83 



departments. The principal value of Latin as an educational 

 factor in hig-h schools has been due not so much to any in- 

 trinsic merit in the study per se, as to the carefully graded 

 work on one single subject for four years, thus giving time and 

 opportunity for cumulative development and disciplinary train- 

 ing of the mental activities of the pupil. What would be 

 thought of any school that offered four or more one-year 

 courses in as many languages as a substitute for the usual well 

 graded courses now offered? I wish to quote a passage from a 

 recent address by ^Professor John Dewey on this point. He says, 

 "Imagine a history of the teaching of the languages which 

 should read like this : 'The later seventies and eighties of the 

 nineteenth century witnessed a remarkable growth of the at- 

 tention given in high schools to the languages. Hundreds of 

 schools adopted an extensive and elaborate scheme by means 

 of which almost the entire linguistic ground was covered. Each 

 of the three terms of a year was devoted to a language. In 

 the first Latin and Greek and Sanskrit were covered ; in the 

 next French. German, and Italian ; while the last year was given 

 to review and Hebrew and Spanish as optional studies.' " This 

 imaginary picture by Dewey vividly illustrates the position of 

 science at the present time. 



How has it happened that the four sciences are arranged as 

 they now are for the order given above is the usual one? 

 Is it due to grading, forming a graded course in any strict 

 sense of the word? I think not. x\ny one acquainted with 

 high school science work knows that this arrangement depends 

 upon other factors and not upon anything inherent in the sub- 

 jects themselves. Take chemistry and physical geography, one 

 usually given in the fourth year and the other in the first year. 

 Chemistry could be adapted to first year grade just as well as 

 physical geography so far as anything in the subject itself 

 is concerned. But it happens that chemistry requires a more 

 expensive laboratory and small classes, while physical geography 

 requires a relatively less expensive equipment, is less expensive to 

 nm, and larger classes can be handled. Botany and zoology do not 



1 Science, Jan. 28th, 1910, page 124. 



