136 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF EDUCATION. 
free to say that, while agreeing with Professor Hale’s facts, as far as he understood 
hem, he must disagree with every one of his conclusions, and that. too, in the interest 
of the study of Greek. 
Nothing so weakens a study as to make it the subject of official pampering ; to put it 
n such a way that it is to be studied, not for the visible good it gives, but for some 
peculiar good which the student is taught he has not the ability to comprehend. Noth- 
ing has so hurt the study of the classics in this country as the divine sacredness with 
which we have tried to invest them. We have hurt science as much as the study of 
Greek by not putting Greek on its own merits in the same position, in regard to university 
work, as other studies are put on in Harvard or Johns Hopkins. We certainly would 
not name any other university than Harvard and Johns Hopkins, where higher work is 
Jone, where Greek is studied for the good it gives, and not as a part of a divinely appointed 
surriculum. Making Greek a requirement weakens it in all its relations, and the utili- 
tarian spirit has not done one-twentieth as much harm as the spirit of pointing to Greek 
as something sacred. Accordingly, Greek should not be made a required subject for 
anything except Greek courses. A scientific study should not be required except in 
ourely scientific courses. Let us change the form of the question from, Should Greek 
se required for the degree of Bachelor of Arts ? to, Should we give the Bachelor of 
Arts degree without Greek ? That is, shall we give a certain name to courses without 
Jreek ? The question is one of name. It is not a very important question for that 
reason. It is, of course, desirable to have degrees that will tell what a man knows, as, 
for example, an A.B. stating that he had Latin and Greek. It would be better if he 
sould be labeled A.B. in Anabasis, enumerating the books he had read, the places where 
ne had read them, and, better than all, the teacher under whom he had read them. It 
might be still better to have different colored gowns to signify different degrees. Thus 
we might have pink gowns for those who have read the Anabasis, and blue gowns for 
those who have read something else. Then you could see a Greck man across the street 
and say, ¢ There goes a Greek man who has done an advanced piece of work.” But we do 
aot care for that sort of thing. We do not want titles. It is not the American spirit. 
This is the strongest reason for reducing all these degrees to one, and has not been 
referred to by Professor Hale. Caligula wished all the Romans might have one neck 
so that he might cut it off at one stroke. Likewise, let all degrees have but one neck so 
that they could all be cut off at one blow, for the whole thing is merely foolishness, as 
the wearing of pink or blue or yellow gowns is all childishness. It is a step in the 
right direction when we either multiply degrees unduly, so that they will appear 
ridiculous, or when we reduce them all to one. 
The separation of degrees from B.A. is bound sooner or later to kill all degrees. Tt 
will not kill the Greek, for which the degree stood, and the time is coming when Greek 
culture will be more and more appreciated. Not that there are not plenty of other kinds 
of culture, but there will always be Greek-minded men and Latin-minded men, for whom 
Greek and Latin will have value. 
The degree of A.B. had meant such liberal culture as the colleges of the past were 
able to give. The colleges of the present were able to give a liberal culture in many 
more directions. All academic words and terms are undergoing changes. The word. 
doctor and the word bachelor are not exempt from this. It would have been better 
to have found new names for every one of the new conditions. But all colleges cannot 
meet the demands of all men, and it is not the business of any college to force upon any 
hat which is not for his best development. If an institution proposes to teach only 
classically minded men the classics, very well. It is a noble field, and the work may 
be nobly done. It strains out by that sieve a vast number of men who want training, 
and want it in other fields. Although in Germany, all scientific men of all kinds 
were forced to go through a course in the German gymnasium, yet there is nothing in 
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