The Aims and Defects 
 
 of 
 
 College Education 
 
 Comments and Suggestions by Prominent 
 Americans 
 
 An Original Investigation 
 
 By 
 Foster Partridge Boswell, Ph.D. 
 
 Professor of Psychology and Education in Hobart College 
 With an Introduction by 
 
 George Eastman 
 
 President of the Eastman Kodak Company 
 
 THE HOBART COLLEGE SERIES 
 
 NO. i Students Library 
 
 Published for 
 
 The Hobart College P^* Barbara, California 
 
 New York G. P. Putnam's Sons London 
 
 1915
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1915 
 
 BY 
 FOSTER PARTRIDGE BOSWELL 
 
 Ube Tknfcfecrbocfcer press, Hew i'orfe
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 PROFESSOR BOSWELL has asked 
 
 me to write a foreword for his 
 Aims and Defects of College Education. 
 My point of view is only that of a business 
 man who, having missed the benefits of 
 such an education, has observed with per- 
 haps added interest its effects upon others. 
 There is no doubt in my mind about the 
 desirability of such an education provided 
 the material is suitable; nor doubt that 
 the effects which should be produced are 
 increased steadiness of character and 
 clearness of mind. But then there is the 
 second question which involves, it seems 
 to me, the use of these qualities: how 
 soon a man can bring them to bear when 
 he leaves college. Does not this depend
 
 iv Introduction 
 
 largely upon what he has been taught and 
 how he has been taught? Admitting, 
 if you like, that vocational training has 
 been sometimes carried along too narrow 
 paths, is it not possible that a liberal 
 education may be made needlessly in- 
 definite? Is there really any reason why 
 a young man who is contemplating enter- 
 ing business when he leaves college should 
 not while he is there learn something 
 definite about, for instance, dealing with 
 employees; about how to avoid contracts 
 that are capable of more than one inter- 
 pretation; about cost accounting; and the 
 evils of slipshod letter writing? These 
 are some of the most fundamental of the 
 things which a business man has to deal 
 with and are those which will confront 
 the college graduate when he tries to 
 transact business. They are also those 
 in which his competitor has been accumu- 
 lating experience while the student has
 
 Introduction v 
 
 been in college. Is there any doubt that 
 many college graduates are a little raw 
 in respect to such matters, or that their 
 mistakes are all the more conspicuous 
 because they are college graduates? 
 Would some instruction on such definite 
 subjects lessen the breadth of say the 
 regular liberal arts course? To put it 
 in another way, if a young man's mind 
 is the ax with which he proposes to hew 
 his way through life, should he while in 
 college confine all his efforts to sharpening 
 the ax or should he at the same time learn 
 a little about how to swing it? 
 
 The questions raised by Professor Bos- 
 well are most important and a discussion 
 of them such as is had in the following 
 pages cannot in my opinion fail to be of 
 value. 
 
 GEORGE EASTMAN. 
 
 ROCHESTER, N. Y., 
 March 15, 1915.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 PART I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 COMMENTS BY PROMINENT AMERICANS ON 
 
 COLLEGE EDUCATION i 
 
 PART II 
 
 RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS ... 47 
 
 vii
 
 PART I 
 
 COMMENTS BY PROMINENT AMERICANS ON 
 COLLEGE EDUCATION 
 
 TJOBART COLLEGE has fortunately 
 * been able to secure the coopera- 
 tion of a number of men of national 
 prominence in an investigation concerning 
 the proper aims and more common defects 
 of college education. The comments and 
 suggestions of these men, expressed in 
 their own words, together with a sum- 
 mary and certain conclusions of my own, 
 are presented in the following pages. 
 
 Our schools and colleges are not natu- 
 rally in a position to observe the effects 
 of different educational methods on the 
 lives and careers of students who, having 
 finished their courses of instruction, have
 
 2 Aims and Defects of 
 
 gone out into the world. Educators feel, 
 however, very keenly the limitations 
 and defects of present-day institutions of 
 learning, and are often led, in their en- 
 deavors to improve matters, into making 
 injudicious changes or into following un- 
 wise policies of ultra-conservatism. 
 
 It is necessary, then, for those educa- 
 tional institutions which wish to discern 
 the soundest practices and to properly 
 adapt their curriculum of studies to meet 
 present conditions, to seek all the informa- 
 tion possible in regard to the worth of 
 different forms of educational training 
 in order to determine the proper aims to 
 pursue and the defects to eliminate. 
 
 Hobart College, therefore, desiring to 
 put her methods of instruction on as 
 efficient a basis as possible, addressed a 
 letter of inquiry, quoted below, to a 
 number of men prominent in American 
 business, professional, and public life.
 
 College Education 3 
 
 Such men, we considered, would not only 
 be able to speak with authority from their 
 own experience, but would naturally be 
 in a position to observe many men, both 
 college graduates and those without col- 
 lege training, to compare their abilities, 
 and thus to judge concerning the value of 
 various educational aims and policies. 
 The combined judgment of men of unusual 
 ability and discernment should be of great 
 assistance to all concerned with the 
 problem of college education in indicating 
 the wisest course to follow to obtain the 
 best educational results. Two questions 
 only were asked, as these were thought 
 sufficient to indicate the nature of the 
 inquiry, and more likely to elicit original- 
 ity and freedom of discussion than would 
 an elaborate questionnaire. The letter 
 read as follows: 
 
 " Hobart College desires to put her methods 
 of instruction on as efficient as possible a
 
 4 Aims and Defects of 
 
 basis, in order to fit her graduates, as far as a 
 strictly college training may, to make good in 
 the professional and business world. 
 
 "We do not mean to give technical in- 
 struction, nor to lose sight of the true pur- 
 poses of a cultural education, and endeavor to 
 compete with the many excellent technical 
 and professional schools in which specialized 
 instruction may be obtained. But we are 
 nevertheless conscious that undergraduate 
 education is capable of decided improvement, 
 especially in regard to the purposes it is 
 intended to serve in the training of the 
 individual student for a useful career. 
 
 "Therefore we should be very glad to 
 obtain your opinion, together with that of 
 other men prominent in American business, 
 professional, and public life who are coop- 
 erating with us, in regard to the two following 
 questions. 
 
 " What traits of character and mind should 
 a college aim to develop in its students to 
 make them useful and efficient in modern 
 life? 
 
 "In what ways does the present college 
 education fail in giving students training it 
 is able to give?
 
 College Education 5 
 
 " We shall be very grateful indeed for your 
 kind cooperation with us in this investigation. 
 
 "Yours, etc." 
 
 A most gratifying response was made 
 by the men addressed, who were kind and 
 public-spirited enough to devote much 
 time and energy to cooperating with us 
 in this investigation, although they were 
 all busied with important affairs. Among 
 those who replied were the following : 
 
 The Hon. Joseph H. Choate, LL.D., 
 formerly American Ambassador at the 
 Court of St. James; the Hon. Andrew 
 D. White, LL.D., formerly American 
 Ambassador to Germany, and for many 
 years President of Cornell University; 
 the Hon. Alton B. Parker, formerly 
 Democratic candidate for the Presidency 
 of the United States; the Hon. Marcus 
 M. Marks, President of the Borough 
 of Manhattan; the Hon. Henry G. Dan- 
 forth, M.C.; Charles R. Van Hise,
 
 6 Aims and Defects of 
 
 LL.D., President of the University of 
 Wisconsin; Eugene A. Noble, LL.D., 
 President of Dickinson College ; Professor 
 Frederick S. Jones, LL.D., Dean of Yale 
 College; Professor John H. Wigmore, 
 LL.D., Dean of Northwestern University 
 School of Law; Professor Mortimer E. 
 Cooley, Dean of the Department of 
 Engineering of Michigan University; 
 Professor Joseph F. Johnson, Dean of 
 the School of Commerce, New York 
 University ; Professor Irving Fisher, of the 
 Department of Political Economy, Yale 
 University; Professor W. F. Willoughby, 
 of the Department of History, Politics, 
 and Economics, Princeton University; 
 Anson Phelps Stokes, University Secre- 
 tary, Yale University; Professor John 
 B. Clark, of the Division of Economics and 
 History, New York University, and of the 
 Carnegie Endowment for International 
 Peace; Professor J. W. Jenks, of the
 
 College Education 7 
 
 School of Commerce, New York Univer- 
 sity; Calvin W. Rice, Secretary of the 
 American Society of Mechanical Engi- 
 neers; George M. Eidlitz, of Marc 
 Eidlitz & Son, New York City; Edwin B. 
 Katte, Chief Engineer Electrical Traction 
 of the New York Central Railroad ; Mrs. 
 Rose Pastor Stokes, Socialist; Hamilton 
 W. Holt, of the Independent; Ernest H. 
 Abbott, of the Outlook; W. P. Ham- 
 ilton, of the Wall Street Journal; W. A. 
 White, of the Emporia Gazette; Charles 
 E. Fitch, formerly of the Rochester 
 Democrat and Chronicle; F. A. Van- 
 derlip, President of the National City 
 Bank, New York City; Darwin P. Kings- 
 ley, President of the New York Life 
 Insurance Company, New York City; 
 J. G. Schmidlapp, of Cincinnati; Rufus 
 A. Sibley, of Sibley, Lindsey & Curr 
 Co., Rochester, N. Y.; William H. Inger- 
 soll, of the Ingersoll Watch Co.; F. C.
 
