was more to the purpose," during his first term of electives than during any whole year of earlier work. There is much exaggeration in this statement, and a student making it does not realize or else forgets that the success of his first term of electives is largely if not wholly conditioned upon and made possible by his earlier fixed work, with its strict discipline and sound training; yet there is much truth in the statement also. You should never forget, however, that in education as in civil life, perfect liberty is conditioned upon law, not upon license; indeed, with license liberty dies. Education ceases to be possible when intellectual vagabondage begins. In broadening your course, therefore, you are not to run hither and yon, getting here a little and there less, moving without definite purpose and stopping by chance, never correlating your work, and securing an indigestible pot-pourri of all sorts of departmental odds and ends and leavings. It is all very well to dine à la carte, and any sensible man prefers it to a table d'hôte; but if you mix cranberries and cream, and insist on putting sugar in your cup-consommé, you will simply make a decided mess of what might otherwise have been an attractive and palatable menu.

Let me give you a few illustrations of wisely chosen electives, with selections made with a view of broadening and enriching your course. You may not be able to find at the college of your choice the electives which are named here; but the themes will be at least suggestive for collateral reading, if you are so unfortunate as to fail of direct instruction therein. Let us suppose that you have had a half year's work in the elements of political economy, and have become sufficiently interested to desire to extend that work. It ought to be possible for you to get a course in practical problems in economics-a rapid review of such themes as money, the tariff, railways, immigration. To this may be added work upon the history of industrial society; or the industrial and financial history of this country; or a more specific study of public finance and taxation, or of private financiering-such as credit and banking. Many institutions are now offering courses in trade and com

merce and in commercial geography, all of especial interest and value to Americans just now.

Or suppose history to have become something more than a collection of the dry bones of dates and disconnected events. Then you may take a dip into the political and constitutional history of England, or the era of the Protestant reformation, or the stirring days of the French Revolution, or the political history of our own country, or the history of European colonies again a subject of most immediate and profound interest to us all. A half year, or even two hours a week for a half year, given to one or more of these themes, would go far toward making you a wise man and an intelligent and helpful citizen.

Possibly philosophy or psychology prove interesting. You may follow the elementary work with the history of ancient and medieval and modern philosophic thought; or with a course in ethics; or with a half year of logic; or you may even go into the laboratory, and try some work in experimental psychology, without which it is exceedingly difficult to get any very clear idea of the modern standpoint.

General literature may be followed by special work on Shakespeare and the English drama, or on poetry or the novel. Greek may bring you to a study of ancient art; Latin, to that of inscriptions or antiquities. Rhetoric and English naturally lead to exercises in rapid writing, in brief-making and debating and public speaking, in criticism, and in translation.

With every such advance you reach higher ground, you breathe and move more freely, your horizon is constantly expanding, you are larger in intellectual frame, your work is less mechanical, you come into more distinct and positive enjoyment of opportunity, hours which perhaps have dragged heavily in the past now disappear all too rapidly, growth has really begun, and you are experiencing the pure joy of living.

I have left for my last word on electives that which is really the best word: this, that after all the greatest advantage in the elective system is that you have an opportunity to choose your instructor-a most blessed privilege, which you ought

never willingly to neglect or forego. Always remember Mr. Emerson's words, "It is little matter what you learn, the question is with whom you learn." What you most need as a student is not information, but teachers to whom you will be “profoundly and eternally indebted." Even under most wise administration it is simply impossible to secure a faculty made up entirely of men with distinct force of character, earnestness of life, constant industry, unfailing thoughtfulness and consideration, unflagging interest in each student, and with a high degree of teaching power. Really, there are not enough of such men to "go around," and the impossible can no more be achieved in education than in any other walk of life. Hence, there will always be in every faculty men who are indolent and selfish and given over to eye-service or lip-service only, and indifferent, even if not downright dishonest. All of which simply means that, though quite up to the average of other classes and callings-probably even somewhat superior to these college professors are human, sometimes intensely human, not infrequently even disagreeably human. But it is generally true that every faculty possesses at least a few men who are vigorous, and full of fire and movement, men who have snap and go in them, men who can command the attention and respect of every man in the class room, who inspire and quicken into new life, and who hold till their last hour the warm interest and affectionate regard of all so fortunate as to sit under their instruction. The elective system enables you surely to get a taste of such a man, to move in his atmosphere for a little while at least, to feel the effect of his electric currents, to know the thrill and uplift which come from daily association with such a character. It does not matter much what he teaches-elect it, in order that you may be able to elect him; and you will never regret your choice. Men are more valuable than subjects, and inspiration is far above information.

