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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



problem, we find no help in 'Who's Who' since ancestry is not included. 

 On the nurture side, which would mean education in its broadest sense, 

 we find facts descriptive of certain phases only, namely those of the 

 schools. How important a place they take in the education of the 

 individual can never be determined with any degree of exactness, but 

 even with a full recognition of the force of the home, the church, the 

 state and the vocation, it must be conceded that their influence as an 

 organized educational machine is very great. Facts bearing upon 

 this influence are the ones principally furnished by 'Who's Who' and, 

 together with those of age, the only ones considered here. 



A mention of 8,602 names in the vol- 

 ume in question means, if we assume that 

 every inhabitant of the United States 

 above the age of twenty-one was eligible 

 to such mention, that one in each six hun- 

 dred was so honored. This then, would 

 be our ratio of success for all degrees of 

 education — good, bad and indifferent. 

 We find, however, that of the whole num- 

 ber mentioned, 3,237 had received the 

 bachelor's degree in arts, literature, sci- 

 ence or philosophy at some college or uni- 

 versity. But a study of the alumni lists 

 of such institutions shows us that after 

 the commencement season of 1899 there 

 were 334,000 living graduates. A com- 

 parison of the number mentioned in the 

 book (3,237) with this whole number 

 alive shows us that one college graduate 

 in each one hundred and six found a 

 place. Here then we have the ratio of 

 success for college grad- 

 uates. But to carry our 

 process of comparison 

 one step farther: taking 

 1 :600 as the ratio of 

 success (the 'Who's 

 Who' kind) for the adult 

 American, and 1 :106 as that for the college graduate, we find that the 

 probability of success is increased more than 5.6 times by a college edu- 

 cation. This relation is shown graphically in Fig. 1. This tremendous 

 advantage can probably not be attributed entirely to the direct educa- 

 tional effect of such a training, but, to a considerable extent, to the 

 selective influence of the course. Of the whole number of pupils who 



Fig. 1. 



