Litchfield enquirer., 1879-01-23
College Education.
WAsH,seros. Conn. Jan. 13. 1879.


 which has already been pretty thoroughly ven tiiated in this community refer to the ques tion of College education.
 The resolution discussed by the society wa an extreme one-but do not agree with yol that the fact that anyone could be found t uphold It seems to indicate some grave weak ness in our existing college system It seem to me to indicate rather very great ignorance of what the colleges are really doing, and al entire misunderstanding of what they ought t be-
 The colleges are doubtless open to consider able adverse criticism. They are no mor' perfect than many other human institutions Like 30 many other things they come to II burdened with the whims and supersttions 6 the times in which they were organized. w would not have all this thrown off at once, i we could. Better first have foundation al ready that shall at least be as firm and lasting as the old one. before we remove the prop that have stood so long.
 You acknowledge that the colleges are nc standing still, that the tendency is towards i'm prevement, that the progress of the last quar ter of century is marked and encouraging. How can you say then that ''our dissatisfac ton with them reaches well on towards tha extreme point" meaning the abolition of ou present college system? Conservatism in ed ucation is certainly virtue and if the i'm provement is marked, should we not seek, by fair criticism of the currirulr as they stand te help on the good work, instead of advocating . wholesale slaughter of the system.
 cannot but notice the prominence given, ir your article, to the idea that colleges do no give practical education. Still yo" say tha the student at college loscs certain self-con ccit common to the solitary student that h. "learns men as we'll as books" and learns tt ''set proper estimate on others as we'll as or himself" How do you reconcile this with th' remark, that graduates are apt to find them selves out of place in the outside world" ol with the idea several times expressed that tht colleges do not give practical education Int two can go together it seems to me, only or the assumption that the true province of a col lege is to teach man the laws of the bushes! world to show him in fact how he can carry on his own business to the best advantage tt himself.
 As understand it, a College or University or whatever name you may give to the highes seat of learning, ought to be place where a young man who has the.inclination and tht chances can obtain thorough mental train ing according to the most approved methods together with as much useful knowledge as is consistent with the attainment of the mair object. It cannot be insisted upon too strong ly, it seems to me, that the college is not in tended to teach "useful art" The mixing of the knowlepge with the training can be better done than formerly, and propose te show, further on, that the colleges are doing this. But we have law schools, divinity schools, scientific schools, etc., for teaching certain arts, and in the college, the acquisition of knowledge ought always to be held subser vient to the mental training.
 ''The professions are overcrowded." Ye, there is always room at the top" The over. crowding is done by those who do not have a sufficiently solid foundation on which tc build. Given two boys of equal and the. same abilities. Send one to college, and the other to the law school or lawyers office, and the latter will, at the end of four years, be farther along along in his profession than the former After five ST SIX years make another compari son, and ysu will find that, while the office boy has more law crammed into his head than the college bsy, the latter is vastly better able to use such facts as he has and to apply them cor. rectly.
 What system more quickly makes man one-sided, unbalanced, bigoted, and incapa- ble. than that which forces him to cram facts in law or medicine, and for7nu1a in engineer ing, before his mind has become developed by training and drill, sufficiently to allow it te thoroughly assimilate and digest these facts.
 Is it the fault of the colleges that men who are educated within their walls, fail in theil professions, and then don't have oonmo. sense enough to see that they have made 8 mistake and go to work to rectify it? One might as we'll charge the churches with being responsible for all the fcrgers, defaulters anG other recent criminals, who in so many cases happened to have been church members. Some men fail in spite of their advantages. Fish k good for brains, but it can't make brains. Arc the advantages of the higher educat ion to bt foregone. simply because some graduates are found to have mistaken their callings
 It is quite the fashion among business mer to declaim against college education; and these same men indirectly fling an undeserved dis. repute upon colleges. They have made lots of money, and seeing the high positions occu. pied by college-educated men all about them they think it will be a very fine thlng to round off their sons schooling by college course intending then to put them into their owr business. These sons have been used to plenty of money, partake of their fathers ambitions go to college far good time, and-a diploma get the latter by the skin of their teeth, an( after considerable outside tutoring-and ther tuc It dDOut LlI0e to attend tC business. He is soon very much surprised that his sen doesn't know more in regard tt the quality of goods does'n know a safe in vestment from an unsafe one, is very ignorant of bookkeeping, that, in fact, his younges clerk can give the son points on almost every thing connected with the business. Of ceurst he exclalms against the colleges All rict mems sons are not thus. Many go througf college, knowing that when they get througl they must begin at the foot. Their college education serves to broaden and iberaliz' them and their children will be brought uE not to reverence the mighty dollar above al things else.
 deny that the farmer knows more of bota ny and natural history than the college gradu- ate Science has taken great step in advance during the past twenty years. We should no find fault if it is taking considerable time tt change an established system of education tt NNNrk HhA lnkN Fl s--