Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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CLARENCE G. OWINGS. Valedictorian. Thespian. Secretary of the Sodality and the Secchi Society. The only man who has succeeded in accomplishing the hitherto impossible feat of carrying away the medals and never declining invitations. Editor-in-Chief of the Annual.

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Whereas the aim of the college course was once to give the student a rounded education, so that he, or she, might be fitted to face all the varied phases of life, the purpose of the course today would seem to be rather to train than to edu- cate — to turn out men and women skilled in the work of the office or shop, but skilled in that alone. The study of the classics, once an essential feature of every college course, has been, in many places, ruthlessly discarded. So-called educa- tors the country over have come out strongly against these studies, protesting against them as a useless waste of time, and, in fact, the only colleges that have stood up in their defense have been the Catholic institutions. The objection raised to the classics is that they are not prac- tical enough. They are of no real commercial value, their opponents say, and, unless continually pursued, they soon fade from the memory. Hence, why waste precious hours on them? Let us take a momentary glance at the latter part of thi objection. They rail against the classics because these studies are easily forgotten. “Why not, then,’ ' we ask, “give up the study of physics, and geometry, and mathematics, for the same rea- son? For experience tells us that the greater part of these studies are forgotten unless continually pursued. Even some of the more simple studies do not make such a lasting impres- sion on the brain. It is not easy, after one has been away several years, to spell many of the words that once rolled so nimbly off the tongue nor to locate the cities and rivers that wer once so well known.” Hence, why urge that the study of Latin and Greek is valueless because we soon forget many of the words and con- structions? It is not so much for the languages themselves that we labor, but rather for the training of the mind and character that is the natural result of close application to these branches. The graduate setting out to face the business of life is not judged ultimately by the little bit of knowledge that he may have been able to gather, but rather is he measured by his capacity to imbibe knowledge. It is not the things that can be learned within the four or eight years of school life that constitute an education, but it is the mental training, the great

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thing of “having learned how to learn.” And it is precisely in this respect that the classical course differs from the modern practical courses. The latter seek to cram into the students a multitude of facts, that may, perhaps, be of use to him some day; the former system seeks rather to lay a solid foundation, upon which the student may later on build up a real educa- tional structure. For the college training, indeed, is but an introductory course in the great school of life. The editor of the Iron Age magazine, an authority of the first water in the business world, puts the matter briefly, but well. He says : “Our great corporations and manufacturing concerns se ek the college trained man, but in no sense do they desire him because of the smattering of knowledge he may be able to devote to their interests. They take him solely for the training of intellect he has gone through.” And this edi- tor goes on to say that records of the business world prove the superiority of the college man at 30 years of age to the man of the same age who entered business by the apprentice’s door. “The graduate may have been twenty-five before he donned a jumper,” he says, “but in the five years he learned more, with the college training he had as a foundation, than did the regu- lar journeyman in his fifteen years of actual work in the shops.” Supplementing this testimony is the experience of the Inter- Ocean, a well-known daily paper of Chicago, which instituted a thorough survey of the business district of that city, with a view to ascertaining the true business value of the classics. Speaking of the undertaking, the Inter-Ocean says: “When we began our quest dozens of wise men sneered at the colleges, and declared that the classics would avail a man nothing in business. Yet, as a matter of fact, we found that the number of college-trained men employed in the best positions was 34 times their proportion of the population.” Thus we see that even from a purely commercial standpoint the classics have decided claims for recognition. But they have also other advantages, which appeal not only to the business man, but to all classes and professions. Not only do they, from the very nature of their study, impart a training and balance to the mind that is invaluable to men in every walk of life, but they are indispensable to scholars and