The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-30
ENGLISH STUDENT BACK AT SCHOOL

Washington, May 30-The great universities of England whose student bodies and teaching staffs were great ly depleted by service in the army or in government offices during the war are again filling with students and resuming normal life. This is shown by a letter received here by Lieuten- ant Colonel J. c. Faunthorpe of the British Embassy from A. L. Smith, Master of Balliol College, Oxford. New schools are being opened at OK ford and plans for greater efficiency are being put into effect, he writes.
 According to the Master of Balliol, Oxford sent approximately 12,000 of it's men to the war or into the govern ment service. Of these 2,394 were killed 1O9 arc missing. More than 4,0o0 won honors in the war includ- ing 16 Victoria crosses. The figures of Cambridge University would be about the same the writer estimates.
 Outlining the services rendered by men of the forty colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, the Master writes that owing to the response for war service, the student life "dwindled to a thread" He adds that ''the i'm portance of the response of these two older universities was that it filled
  of the old Regular army in the fight ing of August and September of 1914 and the coming forward of the newly trnined territorials in the Spring Of 1915 This immediate response to the call of the country and the per sonal courage and devotion of these young men were a complete and de- cfsive unswer to any class Jealousy or feeling tiTat the workers were be- 
 ''we doubted how many of the men would want to come back" continues the Master we are finding that practically every man who possibly can is applying to be taken back, at any rate for shortened courses Qast- ing on an average of one-and-two- thirds years) and already three col leges are overfulr'
 The general tone and chara cter of these men is described by Balliors Master as remarkably high There is quite as much life and cheerful actfv fty as before the war and a great deal moro seriousness of purpose The Master notes not only a. marked inn provement in the strength of charac- ter shown by the returning students but that they eypn gained intellectu- ally what they had lost fin book knowledge and have more than made up for this loss by the power of com ing to the point. and by a sense of reality about their work
 This, he concludes, shows that their previous university education was far too boolSfsh and abstract in type and ] neglected too much the intellectual effect of beginning things at the practical and concrete end These re- | turned men are not only keener to | work but they work with more swift | ness and directness than before they | went out; for. as one of them said, | that you had to do lot of thinking | in the trenches or else your number | was soon up"
 Oxford has made many concessions l to these men which the Master re- gards as Justified by the showing they | now are making in their studies. For | merly nine terms residence was re- quired to obtain an Oxford degree, now the men who served fin the army | arc excused from half this require ment and from some of the examina,- ton requirements. Thee concessions will enable the majority of them to take their degree and go into the pro- fession only year or two later than would have been tho case but for the war.
 Tn character and fin general intel- lectual development they will be bet ter men than they would have been under normal conditions and, in in tellectual equipment of knowledge, hardly, if at all, inferior" writes the Balliol Master