The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-10-08
NOTES ON EDUCATION.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO PU-
Pill AND TEACHER.
The Subject of a College Education Is
Again Discussed by Eminent Men
Brave Teacher Saves Her Pupils
from a Mountain Lion.
Shall the Boy Go to College?

Good judges differ as to whether a
college education is the best training
for a boy designed for a business ca
reer. The editor of Munsey's Magazine
some time ago collected from some Of
New York's most prominent and suc
cesSful business men some opinions that
are interesting.
Mayor Strong thinks a college educa-
ton a good thing, but not indispensa-
BILE to the business man, but If he had
to choose between a college bred man
and one with only a public school edu-
cation, being equally bright and ac-
tive he would choose the Il with the
college training. He says:
"A college education requires the in
vestment Of a small capital, and the eX-
penditure of several years Of study.
The boy of natural talent, who enters
business life when he leaves the public
schools, begins to arm money at once;
but it does not follow that the college
mans time and money have been vast
ed. His increased broadness of vision,
the greater extent of %esources at his
command, will equip him to contend
with the eXigencies of life, and to grasp
the business problems that will con-
front him, with a Surer hand, a clearer
head, and more ready determination
than his brother. The latter's advance
in his chosen field will be steady, the
result of u%nceasing labor. The college
bred man will gallop gracefully to the
front, while the others gait is slow and
Flooding, formed in the painful school
of experience"
Ex-Gov. Flower says that if he had
a dozen boys he would not send all Of
them to college, but would carefully
select from the number those he judged
to be best fitted for higher education,
and the rest would have to get along as
best they could with elementary knowl-
edge. He calls attention also to the
careers of some of Americas great in
tellectual leaders of the past who had
no college education, such as Clay,
Douglas and Lincoln. He says:
II think a college education the great
est boon that can fall to the lot of a
boy endowed with a clever and active
mind and a wholesome thirst for knowl-
edge. However humble a mans sta
ton in life, knowledge will enrich him
in the long run, n way or another. At
the same time, a university training is
not essential to success in business life.
Moreover, l should hesitate to advise
a parent to send even the brightest boy
to college if | was not quite sure that
he would withstand the temptations
sure to be offered to him there. There
is too much luxury about our present
day college life"
Henry Clews, the celebrated banker,
seems to have but little faith in a col
lege training for business. He says:
Think of a nan going into business
with three-fourths of his brain cells
filled with classical knowledge, dead
languages and high-Sounding but I'M
practical ideas!
81 have been severely criticised for
saying hat | would not have a college
bred man in my office. Here is my rea-
son: To become a successful merchant,
banker or broker one must begin young.
Most college boys, when ready to enter
an office, are over twenty years of age.
l have a son at college-a six footer, in
his twenty-frst year. Can l ask him
to undergo the training 1 deem neces-
sary for every business man? Would
he be willing to commence at the foot
of the ladder, with boys Of sixteen, and
on a salary Of $3.50 per year? Why,
that youth not only knows more, in
every branch Of knowledge, than all
the office boys and clerks in this Office;
he knows more than his father, too.
"a collegian cannot, or perhaps will
not, humble himself sufficiently to learn
the rudiments of the business mans vO-
necessarily imposed upon a subordi-
nate. He has been used to regard HIM
self as a brilliant young gentleman for
several years; a you blame him for
Directing to sit on the same bench with
errand boys? And has he enough prac-
teal knowledge 10 ueSerNe q pace De-
hind the desk? In my opinion the av-
erage graduate does not even know
enough of arithmetic and caligraphy to
earn, upon his arrival in al office, n
salary of five dollars a week. My legi-
BILE hand secured for me the first good
position | ever held; the average col
lege graduate writes an awful scrawl,
and Is proud of it. l understand that
none Of our universities employs a
teacher of caligraphy. This Is a sad de-
feet, of which the cOllegian does not
become aware, as a rule, until it is too
late to remedy the evil.
Il have practically tested the prob
lem whether a college education is de-
sirable for a business man. Years ago