304 HOWARD J. ROGERS 



the same grim courage and the same implicit obedience to 

 orders, the former has the initiative and the genius which act 

 where orders fail to reach, and where conditions unforeseen 

 arise. It makes no matter to what quarter of the globe he is 

 sent, or with what mission he is intrusted — he can adapt the 

 training which his country has given him to any variation of 

 conditions, and make success where others fail. 



The question then resolves itself into this: What is the 

 difference in the training given by the states that it would pro- 

 duce a different average of efficiency in the states? And here, 

 too, come in so many elements for consideration that we must 

 reach out a little and get a grip upon the subject. 



We speak trippingly at times of comparing educational 

 systems. But do we always realize what we mean? The 

 comparison of educational methods of countries goes deeper 

 than curriculums, methods, or administrative machinery. It 

 comprises the history of a people, their temperament, their 

 traditions, and the spirit of their institutions. It is the out- 

 come of all these. Education is the embodiment of the genius, 

 the aspirations, and the compromises of a people. No ade- 

 quate idea of Greek art and Greek literature could be obtained 

 unless we knew the characteristics of the Greek nation, its 

 intense love of freedom, and its passion for physical beauty 

 and development. We must look to historical beginnings. 

 America has been particularly fortunate in this respect. We 

 had no legacy of ignorance and stolidity bequeathed to us 

 from the middle ages. There are some advantages in being a 

 young nation. You can cut your cloth regardless of the pat- 

 tern of your ancestors. We have never been burdened with 

 blind allegiance to precedent, or servility to a creed. What- 

 ever nation of Europe you may choose for an example ; whether 

 we take France or Prussia, which for nearly a century have 

 been engaged upon the problem of the education of the 

 masses; or England, which has been engaged upon it a lesser 

 time; or Russia, which is just beginning — they have had first 

 to penetrate down through the ignorance, superstition, and 

 even the antipathy to culture generated by centuries of mental 

 apathy. They have had first to awaken a responsive spirit — 

 a problem we have escaped 