 8 Aims and Defects of 
 
 Henderschott, of the New York Edison 
 Co.; W. R. Brown, of the Berlin Mills 
 Co.; Henry T. Noyes, of the German- 
 American Button Company, Rochester, 
 N. Y.; Charles E. Treman, Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 I take great pleasure in expressing to 
 these gentlemen, and to all who aided us, 
 the thanks due them from Hobart College 
 for their kind cooperation in so important 
 a matter, and for their very valuable and 
 illuminating comments and suggestions. 
 Their ideas have not only proved of value 
 to us, but will, I believe, be of service to 
 other colleges in making more clear the 
 aims and defects of American college 
 education. 
 
 Among the many comments and sug- 
 gestions which were received the following 
 seemed to be of especial interest, and 
 likely to merit the consideration of those 
 interested in the problems of college 
 education. The expressions of opinion
 
 College Education 9 
 
 concerning the aims and defects of college 
 education, by men in public life, con- 
 stitute the first group of comments. 
 
 x "In answer to your first question I should 
 say, tenacity of purpose, concentration, and 
 temperance in all things." Concerning de- 
 fects, there is "too much time for play and 
 entirely too much vacation. Boys do not 
 require three or four months of the year for 
 vacation. " 
 
 3 "The best teachers ever known to me 
 during my preparation for college had, so far 
 as I can find out, no theories, but simply a 
 love for the subject they taught and an in- 
 born desire to interest others in it. 
 
 "It is encouraging to know that you are in 
 favor of restricting Hobart to what is usually 
 called 'collegiate' work, which, at this mo- 
 ment, is greatly needed throughout the 
 country. . . . 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Joseph H. Choate, 
 LL.D., formerly American Ambassador at the Court of 
 St. James. 
 
 2 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Andrew D. White, 
 LL.D., formerly American Ambassador to Germany, and 
 for many years President of Cornell University.
 
 io Aims and Defects of 
 
 "Perhaps the greatest mistakes in col- 
 legiate education and, indeed, in education 
 generally, lie in the failure to interest the 
 student in the subjects he is pursuing. " 
 
 1 "The traits of character and mind, which, 
 to my notion, a college should aim to develop 
 in its students to make them useful and 
 efficient in modern life, are love of work, 
 courage, common sense, and a true patriotism, 
 which will lead the individual to identify 
 himself with one of the great political parties 
 and through that channel work for the pre- 
 servation of our governmental scheme, as 
 originally planned, and in opposition to social- 
 ism and all socialistic and other mushroom 
 theories. 
 
 "The failure to bring home to the young 
 man the conviction that he has a life work to 
 perform and that any failure on his part to 
 carry his share of the common burden, made 
 heavier by our complicated civilization, 
 throws upon other members of society, an 
 unfair share of that burden. " 
 
 1 This letter from Judge Alton B. Parker, LL.D., for- 
 merly Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the 
 United States, is quoted in full.
 
 College Education n 
 
 1 "The traits of character and mind which 
 a college should aim to develop in the students 
 to make them able and efficient in modern life 
 are to see clearly and to think clearly; in 
 other words, concentration on the subject, 
 regardless of what the subject may be. . . . 
 
 "The present training fails to give the 
 student thorough mastery of a subject. 
 College training, generally, is devoted to 
 teaching principles by committing them to 
 memory, whereas the principles should be 
 learned by object-lessons; so the reason for 
 the principles will appear to the student. . . . 
 
 "Not sufficient attention is paid to teach- 
 ing students how to think and express them- 
 selves on their feet. This would seem to 
 apply particularly to young men who have in 
 mind public life as their future. " 
 
 a " Answering your favor of the 5th inst. 
 just received, I would say that, according to 
 my judgment, the prime object of a college 
 training is to develop those tastes for the 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Henry G. Danforth, 
 M.C. 
 
 * This letter from the Hon. Marcus M. Marks, President 
 of the Borough of Manhattan, is quoted in full.
 
 12 Aims and Defects of 
 
 higher things in life which shall give the 
 greatest resources for true living. By true 
 living, I mean getting the best out of life, 
 the keenest enjoyment of literature, art, 
 music, and contact with other human beings 
 of the best kind. 
 
 " Naturally, students should be prepared in 
 a way not only to live, but to make a living, 
 and in the last year of the college course their 
 minds might be directed to those channels of 
 human activity in which they would be most 
 likely to be successful. In order to accom- 
 plish this, a trained psychologist, two or three 
 teachers, and a practical man of affairs might 
 well constitute a committee for vocational 
 guidance ; this committee to study the young 
 men from their freshman year up, and, at 
 the end of the junior year, advise with them 
 regarding their particular talents. Many 
 young men might thus be saved from mis- 
 direction and the consequent loss of time and 
 courage which follows so often from trying 
 to fit a ' square peg into a round hole. ' ' 
 
 In an address delivered before the Phi 
 Beta Kappa Society of this College in
 
 College Education 13 
 
 June, 1914, the Hon. George McAneny, 
 President of the Board of Aldermen of 
 New York City, expressed himself as 
 follows: 
 
 "The man who shirks his duty as a voter, 
 and as a factor, therefore, in the system of 
 democratic government that is our pride and 
 hope, deserves but little of democracy. The 
 man who, having gained superior equipment 
 and training, through college or university, 
 fails to give in even larger degree his meed 
 of service to the State, will rarely receive 
 the plaudits of his fellows, and may never 
 claim justly that his full duty has been 
 done." 
 
 Next follow the opinions of some prom- 
 inent educators, whose views are derived 
 from immediate experience and observa- 
 tion of college activities, and who speak 
 with the authority of those familiar with 
 college problems from the inside. 
 
 President Van Hise of the University 
 of Wisconsin in an address delivered
 
 1.4 Aims and Defects of 
 
 several years ago concerning "The Place 
 of the College in Education, " says: 
 
 "It seems to me that the place of the col- 
 lege can be no better designated than by the 
 phrase which is frequently connected with it, 
 liberal arts. According to Murray, liberal arts 
 are 'certain branches of learning or apparatus 
 for more advanced studies, or for the work 
 of life.' They are 'directed to general in- 
 tellectual enlargement and refinement, not 
 narrowly restricted to the requirements of 
 technical or professional training.' 
 
 "While in the middle ages the field of the 
 college of liberal arts was very narrow, in 
 modern times it has rapidly extended to 
 include all of the subjects which are taught 
 under the spirit of that definition. . . . 
 
 "This modern college recognizes as of 
 equal importance to mathematics and Latin 
 and Greek, work in the modern languages. 
 It recognizes of equal importance with the 
 languages, philosophy, psychology, political 
 economy, political science, history, and sociol- 
 ogy, which are fundamental in the education 
 of the citizen who is to take part in the 
 government of the nation. It recognizes of
 
 College Education 15 
 
 equal importance with each of these groups, 
 a knowledge of the sciences, which lies at 
 the basis of all of the material advancement 
 of this revolutionary period. Thus the 
 field of the modern college is at least three 
 times as large as that of the old-fashioned 
 classical college. The college of liberal arts 
 gives a most effective preliminary training 
 for life work. Also the broadened college 
 of liberal arts gives its students an oppor- 
 tunity to pursue work leading to professional 
 studies. If the student plans to become a 
 minister, or a lawyer, he may give a large 
 part of his time to the humanities. If he 
 plans to become a physician, or an engineer, 
 or an agriculturalist, he may give the major 
 portion of his time to the sciences. " 
 
 After cautioning colleges against at- 
 tempting to perform the work properly 
 belonging to technical schools and the 
 graduate departments of universities, he 
 continues: 
 
 "The field of the college of liberal arts is 
 so large and the work itself is of such superla- 
 tive importance that any institution may
 
 16 Aims and Defects of 
 
 feel that here is ample opportunity for her 
 full resources. By concentrating these re- 
 sources upon this work, it is certain that more 
 satisfactory and important results will be ob- 
 tained by doing it well than by attempting to 
 cover a larger part of the field of advanced 
 education, when so doing will certainly in- 
 volve unsatisfactory results throughout. " 
 
 1 "In reply to your inquiry as to the traits 
 of character that should be developed by 
 college training to make students efficient 
 and useful, let me say that there are three 
 things which I regard as of great importance : 
 first, to have the student understand that 
 the time in which he is living is related to 
 the long past of human history so that his 
 respect and sympathy for the work and 
 thoughts of men will be great; second, that 
 he may know also how to discern what is 
 valuable in the life of his own time as judged 
 by the standards of value which have been 
 established out of the past; and third, that 
 he shall have a sense of moral or spiritual 
 values to control his judgment. 
 
 1 This letter from Eugene A. Noble, LL.D., President 
 of Dickinson College, is quoted in full.
 
 College Education 17 
 
 "One of the ways in which present-day 
 college education fails to realize its objective 
 is that so much emphasis is put upon the 
 mercenary standards of commonplace men." 
 