The very best feature of the elective system, then, is that you may consciously and intelligently choose the instruction and companionship of such a man.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND PRACTICE IN WRITING

I. Discuss arguments in favor of the elective system, such as extent of modern learning, adaptation to individual needs, encouragement to hard work, etc. 2. Discuss arguments against, such as various forms of abuse, lack of unity, encouragement to laziness, etc. 3. Does the elective system seem generally successful? 4. Discuss the need of enlightened election and methods of facilitating this. 5. Draw up and discuss a typical first-year curriculum. 6. How far is it desirable in the first year of college to have a fresh start in method and content in the studies pursued?

SPECIALIZATION

GEORGE HERBERT PALMER

[George Herbert Palmer (1842- -) was for many years a professor in the department of philosophy in Howard University. In 1913, he became professor emeritus. His writings cover a considerable range, including especially a notable translation of The Odyssey, a monumental edition of the poems of George Herbert, many stimulating essays in the field of ethics, and a striking biography of his wife, Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer. This address was delivered at the Convocation of the University of Chicago, June, 1908.]

This morning, I sat down to breakfast with about a hundred of you who had entered on the attainment of the highest degree which this University offers. You were advanced specialists. You had each chosen some single line of endeavor. But, as I sat there, I recalled that you were not the only specialists of this University. Before me this afternoon I see candidates in medicine, men and women who have taken for their specialty the warfare with pain and disease. They have said, "All that I can ever know, I will bring to bear on this urgent problem." Here also are the lawyers, impassioned for justice, for the quelling of human strife. That is their specialty. They too restrict themselves to a single point of view. Beside them sit the scientific men, who looking over the vast expanse of nature say, "The physical aspects of this marvelous machine it will

1 Reprinted from the University Record, Volume 13, page 1 (July, 1908), by permission of the author and of the publishers.

be my duty to trace." And why should I stop here? Throughout your undergraduate department, as we all know, run dominant interests. I should be ashamed of a young man who had not found here some such compulsive interest; for it is only when an interest compels that we can say that our education has begun. So long as we are simply learning that which is set before us, taking the routine mass of subjects, we may be students, but we are not scholars. No, it is when with a free heart we give ourselves to a subject and say, “Take of me all you demand-rather this I would do than anything else, for this expresses my personal desires"—then it is that a quickening education begins. But this is specialization. We might think of the University of Chicago, then, as a great specializing machine.

But why have you set yourself this task of specialization? Because the world needs leaders and you have chosen yourself to be one of those leaders. Are you aware how exceptional is your condition? The last census shows that only a little over one per cent of our population is in our colleges. You are of that one per cent, and you are here in order that you may enlighten the other ninety-nine per cent. If through ignorance you fail, you will cause others to fail and you had better never have come to this University. To some sort of leadership you have dedicated yourself, and to this aim you should be true. But do not at times doubts cross your mind? Have you not occasionally asked yourself whether you can attain such leadership and make the most of your life-the only one that will be intrusted to you by shutting yourself up to a specialty? Multitudes of interesting things are calling; shall you turn away from them and follow a single line? will be worth while to-day to consider these fundamental questions and inquire how far we are justified in specializing, what dangers there are in it, and in what degree those dangers can be avoided.

It

Let me say, then, at the start, that I regard specialization as absolutely essential to scholarship. There is no scholarship without it, for it is involved in the very process of knowing.