Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-08-02
AS ONE WOMAN SEES 1T
The Case Of Antioch, Where Students
Work Their Way, Is Occasion
for Earnest Debate
BY SARAH ID. LOWRIE

|
on notcpaper, which informed me that br
was the assistant president of Antioch
College. Yellow Springs, o.
was held by the name Of the college and
of the town and of the State; that is, by
the combination. And I said to myself
Could anything be more typical o'
| Amcrica!'
Being perfectly humdrum, running ina
| circuIar-rut person. | had, Of course. never
| heard of Antioch College, although to Judge
| by the Wcll-fOundcd enthusiasm Of its as
| SiStant president IL seems likely to prove
| very large stone dropped into no mean sized
a puddle. 1t is the first germ on exhibition
| OF what purpOrtS to be n new idea of col
| lege education.
read it. and all that Washburn and Ida
| Tarbcli and its president. Arthur +. Nor
gan. had TO say about it in printed form.
and then read it aloud--part OF the idea,
| that is, to Il gIUup Of women who were
lunching with IN" and who were bcsuied ny
| the idea into being serious and even nd
miring for moment: and lastly, handed
all the data over to II college boy and girl
to see how they felt about it.
| I THEN gave myself a complete holiday
from the Antioch idea, or thought that
| ] had. But to my diSmay the 'young pr
| sons avalanChcd down upon me in two
| hours with their verdict on the Antioch idea
| would have none Of it, Indeed they were
vitup"raiv"ly srathing concerning its aims
! and purposes.
[ thought that they were critcizing II
| from mistaken point Of view Of the world
rs it is. and Of education as it could be-.
! and of life as il turns out TO be- But they
| thought | was mistaken about the world ns
| IT ought to be, and about education az il
| should be. and about life as they mean il
| TO turn out.
| find that difference generally nowadays
| in my converse with the young OF years.
They are very ,nsistcnt upon what ought to
h' and very Scornful of what has been or
| even of what Is.
What was all wrong with the Antioch idea
! IN their scornfu belief was. first. that il
! aimed to turn ont students who were sue
! rcsSful rs to their earning and their bu>l-
ness powers. The awful question of.
What shall | be in order to earn a !iving?''
| they pointed out was not soft pedalcd int
the hazy distance Of n senior year az
| AhtIoch. but was an ever present debate in
III" mind of the Antioch College BOY or
| girl, since half OF everything one was oC-
| rupied with during the college years had 10
q" with possible business career and was
| actually marked and graded in terms cf
| dollars and cents
studies or occupations involved by the other
| half of tn" college year because they were
described in the various theses on Antiorh
| College as cultural. Their objection was
'Hul lHe quotation marks were omitted; IN
| cther words. they were outraged that any
| ON" could take "cultural oppOrtunities'
without laugh at the preposerous SNUG.
ness OF I he program.
And their final anathema was directed
toward any scheme whereby n boy or girl
at III" last breathing place in life should be
expected 10 support their bodies and pay
for the open sesame to the worlds mind by
what they earned during the college terms.
r ,l,'f,
L ment Of the Antioch idea these ex-
| tr"mcy young and not unpromising Daniels
| departed leaving me calm and unrouted. but
| thoughtful One of them was a graduate
| "i the University Of California. and Il post
| graduate, or nearly So of Columbia Tie
| girl was NasSar graduate. who had also
worked at Il Western university and is
bound for Il special course in languages at
the SOrbonne. There is nothing undemU-
cratic about either of them; both. l belIo,r,
contemplate financing themselves through
life Indeed tn" man. in order T. get 10
Europe. Is working his way across the
ocean as steward this autumn. What they
are both. from quite different sources Of in
fueHCe thoroughly imburd with is the hate
fulncNs Of what they cHll commerciallzed
"ducation.' AZ they raIpod through the
documents relating 10 Antioch College they
l"lt sure that II was Il m"rc"nary idea. with
success in letters Il mile high -commercialzed
education. The boys parting shot as they
l"i1 me was:
''rh" world owes all it ha, to the men it
las called failures! WHO wants TO be
thrown only with successful >tudcnts."
Now what IS important in all this sound
" and fury IS not whether these recent
college graduates are light In the long run,
or mistaken in their vchrmencc The thing
that is important to Antioch and TO all of
US who have still It finger IN rI. uie of the
world is that this is what they think, not
pl ,F hon III' pf lu,,, ,I, IA,
said to think. For the thoughts Of these
two as expressed over Antioch are very
much the same thoughts that | have listened
| 10 from their contemporaries concerning art,
| the drama. room decoration. religion. soc-
| olugy, politics and the tariff l. is in the
| air, An instrument in the mind Of youth
catches IT, Most middle ayers miss il Our
| Instruments click 10 another me. sage Take
this one Of Antioch College, for insancr.
TNlIERE was little college !r Ou.o one
l. Of many that were founded in tn. West
by New EngIandcrS back in the last century
| II kept It's New England tradition M TO n
year or SO ago, mildly content to be a sort Of
has been that could never be more than
| local celebrity. Then one Of It's trustees
took to renovating it from top to bottom.
lie was one Arthur Morgan. much noted
| In engineer circles as chief engineer Of the
| Miami ConscrVnncy Flood Control Project
| in Ohio For various reasons in his prrsGuaI
! history the whole matter of education and
! business and professional training on Il self
! supporting basis had a poignant and y!,al
interest for him. lie had worked out = sue.
,cssfu schcm" in his construction. ganc
towns for schools for the children Of the
| families working for his various companies
| lie had both the energy and administrative
| ability and also the impetus from his owr,
early needs to undertake the remodeliuy Of
| Antioch College into Il university where the
| boys and girls who wished TO take a college
| course, and at the SAME time felt Obliged 10
! finance themselves through college and i'm.
mrdntey launch themselves into n well.
laying occupation for which they were fitted
on leaving college. could accomplish their de.
srcs with no dangt rous physical or mental
strain and with--ycs frankly-all the cul.
tural opportunities Of the sort offered under
the old plan Of university training
Morgan seems first TO have won the Board