 '"In reply to question one, let me say 
 that the traits of character which the college 
 should aim to develop are uprightness and 
 unselfishness. Our educational institutions 
 should endeavor to impress upon young men 
 the necessity of effort for the community and 
 for society, rather than for personal ends. 
 The trait of mind which the college should 
 develop is the ability to think clearly and 
 conclude logically. Many of the troubles in 
 modern commercial and professional life are 
 due to lack of ability to think straight and to 
 act accordingly. 
 
 "In answer to question two I may say that 
 I am less pessimistic than many who are 
 constantly criticizing our educational in- 
 stitutions. In my judgment, a great many 
 of our colleges are very successful in giving 
 men the sort of training which makes them 
 useful and efficient citizens, and there is, I 
 
 1 This letter from Professor Frederick S. Jones, LL.D., 
 Dean of Yale College, is quoted in full.
 
 1 8 Aims and Defects of 
 
 believe, a realization on the part of our col- 
 lege students that the educated man has 
 something more before him than mere selfish 
 effort for personal advancement and emolu- 
 ment; that public service is the real object 
 which the college-bred man should have in 
 view. I find a great many students who are 
 serious in their desire to do their college work 
 with the object of training themselves for this 
 sort of life." 
 
 1 "Generally I would say that the impor- 
 tant thing is to emphasize character rather 
 than mere knowledge. As you may know 
 I was for 25 years in the service of the United 
 States Government. The positions held by 
 me required the selection and appointment 
 of a large number of men, many for impor- 
 tant positions. I and my colleagues always 
 sought to find men of character rather than 
 technical attainments. In nine cases out of 
 ten a man has to learn his work after entering 
 upon it. By character I mean the qualities 
 of reliability, thoroughness, conscientious 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Professor W. F. Willoughby, 
 of the Department of History, Politics, and Economics, 
 Princeton University.
 
 College Education 19 
 
 effort, etc. These are the men who win pro- 
 motion. The University should seek to 
 impress upon the student the desirability of 
 studying all his subjects critically, of deter- 
 mining for himself the reasons, and above all 
 of expressing himself orally and in writing 
 directly and clearly. I think too that every 
 effort should be made to have the students 
 use the information acquired by them. 
 They should be made to see the actual utility 
 of their studies as far as possible. " 
 
 "I think that too much attention is given 
 to subjects the usefulness of which is not 
 apparent to the student. I believe it is quite 
 possible to secure training in connection with 
 subjects that will have their utility after a 
 student leaves the college." 
 
 1 "The traits of character and mind which 
 a college should aim to give its students 
 are: intelligence, efficiency, initiative, deep 
 feeling, earnestness, and courage. I should 
 say that most colleges fail to develop suf- 
 ficiently the last four of these character- 
 istics. " 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Professor Irving Fisher, of the 
 Department of Political Economy, Yale University.
 
 20 Aims and Defects of 
 
 1 "As to ways in which colleges fail, I 
 should suppose that the most conspicuous 
 one was in using university methods too 
 much and school methods too little. It is 
 too easy for a student to get through college 
 and escape the necessity of getting informa- 
 tion." 
 
 The following group of comments are 
 from professional men, several of whom 
 are also engaged in technical education. 
 
 a "The college aims to develop whatever 
 traits of character and mind every gentleman 
 and Christian should have; the qualities 
 adapted to make for usefulness and efficiency 
 in modern life being just the same as ever." 
 
 "A college education, as far as I can obtain 
 an impression nowadays, fails to cultivate 
 sufficiently (i) the habit of accuracy and 
 detail, (2) a serious persistency in meeting 
 
 * Quoted from the letter of Professor John B. Clark of 
 the Division of Economics and History, New York Uni- 
 versity, and of the Carnegie Endowment for International 
 Peace. 
 
 a This letter from Professor John H. Wigmore, LL.D., 
 Dean of Northwestern University School of Law, is 
 quoted in full.
 
 College Education 21 
 
 hard work, (3) and a general enthusiasm for 
 self-cultivation. I can explain this by saying 
 that I attribute these lacks partly to the 
 modern theory of education which empha- 
 sizes the advantage of the student liking his 
 task, and the greater official recognition of 
 athletics and social activities." 
 
 1 "I have given a good deal of thought at 
 different times to what should constitute pre- 
 paration for the engineering profession. In 
 view of the tendency of the times to specializa- 
 tion I think there is a general impression that 
 young men should begin training for their! 
 specialty as early as possible. This I think 
 is a mistake, my personal belief being that 
 there is no better preparation for engineering 
 than that obtained in a literary or classical 
 college. 
 
 "The engineer's work in the future, as I see 
 it, is going to be very different from that in 
 the past. The problems to be solved will be 
 different in that they will embrace questions 
 of profound importance to the welfare of this 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Professor Mortimer E. 
 Cooley, Dean of the Department of Engineering of Michi- 
 gan University.
 
 22 Aims and Defects of 
 
 country. The civilization of our day is made 
 possible largely through the work of engineers. 
 It might be said to be an engineer's age. 
 
 "The engineer of the future, to be most 
 effective, must be a broadly trained man and 
 I can imagine nothing better as a preparation 
 than such a training as can be furnished by 
 Hobart and other colleges of the same order, 
 preparatory to the technical training. 
 
 "Answering your two questions more 
 specifically, I would say that the traits of 
 character and mind to be developed in col- 
 lege should be those which train the mind to 
 study and reason and to act independently. 
 It should develop in the student self-reliance 
 in the largest possible measure. One ideal 
 is conveyed to my mind by the story of 
 'Carrying a Message to Garcia.' 
 
 " I do not myself think that the present 
 college education fails to give students the 
 kind of training they need. I think it would 
 be a serious mistake for the small college to 
 narrow its training with a view to making 
 specialists. I think the present tendency 
 manifested in the high schools is altogether 
 uncommendable, in that it has for its main 
 object the preparation of students to earn
 
 College Education 23 
 
 money. While it is necessary to earn money, 
 good citizenship is now, as it always has been, 
 even more important. What we need in 
 America more than anything else is good 
 citizenship and the qualities of heart and 
 mind offsetting the marked trend towards 
 that end of socialism bordering on anarchy. 
 We as a people need to get back on an even 
 keel and to develop in our hearts more of the 
 love of country, less of the love of self. We 
 need sane people and our leaders should have 
 a training commanding the respect of those 
 who follow them. Our small colleges, with 
 the opportunity for personal contact with 
 professors and the general training which can 
 be given in the smaller colleges, can do vastly 
 good work in bringing about this condition." 
 
 1 "I fear I should have to write a book to 
 answer properly your questions about a 
 college. In this letter I can only give you a 
 hint as to what I would seek to accomplish 
 if I were an educational czar. 
 
 "I think a college fails in its mission if it 
 
 1 This letter from Professor Joseph F. Johnson, Dean of 
 the School of Commerce, New York University, is quoted 
 in full.
 
 24 Aims and Defects of 
 
 does not aim to make its students think 
 clearly and independently. I will not say 
 that this is the highest aim, but it certainly 
 ranks among those of first importance. 
 Muddled thinking is responsible for many 
 social and economic ills. 
 
 "A college should aim to develop in its 
 students a sense of personal responsibility. 
 This it can do only by holding them strictly 
 to the full performance of their duties. Col- 
 lege students should be treated as men, not 
 as boys. 
 
 "A college should make its students work 
 hard and regularly. There should be no 
 easy courses nor easy professors. Hard 
 work that cannot be shirked, and that keeps 
 a man busy at least eight hours a day, is 
 the only character builder that I place any 
 reliance upon. 
 
 "Finally, college men should be taught 
 the supreme value in life, especially in busi- 
 ness, of promptness, punctuality, resourceful- 
 ness, and grit. 
 
 "I will not venture to discuss your second 
 question, for I know too little about what 
 colleges are doing to have an opinion as to 
 whether they are really failing or not. I
 
 College Education 25 
 
 meet many recent college graduates, how- 
 ever, and many of them certainly do lack the 
 qualities which their colleges should have 
 aimed to give them. That does not prove, of 
 course, that the colleges have failed in their 
 duty, for the factor of heredity is one that 
 cannot be ignored. 
 
 "Permit me to express an opinion on a 
 point you do not raise. I believe colleges 
 should give much more attention than at 
 present to the vocational needs of their 
 students. Now a college graduate can earn 
 a living only by teaching school. From one 
 point of view, therefore, a college may be 
 regarded as a vocational institution. I 
 would have shorthand and bookkeeping 
 taught in every college. I would have the 
 director of athletics give courses and training 
 which would fit a man to train others in 
 athletics and physical culture. But you 
 don't ask me to write about this subject; 
 so I will not make further suggestions." 
 
 1 "I think that the traits of character and 
 mind that the college should aim to develop 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Professor J. W. Jenks of the 
 School of Commerce, New York University.
 
 26 Aims and Defects of 
 
 in its students to make them useful and 
 efficient are : 
 
 " (l) Trustworthiness. 
 " (2) Power of reasoning. 
 " (3) Exactness. 
 " (4) Diligence. 
 " (5) Punctuality. 
 " (6) Tolerance." 
 
