A RECENT number of the Nation contained an article on "Schools and Scholarship," with direct bearing on the "secondary" school-system - in the schools which undertake to fit boys for college. The preparation which is obtained before entrance to any college has a vital importance on success in college, and materially affects the benefits arising from a collegiate education. Under the present system some men will always find college work comparatively easy, while others will have great difficulty in maintaining a high position in the large classes, now the rule and not the exception in our larger and older Colleges. The disparity comes from the different grades of the schools in which men are fitted; if the aim of the school be to send the largest number of men in "clear," a general knowledge of the required subjects is drilled into them, and a variety of "tips" and "choice phrases" give a brilliant and naturally bright scholar sufficient veneering to pass with distinction.

But other schools have not the desire nor ability to present such finished candidates. Many country towns - we say it with no disparagement - have to devote themselves to common-school education, and neglect, to a great extent, the preparation of students, if they have any, for college. It is a remarkable fact, however, that when a country school sends one man, say in a decade, to college, he almost invariably obtains and maintains a high place in his class, even if entering under a full card of conditions. Exceptions occur, and yet perhaps the larger part of the leading fifth of most classes are from schools of no general reputation. The reason for this lies in the fault of many of the most popular schools in the country. Too many men who enter with honor rely entirely on their fit, and, feeling for the first few months superior in knowledge to their "country cousins," as in the fable of the hare and tortoise, suddenly find themselves distanced.

And this is the fault. Boys are taught that fine and showy recitations are the great criterion of their learning. They are marked, perhaps, a failure for omission of one preposition in a list of thirty exceptions; get into their heads, that there is only one translation of every passage, - that arma in Arma virumque cano means arms, but never realize but that it must mean arms everywhere; finally, take down translations given by instructors in class as so many isolated facts, and, may we add, believe implicitly in Harkness's Grammar. They get a good fit, as it is commonly regarded; that is, they enter well: the long hours given to parsing, and the little world of rules carefully committed to memory, enable them to manage the classics well enough, and with the use of ponies, which many think now legitimately open to them, for a year may get on fairly. Fortunately most enter advanced a little beyond the entrance limits in mathematics, and so can get through the Freshman work in that branch. But the work grows harder as they advance, and from their very strength at entering, many fall slowly, may be, but surely, in the class.

Undoubtedly college instruction is superior to that of almost any fitting school, if one has any foundation to rest upon. With large sections, the instructor is obliged often to lecture, and treat the students as men of honor who will do their share of the work, and derive additional benefit from his remarks to them. Thus men who come poorly fitted, but eager to learn, appreciate and derive greatest advantage, while those who may fancy the remarks as "too critical," "too old," gradually lose what they do know, and learn nothing new.

There are schools where these defects are nearly absent. These are the best schools in consequence, but the best school will fail to make much of any one who will not try to improve for his own good. This is a trite saying, but we too often pay trifling attention to trite truths. The plan suggested in the Nation - that of the English system of University diplomas for successful candidates - would do some good certainly, but how great in America is questionable. That some change is needed is clear. The Universities and Colleges have been steadily raising the standard of admission, and increased exertion is required of the student who wishes to go through college at all, and far more to get through with any distinction or practical benefit.