The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-05

cent will go far toward raising
the standards Of the university to
where they belong.
|. An arraignment Of the common
school system as a dismal failure by
James j. Hill and the declaration by
Rome G.. Brown, a Harvard man, that
Theodore Roosevelt is the apostate
son of Harvard, while Taft, a Yale
man, is the main bulwark Of our sys-
TEN of government" were surprises
given 115 college men that attended
the thirtieth annual banquet Of the
Northwestern Yale Alumni associa-
ton. Mr.. Hill told his hearers the
great trouble with the common school
system of the United States is that
the boys and girls are not taught. to
think and that too often they have not
the spur of necessity to make them
work hard, work being the one abso-
lutely i~ndisputable essential for sue
cess in any line. The dinner was at
the st. Paul University club. and at
the same time at another banquet, in
Supt. Milton c.. Potter was praising
the school system, not knowing the
subject of Mr.. Hills address.
Hill Has a Yale Degree.
Mr.. Hill is a Yale man by a LID.
degree conferred upon him in 1910.
Other speakers were Rome G.. Brown.
c. Bertram Newton, headmaster Of
he Blake school Of Minneapolis, who
is a Princeton alumnus; Edward J.
Phelps of Chicago, chairman Of the
Yale Alumni advisory board, and
Thomas Daniels, a Yale undergrad
uate.
There were forty-three present
from Minneapolis, among them w. w.
Heffelf1nger, Judge Charles S. Jelley,
Thomas l.. Shevlin, William R.. Vance,
dean of the college Of law Of the Uni
versity Of Minnesota, and Mr.. Brown.
who acted as POSTMASTER, and Sec.
w. w. Eastman. MI. Mitchell was
succeeded as president by e. c.. Gale
OF Minneapolis, and Mr.. Eastman was
reelected OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
Mr.. Hill said he was not indicted
into all the studies Of Yale and it took
him longer to get his degree than
most of those he was addressing and
his only excuse for Offering advice
was his gray hairs.
Calls Schools Failure,
"Cultivation of the mind is some
thing we cannot overestimate the
value Of" he said. I'm our " coun-
try the one trained mind of John
Marshall did more to make a nation
OF the United States than all the 9TH
er men who had helped in it's prog
ress. 1t is becoming increasingly nee
essary that our leaders should be edu-
Gated and know whereof they think
and speak.
Our common school system, 7 am
afraid, is a dismal failure. The edu-
cation a boy or girl needs is some
thing that will help him to make a liv-
Ing in the lot in which his or her life
is cast. I would rather take a boy who
only the three RS and had a
widowed mother to support than a
high school graduate of today, The,
nigh school graduates doesn't know
how to spell figure correctly. Few
of them can line UP a column Of figures
and foot 1T accurately without some
me checking them over.
Our common school system "a
turning out young men who are nor
mt for any practical use.
Leaders Born in Section House,
Take our company, for instance.
which employs from 1900 to 1900 per-
sons in it's general offices. Among
them the graduates Of the public
schools do not stand anywhere. Those
III go up don't number among them.
| can't recall any of, them who are
leaders. but I know some of our head
men were born in section houses and
not burdened with the modern
! school education. They won their
place under the spur Of necessitv.
They were spurred by necessity.
They had to work to make. good. They
made good simply because they had to
get there. 80
"The spur of necessity is. a great
help to young men. If they haven't
got 1t, they are likely to fall by the
wayside.
Doesn't Blame the Pupil.
"Our public school education rn,se
a sounder foundation. When I was IL
ears old I was studying. logarithms,
What Is the boy Of IA studying today7
Some one who ought to know tells me
they are teaching reading by sighr
now. Many of the pupils I am told
don't know the rotation of their let.
tiers; they don't know If T. comes be-
fore M OF after r..
1T is not the fault of the Young
people. They are giving their time
under the delusion that they are GET.
ting an education. 1t Is the system.
that is to blame. There is no latent
or roya way to education. It must be
Ny LoAu dHQ HONEST appllCdtlOn. AC-
curacy is what counts. 49,.
Compliments DR.. Vincent,
ut is up to the college man to lead
the way in education and to fnd a
better way If there is one. / hope the
University of Minnesota will realize
that quality in it's work is more i'm
portant than quantity and that it will
set a higher standard Of education. It
Is better to have 5000 strong, capable
young men there than 5000 who are
in their work. The univer-
sity is more richly endowed than most
institutions of the kind. 7 think your
DR.. George E. Vincent will go far to-
ward raising these standards.
Your college education should be
followed UP by your taking up in a
serious way the problems oil your COM
and your nation. There are
a great many new theories being ad-
vanced and yet there is' not SO very
much new in the world.
Have confidence In yourselves.
Without that YOU canno win and with
1t you won't always win.
If ] were running an institution OF
learning ! would simplify the curricu-
lum and get all the facts classified