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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXX. No. 770 



be less than that of any other people in 

 determining what shall be the universally 

 recognized norms of scholastic competence. 

 In this discussion I would not blink 

 either the difficulties or the dangers of the 

 standardizing movement. The dangers are 

 many and real, chief among them that of 

 imposing on our educational institutions a 

 flat uniformity, which would take no ac- 

 count of wholesome individualities nor of 

 provision for local and special needs. This 

 is a serious danger, even where the stand- 

 ard is imposed by influence only, and not 

 by authority. The difficulties of the situa- 

 tion, too, are vastly greater than any super- 

 ficial inquiry would reveal. The chief of 

 these is the difficulty of finding criteria by 

 which the real effectiveness of educational 

 systems may be measured. Certain time 

 measures most readily present themselves 

 — the number of years in the course, the 

 hours of instruction per week, the number 

 of students per teacher, the years of special 

 training which the teachers themselves have 

 enjoyed. These are obviously inadequate, 

 yet they serve a useful purpose. They 

 measure the skeleton and so reveal the sta- 

 ture of a course of education. But more 

 subtle measures are needed to measure the 

 flesh and blood and spirit of instruction, 

 that which gives it its power and human 

 significance. And how shall we ever gauge 

 that finer inspiration which makes of some 

 schools a center of creative and re-creative 

 energy ! 



Incalculable differences there must al- 

 ways be even among schools and systems 

 that are classed together. But the need for 

 some working estimate of comparative 

 values remains and can not be put aside. 

 Even a rough measure of the stature of in- 

 stitutions of learning will serve a purpose 

 and such a measure is urgently required 

 in these days. 



It is clear that the question of equiva- 

 lence among widely different materials and 



processes must enter into this problem. It 

 is a question which presents great difficul- 

 ties, both theoretical and practical. Tet 

 some rough-and-ready estimate of equiva- 

 lence has long been made in the highest 

 educational institutions. ' Wherever the de- 

 gree of Doctor of Philosophy is bestowed, 

 for work done and not honoris causa, a 

 common designation has been applied to 

 the most various attainments. The sub- 

 stance has been largely ignored in the be- 

 stowal of this degree, and attention has 

 been directed instead to the mastery of 

 method. Where so great divergence has 

 been allowed without loss of essential uni- 

 ties, it would seem possible that recognition 

 can be freely extended to widely different 

 educational systems, even if those differ- 

 ences be international, without renouncing 

 all claim to a common and lofty standard. 



This is one point for which we of the 

 United States will undoubtedly have to con- 

 tend in any world-concert as regards educa- 

 tion. We are committed to a fair range of 

 individuality in education, both institu- 

 tional and personal. We do not assume in 

 advance that any form of education is in- 

 ferior because it is different from others. 

 And we can not permit the rest of the 

 world to judge any part of our education 

 as inferior simply because it is different. 

 Probably a majority of marked variations 

 will prove to be of inferior quality; and 

 others that are on their way to the highest 

 excellence will seem inferior for a time, 

 until their character is fully established. 

 But with us the variant is to be welcomed 

 and given its fair chance, for our system is 

 always alive to the hope of far-reaching 

 improvement. We shall be able to justify 

 this attitude before the rest of the world so 

 far, and only so far, as our educational 

 achievement in general shall show a sus- 

 tained and appreciable excellence. 



The argument comes to this, that our 

 American endeavors to set up definite edu- 



