The utility of all kinds of higher schooling : an investigation

Preface

Part One of this book was published first in 1902, and so much interest was shown in the original edition that a second printing was needed in 1903 — this edition giving results of my further investigations as to the utility of an academic or classical education for young men who have to earn their own living, and who expect to pursue a commercial or industrial career.

As my position on this subject seemed to meet with general endorsement, and long experience and observation had given me the impression that the value of nearly all other branches of higher education was greatly overestimated, I concluded to go into a general investigation of the subject, in order to ascertain just what the facts are, and have investigated and studied the following:

Technical Education in Manufacturing.

Technical Education in Civil Engineering.

Technical Education in Electrical Engineering.

Agricultural Colleges.

Manual Training in the High Schools.

Business Education.

Medical Education.

Scientific Education.

Rural Schools.

The results of these investigations are now added to the third edition of Part One, as Part Two of the present book.

4 PREFACE.

I have undertaken all of my investigations just as I would g"o about any piece of mechanical work, or as I would consider any business proposition — systematically, deliberately, and with the purpose of getting to the point by the shortest way possible, and it will be found that I have used no immaterial matter and no unnecessary words.

R. T. C.

Chapter I. Herbert Spencer's Opinion Of A Classical Education

PAQES

Spencer's views on classical education — Doctor Eliot's

" five-foot shelf of books " 20-22

CHAPTER H.

OPINIONS OF COLLEGE MEN.

A statement of the case — Copy of letter sent to college presidents — Replies from Charles W. Eliot, Arthur T. Hadley, Francis L. Patton, Nicholas M. Butler, G. Stanley Hall, J. B. Angell, A. S. Draper, William R. Harper, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, G. Maclean, E. H. Griffin, E. Benjamin Andrews and Dr. D. S. Jordan — What the replies show 23-38

CHAPTER HI.

OPINIONS OF COLLEGE GRADUATES.

Copy of letter sent to college graduates — Answers tabulated, and certain deductions — Loyalty to the college — Value of the evidence — Prejudice against college graduates — Conflicting opinions of two graduates — Failure to answer — Second letter of inquiry 39-47

CHAPTER IV.

OPINIONS OF BUSINESS MEN.

FAOES

Copy of letter sent to one hundred business men —

Answers from forty-one firms and business men. . . 48-78

CHAPTER V.

CRITICISMS ON THE FOREGOING LETTERS.

Criticisms — Certain deductions — Railroad men — "Ever}'- thing else being equal " — " Would depend on the boy" — The usual method of employing — A college graduate's experience 79-89

CHAPTER VI.

FURTHER MISREPRESENTATIONS OF EDUCATORS.

President Jordan's extravagant claims — • College captains of industry — The testimony of Mr. Andrew

Carnegie — Professor Chaplin's fatal admissions —

Reply to Professor Clark relating to commercial education 90-97

CHAPTER VII.

GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE SUBJECT.

Words of wisdom — The importance of starting right — Cost of a college education — College conceit and pessimism — Object of education — The maximum of happiness — Happiness from success — False pride — When is a man educated? — The best college is the world — College men have no special ability — Educators do not agree — A practical surrender — " College aristocracy " — Colleges patronized by the rich — Top-heavy education 98-117

PAGES

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VIII.

PROFESSIONAL MEN.

Vj, The value of professional education — Lawyers 1 18-120

CHAPTER IX.

COLLEGE EDUCATION AND CHARACTER BUILDING.

An exploded idea — Claim of colleges as character builders — Have collegians superior character ? — What students should be warned against — The indifference of the college — Danger of exclusiveness — A comparison with savages — Why do students degenerate? — Herbert Spencer's opinion — Character that football builds — Character tested by deeds — Dr. Virchow's verdict — Character in the Medical Profession 121-133

CHAPTER X.

THE MAKING OF STATESMEN AND ORATORS.

, Early education in Illinois — Notable array of statesmen from that State — How much schooling is enough ? I34-I37

CHAPTER XL

SOME VIEWS OF OTHER INVESTIGATORS.

