44 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



may be specialized in order to cultivate the powers of the man to their 

 fullest extent, Shakespeare's educational formula may not be alto- 

 gether true, but it contains a broad basis of truth : 



*' No profit goes, where is no pleasure ta'en ; 

 In brief, sir, study what you most affect.'" 



The comparative failure of the modern side of school education 

 arises from constituting it out of the boys who are looked upon as 

 classical asses. Milton pointed out that in all schools there are boys 

 to whom the dead languages are " like thorns and thistles," which form 

 a poor nourishment even for asses. If teachers looked upon these 

 classical asses as beings who might receive mental nurture according 

 to their nature, much higher results would follow the bifurcation of 

 our schools. Saul went out to look for asses, and he found a kingdom. 

 Surely this fact is more encouraging than the example of Gideon, who 

 " took thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with these he taught 

 the men of Succoth." * The adaptation of public schools to a scientific 

 age does not involve a contest as to whether science or classics shall 

 prevail, for both are indispensable to true education. The real ques- 

 tion is whether schools will undertake the duty of molding the minds 

 of boys according to their mental varieties. Classics, from their 

 structural perfection and power of awakening dormant faculties, have 

 claims to precedence in education, but they have none to a practical 

 monopoly. It is by claiming the latter that teachers sacrifice mental 

 receptivity to a Procrustean uniformity. 



The universities are changing their traditions more rapidly than 

 the schools. The via o.ntiqua which leads to them is still broad, 

 though a via moderna, with branching avenues, is also open to their 

 honors and emoluments. Physical science, which was once neglected, 

 is now encouraged at the universities. As to the seventy per cent of 

 boys who leave schools for life-work without going through the uni- 

 versities, are there no growing signs of discontent which must force 

 a change ? The civil service, the learned professions, as well as the 

 army and navy, are now barred by examinations. Do the boys of our 

 public schools easily leap over the bars, although some of them have 

 lately been lowered so as to suit the schools ? So difficult are these bars 

 to scholars that crammers take them in hand before they attempt the 

 leap ; and this occurs in spite of the large value attached to the dead 

 languages and the small value placed on modern subjects. Thus, in 

 the Indian Civil-Service examinations, 800 marks as a maximum are 

 assigned to Latin, GOO to Greek, 500 to chemistry, and 300 to each of 

 the other physical sciences. But, if we take the average working of 

 the system for the last four years, we find that, while sixty-eight per 

 cent of the maximum were given to candidates in Greek and Latin, 

 only forty-five per cent were accorded to candidates in chemistry, 



* Judges Tiii, 16. 



