Milford chronicle., 1927-05-13
DR.. HULLINEN SKETCHES
MISFTTS in COLLEGE
Agree With President Faunce
That Youth .Unsuited Had Bet
ter Not Go.

WnlCn eOuCdIOIo LhiOuShOuN
country are widely concerned ano
one which is of growing importance
is borne out by an interview which
a reporter for The Sunday Star oD-
tanned on the same subject from Dr'
Walter Hullihen, president of the
University of Delaware.
Not every boy is suited to college
in the opinion of President Faunce
Fully half the boys who will be-
come freshmen this fall would be
better off," he declares, "if they did
not take this STEP" He goes into
some detail to explain his attitude
and much of this might be worth re-
printing except that DR.. Hull1hens
interview is along similar line.
I'm large measure 1 heartily agree
with President .Faunce," said DR..
Hullihen. HE has merely stated
what has been the subject of discus
sion and comment among educators
for the past ten or twelve years.
Prior to that time most colleges
and universities were trying in eV-
cry way to increase their student
bodies, but since 1914, going to col
lege has become so much the fash
ion that the problem is assuming
serious proportions.
LOafing As 1t Affects Character
President Faunce does not stress
one consideration, which, in my
mind is an extremely important one:
the effect upon character of four
years of loafing-of doing as little
work as it possible to get by This
is what almost inevitably happens
when a boy or girl comes to college
without that intellectual curiosity
which is, or should be the touch
stone for higher education.
Such a student would get far more
in the factory, ON the farm, or in the
business world, of the right sort OF
education for him than he would
gain from four years in pursuit OF
pleasure and in evasion of work for
which he has neither taste nor in
terest.
"The task of American educators
is to persuade the average American
parents that the same education
which will be of highest possible
value to the child with tastes, incli-
nations and interests that fit him for
it, is probably worse than useless to
a different type of mind"
Continuing this thought, President
Faunce, in the article appearing in
The American Magazine, says:
Wrong Kind Of Boys for College
"The trouble is not so much that
we are sending too many boys to
college, but that we are sending too
many of the wrong kind of boys. 1t is
a situation unfair to the colleges and
to the boys.
"The country is more. prosperous
than has been any people in history.
Families who never thought of it
before are sending boys to universi-
ties, and they have got the notion
that every boy who can go to college
should go, and that the only test OF
his fitness is the entrance eXamlna-
ton and the ability of his parents to
pay his way.
81 am not decrying universal edu-
cation. None of us can get too mucn
provided it is the kind OF
education best suited to us as indl-
viduals. But men are not alike,
whereas our traditional college
training courses are very much
alike. We are making the mistake OF
assuming that education can be OBJ
tanned in colleges and that college
diploma is good for everybody.
Taste for College Needed
"A man should have certain ca
Dacity and a certain taste for col
ege. By capacity l do not mean
mental brillance necessarily, out
in the world of thought as
we'll as of action.
A youth whose one desire is to get
,ut and touch elbows with the prac-
,ical isn't going to thrive on diet
,f theory. The college might awaken
)ne's desire for understanding, but
L can't furnish such desire where 1t
S lacking.
There are hundreds of just such
men in our colleges, without capac-
ty or taste or desire for what the
college has to offer. They learn, like
parrot, by note. They falter and
stumble through a blurred maze,
heir one wish to get done with col
ege and get away from it. Often
hey fail, but the lash of home disci-
,line sometimes drives them
through. To what? For one, serl-
,usly question if the value of what
he college has managed to cram in
o them is equal to the value OF
hose four or more years they have
,iven out of their lives.
FINALLY, and perhaps saddest OF
III, is the boy who comes to college
With an honest, earnest desire to
earn, only to discover, after Sc
hester or two, that the kind of lear
ling he seeks is not the kind the col
ege has to give. At least, his pres
mt interest is not in college sub
ects, or it may be in only one or
wo of dozen subjects.
by no means is it disgrace not
o be of the college type; that is, of
he type for which college is design
ID. Not every man is suited to be a
awyer, or doctor, or a minister,
IT a machinist, or a miner. Then
Why should we believe that every
10Y born under the sun, with enough
money to pay his tuition, or enough
to work for it, is suited to
'e college student?
College No Sinecure
college means a serious under
aking. To it must be given four
ears or more of the best years of
ife, years devoted to serious, diff
x,If study. Uaarc 0f Q0mnqni0uShin
With books and scholars; years of
rying to understand. The campus,
he fraternity, the athletic field, the
ance ARE but incidentals to the job.
he main task is work-work with
ooks which reveal to us the long
uman story. the successes and fail