PRESIDENT LOWELL SPOKE ON ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS

At a meeting of the Massachusetts school administrators at the State House in Boston on Saturday, President Lowell was the principal speaker on the question of changing the requirements for entrance to colleges in the state. He warned the administrators present against the dangers of lowering the standard of work required for entrance to college, but was in hearty accord with the idea of inaugurating any plan that would broaden the chance for more high school men to enter college.

In his speech before the Convention President Lowell spoke as follows:

"By experience we have learned that in time of peace it is well to prepare for war. Let us not have to learn by our own mistakes that in time of war we should prepare for peace as well as war.

"If admission to college can be broadened without lowering the standard, it ought, of course, to be done. It ought to have been done in the past, because the more men who can be given education of a high grade, the richer the community in intellectual power, in material strength, and in physical well-being. We have striven to broaden our methods of admission as far as possible without lowering the standard. In this we have been partially successful, but, no doubt, not perfectly so; and we hope to learn to do better by experience, constant effort and openness of mind. It is well that the war should direct increased attention to these questions, should provoke us to take our bearings afresh, and consider our courses anew; but the conditions brought about by our entering the conflict are not the best cause the conditions are abnormal and the results obtained by trying something new are not certainly those that would occur in time of peace.

"The suggestion has been made that in war time when colleges are reduced in size, less attention to the qualification of applicants for admission might be given, with a rigid elimination later of those who cannot keep the pace, or who do not prove capable of doing the work well. That sounds reasonable, but anyone, who is in the habit of conducting a class knows that the pace depends upon the students as well as the instructor, and that to add to a class even a small proportion of men less competent than the rest inevitably slows the pace for all. In all human affairs, it is only the selected group that can be kept in a state of efficiency."