THE PROBLEM OF HIGHER EDUCATION. 93 



botany, at least of so much of it as will enable him to recognize cam- 

 omile when he sees it, and to tell the difference between hemlock and 

 parsley. Now, this remarkable charge is laid against many of the 

 candidates for this degree in Gennany, that they have not obtained 

 this knowledge.* They may be able to read a quotation of Galen in 

 Greek (although they would understand it infinitely better in the 

 elegant German version they have in their library), but as for camo- 

 mile and hemlock I — pshaw ! That is the apothecary's business. 



Without wishing to sit in judgment over such facts and views, 

 this, at least, we may do : we may affirm that there are many per- 

 sons, who are neither shallow nor uneducated, who yet prefer in their 

 physician a thorough knowledge of botany to any degree of skill in 

 reading Galen in Greek. 



The American college crowns the educational structure of the state. 

 To increase its power for good, it ought to be accessible to any student 

 who has passed through the preliminary training of the common, 

 grammar, and high schools. It is not at all true that those who oppose 

 the present college preparation desire to make education less efficient ; 

 rather ought it to be said that many intelligent friends of education 

 wish to make a more efficient collegiate education available for a larger 

 number. The college should not be a school for one specialty, but 

 rather a school in which many specialties are taught by the very best 

 specialists. In such a school ancient languages and literatures would 

 hold a place alongside of modern languages and literatures ; the sci- 

 ences of astronomy and physics would stand on the same level as the 

 sciences of botany and geology ; moral and mental, political and social 

 science would be equally well represented. There is no reason to fear 

 that ancient learning would suffer, but some to hope that it would be 

 carried on by those who are drawn to it by natural taste and ability, 

 and not simply because it is the fashion. What can be more unpracti- 

 cal to the common mind than the study of the stars ? What imme- 

 diate profit does " star-gazing " hold out ? And yet Nature produces 

 the requisite number of born astronomers, who, at one time or another, 

 recognize their vocation, and reach it with the directness of the ball 

 shot from a well-aimed rifle. The essential thing is, that the young 

 student must not be allowed too soon to make his choice of studies. 

 For this reason a preparatory course, which may extend through the 

 first two years of college, seems to be a necessity. There is nothing 

 to prevent an American college from allowing this preparatory course 

 to be of such a nature as will enable the student to elect between two 

 studies of similar value. This limited election would still be of the 

 nature of a prescribed course. It would be very nearly what the Har- 

 vard faculty have tried to introduce. It will remain an open question 

 for a long time to come, what study should be offset against the Greek, 



* Report of the Prussian Minister of Education, July 11, 1868. " Paedagogisches Ar- 

 chiv " (Langbein), 1872, pp. 22, 23, 



