Evening star., 1923-10-04
MANY us. WORKERS
IN GNU. CLASSES
Oxford Debaters to Learn of
Conditions Unique in
World Record.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM wIAE.


! BY FREDERIC WILLIAM wIAE.
| When oxford University's debating
team visit George Washington Uni
! versity at the National Capitol this
week the British visitors will become
acquainted with a condition believed
to be unique in the world--a univer-
sity whose student body is largely
made up of wage-earners. The uni
versity year just opened will probably
establish record number of them.
The overwhelming majority consists
of men and women employed in gov
ernment departments. They put in
a seven-hour day there. then go to
classes at George Washington in the
afternoon or evening.
Proportion the Past Year.
During the past year, of the LAG
ST udents in the law school 145 were
in the morning classes and 1.061 in
the late afternoon classes. In the
department OF arts and sciences
hich. in its various branches, offers
graduate and undergraduate fnstruc-
tion in liberal arts. engineering, edu
cation and architecture, out of 1895
students, j ,300 We're in the day sec
section
Many students who could devote the
day to attending classes find distinct
advantages in the late afternoon
classes - law students who can do
practical work in the Offices Of local
attorneys or can devote the day to
study and attendance upon the ses-
sions of the highest courts of the
land; nt-lawyers-to-be who can
spend the day as members of the eX
Hsrafr nc he -,,tk
patent office, embryo engineers, who
can do practical work on the many
projects now going forward in Wash
ington.
The relatively short hours in gov
ernment departments work in favor
Of the system. The figures of day
and afternoon students do not tell thr
whole story. In a single class in an
cient history. melting at 9:15 am.
thef e were three young men, mem
worked on evening and night shifts
in order to be able to attend morn
ing classes at George Washington
University. Other students employed
in the city post office, the Library of
Congress- and the folding rooms of
the houses OF Congress were in the
same category
survey of the occupations given
on the registration papers of 100
students indicates the distribution
aiioHS lne various classes or en-
ployment as follows: Government
clerks. Is; students. 81: architec-
tural draughtsmen, 3: teachers 13;
stenographers. 3: private secretaries
3; laboratory assistants, 2: chemists.
2; scientific aide. L; bookkeeper, /:
to congressman. 1; electrical en-
gineer. i; stock clerk, /: house
wives, 4; assistant to executive. /.
mechanlcal draughtsmen. 8: statisti-
cal clerk, /; income tax auditor, ]:
ethnologist, j; production manager.
Work Of High Grade.
Many of these employed students.
while going to college. are doins
work OF high grade. The following
list, showing the occupations of all
fraternity chapter. will demonstrate
the range, OF occupations: Secretary
to United States senator, secretary
to federal trade commissioner, at
torney IN claims section of general
accounting office, attorney in prohibi-
ton unit, two auditors in income tax
unit. clerk in Office of Secretary of
the Interior. customs broker. clerical
auditor, bureau of internal revenue:
attorney in claims section of the alien
property custodian, clerk in Civil
Service Commission. boot and shoe
clerk. chief radio operator in an ex-
ecutiNe department. observer at the
weather bureau. clerk at the Library
of Congress. secretary to a vice pres
ident of the Southern railway. bond
salesman and clerk in the Navy De-
partment
Hundreds of people each year
come to Washington to gain an eSlu-
cation and finance themselves by Sc
curing government positions" said
DR.. William Mather Lewis, the new
president of George WASHINGTON To
this writer. Thus the government
gets higher-grade and more ambi-
tous employees than it otherwise
could expect. The very large number
of employed people in our student
body. many of them mature men and
women, suggests that George Wash
ington' is serving this federal com
munlty; that it is bringing the uni
versity to the people. The type of
university which does this-in which
attendance is not restricted to one
class, but which puts it's impress on
every element in the life of the Can
ital or of the state--is in my juds-
ment the institution of the future.
George Washington forty years ago.
under the inspiration of DR.. James c.
yelling. then president, and w. W.
Corcoran, the famous philanthropfst
then chairman of trustees. began TO
provide college courses after work
ing hours for people in employment"
Copyright. 1929,