" The disadvantages of education," an English critic's observations — Dr. Woodrow Wilson's opinion — Joseph Chamberlain on progress and character. .. .138-147

CHAPTER XII.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS ON PART ONE.

A thankless task — Facts, not theories, the chief purpose — The educator and the merchant who sells " shoddy " goods 148-149

Part Two Introductory To Part Two

CHAPTER I.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN MANUFACTURING.

FAQES

Value of the practical — Danger of impractical things

— Where technical schools fail — No need to fear Germany 155-160

CHAPTER H.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ENGINEERING.

How technical schools have grown — Where the danger lies — Field for technical schools — Small-salaried professors 161-167

CHAPTER HI.

THE FIELD FOR ENGINEERS.

Uncommon brain capacity needed — Big cost for small results — Engineering in England — An array of brilliant men — Rennie, Telford, Brunei, Smeaton, Brindley, Barlow — The first Thames tunnel — Important problems solved — American engineers; Geddes, Wright, Jarvis, Eads, Howe — The Erie canal — Croton aqueduct — Dry dock at Brooklyn — The great Eads bridge at St. Louis — The Mormon temple — Work of practical men — Work of technical men — John A. Roebling — The Brooklyn bridge — Old principles employed — Roebling's tribute to the practical man — New York tunnel work — Refuge for technical-school graduates — Size of a project not very important — Great buildings of the past — Theory may be got from books

— Results of an inquiry — Advantages of factory training — Wrong meaning of "demand" 168-189

CHAPTER IV.

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ELECTRICAL ENGI- NEERING.

PACKS

Too many electrical engineers for the demand — Schools of small importance — Definitions of an electrical engineer — Some obsolete teaching — Narrow limit of efficiency — Requirements for an all-around engineer — How the colleges fail to supply these — The " engineer " apprentice " — Must be developed by practical work — A broad difference pointed out — One system of making electrical engineers that failed — A theory of cooperation — A serious question — General Electric Company's estimate of technical-school graduates gauged by the pay given them — A valuable suggestion — An absurd proposition — Value of association — Advantage of shop training for electrical engineering — How discontent is bred — Substitute for the college — Text-books prepared by practical men 190-211

CHAPTER V.

MEDICAL EDUCATION.

Overproduction of lawyers — Cussedness of this line of education — Overcrowding of the medical profession — Facts from a reliable source — Swindling resorted to by some high-grade doctors 212-222

CHAPTER VI.

SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION — IS IT IMPORTANT IN THE PRODUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC OR PHE- NOMENAL DISCOVERIES OR INVENTIONS?

Discoveries and inventions classified — Some mistaken ideas — Unjust toward practical man — A puzzling question — What history shows — The research fad 223-228

CHAPTER VII.

THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY AND TECHNICAL- SCHOOL GRADUATES.

PA.GES

One of the chief sinners — One opinion out of fifty — A few pointed questions — Railroad men made " while you wait " — Small amount of experience — Incompetent advisers — Insufficient training — Requirements for roundhouse — Qualifications not common — The only one competent to judge — Making the best men — Preparing good help — How to encourage loyalty — No science in railroading — Facts against fancy — A practical suggestion — Letters from President Thwing 229-246

CHAPTER VIII.

CARNEGIE AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS.

Mr. Carnegie's opinions versus his practice — Those who win not college graduates — A letter from Mr. Carnegie — Comment — Credit withheld where due

— A lack of frankness — Foundation of the matter

— One serious blunder 247-257

CHAPTER IX.

MANUAL TRAINING IN OUR PUBLIC GRAMMAR- SCHOOLS.

Fundamental purpose of education — Real captains of industry — Wide field for the all-around mechanic

— Manual training distinct from the grammar grades, cousin to technical courses — One Chicago experiment that failed — Given a full and fair trial — Boys spoiled, not helped — Education for business — Weakening the foundation — The trade school unnecessary — Marked industrial changes — No school can teach a trade — How Crane Co. trains apprentices — System that holds the boys — No lack of mechanics — Trade schools do more

harm than good 258-269

CHAPTER X.

