THROUGH THE WRONG END

In the midst of the present deluge of collegiate criticism, Professor David Snedder of Teachers College, Columbia University, has presented the theory that the standardized education of today is completely inadequate for the diversified group of men presenting themselves for non-professional degrees. The proposal of Mr. Snedder provides for a college with no degrees and no entrance examinations, an institution with emphasis on preparation for a vocation. The substance of his objection is that the present educational system affords no place for the purely academic mind and advances the student no farther along the road to the attainment of his vocation.

This lament of Mr. Snedder is somewhat a propose in consideration of the fact that in many colleges the educational atmosphere is effectively diffused under the pressure of extra-curricular functions. However, his desire to concentrate the scope of the student, especially that of men interested in pre-professional work falls very short of helping the situation. Under the present conditions the efforts of most college men are allowed to follow one subject to the exclusion of many others that undoubtedly would be a broadening influence. The loss like a professional school the college remains, the more chance there is to avoid this rut and to exert a wholesome unrestricting influence on the students to whom they award degrees. No matter what professional field the college man may enter, the subjects studied outside of this field present a background upon which his specialized knowledge will have to work. Moreover, work not in a specified field offers a chance for contacts outside the particular professional pale which are daily becoming more difficult for the super-specializing American. In the final analysis, college really represents an a vocational rather than a vocational institution, and any attempt to change this intention would only lead to the harming of the many for the good of the very few.