The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-05-24
Editorial
of the Day
Is 1T WORTH WHILE
(State Press in Dallas News

State Press is in receipt of letter
from a Dallas young man who wants
to know whether a university edu
cation really helps man in bust
ness life. Can not an uneducated
man go Just as high in some phase
of business, if he knows everything
about this certain business, as a
man that has been educated?' he
asks. The answer is yes. 1t is GER
tainly true that some "uneducated'
men do rise as high in business life,
and do make as much money and
achieve as great success as do lots
of college men. But, of course, it
must be remembered that man is
not necessarily uneducated simply be-
cause he has not been to school,
some of our greatest thinkers have
been their own professors. After all,
it all depends upon the man. Some
men can absorb all the education
in the world, and be as hopelessly
no|account, when the job is finished
as when it was begun. Others can
start out in life with no opportuni-
ties at all, and by sheer force of
determination and character carve out
a notch for themselves that no one
need be ashamed Of. But this vari-
ance in the individuality Of men
does not obscure the fact that, other
things being equal, the man with
a college education has an immeas-
urable advantage over the one who
hasn't such training. A little gov
h,~ Ilr- A
Caswell Ellis Of the University Of
Texas gives statistics in this con-
nection which show that the child
with no education has only one
chance in 100000 Of becoming dis
tinguished. With elementary school.
ing. this child has four times the
chance; with a high school educa-
ticn, he has eighty-seven times the
chance. and with a college education
he has 500 times the chance. In
other words. out of 33,OO0,OO0 men
with elementary education, sos achiev'
ed distinction, whereas of only l,OOO,-
900 with a college education Lao
achieved distinction. The comparison
is significant. Less than one per
cent of American men, according to
this little booklet. are college gradu-
ates. Yet this one per cent OF col
lege graduates has furnished SO per
cent of our presidents, 36 per cent
of the members Of congress, AZ per
cent of the speakers of the house.
62 per cent of the secretaries OF state.
so per cent of the secretaries Of the
treasury, g. per cent Of the attorneys
general, and 50 per cent of the JUS
tices of the supreme court. OF course.
there are exceptions to all rules; and
if this Dallas young man has the
stuff IN him to make a success, he
will do it in spite Of any obstacles
that might be thrown in his path.
But the truth remains unchanged,
however, that a college educatlon
gives a man mighty big head-start
in the race. and usually brings him
in to the wire far ahead Of those
with lesser training. This Is the
utilitarian appraisal OF a university
education. There is another side TO
ii, of course, that can not be meas
ured in terms of dollars and cents.
BY the study Of the sciences, OF his
tory and of literature, man may
conceivably fail TO make a material
success in life, but he can not fail
to win another kind of success-the
success of living a full life. of being
spectator of the world, of being
endowed with the heritage of the
generations The college man may
forget all he has learned in the. way
of mere facts, but what he can never
lose in the perspective he has gained.
Higher education is a broadening
and liberalizing process that brings
returns to the soul rather than to
the body, and the difference between
the educated man and the uneducat-
ed one is simply a difference Of out
look. The uneducated man exists;
the educated man lives.