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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 



may legitimately be used in conducting 

 conferences of interest to certain classes of 

 workers. These may include conventions 

 covering several days, or institutes of sev- 

 eral weeks' or months' duration. An or- 

 ganization having the resources of the uni- 

 versity at its command can easily assemble 

 specialists in some given subject as, for 

 example, civic and social service, criminol- 

 ogy or the scientific aspects of a craft. 

 Lectures, demonstrations and informal dis- 

 cussions are directed toward plain and 

 lucid exposition of the problems under 

 consideration. Authorities, not only from 

 the university, but from over the whole 

 country may be drawn upon for these con- 

 ferences, with the result that the work will 

 be up-to-date, scientific, practical and com- 

 prehensive in its applications. 



One of the most widely known and gifted 

 extension lecturers in our country wrote a 

 year or two ago of the university extension 

 movement : 



Like all ideas and movements, it has fulfilled 

 itself in unseen ways. It is no longer an occa- 

 sional and accidental phase of university work; 

 it is an organic part of it. It is no longer con- 

 cerned merely or primarily with short lecture 

 courses, for without neglecting the lecture work 

 that appeals to general audiences, it aims to reach, 

 like any other part of the university, a student 

 body . . . the very large body of partial or non- 

 resident students. 



Examination into the status of extension 

 teaching in the United States discloses a 

 remarkable broadening and liberalizing of 

 the academic spirit. The fact that a num- 

 ber of the old conservative universities now 

 offer extra-mural teaching with no more 

 stringent specifications than that the appli- 

 cant shall be able to show that he can take 

 the work to advantage, is evidence of a 

 notable change in their educational atmos- 

 phere. 



The uniting of the eight leading educa- 

 tional institutions in and around Boston, 



including Harvard, Tufts, the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology and others, 

 into a Commission on Extension Teaching, 

 denoted a striking departure from the old 

 conception of higher education. The fact 

 that these institutions have agreed upon a 

 course of instruction leading to the degree 

 A. A. (associate in arts) with no entrance 

 examination or resident work requirements, 

 is evidence of a radical readjustment of 

 viewpoint among educators. 



The cost of extension teaching, state-wide 

 in its application, must necessarily seem 

 formidable, but it must be recognized that 

 not only does the system promise a degree 

 of amelioration of economic and other con- 

 ditions, but gives immediate and substan- 

 tial returns in increased productive power 

 of the trained over the untrained worker. 



In 1907-08, according to the Commis- 

 sioner of Education, the sum of $66,790,924 

 was spent in giving higher education in the 

 United States to 265,966 persons. In the 

 state of Minnesota $1,880,568 were spent in 

 the same year for the education of 6,743 

 persons. No one acquainted with the facts 

 will question the wisdom of this expendi- 

 ture. Educated leadership is essential ; the 

 results of research as conducted in institu- 

 tions of higher learning are far reaching, 

 the value incalculable. Yet, if the state 

 university is in truth a public service cor- 

 poration, is not the public justified in de- 

 manding that this great expenditure be 

 made to serve the entire state as its student 

 body? Nor should the fact be overlooked 

 that the extra-mural activities of university 

 extension create an attitude in the people 

 of the state, that will not fail to be re- 

 flected in greater loyalty and more gen- 

 erous financial support — conditions that 

 may be counted upon not only to insure the 

 spread of university benefactions, but to 

 more rapidly advance the interests of the 



