Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-06-22
DEPEW ON EDUCATION.
The Advantage of a College Course in
Obtaining Success in Life.

Obtaining Success in Life.
Interview with Chauncey NJ. Depew.
DO you believe" l asked him, that the
college graduates Of today are better train
ed than those of forty or fifty years ago."
Yes" was the reply, I'm most things.
But in one respect the graduates of 1895 are
far behind those of 1885. Few of the boys
who will leave college this year will be
good takers. They may be as good think
ers as those who were graduated four dec
AIDES ago-better, for all l know. They may
be able to grasp business and scientific
problems as readily, but they will not be
nearly so capable of telling what they know
or what they think as the older chaps
Why? Because of the decline of the de-
Late as means of training. There were
debating societies in college when 1 was
a student, and all the brightest men be-
ionged and took part in the discussions
Nowadays few college students would think
of STOPPING SO low as to belong to a debat-
ing society or of engaging in a set discus
sion of any problem. l regard this as
national calamity. which. however is miti-
gated to some extent by the fact that while
the debating club has been practically
abandoned by the college boy, it has been
taken up by the workingman, who, by its
use, as he could by no other means is
clarifying his mental vision as to certain
matters. In England there is more of this
than here, for over there mock parliaments,
before which current topics in politics. NOR
ais and economics are deliberately discuss
ed, are held in every city and town. 1t is
good sign when the people of any country
begin Systematically to debate on current
affairs They sometimes take UP the wrong
side, but that does no harm in the long run.
People had better be mistaken than not to
think and discuss, since thought and honest
discussion are sure, sooner or later, to set
them right.
9 To he diva foo Of oolla
ing in actual everyday business and profess
SIGNAL life" Mr.. Depew went on, there is
this to say: Some exceptionally strong men
there he, in the aggregate. indeed, great
many Of them, who seem to get through
life as well without the knowledge and
training to be acquired at college if
full course had been taken. Yet it is my
opinion that these men, even those of
marked success, would have done better
had they been college trained They might
not have risen higher but the rise would
probably have been easier, and, on the
whole, more satisfactory to them. To the
average man the college course is extreme
ly valuable. 1t teaches him how to use his
mental powers, how to reason from cause to
effect and back again, how to concentrate
his energies, how to adapt himself quickly
to suddenly changed conditions Whoever
would succeed in real life must get this
training somehow, and, in my judgment, it
is better to get it in college than while
sweeping out the office If the sweeper
Jul Set dHcdu VI Tie COIeSe Doy III JUST
ness, in his profession, in public affairs,
depend Gpon it, it is because of superior
native ability, harder work or greater en-
durance. 1t is in spite of the lack of col
lege training-not because of it. l know
that, as rule, the great corporations Of
today choose heads of departments mostly
from the ranks of college graduates hold
ing subordinate places, not because of the
mere possession Of diplomas by the Sradu-
ates. but because the college man so often
displays more ability, sounder reasoning,
better judgment and quicker decision. But
the young man who cannot get to college
should not be discouraged by this state Of
ttirgs-he should work and study all the
harder.