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MR. PETER BROWN, B.S.A., B.Ed. Principal since 1929

The Value of a Higher Education

Is a university education worth while, or is if; a handicap? There are! still people who hold that a college training predest- ines but to failure. There are many who take the attitude that the man who spends what might be regarded as the "college years” in finance or industry has the greater chance of ultimate srucess in the firing line of business, while to read the reminiscences of millionaires would almost lead one to the conclusion that in order to amass great wealth it is at least neces- sary to plunge into one of our large cities barefootad at an age when the average youth is thinking- of his entrance examin. ation. As a matter of fact, statistics pre~ pared in the United States, indicate that there are 277 times as many college grad~ uatese who have great wealth, as there are wealthy persons who have not the college iraining‘.

The results of an investigation published by the United States Bureau of Education a few years ago show that of all the: people in the United States who have performed distinguished service and received high honors, there was: One out of 150,000 who had no education. One out of 37000 who had a Grade 8 education. One person out of 1724 who had a Grade 11 education. One person out of 87 who had a College education.

These totals show the comparative chances a child has of attaining success with difl’er- ent grades of education. Parents who give their children a common school education .nive them four times the chance to become leaders, than the child of no schooling has. Tholsc who give their children a high school education give them 87 timeslth'e: chance and the parents who sacrifice and give them a. college education give them more than 800 times the chance of the uneducat. ed child.

Some time ago the dean of the Pennsyl- vania State College submitted to scien- tific scrutiny legend that college vale- dictoriano always come to some disgrace-

ful end, that a high record of scholarship sentenced. the student to failure in life. The worthy dean found, on the contrary, that the men with a high standing in school almost without exeption attained to distinc- tion in the world. The records show that a large aggregation of Phi Beta Kappa men are serving as bank; presidents. leading physicians and lawyers, accomplished men of business, and even as politicians and statesmen.

It is equally arresting to learn that only about one per cent of the population of the United States has had a college or univer— sity edueatiorr but that approximately two thirds of the persons listed in Who’s Who, which includes men and women who have attained national distinction in any calling, are college trained.

Quite recently the Kansas Agricultural College mad-e an investigation of the lab-- our earnings of farmers: per year in that. state where farming is as hazard as itfls in our own province of Manitoba. Classi~ fied according to the grade of schooling the farmerse investigated had, the result obtained were tabulated as follows: qucatiou of farmer Annual Earnings Elementary school $422.00 High Isrhool 554.00 College 'Plartial Course 859.00 College degree - 1452.00

Hence for each $100.00 earned on the av. 91'3ch for the farmer who attended the low— er grades only, the farmer who finished high school earned $131.00, those that went to college averaged $203.00, and those who graduated earned $290.00.

Important as this material reward of a college training is, it pales into insignif- icance when compared with the other add vantages that occur from winning a uni- versity degree. Desirable as» it is to gain infomation from a well selected course, to know the method of research that will pro- duce information on a new subject, to gain instruction and experielnlcevin handling con- flicting data, to train the intellectual facul~