TOO MUCH MEDIOCRITY

The comparison drawn by Mr. Laski between American and British university students and methods suggests at least one significant question. Is it more desirable that the educational system of a country should produce a large group of men whose average mental equipment is relatively high, and but very few above this average, or that it should produce a considerable number of brilliantly able men while the general average is allowed to decline?

It seems impossible to accept definitely either alternative as the better; the demands made upon the citizens of such a country as the United States are so varied as to make impossible the establishment of any criterion whereby the results of an educational system may be valued.

If the government of the country were to be considered paramount among all national activities and the political duties of citizenship were ranked above all others, it is evident that then a clearer opinion on the matter might be formulated. And the opinion would seem necessarily to be this: we need rather a considerable number of men with highly developed ability and brilliant attainments than an unlimited host of comparatively able average-men.

Our national government can not be raised to any higher level of efficiency until that government has become a government of experts. In any one generation, the number of men who are called upon to take active part in the national administration is very small. It behooves us to have ready for the responsible positions of government men with only the most complete training and intellectual development. Even though the entire electorate of the nation be equipped with intelligence of a high order, the functioning of our governmental institutions will halt and stagger unless the most brilliant men of the nation have been given full opportunity for developing their powers to the utmost and have been placed where those powers may have scope for effective application.

The most important task before us in the immediate future is the reclamation of the government. Since it is this which we have to face, it becomes imperative that the educational methods of our universities should so develop as to produce an appreciable brilliancy rather than an all-pervasive mediocrity.