George Trumbull Ladd

“ The enthusiastic advocate of what is new in educational ideas — as to subjects, methods, cur- ricula, organization, etc. — regards it as highly unfortunate that institutions are not so plastic, so easy to change, as are ideas. The man who is wise in practical affairs, and profound in his re- flections upon the truths of history, knows that, on the contrary, this abiding and relatively stable character of the institutional expression of ideas is the fortunate thing about educational, as about other forms of progress. ”

“ Most fortunate of all are those institutions which change just fast and far enough to conserve the priceless lessons of the past, while unfolding constantly to receive the suggestions of the better time coming.
It is not, then, because any of the details of opinion expressed in these essays are regarded as a finality that 1 have thought it possibly worth while to publish them. ”

“ It is also a cause for hope that some of the mists arising from the first thawing of the fields congealed by long continued customs and traditions have begun to clear away ; so that a more judicious estimate of the path which lies behind us in educational matters and of the lines of educational progress in the nearer future, can be more easily attained. ”