Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1906-08-10
COLLEGE EDUCATION.
II is a Good Aid in Lie if Based on a Solid
and Secure Foundaton-Common Sense.

speak and write about the dsadvant
ages of college education?
A noted college professor in th
East, not long ago, declared that th'
college graduate is unfit for the prac
tical affairs of life and that academi,
training is useful only for the com
paratively idle man. This eminen
professor has. probably, studied hi
own case very thoroughly, but tha
does not justify him in making sucl
sweeping declarations.
Because / am a fool, it does no
necessarily follow that everybody elst
is fool. Because college education
was thrown away in my case, does moi
prove that it is useless or an impeji
ment to everybody else. This how
against the college graduate makes
me tired, and is becoming rather tire.
some and stale.
University professors seem to be
particularly prominent in it, for rea
sons that can only be surmised. Prac-
tical men of affairs have an entirely
different opinion Of college education.
They know better. They have learned
by experience that the average college
man is better qualified to enter the
struggle for existence than the de.
ficiently educated. knowledge is
power and knowledge conduces more
towards success in life than anything
else. There may be and, in fact, are,
many instances where the man who
never saw the inside of a college is
eminently successful. But these are
exceptions which simply prove the
rule. Take any number of our lead.
ers OF finance and business of to day.
Among them you find the college
graduate as we'll as the other fellow.
The greatest of them all, J. Pierpont
Morgan. is college graduate, and has
the highest opinion OF college educa-
ton. He has certainly not been
handicapped by knowledge. Andrew
Csrnegie's opinion on the subject of
education is we'll known. James ].
Hill is an avowed advocate OF the col
lege and university; so is John ID.
Rockefeller, and all know the late
Leland Stanford was enthusiastic and
sincere in his behalf of the advantages
of education.
A few years ago, the management OF
the great Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe railway system announced their
intention to give preference to college
graduates among applicants for en-
ployment. Other leading corporations
have adopted the same rule. Busi-
ness houses are anxious to secure the
services of educated men, boys that
have graduated from the high.school
are always in demand. Why, just re-
Gently / read an "ad" in the P..L
which wanted boys to carry the Post
Mtelligencer, and that publication n
stated in cold type that it preferred
high-sc students. Does't this
show what way the wind blows? OF
course it does.
There are, undoubtedly, many men
10 business at the present time who
will tell you, without hesitation, that
in their case, deficient education proved
handicap, and who will urge you to
educate yourself ss mnch as you can.
Nobody ever knew too much. We
are being educated as long as we live
In the modern struggle for life, with
its excessively sharp competition, edu
cation is imperatively required as a
solid, permanent foundation. The
business man of to-day has to have a
wider knowledge and better grasp ol
affairs than his predecessor had fifty
years ago.
He must have trained, disciplined
mind, his reasoning powers must be
developed to the utmost pitch in order
to be able to act quickly and intelli
gently at all times. And qualities oil
this kind must be acquired early and
not through long and expensive ex
perience. We are living quickly now.
adays; the man who waits for exper'
fence to teach him things that he
could have acquired in his youth with
out much trouble or expense is q loser
from the very start.
Education is the sine qua non ol
modern business and professional life
all declarations OF college professor'
to the contrary notwithstanding. The
man who does not succeed with an
education would succeed quicker with
one. The college or university men
one knows, are not in hard luck, OF
getting the worst of it. They ere
mostly doing we'll. They may moi
always be making all kinds OF money
but that is because the possession of 9
college education makes man regard
other things, intellectual and aesthetic
as of more value than a pile OF money
The pleasure one gets out OF his worl
in any intellectual line OF effort is 9
compensation that is worth some
neglect Of mere money.
A lawyer wins, or doctor cures 6
difficult case, or man writes a goot
article, or q Socialist solves hard
problem, and the mere triumph ant
satisfaction in well-done work is &