 1 "The average college graduate lacks an 
 appreciation of things generally, [including] 
 a lack of respect for the men lower down, 
 the working man generally. The trend of 
 college education is away from simplicity in 
 the conduct of affairs and the object of edu- 
 cation should be to teach men to devote their 
 attention to essentials rather than details." 
 
 "In reply to your second question, as to 
 the ways in which college education fails, a 
 particular failure is in the matter of training 
 students to express themselves orally on their 
 feet before others in a clear, concise, and 
 forceful manner. The average college grad- 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Calvin W. Rice, Secretary 
 of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
 
 College Education 27 
 
 uate is embarrassed when required to give 
 even a simple talk in a meeting." 
 
 1 "To your first query as to what traits 
 of character and mind a college should aim to 
 develop in its students to make them useful 
 and efficient in modern life I would reply that 
 a thorough determination inculcated into 
 each student to form the habit in all his 
 relations to 'own up, pay up, and shut up' 
 will be the greatest heritage any university 
 can give to its students. 
 
 "Your second question, namely, 'In what 
 way does present college education fail in 
 giving students training it is able to give?' 
 It has seemed to me that perhaps a lack of self- 
 reliance and a tendency to rely on their 
 degrees to keep them in their jobs is the 
 greatest weakness of recent graduates." 
 
 The next group of suggestions and criti- 
 cisms come from prominent journalists: 
 
 2 " Probably the weakest thing in our whole 
 system of education, from the public school 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Edwin B. Katte, Chief 
 Engineer Electrical Traction of the New York Central. 
 1 Quoted from an editorial by W. P. Hamilton, of the
 
 28 Aims and Defects of 
 
 up, is that we teach the pupil to value the 
 superficial thing taught, and not what is the 
 whole end and aim of education, the discipline 
 of learning. 
 
 "This is the suicidal foolery which sends 
 1 gunmen, ' with public and high-school educa- 
 tions, to the death-chair, alas, all too infre- 
 quently ! Our teachers are supposed to make 
 lessons pleasant and easy. Learning may be 
 pleasant to the willing learner, but it is never 
 easy. 
 
 " Other things being equal, this newspaper 
 prefers to employ college graduates; and it 
 has had many of them through its hands in 
 the lengthening years of its existence. It 
 takes that sort of reporter about a year to 
 forget his diploma. By that time he is either 
 a newspaper man, or he leaves, because he will 
 never be one. In about three years, if he 
 can stand the pace, he may discover that he 
 actually acquired something at college. That 
 something was the discipline of learning. 
 
 " If his diploma is worth anything, it should 
 show that he has had developed by his 
 teachers the indispensable power of concen- 
 
 Wall Street Journal, concerning our letter of inquiry. 
 The editorial appeared in the issue of April 15, 1914.
 
 College Education 29 
 
 tration without which there is no success. 
 Unless he adopts some profession involving 
 technical requirements, there is nothing else 
 a college can teach him that he cannot teach 
 himself. The world will make him learn it, 
 or kill him. 
 
 "This ought to indicate clearly enough how 
 our colleges fall down. The problem is a 
 psychological one, and not one of pedagogy. 
 The training our college students need is one 
 that inculcates the lifelong value of hard, but 
 intelligent, work." 
 
 1 "You ask me for my opinion about the 
 traits of character and mind a college should 
 aim to develop. I should say that the prime 
 thing a college should teach a boy or girl is a 
 loyal love of the truth and a capacity to find 
 it out. If the college does not develop these 
 traits, no matter how much polish it puts 
 upon the mind or heart it is not very much 
 worth while. The present college education, 
 I should say, does not fail to give students 
 training. I should say that life before they 
 come to college fails to give them capacity 
 
 1 This letter from W. A. White, of the Emporia Gazette, 
 is quoted in full.
 
 30 Aims and Defects of 
 
 for taking things in, and any failure is not 
 perhaps the fault of a college but the fault of 
 the early adolescent environment." 
 
 1 " Public service and leadership are the 
 traits of character that most need develop- 
 ment, and the ability to think is the most 
 important trait of the mind to be developed. 
 Mere memorizing is of little value. [In the 
 opinion of this gentleman the college fails in 
 giving training it is able to give.] By not 
 having the professors work with the students 
 in working hours. If the spirit of the foot- 
 ball coach was introduced into the classroom, 
 the problem of modern education would be 
 solved. The football coach is infinitely more 
 severe with his pupils, but at the same time he 
 treats them, man to man, as equals. A profes- 
 sor is lenient with students' mistakes, but he 
 sits upon a pulpit and treats them as inferiors. 
 
 " Let the professor learn from the coach. " 
 
 2 "I cannot think of any desirable trait of 
 character or mind which a college should not 
 
 'Quoted from the letter of Hamilton W. Holt, of the 
 Independent. 
 
 3 Quoted from the letter of Ernest H. Abbott of the 
 Outlook.
 
 College Education 31 
 
 tend to develop in its students; but, natu- 
 rally, emphasis should be placed upon those 
 traits which need development at the particu- 
 lar stage of growth at which the student has 
 arrived when he is at college. 
 
 "The period from seventeen to twenty-four 
 years of age seems to me to be particularly one 
 in which the individual is ready for training 
 in self-reliance and independence of character 
 and mental freedom. It is the period of 
 individualism. 
 
 "It does not seem to me that it matters so 
 much exactly what the student learns as 
 how thoroughly and accurately and efficiently 
 he makes use of the resources of the college. 
 
 " It seems to me that there are several grave 
 defects common to most colleges: 
 
 " (i) The slipshod and superficial work done 
 for the purpose of ' getting by. ' 
 
 "(2) Lack of coordination between what 
 is called the humanities and what is called 
 vocational training. 
 
 "(3) The failure of the members of the 
 faculty and instructors to use their oppor- 
 tunities for molding and determining under- 
 graduate tradition, which is probably the 
 greatest single educative force in any college.
 
 32 Aims and Defects of 
 
 This lack becomes conspicuous when com- 
 pared with the way in which English univer- 
 sity tradition has been built up. It may be 
 illustrated, by way of contrast, by the citation 
 of certain specific instances where faculty 
 members have done a great deal to mold 
 tradition. One example of this has been the 
 influence of Dr. Spaeth at Princeton. 
 
 "(4) The growth of false and materialistic 
 standards in college life. This is, perhaps, a 
 natural, though I believe an avoidable, se- 
 quence to the general advance in material 
 comfort characteristic of these days. It 
 emphasizes, however, the advantages of 
 money and things that money will buy. 
 
 "You will notice I do not mention the 
 athletic influence. It is because I believe 
 that on the whole athletics have vastly 
 improved in the twenty years since I was in 
 college, and have been of great educational 
 value." 
 
 1 "I believe that a college education, using 
 the term in its distinct acceptance, should be 
 dedicated to the cultivation of the mind and 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of the Hon. Charles E. Fitch, 
 formerly of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
 
 College Education 33 
 
 the building of character as preliminary to and 
 preparatory for the university curriculum, 
 whether the latter embraces either the higher 
 ranges of the sciences, or merely utilitarian 
 studies. In other words, I would preserve 
 the integrity of the American college, as illus- 
 trated in the personalities of Mark Hopkins, 
 Francis Wayland, and Eliphalet Nott. 
 
 "I have no sympathy with the assumption 
 that a college education is a mere matter of 
 commerce so much instruction for so much 
 money a favorite theory of some of the 
 chief exponents of what for the lack of a better 
 term they are pleased to call ' the new educa- 
 tion. ' 
 
 " Character building should be the chief 
 object to be regarded; that secured the 
 secondary objects will take care of themselves. 
 
 " From the college, the vast range of elec- 
 tive, elastic courses should be eliminated, 
 and a return to former schemes in every 
 way fostered, compulsory courses obtaining 
 at least to the end of the Sophomore year." 
 
 The following contribution was received 
 from a very well-known Socialist:
 
 34 Aims and Defects of 
 
 1 "The fact that the common mass of 
 workers are making possible his education by 
 their labor in supplying him with the basic 
 necessities of life food, shelter, and clothing 
 should be sunk deep in the consciousness of 
 every student. A lively awareness of this 
 fact is necessary to a proper social and co- 
 operative spirit in men receiving educational 
 opportunities withheld from the mass. To 
 this end the newer economics, which tells the 
 whole truth about sources of wealth, organ- 
 ization of industry, distribution of wealth, 
 etc., must be taught in our colleges. 
 
 "To my mind character is best and most 
 fully developed in the individual inspired 
 with big social ideals. Individual character 
 grows with the growth of these social ideals 
 that give the larger outlook on life, a thirst 
 for human unity, and cause one to strive for 
 social and economic justice. This requires 
 close and intimate knowledge of the com- 
 mon life, which in turn requires not aca- 
 demic study and discussion only, but actual 
 contact. 
 
 "I am not of course trying to answer your 
 
 1 This letter from Mrs. Rose Pastor Stokes, Socialist, 
 is quoted in full.
 
 College Education 35 
 
 question as fully as it deserves to be answered. 
 Having time for but very brief discussion I 
 take this opportunity your question offers 
 to make this brief suggestion. I have found 
 what seemed to me a lack of proper sense of 
 social obligation in the college student and, 
 not infrequently, an arrogance and an absence 
 of human sympathy that can be born only of 
 ignorance of fundamental social-economic 
 truths an ignorance which every true edu- 
 cator should strive to dispel." 
 
