They require simple memory, without observation, and put a premium on hasty and temporary acquisition.
As I have said, algebra should be subordinated to geometry.

Algebra has as its distinctive method the principle of substitution, whereby symbols of equal and, for the most part, absolute generality are substituted for one another, and the results stand for one fact as well as for another, in disregard of the worth of the particular in the scheme of nature.

For the same reason, deductive logic is not a good discipline for these students; empirical psychology, or political economy, is a better introduction to the moral sciences for them when they reach the high school.

This explains what was meant above in the remark as to the method of teaching grammar.

As to language study generally, I think the value of it, at this period, and later, is extraordinarily overrated.