254 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



law or medicine and differs from them only in that the essential pre- 

 requisites for admission are necessarily much higher. 



The assertion, so often made, that young men are deserting the 

 college courses is not well founded. Comparing the college catalogues 

 of to-day with those of thirty-five or almost any other number of years 

 ago, one finds that there has been no falling off in proportion of stu- 

 dents taking college training — on the contrary, the number has in- 

 creased far out of proportion to increase in population. In looking 

 over catalogues of law and medical schools one sees that, among Amer- 

 ican-born students, the proportion of men with college degrees is much 

 greater than it was thirty-five to fifty years ago. 



But whence come the thousands of students taking the technical 

 courses? In not a few instances, no doubt, they are sons of men dis- 

 gusted with the wide elective or the narrow group systems prevailing 

 in colleges; men, who, desiring to secure for their sons a broad train- 

 ing without reference to their future work, find themselves compelled 

 to choose between narrowness and breadth, between college and applied 

 science. They choose the latter even at the risk of failure to acquire 

 some special forms of culture. In other instances, they are sons of 

 intelligent men of moderate means, who have read addresses by uni- 

 versity presidents and have noted the university methods. They have 

 seen that in some institutions the fourth and even the third year were 

 lopped off from the college course and that, in their stead, study for a 

 professional degree was accepted as qualifying for the college degree. 

 It is but natural that thoughtful men, unfamiliar with educational 

 affairs, should accept the opinions of those popularly recognized as 

 authorities in such affairs. They are the more inclined to this in view 

 of the unjustifiably long period required by secondary schools for 

 college and science preparation ; and the conclusion is confirmed by the 

 discovery that, in applied science schools of the higher grade, much 

 is taught that is given in the two college years, which all agree are 

 essential. Students belonging to these two classes are increasing in 

 number, and they will continue to increase as long as the college cur- 

 riculum remains in its chaotic condition ; but they are still an insignifi- 

 cant minority. Comparatively few parents know enough to make 

 intelligent choice for their sons, and most men, with means to give 

 their children the luxury of a college education, prefer to have them 

 follow the beaten track. 



The overwhelming majority of students at applied science schools 

 belong to a wholly new class. As has been said frequently, the sud- 

 den discovery of our country's resources, forty years ago, made neces- 

 sary new types of training. The old-time country surveyor had laid 

 foundation for lawsuits in important cases ; the excellent pit-boss failed 

 as superintendent of mines; the rule-of -thumb graduate from the cast- 



