Page:Nation v71 no1832.djvu/6

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106
The Nation.
[Vol. 71, No. 1832


to every scene of territorial plunder, that they may secure their share. To succeed in these predatory expeditions the restraints on parliamentary, even of party, government must be cast aside. The Czar of Russia and the Emperor of Germany have a free hand in China; they are not hampered by constitutions or by representatives of the common people. Lord Salisbury is more embarrassed, and the President of the United States is, according to our Constitution, helpless without the support of Congress. That is what our Imperialists mean by saying that we have outgrown the Constitution.



THE ORGANIZATION OF EDUCATION.

One of the advance steps which seem most likely to be taken in education in the immediate future is the organization of educational forces. We have colleges and universities to spare, with constantly increasing enrolments and rapidly swelling endowments. The efficiency of the various classes of preparatory schools has grown with rapid strides during the present generation. What seems to be demanded now is an organization of these multitudinous agencies, in accordance with some system which, while not destroying proper individuality or ambition, will bring about greater harmony and coöperation, and rid the educational field of not a little lack of uniformity and of waste of energy due to needless duplication.

There has been already a considerable number of hopeful steps in this direction. The Commission of Colleges in New England, the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools, and such special organizations as the New England History Teachers' Association, have done much in the way of unifying the work of colleges and secondary schools, particularly in the matter of methods of instruction, college entrance requirements, and the conditions of various academic degrees. An association of college and preparatory schools for the Middle States and Maryland has been working along the same lines, and has lately set itself to organize and maintain a board for the conduct of college entrance examinations. There are similar associations for the Northwest, and, we believe, for other sections of the country, while the National Educational Association, now a highly organized and efficient body, has already, through the reports of some of its committees, profoundly stimulated discussion of educational problems.