The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-26

| lie that he possesses the necessary | share of this knowledge. But we have our choice whether we shall increase
 this difficulty by requiring a long course ! of secondary education prior to the be- ginning of professional study, or shall try to minimize it by putting the oppor- tunity for such study within reach of the graduates of our High schools as soon as they are qualified to enter thereon. If we adopt the former sys- tenn, as so many of our universities are now tending to do, we enhance the arti- ficial difficulties, which are already great enough at best, and tend to make the professions of law and medicine places for the sons of rich men only" The report shows that the logical se-
 quence would be to reintroduce the old distinction now abolished in America,
 between learned and unlearned profess
 sions; to shut out from the law men like Abraham Lincoln and John Mar shall; and to degrade the college course by shaping it to suit the needs of those who do not want it. but who take it as
 compulsory stepping stone to some thing else.
 If all professional men are to go through college, then the college course must be made broad enough-and ulti- mately short enough-to meet the wish
 es of all the different kinds of men who wish to take professional work" This shortening is advocated by some on the ground that the average of graduation
 has greatly increased in the last half century But statistics are quoted in the presidents report which show the
 error of this statement. The broaden
 ing, good up to a certain point, if car
 ried beyond that point, menaces the character of the college as a place of
 hard work. "Those who would require
 the college degree as a preliminary to
 professional study, but let the work rep
 resented by this degree take care of it.
 self, are forced to take one of two posi-
 tions; either that a mere sojourn in a
 place of learning for three or four
 years is good thing in itself, whether
 Q man does much work or little; or that
 the college, by offering wise series of
 courses and holding rigid examinations
 at the end, is able to secure sufficient
 degree of work from it's students to
 lIlchC lIIG yGdlS OL CpllCEt lllC u LiliiC 'L
 training rather than of intellectual dis
 cipline for nearly all those who receive
 the degrees, no matter how diverse or
 cratic their choice may be-"
 President Hadley adduces evidence to
 show that neither of these propositions
 can be successfully defended; that the
 danger of intellectual dissipation is
 great and ever present one, and that if the college years are spent in such dis
 sipation they leave the student worse fitted rather than better fitted to grap-
 pie with the problems of professional
 study or of practical life in any direc- ton. When I want a college man,
 said one of the leading employers of railroad labor in the country, 'I want a man who knows that it is hard work to use books that are worth anything; and as a preparation for railroad ser vice I would rather have a man who has learned to use one hard book with out liking it-a Greek dictionary, if you please-than a man who thinks he knows all the experimental science and all the shop work which any school can give him and has enjoyed it because 1t is easy"
 To those who admit the force of these considerations, but who fear that Yale will Hose caste by not doing what other eastern universities do, President Hadley replies: "To the alleged dan ger of losing caste I am not disposed to pay serious attention. A university maintains it's rank by doing public ser vice. Any institution which attempts to evade this duty in the hope of at tracting superior class of students hazards it's permanent influence in the community for the sake of a gain that is likely to be temporary and elusive. And if there is any college in the land which ought to be guided by consldera- tions of public service, and set aside every question of caste, it is Yale. To separate her private interest from the public int would be a violation of every tradition of the place"
 The central issue in the whole dis cussion is summarized as follows:
 eve are face to face with a broad question of principle, which our untver- sities must decide. Shall we require every candidate for the so-canr" learned professions to spend a certain length of time in his secondary educa- tion and let him study what he pleases during that time? Or shall we let him spend in secondary education such time as his pecuniary circumstances and personal interests allow, and have his course of study adapted thereto; believ- ing that for efficient professional study, as well as for other lines of intellectual effort, the habit of hard work is of more value than the question of senior- ity? If we adopt the former alterna- tive, we shall say to the high schools, We will accept anything you may choose to teach as basis of our college course, but will shut out from our pro- fessional schools those who have not the time to super-add a college course to that which you are able to offer If we choose the other alternative we shall say to the masters of secondary schools, For those who wish to treat l the coure in High school or academy as part of their secondary education we | will indicate what studies form a proper | basis for three or four years of subse-