August 24, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



215 



decide from the statistics alone the exact standing 

 of these institutions. Tlie extremes are easy to man- 

 age. Who can doubt tliat an institution witli over 

 StK) students, and a faculty of 70, is of a higlier grade 

 than those above cited liaving 10 or iiO students and 

 two or three in the faculty ? Yet this is not always 

 true; for I note one institution with over .500 students 

 which is known to me personally as of the grade of 

 a high school. The statistics are more or less defec- 

 tive, and it would much weaken the force of my 

 remarks if I went too much into detail. I append 

 the following tables, however, of 330 so-called col- 

 leges and universities : — 



218 had from to 100 students. 



88 " " UK) " 200 



12 " " 200 " 300 " 



6 " " 300 " 500 " 



e over 500 



Of 322 so-called colleges and universities: — 



206 bad to 10 in the faculty. 

 99 " 10 " 20 " 

 17 " 20 or over " " 



If the statistics were forthcoming, — and possibly 

 they may exist, — we might also get an idea of the 

 standing of these institutions and their approach to 

 the true univer.-ity idea, by the average age of the 

 scholars. Possibly also the ratio of number of schol- 

 ars to teachers might lie of some help. All these meth- 

 ods give an approximation to the present standing 

 of the institutions. But there is another nielhod of 

 attacking the problem, wliicli is very exact, but it only 

 gives us the possibililies of which the institution is 

 capable. I refer to the wealth of the institution. In 

 estimating the wealth. I have not included the value 

 of grounds and buililings, for this is of little impor- 

 tance, either to the present or future standing of the 

 institution. As good work can be done in a hovel as 

 in a palace. I have taken the productive funds of 

 the institution as the basis of estimate. I find: — 



234 have below $.">no,noO. 

 8 " between S)00,<iOO and $1,000,000. 

 8 " over $1,000,000. 



There is no fact more firmly established, all over the 

 world, than that the higher education can never be 

 made to pay for itself. Usually the cost to a college, 

 of e<lucatiiig a young man. vi-ry inucli CNceeds what 

 be pays for it. and is ofien three or four times as 

 much. The hi'.;her the education, the gieater this 

 proportion will be; and a university of tlie liiglie>t 

 cla^s should aniicip.ite only a small accession to its 

 Income from the fees of stuilents. Flence the test 

 I have applied must give a true representation of 

 the possibililies in every c:ise. According t<> the fig- 

 ures, only Hi colleges and universities Imve $.5i)ii,(MiO 

 or over of invested funds, ami only one-half of these 

 have $1,000,000 and over. Now, even the latter siuu 



is a very small endowment for a college; and to call 

 any institution a university which has less than 

 $1,0110,000, is to render it absurd in the face of the 

 world. And yet more than 100 of our insiitulion.o, 

 many of them very respectable colleges, have abused 

 the word 'university' in this manner. It is to be 

 hoped that the endowment of the more respectable 

 of these institutions may be increased, as many of 

 them deserve it; and their unfortunate appellation 

 has prol)ably been repented of long since. 



But what shall we think of a community that gives 

 the charter of a uiiivor>ily to an institution with a 

 total of $20,000 endowment, two so-called professors, 

 and IS students! or another with three professors, 

 12 students, and a total of $27,000 endowment, mostly 

 invested in buildings I And yet there are very many 

 similar institutions; there being 10 with three pro- 

 fessors or less, and very many indeed with only four 

 or five. 



Such facts as these could only exist in a democratic 

 country, where pride is taken in reducing every thing 

 to a level. And I may also say, that it can only exist 

 in the early ilays of such a democracy; for an intelli- 

 gent public will soon perceive that calling a thing by 

 a wrong name does not; change its r;liaracter, and 

 that truth, above all things, should be taught to the 

 youth of the nation. 



It may be urged, tli.at all these institutions are 

 doing good work in educati<in; and that many young 

 men are thus taught, who could not afford to go to a 

 true college or university. But I <lo not object to the 

 education, — though I have no doubt an investiga- 

 tion would disclose equal absunlities here, — tor it is 

 aside from my object. But I do object to lowering the 

 ideals of the youth of the country. Lot them know 

 that they are atlen<ling a school, and not a university; 

 and let them know that above thi-m comes the colh'ge, 

 and above that the univer>ity. Let ilieni be taught 

 that they are only half-educated, and lliat there are 

 persons in the world by whose side they are but 

 atoms. In other words, let them be taught the truth. 



It may be that some small in-iitntions are of high 

 grade, especially those which are new; but who can 

 douiit that more than two-ihinis of our insiiiutions 

 calling tliemsi-lves colL-ges and universities are un- 

 worthy of the nime? Each one of llie-e lns:ilution8 

 has so-called profes-ors, but it is cviil.'nt that iliey can 

 be only of the grade of teachers. Why should they nut 

 be so called? The position of teacher is an honored 

 one, but is not made more honorable by the as>unip- 

 tion of a false title. FuriheiniMre, the mnlli|ilicalion 

 of the title, and the easi' wiili which il can be oblained, 

 render it scarcely wcrih striving for. When the man 

 of energy, ability, anl p'-rhap- genius is rewarded by 

 the same title and enioliiincnt- as the commonplace 

 man with the modicum of kno«l<'dgf, who lakes to 

 teachini, not because of any apiitmle for his work, 

 hut possibly because he has not the energy to com- 

 pete with his fellow-men in busines-, then I say one 

 of the inducements fur first-class men to become 

 professors is gone. 



When work an I ahililyare reinired for the position, 

 and when the professor is expected to keep up with 



