Eduction, New and Old.

The current number of the Andover Review possesses peculiar interest, in that it contains a reply to Prof. Palmer's article on "The New Education," from Prof. G. T. Ladd, of Yale. It is entitled "Education, New and Old." It opens with a conservative's doubt of what is novel. Credit is given to Prof. Palmer for the fair statement of his views. The writer also accords with the ethical spirit of the article of his opponent. The first difference of opinion is seen in the motives cited by the different writers, for the higher tone present among Harvard students, as claimed by Prof. Palmer. Prof. Ladd finds this same spirit of the gentleman at Yale, and asserts that it is general in all of our colleges, that it cannot be attributed to any new system of education, but is a mark of the advance of American civilization.

The fact of Harvard's prosperity cannot be deemed an approval of the new system. Prof. Ladd urges that other colleges where the old system is in vogue have also been remembered. Yale has grown in number of students as well.

The main point of Prof. Ladd's argument refers to the comparative attendance at two colleges in question. The members of '85 at Harvard "'cared to stay away' only two exercises per week out of twelve, - that is, rather more than 12 per cent. of the whole." At Yale, for seven weeks of last term, the absences of '89 men amounted only to 3.7 per cent. of the entire number of recitations. Prof. Ladd adds, "A comparison of the two systems as actually at work in Harvard and in Yale shows, then, this remarkable fact. The irregularity of the average Harvard student is from a little less than three to five times as great as that of the average Yale student. The former is off duty, either from choice or compulsion, rather more than 16 per cent of his time; the latter from less than 3 and a third to a trifle more than 6 per cent." He gives strong testimony to the advantage he gained from the prescribed course, under which he studied. "Like him (Prof. Palmer) I was especially found of Greek and Philosophy; but I studied Calculus with more carefulness on that very account. I learned to do patiently the things set me to do; to work hard and wait for the reward; to conquer every task - whatever it might be - before leaving it. And I would not give this bit of learning for all to be got from the most attractive elective course of both Harvard and Yale."

In closing, the writer expresses the fears felt as to the ultimate results of the New Education. "A tendency to self-indulgence and shallowness," "the effect upon academies and fitting schools of the country," "the effect on the higher education" and "the effect on the character of the youth," are the fears which lead Prof. Ladd to oppose the New Education.