BUSINESS EDUCATION AT HARVARD.

AMONG business men, many of whom look upon a college education as of doubtful advantage from a money-making point of view, there is a pretty general feeling that the University instruction might be so enlarged as to include the rudiments of business. It is a common complaint among those who graduate from Harvard, that they are obliged to begin at the lowest round of the ladder, and do the work commonly assigned to boys of fifteen or sixteen. This is, for the most part, unquestionably true, and as a partial remedy, the writer would propose the following plan.

The University at present offers to its students what is called a liberal education. The departments of instruction are so varied that one can either dip lightly into many subjects, or make himself proficient in a specialty. The student who intends to read law can lay a foundation in history and logic; the future doctor can ground himself in chemistry and science. But to the business man no such opportunities are offered; the work that he does here cannot be said to fit him for commerce or banking, in more than a general way. It is profitable, as all learning is profitable, in so far as it refines and improves the intellect. But it is rarely practical.

Now, if the University should offer a course for those who intend to devote their life to business, a course that should include instruction in practical banking, book-keeping, and the principles of commerce, a great many students would be able to prepare for their future career. And such a course need not interfere with a man's taking other electives of a less practical nature, or with his "general culture."

It may be objected that this is not the proper aim for a university, and that instruction of this kind belongs to the commercial college. But surely, the fact that more than half the graduates in every class go into business, and that the others have more or less to do with money matters, shows that, although the practical may be unduly set aside here, it will force itself to the front in after life. The University has the power to combine both; and the time has come for it to give the experiment a fair trial. Hitherto it has disregarded the aims of a large number of its students; now it may well take these into consideration in laying out the course to be adopted in the future.