VII.
THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF EDUCATION.
Prince Bismarck is reported to have said that in Germany "there were ten times as many people educated for the higher walks as there were places to fill." Many uninformed persons are ready to make similar statements in regard to this country, and believe that we are over-educating the people. Colonel R. G. Ingersoll says: "You have no idea how many men education spoils. Colleges are institutions where brickbats are polished and diamonds dimmed."
The public schools have nearly fifteen million pupils enrolled, or nearly one-fourth of the population of the entire country. In 1890, the four hundred and fifteen colleges had 118,581 students in all departments. This vast army of youth receiving instruction is regarded, on the part of some people, with a little disquietude, and it is believed that we are likely to have too many college-trained men and women. There are certainly no grounds for fear if we take education to mean the broadest culture for complete living.
If we examine more closely the figures regarding our school population, we will find that, of the large number of pupils enrolled in 1890, there was only "an average of three and one-half in one hundred pupils studying any branches above the courses of study laid down for the first eight years; that is, between the ages of six and fourteen years."
Of the 118,581 students in our colleges, there were only 35,791 men and 7,847 women in the collegiate department, making a total of 43,638 receiving higher instruction. The remaining number were in the preparatory, normal, and professional departments. These students are scattered over a great nation, and if we take students in all departments they represent one in four hundred and fifty-five of the population who are under superior instruction, and only one male student in the collegiate department to a group of 1,770 of the population. Many of those enrolled in college do not complete the course of study. It is evident that the number of students in our colleges is proportionately small, considering our population and the requirements of our age, and the proportion of graduates is even smaller.
The practical value of a college education is seriously questioned by many good people unacquainted with the facts. There is abundant evidence, however, which goes to prove that the college graduate has better chances for success than the non-graduate.
It is admitted at the outset that some self-educated men have succeeded without a college education, while some college-trained men have failed in active life. It should be remembered that colleges do not exist to make ability, but to develop it. There is certainly nothing in a college education which unfits men for the practical duties of life. Some college students have meager talent to begin with, and a college training aims to help them make the most of themselves.
The so-called "self-made" men have undergone the severest discipline. By force of native ability and energy, they have surmounted difficulties and achieved success which merits the warmest praise. There is scarcely one of them who would not have availed himself of a collegiate or technical training if force of circumstances had not ordered otherwise. They feel keenly their educational disadvantages, and believe that they would have had greater success if they could have had the disciplinary training of a college course. Many feel as did the distinguished orator, Henry Clay, who, when in Congressional debate with John Randolph, a collegian, is said to have acknowledged, with tears, the disadvantage he suffered from not having had a liberal education.
Washington, Franklin, and Lincoln achieved success by their application, but they were among the foremost to recognize the value of a college training. These examples show that a college education is not always essential to the highest service. The only just claim for a collegiate training is that it increases the probabilities of a person's success in life.
The criteria of comparison of the achievements of men are imperfect, and the measure of success is not easily calculated. Great men are not those who simply climb up to some conspicuous position. It is important to estimate the quality of the work done, as well as the place occupied. A greater premium should be placed upon the manhood and womanhood put into the work, rather than the place filled. The teachings of Christ show that there is no place in the Kingdom of God for a place hunter, but that greatness is measured by service. In the competition for success in life, it is often necessary to have not only ability and worth, but the commercial instinct to gain public recognition. The safe rule for men of talent to follow is to make themselves conspicuously great in their present position, and make it a stepping-stone for something greater. Charles Kingsley occupied, in England, an apparently humble position in his rural pastorate, but the thinking world has felt the power and influence of his great life.