THE WHITER PITTSBURGH 



445 



men who know what to go after and how to obtain and present the 

 most valuable kind of knowledge. There is one main purpose, differ- 

 ing from any that has hitherto been tried : the length of the course is 

 indeterminate. The argument given is, the impossibility in a collec- 

 tion of students to have all equally trained or equally efficient within 

 a given time. Each student must, in a sense, be the arbiter of his own 

 destiny: he must get a certain work done before he obtains his certifi- 

 cate. If he fails to do this, he is given instead a statement to the effect 

 that whereas he has been in the institution a certain number of years, 

 he has merely covered a certain ground creditably. The certificate 

 still awaits his future efforts and accomplishment. 



Everything is done to bring the advantages and resources of the 

 schools within reach of the plain people. In other words, it goes down 



Pittsburgh in 1817. 



to them, and after them. The type that it is designed to reach is the 

 middle-class boy. There are some boys of wealthy parents in the 

 schools; and doubtless there will continue to be a certain percentage 

 always; but he is not the type. The theory is that the country boy 

 or the son of poor parents is going to bear the future load in technical 

 and industrial life. It is also recognized that it is from these strata 

 that the best results are sure to come — that the young man who has had 

 the hardest struggle, to whom life presents the greatest problems and 

 the most toil and effort, is the coming man. He is far more certain 

 to achieve success and a name. Great emphasis is laid on the person- 

 ality of the student: he must have the proper attitude toward work; 

 he must be active, bright, always industrious, and never slovenly in 

 his work. 



The intention of the school is to have its heads composed of men 

 whom the students will seek from afar. The members of the faculty 



