AN EDUCATIONAL HYBRID

At Yellow Springs, Ohio, there are on foot preparations for an experiment that will prove of great interest to all educators -- namely the transformation of the little-known college of Antioch into a sort of super trade-school or college of practical business. Mr. Arthur IC. Morgan, who has devised the scheme, intends to transport a number of manufacturing concerns shops and business houses to the college, making them part of the regular equipment. The entire conduct of the place is to be in the hands of the students, who will work in shifts and will divide their time between these occupations and the usual college studies, Six years is to constitute the course.

The system is intended to give the undergraduate not only the elements of a college education but also, the training which is now supplied by trade schools, institutions like our Engineering School, and especially the instruction which is obtained in our Graduate School of Business Administration. All these elements will be fused together to form the new hybrid among educational institutions. While it is still much too early to draw definite conclusions, it is difficult to see wherein such a plan is any great improvement over places like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, except for one very important factor, the entire organization, social and instructive, will be based on the idea that all the students will be "working their way." As for business training, a college course, followed by two years in a graduate business school, at present gives the same results in no longer time. On the other hand, there are no obvious drawbacks to the scheme, and it is more than likely that a few years of experimentation will develop it into a useful variety of institution. The progress of the school will certainly be watched with the closest attention by all who are interested in educational evolution.