The New York herald., 1922-06-19
BROWNS HEAD FOR
SELECTIVE PROCESS
Says Many Students Should
Not HaUe Been Admitted.

Special Dispatch to TIE NEE FORK HERALD.
PROVIDENCE, June 1s.-"Probably rs
per cent. OF the students now in Ameri-
can colleges would achieve greater sue
cess in living IL they had never entered
college" declared President Faunce of
Brown University in his baccalaureato
sermon today to the graduating class
The colleges would be far happier an
more effective IL that 25 per cent could
be replaced by an equal number of stu
dents intellectually eager and morally
desirable, who now stand outside the
gates, deharred by circumstances from
their hearts desire" In his discussion
of the problem DIR. Faunce said in part
THE flood of students now rising to
the doors of our colleges compels our
most ancient institutions Of learning to
adopt a selective process. When build
ings are overcrowded and teachers over
loaded and funds exhausted, simple JUS
tice to those already in college demands
that some shall stay out When how
ever, We talk of a selective process. 4
cry is at once raised that we are un-
| dempcratic and that the true American
doctrine Is that every student who car
pass certain entrance examinations shall
have chance TO enter. But that is not
an American doctrine and never was.
Always our historic colleges have In
sisted that character as we'll as scholai-
ship is necessary for entrance. The
whole certificate method of admission Is
based on the idea that examinations are
not enough. and that the teachers estI-
mate of the entire school record is a
safer basis of judgment. Cecil Rhodes
in founding his oxford scholarships
placed at the forefront of requisites such
moral qualities as unselfishness, interest
in ones fellows, fondness for sports and
capacity for leadership. The idea that
any shrewd boy that can by cramming
get by on written examinations must
thereby be automatically admitted to
college is anti-American.
The college may and should demand
physical cleanliness and freedom from,
disease. 1t may and should demand ele-
nertary truthfulness and honor and 10y
atty to the society of scholars that con-
stitutes the college. To introduce any
discrimination on grounds of politics or
religion or race would be abhorrent to
any truly American college But IL a.
our table there are not plates enough
for all. let us exclude the greedy and
overbearing and inconsiderate and dis
loyal. whatever their antecedents may
be- and let us welcome those who are
| personally clean, morally promising, So
| cially unselfish. and desirous to give a
we'll as to take. The enforcement OF
such standards can harm no race. no
party no neighborhood. but can bring
only a higher level of citizenship in
every community where college gradu-
ates live.
"The many inventions which have
been crowded into the last hundred
years have chiefly aimed at promoting
our physical convenience or comfort.
Seldom do We stop TO ask whether it is
fort and make less effort. The bench
on which your grandfather sat at school
gave place TO the chair with a support
! ing back. That was followed by the arm
chair and the lounge and the sofa pill
lows. padding the man against every
| shock
But IL the man who lolls amid the
Eofa pillows always an advance on the
man who sat on the wooden bench? Is
| the uniformed chauffeur at the steering
wheel of the Limousine an advance or
the old stage driver grasping the four
horse reins in crooked fingers? Does
the electric light enable us to see lIf,
more clearly. and to solve its pi oblems
more surely. than did our fathers BY
| their candle light? Or are we. like
| Frankenstein. constructing a mechan-
/ ism so powerful that we may become
| the slaves OF our own creation?
There is a Chinese proverb which
says. There Is no use OF n thousand mile
/ horse unless you have thousand mile
/ man to ride him. To-day our railroads
/ have outgrown their presidents. our Gov
/ ernments have outgrown our Kings and
/ Premiers. our banks have outgrown our
bankers. and the one cry of the worl
/ is not for bread, but for leadership. We
| need not only men 10 match our noun
tans.' but we need everywhere person
I ality TO dominate machinery and souls
/ great enough 10 overtop materials and
construct our vast cr,'de resources into
q shining city Of Cod