486 



SCIENGE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 274. 



statistics at Yale University, an institution 

 which was long one of the strongholds of 

 conservatism. In all the higher educa- 

 tional institutions of the present day more 

 or less liberty is accorded the student to 

 elect at least some of the studies to which 

 his time is to be devoted. The most pop- 

 ular subject at Yale last year was political 

 economy, which was elected by 957 stu- 

 dents. History was elected by 822, Eng- 

 lish by 529, philosophy by 398, modern 

 languages by 266, classics, including both 

 Latin and Greek by 172, and mathematics 

 by 37. Under the head of natural science, 

 including astronomy, physics, chemistry, 

 geology and biology, the number of elec- 

 tions was 257. This certainly does not look 

 as if the representatives of science, using 

 this term in its conventional sense, are in 

 a position to smile, either contemptuously 

 or patronizingly, upon the devotees to so- 

 called liberal culture. 



The object of education is to make each 

 one of us as nearly perfect a human being 

 as he is capable of becoming. The great 

 majority of those who begin to receive 

 an education are restricted to elementary 

 work. The determination of educational 

 values depends in every case upon indi- 

 vidual needs. Good mental discipline can 

 be acquired by the systematic and earnest 

 study of any subject whatever if the stu- 

 dent has a living conviction of its impor- 

 tance, and the teacher has brains, enthu- 

 siasm, and skill. Any subject may be 

 made a means of liberal culture if both 

 teacher and student are stimulated by the 

 love of knowledge. The law school, the 

 medical school, the technological school are 

 as necessary for the higher grades of pro- 

 fessional culture as the college is for general 

 culture. The student is not harmed but 

 healthfully stimulated by his recognition of 

 the vital importance to himself of what is 

 drawing forth his best efforts. Let us 

 welcome every new opportunity that is 



given our young men to adapt themselves 

 to the requirements of modern life. No 

 amount of declamation or invective can 

 displace physical science from its present 

 high position. Those of us who are de- 

 voted to science are willing and glad to 

 clasp hands with all who are ready to go 

 with us onward and upward. 



No classification of educational values 

 has been given that is superior to that that 

 was expressed about forty years ago by one 

 of the greatest of modern thinkers, Herbert 

 Spencer. In the order of their relative 

 importance the leading kinds of activity 

 which constitute human life are grouped as 

 follows : 



1. Those which directly minister to self- 

 preservation. 



2. Those which, by securing the neces- 

 saries of life, indirectly minister to self- 

 preservation. 



3. Those which have for their object the 

 rearing and training of the young. 



4. Those which are involved in the main- 

 tenance of proper social and political rela- 

 tions. 



5. Those which make up the leisure part 

 of life, devoted to the gratification of the 

 tastes and feelings. 



The best education is the best prepara- 

 tion for all of these activities, its aim being 

 to maintain a due proportion between the 

 degrees of preparation in each. The order 

 of relative importance is obviously the in- 

 verse of the order of diversity and com- 

 plexity. It is not surprising therefore that 

 up to a very recent time the work of educa- 

 tors has been confined chiefly to the last 

 one of the groups of activities enumerated 

 bj'^ Spencer. But in spite of educational tra- 

 ditions the world has lately been demanding 

 attention to the other groups, and modern 

 science as taught in our foremost universi- 

 ties and technical schools is the response to 

 that demand. Mr. Spencer considers the 

 educational needs implied for the best exer- 



