57 



altogether, are obliged to admit that the millenium is 

 nearer than it seemed ten years ago. Unity, pi ogress, 

 freedom of thought are the forces at the work in the 

 churches and tlirough them have come a more rational 

 interpretation of the Bible and a more ethical and 

 practical rendition of the Golden Ride. 



But in the matter of popular education, " knowl- 

 edge comes, but wisdom lingers.'' It is interesting to 

 consider the educational ideals which have ruled the 

 world at different periods. In the early days of 

 Grecian civilization, the training of youth was for 

 physical beauty, eloquence and grace ; to be persuas- 

 ive in speecli and graceful in deportment were all 

 that was expected of the aristocratic sons of Greece, 

 for the slaves, who numbered more than a fifth of the 

 population, received no education whatever. The life 

 was so simple that mathematics were unknown. 

 Pythagoras was the founder of mathematics which he 

 introduced into the schools al)out 550 B. C. 



We see. therefore, that there was a time when 

 mathematics were unknown, and it was centuries 

 before they became the core of our educational system 

 as at the present time. May we not take a hint from 

 this and eliminate a large part of the arithmetic and 

 higher mathematics that we burden children with 

 to-day. What practicle need have boys and girls for 

 a mathematical course extending over ten or twelve 

 years ? It is simply a survival of the scholastic idea of 

 education, that disciplinary studies need have no 

 esoteric value. The new education discards all dis- 

 ciplinary j'tudies that do not assist in the childs 

 development. 



As time went on. literature and language were 

 added to the cnrriculuni. For hundreds of years the 

 schools taught Latin and Greek, but not the mother 

 tongue of any student. No pupil was c(msidcred edu- 



