Evening star., 1936-06-04
The College
CareerHas
Two Angles
Consider Scholastic
Ability and
Talent.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

OUGHT this child go to college?
Only if he is the sort that COL
lege can develop. The first test for
the college youth is, does he take
kindly to books? Books. bookish in
terests, are the soul of the college
course. The young person who does
not love these cannot do well in
college. and college can do nothing
for him that would be worth while.
This is not to say that the only
way to learn is by the book. Any
teacher, any practical workman, will
tell you that the best way to learn
to do any sort of work is to do it.
But it is not possible to do it always.
AS things are today, college is the
only way out for professional grad
yates. The book is the thing. Only
the student who can master his sub
tect through reading and writing and
reciting it can hope for a successful
college career.
What does that say for your child?
If he has baked at every stage of his
school career, having to be showed,
pushed and hauled through his grades,
don't try to send him to college. He
is not college material. If he has
been happy in school, received high
marks most of the time, been gradu-
ated without too much strain on him.
self and his teachers and parents, he
is likely TO do well in college.
What is to be done with those who
are not bookiSh? Those who are
interested in other forms Of activity?
Study their behavior for the years
they have been in school and try to
find where their strongest interests
lie.
When you ask one of these chill
dren what he would like most to be
and he cheerfully says he does not
know, he speaks the truth and you
do yourself and him no good by doubt
ing it. He has not been studying
his own reactions, but has been busy
ing himself with whatever interest
ing things came his way. You have
been watching him closely and trying
to see him clearly enough to place
him, and you have seen nothing that
helps you. Isn't it rather too much
to blame him, the unconscious one.
instead of yourself who has been SO
keenly alert all the time? He does
not know and cannot help himself.
You, his teacher, or his parent, must
stand by and help or get it for him.
If he happens to be the odd one
in the family, all of whom have been
college graduates Of high degree, be
careful not to make him feel him.
self q disappointment. AS said in
the beginning of this discussion, books
are the password to college, but that
does not say that books are the best
way, the only way, to educate one
self. They are the best way for some;
the worst way for others. And the
college graduate in general is not SUI
perior to the non collegiate in gem
eral. measured in terms of happiness
to themselves and in service to the
community.
A first-rate business man who never
graduated from a college of liberal
arts. but got his training wherever he
could pick it up, holds his own against
the professional man. 1t is not the
place, nor the kind nor the style Of
education that matters, but the quail
ity and fitness of it in relation to the
student. College for those who can
make good there. Other forms OF
education for those who can make
good In them. Let us not have any
sheep and goats IN the mat 1er.