Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-28
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

A $4-a-week messenger boy was
elected last Tuesday to the presidency
of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
at a salary of 100000 year-that Is,
he was a $4-a-week boy when he was
a boy, fresh from the grade schools OF
Brooklyn seeking job. But that boy
grew, after he had left the grade school;
he worked during the days and went to
night school. He never graduated from
q high school or college; he missed cui-
tural education and 1.-The team" but ne
studied and became the surest authority
on New York real estate values and lie
insurance problems. No one questions
his qualifications to earn the great sal
airy.
Not very long ago there was menu
Der of a presidential cabinet who hao
never gone to any kind Of educa-
tional Institution except for two years
to a one-room country school; but ne
grew after he had gotten through those
two years of education" so that he be-
came famous and an honor to America,
esteemed among all civilized nations.
One of the most successful diplomats
of the United StateS-one who waited
on table to work his way through COL
lege-was such a clown when ne got
his diploma and received appointment
as professor Of literature In a Far West
college that his students laughed him
out of his Job. Later, without solicita-
ton or backing, President Cleveland
made him Minister Plenipotentiary to
an Oriental country and later he re-
ceived 81 900 q month and expenses as
war correspondent, and after successful
service as Minister to South American
nations he declined the choice of am
bassadorship to either Russia or Italy
because he had a bigger opportunity
elsewhere. There have been many
Presidents, like Garfield and Lincoln,
with little regular schooling.
How much college did Gen. Goethals
ever have-he who made the dirt fly
and built the Panama Canal?
~ X u
On the same day that Frederick H.
Ecker, the 81 messenger boy. was given
the 5000, 000-a-year job In practical
business DR.. James N. Herman was in
stalled the third president Of Hunter
College, New York City. In his in
augural address he discussed the ideals
of education as he conceived them and
said:
Our present civilization Is disposed
to overemphasize the material aspects
of progress. In fact, 1t goes further.
1t assumes that material expansion is
progress. Misled by popular opinion,
education may easily subscribe to this
error. The college should be, above all,
the bulwark against the tide Of these
false ideals. Exceptional are its OPP
portunities to give to a large group OF
our citizens an intellectual grasp OF
the realities of life Neglect on its
part Is not merely a defeat-it Is a
serious social fault
Another speaker on the same pro-
gram, President Mckee of the board
of aldermen, took issue with DR.. Har-
old F. Clarke, professor of education
in the Teachers College of Columbia
University, who had recently declared
that college education was detriment
to ones earning capacity. and that 1t
robs men and women Of the daring
essential to business success. Mr.. Nc
Kee offered no logic to back his oppo-
sition to Clarkes criticism. but de-
nounced 1t, and compared Clarkes idea
to "the establishment OF educational
measures that were the shame Of dark
est Russia"
However, a speech from the retiring
president, DR.. Davis, appealed for
greater freedom and independence on
the part of the students, that their
education might become less formal,
less q matter of tradition and more
presently human"-which does not ap-
pear exactly to coincide with the idea
of his successor, DR.. Herman. that
education is in danger of becoming too
practical and material"
X y
The colleges of the United States
than thou ara
today, if they may be judged by what
misleading material aspects Of prog
ress." Since the World War they have
been overcrowded with students. But
so have all other kinds OF schools,
whether legitimate or fake. Much
learning has made us mad"
It has become the craze OF young
Americans to go to college, as II that set
them on the high road to wisdom and
success in life, or at least gave them a
chance to make the team and enjoy
life. College men-and women-cer-
tainly have great advantages If they ap-
ply themselves to what is offered. But
modern developments raise the ques-
ton whether 1t Is the college or the in
dividual student responsible for the re-
suits. In other words, the test is not
whether the student sits in a seat lis
tening to lectures or, without the per-
sonal presence of the lecturer. he reads.
or listens-in at the radio. with determi-
nation to get that knowledge-that Is
an unessential incident. The one and
all-important essential Is student appli-
cation and determination.
Perhaps Dr. Clarke had in mind the
emasculating effect of the ease and dis
sipation of personal initiative Of the
college remittance man, in contrast with
the disciplining of the young chap who
hires out at 81 a week and goes to
night school.
X X \
Historical illustrations might be mul.
tiplied of men who rose to great sue.
cess without college diploma-presi-