Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 76.djvu/148

144 that all great men, standing upon a pedestal above the common herd, are serenely conscious of their perfection; whereas the fact is that these, of all others, are at war, day and night, with their own shortcomings. Just so far as their judgment of good and evil is developed, to that extent must they suffer from a sense of failure. This is true not merely of men, but also of communities; it has been pointed out that the most civilized societies are those which recognize most crime. Acts which our ancestors would have regarded with cheerful tolerance, stir us to spasms of indignation, accompanied by a growing sense of responsibility.

Are we, then, becoming more and more uncomfortable, and is education merely fanning the flame of our discontent? There are, of course, various kinds of so-called education, comparable to the various diseases in their powers of infection. For the purpose of discussion we may assume the view, which I have known to be entertained by children, that genuine superiority depends upon the number of diseases one has had. Develop this idea a little, and suppose universities established for the purpose of giving young people smallpox, scarlet fever, measles and the like. It would be held, of course, that one who had had smallpox was much more educated than one who had merely acquired measles; the latter undoubtedly would be offered in the freshman year. Ostensibly, every one would be anxious to acquire these diseases; but still, it would be privately recognized that they were a lot of trouble, and even sometimes positively dangerous. Hence there would be a strong temptation, when the infection did not take, to sham sickness, and no doubt there would arise agencies selling substances which, placed upon the skin, would produce rashes simulating those of scarlet fever or measles.

Within the university itself, these influences would have their silent potency. Some would come forward with attenuated virus, which though producing scarcely any—or perhaps no—effect, would be declared to be in reality just as good educationally. If one did not believe it, there was proof in the fact that the recipient was subsequently quite immune to the genuine thing. Others would urge, with much show of reason, that the more violent diseases, heretofore offered to seniors, should really only be taken by a small minority of exceptionally talented persons; and anyhow it was not the proper thing to send men out to serve as centers of infection in communities where these particular affections, though undoubtedly of great merit in the abstract, were not at all desired.

All this is absurd, of course; but after all, is there not a similarity between such an educational institution and those which at present grace the land? Is there no tendency to evade the things which "take," no temptation to simulate an attack while yet in perfect health? I am