New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-30
THE COLLEGE, AND MODERN LIFE.

Tho season of school and college commence
uop,s will soon no M hand and multitude OF
Young men will make their bow 10 the "orio
and the future. We ought to say young Woiiieh
also for the college woman must Dc TAKEN iii'o
account to-day just as much as the college man.
Tradition and the clergy have kept her out Oh
Cambridge, but she is finding her way INTO DINER
institutions on an equality with men, or else
she Is treading the difficult path of scholarship
in colleges Of her own. She has even gone ~
for rs TO add to the literature OF college songs
and here and there the air Is pierced by the
soprano tones Of her college yell verify, the
college woman has become part OF fhe order
Of things. and she will be more in evidence TINS
year than ever before.
The old and threadbare question as 10 the
utility of n college education always comes up
for discussion during the commencement sea
son: but so far as we can see nobody ever Sue
ceeds in answering It to the satisfaction or all
for everybody approaches II with certain prepos-
sessions on one side or the ether which no argn-
ment can dislodge The man who believes I'D
n college education and the man who does NOT
estimate many things by such different stand
ards of value and attach such different mean
ngs to the words they employ in the argument
ii
ought to be the object In life, for instance? The
utilltaran who is opposed 10 college education
will tell you that it Is the ability to get there"
In the shortest possible time and by getting
there" he means the attainment of the great
material prizes Of life--weath, position. power,
pleasure or fame. Only those things in his
opinion. are really worth while In IN" HE OF
man. and from his point Of view a college edu-
A. ,tnnan yt
not only takes him ont Of the contest at time
when he should he laying the foundations or
his career but when 1t flrally gives him back
to the world 1t gives him hack with ideas ana
Ideals that stand in the way Of a merely material
success II cannot be denied, OF course That
college-bred men are successful even as the ma
terialist counts success. Many Of them amass
great wealth; certainly they reach eminent sta
tons and write their names in enduring let
ters on the scroll of fame. But while admitting
all this. the unitarian has ready answer Such
cases are only exceptions; multitudes OF other
college men are untitled for the battle Of life.'
and besides. even those who succeed would
have succeeded much better II they had not
been compelled to waste several years in acqur-
ing lot Of useless knowledge.
This line of reasoning might have some force
If any sane man argued that all boys should he
sent TO college: for it is obvious that many lads
have neither the bent nor the capacity for
liberal education. ami. even if they were able
10 acquire it, they would he hindered rather than
helped by it. In other words, those only should
20 10 college who can asslmilate and make
part Of themselves the intellectual training which
the college can give them. The time that such
young men spend In expanding their mental
vision and cnrichng their mind with the treas
ures Of wisdom and knowledge Is not wasted,
even though they may not be able aftcrward to
acquire so many of the material prizes Of life,
which. however, by no means follows. The man
who has killed all his spiritual and Intellectual
faculties while he has been gathering together
n heap of material dross Is ptiable object.
His happiness lies not in lis own self. bur in
that gathered dust heap which n passing wind
may blow away. But the man who can wander
at will In the world Of knowledge, or art. or
beauty, or imagination, Is ever and always the
king Of the universe and the master Of fate.
Whether riches shall come TO him or poverty, he
has within himself a touchstOne of happiness
which he would not barter for all the wealth
Of CrGsus