The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-02-10
THE VALUE OF A COLLEGE EDUCATION.

number OF Line Progressive FARMER on the value
of a college education-one by ex-President Grow
er Cleveland, the other by Chancellor W. w.
Smith, of Randolph-Macon College, Lynchburg,
Va. Both say-and rightly-that a college edu-
cation pays.
We are very sure, however, that the figures
given, by DR.. Smith are misleading. There is
one important aspect of the matter that he has
left unconsidered. This is found in the fact that
the men who go to college are so largely the men
who have in them the stuff that would win success
with or without "a college education. The
who's Who" figures, in our opinion, show more
clearly that the men who are going to succeed go
to college, than that the men who go to college
are going to succeed. The fact that there are in
this list of notables 219 college graduates for each
common school boy does not teach so convincinly
that a college education increases ones chances
of success 219 times, as it teaches that of 22O
young men who have in them s~uccess-winning
qualities, by far the larger number will find some
way of getting a high-school or college education.
To illustrate: About a thousand times as many
lawyers as farmers succeed in politics. But it
would not be fair to say that taking up law in
creases ones chances of political p~referment a
thOusandfold. 1t is nearer truth to say that the
man who is going to succeed in politics takes up
law than that the man who takes up law is going
to succeed in politics.
Understand us: we believe that a college educa-
ton pays; that it greatly increases ones chances
of success. The presumption is always against
the young man who hasn't been to college; the
burden of proof rests on him. He may have ac-
quired quite as much knowledge as his college
brother, but the suspicious world is apt to believe
it superficial and disproportioned. He must work
twice aS hard r.. ot tho 1oarDiDU +ho+ no would
acquire in college, and after getting it, he must
work twice as hard in order to get the general
public to believe that he has it. Suppose you are
in a strange city and need money. You have a
large deposit in your home bank, and you draw a
check for 800. The chances are that you will
have considerable difficulty in getting it cashed.
for on you rests the burden of proving your relia-
bility. But suppose that you drew the check be-
fore leaving home and had it Certified" by the
bank officer. There would then be no difficulty,
for there would be unquestionable proof that you
had the money on deposit. This, we think, illus
trates very clearly the advantages of a college
education. The non-colIege man, as we have said,
has on him the burden of proof, while a college
diploma is a sort of guarantee to the world-just
as the certified check is a guarantee to a business
man.
This much we believe. But we would not have
any ambitious young man who really can't attend
college discouraged by such misleading figures as
those given by our Virginia correspondent. The
college will equip him much more quickly and
easily than he can equip himself, but if he is will
ing to pay the price in laborious effort, he can
sooner or later give himself the full equivalent of
college training. Take the author of the two ar
hcIes referred to in the outset of this article.
We must say that we never before heard of DIR.
Smith, the c~ollegian, while President Cleveland,
whose name is a household word, did not go to