LEAVENING THE MASS

In a speech delivered Wednesday night to the freshman class of the law school of Northeastern University, Dean Everett A. Churchill declared that an intelligent democracy was preferable to an aristocracy of intellect; that "while there is need for universities with high requirements, there is also a need for differentiated educational opportunities beyond the secondary school in which a larger number of individuals may be able to secure types of advanced training which will render them individually and socially more efficient."

It is difficult to imagine, however, of just what these types of advanced training would consist. A process of elimination would lead one to believe that there is in reality no place for any additional variety of educational institution between the high school and the college. If a man wishes to work at a trade, for example, he either becomes an apprentice at an early age, or takes a course in a regularly equipped vocational school, many varieties of which already exist. Similarly, if the high-school graduate desires special training in clerical or business work, he goes to one of numerous institutions established for his particular needs. For the rest, those who plan to enter the professions or pursue a study of the liberal arts go to a university, and the remainder proceed directly from high school to their chosen vocation, for which no special training may be necessary. It hardly seems, therefore, either that there is a genuine need for any new type of institution, or that existing college standards need be lowered. Those who can profit by a college education are well able to meet the present requirements.

A far better way to bring about that democracy of intellect which Dean Churchill holds essential would be to provide a better course of training in the regular grades of existing secondary schools. The prevailing school system varies widely in efficiency in different sections of the country; in large cities, such as Boston, New York, and Chicago, it usually fulfills its purpose; but in the scattered rural communities where the "little red schoolhouse" is still considered the ultimate ideal of things scholastic, even the teaching of the three rudimentary R's is often inefficient and unsatisfactory. If this state of affairs is remedied, and an effective system installed which would insure better, more uniform standards from Provincetown to San Francisco, Dean Churchill's educational millenium would be considerably nearer at hand.