The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-01-14
Is Higher Education Worth While:
(scuth Carolina Educator J

(S"uth Carolina EducatOr.)
W,he4l 1 was boy back in the SOS
it was very coNmon to hear that Ger
tain man was too highly educated to
make living However, it was sup,
posed that he had such intellectual en-
iioyments that his physical discomforts
were largely offset. and the individual
generally was respected, and con-
tumely was heaped upon an ignorant
and mercer airy world which did not
provide such folk with all the COM
| forts and pleasures Of life.
In these latter days l have heard
! the expression less frequently, and
even when applied it has generally
ben followed by the explanation that
the individual was thoroughly i'm
practical" which was taken to mean
that his ability TO make a living Was
congenital. and the large education
had not affected the matter.
But as l have passed along the way
of life, the suspicion has grown with
ME that the general system of higher
education does affect the matter, and
that the productivity of the larger
number infected by it is lessened rath-
| er than increased Whether this les
sens the enjoyment of life of these
individuals is another matter. 1t is
probable that they would not have
their book learning less than it is.
| Even this is beside the mark.
The riddle which l am trying to
solve is the relative value of higher
education. and this communication is
written in the hope that some one
viii help to lead me out Of the yale
of uncertainty.
have pretty we'll come to the con
clusion that the world and the lndl-
viduals themselves would be better Oft
if: tfree-fourths of the college gradu>
ates We're put to work after their sec
ond year in college. The principal
reasons for this is that. in my opin-
ion, at least three-fourths OF college
graduates, in the last two or three
| years in college, form habits of in
lolence which are difficult to break,
and these. together With an imagined
superiority Of equipment over the man
who has not had the advantages (D
Of a college education, greatly de-
creases the value of the large ma
.iority OF college graduates to the
world.
The reason why I say "put to work
after the second year in college,, is
! that I would give every man an op-
portunity TO catch vision Of the
accumulated wisdom of the ages, and
of the unsolved problems of existence,
but would make him a worker, a
worker after knowledge or worker
after gear. 1t is work that makes
the world better-mental work and
physical work And tllree-fourths Of
tho men who come out of college cease
TO do real. intellectual work. and
their imagined superiority makes it
difficult for them TO learn in the school
of experience what the boys who have
been at work in the world have al
ready. acquired
This. would be sad world without
preachers and college professors and
other teachers to whom the world
grudsingly doles meagre salaries.
What l cannot satisfactorily deter
mine is that. if mind is master over
matter why is it that these most high
~ educated minds canot SO impress
their importance that they can die
tate their recompenSe? Go into any
business concern and it will be found
that those in the more responsible po-
SitionS do this.
When | look about me and sec
such a large proportion of the men
who make the world so round to
have been graduates from the school
OF hard knocks only. while SO many
college graduates are playing on the
side lines. l feel Very much inclined
to conclude that there is something
radically wrong with the present and
past systems of education.
FitZ Hugh McMaster.
Dec ,. 1919.