> Milton saw a version of this in his own day. He criticized the practice of demanding “Themes, Verses and Orations” from young students before their minds had been formed by “long reading and observing.” He objected to asking for finished performances before the underlying powers had matured.

He's talking about scholasticism[1], but that has issues of its own[2].

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholasticism

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic#Criticisms