Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 16.djvu/712

682. He would strengthen what is technically called the "modern sides," by incorporating various sciences and the living languages into the schemes of study. Subsidiary to this fundamental improvement several other resources are thus referred to: "But the movement has not stopped here. A further and most satisfactory result is noticeable in the recent establishment of workshops under proper control, where boys can gain some idea of the value of manual labor, and the respect due to careful handicraft. Museums too are encouraged, since they help in extending the front, so to speak, of the intellectual interest presented to the boys, and so increase the chance of alluring a greater number to pursue knowledge for its own sake. For those who know the natures of average boys know that the process of leading them to learn is in reality a process of allurement. Thousands of boys have a strong instinctive antipathy to intellectual effort; their point of view with regard to it has been modified; and if the attempt is made abruptly it will be ineffective; they suspect some sinister design, not knowing yet that what they are being led to is beautiful for its own sake, and capable of making them useful members of society. And, to further this innocent deception, such things as debating societies are valuable. They may induce an intellectual activity in quarters where there is often a marked tendency to stagnation, and stimulus may be given to thought, arrangement of ideas, and the hearing and imparting of facts, without aid of lexicons or fear of the ferule. But they are not often made to serve this purpose without considerable efforts being made toward sustaining them after they have once started. Transitory conditions may start them, and then generally a crisis supervenes demanding great care. Supposing, however, that this has been survived in safety, the society is liable to change its character. The debating element in its constitution is seen to lose prominence, and a club is formed of boys elected for their popularity, an aggregation of the influence of the school. There is of course a natural tendency to this, and the result is not unsatisfactory. Such a club embraces a class of boys whom a purely literary or debating society would probably exclude. They join it without the least intention of learning anything; but its usages should compel them, by means of debates, to take a livelier interest in rational subjects and enlarge their mental horizon. But there will very likely be room then for a purely literary society of a less compound nature, to coexist side by side with this club, and provide solely for the more studious portion of the community. For it can hardly be expected in any school that a club, with members elected for popularity, should coincide with another consisting of the scholars and the foremost devotees of learning.

"Many schools also publish periodicals, written and supported by the boys themselves, and these periodicals are of two characters: those devoted wholly to the record of athletics; and those which, besides