The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-05-25
THE UNIVERSITY.
Dare they Make IL n Place Alone
for the Rich

affect its success and usefulness
should receive the most careful
and exhaustive thought at the hands
of the regency. l conceive it to be.
not only the privilege, but the duty
of every one who has given this
matter any consideration, to place
the result of his conclusions at the
disposal of the regents. The gentle
men who compose this board have
their time monopolized, to great
extent, by their respective Voca-
tions; and they cannot be expected
to give up their business and devote
themselves entirely to the univer-
sity problem. do not for a mo-
ment suppose they would disdain to
receive ideas and suggestions from
persons who do not belong to their
board. With this understanding /
have undertaken, in this commune
cation, to answer the following ques-
ton: "What shall be the limita-
tions for the admission of students
to the university of Texas?"
Prof. Thos. III. Huxley, in an ad-
deess delivered in Baltimore, on the
formal opening of the Johns Hop
kins university, used the following
words in regard to the admission of
students to the university ain the
first place, there is the important
question of limitations, which
should be fixed, to the entrance
into the university; or, what
qualifications should be le
quired of those who propose to take
advantage of the higher training
offered by the university. On the
one hand, it is obviously
| desirable that the time and
opportunities of the university
should not be wasted in comforting
such elementary instruction as can
be obtained elsewhere; while on the
other hand, it is no less desirable
that the higher instruction of the
university should be made accessi-
BILE to every one who can take adj
vantage of it, although he may not
have been able TO go through any
very extended course of instruction.
My own feeling is distinctly against
any absolute and defined prelimin-
airy examination, the passing of
which shall be an essential condition
| of admission to the university. /
would admit to the university any
one who could reasonably be ex-
pected to profit by the instruction
offered him; and l would be in
clined, OH the whole, to test
the fitness of the student, not
by examination before he enters the
university, but at the end of his first
term of study. If, on examination
in the branches of knowledge 10
which he has devoted himself, he
shows himself deficient in industry
or in capacity, it will be best for the
university and best for himself to
prevent him from pursuing a voca-
ton for which he is obviously unfit.
And | hardly know of any other
method than this by which his fit
| ness or unfitness can be safely as
certalned, though no doubt a good
deal may be done, not by formal
and cut examination, but by Judi
cIOus questioning at the outset of
his career"
Professor Huxley is deservedly
classed among the foremost thinkers
of this age. By the side of Herbert
Spencer, Professor TyndaIl and OAR
win, he is considered their equal.
His opinion, therefore, upon Il
subject to which he has
devoted all the powers of his splen-
did mind, ought to be entitled to re-
spectful consideration.
A gentleman, whose official posi-
ton would necessarily give him
much influence over the delibera-
tions of the regents, has been re-
ported, in one of the leading dailies
of the state, as advocating the plan
of requiring all candidates for ad-
mission to the university, TO stand
competitive examination. From
the bottom of my heart, L hope such
an iniquity will never be inflicted
upon the youth of Texas. Right
here, we must make q departure
from the plan in vogue with other
institutions. If the competitive plan
should prevail, we will notice some
of its consequences and see
whether they do not work q
hardship upon the very class of
persons for whom it is argued
the university is to be organized,
viz: the yeomanry of the state, who
have no surplus money in the bank
for educating their children, but
who, in fact, earn their daily bread
ain the sweat of their brow" Let
US observe, L say, how it will work
in the case of these men, who con-
stitute the bone and sinew of tie
state.
A rich mans son and poor mans
son present themselves before an ex-
amining board to have their merits
ascertained and passed upon. The
result is, of course, a foregone con-
clusion, for, while the poor boy has
been by stern necessity that knows
no law compelled to stay at home to
"beat the wolf from the door," and
thus deprived of those oppOrtuni-
ties of mental improvement en-
juyed uninterruptedly by his more
favored competitor, the rich mans
son has had no such difficulties to
contend with. He has had the best
appliances and the best teachers at
his command, and it would be mir
acle indeed, if he should not be con-
sidered the most worthy to attend
the university.
In every community there are
young men whose parents never
will be able to afford them oppor-
tunities of going through a course
of systematic training for the uni
versity, and in every contest with
the rich mems sons they can hope
for nothing but the modification OF
| defeat. Whereas, if the doors of the
university should be thrown open,
as they should be, to all who may
desire to attend it, its best material
will be drawn from that class of
persons that would be excluded by
the examination iniquity. Our fore
fathers intended that the university
should be great intellectual foun-
tain, where all persons thlrsting for
knowledge might come and be
satisfied. This sacred thirst is not
confined to the rich mans son. In
the race of life, the odds are greatly
against the poor. Pray, let us do
nothing more to make the race q
more unequal one. In the called ses-
sion of the legislature that has just
concluded It's sittings here it was
charged, (and this charge has been
echoed by some of the papers of the
state) that our university is great
monstrocity, established for the ex-
elusive benefit of the rich mans chill
dren. How zealously should the
regency strive to disprove this dam
| aging charge. In my humble judg.
ment, no act of theirs would be more
popular, as well as more just, than
to declare the university open to