The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-07-30
COLLEGIATE Educat on.


TIE full report of the Commencement exer-
Oises of Lafayette College, which is furnished
by our special correspondent to-day, is OF
more than ordinary interest to those VINO are
not directly concerned in its welfare. This
institution is one of several young colleges
which are taking rapid strides in the race with
Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and which
promise, within score of years or less, to
rank with these time-honored seats of learn
ing in all the essential elements of prosperity
and usefulness. Until recent date the col
leges OF the United States have labored under
the depressing influences Of surplus opposi-
tion. Their number is legion, and every year
adds to the already formidable list. This
multiplicity of colleges is the greatest evil of
our educational system. II the money and
talent which has been so profusely scattered
had been concentrated at half dozen of the
great centres of population, or within
easy reach of them, America would
at this time be able to point
with justifable pride to her COL
leges, as can the older nations of Europe.
Oxferd, Cambridge, Paris, Berlin and Heidel-
berg have attained their present proud position
in the world Of letters only through the foster
ing care and patronage Of the governments
which have presided over their destinies.
Through the lapse of centuries they have stea-
dily increased in their endowments, libraries,
museums and cabinets, and their popularity
as schools Of learning has kept steady pace
with the accumulation of resources through
wise system of concentration. With the ex-
ceptional cases of some half dozen of our older
and about as many of our newer institutions,
the colleges of the United States present con-
trast in management and progress which is
both lamentable and discouraging.
A few public-spirited citizens, however,
have grasped the true secret of collegiate sue
cess, and within the past few years new era
has dawned upon the educational system Of
the coantry. Several of these public bene-
factors have selected the old and already
wealthy institutions, such as Harvard and
Yale, for the objects of their generosity, while
others have struggled in a similar manner to
build up younger and weaker ones or to lay
the foundations of seats of learning which are
not weighed down by the burden of long years
of struggling and adversely. Both classes are
wise in their way, and both are entitled to the
gratitude of the nation.
Still another prominent feature marks the
dawning of the new educational era, and that
is the effort which is now being made to popu-
larize the courses Of study in our colleges, to
break the fetters of the ancient and bestow
upon them the freedom of the modern world
of knowledge. None but superficial thinker
would advocate an entire change in the time
honored curriculum. The study of the Greek
and Latin classics affords rare pleasure and
an efficient discipline. Let those whose tastes
and objects IN life prefer it still be afforded
ample opportunity to crafty them. But the
times demand that the gates of knowledge
shall be thrown wide open, and all her price,
less stores made available. This demand has
been answered by the establishment in many
of our colleges of scientific courses, parallel
with the classical; by the foundation OF schools
in which every branch of modern science is
made a speciality, for the benefit of such as
desire to perfect themselves in special
branches; and by gradual undermining OF
that exclusive spirit which but few years
ago possessed such strong hold upon us as
to deny the award of thorough culture to all
who could not repeat understandingly the mas
terly orations of Cicero or rattle of the rythms
of Homer. The present ageis essentially one of
progress, and thorough initiation into the
mysteries of nature and the course of past
events is one of its most formidable weapons.
The prosperity which has dawned upon Lafay-
ette College, in common with others equally
successful and equally deserving, is a matter
which deserves more than passing notice.
The True Way to Preserve Tranquility.
THKRR exists in the United States an exceed