March 27, 1891.] 



SCIENCE. 



175 



If a system of instruction gives discipline, method, and even 

 originating power, without rousing a lasting love for the 

 subject studied, the whole process is but a mental galvanism, 

 generating a delusive activity that ceases when the connec- 

 tion between instructor and pupil is broken off; but if a 

 teacher makes it his first business to stir up an interest in the 

 matter of study, the education becomes self-continuing when 

 teacher and pupil have parted, and the subject becomes its 

 own educator. If, then, it be conceded that the essence of 

 education is to interest, does it not seem a soberly practical 

 purpose that we should open up to the whole nation without 

 exception an interest in intellectual pursuits ? 



I take my stand on the broad moral ground that every 

 human being, from the highest to the lowest, has two sides _ 

 to his life, — his work and his leisure. To be without work 

 in life is selfishness and sloth; but, if a man or woman 

 is so entangled in routine duties as never to command leisure, 

 we have a right to say to such persons that they are leading 

 an immoral life. Such an individual has no claim to the 

 title of a working-man : he is a slave. It may be cruel cir- 

 cumstances that have thus absorbed him in business, but that 

 does not alter the fact: slavery was a misfortune rather than 

 a fault to those who suffered it; but, in any case, to be con- 

 tent with slavery is a crime. Once get society to recognize 

 the duty of leisure, and there is immediately a scope for 

 such institutions as university extension that exist for the 

 purpose of giving intellectual interests for such leisure time. 

 The movement is thus one of the greatest movements for the 

 "raising of the masses." With a large section of the people 

 there is, at the present moment, no conception of '"rising" 

 in life, except that of rising out of one social rank into an- 

 other. This last is of course a perfectly legitimate ambition, 

 but it is outside the present discussion. University exten- 

 sion knows nothing of social distinctions. It has to do with 

 afar more important mode of "rising" in life, — that of 

 rising in the rank to which a man happens to belong at the 

 moment, whether it be the rank in which he started or any 

 other. There is a saying that all men are equal after din- 

 ner; and it is true, that while, in the material wealth we seek 

 in our woi-king hours, equality is a chimera, yet in the in- 

 tellectual pursuits that belong to leisure there is no bar to 

 the equality of all, except the difference of individual capacity 

 and desire. Macaulay tells of the Dutch farmers who worked 

 in the fields all day, and at night read the Georgics in the 

 original. Scotch and American universities are largely 

 attended by students who have had to engage in menial 

 duties all the summer in order to gain funds for their high 

 education during the winter. And every university exten- 

 sion lecturer, highly trained specialist as he is, will testify 

 how his work has continually brought him into contact with 

 persons of the humblest social condition, whom a moment's 

 conversation has made him recognize as his intellectual 

 equals. No one has any difficulty in understanding that in 

 religious intercourse and experience all classes stand upon 

 an equality; and I have spoken of the foundation for the 

 university extension movement as being the growing recog- 

 nition of education as a permanent human interest akin to 

 religion. The experience of a few years has sufficiently 

 demonstrated the possibility of arousing such interest : to make 

 it universal is no more than a practical question of time, 

 money, and methods. 



But no doubt when we come to modus operandi the main 

 difficulty of the movement is the diversity of the classes it 

 seeks to approach, — diversity in individual capacity, in 

 leisure, means, and previous training. Opposite policies have 



been urged upon us. Some have said, "Whatever you do, 

 you must never lower the standard. Let the extension 

 movement present outside the universities precisely the same 

 education as the universities themselves are giving, however 

 long you may have to wait for its acceptance." On the other 

 hand, it has been urged, "You must go first where you are 

 most needed. Be content with a makeshift education imtil 

 the people are ready for something better." The movement 

 has accepted neither of these policies, but has made a dis- 

 tinction between two elements of university training, — 

 method and curriculum. So far as method is concerned, we 

 have considered that we are bound to be not less thorough, 

 but more thorough, if possible, than the universities them- 

 selves, in proportion as our clients work under peculiar diffi- 

 culties. But in the matter of curriculum we have felt it our 

 first duty to be elastic, and to offer little or much, as may in 

 each case be desired. Accordingly, we have elaborated an 

 educational unit, — the three-months' course of instruction 

 in a single subject. This unit course we have used all the 

 resources we could command for making as thorough in 

 method as possible. Where more than this is desired, we 

 arrange that more in a combination or series of such unit 

 courses. The instruction can thus be taken by retail or 

 wholesale, but in all cases it must be administered on the 

 same rigorous method. 



The key to the whole system is thus the unit course of three 

 months' instruction in a single subject. The method of such 

 a course is conveyed by the technical terms "lecture," 

 "syllabus," "exercises," "class." The lectures are addressed 

 to audiences as miscellaneous as the congregation of a church 

 or the people in a street car; and it is the duty of the teacher 

 to attract such miscellaneous audiences, as well as to hold 

 and instruct them. Those who do nothing more than simply 

 attend the lectures will at least have gained the education of 

 continuous interest. It is something to have one's attention 

 kept upon the same subject for three months together. But 

 it may be assumed that in every such audience there will be 

 a nucleus of students, by which term we simply mean per- 

 sons willing to do some work between one lecture and an- 

 other. The lectures are delivered no oftener than once a 

 week; for the idea is not that the lectures convey the actual 

 instruction, a great part of which is better obtained from 

 books, but the office of the lecture is to throw into prominence 

 the salient points of the study, and rouse the hearers to read 

 for themselves. The course of instruction is laid down in the 

 syllabus, — -a document of perhaps thirty or forty pages, sold 

 for a trifling sum. By referring for details to the pages of 

 books, this pamphlet can be made to serve as a text-book for 

 the whole course, making the teacher independent in his 

 order of exposition of any other text-book. The syllabus 

 assists the general audience in following the lectures without 

 the distraction of taking notes, and guides the reading and 

 thinking of the students during the week. The syllabus 

 contains a set of "exercises" on each lecture. These exer- 

 cises, unlike examination questions or "quizzes,'' are not tests 

 of memory, but are intended to train the student to work for 

 himself. They are thus to be done under the freest condi- 

 tions, — at home, with full leisure, and all possible access to 

 books, notes, or help from other persons. The written an- 

 swers are sent to the lecturer for marginal comment, and re- 

 turned by him at the "class." This class is a second meet- 

 ing for students and others, at which no formal lecture is 

 given ; but there is free talk on points suggested to the teacher 

 by the exercises he has received. The usual experience is 

 that it is more interesting than the lecture. This weekly 



