ing a scientific survey of conditions as they exist here has ever been attempted by foreign visitors.

On the other hand, while it is true that individual opinions will vary, the central tendencies of two hundred such observers is likely to be near the truth. The local character of the observations is largely counterbalanced by the fact that the underlying ideals and methods of procedure have been fairly constant everywhere. Thus while few of the visitors got as far west as the Pacific States, the localities which they did visit are in a large measure representative of the country as a whole. The quotations have been restricted so as to include only the opinions of highly qualified men and women who were occupying important positions as educators in their own countries. Many of them were representatives delegated by their governments to study our educational system. The most extensive body of criticism is the Report of the Mosely Education Commission, which was sent from England with instructions to find out to what extent our commercial prosperity has been due to our educational system. Much of the criticism of our universities comes from French university professors who have done exchange work in this country, while a particularly valuable type of criticism is given by three men who came as immigrants and have remained in the United States as educators.

While the documents which have been studied are confined for the most part to those produced by French, English, and German observers, it should be remembered that the ideals of these three countries are typical to a large degree of those of the rest of the western world.

An effort has been made to give the background upon which the observers based their criticisms. This has seemed advisable on the theory that the criticism given would naturally center around those features of our system which were markedly better or at least markedly different from the corresponding features in the native country of the person giving the observations.

An effort has also been made to show the growth of our system during the period since 1850 as it is reflected in the criticism. A bibliography of works cited in the text is appended to this bulletin.

Chapter I.

AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY.

The educational system of any nation is closely related to the ideals of that nation. Therefore, all who would understand American education must study American ideals; and all criticism of American education must be considered in the light, both of American ideals and of the ideals of the nation which is represented in the criticism. The ideals upon which the American system of education rests are well portrayed in the work of De Tocqueville, provided some allowances are made for the changes which have occurred since his time. The keynote of his criticism is the assumption that all men are created equal in every respect. While this assumption is unwarranted, his work is valuable because he enumerates certain ideals of democracy which he proceeds to explain in terms of his fundamental thesis. Furthermore, this principle of equality, at least in its political sense is still looked upon as fundamental in democratic nations. De Tocqueville ([24]1 Vol. II, Chapter I) summarizes American philosophy as follows:

To evade the bondage of system and habit, of family maxims, class opinions, and to some degree of national prejudices. To accept tradition only as a means of information and existing facts only as a lesson to be used in doing otherwise and doing better. To seek the reason of things for oneself and in oneself alone; to tend to results without being bound to means, and to aim at substance through form.

According to De Tocqueville, American belief in equality leads to a lack of regard for ancestors, since ancestral opinions and methods of procedure are based upon an intelligence and knowledge which is in no way superior to that possessed by those who belong to the present generation. The idea of equality leads also to better acquaintance among men since social barriers do not exist. Each man feels that his own opinion is as good as that of his neighbor, and each man tends to decide things for himself. Expert authority is looked upon with disfavor. On the other hand, the span of human life is so short and time is so fleeting that no one man can think out all things for himself. The best that he can do is to assume most of the things which he believes and build his own thought system

1 The numbers in brackets throughout the text refer to the numbered items of the bibliography.

upon that basis. It thus happens that amid the utmost diversity which is to be found in the United States there are certain fundamental beliefs which are present in every village and hamlet, and in the cabin of every pioneer. Like-mindedness and individualism exist side by side, the one leading toward stability and the other toward change. To establish a proper balance between these two forces is the problem of government, as it exists in every form of are not equal politically,

of the

human society. If it is assumed that men it follows that the small social class which is looked upon as the best and the fittest must rule while the majority people are compelled, by force or indoctrination, to follow. This idea was held by many of the colonists at the time of the formation of the Union. The people who lived near the Atlantic seaboard in the early days were suspicious of popular government while the pioneers who had pressed inward were generally in favor of a more popular form of control. The present Constitution represents a compromise between these two opposing points of view. The principle of equality emerged slowly and it is only in very recent times that political equality even has been fully recognized.

The democratic conception of government which finally prevailed was based upon the principle of equality. It places the sovereignty in the hands of the majority. It is asserted that there is more intelligence in a number of men united than in any single individual and that the number of legislators and voters is more important than their quality. It also follows that the interests of the many are to be preferred to those of a few. All of this is diametrically opposed to the guiding principles of despotic societies. As a natural result we find marked evidences of lack of understanding and sympathy in most of the criticisms coming from autocratic countries like Germany, while critics from democratic England understand us quite well.

