education, and I shall make no effort to decide the question here. But
it should be borne well in mind that one cannot decide it by
determining what studies are practical in the sense of the word under
discussion.

If we keep strictly to this sense, the modern languages are to the
majority of Americans of little more practical value than are the Latin
and Greek. We scarcely need them except when we travel abroad, and
when we do that we find that the concierge and the waiter use English
with surprising fluency. As for the sciences, those who expect to earn
a living through a knowledge of them, seek, as a rule, that knowledge
in a technical or professional school, and the rest of us can enjoy the
fruit of their labors without sharing them. It is a popular fallacy
that because certain studies have a practical value to the world at
large, they must necessarily have a practical value to every one, and
can be recommended to the individual on that account. It is worth
while to sit down quietly and ask oneself how many of the bits of
information acquired during the course of a liberal education are
directly used in the carrying on of a given business or in the practice
of a given profession.

Nevertheless, we all believe that liberal education is a good thing for
the individual and for the race. One must not too much restrict the
meaning of the word "practical." A civilized state composed of men who
know nothing save what has a direct bearing upon their especial work in
life is an absurdity; it cannot exist. There must be a good deal of
general enlightenment and there must be a considerable number of
individuals who have enjoyed a high measure of enlightenment.

This becomes clear if we consider the part played in the life of the