Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-12-23
Conservation Of Trained Brain Cells.

a report just issued Dy the OdIHSSis
Foundation for the Advancement o.
Teaching declares that colleges lacl
system; that there are too many un-
businesslike methods of management
and that common academic standards
are needed. The foundation finds that
in terms Of dollars and cents, better
results should be secured for the SAINT
expenditure of money. 1t is declared
that there is a general lack of what
industry calls SYSTEM" and that col
lege buildings are not used to theiI
full capacity; that high salaried men
waste too much of their valuable time
in the consideration of details which
could be delegated to minor officials;
that universities fail to cooperate as
they should and that there is no ac-
|cepted standardization Of administra-
ton.
The investigator for the Foundation
was Maurice L. Cooke, an expert in
cost accounting, and the defects found
seemed to be general rather than
specific. No one of the colleges in
vestigated is singled out for caustic
criticism, although few gentle sug-
gestions are spread throughout the
report. He finds much fault with the
system Of committee management nov
in vogue in every higher institution OF
learning. He contends that it in
wolves lack Of initiative, division of
responsibility and log-rolllng. He
also criticizes the Importance placed
upon research work. He says that In
some institutions Laboratories are first,
teaching afterwards.
Perhaps Mr.. Cookies chief criticism
concerns financial administration and
economical use of buildings. He says
that he found one magnificent struc-
ture standing on land worth s25 per
square foot, and in actual use six
hours a week. He believes that build
ings and lectures ought to be SO ar
ranged as to permit larger and more
continued use of the various rooms.
1t would seem that the Carnegie
Foundation was reaching its goal ir
providing expert criticism and sugges-
ton to the various educational insti-
tutions for their more efficient conduct
in the future. One Of the topics Of
importance at the National Education
Association convention in Boston last
summer was along this line, the writer
taking the ground that more cconomi-
cal use of the buildings already erected
for some institutions would do away
with the necessity Of new structures OF
which they claim to be in need; but
the waste of the use of high standard
brain matter is q criticism new to US
and suggests conservation Of gray
matter at our larger institutions Of
learning as well as the smaller. In thu
lower institutions OF learning the criti-
ClSln IS more often tnat teachers are
too slow to grasp essentials, and can
not impart knowledge which they pos
sess, but that those who have devoted
years to fitting themselves for 8
specific branch Of science should de-
vote their energies to detail that
should be delegated to less competent
instructors is q new charge. Pre-
sumably many of these instructors
work upon the principle that if yot
wish anything done to suit you, do il
yourself, and when a man once gets ir
the habit of thinking that no one clst
can do a thing as well as he can, it is
hard work to draw the line where tC
turn over certain amount of his Worl
to a subordinate. This is probably az
true in educational institutions as il
business and industrial affairs. Pro.
fessors who are doing 1t all should
consider their own position as related
to that Of subordinates and take ad
vantage Of the advice of the expert
who has been paid that the great
Scotch steel maker may not die rich.