836 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 626. 



It means arsenals and forts, great standing 

 armies and vast fleets of battleships; and 

 yet those are the very things we wish to 

 reduce to the lowest possible terms. I ap- 

 prove of a single military academy and a 

 single naval academy, since both are needed 

 by a modest army and navy; but I do not 

 wish to see military academies multiply, 

 nor would I have the mimicry of war be- 

 come a pastime in our schools. I doubt if 

 a correct science of education will include 

 the science of shooting our fellow men. 

 The episode of the early Jamestown was 

 not a military campaign nor a naval vic- 

 tory; it was rather a step in the conquest 

 of nature, and a chapter in human prog- 

 ress. I trust it is not too late to give to 

 the Jamestown Exposition a tone less war- 

 like, and to put the emphasis where it must 

 in future belong, upon education, science, 

 industry, commerce and social progress. 



EDUCATIONAL THEORIES, ANCIENT AND 

 MODERN. 



Coming now to the special message of 

 this address, I propose for your serious 

 consideration the organization of an addi- 

 tional section devoted to the 'science of 

 education. ' 



As one looks over the history of educa- 

 tion he is struck by its chaotic condition. 

 From Aristotle to the men now living, we 

 find the problem of Education discussed 

 from many points of view, with many dif- 

 ferent objects in mind, and under widely 

 different social conditions. 



The Greek idea of education and culture 

 was based upon the existence of a privi- 

 leged class, fed, clothed and sheltered by 

 the labor of slaves— a real aristocracy de- 

 voted to war, art, literature and luxurious 

 living. The sway of the so-called classic 

 idea of education has been and still is one 

 of the marvels of history. The splendor 

 of Greek art, the brilliancy of Greek litera- 

 ture and the keenness of Greek logic have 



held the world as in a trance, unable to 

 break away from its charms — though it has 

 been unsuited to other peoples and other 

 social conditions. 



I need not turn the pages of history to 

 name the writers and teachers who have 

 risen in protest or set forth new doctrines. 

 In many cases the new prophet or teacher 

 has had in mind a privileged individual, 

 or a privileged class, the education of a 

 prince, of a nobleman, of a statesman, a 

 monk, a scholar, a gentleman — always an 

 exceptional person or class. The common 

 people, the toilers in the fields and mines, 

 the rank and file of soldiers and sailors, the 

 builders of houses and ships, the craftsmen 

 at looms and benches— for all such there 

 were no educational theories. Such people 

 had no education and they were supposed 

 to need none beyond that gained in follow- 

 ing the occupations or crafts themselves. 

 The assumption was not only that there 

 was no education suited to the common 

 people, but that an interest and partici- 

 pation in the practical arts was degrading 

 to the taste and deadening to the mind. 

 To be sure, a Rabelais, or a Eousseau saw 

 abundant reason for rebelling against the 

 scholasticism of the grammarians, and ad- 

 vocated a return to a study of the external 

 world and the methods of controlling and 

 utilizing the forces of nature, but even they 

 had no science of education, and they had 

 small following. 



THE RECOGNITON OP UTILITY AND SCIENCE. 



Francis Bacon, more than any other 

 man, showed the inadequacy of the classic 

 method, fine as it was along certain lines, 

 and the comparative worthlessness of scho- 

 lasticism, and he opened the eyes of the 

 educated people of his time to the wealth 

 of opportunity for interesting and profit- 

 able study in the great laboratory of na- 

 ture ; and better than all else, he set forth 

 the dignity and intellectual value of science 