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLING — DO ITS RESULTS JUSTIFY ITS EXPENSE?

What agricultural colleges cost — Reasonable to ask proof — Allowance for exaggeration — Greatest of our industries — Why has the crop yield fallen ? — College men questioned — The voices of several colleges — Where the colleges are lacking — Plenty of successful farms — More light needed — Value of agricultural college work not conclusive — Questions asked of farmers — Classifying the answers — Colleges as sources of information — Something about fertilizing — Stock-feeding a special business — What the "No's" have to say — The fundamental things — Short agricultural course fails to justify its claims — What does the farmer need?

— The point for comparison — ; Breeding, judging, care and management of stock — Feeds and feeding

— One useless book — Veterinary science — Soils

— Plant life and horticulture — Farm dairying — Agricultural chemistry — Bacteriology — Farm bookkeeping and business accounts — Agricultural economics — Farm crops — Agricultural engineering, practical mechanics — Nothing practical from experiment stations — An oversupply of literature — Training of teachers — Analysis of experimental station bulletins — An unnecessary expense — Prominence of the impracticable — Some extravagant claims — Something to be taught — Education the farmer needs 270-302

CHAPTER XI.

HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN DEFRAUDS THE STATE.

Some reckless statements — The alleged yield of corn

— Report shows increase — Planted in better land

— Nothing given on experiments — No comparison

PAOEB

made — A backward operation — What corn does well? — Regarding barley — Censure is merited — Farmers long ahead of the University's experiments 303-313

CHAPTER XII.

THE RURAL SCHOOL — A SADLY NEGLECTED FOUNDATION.

Is all Wisconsin "literally educated?" — A strong array of facts to the contrary — Saving $5 a year on the teacher — A condition far too general — An inevitable combination — Suppressed official reports — Teachers' needs versus the price of a cow — Drawing the boy from the farm — Education given farmers' children — Other States far ahead of Wisconsin in rural education — The district schools of Illinois — Dean Davenport's plea in the wrong direction — " Barking " for the " side-shows " — Working at the wrong end of the problem — Frank testimony of A. F. Nightingale, of Cook county, Illinois — A suggestion to Wisconsin rural-school authorities 314-328

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER.

All schooling above the public grammar grades worse than useless — The practical man and the higher educator compared — Cheap teachers to produce high-priced business men — Give the professors a chance to earn an honest living 329-331

Part One

THE UTILITY OF AN ACADEMIC OR CLASSICAL EDUCATION FOR YOUNG MEN WHO HAVE TO EARN THEIR OWN LIVING AND WHO EXPECT TO PURSUE A COMMERCIAL LIFE

INTRODUCTORY TO PART ONE.

My object in republishing and revising this part is twofold: First. The subject of education, in itself, is of the highest importance, and one on which I maintain the public at large holds anything but sound and sensible views. Second. Every boy and young man has a right to know the facts — to know exactly what higher education is prepared to give in exchange for his time and money.

In the term " higher education " I include everything beyond the grammar grades of the public schools.

In investigating the so-called higher educational institutions — including always the high schools — one is impressed by their enormous growth within the last half-century.

Fifty years ago comparatively few high schools, colleges and universities were in existence in the United States. To-day, as shown by the reports of the Commissioner of Education, at Washington, there are some 577 universities and colleges. The value of the property held by these institutions aggregates about $554,000,000, and they have enrolled in the neighborhood of 250,000 students. In the 9,560 secondary schools there are nearly 1,000,000 pupils. I As the secondary schools and colleges between lem demand eight years of a youth's life — and

/ eig

;ight of his best years at that — to say nothing of the

/ money cost of his tuition and the money he might

/ earn during those eight years, estimated at about $io,-

/ 000 in all — surely it is proper to ask what this higher

I education has to give the boy, and whether this edu-

1 cational equipment is going to make him more fit for

I earning his living than is the lad who goes directly

I into his life's work from the common grammar schools.

