COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS 293 



which the state university has taken in the matter of their acceptance. 

 The high school is not a trade school and ought not to be considered 

 one. But the problem, which has been looked upon as one largely inter- 

 fered with by the admission requirements of colleges, is after all a 

 problem associated with primary, secondary and higher instruction 

 rather than any one of its parts. The secondary school, therefore, 

 should be given a large opportunity to work out its place in the scheme 

 of education and to determine for itself, more than it has been able to 

 do thus far, just what scope and methods of vocational training should 

 be introduced in its course. The attitude of the state university in ac- 

 cepting numerous small credits in miscellaneous subjects of a scattered 

 nature tends to retard rather than to hasten a closer investigation of the 

 situation, while the granting of a certain amount of option and liberty 

 to the high schools in the determination of the subjects to be offered in 

 their courses will undoubtedly tend to reduce the number and to hold 

 them in lines that will be more adapted to the needs of the community. 

 Unquestionably, uniformity in the schools is desirable so far as it means 

 uniformity in subjects, time, amount and speed of instruction, but if it 

 means uniformity of instruction by the requiring of individuals the 

 same subjects without regard to their actual needs, it is under all cir- 

 cumstances to be avoided. Looked at broadly, the state universities 

 occupy a vantage ground, in the first instance, in that they have not 

 moved to radical attitudes which upon closer investigation of the prob- 

 lems involved can not be held, and in the second instance that they are 

 not so conservative as to stand in their own light. They are really in 

 the position of modifying somewhat the average requirements for ad- 

 mission to meet the needs of the high schools as they stand to-day and 

 to give them larger local option in the settling of their problems, if they 

 are willing to give over the choice of a certain amount of their credits 

 to the high schools rather than continue the policy of accepting credits 

 in many small subjects. These universities are a part of the school 

 system, and the adjustment which takes place will be from the bottom 

 upwards rather than from the top downwards, but in this adjustment 

 there is need of all the wisdom which the universities may have, as well 

 as the cooperation of all the factors involved. 



