Evening Star Newspaper, June 22, 1930, Page 77

THE SUNDAY " STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE 22, 1930. o - @l Go s COLLEGE! An Answer From JUSTICE OWEN J. ROBERTS, U.S.Supreme Court. AS TOLD TO HARRY GOLDBERG MERICAN colleges now closing their doors are sending forth a stream of students who have convinced them- selves they are ready to shoulder the responsibility of operating the world. It is true, says Owen J. Roberts, newly ap- pointed justice of the United States Supreme Court, ‘thnt the boys of this generation are better equipped and have more knowledge than their fathers at the same age. This is merely their good fortune, not innate and superior mental ability. 5 What the Germans call “Zeitgeist"—spirit of the times—has given the boys a better start. The waves of education have swept away the wrecks and debris of antiquated notions and the boys are carried out into the world on the tides of ideas that reach the high-water mark of the times. It is difficult for older men to jettison the Intellectual cargo they acquired in their youth and which hampers them in our swiftly chang- . ing life; but the young men, born in a widely different era, float along in the current of the new ideas and start out in life with an ad- vantage new denied to their elders. “But,” says Justice Roberts, “this does not mean that youth is justified in its egotism. There is no substitute for experience. A lawyer who knows his trade can come into a court room unprepared and walk away with a victory against the most brilliant and thoroughly pre- pared novice at the bar. “The first thing that a boy must learn is that the world can do without him far more easily than he can do without the world. ‘The most precious quality which any young man starting out in life can possess is humility. “LET him approach his job in the humble spirit of one who has everything to learn and who aims to make himself indis- pensable. Thorough mastery of your business or profession is a prime requisite to success. It may seem that the truth of this observa- tion is more obvious in regard to the profes- sions, where a man's industry and knowledge are soon made known to his peers, but I be- lieve that the same results will follow in busi- ness “¥You must serve an apprenticeship before you are of the stuff that is prepared to accept the opportunity for success. This is true of any man, dull, average or brilliant; and if the man should happen to be brilliant, the com- bination of comprehensive knowledge and a first-rate intellect make an irresistible force in any business or profession. “I am completely convinced that assured power in any field can only be maintained by grueling and assiduous work in climbing the lower rungs of the ladder. The footing then obtained is so secure that a man's grip can rarely be shaken.” Justice Roberts’ own career has followed this path. He has the reputation of being a terrific worker, preparing every case that came into his care with the utmost thought and meticu- lous attention to every detail. For a long time his reputation did not extend beyond the profession in Philadelphia, but sud- denly, with his appointment as the Government counsel in the oil cases, he won immediate recognition as one of the outstanding lawyers in’ the United States. He had been an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia, a teacher and professor in the University of Pennsylvania Law School for 20 years—always a man chazined to his profession night and day. When his opportunity came to demonstrate his ability before the audience of the Nation, his mastery of the law was so complete that mational acclaim came'overnight. “There is one advantage, however,” said Justice Roberts, “that the college men of my generation enjoyed which is not generally avail- able to the boys of the current classes. Justice Owen J. Roberts won national recognition by his masterful handling of the naval oil lease cases. The Business of Education: To know how to think, to appreciate and enjoy the best in art, literature and music, and to be a tolerant, sympnthefic. temperate human bemg, understanding the world in which one lives. But Not Sfor All: There 1s enougl’\ d&gn;ty and reward in any occupah’on h)day to make it unnecessary for boys to go to couegc whose mental metabolism cannot digcst the intellectual fare of cultivated minds. * * * [ believe that the present type of college education should be denied to an overwhelming number Where Colleges Fail: of students who are now permit(cd to enter. I do not think that colleges today are doing all they should in teaching students to think for themselves. One of the great weaknesses of the American people is their acceptance of ready-made opinions. “We were taught by the professor of phi- losophy, by the professor of Greck, by the pro- fessor of mathematics and not by an eighth or ninth assistant instrusior. “In my time I was not compelled to listen to a lecture crammed into me by a youngster without maturity or experience, but I -was taught to think by men whose wisdom and knowledge was ripened and thorough. “You might begin in the class on philosophy by expressing a hasty or unconsidered opinion, but one or two questions revealed the fact that your opinion was so hollow and unsound that it would not stand the most simple examina- tion. After several experiences of this kind you did not dare to have any opinions except those which you were ready to fight for against the searching attack of the professor and the members of the class. “I was taught in school never to take any proposition for granted, and I still ind myself occasionally asking—although it is more than 30 years since I was graduated from college— ‘what would Fullerton say to this or how would “Pgp” Lamberton regard this idea?” I was “Micky enough to be taught by great teachers; and how many of the colleges today, operating under forced draft and mobilized for mass pro- duction, how many of them can provide such faculties to fertilize, stimulate and stir the minds of their students? hl DO not think that colleges today are doing all they should in teaching the students to think for themselves. One of the great weaknesses of