The value of education largely is a matter of individual opinion. But its real value may be approximated somewhat by getting the preponderance of opinion, as to its utility, from unbiased men who are in the best position to judge. This course I have followed throughout my inquiries, as I have felt that individual opinions, no matter from how high authority they come, would have but little weight in the settlement of this question.

Another reasonable way of judging of the importance of higher education is to go back to a time when we had little of it and see if humanity is any better off to-day — materially, intellectually and morally — than it was then.

I think it is safe to say here that this country has made the most wonderful progress in its history, in all general lines conducive to prosperity and happiness, during the last fifty years. And it is equally safe to say that higher education had little or nothing to do with this condition, for practically none of the men to be credited with this advancement had more than a grammar-school education.

This being true, the question naturally arises : Is it advisable to rush into such extensive and expensive experiments in higher education when such marked progress has been made without it, and when the great employers of the country, almost to a man, show no disposition to give preference to the products of higher education ?

Isn't it the part of wisdom and prudence to look around and study the results of all this higher education? Shouldn't it be perfectly clear that in seeking an education you are getting what you pay for? No one would buy millions of dollars' worth of merchandise without knowing its actual value.

It is the purpose of this book to give the results of such a study, to expose the falsity and extravagance of the claims made by the higher educational institutions, to set young men to thinking clearly for themselves, and to mold public opinion to the point of demanding that the high schools, colleges and universities shall show clearly not only that they are doing good, but are doing it in proportion to their cost.

My criticism of higher education (first published in 1902, and here reprinted slightly revised as Part One) stands more solidly than when it was first written. It has not been, and can not be, assailed successfully.

The soundness of the work has been endorsed on every side, and my position has been strengthened further by the general popular denunciation of colleges, and the widespread, sharp criticism of our high-school system, that have grown so common of late.

In this book, while I criticize education, it should be borne in mind that I make a great distinction between the terms education and schooling. Schooling is simply learning or memorizing a lot of unimportant things, while by education I mean knowing

important things. 2

I realize that in discussing this question I am at a decided disadvantage for several reasons :

First. In questioning the utility of college work in any department, the natural inference is that I must favor ignorance.

Second. Popular sentiment is in favor of colleges, because a great many people, if they do not favor colleges on account of the benefit of the schooling to the student, favor them as being highly ornamental.

But before I finish this question, I think my readers will see that I am quite as much in favor of education as mast people are, and a great deal more than some who pretend to favor it.

The difiference between us is that I am in favor of the education that educates and consequently makes men valuable citizens, rather than the class of men that these institutions generally turn out.

It may seem to some that, in commenting on the letters received in response to my inquiries, I am too severe at times ; but I think the candid reader will agree with me that in the main, at least, my opinions have not been expressed too strongly.

I asked simple, straightforward questions. I expected direct, straightforward answers. Yet, in nearly all of the letters from college men, and in not a few of those from business men, the answers are vague and unsatisfying, and in some instances actually evasive.

It has seemed to me that in some of the letters there is much " hedging," as though the writers did not wish to speak out honestly and clearly, for fear of offending their college friends. When such letters come from business men I feel that I am justified in criticizing them sharply, because they do not impress me as being frank. It looks as though this were one influence of the colleges that no amount of friendliness toward them should be able to commend.

CHAPTER I.

HERBERT SPENCER'S OPINION OF A CLASSICAL EDUCATION.

