THE SCHOLARS SCORE

Since a Dartmouth undergraduate refused to become a member of the Phi Beta Kappa on the ground that college grades were no criterion of real ability, there has been revealed evidence from two sources that his stand is not justified by the facts. President Lowell, in his speech at Yale last week, stated that he had found that the graduates making the greatest successes in after life had done well in college studies while the prevalent opinion that extra-curriculum activities were more valuable as a preparation for later life has no basis for its claims. President Lowell has carried on exhaustive investigations on this subject for many years and the results of his search are proof of his theory, long held by teachers.

The employers of college graduates have come to the same conclusion, if the report of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company is to be accepted as typical. From among the ten thousand college graduates employed by that concern, those who ranked highest in college now hold the bighest position on its rolls, while there is found no similar analogy for those who excelled in extra-curriculum work. When allowance is made for the considerable number who are included in both categories, it will be seen that these figures go even farther than President Lowell's in upholding the value of scholastic accomplishment.

No doubt the widespread feeling that successes in a class-room are useless after leaving college is due to the achievements of those men of real ability who were not able to derive any benefit from such an education and failed to distinguish themselves as students. The figures obtained by these two independent sources, however, show clearly that such men are rare exceptions, and that for the most part those who score by their academic pursuits at college will continue their success after graduation.