NO. 1.
KDITOKIAT.8.
11
us found in the charter, should be ob
served as it reads. And if so observed,
the department eau claim no more than
the college of Literature, Science and Art.
And no one would advocate compulsion
in tills department. The Military depart
ment, then should be made to stand upon
its own merits. If it must employ law to
build up and sustain itself, it is but a
proof of its own weakness. Wo have, at
all events, failed to find the authority for
coercion. For how coercion can be in
(erred from including, is beyond our
knowledge of language. Moreover when
it look the Regents live years to ascer
tain that military tactics wore eyen de
manded by the charter of the land grant,
and when two more years elapsed before
they became aware that drill must bo
compulsory, we have little faith in the
stability of a decision consummated by
so many wavering steps.
There are some, who think a military
company in connection with the Univer
sity a lino thing, regardless of cost and
time. But wo are not that " Some." We
believe that it is unnecessary, wo know
it is an impediment.
Wo would not speak without proof.
Why is it that three fourths of the stu
dents in the University, the better ones at
Unit, shun this milila.iy drill V Ciroum.
stancial evidence speaks f.r the depart
ment ilseli.
Wo ask why not make Greek coercive as
well as military tactics, they are both in-
eluded in the same charter? Why not
make the students wear plug bats as well
as military caps, there is as much author!
ty for the one as the other? The UnivorsL
ty is supported by ;i direct tax upon the
people. And when it clothes itself in im
perial robes and dictates to the student
his studies and uniform it is no longer
an American institution.
A TKNDKNUY IN IIUHIICU EDUCATION.
It is an unmistakable fact that the op.
positioi' to the teaching of Latin and
Greek in our colleges is steadily on the in
crease. Public sentiment lias insisted on
the formation ol courses of s'udy in which
the classics shall be wholly absent, or
present only to a limited extent. Many
of our collegeshave accordingly modified
their "classical" courses and established
others in which the student is not required
to study the dead languages.
The advocates of the old method of in
slruction declaim much against the " util
tariauism" of the age. It is urged that
the money-seeking propensity of the
American people leads them to re
tain only those studies which are of di
rect use in nioney-inaking,and so to discard
much that is of greater value. It may lie
true that the generality of people arc not
competent to speak witli authority on the
merits or demerits of classical education,
and are therefore extreme and unjust in
their views; but when we see an increas
ing number of men, of undoubted learn
ing, question the alleged value of classi
cal culture, we may well hesitate before
pronouncing the gradual subordination
of the classics a misfortune.
The prevalence of a custom is not al
ways sulllcient proof of its intrinsic val
ue; nor is it alone a sutUcieiit reason for
its continuance. Latin, Greek, and the
mathematics formerly monopolized col
legiale instruction, because there were
low works of literary merit in the spoken
tongues, and natural science was un
known. Popular education prevailed on
ly to a limited extent, and Latin was a
very important means of communication
between the learned men of diU'croul na
tions. But these conditions no longer ex
ist. Popular education is general in many
of the European Countries. Their lan
guages possess valuable literature, and
natural science has assined majestic pro
portions. As a medium for produc
ing new works, the dead languages have
all but fallen into disuse. Yet thev con
tiuiie to engross the chief share of atten
tion in the leading courses of study in
our colleges.