Pueblo chieftain., 1921-01-08
(by Frederic ]. Haskin)

Washington, d. c., Jan. college
students don't learn as much now as
they used to.
This in substance is the modest ad
mission of the chancellor of middle
western university.
selves thus boldly hint that college is
not all it should be, the time may be at
hand when the general public Will also
begin to suspect as much. 1t may be
that even the students Will come to re-
aliZe that the dear old alma mater is
not giving them the best kind of up
bringing. Those Bachelors of Art and
Science, whom we turn out by the
thousand every year with the speed
and uniformity of cakes of soap from
"a factory, may be visited by the dis
turbing notion that they are bachelors
indeed in the sense that they are, not
welded to any art or science whatever
that. in fact, they have never more
than flirted with those two dangerous
damsels and know no more about them
than the true bachelor does about men
This does not apply. of course, to the
men who go to universities to learn
specific things, such as agriculture. en-
cheering, chemistry, physics. law or
medicine. These men find at the uni
versities the books and laboratories
they need. and men to guide. them In
the use of these facilities. That is
enough for any man who really wants
to learn something.
II is the so-calIed education which
we refer to, and which the Chancellor
OF Washington University refers to. II
is further referred to very opportunely
in long report which has Just been
published by the Bureau of Education.
tracing tho history OF the degree OF
Bachelor OF Arts in this country from
1912. and showing just what 1t consists
OF in some hundred differen; universi-
tics.
Table d'Hote Education
This report is respectful. not to say
laudatory in tone: but the facts OF 1t
reveal with painful clarity just what
liberal education in the United States
has come to be. 1t has come to be
much like n 10 cent table d'hotc dinner
"a little of this and little of that.
There may be n choice between prunes
and bread pudding for dessert, but aside
from that you can't have anything dil-
ferent from the other fellow. and you
can't have any more.
These table d'hote dinners are found
cd on the notion that all human ami
mails are about alike in their gastron-
omic needs and tastes. The assump-
ton works fairly well in most cases.
individuality in eating not being of any
special value. And the Bachelor OF
Arts degree is founded on the notion
that all boys of 20 are almost exactly
alike in their mental needs and tastes.
That assumption is fundamentally
wrong. because they differ, and the
first purpose of education should be to
keep them different. 10 develop their
differences. >If man does anything
of unusual value, 1t is because he Is n
different sort of man. The average man
does the average thing. An army OF
mediocritics is what the colleges pro-
,l.. -. II l...
machines which sift out the fellows
with special aptitudes and develop
those aptitudes.
Dabs OF knowledge
A lAtle Latin, n little mathematics.
a little French or German. little ply
sizes, a little chemistry, n little English
literature. n little economics-that is
what the typical candidate for Bach
lor's Degree gets. Now remember that
no man is going to learn about any
thing unless he is interested. How
many men are you going to find who
are Interested in all OF these things.
He cannot afford to be much Interested
in any one of them. If he We're. he
would not learn enough about IL to do
him any good. He must he just n little
interested in each of them. But in the
nature of the case only about ono man
in hundred feels any interest in
must study, and most of them feel no
interest in any of them. They are
there to get degrees. They get them.
Anyone not n moron can get "A degree
in an American university. a class in
economies takes nine months to daw-
die thru books that man really in
terested in the subject would read in
his leisure in ono week. The duilcst
student can hardly fail to absorb IL
share of their contents in that time,
while the bright boy postponcs his ac-
quaintancc with them until the night
before examination thon makes
hasty digest in about three hours and
passes with ease.
Making Mcdiorritics
This leaves him free for the real
business OF college life, which consists
of athletics, a system of school poll
lies as elaborate as those of n Chicago
ward, a fraternity, dances and social
life generally. This is the live part of
college life. 1t is colorful, spontan-
oous. exciting. barbarous 1t gives a
man n good training for social life. for
politics on its prcttier side for the life
of human herd and group generally.