The times., 1898-06-09

m;tted TO pursue it.
Why should these things be? Why
! should diploma, which is fondly sup
posed by many parents and children to
fit person for the work of life, be al
most hindrance in many cases? Why,
in short, should a college graduate, af-
ter spending hundreds of dollars in
making himself worth good salary.
have to begin business on the same
footing as the man who did not have
anything but grammar school edu-
cation, and learn lessons from the lat
ter? This, 1t may be stated with abso-
lutte certainty, is the fate of nearly all
college graduates who adopt a calling
outside the strictly learned professions
And in the learned professions the field
is SO fearfully overcrowded that the
youthful graduate is often driven peril
ously near the verge of starvation Is
this uncomfortable state of things the
fault of the college, the graduate, the
labor market or the general scheme of
the universe? Is there TOO much learn
ing in the world. or not enough? These
are some of the quessionsisw about
half the college graduates of 1898 will be
pondering about six months from tn S
time. rl1-s@
There are defects in all things hui
man, and the college is no exception
The trouble with the modern college as
machine to make workers is that it is
slightly nisfit for its age. The fun
damental idea of a college was to fit
men. not for the rough and-tumbl life
CT business, but for either a profession
or the life of gentleman of leisure;
and it was not anticipated, less than a
hundred years ago, that the time would
ever come when the number of college
graduates would far exceed the vacan-
cies in these two classes. 1t was not
supposed that a young man would go to
college unless he had a distinct call
to be minister, a lawyer, a doctor or
teacher, or had enough money to en-
able him to do nothing in particular
The college was therefore constructed
so as to afford broad general culture of
a particular kind. Latin, Greek, the
higher mathematics, ancient history,
and several other features of the col
Iege curriculum were bound to be use
ful, seventy-five years ago, TO a man il
any one of the four learned professions.
For one thing. there We're not so many
educated men in proportion to the pop
ulation as now, competition was not SO
great. and the young man just begin
ming to practice his profession could
often make money by taking pupil 0;
two. And if one has q life of leisure in
prospect. it is very pleasant to be able
to hold converse with the life of Greece
and Rome. or to pursue some pet study
in the quiet OF a library associated with
all things cultured and delightful. IL
| those days men did not take college
| course to prepare them for making
money. Already it is becoming a ques-
! ton whether the college will have to
! come down to the level Of business, or
| the business man raise his part of the
| worlds work somewhere near the coll
| lege standard. The outcome will prob
ably be some sort of compromise. The
college viii grow more practical. and
1t is to be hoped that business ideals
will steadily become higher and purer
The nature of the college course,
then. is one reason for the troubles of
| the graduate. The others may for the
most part be referred to natural law
Just as the beginner has to be quite
| severely bumped before he can keep
his balance perfectly on the bicycle SO
| the novice in business has to take his
| hard knocks at some time or other.
Some beginners get bruises, some gel
| broken bones here and there one dash
| es out his brains; and more rarely still,
| by a sort of intuition, the knack of
| guiding the silent steed comes almost
| without teaching. All that the college
does is to provide the pupil with all
| sorts of general knowledge, TO give him,
SO far as it is able healthy and we'll
| ordered brain; he must learn the rela-
| ton of things himself.