, seek advice on grave 

 matters from clairvoyants, seers, Chris- 

 tian scientists, mind-cure practitioners, 

 bone-setters, Indian doctors, and for- 

 tune-tellers. Tbe ship of state barely 

 escapes from one cyclone of popular 

 folly, like the fiat-money delusion or 

 the granger legislation of the seventies, 

 when another blast of ill-informed opin- 

 ion comes down on it, like the actual 

 legislation which compels the buying 

 and storing of silver by Government, or 

 the projected legislation which would 

 compel Government to buy cotton, 

 wheat, or corn, and issue paper money 

 against the stock." 



