The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-06-30

New York City. June 29.-How to
become we'll educated though poor
is a problem that has long puzzled
many hard-working Americans,
Now, at last, a satisfactory solu-
ton SENS to have been found in the
workers universities that are be-
ing established in so many indus
trial cities throughout the coun-
try.
Already more than fifty of these
universities are in operation. "a
well as innumerable study classes,
where working men and women
may go in their spare hours ard
receive an excellent education.
/ They are financed by the workers
themselves Some of them, such
as the Amherst Glasses for Work
ers and the Trade Union College
of Boston. have a close utilization
with our big universities. Harvard
Boston Tech, Wellesley and Tufts
| for example, have all been interest
i ed and generous in their support
of the Boston Workers college
while the Amherst classes were
originated and are taught by in
structors from the Amherst college
! faculty. All are under the general
supervision of the Workers Educa-
! tional Bureau of America, whose
headquarters is here in New York
Although the Amherst expert
ment in workers education is not
/ typical of most of the ventures, the
reason for its inception is.
! 1T seems to u.s." says the Sec
rotary of the undertaking. that the
relations between American COL
leges and the communities sur
rounding them varied from armed
neutrality to actual hostility, and
that this was unfortunate for both
community and college; that Amer
lean colleges tnominally open to
anyone) were available to very few
whose family incomes were not
above the average, and this was
true largely because our education
al system is founded upon scheme
of prerequisites making the gradu-
alton from grammar and high
school almost essential if one is
to enter college. So that, once hav-
ing dropped out, it is almost i'm
possible to go on again, even
though one is so exceptionally for
tunate as to have the funds and
the leisure necessary.
1T seems to US unfair that the
great mass of workers should auto
matically be disqualified because
the mechanical arrangements CT
our educational system happened
to be such that it was impossible
for them to fulfill its requirements,
and hence that workers should
practically be debarred from col
leges and universities supported by
community funds or endowed for
the purpose Of giving education to
ALL"
Few College Graduates.
Only 2 per cent of all the mil
lions of adults in this country are
college graduates. The vast ma
jority not only cannot afford the
money and time required to go to
college; they cannot even afford 10
attend high school. The average
citizen and voter goes promptly to
work as soon as he has completed
grammar school, if not before, hav-
ing required only the barest smat-
tering of an education and, until
recently, little chance of acquiring
any more.
The new workers colleges are
specially designed to meet the
needs of the average citizen and
worker. The classes are usually
held on two evenings a week and
on Saturdays and Sundays in the
most convenient place which hap
mems to be available. Some are
housed in high school buildings,
some in public halls and others in
local trade union headquarters. The
workman pledges himself to attend
the classes SO weeks years during
a period of three years.
Special textbooks have been
written for his benefit by experts.
They present lucidly and elemell-
tary the background of each sub