It goes without saying that Mr. Fisher's disclaimer, while noticed by a few papers in this country, received nothing like the publicity that was given to the sentiments originally attributed to him by Professor Beaty; and indeed Professor Beaty's remarks were a good deal curtailed as they passed from one newspaper to another, the only word which was never omitted being "failure." I have never been myself particularly disposed to magnify the virtues of the American Rhodes Scholars. The reorganization of the scholarships, which I proposed and which I hope some day will be carried into effect, was designed to modify the somewhat rigid conditions of our selection so as to allow us to elect each year a larger proportion of the kind of men who are likely to rise to prominence in after life, or at any rate to eliminate those who do not show that promise. But I have never for one moment believed that any change in the method of electing Rhodes Scholars would enable us to send over better men than the best of those who have gone to Oxford as Rhodes Scholars during the last twenty-five years. And any one who can use the word failure in connection with this group of men simply knows nothing about them. Their record speaks for itself, and the very fact that that record has not been given more "publicity" must, I think, be attributed to the Rhodes Scholars as a merit rather than as a fault. There are not yet one hundred and fifty ex-Rhodes Scholars in the United States who have reached the age of forty. Young as these men are, they number among them a considerable group of individuals who have reached national and in some cases international eminence in all the various occupations in which they are engaged: education (including scholarship, teaching in schools and universities, and the administration of educational foundations), law, journalism, literature, medicine, business, government service, and the ministry. There are Rhodes Scholars who are full professors or administrative officers in nearly all the most important universities in the country. There are Rhodes Scholars who are already prominent members of some of the best law firms in all our larger cities. Two of them are heads of two of our best Theological Seminaries, and others fill the pulpits of a number of our most important churches. Rhodes Scholars have risen to eminence in the practice of medicine, in medical research and in the teaching of medicine, while others are nationally successful in journalism, in literature, and in business. Men do not often reach such positions as I have indicated before the age of forty, and not much more could be expected of the one hundred and fifty Rhodes Scholars who have reached that age. It would be foolish to expect that all members of such a group should be equally successful, and it is certainly incumbent upon the ex-Rhodes Scholars in this country who have the future of the scholarships in their hands to do everything possible to make the record of the next twenty-five years better than the last. The competition for the scholarships has increased to such an extent that this improvement seems easily possible, provided conditions under which the selections are made can be given a little flexibility. But any improvement that is made will probably be in the direction of eliminating the poorest rather than improving the best. The remarkable increase in the competition for the scholarships dates from the year 1918 when the Rhodes Trustees put the selection of the American Scholars into the hands of the Rhodes Scholars living in this country, and it is due to the enthusiasm of the whole group for Oxford and for what the scholarships meant to them that as soon as they were given charge of the selection the competition for appointments each year increased to about five times what it had been before the war. The creation of that sentiment in the country at large, the enthusiasm for English education, which is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the last decade, is their work. Short as has been the time since the ex-Rhodes Scholars took over the task of selecting the men who should go to Oxford from this country, the improvement which they have effected has already become apparent. The Rhodes Trustees adopted from the beginning the salutary custom of insisting that all scholars should take a degree at Oxford in the regular way, and it is understood that this must be an Honors degree or one of the higher research degrees. The records of the Rhodes Scholars in the Honors schools are tabulated and published by the trustees year by year in their annual statement. In 1920 the American Rhodes Scholars themselves published in their magazine, THE AMERICAN OXONIAN, a comparison of the record of the Rhodes Scholars for the whole period up to that time, both with the whole group of English Honors men and with the winners of open scholarships and exhibitions in the various Oxford Colleges. These scholarships are awarded by competitive examination and the men who win them are the best which the English educational system can produce. They are trained by years of experience to a skill in passing examinations which American students find it hard to equal. It will probably never be the case that the Americans will win as many firsts as this small picked group of Englishmen, but in firsts and seconds combined the American Rhodes Scholars have for the past twenty-five years been far ahead of the whole group of English Honors men and are crowding closely on the heels of this group of scholars and exhibitioners. It is the experience of English Universities that distinction in after life follows much more surely upon distinction at the University than is the case in the United States. This is probably due to the fact that much