the American people is their ac- ceptance of ready-made opinions. “The persuasive and insidious power «f the JUSTICE ROBERTS. printing press is so great that people find themselves forming opinions on important problems based on headline reading. They un- consciously accept a point of view which im- presses itself upon them merely because they see it often and do not stop und challenge it. “One of the certain indications of an edu- cated man is his ability to withhold judgment, to wait until he thinks all the evidence is in before he shapes his opinion.” Justice Roberts believes that the colleges are not geared to the job of mass production in education which they are performing. He is opposed to mass college education in its present form. He is convinced that many vouths un- able to assimilate a college education are num- bered among the students and that not only do the courses of instruction fail to mold their minds beneficially, but the atmosphere unfits them for satisfying work in a craft or a busi- ness which they would be very competent to do, “I believe,” said Justice Roberts, “that th@ present type of college education should be denied to an overwhelming number of students who are now permitted to enter. I know of case after case of parents who are sacrificing their savings and adding years of pinched living for themselves in order to send a boy to college whose inclinations and attainments do not warrant such training. “The suggestion has been made that colleges continue to subsidize and endow the brilliant students through low tuition fees and scholar- ships and charge the other undergraduates what it really costs to operate the school plant. This would materially increase the cost of four years in college for those who benefit least through college advantages r “THERE is considerable confusion on this subject of education. The technical and professional schools do not really provide edu- cation in the true sense. The boy who wants to be a chemist, a doctor or a lawyer learns at college how to use the tools of his trade just as the apprentice carpenter or mechanic. It seems absurd to mention the mathematics of bridge-building, the strength of the steel struce tures or the fundamental laws of physics in the same category with machine-tending or house-building, but the fundamental principles are the same. Both comprise the use of the tools essential to an occupation or profession. “While knowing how to use the tools of one's profession makes for better engineers, chemists or doctors, it does not bear on the necessity of elevating the younger generation or helping them become true men. “This is the business of education—to know how to think, to appreciate and enjoy the best in art, literature and music and to be tolerant, sympathetic, temperate human beings, under- standing the world in which one lives. “Education is concerned with the growth of personality. It only succeeds when it instills an eagerness for the good things of life. Its job is feeding the fires of the spirit and light- ing an unquenchable flame for truth and beauty. “There is encugh dignity and reward in any occupation today to make it unnecessary for boys to go to college whose mental metabolism cannot digest the intellectual fare of cultivated minds. “I think it is possible to reform our colleges with mass education as an objective. It is pos- sible for the butcher, the baker and the candle- stick maker to be exposed to grand poetry, great literature or the wisdom of the great minds of the ages and to be inoculated successfully with the germ of appreciation. “The man who can be lifted out of himself by contact with the accumulated wisdom and beauty of the generations has an ally in living that is beyond price. He is never without friends or fellowship. If colleges are to con- tinue to carry on mass education, they must dedicate themselves to the task of creating cul- tured and cultivated men or they will have failed in their purpose. “I know there are people who say that you cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and that to take a newsboy and change him into a cultivated man within a generation is impossible, This is absolutely contrary to ex- perience. Many cases have come under my own observation in which the highest culture has been self-acquired. The man who is determined to get an education will always find a way to achieve it. “Meanwhile, the elevation of standards in the professional scheols should go on, in order ta obtain the very best material for the profese sions.” [ OESN“L this mean a double college course, marriage delayed to the thirties and a terrific handicap for the poor boy? How would you answer the charge that such increased eco= nomic pressure is depriving the poor boy of hig chance at the professions and is extremely une democratic?” Mr. Roberts was asked. “I have been puzzled about that question my« self,” replied the new justice. “I really don’t know how to answer the charge that such pro= cedure is undemocratic. But I do know that it is limiting professional training on the whole to & higher type of men and is giving the op- portunity for intellectual leadership of the Nation to those who seemed destined for the higher places. “We are not equipped to give every boy any kind of any higher education he desires. Since the number of places is limited, the opportunity to use these privileges should be limited to those who seem most worthy of them on the basis of intelligence, physique and character. It is & question as to whether under the prevailing cire cumstances democracy is not best served in thig way. “Being poor is a handicap. Economic prese sure bars out the weaklings in the race for success. But if you will look back 50 years ahd examine the histories of thousands of the great men of this country you will find that their origin was obscure and their flnancial status of the lowest. Yet many of them obtained the most thorough education, surmounted great difficulties and are today not only successful men but cultivated gentlemen of the highest type. “Such success is still possible to the poor boys of America, despite the raising of standards which also raise the economle batriers.”