original reason for universities' being niversities were invented for the sake ng their fortunate students into conthe precious lore of the world, there and kept pure. There was no idea on of their founders that every one I could partake of academic benefits. al scheme would not originally have hat; still less would the conception of c intellect have admitted the notion. e was not supposed to be congenitally for intimacy with the best that has ught and said in the world. They had 1, until very recently, of so changing s of that intimacy that every one nk he could have it. Learning, culture, to be adulterated so that any mental process whatsoever could take them ow, in America, there is a tendency -. If a boy does not feel a pre-estabrmony between his soul and the huthen give him an academic degree on g with which his soul will be in pre [ 781 that learning and see anything of ities no ide every : ic be mally br cept: he not Ongerin that They chang every r g, cul by me ake the tender pre-esta the b degree e in p Cullu བས སམས not to be accessible to all who cared passi ately for them. But I do believe that the rev ence for learning and culture has been larg replaced by a conviction that anything wh has so great a reputation as a college deg must be put within the reach of all, even at t risk of making its reputation a farce. T privileged have been unwilling that their ch dren should be made to work; the unprivileg have been unwilling that their children sho see anything of good repute, anything with prestige value, denied to them. We have demanded a royal road to a thing to whi there is no royal road. The expensive scho lead their pupils from kindergarten to natu study and eurhythmics, with basket-work a gymnastics thrown in; the public schools foll them as closely as they can. Of real training the mind there is very little in any school. T rich do not want their children overworke the poor want a practical result for th children's fantastically long school hours. domestic science comes in for girls, and c [79] ublic opinion has drummed Greek rt as an inevitable part of a college shows that these arguments have t. No person who could be influther has the remotest conception of ng or the value of culture. Culture renounced a thing because it was - because it did not help people to ey. And the mere fact that Greek is supposed by the vast majority of be of any "use"-even as a matter ion-to their sons, shows that the rds of culture have changed. The ber of our public schools no longer ek at all; a great many private ve to make special arrangements for O wish to study it. And the attitude reek is only a sign of our democratic, ic times. have done with the colleges. I have them at all only by way of hinting have been so democratized that culs, even to its avowed exponents, different from what it has ever [80] the classics of E ing number of b worth reading e entrance require tion of the sons ous are positiv They cannot sp selves grammati think that it do and the adoptio play havoc with responsible. In fact seems to be swamped by for can manage to d workable English sion of the pub less and less tem fit for it. It is not only immigrant popul An educated wo that there was she lived-one the classics of Englisп iterature. An astoni ing number of boys and girls have read noth worth reading except the books that are in entrance requirements. An increasing prop tion of the sons and daughters of the prosp ous are positively illiterate at college a They cannot spell; they cannot express th selves grammatically; and they are inclined think that it does not matter. General lax and the adoption of educational fads wh play havoc with real education, are larg responsible. In the less fortunate classes, fact seems to be that the public schools are swamped by foreigners that all the teach can manage to do is to teach the pupils a li workable English. Needless to say, the pro sion of the public-school teacher has beco less and less tempting to people who are rea fit for it. It is not only in the great cities that immigrant population swamps the schoolro An educated woman told me, not long sin that there was no school in the place wh she lived-one of our oldest New Engl [81] >ol-children were Lithuanians, and a red American child could simply ing in their classes. They had to be glish, first of all; they approached ost elementary subjects very slowly; ural corollary -the teachers theme virtually illiterate. Therefore she ng her boy at home until he could reparatory school. Fortunately, she le of doing it; but there are many ho cannot ground their children in ges and sciences. A woman who would have had to watch her child Lithuanian accent and the locutions 1. ted case is never worth much. But ly to consider conditions at large to is has everything to make it typical. nly to look at any official record of n, any chart of distribution of popucaces, to see how the old American eing numerically submerged. If you sh to look at anything so dull as look at the comic papers. A fact [82] and they of the scholar's schools solemn wisdom, always Educational (li adays is large people, and the that their illiter them. If any of must always be and that the ol I will only ask the teaching in end, prestige val vast bulk of our the prestige valu able to them. T their way to the many cases ther veneer of gramm nal English. In r no one cares. Th afford to care; i be endowed or b Oh, yes, there |