CLASSICS AND THE COLLEGE COURSE 599 
diverting men from consideration of the spiritual to love of the material. 
Then came the genius who, remembering the classical statement that the 
first step in education is the study of words, asserted that the chief thing 
is the study of words; and he discovered that in the study of Latin and 
Greek words one gains an all-around training, a “ mental culture ” which 
is imparted by no other study. With that came the conception that 
colleges are to give a “liberal education” without any reference to 
utility. For more than half a century the gospel of culture has been 
preached by college graduates, who, too often, are themselves living 
proofs of its falsity. 
It is difficult to speak or to write meekly respecting the ceaseless 
chatter about “culture” and the “education of a gentleman.” If 
study of Greek and Latin in college should make men “ cultured,” 
should convert them into “ gentlemen,” there must be something wrong 
in the mode of teaching or in the mode of study, for the results are not 
wholly gratifying. Of course, there may be a difference of opinion as to 
the meaning of “culture.” If it mean comfortable self-satisfaction 
without basis of knowledge, certainly a very great number of men have 
acquired “ culture” at slight cost; an insignificant quantity of classical 
or other lore found lodgment in their minds and their chief relic of col- 
lege days is the recollection that they took the classical course. But if 
“culture” mean intellectual breadth, judicial attitude of mind, the 
ability to express one’s thoughts clearly, not much of it could be ac- 
quired in the old classical course and still less in a modern classical 
group. 
But one is told that a tree is known by its fruits, and the classicist 
proceeds to prove results by presenting a long list of brilliant authors 
who studied classics, while he challenges his opponent to show a similar 
list made up from graduates of non-classical courses. This can not be 
regarded as a legitimate argument. A field of blasted corn always con- 
tains a considerable number of good ears. If one should take the whole 
product, he might be inclined to say that the classical course is destruc- 
tive of culture and that the men on the list were those who had escaped 
the blasting influence of the study; for a very great proportion of the 
graduates who have entered professional life, exhibit a charming indif- 
ference to the rules of rhetoric and notable inability to express their 
thoughts clearly. But the argument is worthless in either direction. It 
is absurd as an argument for teaching the classics; nearly all of the 
polished writers in this land and Great Britain were graduated before 
the change in curriculum came about; they had to study the classics or 
nothing. 
The writer holds no brief for defence of any special type of educa- 
tion or of any special curriculum but he maintains that a curriculum 
which ignores utility is wasteful. All training should aim to make a 
