The New York herald., 1922-01-16
Sees Danger in Bureaucracy
Supplanting Natural Sys-
TENS of Teaching.
HIS SCHOOL UNsHACKLED
System Of Selective Studies
Assailed-Progress Of Uni
versity Noted.

are now so generally discussed may
be traced to the destruction. through
unsound educational methods, of that
common body OF knowledge and IN
fellectual and moral experience which
held men together through COM
munity Of understanding and Of ap-
probation. A steady growing unity
has been displaced for chaotic multi
piicity''
That is one Of the passages from the
annual report of DR.. Nicholas Murray
Butler. president Of Columbia UNI
versity. The report, made public yes
terday. Is a combination Of history,
survey OF existing conditions in edu-
cation and DR.. Buffers own view of
the future.
Dr. Butler condemns the growth Of
bureaucracy and the trend from the
free and natural systems OF education.
ing of well intentioned but misguided
direction Of university affairs that made
learning and discipline secondary to
those circumstances that fixed the col
lege in the minds Of social climbers "as
"a most inviting and satisfactory form
&c country club with incidental facilities
FOR reading and study"
Frowns ON Educated Automatons.
DR.. Butler deplores the tendency to
eyerorganize education and turn out Of
our colleges and universities automatons
overfowing with canned information that
may or may not be of use to the pos
SCISSOR. His report contains numerous
paragraphs that indicate his prefer
ence for individualism In education and
he frowns on efforts to have education
in American schools responsible to a
bloc or bureau that might be created in
Washington as definite unity In gov
ernmental affairs.
II Is fortunate, he says. that Columbia
University Is free to carry on It's work
beyond the deadening hand Of Govern
r1ent. In part. the report reads:
Prom It's first establishment until
about forty years ago the American
college was universally looked upon as
an institution for the discipline and In
struction of young men who had sue
cessfully completed the work Of the
lower schools and were able to meet
che tests set for college admission. Fol-
lowing the Civil War and growing out
Of the rapidly increasing wealth Of the
country and the development of a more
or less leisure class, the notion began to
gain ground that the college was an
agreeable place In which to finish the
formalities Of a systematic education
without troubling much about intellect
ual discipline or scholarship, to partici-
pate In manly exercise and outdoor
spirits, and to make useful circle Of
friends who might be helpful In social
or in business ways in after years
This curious notion rapidly gained
ground, particularly among those who
sought for their sons social advantages
and associations which they themselves
had not always possessed. Little by
little the serious business of the college
was pushed into the background by such
rs entertained this notion, and the col
lege came to stand In their eyes as a
most inviting and satisfactory form Of
country club. with incidental facilities
for reading and study.
Elective system Aids Evil.
"The rapid spread Of the elective sys-
tenn OF college studies which took place
a generation ago. aided the growth OF
this notion. Young men were no longer
thought to he Ignorant IL they left
college without any serious and sus-
tained discipline. or without any genu-
Inc grasp upon the underlying facts and
the controlling history OF civilization.
provided they had put their names down
for sufficient number of so called
courses OF study, however unrelated.
however superficial, and however In
significant
The result has been that side by side
with an earnest, devoted and high
minded body OF young college graduates.
there has gone out into American life
a very substantial group OF those who
have gained college degrees. but who
are, to all intends and purposes, as un-
disciplined and uneducated both In mind
and in morals as IL they had enjoyed no
advantages whatsoever.
"Shiftless and ambitions parents arc
really responsible for the rise of this
country club notion and for its continu-
ance among us. II cannot be too speed
iiy displaced, wherever It exists, by the
moro worthy and more honorable con-
ception OF q college.
During the year." the report goes
on, "the evidences OF widespread dis
satisfaction with education as now or
ganized and conducted have multiplied
with some rapidity."
backed by European Reports.
DIR. Butler thereupon calls attention
90 reports made after surveys In France
and England and. by way OF backing up
these reports. testimony of Leon Berard
Minister of Public Instruction In France
and of representatives Of the Labor
Party In England. The sum total Of
the spirit OF these reports. surveys ana
opinions has II hat unhappy results
have come of the programs that made It
incumbent upon the immature mind to
select. at the outset. studies that have
solely to do with the future the youth
selects for himself.
The report refers to the criticism OF
the Chamber of Commerce of Lyons of
the abandonment of Latin and Greek
and "the doing away with those sub
stantial courses Of instruction which
at one time did so much to develop
character and personality. And then
DR.. Butler says:
Similar and very striking testimony
was given by the accredited representa-
tives OF the Labor Party before the
English committee to inquire into the
position OF classics in the educational
system of the United Kingdom. These
witnesses told the committee that the
Labor Party was seriously concerned
with the fact that in Industrial districts
. education is too much limited to utiiitar-