The sun., 1919-08-31

liberal preparatory education. To-day
a great majority of our college grad
yates 60 directly into business and
affairs. An examination of the occu-
pations and professions Of the fathers
and grandfathers Of our present un-
dergraduates would not vary greatly
from the results recently found at
Bowdoin. OF the grandfathers nearly
40 per cent. were farmers, about rs
per cent. professional men, while less
than 10 per cent were In business or
trade, the remainder being classified
as miscellaneous or unknown. OF the
fathers less than az per cent. were
found to be farmers, less than 10 per
cent. in the professions, while nearly
10 per cent. were In business. or
course this is only q straw, but 1t
shows how blows the wind II so large
proportion of college men come of
business stock and go into business
after graduation, manifestly the prob
lem Of college education varies from
generation to generation. These
changes require instruction in new
branches Of knowledge from time to
time; and our colleges have responded
wisely, as any one may see by con-
sulting catalogues of fifty years ago
and comparing the curriculum then
with the programme of studies OF the
present day. But the real problem of
the college Is to convince the public
Of the worth of a liberal education.
And Just here there is one point very
greatly in favor of the small college.
To students seeking a sound liberal
education of the sort that frees the
mind and trains for intellectual pleas
ure as well as for citizenship the small
college offers a course smiled and dis
unct from the distractions OF the uni
versity and the drive Of tho technical
school. If the education OF the future
is to be to great degree narrowly
technical or vocational or professional,
manifestly the future of the small col
lege js not bright with promise. But
Il in our educational system there is
still room for the kind of college that
does not seek large numbers or give
way to every pedagogical novelty, that
prefers to deal soundly with its stu
dents and give them a good foundation
for their life as well as for their life
work, many a boy will still choose the
small college; and the generous and
shrewd American public will not with
hold its support. There is of course
danger that the small college will be
false to its mission and strive to be-
come big and that 1t will seek popular
favor by responding too quickly to
popular whims. But the very fact that
II is endowed and has good traditions
will serve as steadying influences. If
the college can retain the confidence
of the public 1t will not lack for stu
dents in the future.
When we turn to a consideration of
teachers we are confronted with a
more serious problem. The faculty
makes or mars a college beyond the
power of students or friends to destroy
or to restore. And every college exec
utive knows that good teachers in
every department seem to be getting
more and more rare. The increasing
need OF experts in all lines OF business
is great drain on the kind of mate
rial that makes good college professors,
for it is useless to deny that many
phases OF business life offer not only
more satisfactory emoluments but
equal intellectual incentives Never
theless the academic life still has
charms. There will always be men
interested in the pursuit and in the
PRONUNCIATION of truth.
And there will always be men who
enjoy the freedom that life offers TO
college professor. The college will
of course have to pay larger salaries,
! not simply to prevent discomfort and
restlessness, which are not in them
selves bad concomitants of the aca-
demic life. but to insure that young
men of parts enter the profession of
teaching. Some colleges hold that
their teachers should be paid as much
as the professors in the large uni
versities receive; but IL we take into
consideration the country as an edu-
| cational unit it would perhaps be as
| well If the professorships in the great
| universities were still the chief prizes
in the academic world. Professors on
the faculty of a small college ought
to have time and opportunity for re-
arch. Il would be an admirable
thing If In all OF our colleges the sab
batical year were supplemented by a
fund where income should be given
each year to pay one professor Sc
that he might devote all his time to
study and research-preferably on his
own campus. 1t would also be well
| If the sabbatical absence were made
compulsory for each professor in his
town to take. For in the small col
lege the professor misses the incen-
| tive to work and research which the
university department and the tech
nical school both furnish. On the
other hand, there are many compen-
| sations. Chief among them I should
place the responsibility that each
member of the faculty has in deter
mining the educational policy of his
! institution. Unquestionably in the
future We are going to have more and
more faculty control. We should re-
gard the members of a college faculty
not only as teachers but as educa-
tional experts, and in their hands
should be placed the management OF
the educational policy of the college
Such management must be granted as
automatic If the teaching Is to be
really liberal There will be little
chance of fantastic vagaries among
teachers who are assured of freedom
and sobered by responsibility. Many
of the unhappy instances which have
Of late years arisen concerning AGA
demic freedom have occurred where
teachers have had no fair share, no
responsibility in managing the college
OF university to which they were at