Things Worth While 17 



every conceivable topic of possible human interest, from 

 things Platonic to play as tonic, from Bosporus to bos 

 taurus, has distinctive recognition at the faculty board. 

 Apollo and his muses nine are daily jostled, nay, are 

 hard pressed, by Hercules with his club, his base-ball 

 club! 



In the presence of such an overwhelming display of 

 pabulum, intellectual or other, the American youth, nor 

 less his more anxious father, must stand more or less 

 appalled. He is bidden to a feast where the tables do 

 not simply groan with their burden, they have broken 

 completely down. Everything is in a heap on the same 

 terrestrial level and the youth is bidden help himself; 

 prescribed regimen or diet there is none. 



Now again, I am not criticising methods, subjects, or 

 schools. All this has come about naturally: we older 

 people have seen it all : the confusion is a response to the 

 transformation of the age. Educators would meet the 

 necessities of the time, the needs of every individual, as 

 each individual may feel his need; and the gates of the 

 temple of knowledge are not only open, they are off their 

 hinges, and the priests of the sanctuary have all taken to 

 the field. 



Notwithstanding all this, notwithstanding the absolute- 

 ly unrestricted election now open to all seekers after 

 truth, there are, as wise men know, certain very definite 

 limitations set by the nature of the case and these may 

 perhaps even yet guide us to a right appreciation of 

 what is worth while in education. 



In the first place, the pupil himself, the subject of all 

 our care, prevision, and provision, has not changed. 



