The Washington herald., 1911-11-11

That some Of our Eastern colleges are
little more than great country clubs" was
one of the statements DR.. Paul Monroe,
professor of the history of education at
the Teachers College, Columbia Univer-
sity, made to a gathering of distinguished
educators at a dinner of the Federal
Schoolmens Club, at the Highlands, last
night.
DIR. Monroe's speech was a technical
! treatise on education, embraced under the
title of Conflicting standards OF educa-
ton Dr. Monroe traced the origin of
education from the early Greeks, through
the vicissitudes of its transformation in
the English universities, down to the
status of education, particularly Of the
college variety, in latter-day America.
Training Is Shallow.
| DR.. Monroe arraigned the college edu-
cational system of to-day, following with
the explanation that boys go to college
nowadays simply for class purposes and
| for the badge OF distinction that col
{ lege education bestows.
You cannot find many college faculties
to admit this allegation" he said. AL
though there are a few unfortunate
enough to acknowledge it. The great
mass of educators whose interest is at
! stake deny that any such condition eX-
lists. This idea dominates chiefly women's
| colleges, and they hold most tenaciously
! to the old English idea of class dtstinc-
ton via a college education. We have
reason, however, to hope that there Is
more to be 6ad in education"
DIR. Monroe held that in all the modern
| institutions which are gradually but
surely expanding their scope, the home
and the school still maintained medieval
restriction OF their powers The narrow
ing of home ties was blamed for like
condition in the schools.
"A self-made man is a homemade
man." declared the speaker. ''Nine-tenths
of education is simple tradition, the rest
is scientific achievement. The idea of ed
ucation originated in the early Greek
idea of personal adornment."
Dean Hough, of George Washington
University, was the POSTMASTER of the
evening Prior to the speech of DR.. Mon
roe, five new members, all prominent ed
ucators of Washington, were unanimous
ly elected to membership. They were DR..
Philander P. Claxton, who succeeded DR..
Elmer E. Brown as United States COM
missioner of education: DR.. w. NJ. Da
wilson, superintendent of schools. Wash
ington; DR.. Wickliffe Rose, administra-
tive secretary of the Southern Educa-
tional Board; Prof. Fletcher B. Dresslar,
United States Bureau of Education, and
Dean w. A. Wilbur, of George Washing
ton University.
Guests at Dinner.
Among those present at the dinner
were: DR.. Paul Monroe. Prof. H. E. Day.
President Percival Hall, Prof. G. V. Hen
ming. Or. H. L. Hodgkins, DR.. w. 8.
Hough, DR.. w. c. Rudiger, Dr. H. Schoen-
field. Prof c. S. Smith, Prof. Lyman
Steed, DR.. w. P. Thirkield, Prof. E. L.
Gregg, Prof A. T. Ramsey, Prof. T. w.
Sidwell, Prof. Paul Bartsch. NJ. ]. Jones,
L. A. Kalbach, DR.. L. R. Klemm, A c.
Monahan, Allan Davis, H. w. Draper,
S. NJ. Ely, Charles Hart, w. P. Hay, H.
NJ. Johnson. E. G. Kimban c. Meri-
wether, w. B. Patterson, G. A. Ross, c. ].
Schwartz, Dr. w. S. Small, A. w. Span
hoff. E. L. Thurston, w. ]. Wallis, A w.
Miller, H. English, ]. A. Chamberlain,
and DR.. W. Dales.