 The comments of financiers and busi- 
 ness men constitute the following group. 
 All of the men quoted occupy positions 
 of great responsibility in their firms, and 
 several of them are leaders in the com- 
 mercial life of the country. 
 
 1 "There are fundamental traits of char- 
 acter which should be developed, such as 
 concentration, habits of mental discipline 
 which lead to careful work, accurate thinking 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of J. G. Schmidlapp, of Cin- 
 cinnati.
 
 36 Aims and Defects of 
 
 and keen penetration, and above all, as most 
 of our students are reared to-day, teach them 
 economy. I have often said that I would 
 rather my boys would learn economy than 
 to learn the multiplication table, for I believe 
 they would get more happiness out of the one 
 than out of the other. With these traits 
 developed more of our young men would have 
 the power of leadership, and they would 
 eventually lead to administrative qualifica- 
 tions now so rare. 
 
 "One of the weaknesses, to my mind, in 
 present college training is that the practical 
 is not used more in line with the theoretical, 
 therefore we do not develop the traits of 
 character that I have referred to. From 
 my own experience as a member of the Visit- 
 ing Board at West Point at one time, and 
 from the information that I have gained 
 through the development of college students, 
 I strongly favor the compulsory course in- 
 stead of the elective course of study. After 
 a lifetime's experience I have found the best 
 recommendation a young man can have in 
 entering business life is that he can save 
 something from his income no matter how 
 small it is."
 
 College Education 37 
 
 1 "As to the traits of character and mind 
 which a college should aim to develop, there 
 are, of course, a large number of these. 
 Some of them are the common virtues, but 
 there is one thing above all others that needs 
 particular attention. It is initiative. In 
 my experience, I find a great shortcoming 
 among the college men in our employ is their 
 failure to go ahead. They can take problems 
 and think them out and they can perform 
 competently, but one thing seems to be 
 trained out of them and that is initiative 
 and leadership to go ahead on their own 
 responsibility. 
 
 "According to my own observation, almost 
 the only advantage that the man who has not 
 gone to college has over the college man is 
 that the former does not know about so 
 many things that cannot be done as the latter, 
 and frequently, therefore, he goes ahead and 
 does them. Science teaches us the futility 
 of striving for perpetual motion and other 
 impossibilities but it seems as though too 
 many of the college trained men become im- 
 bued with the spirit of assuming that there 
 
 1 This letter from William H. Ingersoll, of the Ingersoll 
 Watch Co., is quoted in full.
 
 38 Aims and Defects of 
 
 are too many things in the category of 
 perpetual motion. 
 
 "You ask also about the ways in which a 
 college education now fails to give students 
 the training that it ought to give. I have 
 not much to say about this, but in the 
 business world, we are discovering that there 
 is a new science known as 'management.' 
 The capacity to take the materials and the 
 conditions at hand and utilize them for the at- 
 tainment of a purpose is something that the 
 college could well give attention to instead of 
 stopping with giving many important sciences 
 in detached form but without showing the 
 student how to utilize his own powers in order 
 to get the most out of what he has learned." 
 
 T "It is apparent that many young men 
 applying for situations object to places 
 where regular and constant service is required 
 and where no ball games or athletic sports 
 interfere with regular hours. 
 
 "The boys should be taught that improve- 
 ment of the mind should not have second 
 place to improvement of legs and arms. 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Rufus A. Sibley, of Sibley, 
 Lindsey & Curr Co., Rochester, N. Y.
 
 College Education 39 
 
 "I think a definite purpose in life Indus- 
 try and Economy, Integrity and Sincerity 
 will bring reward where the object in life 
 has any promise of future usefulness to 
 society. 
 
 "You will observe I have but little use for 
 Fads or Professional Reformers." 
 
 '"Colleges should aim to develop the 
 individual along broad lines rather than to 
 concentrate on definite instruction. Char- 
 acter should be developed to its highest 
 possibility. It is necessary, of course, to 
 teach certain specialized knowledge but I 
 believe this should be secondary. This 
 criticism, however, applies more to the public 
 schools than to colleges. If the public schools 
 would concentrate more on the development 
 of character and cultural processes, the col- 
 leges would find their work easier and while 
 it would be necessary for the colleges to 
 continue the development of character, they 
 would be able to give more attention to 
 specialized knowledge. 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of F. C. Henderschott, of the 
 New York Edison Co., Executive Secretary of the National 
 Association of Corporation Schools.
 
 40 Aims and Defects of 
 
 "Your second question is so broad that it 
 would involve a preparation of a modern col- 
 lege course. So many new things have come 
 into the world during the past twenty-five 
 years that it is becoming apparent specializa- 
 tion is, and will continue to be, a necessity, 
 yet we must not overlook a broad cultural 
 training. Specialization should apply only 
 to definite knowledge or knowledge intended 
 to fit one for a definite line of work. When 
 we consider how very few of the boys and 
 girls who are going out into industry and the 
 professions are properly trained or education- 
 ally fit, we must realize that there is room 
 for every educational institution now existing 
 and many more must be created." 
 
 1 "Among the traits of character and mind 
 essential to make a man efficient and useful 
 in modern life, I might mention the following: 
 
 " (a) A genuine desire to serve. 
 
 "(b) Industrious. 
 
 " (c) Open minded and teachable. 
 
 "(d) Ambitious. 
 
 "(e) Steady and trustworthy. 
 
 1 Quoted from the letter of Henry T. Noyes, of the 
 German-American Button Co., Rochester, N. Y.
 
 College Education 41 
 
 "(f) Patient (in getting results). 
 
 "(g) Thoroughness and accuracy. 
 
 "Many of the above points might be 
 covered by saying that he should have the 
 scientific viewpoint developed to a strong 
 degree. Then if he has with that a genuine 
 unselfish desire to serve, I believe you can be 
 reasonably sure of turning out a man who will 
 be useful and efficient. 
 
 "As to the weaknesses of our present col- 
 leges I would respectfully refer you to an 
 article by Lincoln Steffens in Harper's Weekly 
 of this week (April n, 1914) on this very 
 subject. It is well worthy your careful 
 consideration. 
 
 "In addition, however, to that I might say 
 this, that our college men to-day as a rule do 
 not realize at all as they should their obliga- 
 tions to society because of the opportunities 
 they have enjoyed for education and develop- 
 ment. Then again the usual college man 
 meets the world with a ' know it all ' manner, 
 and thinks he can go out and do things just 
 because he knows it all. He should be made 
 to realize that the real value of a college 
 education lies in the fact that he should be 
 able, because of his training, to study prob-
 
 42 Aims and Defects of 
 
 lems thoroughly, to analyze them accurately, 
 and to draw logical conclusions, and know 
 where to find special knowledge, etc. 
 
 "A college education fails to make proper 
 impression on the usual man as to his real 
 responsibilities; his obligations, if you please, 
 to his employer; the importance of keeping 
 his word strictly; the importance of being 
 punctual, etc." 
 
 1 "Without going into the matter to any 
 extent, as it would take more time than I 
 could give to answer your note fully, I would 
 say that honesty, courage, and judgment were 
 the three points which are essential for suc- 
 cess, and as the curriculum at college only 
 can serve as a training school for judgment, 
 the rest of the training must be gathered 
 through personal contact and general environ- 
 ment. It is here that the usual college 
 educational scheme is weak, in that over 
 emphasis is placed on the thing learned, 
 whereas, for instance, it is shown in the 
 Montessori method for children that it should 
 be placed on the manner in which it is 
 
 1 Quoted from a letter from W. R. Brown, of the Berlin 
 Mills Co.
 
 College Education 43 
 
 learned. In other words, a few things done 
 accurately, thoroughly, independently, and 
 with pleasure are of much greater value to 
 the student than a large amount of hetero- 
 geneous knowledge in forming for efficient 
 character." 
 
 The two following letters with which 
 this symposium on American college 
 education closes are of especial interest. 
 The author of each is the President of a 
 great financial institution, close to the 
 summit of the American financial world. 
 The letters supplement one another; the 
 one is a summary of the defects, the other 
 of the aims of college education. 
 
 1 "Your questions in regard to traits of 
 character and mind which a college should 
 aim to develop for modern business life are 
 extremely important and pertinent. 
 
 " The primary defect which I see in young 
 college men to-day is lack of intensity of 
 
 1 This letter from F. A. Vanderlip, President of the 
 National City Bank, New York City, is quoted in full.
 
 44 Aims and Defects of 
 
 purpose and this really involves the defects 
 of procrastination and insufficient power of 
 concentration. I doubt if in the present- 
 day college course, there is enough mental 
 discipline. I do not believe in hedging the 
 student about with so many requirements 
 that the opportunity for developing and 
 expanding individuality is restricted, but on 
 the other hand, I am firmly against so much 
 freedom as to permit going along the path 
 of least resistance, and developing a laissez- 
 faire attitude. Of course, the wise middle 
 course is what we are striving for in all walks 
 of life. I should say at the present time, 
 however, the colleges were erring on the 
 side of permitting too much independent 
 action. In business there must be strict 
 discipline. If there is very little in college, 
 the transition is too great for the young man 
 entering into his vocation, and he probably 
 fails to do himself justice during the time 
 when he is adjusting himself to the new 
 conditions. I think college training is very 
 excellent in that it creates constructive 
 imagination, independent thought, and self- 
 reliance. This must, however, be tempered 
 by the very wholesome factor of judicious
 
 College Education 45 
 
 discipline, which will produce the quality of 
 intense application which is so necessary in 
 meeting business problems." 
 
