296 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. Xo. 453. 



terns have radically different ends in view 

 a-nd proceed by quite different methods. 

 The one is specific and definite, preparing 

 men for special fields of activity ; the other 

 broader and more general, aiming to give 

 men good ideals, good ambitions, a prop- 

 erly balanced judgment and well-trained 

 mind— items of equipment which are sure 

 ■to be useful to any man in any walk of 

 life. It has been said that one trains men 

 to live, the other to earn a living. If we 

 accept this as roughly defining their re- 

 spective characteristics, then it is evident 

 that a combination of the two is the ideal 

 to be sought after. At present, however, 

 it is usually a question of one or the other, 

 and colleges of engineering and of liberal 

 arts are coordinate parts of our univer- 

 sities—a fact somewhat grudgingly ad- 

 mitted by those repreisenting the older 

 learning. I think we shall find good rea- 

 son for their attitude. 



In comparing things so different, it is 

 important to select the best points for com- 

 parison, and it is obvious that we need 

 not consider matters of purely technical 

 significance. That is to say, when it comes 

 to designing a bridge, it is evident that 

 as a preparation no amount of Latin or 

 history can be considered as an efficient 

 substitute for a eoui-se in graphical statics. 

 But it being impossible to foresee the exact 

 futiire of any student, there is left con- 

 siderable scope for general strength and 

 adaptability which even the most technical 

 educational method must take into account 

 and seek to provide for. Comparison be- 

 tween liberal and technical training may 

 well be made, then, as regards just this 

 point, the success with which they fit men 

 to grow and to adapt themselves to new 

 and more exacting conditions. But there 

 is another consideration. Every man owes 

 something to himself and to the community 

 which cannot be paid by even the best ex- 

 ecuted professional services. He owes it 



to the community that he should be willing 

 and able to discharge successfully the re- 

 sponsibilities which in one form or another 

 are sure to fall upon him; and he owes 

 it to himself and to the community that he 

 should see more in life and get more out of 

 life than lies within his purely technical 

 horizon. It is, therefore, again appropri- 

 ate to inquire as to the relative success with 

 which the two educations aid men in satis- 

 fying these last-mentioned demands, which 

 are essentially general. 



It is iisual to conceive of any educational 

 scheme as having tAvo fairly distinct aims, 

 which President Hadley has called training 

 for knowledge and training for power — 

 perhaps an unfortunate choice of words in 

 view of the adage 'Knowledge is power.' 

 But the meaning is clear— teaching to 

 know, and teaching to think and do. To 

 these should be added a third, less easy to 

 define — teaching to appreciate, that is the 

 cultivation of the tastes. The traditional 

 liberal education of the last century was 

 largely an education for power, that is, 

 the stress was laid on mental discipline, 

 training of the memory and logical fac- 

 ulties as contrasted with the imparting of 

 knowledge. The subjects studied, how- 

 ever, largely classical literature and phi- 

 losophy, naturally and unavoidably ful- 

 filled in a measure the third requirement 

 above mentioned. The characteristic fea- 

 ture was, nevertheless, the hard drill along 

 certain well-defined lines, the infliction on 

 all students of certain definite tasks. At 

 present, however, a liberal education means 

 quite a different thing. The one-sidedness 

 of the old scheme, together with the great 

 increase in the number of possible subjects 

 of study, has led to what seems an almost 

 equally one-sided development in the other 

 direction— namely, the universal prepon- 

 derance of elective over required studies. 

 It is as if the college or university should 

 greet the prospective student with the 



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