Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-23
CLAIMS OF THE COLLEGE
Runner in Race for Wealth Not Han
dicapped by College Training.

From the Kansas City Star.
In view of the amount of advertising done
by colleges at this season. 1t may be in
ferred that their managers believe that
many persons have not yet made up their
minds whether the boy who finished his
high school course last June shall go into
business at once or shall be sent to college
next autumn. There Is evidently q good
deal Of hesitancy ON this point even in FAM
lilies which need not hesitate because OF the
cost of the college course-though. for that
matter, the average bright boy with a little
help from home can earn his way II he
must,
The impression Is widespread that II a
young man would get on in the world he
would better get into business as early az
possible and that the four years at college
are practically wasted. This view has been
so prevalent that colleges have felt COM
PEELED to combat 1t with tables Of statistics
to prove that their alumni have been sue
cessfnl in business as well as in the pro-
that while the colleges do not train men
specifically for business, their graduates are
usually able to make up for lost time and
to take care Of themselves.
But, after all, a college training isn't q
commercial proposition. Boys aren't sent
to school to learn to make money. They
go to develop to mature, to awaken to the
meaning of life. Matthew Arnold's defni-
ing the aim Of the college Its purpose is
1.-The complete humanization of man in So
ciety; that is the development Of the in
dividuafs manners and morals. Of his in
tel.ect and of his artistic instincts
or course. an alert man may acquire such
development without going to college
through the mere education Of living. But
the conditions at school are peculiarly IA
vorable for progress The undergraduates
are thrown together at an tmpressionable
age when many possible lines Of growth
are still open to them. Their common en-
variety of interests which would be in dan
ger OF becoming stunted in the case of a
single Individual surrounded by older men
engaged In business. The college student
has the advantage, too, Of developing in
contact with the greatest minds of history.
In his studies he brushes against Homer
and Pericles, Caesar and Marcus Aurelius,
Socrates. Plato Spinoza. Hume and Kant.
Adam Smith, Gibbon and Macaulay
Thus. at all times the college ministers to
those ideal interests which are the really
important things Of the universe and to
which all material prosperity must be SUBJ
ordinated. 1t sets its charges to rejecting
in company with some Of the greatest Of
the worlds thinkers on the problems of
human life and destiny. the questions
OF the whittier and the whence on the
course as revealed through science-in
short. on all those aspects of existence
which are the concern of the civilized man
In distinction from the savage
There Is no danger that young men may
not soon enough become engrossed in the
cares Of this world and the deceitfulness of
riches. But II possible they ought to have
just sense of values before they become
absorbed In material things. The best way
to give them this opportunity under pres
ent conditions Is to send them to college.