 1 "Trying to answer the queries pro- 
 pounded in your note of the 28th inst., is a 
 good deal like undertaking to point out the 
 royal road to success. There is no such road, 
 and probably there is no adequate answer to 
 your queries. I assume that all you seek is 
 an approximation. 
 
 "The character that a college should try 
 to develop in its students is an all-around 
 ability to use such powers as the student has, 
 and with that a devotion fanatical if you 
 please to the truth. Existing college edu- 
 cation largely fails to give this kind of train- 
 ing. It fails because it is primarily seeking 
 all kinds of short cuts. It has largely 
 abandoned the old idea of the university or 
 college training and has substituted voca- 
 tional training. The cry is that no college 
 education is worth anything that doesn't fit 
 a man for some specific thing when he grad- 
 
 1 This letter from Darwin P. Kingsley, President of the 
 New York Life Insurance Company, New York City, is 
 quoted in full.
 
 46 Defects of College Education 
 
 uates. I hold that to be an utter mistake. 
 A proper college education does not fit a 
 man for any specific thing; and at the same 
 time it fits him for everything. The present 
 college education, eagerly seeking the line of 
 least resistance and the shortest road to some 
 technical or professional equipment, misses 
 forever with such students the time when a 
 well-balanced all-around development is pos- 
 sible. The college education now popular 
 is not a university education at all. It is 
 constantly getting narrower, and more and 
 more fails to turn out men with an all-around 
 equipment. This is the sort of equipment 
 that in the long pull of life lands a man at the 
 top. The equipment that graduates largely 
 get nowadays probably insures some early 
 success and a considerable degree of useful- 
 ness, but it doesn't insure the success that a 
 man is capable of. Such education has its 
 place, and it is a very large place, but such 
 education falls far short of what I understand 
 a university training to be."
 
 PART II 
 
 RESULTS AND IMPLICATIONS 
 
 'T'HE comments and suggestions con- 
 tained in the above letters fall 
 naturally into two groups, those dealing 
 with particular matters of college training 
 and organization, and those concerning 
 general matters of educational policy. 
 While it is difficult to make a choice 
 among the many good suggestions we 
 received in regard to particulars of college 
 training, the three following are men- 
 tioned as among the most significant 
 and practical. The first, because it was 
 so widely advocated by those connected 
 with social and political activities. The 
 second because, apparently, it promised 
 47
 
 48 Aims and Defects of 
 
 much aid and comfort to both faculty 
 and students, who unfortunately are not 
 always of a mutual fit. The third calls 
 attention to an aspect of college life of 
 very decided importance, which stands 
 in danger of being forgotten amid the 
 increasing complexity of the machinery, 
 and because of the immense size, of many 
 of our American institutions of learning. 
 Socialists, Democrats, and Republicans 
 alike recommend that the college impart 
 to its students a deeper sense of the duty 
 of public service. Each of these widely 
 different political groups used almost the 
 same arguments, to the effect that col- 
 lege graduates, having enjoyed special 
 privileges and opportunities provided by 
 the community, owed in unusual meas- 
 ure service to the State. Curious as it 
 may be to find representatives of such 
 different political doctrines united on the 
 common ground of the distinctly aristo^
 
 College Education 49 
 
 cratic sentiment of noblesse oblige, it is 
 encouraging to observe such unanimity, 
 among all classes, of opinion in regard to 
 the need of better and more widely 
 educated men assuming leadership in 
 public affairs. 
 
 Another suggestion of good promise was 
 that each college organize a committee on 
 vocational guidance, to aid its students 
 in making wise choices of future occupa- 
 tions. Commissions of vocational guid- 
 ance have done very good work in large 
 business and manufacturing establish- 
 ments in the selection of employees fitted 
 by temperament and individual ability 
 for doing certain kinds of work. It would 
 seem that the same methods might be 
 applied to advantage in guiding college 
 students to choose a profession or occupa- 
 tion suited to their individual tempera- 
 ments and abilities. 
 
 As a special defect was mentioned :
 
 50 Aims and Defects of 
 
 "The failure of the members of the faculty 
 and instructors to use their opportunities for 
 molding and determining undergraduate tra- 
 dition, which is probably the greatest single 
 educative force in any college. This lack 
 becomes conspicuous when compared with the 
 way in which English university tradition 
 has been built up." 
 
 In extenuation it might be urged, that 
 beside the political, scientific, and literary 
 traditions which have arisen in the course 
 of their long and splendid history, the 
 two great English universities are com- 
 posed of small colleges, in whose buildings 
 and grounds dons and students read, eat, 
 and live together. English university 
 life thus permits greater intellectual and 
 personal association than is possible even 
 in our small colleges, while it also offers 
 the wider outlook and more significant 
 relationships with the great world to be 
 found in connection with important uni- 
 versities. The combination of these ad-
 
 College Education 51 
 
 vantages we have yet to obtain, although 
 many of our institutions of higher learn- 
 ing have very excellent undergraduate 
 traditions, which decidedly show the 
 influence of the notable men of the past 
 and present connected with their faculties. 
 In other words we need the Oxford 
 system in America both in our larger 
 separate colleges, and, even more decid- 
 edly, in the undergraduate departments of 
 our great universities. Or, if the word 
 Oxford should offend the taste of certain 
 strenuously hyphenated individuals, we 
 need some form of college organization 
 which shall effectively break up the mob- 
 system of college education now generally 
 in vogue. Some more human and 
 friendly scheme is required which shall 
 not only bring students and faculty in 
 closer touch, but also bring the students 
 themselves in more intimate contact, 
 and teach different kinds of individuals
 
 52 Aims and Defects of 
 
 to know and appreciate the good qualities 
 of one another. This would result in 
 what some light-thinking but enthusiastic 
 individuals would be pleased to call "an 
 increase of democracy in college." I 
 dislike the term democracy, which is a 
 spell used by demagogues to conjure votes 
 with, and has now so far lost its original 
 signification as to be synonymous with 
 any kind of reform or pseudo-reform in 
 politics or manners. I agree, however, 
 with the idea which perhaps is meant by 
 the words "increase in democracy," and 
 believe that there would result an increase 
 of kindliness and mutual appreciation and 
 respect, more knowledge and culture 
 among the students, and an increase of 
 humanity and young-heartedness among 
 the faculty, and, above all, an increased 
 understanding of others, which would 
 tend to produce more charitable leaders 
 of a Christian societal
 
 College Education 53 
 
 Other matters well worthy of consider- 
 ation, such as the desirability of develop- 
 ing qualities of leadership, executive 
 ability, accuracy, etc., were also suggested, 
 but which do not require special comment 
 as the letters speak very plainly for them- 
 selves. 
 
 In regard to general matters of educa- 
 tional policy, considering the latitude of 
 discussion invited by the questions, and 
 the freedom and originality expressed in 
 the replies, in regard to two matters of 
 prime importance the consensus of opin- 
 ion is decisive. The one matter relates 
 to the chief aim, the other to perhaps 
 the worst defect of college education. 
 
 The defect in college training most 
 often condemned is lack of discipline, or, 
 as it was expressed by one man, "slipshod 
 and superficial work done for the purpose 
 of ' getting by . " This criticism I believe 
 is just, although the fault is by no means
 
 54 Aims and Defects of 
 
 monopolized by college students. It is 
 sometimes to be found among high school 
 graduates, or even among those who have 
 had merely a grammar school education. 
 Such faults are very common defects of 
 immaturity and inexperience, and thus 
 often appear in a conspicuous degree in 
 college men entering business, not because 
 they have been in college, but because, 
 as yet, they lack the special training which 
 only the discipline of actual business 
 can give. The marked presence of such 
 faults in college graduates indicates neg- 
 lect on the part of college authorities of 
 the many opportunities for cultivating a 
 sense of responsibility in the students, 
 which college life offers both within and 
 without the classroom. The removal of 
 this reproach from college training might 
 doubtless be accelerated by the activities 
 of an efficient dean and "office," by the 
 enforcement of more rigid standards of
 
 College Education 55 
 
 accuracy and scholarship, and by an 
 increased demand for clearness and pre- 
 cision in written work, not merely in the 
 English department, but in all depart- 
 ments. Such measures would go far 
 toward curing the "evils of slipshod letter 
 writing," and eliminating other signs of 
 callowness in recent college graduates, 
 concerning which there is much reason 
 for complaint. 
 
