EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY

"Equal opportunity does not mean that all shall follow the same course of study".--With these words President Nielson of Smith recently expressed his views on one phase of educational methods in this country. Professor Nielson is not the first who has called attention to the fact that American Universities offer the same opportunities to the man willing to do only the minimum of work, as are given to the Phi Beta Kappa student. The basis for this system is a specious theory of equality of chance; justified chiefly because all men pay the same tuition fee, or, in the case of state, institutions, because all are citizens who have fulfilled the preliminary requirements for advanced instruction.

There are few conceptions of equality so false as that which holds all men to possess the same possibilities of acquiring and making use of knowledge. Not very many who believe themselves same would support that view for an instant. Nevertheless, the whole American system of college training is based upon it. Graduates to be sure, are treated with more discrimination, but undergraduates of exceptional ability are herded in with their less gifted follows and given the same training in exactly the same way. The only possible chance for the unusual student lies within himself: in that he may do work of a calibre that will win for him the attention of some kindly teacher, already overburdened.

The tendency to criticize the American college system is becoming almost a disease. Adverse views, unless carefully considered, should be withheld, lest they prove superficial and destructive. For the great majority of undergraduates, the present system of mass instruction is adequate at least; but does not the exceptional man deserve something more? College authorities, the country over, in their rush to gain members, too often neglect the scholar. In the whirl of business that surrounds the present day university, the brilliant student should not be left to receive only the teaching that is given to the ordinary man.