The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-10-15
SOME SHOULD GO TO COLLEGE
WHO NOW ARE KEPT AT HOME

dent OF the universities thus over
whelmed with numbers. But other
universities ana colleges there are not
suffering such catastrophes. Most COL
leges of 500 men, and many do not
exceed this number. are able still to
give an education to all students. OF
course certain colleges. overcrowded or
in danger of overcrowding, defend
themselves by limiting numbers. The
right or. the duty of such limitations
is a question demanding discriminate
ing discussion. But the present article
does not permit such discussion.
In passing it may be said that the
community should vastly increase and
reinforce the present facilities of its
institutions OF the higher education
The facilities are not adequate to the
education demanded by our democ-
racy. Either the numbers desiring
education should be curtailed or the
facilities OF the education enlarged.
What answer the American people will
ultimately give is clear. Only one
answer is ultimately wise or possible
advance, improve, enlarge.
90 Is the number Of students too
great for the abilities of the men who
take advantage of the opportunities
Crowded by. the college? Are the stu
dents intellectually equal to the college
as an intellectual force? At this point,
too, is need of discrimination. Some
men are not equal to, OIL. able to accept
and to use these advantages, and some
men are. President Faunce of Brown
University said in his baccalaureate
address Of the last commencement that
one-quarter are not able. The proper
ton, therefore, would be that three
quarters are able to make use Of the
opportunities which the college pro-
vides.
Yet be 1t said the college is ever
seeking to keep out the men who
are not sufficiently able to profit by
it. The methods for such exclusions
are manifold. Examinations abound.
Tests Of ability. native and acquired,
are set. Records of high school and Of
the academy are weighed. The eight
weeks intervening between the open
ing of the college in September and
the Thanksgiving recess is period of
prolonged examination. The midyear
examinations at the close of the first
semester represent an eliminating
process.
Some of the Unfit
- Pass All the Tests
OF course, with all these testings
certain men do get by. or course, too.
it may Be said many Of these, testings
are easy. altogether too easy. Certain
teachers, it may be further confessed,
are lax. The lower 10 per cent. of a
college class does present a trouble
some problem. College spirit, to get
which some men come. has value. But
to get the college spirit does not Justify
a college education. College friend
ships have value. But to get college
friendships does not justify a college
education. College traditions have
value. But to inherit these traditions
does not Justify a college education.
Yet after making all these subtrac-
tons the great majority. three-fourths
of all students. have native intellectual
talent sufficient and acquired intel.
lectual appreciation ample to justify
an education. Most men are not over
educated-some are. More men by
far are undereducated. If the over
educated men become nonentities. VIC
Tins of the benumbing of the will by
the reflnements/ Of the intellect, the
undereducated men become Bolshevist
perils OF them, not of the overedu-
Gated. is the community to beware.
(4) Is the number too many for the
permanent happiness Of those who
come? For it is possible that a COL
lege man may be so educated out of
his intellectual environment and con-
dition that. unable to adjust himself
to the new environment and condi-
ton. he is unhappy. His unhappiness
results in Righteousness. Rebellous-
ness leads to anarchy. Such was the
condition among certain OF the intel
lectual classes of Germany in the
decades preceding 1914. This condi-
ton Paulsen has well interpreted in
his German Education-Past and
Present: "A certain WEAKNESS and
disappointment, which begins to make
itself felt here and there would seem
10 be the outcome OF personal expert
ences OF this kind. The student gives
himself up to science. trusting to be
guided by II to positive knowledge,
and, perhaps. even to the highest goal,
-