The Washington herald., 1920-02-20
ENERGY
In NSCHOOLPLAN
New England Is Mecca
of Private Institutions
For Boys and CifIs.
YALE IS PROGRESSIVE
College Must Awake to
Need Of Education for all
To Fulfill Mission.
(By 3 stag Cerrespendent)

Boston. Mass, Feb. 19.-When a
|traveior crosses from New York in
to New England he enters into the
section Of the country with the old
est and finest traditions Of popular
ly : supported education, and also
the region where the endowed or
privately maintained private school
fiourishes as nowhere else In the
country. unless 1t be New York
City. In many Of the towns the old
academy has given way to the tax
supported high school: in others 1t
has taken on new lease Of life.
thanks to the gifts of local donors
or of sons of the town who have
pioneered abroad and made fortunes.
The sort of private schools that
characterize the region are either
Of the type of Phillips Andover and
Phillips Exeter; or the institutions
at Groton, Mass. and Concord, New
Hampshire, where applicants for ad-
mission must be listed when they
are babes: or the innumersbie ''fit-
ting schools" to which girls from
the South or West are sent to get
an Eastern finish" and to which
geneous urban communities of New
York and the New England States
are sent TO save them from con-
facts with the socially unim-
portant youths" that they would
meet in the public schools. In this
fact the social psychologist of the
region has food for thought as he
faces the future of the regions
democratic development At a time
when in Old England the democratic
ideal Is attacking the historic sys-
tenn Of a dual system OF education for
the privileged and the unpriyileged,
New England swings the other way.
Rising to the grade OF the college
and the university, IL is also evil
dent that the same issue Is being
Joined in another form. because of
the mounting land. as the educa-
tional authorities would say. en-
forced) demands for tuition whether
for lads or girls. The only way that
many families OF culture are now
managing to meet the problem of
giving their children a college edu-
cation is by taking from their capi-
tai funds. State and federal taxa
tion and the high cost of living
have made this action imperative.
II the colleges and universities, pari
passu with the rise in tuition fees.
had increased the buying capacity
of such scholarships as they now
award and had created many new
ones. the situation might have been
relieved. But few of them have
done this. Yale's authorities clearly
see the need of it: and not only
are raising professors salaries but
are going to take a large block
from the Sperry s1s.00o.000 fund
and with 1t make it possible for
students still to enter who cannot
pay their tuition fees. Until the
other New England institutions fol-
low suit the supply of men of prom
ise, who also are somewhat i'm
pecunious. will be cut OF in part.
Education For The Fit Few.
Unfortunately this is not the only
trend in the New England college
and university world that bids fair
to shut the door against men and
women who aspire to get an edu-
cation. The colleges more and more
are deliberately limiting the number
of students they welcome. The
theory that quality" is of more i'm
portance than quantity is openly ad-
vocated. The results of the psychi-
cal and physical tests used on COL
lege men during the war have had
a psychological reaction on college
and university administrators. Some
of them are deliberately giving up
preparation of men for SPECIFIC
careers. and are saying. as at
Amherst College, that all that they
will attempt to do is to lay a cul-
tural foundation for the worthy few
who may be admitted. Indeed
President Meikletohn of this institu-
tion. who in some respects is the
most interesting figure in the New
England college world today. openly
urges a return to the ascetic, mon
astic, non-utilitarian ideal of the
ancient university, to which 'the
choice spirits" may go as for a re-
treat; and Williams and Bowdoin
colleges have policies akin but not
quite so extreme.
To the credit of the women's
colleges must 1t be said that they
have not yet become infected with
this germ; but they are becoming
so populous because so popular. that
for economic reasons and also be-
cause of the disparity between their
plants and their teaching forces
on the one hand and the quantity
of student material offering on the
other hand, they too may come to
the pick and choose" ideal. just as
Vassar has.
State Universities Coming.
Now, while all this is going on,
at the same time, through the rise
in the earning and spending power
OF the workers, new strata of youth
are Forthcoming, all eager for az full
education and on something like the
pecuniary terms available for mid
die class" youth of past generations.
What are these youths going to do?
Leave New England for regions
where the State carries education
right up to and through the uni
versity grade, and on easy terms ?
They and their fathers and mothers
are voters or soon will be. Inevita-
bly, they will demand State univer-
stiles. Petty and futile schemes for
extension work" by the existing
institutions will not suit them. That
has been tried by the colleges and
universities around Boston for the
past decade, and 1t is a joke.
Two States will have little to do
to meet this demand. They are
Vermont and Maine. They have
State universities. Their job will
be to expand. But a fight to get a
State university in Connecticut or
Massachusetts will be battle royal.
Harvard. earlier in her career.
fought the creation of her collegiate
rivals in Massachusetts,. She will
mass her social and political forces