 In regard to the chief aim of college 
 training there seemed to be an even 
 greater unity of opinion. The true aim 
 of college education is, in the opinion of 
 the leading men of America whom we 
 consulted, the development of character 
 and the training of intellectual power, and 
 not the acquisition of specialized or 
 technical knowledge. Too much special- 
 ization by undergraduates, particularly 
 entering upon technical courses without a 
 sufficiently broad foundation of general
 
 56 Aims and Defects of 
 
 culture, was held by the dean of a great 
 engineering school to be harmful to the 
 student's general mental development 
 and detrimental to his ultimate success. 
 Nowhere was the value of a general 
 college education more emphasized than 
 in the comments of prominent business 
 men, leading lawyers and engineers, and 
 men engaged in technical education. 
 Far greater in value than technical 
 knowledge for success in life was con- 
 sidered the acquisition of the ability to 
 think, the power of concentration, and the 
 development of originality and initiative. 
 As the prime aim of college education, 
 outranking in importance even the train- 
 ing of the intellectual powers, was held 
 the development of character, more par- 
 ticularly the sense of public service, 
 responsibility, seriousness of purpose, and 
 temperance in all things. In short, our 
 inquiries showed that the judgment of
 
 College Education 57 
 
 representative men in American public, 
 professional, and business life is decidedly 
 in favor of a liberal education for under- 
 graduates rather than a technical one. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is also evident from 
 many of the comments received that our 
 traditional college education is not fully 
 adequate to meet the demand for a 
 general training commensurate with the 
 increasing complexities of our twentieth- 
 century civilization. This is not because 
 college education is too general, but be- 
 cause it is too narrow. Sound, of proved 
 value, and needed perhaps more than 
 ever in this age of expanding individual 
 activities, our cultural college education 
 might very well include within its scope 
 instruction in certain matters of serious 
 importance to a man of affairs in this day 
 and generation. A certain grounding in 
 the principles of law, and especially those 
 of commercial law and contracts, is not
 
 58 Aims and Defects of 
 
 only a desirable and a most useful equip- 
 ment for the modern battle of life, as Mr. 
 Eastman has pointed out in his introduc- 
 tion to this book, but would have decided 
 general educational value. Mr. East- 
 man's other suggestions, first in regard to 
 the treatment of employees and the ethical 
 principles involved in the relations of 
 employer and employee, and secondly, 
 concerning cost accounting, more par- 
 ticularly overhead expense and its rela- 
 tions to cost of production, wages, etc., 
 deal with matters of serious and far- 
 reaching importance, concerning which 
 not only the public in general, but the 
 educated public, and even our University 
 Club members have far too little know- 
 ledge. The problem of the just employ- 
 ment and the reciprocal duties of employer 
 and employee is one of the most pressing 
 of our times, and has political, social, and 
 economic consequences of the gravest
 
 College Education 59 
 
 nature. Cost accounting is so important 
 in modern business that its basic principles 
 are part of the instruction given in all 
 modern general courses in economics. A 
 course confined to this subject should be 
 included as a regular advanced course in 
 every economics department, and be 
 required of every student contemplating 
 a business career. Such a course might 
 save many a young man of good promise 
 entering business life from financial dis- 
 aster, and his friends and the community 
 from the misfortunes attendant upon such 
 failures. 
 
 At present, many of our professional 
 schools in law, in medicine, in theology, 
 and in engineering, require colleges and 
 universities to give undergraduate in- 
 struction in certain subjects which He at 
 the basis of their professional training, 
 by making a knowledge of these subjects 
 a condition of admission. Such require-
 
 60 Aims and Defects of 
 
 ments are proper provided the courses 
 have educational value, and are not so 
 many in number as to interfere with the 
 all-around intellectual development of the 
 undergraduate. Courses in business law 
 and business ethics would have very high 
 general educational value, while a course 
 in cost accounting would compare very 
 favorably in these respects with a course 
 in organic chemistry, or in the higher 
 mathematics. A reasonable amount of 
 instruction in subjects fundamental to 
 modern business would moreover increase 
 the efficiency of the college as an institu- 
 tion of liberal learning by adding a certain 
 side to the student's general training in 
 which most men are deficient at the time 
 of graduation, and by bringing them in 
 more intimate contact with some of the 
 most vital and pressing problems of the 
 day. It is the broadening and humaniz- 
 ing influence of a subject as well as its
 
 College Education 61 
 
 value to the individual as a preparation 
 for life which makes it a proper subject 
 for college instruction. Furthermore, 
 such training as has just been mentioned 
 would make the young man of far more 
 use to his employer, who after all must 
 pay for his business education for some 
 time after he leaves college, for until he 
 acquires knowledge of the business and 
 habits of business discipline, he is a 
 liability rather than an asset to the firm 
 employing him. 
 
 It is evident, however, that the class- 
 room work of even the most scholarly 
 institution would not suffice for the cul- 
 tivation of all the traits of mind and 
 character, so cordially recommended by 
 our friends and advisers. Yet, despite 
 this fact, and in spite of the inadequate 
 means at their disposal, of the hampering 
 limitations of equipment, of endowment, 
 and of personnel, our colleges send into
 
 62 Aims and Defects of 
 
 the world at each Commencement many 
 fair youths, intelligent, virtuous, and 
 strong of body, who are destined to be- 
 come leaders in the life of their time. 
 Concerning these young men we pro- 
 fessors are apt to congratulate ourselves 
 unduly, for however beneficial to their 
 intellectual powers may be the instruction 
 we are instrumental in giving, it is in 
 student life outside the classroom, rather 
 than within it, that most men's characters 
 are made or marred. It is here that the 
 force of the traditions and ideals of the 
 college exert their potent influence for 
 good or evil. It is here that traits of 
 loyalty, of cooperation and self-sacrifice 
 for common ends, are developed, or 
 remain uncultivated. It is here that the 
 sense of responsibility to one's fellows, 
 and of devotion to the group of which one 
 is a part, must be acquired, if it is to 
 be obtained at all. It is, therefore, of
 
 College Education 63 
 
 prime importance that all the forces of 
 college life be taken into consideration by 
 those in authority, for it is not merely in 
 matters of scholarship that the educa- 
 tional efficiency of our different institu- 
 tions differs widely. The statement of 
 Aristotle, so often quoted, that impulses 
 acted upon tend to form habits, and that 
 habits combine to form character, seems 
 especially to be true of student life. 
 There are three forms of such activities 
 of decisive importance in college, intel- 
 lectual habits, social habits, and physical 
 habits; since the traits of mind and 
 character formed during college life are 
 largely the result of these three kinds of 
 activity. 
 
 In the scholastic work of the college 
 there is spread before the student the 
 best which the wisest men of all the ages 
 have accomplished in literature, in science, 
 and in philosophy. The student should
 
 64 Aims and Defects of 
 
 be made to feel that he enters the class- 
 room with the purpose of finding out, 
 appreciating, and making real to himself 
 what has been thought, and done, and 
 written in the world; with the intention 
 to train his mind to think, so that it 
 shall plow into things like a steam shovel, 
 deep down until it strikes the very bed 
 rock. Then he will see things clearly 
 and see them whole, and will not be 
 blinded by words or prejudices, or fads, 
 or by popular opinion. As an educated 
 man it will be his duty to lead and not 
 trail behind public opinion. The college 
 should make each student realize that he 
 is not educated until he has found some- 
 thing in literature, in science, in art, or 
 in philosophy, which appeals to him so 
 much that he will follow it up, at least 
 as an avocation, after he leaves college. 
 How can anyone consider himself edu- 
 cated to whom no form of learning ap-
 
 College Education 65 
 
 peals? Each student should get at least 
 one live intellectual interest from his col- 
 lege course which will remain a source of 
 pleasure and spiritual profit throughout 
 his life. 
 
 Man is by nature a social being, and 
 finds his good, his moral progress in action 
 with his fellows. Every student should 
 take part in college activities, and make 
 something better for his work and influ- 
 ence. He should be an asset to the 
 college and not a fixed charge. There is 
 excellent moral training to be found in 
 fraternity life, in taking part in student 
 clubs and organizations, in working for 
 the college, in shouldering responsibil- 
 ities, in acquiring business methods, in 
 looking after and endeavoring to improve 
 the conduct and character and keep up 
 the scholarship of the younger men, as is 
 so frequently done by the upperclassmen 
 in the clubs and fraternities.
 
 66 Aims and Defects of 
 
 Social intercourse, however, is wider 
 than college clubs and organizations, 
 valuable as is the training which they 
 give. There is more general training 
 which relates to all with whom each comes 
 in contact, both within and without the 
 college walls. In such relations certain 
 laws and conventions have arisen natu- 
 rally, and have found expression in canons 
 of ethics and social standards. Of the 
 more fundamental principles the most are 
 known already, indeed so well known that 
 "knowledge of them is wont to outlast 
 knowledge of the sciences themselves." 
 The practical embodiment of such prin- 
 ciples in the lives of men and women is 
 quite as necessary and quite as difficult 
 as ever. The college, however, should 
 impart such ethical knowledge, that each 
 student should not only feel his obliga- 
 tions toward the decalogue, and his per- 
 sonal responsibility as a member of the
 
 College Education 67 
 
 community, which duty may be made so 
 evident in college, but should also be made 
 to understand that intelligence and sound 
 ideals are needed in the solution of the 
 wider and more complex problems of our 
 ethical and political life. Further, that 
 laws exist therein which do not change 
 either at the will of popular majorities or 
 at the desire of the unpopular rich, but 
 that beyond the power of successful or 
 unsuccessful greed, or force, to sway or 
 influence, exist the natural norms of life 
 and conduct in conformity with which 
 alone a good life may be constructed, an 
 ideal life attained, by the individual or by 
 the State. 
 
