May 1, 190S] 



SCIENCE 



687 



THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION NOT A CHAR- 

 ITY BUT AN EDUCATIONAL AGENCY^ 



The year and a lialf of experience in 

 the administration of Mr. Carnegie's great 

 gift has served to reveal not only some of 

 the results likely to accrue from it, but also 

 some of the tendencies in administration 

 which are to be avoided. 



The gift was intended to serve primarily 

 in the establishment of retiring allowances 

 for teachers in the higher institutions of 

 learning in the United States, Canada and 

 Newfoundland, but the donor left it to be 

 administered for this purpose in such man- 

 ner and under such regulations as the trus- 

 tees might decide to be wise. 



The fears which have been expressed in 

 certain publications that a great gift like 

 this in the hands of a limited number of 

 men might prove a centralized power which 

 would hinder rather than aid the progress 

 of education, do not seem to me well 

 founded. The trustees of this foundation 

 are in the main college and university 

 presidents who have come up through the 

 profession of the teacher and who are not 

 likely to lose touch with the needs and 

 aspirations of teachers. Furthermore, they 

 compose a board which while continental 

 in the interests represented has no constit- 

 uency to cultivate either for the sake of 

 numbers or of revenue. If the board gain 

 influence it can come only through a just 

 and wise administration of its trust. It is, 

 in my judgment, a wholesome influence in 

 education to have a few such centralizing 

 influences. Our tendencies in the past in 

 the founding and maintenance of colleges 

 have been almost wholly along competitive 

 lines. Colleges and universities have 

 grown up not only without any effective 

 outside criticism, but without any conscious 



^ From the second annual report of the presi- 

 dent of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advance- 

 ment of Teaching. 



attempt to serve the larger interests of edu- 

 cation, letters and science or to operate on 

 a national scale. Here for the first time 

 is created an agency which is conscien- 

 tiously seeking to consider the problems of 

 institutions from the larger view of the 

 welfare of the teachers in all colleges and 

 universities, and to take into account the 

 interests not alone of a community or of 

 a section, but of a continent. The two 

 viewpoints are vastly different. Hereto- 

 fore the tendencies have nearly all been 

 centripetal and the oiitcome is seen in the 

 multitude of weak, badly organized, and in 

 some cases unnecessary institutions. The 

 establishment of an agency which is con- 

 cerned with the larger outlook and the 

 wider field can scarcely fail to make for 

 educational coherence and in the end for 

 educational unity. 



There lies also in the work of such an 

 agency increased possibilities for interna- 

 tional understanding and betterment. Can- 

 ada and the United States can each learn 

 from the other in the matter of education. 

 The common school systems of the two 

 counti'ies are remarkably similar in their 

 organization and in their methods. The 

 Canadian institutions have naturally fol- 

 lowed more closely than American colleges 

 English precedents. Just at this time, 

 however, the American college is undergo- 

 ing a searching examination and methods 

 are again being developed which look to- 

 ward the English college ideals and organ- 

 izations. Each country will gain by an 

 acquaintance with the educational methods 

 of its neighbor and such acquaintance 

 makes for improved international relations. 



The year and a half of experience in the 

 administration of the foundation has served 

 to make clear at least one principle, namely, 

 that the retiring allowance must come as a 

 right, not as a charity; as a thing earned 

 in the regular course of service, not a 



