The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-11
Catholic Colleges ana Their students.

| Try tne past Few years, no SnOulu KNOW Jhab
| there were other reasons why 80 few Catholic
! obtained positions as teachers In the Philip
pine schools besides the inability Of some
| OF their graduates and senior students to pass
| the examination like the one whose results Mr.
| Lee confidentially communicates to the public.
| He would remember that when the first call
for teachers in the Philippines was made no
| examination was required and the only quail
fications specified by Prof. Atkinson were;
| On Applicants must be normal or college school
| graduates.
J2 They must have several years experience in
school work and be nov engaged In teaching. 4.
| whatever location assigned them by tho General
Superintendent OF Education
Furthermore, they were required to sign a
contract for three years. and. strange to
say, with their several years successful ex-
f, perience in school work, they were wanted
| for primary work only, and would receive
only s75 a month and their travelling expenses.
As this was not very inviting, the fact is that
very few graduates or seniors OF Catholic
colleges applied and this Is one Of the reasons
why so few were appointed,
Now that the Administration has done so
much to right certain disorders In the conduct
of the schools in the Philippines 1t would DO
invidious 10 recall the misunderstanding
| which arose between our authorities In Wash
ington and Manila and some prominent Cath
oics, notably Archbishop Kane and tho Rev.
r 4 Kelly tMr. Dooeys Father kelly) OF
Chicago; nor should Mr. Lee need to be re-
minded that both gentlemen are on record for
the statements that they sent lists the former
Of "A goodly number Of teachers, both male
md female" but never received an answer
thereto : the latter "A list Of $50 teachers who
had been well recommended to me" only
three or four of them were sent to the Philip
pines" Even when the second request was
made for Catholic teachers in Manila there
were very few Applications. possible candi-
dates remembering the discrimination that
predecessors had experienced. and at least
some few to whom they applied for advice
wondering of what service Catholic teachers
might be in schools in which they would have
70 use text books containing calumnes like
the following
For centuries the Spanish frars have been the in
strlmentS Of the Spanish rulers for the spola,on
and military officials did not venture to touch fell
invariably into the hands Of the friars These have
ami through their cruelticS and shameless and dis
honorable religious doctrines lcrcdos have contra
nn the T cPss OF ne de- o. Sn
dc los EaudOs UnidoSl
As for Mr. Lees test or standard Of scholar
shin, i is sSlnguiarly nt varianc" with that OF
President Eliot Of Harvard az the proceedings
OF the National Educational Association. now
in session III Boston. thus:
propose To use III term cultivated men" only
IN rs good sense in fmcrSons sense In this paper
vain Of a little exclusive Information or OF an un-
common knack IN Latin verse and mathematical
symh and Vide anc ssposve but UtYG n
dependent; sef-rcllant but dcferental: loving
truth aud cnndor but also moderation and pro lor-
tlon: courageous but gentle not finished but per
fcctng.
These are qualities which no examiner can
disc9yer by questions about Calico or "Lalla
After all. what proof of education is it. in
these days OF cyclopRdias, to know, or not
to know. who wrote "Cotter's Saturday
NigIt'? What graduate of any college can
tell Mr. Lee, or the examiners whose questions
the Junus Letters, or for that matter,
or the articles in BlGckwood's. or. more i'm
portAnt still TO close the climax, the letter
signed by John Dwight Leo Put any Roman
Catholic b A. or senior IN a newspaper office
as the examiner has his pony, and he will be
far more exact than Mr. Lee in speaking OF
of New York and Boston are credibly said to
have experienced when the faculties OF the
seminaries Of ionkers and Brighton declared
to them: Reverend fathers. we have to re-
port to YOU that, although our entrance eX-
animation is almost .ridicnlously easy. these
your graduates have failed
Even i the faculties IN question had
made such a declaration. neither JesuitS nor
other educated men would have experienced
CONSERVATION. to adopt Mr. Lees peculiar
As edgGat9r they know fun
tions, especially "ridiculo,isly easy" ones, to
test a candidates knowledge or ability, and
they know also that the candidates from their
colleges have in very rare instances failed to
qualify for any seminary in this country. as
the faculties Of Dunwoodie and Brighton and
81 sriRrb ' rny ' for
MIR Lee, that the students from Jesuit colleges
are in many seminaries the most numerous
and usually the best on their rolls
NEW YORK, July0, JOHN X. DELANY
To THE EDITOR OF The SUN-Sr: In Sun
days Sun read with great interest the arti-
Gle on Roman Catholic colleges by the gentle
man with three ustrOus names These
colleges and their product. it seems. are very
bnd indeed. They don't even know Latin.
| weep for human frailty when see the
bluudrrs that these misguided and unenlight-
ened young men can make, at the very climax
of glorious career of study. My reverence
for the mortarboard has received terrible
shock
| mi ght have known it! At the Acorn
Literary Club. the other evening. heard Mr..
simpson, the school teacher, say that the
poorest teaching in this country is done in
the colleges Half the men who come out Of
them cannot spell Mr. Simpson knows, for
he IS n fine scholar. and has a beautiful d.
ploma from Berrys Business University and
School Of Tclegraphy and Typewriting
His speech did not please meat the time. but
now | know that he is a wise man
The enormous sums of money which 20 to
endow our colleges should give better returns.
| prcsme that these colleges OF which Mr..
Lee writes get large share.
As to tho incorrect answers: / think, Of
course, that n college graduate in these siren
nous days ought to know by heart Scott and
Pope aud all the early English epiCs
And those Latin TRANSACTIONS: My friend
DR. Nelson, who went TO college when he was
Young, and who is trustee of college now,
SAYS TINT the Latin is not so bad; the worst
thing about 1t is the trace OF the En- glsh
idom the hardest thing 10 get rid Of even II
one IL fluent in n Language acquired in mature
life like the German learning English who
made Orpheus announce when he was going
to seek Eurydice. Il go by hell. my wife to
A bigh-school boy reading the -Commenta-
rics" would probably give the sentence very
well. but does no know Latin'
when classical, Some years ago a Harvard
man was asked to say few words for us TO
tie fanal P6elteSato' Mgr satolll He began
1t, The address was never delivered.
I am quito sure that instances Of absurd
answers never occur In the Regents test, or
In the bar and medical examinations.
Not long ago, among a group OF Yale men,
one telling a story OF his career at college said:
"one day sat in Alumni Hall and took an ex
animation. Then couldn't graduate. Four
another examination; then | couldn't enter
My admiration was aroused n fortnight
since by the effort OF young English clergy
man to set your town to rights, He began
with another great and respectable body OF
Christians, No doubt they. too, are doomed
"to strive and attain not" IN the field Of their
souls salvation. II not IN that Of intellectual
eHd"avor His was the fate Of the smart boy
who IL saucy 20 papa. My heart goes out to
lIIni the Young man means well.