President Thwing has carefully estimated that, of the 15,142 most
conspicuous persons of our American history, whose record is sketched
in "Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography," 5,326 are college
men. Among the latter, the percentage found in the various callings is
as follows: "Pioneers and explorers, 3.6 per cent.; artists, 10.4 per
cent.; inventors, 11 per cent.; philanthropists, 16 per cent.;
business men, 17 per cent.; public men, 18 per cent.; statesmen, 33
per cent.; authors, 37 per cent.; physicians, 46 per cent.; lawyers,
50 per cent.; clergymen, 58 per cent.; educators, 61 per cent.;
scientists, 63 per cent." He further estimates that one college man
in every forty attains recognition, to one in every ten thousand
non-college men; and a college-bred man has 250 times the chance of
attaining recognition that the non-college man has.
Dr. Channing says: "The grounds of a man's culture lie in his nature,
and not in his calling;" and, in keeping with this, the primary aim of
a college is to train men. Yet, it should be the door of approach to
all professions. The studies pursued in college are the foundations of
the practice of the various professions, and a young man does himself
and his profession no credit when he neglects to master a college
course because of his impatience to rush into a professional career,
and thus help to swell the army of poorly-equipped professional men.
"To practice law or medicine in France," says Matthew Arnold, "a
person must possess a diploma, which serves as a guarantee to the
public that such a person is qualified for his profession. A
licentiate of law must first have got the degree of Bachelor of
Letters; have then attended two years' lectures in a faculty of law,
and undergone two examinations, one in Justinian's Code, and the Codes
of Civil Procedure and Criminal Instruction. The new bachelor must
then, in order to become licentiate, follow a third year's lectures in
a faculty of law; undergo two more examinations, the first on the
Institutes of Justinian again, the second on the Code Napoleon, the
Code of Commerce, and Administrative Law, and must support a thesis on
questions of Roman and French Law. To be a physician or surgeon in
France, a man must have a diploma of a doctor either in medicine or in
surgery. To obtain this, he must have attended four years' lectures in
a faculty of medicine, and have two years' practice in a hospital.
When he presents himself for the first year's lectures, he must
produce a diploma of Bachelor of Letters; when for the third, that of
a Bachelor of Sciences, a certain portion of the mathematics generally
required for a third degree being, in his case, cut away. He must pass
eight examinations, and at the end of his course he must support a
thesis before his faculty."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account