Los Angeles herald., 1908-02-08


" companionship ano how to plan and
achieve high purposes. False con-
sciousness, caddishness and snobbery
are not developed in him. When he
goes to college he makes good use Of
his time and opportunities to fit him
self for intelligent citizenship, no mat
ter what his calling may be. And he
is the stock of which his community is
made up. But, as DIR. Butler points out
the child of the wealthy has no such
opportunity. Fashion dictates his up
bringing. Because horse shows or the
ike happen at about the period when
the schools open in the fall, his entrance
rpon study is deferred until November
at the earliest. Occasionally there are
G bsences of from two to four weeks,
and by mid-April the country house"
must be opened and school sees no more
Of him for that session. With such in
terruptions in his school life it is prac'
tically impossible for him to derive any
good effects. Moreover, his associates
are apt to make him a member of a
class apart from the rest of the repub-
lies Juveniles bad preparation Tor
American democracy. Or the school
which he attends is probably one sub
ordinate to the caprices of the wealthy;
hence systematic and judicious train
ing of mind and character is IMPOSE
sible. Private tutoring does not beneflt
him. 1t tends to develop all his idiosyn-
crasies. deprives him of the aid, COM
panionship and healthy emulation of
ether boys, and builds up dismal sort
of self-consciousness which is singu-
larly unfortunate. DR.. Butler adds that
at fashionable boarding schools things
go from. bad to worse. Snobbishness
replaces character. College is en-
tered through the strenuous efforts OF
coaches and from his college life the
youth gets practically nothing. His
associates are exclusives like himself;
his aims are usually social, occasion
ally athletic, never scholarly. AS
rule, he loafs through college, hires
substitute to pass his examinations ana
after scraping over the barriers to
graduation, in few years secures Il
degree, and is therefore eligible for
membership in any university club in
the land. This process, DR.. Butler says,
is gone through with" every year
The most appalling feature of this
judicial Indictment is in the statement
that young Croesus hires substitutes to
pass his examinations. DR.. Butler
ought to know what he is talking about.
He is an authoritative expert on MS
subject. Therefore, we must believe
his assertions literally and verbally. In
the bad old days, when the king was
still a holy parsonage in England
whipping boy was hired in order that
the profane hand of an irate tutor
might not descend in wrath upon the
person of the Lords anointed. The
vicarious victim of the princes pun
1shment stood in exactly the same rela-
ton to him that the American SUBJ
stitutes do to the young Croesuses
whose examination papers they fill
AND SIGN.
This demoralizing system of false
rretense and forgery should be stopped
without delay. Fortunately, it is inn
possible in any of our Pacific coast
which are still essentially
democratic and American. Dr. Butler
has reference to certain hoary eastern
institutions, which, like Oxford and
in England, are so crippled
by traditions, customs and-we refuse
TO include manners-that they could not |
successfully resent the accusation
based on DR.. Buffers, that they have |
either outlived their full usefulness or
have grown weary of measuring up to
their responsibilities.