The sun., 1919-08-31
The Future of the Small Endowed
College of Liberal Arts
Development Of Strong, Resourceful and Independent
Faculty Will Make Small College Look Forward to
Future With Confidence Higher Salaries
Must Be Paid to Teaching Body


college,
in many Of our small colleges helps
to develop a strong, resourceful and
Independent faculty. And when you
have that you may look forward to
the future with confidence.
The critical reader may here say
that you cannot provide facilities for
the undergraduates nor salaries for
teachers without large endowments,
and that the future Of the small col
leges depends very largely upon finan-
cial considerations. The question Is
very often put: Can the small colleges
compete with the State universities,
the large institutions of learning and
the technical schools7 Undoubtedly
those Institutions which depen1 upon
State or city for funds are going to
receive more generous aid In the fu-
ture. Undoubtedly also the friends
and alumni OF Yale and Harvard and
Princeton and Columbia are going to
see that they are backed financially as
they deserve. We may see some of
the weaker Of the small colleges 60 to
the wall. But in general the small
college is going to get the support to
which II is rightly entitled. We need
in all Of our States institutions direct
ly under State management quickly
responsive to the needs of the people.
We need Just as much some institu-
tons that can maintain their own in
dividual Intellectual standards and fur
nish a liberal education without re-
gard to the claims Of q transient pop
ularity. We need sim q few colleges
that can set their own terms Of cd
mission and develop their own product
from selected material.
And most important Of all, the ad-
herents of the small college will say,
we need in our American life still the
type Of graduate that the college has
produced in the past-the man who.
whether he comes into prominence or
not, Is a literally educated man. Such
an education he may we'll receive In
the university. But the average
American boy has perhaps in the
small college a better chance to de-
velop the qualities Of leadership. For
in the relatively small classes and In
the social life of the college a boy Is
known for what he is; and many a shy
and backward lad has been enabled to
assume responsibilities which would
not be open in larger institutions. 1t
makes a good deal Of difference in the
development Of character IL a man
knows and is known by seventy-nve
Of his own class OF seventy-five or II
he knows or is known by seventy-fve
out of class of 700. The college
deals, as an eminent teacher has said.
lx..tt ~ .rst
fortunes, and the question of the
choice Of a college depends, as always,
upon the individual. Many boys of
social prominence or very unusual in
tellectual ability will mature best I'M
der the ample resources of the large
university. But there are still many
who need the kind of training and the
sort Of life that the small college Of
fers. Very often Of course a boy in
the small college Is brought into init
mate contact with his teachers. But
l have known many a university pro-
fessor who knows his students well
and not few college teachers who
know their students not at all. A
great deal of the so-called intimate
contact depends upon circumstances
and upon individuals. But 1t Is true
that in the small college the faculty
as whole knows the student body
pretty intimately. and such knowledge
is more often a help than a hin
drance. Nor Is 1t a matter Of small i'm
portance that the college follows with
interest the later careers of her sons,
and that in the comparatively small
body Of her alumni there Is nurtured
! mutual interest and friendship.
When one reads the history OF any
OF our small colleges and recalls how
many leaders in all walks OF life they
have trained there is not much rea-
son to fear that the American public
! is going to let such institutions perish.
They will. of course. have to recognize
in the future as in the past their
obligations to the State. They will
have to be liberal in every sense of
the word, using their splendid tradi-
lions to advance every righteous
cause. The small college of the future
will have to keep closely In touch
with every political and social and
economic movement; and will have to
vary its curriculum as much in the
future as in the past. 1t cannot for
an instant stand still. But It must
give to all its students a sound and
| liberal training, and to all its teach
ers freedom and responsibility. If it
does these things and continues to
send annually into the great stream
| Of American life hundreds of grad
yates who have had their minds
quickened and their sympathies broad
ened by contact with the best that
literature and science and history and
philosophy can teach there will be
for some years yet a place for the
small endowed college of liberal arts.