A further outgrowth of the doctrine of equality, according to De Tocqueville, is the conception of the "indefinite perfectibility of man." In aristocracies the essential characteristic is the idea of class. The limits to which any individual may improve are defi- 1 nitely fixed within the social stratum of which he is a member. Within those limits he can rise but not beyond them. In democratic societies, in theory at least, no limit of improvement is recognized. No condition is looked upon as a final state. There is always a possibility of further activity and further growth. Whatever is done is looked upon only as a makeshift which shall serve its purpose only until a better solution of the problem is discovered. This doctrine likewise met with strong opposition in the early days. Politically, the struggle centered around the question of the interpretation of the

Constitution. In this conflict the forces favoring stability prevailed to such an extent that it is still quite difficult to amend the Constitution. The tendency, however, has been in general toward the policy of loose constructionism.

De Tocqueville was also strongly impressed with the rather pronounced tendency of America toward mediocrity. He is inclined to attribute the cause of this to our boundless economic opportunity. He thinks that supernormal achievement is largely the result of meditation and leisure, but the economic opportunity is so great that few Americans have time to meditate long enough to get interested in the pursuit of truth for its own sake. In the practical application of truth and in the discovery of principles of immediate practical utility the Americans excel. Hence we find great American inventors, but almost no great scholars, poets, artists, or authors. Seventy years after De Tocqueville's work was published, Hugo Münsterberg wrote a statement of another ideal which is back of the American Constitution. He says ([68], p. 457) :

The end of all social striving [in America] is the happiness of individuals. That is positivism-reality based upon that which is.

Contrasting this with idealism based upon what ought to be, he

writes:

The first philosophy assumes that the purpose of man is to be pleased, the second, that his purpose is to do his duty. Knowledge is not for the pleasure of individuals but for the realization of ideals.

He calls attention to the fact that American ideals had their origin in the philosophy of enlightenment which centered in France during the early part of the eighteenth century. He believes that the meaning of life lies not in the greatest pleasure for the greatest number but in the realization of eternal ideals. What Münsterberg calls the greatest pleasure for the greatest number is evidently the same thing which De Tocqueville calls the “love of easy access and present enjoyment," and which he classes as a secondary characteristic due to environment. Instances are plentiful which go to show that the American people are capable of sacrificing their love of present enjoyment and can achieve notable success in the realization of ideals. The conflict between the two viewpoints, however, is none the less a real one and is the key to one phase of American education which will be considered further in later

chapters.

It is noticeable that Münsterberg says nothing about equality. This is due partly to the fact that the term is foreign to German thought and partly to the fact that the progress of science since De Tocqueville's day has proved that men are not created equal. It has become necessary, therefore, to state our philosophy in more

*

* *

of this

disintegrating and

any

more

modern terms. The best effort toward such a statement by a foreign critic is that of Shadwell ([83], p. 379): "The fundamental principle of national education in America is equality of opportunity and grows out of the American democratic spirit." He thinks that the school is the chief stronghold and perhaps the last hope spirit because, "the home and church are visibly the State well-no one pretends that public life than private is moving toward the ideal of democracy." The truth is, of course, that absolute equality of opportunity is almost as impossible as the older doctrine of equality. Yet the American people stand for it and strive toward it as an ideal. Shadwell believes that they look to the school with faith and hope tempered with no little misgiving. Thus the school comes to be identified with democracy, and it is here that we find the cause of the keen interest in education, which is the thing that is commented upon by practically every foreigner who visits our country.

The interest of the American people in education is such a prominent element in the criticism of so great a number of foreign critics that it is worth while to see what evidence they produce to show that America has such an interest, and has it to such an unusual degree. The critics themselves seem to consider this point important and several of them have gone into the matter in some detail. The most important type of evidence presented is the amount of money spent upon education, particularly with reference to the provision of buildings and equipment. According to our critics, America has the finest and best-equipped schoolhouses in the world. The following is one of the more conservative statements as given by Wallage ([88], p. 106):

Everywhere one finds splendidly built and splendidly planned schoolhouses. Each city, yes, each village-even the smallest in the land-vies with its neighbors in the erection of up-to-date structures, and one seeks to surpass the other in new and more practical reforms. They gladly pay right large costs and without a murmur give to education more than any other country in the world It is, in general, a striking characteristic of the American people to appropriate splendid sums of money for the erection and maintenance of schoolhouses and school equipment.

*

Such a statement becomes more significant when we remember that Wallage is a German. Germany has had better school buildings than either England or France, and the Germans have been educated to believe that their country excels in every respect. Such a complimentary criticism is rather unusual on the part of a German

critic.

Another phase of American educational life which has been pointed to as indicative of American belief and interest in education is the practice of giving large sums for the endowment of educational