Upon the subject of education, Mr. Herbert Spencer has the following to say :

The remark is trite that in his shop, or in his office, in managing his estate or his family, in playing his part as director of a bank or a railway, he [the college graduate] is little aided by this knowledge he took so many years to acquire — so little that generally the greater part of it drops out of his memory. * * *

If we inquire what is the real motive for giving boys a classical education, we find it to be simply conformity to public opinion. Men dress their children's minds as they do their bodies, in the prevailing fashion. * * *

A boy's drilling in Latin and Greek is insisted on, not because of their intrinsic value, but that he may not be disgraced by being found ignorant of them — that he may have the " education of a gentleman " — the badge marking a certain social position, and bringing a consequent respect. * * *

To get above some and be reverenced by them, and to propitiate those who are above us, is the universal struggle in which the chief energies of life are expended. * * *

Not what knowledge is of most real worth, is the consideration, but what will bring most applause, honor, respect — what will most conduce to social position and influence — what will be most imposing. As throughout life, not what we are but what we shall be thought, is the question; so in education the question is not the intrinsic value of knowledge so much as its extrinsic effects on others. And this being our dominant idea, direct utility is scarcely more regarded than by the barbarian when filing his teeth and staining his nails. * * *

But we that have but span-long lives must ever bear in mind our limited time for acquisition. And remembering how narrowly this time is limited, not only by the shortness of life but also still more by the business of life, we ought to be especially solicitous to employ what time we have to the greatest advantage. Before devoting years to some subject which fashion or fancy suggests, it is surely wise to weigh with great care the worth of the results, as compared with the worth of various alternative results which the same years might bring if otherwise applied.

Doctor Eliot's " Five-foot Shelf of Books."

To the foregoing- I would add the following significant statement made recently by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, for forty years president, and now president emeritus, of Harvard University.

After selecting from the best literature of the world a number of books that can be placed on a five-foot book shelf, Doctor Eliot says :

It is my belief that the faithful and considerate reading of these books, with such rereadings and memorizings as individual taste may prescribe, will give any man the essentials of a liberal education, even if he can devote to them but fifteen minutes a day.

This deliberate expression by a man who has spent his life in higher educational work coincides exactly with my own belief as expressed in several of my papers on education, and that is : Young men who wish to become enlightened or educated on any particular subject may obtain from books all the knowledge required, provided they can find what books to read. Such persons do not need to be urged to read and study for themselves ; neither do they need to go to a teacher, for the teacher can tell them nothing more than they can find for themselves in the books.

There is nothing specially remarkable in President Eliot's statement — except it be that he goes further than I have done in saying that not only may an education on special subjects be obtained from books, but also all the essentials of a " liberal education."

Doubtless Doctor Eliot always has known this, as most reasonable persons have, but he has kept the knowledge to himself until now that he is practically through with active college work he thinks that he might as well be honest about the matter and give the public the benefit of his mature judgment.

All educators must know this fact as well as Doctor Eliot, yet they go right along encouraging young men to spend their time and money going to college, when they might be earning their living, developing their character without the risks incident to college life, and getting the essentials of a liberal as well as a practical education from the best books of the world.

Chapter II. Opinions Of College Men

It should be borne in mind that wherever college education is mentioned in Part One it refers exclusively to the so-called " academic " course, or the classical and literary department. Too much emphasis can not be laid upon this distinction, for neglect of it is the cause of a large part of the confusion of thought and expression on this subject which is so prevalent among even the educated. By referring to the letter of Charles W. Eliot, on page 26, it appears that even so highly educated a gentleman as the former president of Harvard University confounds an academic course with scientific and technical courses. The reader is urged to avoid this mistake.

The question whether an academic, or even a high-school course is of benefit to young men who have to make their own way in the business world and intend entering upon a commercial life, is one of such vital importance and is surrounded by so much doubt, that it is high time it was thoroughly investigated. If the facts are as many believe, these institutions are the cause of most serious error, if not of positive injury to this class of young men.

A great deal has been written upon this subject, but, as far as I have been able to discover, the writers have given merely their opinions or theories, not facts. The great majority of college presidents agree in urging the importance of college education for business men, as will be seen by reference to the letters quoted in the following pages from prominent educators.

