610 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXII. No. 827 



dominated both state and social institu- 

 tions, quite different educational forces 

 came into prominence. 



As we now see, all of these educational 

 motives were narrow and incomplete, and 

 failed in the highest purposes of an educa- 

 tion in that they each afforded an oppor- 

 tunity to develop strongly the ability of 

 the individual in but a single direction. 

 It was not until they became united, en- 

 riched and ennobled by that independence 

 of thought and that Christian democracy 

 which were the outgrowth of the protestant 

 reformation that we find the dawn of that 

 higher type of educational thought and 

 activity which characterizes our modern 

 institutions of learning. 



Whatever may be our estimate of this or 

 that system of education, or of this or that 

 branch of study, we shall all agree that 

 that education is best which best trains the 

 individual to meet the demands of organ- 

 ized society as it exists and enables him to 

 contribute most to the general welfare and 

 advancement of the community and of the 

 nation of which he is a member. Such a 

 standard may and certainly does vary with 

 the community and with the nation. More- 

 over, the educational ideals of any progres- 

 sive people are bound to change with the 

 development of national resources and na- 

 tional character and with the general prog- 

 ress of civilization. The instruction now 

 offered by the great universities of Europe 

 is quite different from that given by the 

 same institutions a century or more ago. 

 The same is true in our own country. 

 Those who have followed even casually our 

 educational history know how very differ- 

 ent is the curriculum of such institutions 

 as Harvard to-day as compared with that 

 presented by the same institution during 

 the early years of its existence. The prom- 

 inence once occupied by Hebrew, Assyrian 

 and Sanskrit has now given place to the 

 study of modern languages and literature ; 



the Greek and Latin requirements have 

 been greatly reduced, and instead history 

 and the social sciences have come to be 

 recognized as important elements of a lib- 

 eral education. The natural sciences, once 

 represented at Harvard by a brief course 

 in natural philosophy, astronomy, and half 

 an hour a week devoted to botany during 

 the spring months, have gradually been 

 expanded until there is now offered suffi- 

 cient work in these branches at this insti- 

 tution alone to require the entire time of a 

 student for a dozen years to complete it. 



Moreover, the fully equipped modern 

 American university is no longer the tradi- 

 tional college of liberal arts of England, 

 nor is it confined to the four faculties of 

 the continental institutions. We have in 

 addition to these in most of our institutions 

 strong technical departments giving in- 

 struction in the various branches of agri- 

 culture and engineering. 



In technical education America leads the 

 world. Not only was shop-practise, as the 

 laboratory of the engineer, first introduced 

 in this country, but several of the best 

 European technical laboratories have been 

 patterned after those of a leading Amer- 

 ican institution. This is what we might 

 reasonably have expected. The American 

 people have been and still are busily en- 

 gaged in the conquest of a continent. Its 

 resources are vast and varied and their 

 development presents a wide range of in- 

 dustrial problems, the solution of which 

 have had, as they should, no small influence 

 upon the character and the trend of our 

 educational institutions. To meet the de- 

 mand for trained men in the industries, 

 strong engineering schools have sprung up 

 in most of our great centers of population 

 and the states themselves have recognized 

 their obligation and their opportunity by 

 establishing technical schools in connection 

 with their state colleges and universities. 



Another condition that is bound to influ- 



