PRES. ELIOT ON LIBERAL EDUCATION.

At the recent anniversary of Johns Hopkins University, one of the chief features of the day was an address by Pres. Eliot. A full report of the address has not yet been printed. We print below an abstract of President Eliot's remarks. The subject of the address was "The Degree of Bachelor of Arts as an Evidence of Liberal Education," and its object was to advance that educational reform now in progress whereby the circle of "liberal studies" is to be widened so as to include, besides the Latin, Greek and mathematics, which were the staples of the sixteenth century curriculum, those other sciences of later growth and of modern perfection "which now moment the highest consideration from every one save college trustees and faculties." President Eliot opened by pointing out that nowhere had reform moved more sluggishly or against greater obstacles than in the alteration of the accepted courses of instruction in institutions of learning. He showed how slowly Greek had obtained admittance to the universities of three hundred years ago; how recent was the perfection of mathematical teaching, how tardily each one of the present staples of college learning had attained to universal use in the educational world. From this he passed on to notice the fact that ever since the canon had gone forth from the teachers of the sixteenth century that certain studies and no others should be considered the "liberal arts" and be imparted as such, no means had been found for gaining recognition for the languages of today or for the physical sciences as studies of equal weight and dignity.

President Eliot then presented the claims of the English language with its copious and splendid literature, the French and German languages, with their treasures of learning and philosophy, history, political economy, and the natural sciences, to be admitted to equal rank and dignity in every college curriculum, and to an equality of value as studies preparatory to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, with those more honored but no more important ancient and dead languages so long allowed exclusive privilege, and with those mathematics which are dead without their sister sciences.

To realize this reform would, he declared, necessitate a change in educational methods, which must begin at the bottom, with the preparatory schools and academies. It involves an early differentiation of studies. Not all these subjects, each so great in itself, can be mastered thoroughly by a single individual. There must be an early choice of studies, made in the schools by the teachers themselves after a careful examination of the pupil's aptitudes; but made in college by the student himself. Not all, but only a certain proportion, of these studies must be required for a bachelor's degree; but all of them must be put upon the same footing, must be made coordinate and of equal academical value.

The argument of his address President Eliot thus concluded and summed up: "Finally, I step beyond the strict limits of my subject to urge the enlargement of the circle of liberal arts, on the ground that the interests of the higher education and of the institutions which supply that education demand it. Liberal education is not safe and strong in a country in which the great majority of the men who belong to the intellectual professions are not liberally educated. Now, that is just the case in this country. The great majority of the men who are engaged in the practice of law and medicine, in journalism, the public service, and the scientific professions, and in industrial leaderships are not bachelors of arts. Indeed, the only learned profession which contains today a large proportion of bachelors of arts is the ministry. This sorry condition of things is doubtless due in part to what may be called the pioneer condition of American society; but I think it is also due to the antiquated state of the common college curriculum and the course of preparatory study at school.

"The execution of the principles which I have advocated would involve considerable changes in the order of school and college studies. Thus, science teaching should begin early in the school course. English should be studied from the beginning of school life to the end of college life; and the order in which the foreign languages are taken up should be for many boys essentially changed. We should in vain expect such changes to be made suddenly. They must be gradually brought about by the pressure of public opinion, by the public opinion of the educated classes taking a gradual effect through educational instrumentalities. Reforms in education always advance slowly; but many of you will live to see this reform accomplished."

The New York Times has presented a criticism of President Eliot's theories as advanced above, which seems to us so much to the point, that we cannot forbear subjoining it to the report of the address itself: Even if the fact be as President Eliot states it, as to the proportion of liberally educated men in the professions, the Times says it is evident that the tendency is not toward keeping it true. The "public service" is in a condition so anomalous that it is not right to argue from it. But whereas a generation ago, college-bred men were to be found only in the three "learned professions," they are now to be found, and every year in greater numbers, in occupations not at that time recognized as professions at all. In journalism there will be no dispute that this is true, but it is equally true of callings in which the direct advantage of a collegiate education is less obvious, as, for example, in architecture. We believe it will be found that the increase in the number of undergraduates is at least keeping pace with the growth of the country in population and in wealth.

The suggestion, however, of a differentiation of studies as a part of the scheme of general education is open to the objection that the meaning of a college degree will not be as distinct and specific when such a scheme has been put into operation as it has been heretofore. We all know what we mean by an educated man, though we may not be able to put our meaning into a formula. We do not mean the possession of a technical knowledge, nor a mastery of the routine of any calling by which money may be earned in it, but something outside of the knowledge by which a man gets his living and additional to that knowledge. We mean what it is desirable that a man should know in the interest of his dignity as a human being, or, to use the good old word, we mean "the humanities." This knowledge we suppose to be certified by the degree of Bachelor of Arts. "An early differentiation of studies" implies that the outfit of educated men is not to be the same, but is to be adjusted on some principle of equivalence, according to the pursuit in life for which the pupil seems to show the most aptitude, or, in other words, that a liberal education shall include a technical and professional element. According to the existing scheme this specialization begins after what is called liberal education is completed, so far as it can be completed at college. But if the specialization is to begin, not only in college, but before college, it is evident that the reform contemplated by President Eliot involves not merely a revision but a revolution of the current notion of liberal education.