It has seemed to me that the testimony of a large number of heads of universities, college graduates, and prominent business men would be of great assistance in arriving at something tangible on this subject. I have, therefore, made an extensive investigation along this line, the results of which are here given, together with certain comments. First will be found a copy of a letter sent to the presidents of nineteen of the principal universities and colleges in this country, and the replies from all who answered ; which will show how little hght they are able to give on this subject.

A Copy of the Letter Sent to College Presidents.

Chicago, September 5, 1901.

Dear Sir:

The question of the utility of an academic course for young men who have to make their own living and ivho expect to pursue a commercial life, is one of the greatest importance, and as I am endeavoring to ascertain what the facts are in this matter, I should he very glad indeed if you would kindly favor me with an answer to the enclosed questions.

Thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter, I am

Yours truly,

R. T. Crane.

The Questions Asked.

I. Is there, in your opinion, any evidence that such education is of any advantage to this class of young men?

2. If SO, what evidence?

3. Have you made any systematic effort to ascertain:

[a] What success such college graduates have met

with in securing positions?

[b] How successful they have been after going into

business?

4. If question No. 3 is answered affirmatively, what have

you found to be the facts?

5. Can you mention any employers who, when seeking

employees, are in the habit of asking, from the head of any college, information regarding students about to graduate, with the view of selecting their help from among such students?

6. Please give an estimate of how much it costs your

college to give a young man such a course of education. I do not mean by this simply the student's tuition, but you should also include interest on the plant, taxes, insurance, wear and tear, in fact everything that enters into the actual cost of running the college.

7. Can you give me the names and addresses of the sec-

retaries of classes that were graduated from your college five to eight years ago? I may wish to obtain from them a list of their classmates, in order to make some inquiries of such young men, should the information received from the heads of the colleges be unsatisfactory.

The Opinions of College Presidents. Six of the universities did not reply, vis.: Cornell University.

Washington University, St. Louis.

University of Pennsylvania.

University of Wisconsin.

University of Minnesota.

University of Rochester.

The repHes received from the others I give complete, with the exception of their answers to questions

Nos. 6 and 7. The reason for omitting No. 6 will be found on page 99, Question No. 7, of course, is of no interest to the reader.

In considering individual letters, I shall comment only on such ideas as are peculiar to one letter. The ideas the various writers have in common will be treated under a general head.

CHARLES W. ELIOT, President of Harvard University.

The question of the utility of an academic course for young men who are going into btisiness can not be intelligently discussed unless the term " academic course " be clearly defined. I understand it to comprehend any course of study in a college or scientific school which covers approximately the years from seventeen or eighteen to twenty or twenty-two. With this understanding of the term, there can be no question whatever that an academic course is in the highest degree desirable for capable young men who mean to make their living in business. By business I understand banking, transportation, manufacturing, mining, large-scale farming, and engineering in all its branches. These occupations require nowadays, in all their higher levels, a trained mind, and a deal of appropriate information. This training and information can only be acquired in colleges and scientific schools. A young man who is going into business had better take an academic course, in my sense of the term, if he has any mind to train. That is an indisputable proposition, and there is no use in discussing it.

To get detailed evidence of the truth of these statements, I should advise you to procure a series of the triennial or quinquennial class reports, which are published by the class secretaries at Harvard, and I suppose at other colleges. These reports give the occupations and mode of life of the members of a class, and even of persons who have been temporarily connected with the class.

By a careful examination of a series of these reports you will get abundant evidence that college and scientific school training nowadays is profitable, indeed, indispensable, to a young man going into the higher walks of business. To procure such a series from Harvard you had better apply to Mr. Jerome D. Greene, President's Secretary, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

This letter, from so high an authority, is such a perfect illustration of the weakness of the whole argument on the affirmative side of my subject, and of the prevalent confusion of thought concerning it, that I give it special notice.

Doctor Eliot's broad assertion that there is no use in debating the question, that it is best for a young man to take an academic course, no matter what business he is going into, is right in line with all the absurd positions these people take. That is, his idea is that we must accept his statement regardless of any evidence.