Scientific and Literary Teaching in High School 249 



We are all, of course, familiar with the early educational 

 movement in Europe. That was an age when the mind of man 

 was just awakening from a long slumber, aroused by the beauties 

 of the literatures of old Greece and Rome. Soon after, the wave 

 of religious enthusiasm in the form of the Reformation, that 

 swept over Europe, gave to men an intense desire to study 

 deeper into the mysteries of God's word. As a result of this 

 awakening the study of Language and Literature grew in pop- 

 ularity and men thought that nothing more was required for a 

 complete education. And were they not right? Would any- 

 thing else have awakened men from the stupor of the Dark Ages? 



Civilization, as we understand the term today, was then in 

 its infancy. Simplicity marked all the pursuits of life. Machin- 

 ery, all but the simplest types, was unknown. Streams were 

 forded instead of being spanned by bridges. The great Ocean 

 was a mystery upon which they dared not venture. But as time 

 went on changes came. The science of Aristotle no longer sat- 

 isfied the demand. Something larger, something truer, more real 

 must come or men would again sink into that Chinese stagnation 

 that had characterized their thought for so many hundreds of 

 years. 



The story is too well known to be related here. The 

 demands of the world today are not what they were a thousand 

 years ago, nay, nor a hundred years ago. Then will the educa- 

 tion that they gave their youth a thousand years ago or a 

 hundred years ago be the one that is best suited to prepare our 

 youth for the complex struggle that is to meet them in a few 

 years ? 



It seems to me that no sane man will say that our educa- 

 tional system is so perfect that it should be stereotyped for all 

 time. Let us then leave these petty bickerings as to the greater 

 value of this study than that, and recognize the one great general 

 principle that when an organ is properly exercised its power is 

 increased. 



The progress of the world during the last half century has 

 been phenomenal in many ways. Along what lines has this 

 progress been most marked? Has it been along the line of literary 

 production? Has the world been made broader or has it become 

 a more comfortable or pleasant place to live in because of its 

 literary productions? Can we truthfully say that the literature 

 of the present day is very far in advance of that of the Eliz- 

 abethan Age several hundred years ago? Then can we' ascribe 

 this wonderful advance in the world's progress to its influence? 



Is the railroad, the factory, the coal mine, the telegraph and 

 the thousand and one other things that make life livable at the 