 Each student should take part in 
 athletics, of which the worst fault is not 
 that they are too prevalent, but that 
 they are not participated in by the stu- 
 dent body as a whole; and that unsports- 
 manlike standards of conduct sometimes
 
 68 Aims and Defects of 
 
 arise. It is not a bad thing for a student 
 to have, as one of his ambitions, the 
 making of a team sooner or later during 
 his college course. He may not make his 
 team, but he will develop pertinacity, and 
 courage, and will power, while aiding 
 greatly in giving that encouragement and 
 support which all forms of college activi- 
 ties need from every student, and which 
 most forms of public acitivities need from 
 members of the community. Students 
 should play their games to win, but should 
 not forget it is a mere game that they are 
 playing. The fate of the country does not 
 depend on the outcome of any particular 
 game, but may depend on the honor, the 
 fairness, and the fortitude with which all 
 its games, big and little, are conducted. 
 
 If a student has played his part with 
 distinction, or even to the best of his 
 ability, in all these sides of college life, 
 he cannot easily fail of acquiring, in so
 
 College Education 69 
 
 far as the college can induce him to 
 acquire, those traits of mind and char- 
 acter which shall make him useful and 
 efficient in modern life. 
 
 To this end it is the duty of the college 
 authorities and of the public to bring it 
 about that not merely are certain subjects 
 taught, in a competent manner, but that 
 they be taught so well as to arouse the 
 interest of all students of average intel- 
 ligence, and that the scholastic discipline 
 be so strict that no habits of laziness or 
 slipshod methods of thought or work be 
 permitted. It is also the duty of the 
 college not merely to tolerate student 
 clubs, fraternities, and other college 
 organizations, but to cooperate most 
 cordially with them in securing the high- 
 est possible personal development of 
 its students. All such organizations rest 
 on social instincts indispensable to society 
 and it is upon the form such instincts are
 
 70 Aims and Defects of 
 
 allowed to take and the manner in which 
 they are permitted to develop that many 
 of the best or worst traits of student 
 character result. It is by sympathetic 
 guidance of such social activities, not by 
 their suppression or mere toleration, that 
 the development of such good qualities 
 is to be secured. In regard to athletics 
 the situation is much the same. Athletics 
 have come to stay, and now occupy a 
 great deal of time formerly given to 
 drinking and dissipation, as anyone famil- 
 iar with college life during the middle of 
 the last century will admit. They some- 
 times occupy too much study time, and 
 because of their direct interest and strong 
 appeal to the student imagination are apt 
 to occupy too exclusively the focus of his 
 attention, especially in the spring and fall. 
 They also sometimes create false estimates 
 of values in his mind. Nevertheless, 
 college life is far better with them than
 
 College Education 71 
 
 without them, and by proper control and 
 influence, they may be made, as they are 
 in many schools and colleges, most 
 powerful means of moral as well as of 
 physical education. 
 
 If then the aim of college training is the 
 development of character and of intel- 
 lectual ability through study, through 
 association with others, and through 
 manly sports conducted with honor and 
 high-mindedness, it follows that no one- 
 sided development is truly excellent. It 
 is neither the grind nor the college prig, 
 politician or social butterfly, nor the poor 
 brainless athlete who is the right type 
 of college man. It is rather the one 
 who by daily habit and endeavor has 
 won the secure possession of intellectual 
 power and culture, of character and 
 enlightenment, and of a disciplined, 
 healthy body, who is truly the representa- 
 tive college man. Above all, it is the
 
 72 Aims and Defects of 
 
 one whose other acquisitions have been 
 influenced by the noble spirit and high 
 ideals of his Alma Mater, in whose influ- 
 ence he involuntarily forms his attitude 
 toward the problems of society, and in 
 whose light he learns his first philosophy 
 of life. 
 
 It is as centers of inspiration and of 
 culture, as the guardians of the spirit of 
 true appreciation of beautiful things in 
 the art and literature of all ages, as 
 creators of science and philosophy, as 
 recorders of history, as the critics of 
 political and social movements and ideas, 
 and as the sources of new and inspiring 
 religious and ethical developments, that 
 our colleges and universities should stand. 
 In the presence of such august mysteries 
 as these no student shall fail in having 
 his life influenced for the better, to his 
 own greater happiness, to the welfare of 
 society, to the profit of the State.
 
 College Education 73 
 
 Imperfectly as this ideal is realized by 
 our existing institutions hampered as they 
 are by the need of men and money to 
 carry on their work, and by the unfortu- 
 nate educational experiments many of 
 them have tried, yet if the judgment of 
 those whom we consulted is correct, it 
 would imply that the best form of college 
 education, both as a preparation for life 
 and as preliminary to training in the law, 
 in medicine, in engineering, or in any 
 profession, is at present to be obtained 
 in what has sometimes been known as a 
 cultural college one whose aim is not to 
 give specialized instruction to its under- 
 graduates, but to impart a broad and 
 basic knowledge of literature and art, of 
 science and philosophy, of history and 
 politics, to the end that at graduation its 
 students may have an intelligent appreci- 
 ation of what has been thought and done 
 and written in the world.
 
 74 Aims and Defects of 
 
 The place for technical instruction, in 
 law, in medicine, in theology, in engineer- 
 ing, in agriculture, in commerce, or in 
 other of the professions or arts, would 
 seem to be in the independent technical 
 schools, or in those attached as graduate 
 departments to the universities. A tech- 
 nical and a liberal education seem far 
 better taken separately than mixed. 
 
 This does not mean, however, that the 
 college student should not be allowed to 
 elect, especially during his last two years 
 in college, a considerable portion of his 
 work in those subjects which lie at the 
 foundations of a knowledge of his future 
 profession, nor does it imply that the 
 traditional college education is adequate 
 in all respects, but, as has already been 
 pointed out, its curriculum might very 
 well be supplemented in certain particu- 
 lars to meet the needs of the time. 
 
 It is the purpose of several of our lead-
 
 College Education 75 
 
 ing universities ultimately to require 
 all who enter their professional schools to 
 be college graduates. Harvard and Johns 
 Hopkins have already done so. Ap- 
 parently this is the ideal arrangement, 
 and is gradually being followed by those 
 institutions desirous of obtaining the best 
 possible results, while a vast number of 
 students, ambitious to receive the best 
 education our country offers, are now 
 following this plan and are taking a 
 bachelor's degree in arts, before entering 
 upon their courses of professional study. 
 
 The student, however, who desires 
 certain special training, yet who is unable 
 or unwilling to go through both college 
 and a professional school, may oftentimes 
 be forced to choose between a liberal and 
 a technical education. There are many 
 considerations properly affecting such a 
 decision, among which are the immediate 
 pressure of circumstances and need of
 
 76 Aims and Defects of 
 
 immediate earning capacity, character 
 and temperament, individual interests 
 and capacity for doing certain kinds of 
 work. No one would be foolish enough 
 to try and lay down a rule to govern all 
 such cases. Possibly however, it is not 
 out of place to consider the trend of the 
 answers we received, and the character 
 and ability of those who have interested 
 themselves sufficiently in the welfare of 
 college men and women, and who are 
 deeply enough impressed by the impor- 
 tance of college education, to take the time 
 and trouble necessary to so carefully 
 express their views, and so considerately 
 to aid us and others who might be con- 
 cerned with their counsel and advice. 
 
 The ideals of the best type of American 
 college obtained very ample justification 
 in the results of our inquiry. Such 
 education is held to be of value, not only 
 as a broad foundation for any form of
 
 College Education 77 
 
 professional or business training, and as 
 an excellent preparation for understand- 
 ing those wider problems of public interest, 
 to the solution of which it is the duty of 
 each citizen to contribute; but is also the 
 most approved means of entering upon 
 that rich enjoyment of intellectual pleas- 
 ures possible only to the liberally educated 
 man. 
 
 It might perhaps be inferred from these 
 results that those colleges desiring to 
 follow the soundest educational practice, 
 and to properly adapt their curricula of 
 studies to meet modern conditions, would 
 do so best by making more effort to give 
 their students a liberal education than 
 many of them are now attempting. 
 
 Certain of our small colleges, together 
 with a few of the large universities, have 
 steadfastly maintained their faith in the 
 value of a liberal education to produce 
 those traits of mind and character which
 
 78 Defects of College Education 
 
 a college should aim to develop in its 
 students to make them useful and efficient 
 in modern life, in the face of much 
 criticism, and despite the success of other 
 institutions which have yielded so grace- 
 fully to popular demand. It is, therefore, 
 interesting to know that the best opinion 
 in America is in favor of just that type 
 of education which the cultural colleges 
 have always given. It is to this type of 
 education, moreover, to which several 
 of those colleges which for a time fol- 
 lowed other aims are again returning. 
 
 THE END
 
 55 
 
 
 
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