142 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 343. 



The writer has talked on this subject so 

 often that he feels inclined now to dismiss 

 it hastily. Elementary schools cannot be 

 brojight to efficiencj'', unless there be high- 

 schools to lead them, and high-schools 

 cannot become ideal without the help of a 

 university. The whole system of public 

 education from the kindergarten to the 

 graduate department, and through it, 

 should be strongly knit together. This 

 principle is accepted universally, the chief 

 discussion being about instrumentalities. 

 My own experience causes me to place high 

 value upon examiners of schools appointed 

 by the university. The examiner should 

 be an instructor or assistant professor of 

 pedagogy, and should lecture sometimes on 

 the campus. In large States it might prove 

 convenient to have an examiner for town 

 high-schools, another for rural schools, and 

 a third for elementary schools. The exami- 

 ners should all be extension teachers oi" 

 practical pedagogy. Their function is not 

 so much to examine as to build up. If the 

 university will pay for the cost of this ser- 

 vice, the money will come back two-fold. 

 As an example of what may be done by an 

 institution for the schools below it, let me 

 point to the University of the State of New 

 York. Few universities could engage in 

 all its manifold work, but according to our 

 means we should adopt its best methods. 

 Traveling libraries and galleries and ex- 

 tension lecturers as well as examiners of 

 schools are educationally important means 

 of grace. 



Moreover, the university is not without 

 obligation to the private and denominational 

 colleges which, chartered by the State and 

 protected by its laws, teach a large per- 

 centage of the educable j^outh. It is a 

 blunder of the first magnitude to assume 

 towards these colleges an attitude of hos- 

 tility. One of the best things that we have 

 tried in Missouri is the College Union, con- 

 sisting of the University, and of every other 



respectable institution of higher learning. 

 At the meetings, held at each institution in 

 succession, we discuss common problems, 

 talk of common troubles, and help one an- 

 other to the common end — the uplifting of 

 the people. In spite of provoking oppo- 

 sition occasionally from the churches, any 

 university should be held largely responsible 

 if bad feeling continues between the de- 

 nominational colleges and itself. Stepping 

 grandly over small animosities, it should 

 remember that, while oflficially it is the 

 head of public instruction alone, in a 

 broader sense it should be the loving help- 

 ful head of all sound education in the com- 

 monwealth. 



The State university should serve as a 

 buttress to a National University. 



Education will not be complete in these 

 United States until we have at Washing- 

 ton a national university with State insti- 

 tutions as its buttresses. Some day our 

 education will conform to our system of 

 government. I for one would not be will- 

 ing to see institutions of any class enjoying 

 privileges in the national university that 

 are denied to other institutions of equal or 

 superior grade, but close affiliation between 

 the State and nation seems inevitable in 

 education also. 



In conclusion let me answer some pos- 

 sible objections to the positions taken in 

 this paper as to the outward obligations. 



Should the university invade the prov- 

 inces of the boards, bureaus, and commis- 

 sions — the Geological Survey, the Natural 

 History Survey, the Health officers, the Tax 

 Commission, the Superintendent of Public 

 Instruction, and the College of Agriculture 

 and the School of Mines, if, unfortunately, 

 these stand on separate foundations ? If 

 the interests of the State are adequately 

 served by others, the university might let 

 well enough alone. Under no condition 

 should it officiously invade the territory of 

 any officer or organization appointed by 