more intellectual initiative and independence are required for success in an Oxford Honors School than for the accumulation of a large number of high grades in separate courses in the characteristic American University. If that experience holds for the Rhodes Scholars, as there is every reason to expect it will, we may look for a corresponding improvement in the work which these men will be doing in the United States twenty years hence. To the success of the Rhodes Scholarships must be attributed in part the organization by American philanthropists of various systems of scholarships reciprocating the Rhodes Scholarships and bringing Englishmen to study in this country. This movement has gone so far that there are now as many Englishmen who come each year to study in American Universities as there are Rhodes Scholars going to Oxford. This reciprocal movement, which was absolutely necessary if the Rhodes Scholarships were to have their full effect is in part a tribute to the very success of the American Rhodes Scholars and to the international value of their experience. Another achievement which must be attributed to the Rhodes Scholars is the very serious and very widespread attempt in this country to introduce into our own educational system the best features of the English Universities. The English Universities have much to teach us, and we should have done well to learn from them generations ago, but before the beginning of the Rhodes Scholarships American Universities looked primarily to Germany. We have learned from Germany a great deal that is best in our education, especially in the organization of research and of postgraduate and professional work. But a great deal that is worst in our education has come from the attempt to apply to our own undergraduate teaching the methods of the German Universities which are not undergraduate, but rather postgraduate institutions. Our lack of attention to the individual student, our ridiculous differentiation of courses, our futile attempts to teach the methods of research to individuals who have not yet mastered the fundamentals of their subject are a good deal due to professors who have misapplied the lessons which they learned in Germany. It is only in the English Universities that there is to be found any long experience with that type of university work which has for its goal not research, not a profession, but rather a liberal education. Cardinal Newman's Idea of a University could only have been written about an English-speaking university. It is only in the English-speaking world that this idea exists, and it is only in England that there is to be found any long experience in attempting to realize it. The Rhodes Scholars have learned that lesson, and they are attempting to teach it to this country; hence the rapid spread of the Tutorial System, of final comprehensive examinations, of a differentiation between the Honors and the pass degree which will allow the best and ablest of our students to go their natural pace instead of being held back to a rate of progress which is not too fast for the average. It would not be true to say that the Rhodes Scholars are the only individuals in the country who believe in this movement and who are attempting to realize it, but the fact is noteworthy that the movement began after the Rhodes Scholars had returned to the United States and that they are everywhere to be found working actively either in positions of authority or in the ranks to initiate and to further it. What promises to be the greatest improvement in American education since the introduction of the elective system is due in no small degree to the work of the American Rhodes Scholars. It is not yet time to write the history of the American Rhodes Scholarships, and I shall not be guilty of the bad taste of reciting the names of a group of young men who only ask to be let alone while they do their work in the world, but I wish to echo the indignant protest which has already been made by a number of our better informed newspapers against the insinuation that the scholarships have been a failure. R HODES Scholars all over the country will be glad to learn that visit Rhodes Scholars and Universities in the West and South during the months of October, November, and December this year. His tentative itinerary is given below. Mr. Kerr's program in the various places which he will visit will be arranged by the local Rhodes Scholars. The purpose of his visit is to get acquainted at first hand with ex-Rhodes Scholars and educational men in various parts of the country. We give below the itinerary which Mr. Kerr proposes to follow. In connection with each date there is given the name of the individual or committee in charge of his visit. Sept. 30: New York dinner. Oct. 2: Cleveland, O., C. R. Alburn, 1585 Union Trust Bldg. Oct. 3-4: Ann Arbor, Mich., Dean John R. Effinger, University of Michigan. Oct. 5-7: Chicago, Ill., J. H. Winston, First National Bank Bldg.; E. Lyman, Jr., Northwestern University, Evanston; B. E. Schmitt, University of Chicago. Oct. 8: Urbana, Ill., N. E. Ensign, 610 Indiana Ave. Oct. 9: Iowa City, Ia., President W. A. Jessup, University of Iowa. St. Paul. Oct. 13-27: Western Canada. Oct. 28: Seattle, Wash., J. B. Harrison, University of Washington. Oct. 29: Portland, Ore., G. B. Noble, Reed College. Oct. 31-Nov. 7: Los Angeles, Calif., J. H. Sinclair, Occidental College. Nov. 8-15: San Francisco, F. P. Griffiths, Balfour Bldg. Nov. 17: Reno, Nev., G. A. Whiteley, U. S. District Attorney. Nov. 18: Salt Lake City, W. W. Stratton, Continental Bank Bldg. Nov. 23: Lawrence, Kans., W. E. Sandelius, 1114 New Hampshire St. Nov. 26: Memphis, Tenn., R. P. Strickler, Southwestern. Nov. 27-28: New Orleans, G. C. Huckaby, State School for Deaf, Baton Rouge. |