The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1906-07-29
! EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.

INT for Virginian and San aluh,nnss and
member OF tho board OF tho u nive rssty OF!
Virginia to rise up and Say g ythit,g
goes wrong In his Alma later Il TO n s ~
Like Mr.. Adams, that It's whole pallcyj
is wrong and has been for year 81
diate lynching Few Of us would stop
ltoa inu,lire whether thls radical and irreV-
eref,t son OF a great State was right, we
should 30 too busy chasing him over hill
| and dale to his earthly undoings The
| real message which the poor fellow
Knight earnestly desire to bring to his
people Would, I fear utterly escape at -1a
tentlon., ~. ffS I'LL n ls NJ n
But, nevertheless, this note OF warning
To New England and tho Il North ought
not To pass ,inconsldered by Virginia..
seare as DR.. Mitehcll shy ,in "a J,
radical changes In educat lonal 3 things
1t Is very Important. indeed that those
WHO have "a directing hand III these
changes make no error. We shall not
make progress by mere innovations "a
:publc school that docs not reach and 4
develop the moral natures Of children
ne worse, far, than the old sojourrer
teacher who taught Patrick Henry and
George Washington to learn q few things
we'll. Lam not at oil & sure we are
ACTUALLY making progress In higher ed ill'
cation in Virginia. Larger endoWmentlts
and d greater teaching force are but the
means to an end. The result depends
on the uso We make Of our gifts. Whole
epochs have been worse than wasted BY
many peoples and mnlly generations 81 81
mon The race goes forward but slo WY,
ana Ing to iunlearn as much as 1T learns.
In Virginia we arc all n lnrg 9 colleges
and small following as fast as fwo may
along the, road which, we are seriously
Informed, Harvard finds to have peell
the wrong one. We send our college
presidents into the highways and hedges
to hunt students; we urge young men,
prepared or ur,prtepared in it eolless
ola sse s, 4 only to swell the number or
matrloulatos, and thus appeal to the
State or tho philanthropist5 to give us
more money, which al we again sl;use In
I swelling our rolls. Mr.. Adams says this
fcrding together Of n large N numbers OF
students Is d positive hindrance to sound
education, and at must not be forgotten
that Mr. Adams Is a conscientious and
pa Installing student, whose word / IS 4a ac.
ccr,ted as authority on subjects to which
tho dcvotes atten Ion. INK
u In view Of this earnest warming i is It not
well to ask whether 1t Is q good thingSt
I sity OF Virginia Or. the Virginia oily
8technic institute? Night we no t INQUIRE
what these thousands do when they leave
college. Are hey mere 5consume rs& OF Inc
#conlmunitys goods, readers Of the Ign
land worthless literature freq uenters 9! or
our foot ball prize fights DO. not no - the
great ma orty of our teelhing thousanas
fail utterly to take hold OF some suset ~
calling and do something worth while!
r Are not most college students Sfa llur1es,
both In college and out 4 II 50, whose
fault is it?@ Ours orr the lrs !? Ever o ad
student is an Ell advertisement # 9 ga.iInrNslt-
higher etlucat ton. II Are these poor stu
dents allowed to enter coll VIII en- hey
have failed in their home sch nc e'l !!
Would It not tie well forg,ls - g ,,ao
this and limit as best NE may the num-
her Of incompetent Is? Are these fail3ures
due to improper influences in col ege|!5
The remedy In this case is clear. ls blt5 ~
tho cause Of real education that five 81 10
ten Thousand people flock to see see PVT
spcc taclllar football contests, spenains
as much as fifty thousand dollars to O 3ll,e
dent Eliot thinks this game Is one 81 the
most den1oralizing forces sin American ne
academic life-if we may call such tn 0,.l
academic Who is responsible for these asse
ella dia,torisl contests? The studentsf
Hardly. "a X II I'll
,rhesa n e subjects which ought 70 re- re
celye some attention In Virginia at TINS
5"parting ofSthe ways" In her hlsto ~
We do not desire to- follow even on IA tlle
greatest Of universit1es) along me ,"Ions
way. Virginia OF the future VII ho o.
.yirginians OF the present responsible DE FOR
what we do now as We rightly A t o,
tyirginians OF the past responsible for ne
back wa rdness OF the present. 5a IL Nj }s
Trained minds Is what the time calls
for. Colleges ought to furnish these
trained ito think. to imagine and to op-
serve as Mr.. Adams 50 vs.. We neeo
men who do not yield to the spec tacular,
but see the higher things as they are
presented In the passing even ts.s&5 The
reading OF a silly and insipid novel by
five hundred thousand Americans IN ~ a
half year is no compliment to; our g Wiz
cation. The methods OF coll ego teachers
and administrators lie at the bottom Of
this. For 1t has recently been shown
that college men are tho gTeat test con-
sumers Of worthless literature They ,llt
set bad example rather than warn men
against evil doing. Being college men,
ten times MS many follow them In the
wrong. y d t35ss "a 3gF5
II wegare herdins men together rather
than training each individual mind, we
are, as Mr.. Adams assures us. falling I'm
our high calling, and the community
ought to call US to account The fierce
In the college field, which
President Alderman rightly lamen t.. may
be done away by substituting q reason
able co operation. It is not the duty OF
any college to be the biggest thing"
In the State or In the world. a very
close European observer Of Americana
says tho ono trait which stands outS!n
the American character Is the disposition
to measure everything by the yard or
In terms Of dollars. We always tell a
stranger that certain monument cost
"a hundred thousand dollars" and then
wait for an exclamation This trait has
got hold Of college presidents outside OF
Virginia. May 1t never become a trait
Of those wtthin her bondA
This question OF "bigness." It may be
remarked In closing. is connected with
tho large number OF elective courses.
Tho idea Ia to attract numbers by these
naka-show subjecH. But great COLI
,ege stands not by Its horde OF uncouth
u 49,. y t,aI