Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-26
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
AND THE HIGHER
EDUCATION

state university, and have it lavishly
equipped with laboratories and library.
Now, the fact is that the best practical
physicians today have had little to do
with the latest in scientific medical
works, and that it is unsafe to detach
medicine too much from ordinary elm
ical work. To deny a medical school
to Los Angeles on any plea of concen-
tration is surely folly
The same truth holds good in educa-
ton. Let Southern California train her
own teachers for high school work,
and let her sons see that her fnstitu-
tions are developed to meet all equita-
BILE requirements. Elaborate central
ization may be excellent for show work
on paper. but the country needs and
appreciates the sound and wholesome
home product. Students are always
better trained when in immediate,
friendly contact with the teachers:
and there are few places more unsatis-
factory for the ordinary student
than the huge, ovorgrown institutions
where the work of instruction devolves
upon colorless subordinates. Poor stu
dents get nothing, mediocre students
next TO nothing.
This is the sound instinct of the
people at large Astonishing as has
been the growth of Los Angeles and
neighborhood during the last decade,
the institutions of higher learning have
kept pace with it. Colleges which for
merly had to depend on preparatory
scholars to make any show of attend
ance are now reaching the point where
the preparatory school is almost a neg
ligible quantity.
There are two institutions with
university charter in Southern Cali
NORMA, and four colleges which are
doing work of university grade. All
six are associated, practically if not
nominally, with Christian churches.
One of the universities is still in the
early stage during which the prepara-
tory school bulks very largely; but it
is impossible to say what its future
will be.
Founded quite recently by prominent
Baptists against the wishes of many in
their denomination who objected to
a multiplication of universities, the
University of Redlands is in a vigorous
childhood. 1t has but one building,
and library in embryo, but the build
ing will compare in architectural
beauty and equipment with any build
ing of the kind, and for situation ii is
peerless. Situated at the northeast
a terrace, it commands a superb view
of the amphitheater of hills dominating
this valley of oranges.
Redlands university is the most out
lying of our higher institutions of
learning. Nearer home lies Pomona
college, situated under the shadow of
Mount Baldy, and still detached from
city life. Not yet has an electric rail
road made the college and campus
part and parcel of the city of Pomona,
although they lie but a few miles off.
Pomona college has recently welcomed
a new president hailing from Beloit, in
Wisconsin, and much is hoped from
the present regime; but even In the in
term, when an institution usually suf
fers from the lack of a head, the col
lege continued strong and prosperous
Her standards and ideals of conduct
and scholarship would be a credit to
any state or community.
Under the headship of so we'll known
an American as DR.. Baer the future
of Occidental college is not uncertain.
While no longer Presbyterian by con-
stitution, the college must continue to
appeal primarily to Presbyterians, and
develop a type Of sound and thorough
scholarship associated with that re-
ligious body. The change of location
to Eagle Rock valley keeps the institu
ton stin within our street car system.
Such colleges as Occidental and Whit
tier. which is a little farther off and
cannot affect the city life in the same
immediate way, are essentials of our
civilization. There is also the strong
Catholic college of st. Vincent's, which
is likely to remove soon into roomier
surroundings.
The University of Southern Califor-
MIA has more varied activities than any
of the above. Her law school is the
strongest on the whole coast, and her
graduates have special privileges Of
admission to the bar. The L. S c.
medical school, better kniwn as the
College of Physicians and Surgeons,
has been associated with the univer-
sity for only one year. but all indica-
tions point to future like that of the
college of law. In addition there are
colleges Of dentistry pharmacy, music,
oratory and theology, all growing and
extending their activities.
The university center is the college
of liberal arts, on Wesley avenue, close
to Agricultural park. This circum-
stance is worth mentioning, as the
handsome museums and other state
buildings now under erection within
the park will be in close touch with
several Of the departments Of the uni
versity. Probably two hundred and
6ftv students will enter the college as
freshmen in September, and the con-
tinuous enlargement of the building
accommodations altogether fails to
keen up with the increase in attend
ance.
Many Los Angelans are not aware
how strong an institution is growing
I'D in their midst; the growth and inn
portance Of the university her excel