112 Social Environment 



other hand, it may not be merely a tradition 

 on the part of the capable and ambitious. In 

 view of the overwhelming correlation of col- 

 lege training and success, it seems very prob- 

 able that the relation is causal. Of course if 

 we had a hereditary aristocracy that held a 

 monopoly on prominent positions, the theory 

 that college-going is merely a conventionality 

 might have some grounds ; but such is not the 

 case. Competition for high places is keen ; the 

 sons of the middle and lower classes enter the 

 race and often win. In unconventional Amer- 

 ica, if there were a shorter and easier way to 

 fame than the way of higher education, ener- 

 getic young men would have found it and 

 beaten it into a highway. Further, certain 

 items of direct evidence may be adduced. Slos- 

 son^ says that fraternity men in a university 

 which he regards as typical show 28% of fail- 

 ures in scholarship as compared with 12% for 

 non-fraternity men. Since the fraternities of 

 the larger universities tend to be made up of 

 the wealthier class of students, this is evidence 

 that wealth and scholarship are more likely to 

 be related negatively than positively. Now, it 



1 Slosson, E. E., Great American Universities, p. 127. 

 The Macmillan Co., New York, 1910. 



