Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-24
THE GOWNSMAN
The Private colIeae and That Of the state

ARE the college and tho university
"A privately endowed ultimately to 60 with
the many things that we have loved and
rcvered which the new era is questioning and
threatening to discard? And the college, as
formerly conceived, n class school, proprle-
tary. often dcnOminatiOnal, governed by
patrons Of learning rather than by experts
in learning--is this college actually perform
ing the functions demanded of it by the
people at large? These arc questions not to
be answered offhand. The fourteen mil
lions which Princeton is out to raise for
permanent endowment, the ten which llar-
ward is seeking with many less ambitious
efforts elsewhere to just academic finances
to new conditions are not mere attempts to
meet the demands made upon us by our ever
shrinking dollar. but efforts TO maintain n
noble and valued institution of the past in
its pristine glory against the inroads OF the
new college of the people, the logical crown
of our American system of popular educa-
ton.
0NlIlS distinction between the college OF
l. the masses and the college of the classes
is no new American departure. Oxford and
Cambridge. however populariacd they may
claim to bc-and the nature Of the recent
compromise ms to Greek as n required study
shows the character of that confliCt-and
however they are the foster children of the
government. both were founded. in their
many colleges by the gifts of patrons, and
both remain in tone. government and curric-
ulum essentially aristOCratiC. Such is not
true of the newer universities of London.
Manchester, Leeds and the rCst. which con-
form in type more to our American state col
lcgcs or municipal universities, such as that
of Cincinnati. 1t is in tho newer British
Institutions that the most cordial welcome
is given to science. technology, politics and
the art Of education. and it is, in them, ms
in our state colleges that educational eX
pertinent most f1ourishcs. The antithesis
may be exaggerated. but in general terms
Oxford and Cambridge are the great con-
SCrvatOrS of the past the newer education
has its face forward. Either wayfarcr. the
rOnscrvator or the radical. may stumble in
the present. but the former has the con-
solations of great tradition; the latter, zeal
Of the spirit and hope in the untricd.
TT HAS often been noted ms an anomaly
L that in our country of democratic politi-
cal conditions the rule of our colleges is
almost wholly autOcratic. This could hardly
have been otherwise as we developed; for
higher education. by it's very conditions. is
the education of the selected few. Our
earliest colleges were conceived of ms schools
in which to lay the foundations for training
for the pulpit. This soon broadcncd into
training for those destined for the profess
sions in general and the small number be-
sides who might have the means and the lei
Sure TO partake of that kind of an educa-
ton, whether to be employed professionally
or not This was essentially education for
n class. the upper class. The public school
began at the other end; its idea was the
bare essentials of the education of the many
provided for by the state. AS to this educa-
tion, all were to share alike; there was to
be at least equality of opportunity. Nat
urally in early times. such q school could
not go far. and the gap between the educa-
tion of the few and that of the many was
wide, and, for the most part unbridged.
A S PROSPERITY and the diffusion of
4 knowledge have advanced among us, the
system of public schools has steadily grown
outward to tho inclusion of more and more
subjects. upward to an ever nearer approach
to the standards set by the colleges. In a
word. the gap between the education of the
few and that of the many has long since
been brdged and popular education has
grown beyond the standards set by the old
colleges. The more spirited among the lat
continual attempt at adjustment between the
older ideals, to which many, arc still devoted,
and the newer necessities has occupied the
greater part of the time of the organizers
of education in this generation. with results
on the whole good. if sometimes hybrid. In
education, as in politics, it is often the COM
promise which points the true way. Only
the Boshevist in education can believe that
only on the ruins of the past can any new
cdfce be erected. Even in ruins much
valuable material with which to build may
be found.
THE logic of the situation demands that
our higher education shall become asso-
ciated closely with the public system for
which the state is financially responsible.
The education of its citizens is the most
valuable asset of a commonwealth for most
other assets are the moro valuable by reason
of its power Nor can the money of all be
said to he applied unfairly to the advantage
Of the few. where equality of opportunity
prevails. In the iourishing of universities
founded by the states and in their useful
ness in the application of knowledge and