The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1890-01-03
TOO MUCH LEARNING
Alarming Increase In the Number oF PRO
fessionai Men.


Alarming Increase In the Number of PRO
fessionai Men
The alarming increaso m the nam
Der of learned men forms tho theme Of
a statistical work which has just
been issued by Gottingen professor
DR.. Lexis figures refer more especially
to Germaay. though they are not much
less applicable TO many other pa-ts
both of Europe and America
Taking the number Of students en-
tered on the books of the twenty-one
Teutonic universities at 20, ,0O0-BerlIl
heading the list with less than 5.0G5
while Rostock brings up the rear with
something over 300-the professor
shows that fully one-half of these
hopeful youths are doomed to lie u
poverty and disappointment The vast
majority of these $4,000 burschen are
looking forward to becoming lawye-s
or doctors or pastors or schoolmast tors
or in some other way, either in pri-
vate life or as servants Of the state. to
earn their bread by means of the e1u-
cation they are at present go labo1-
iously acquiring.
This Is not the first time that sin
lar alarm has been sounded. No less
parsonage than Prof. Virchow re-
Gently advised young men TO abandon
all thought OF finding a career in med
icine, and more than once, both r.
America and in Great Britain, figures
have been published showing tha-
there are no patients for half the doc
tors, or no clients for half the lawyer
or churches for fifth of the curates
who are every year let loose upon the
world.
The rush to the learned professions
began, 1t is sometimes affirmed, aft=r
Inc depression in agriculture. sBd
the CORES sponding rebound from the
,Cmmercial prosperity of fifteen or
tWenty years ago. This may, no
durbt be partially true. But, as ths
same phenomenon has been noticed ll
every other country, the explanation
must be sought a little deeper. III
real cause viii, we venture TO think
be found in the ever-increasinl
tendency on the part Of parents and
their sons to look to the gentleman
" professions" instead OF the more
lucrative and more certain callings of
d less 'genteep description. In
Germany and America this trait is
perhaps exhibited in its most OK
aggerated form, simply because in
those countries professional training
IS cheap and the preliminary educa-
sion abundant or easy to attain. But
we see it everywhere else Since the
school boards brought the lree Rs
within the reach of every child. 1t j.
notorious that these youthful graGu-
ates have displayed a repugranCe to
the useful lives in which they hav5
been born. i hey want to ''56ttar
themselves" by becoming city cle-5s
or nursery governesses. It rs Llr
first result produced by an unvouted
state Of affairs. BY and by educ4--ga
VIII get too common to be ma-1.t
able. 1t will then be regarded sim y
as a preliminary to any calling. a.
not as a necessary antecedent of wha.
the Germans call bread studies -
4 carpenter. or a blacksmith, or a
machinist, or a storekeeper viii dis
cover that he is none the worse for
| being a good scholar, and will even
| lind that in the enhanced esteem, the
| greater pleasure, and the enlarged
chances in life which it gives him. he
| is quite as much benefited by his edu
cation as if he had sought to earn his
! living by means of it directly. Lon
! don Standard