OCTOBEB 1, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



423 



remedy. For now some fifteen or twenty 

 years the movement toward a betterment 

 has been going on, but its more definite and 

 encouraging developments belong mainly to 

 the new century. 



The question can now be fairly put to the 

 legislatures of the several states: Is it just 

 and right to incorporate institutions for 

 the instruction of our people and authorize 

 them to give academic degrees and certifi- 

 cates, with no provision for determining 

 the meaning and worth of those scholastic 

 labels? It is not merely an academic 

 question. It is a moral question. False 

 pretenses in the realm of education are 

 a peculiarly flagrant form of fraud, for 

 they cheat our American youth of their 

 American right to a fair chance. They 

 operate no less disastrously when the fraud 

 is unconsciously committed, that is, when 

 incompetent teachers and school authori- 

 ties offer an inferior grade of instruction 

 under the delusion that it is as good as 

 the best. The well-meaning no less than 

 the dishonest need some impartial test by 

 which their educational offering may be 

 proved, of what sort it is. 



The pure-food agitation has undoubtedly 

 lent new point to this standardizing move- 

 ment. It has strengthened the conviction 

 that the public is entitled to know what it 

 is getting, in a matter that vitally affects 

 human health and human life. It is ex- 

 tremely difSeult to devise and carry into 

 effect a plan that will secure such publicity 

 without doing violence to personal rights. 

 But since these difiBculties have not proved 

 insurmountable in the case of foods and 

 drugs, we have courage to believe that the 

 greater difficulties attending a standardiz- 

 ing of education will not prove insurmount- 

 able. There is even more of human wel- 

 fare at stake in the case of education than 

 in the former case. 



It should be said at this point that to 



adopt a standard does not mean to bring 

 all institutions up to an actual level. Even 

 if that were possible, it would not be desir- 

 able. A new institution in a sparsely set- 

 tled region, for example, may fairly aim at 

 being ultimately a university, and yet may 

 render its best service through all of its 

 earlier years by maintaining only a good 

 secondary or preparatory school. Whether 

 it shall follow this course or not is a local 

 question, to be determined in accordance 

 with local needs. But if its real high school 

 is allowed to stand as a make-believe col- 

 lege, we have a case of false pretenses, and 

 grievous wrong is done the state, the com- 

 munity, and, most of all, the students of 

 the school. Another illustration comes to 

 me in a personal recollection. The head of 

 a law school, himself a thoroughly trained 

 university man, once told me of the stand- 

 ing of his school. Its requirements for ad- 

 mission were lower than those of the best 

 law schools, but were distinctly announced 

 for what they were. Its requirements for 

 graduation were less severe than those of 

 leading schools, but they were clearly 

 stated and strictly enforced. The faculty 

 was made up of competent men, each of 

 whom gave to the school only a part of his 

 time, but gave regularly what was an- 

 nounced as his part. Summing up, my in- 

 formant said to me, " This is not a first- 

 class school. It does not pretend to be. 

 But it is a first-rate second-class school. I 

 find a need for a law school of this grade 

 in the community and we are meeting that 

 need. ' ' 



I can conceive that in many communities 

 there may be some need that can best be 

 met by a second-class school. But if that 

 school declares itself to be what it is and 

 makes itself a first-rate school of its class, 

 it may render an honorable service to the 

 community and may even be a force mak- 

 ing for righteousness. 



