"College Education Has Little Or No Material Worth", Says Montague--Feels "Education Should Be More Concentrated"

"Contrary to the popular concept of the value of a college education, there is little or no material worth in it when applied to earning a living in the world of today," expounded W. P. Montague, visiting professor of Philosophy from Columbia University, in an interview last night. "I do not say that it has no value; I merely say that when we attempt to evaluate education on practical grounds we are basing our proof for this belief on fallacious arguments. In the case of some scientific or trade schools there is, of course, proof that training and learning are invaluable, but in the general college course the student learns very little which will be more than remotely helpful to him in his later life. In any case, colleges should leave vocational learning to actual practice, which teaches many times as fast and far more truly.

"The college education of today is valuable avocationally, and not vocationally. What the student learns is not how to work when he leaves college, but how to employ his leisure, although it seems to me a pity that so few students make an attempt to employ their leisure while actually in college. Education provides an avenue of entertainment and appreciation which is not open to the uneducated, and which is one of the deeper and finer things in a person's life.

"The last statement unfortunately does not prove true in many cases," he continued, "because colleges do not give a deep enough training in any one field to stimulate interest after college is through. Colleges now give every student a smattering of knowledge about nearly everything, but no deep knowledge of anything, with the result that ten years after graduation the erstwhile student has naturally forgotten the things which merely scratched his brain, but did not make a lasting impression. Education should be more concentrated and less diversified; more narrow and less broad. A complete knowledge in one subject is better than a very incomplete knowledge of ten. Perhaps opponents of this plan will say that such an education is narrowing. It is; but since the purpose of education is to teach us to enjoy ourselves and not to earn money, the means whereby we earn that enjoyment must be justifiable if they achieve their purpose. Another argument might be that earning a living is itself narrowing in most cases, yet it would be all the more so if there were no worthwhile alternative interest or source of real inspiration."