The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-10-15
DR.. 'Thwing Sheds
Additional Light
on the Question
of the Right of a
Boy to Higher
Education.
By CHARLES r. THWING.

BY CHARLES r. THWING.
President Emeritus Western Reserve
University
THE current question, Are there
l.. too many college students?"
needs to be defined. Too many
for what? The resulting question
takes on several forms and assumes
several directions.
O Is the number too great for the
homes whence come these students?
Certain sons do leave their homes who
should remain. Their labor is neces-
sary for the support of those homes.
An elder son. FOR instance, one of sew
eral children whose father is dead, the
property and income OF whose home
is small, should, under usual condi-
lions. remain to support his mother
and his younger brothers and sisters.
Selfishness must not be suffered. F'ilial
piety and fraternal love give answer.
Such conditions occur not infrequently,
and their value is to be fully recog-
nized.
Boys thus placed should not 10 to
college. On the other hand / know of
conditions OF quite contrary type, A
father forbids his son going to college.
He may demand the help or even the
wages Of his son in building up his
own business. IT have a right to my
sons earnings and to all his SER
vice up to the age of twenty-one!" de-
clares father. and his legal right he
enforces. or such father ! have
heard within a week.
A condition of a still different type
energies, and 1t Is not uncommon
How many instances does every high
school principal and every college
president know in which the father
labors extra hours and the mother
makes the old gown do for another
year that Henry or Henrietta may
have an education? Sometimes the sac
rifice is too great, too pitiful. The son
should not accept OF it. Sometimes, too
it is proved that the boy is not worthy
of such labor and care of father and
mother.
In general. however. the homes OF
the ordinary type can afford to give to
the son of the age of eighteen not only
aid in filling up the domestic chest,
but also can afford to give to him at
least some aid in getting a college
education.
Too Many Students in
Some Colleges, No Doubt
| (2) Is the number of students too
many for the facilities of the college
which these students enter? To this
| question the answer is inevitable, and
yet 1t is an answer demanding dis
elimination. The number is too many
| for the facilities of certain colleges.
| can name a dozen institutions which
are not giving an education to their
students. These colleges lack a proper
number Of proper instructors--a .pri-
mary lack. They lack room in their
laboratories and libraries. physical
space, want of sufficient equipment
The essence Of education is well voiced
by the phrase, He calleth his own
sheep by name and leadeth them out"
Hundreds of teachers in overcrowded
colleges are not able to call a single
one of their flock by name, and there
is no leading out at all. The college
body is mass, a mob, a mess; and
the result is an educational and in
tellectual muss.
This condition especially obtains in
the typical State university. For the
State university is usually obliged to
receive all graduates of first grade
high schools OF their respective COM
monwealths who come bearing a di-
ploma. No one recognizes more clearly
nor laments more deeply this condition
than the faculty, regents and presi-