PH.D. DEGREE ONLY TEACHER'S LICENSE

"A. Ph.D. degree has come to be nothing more than a teacher's license," declared C. C. Brinton '19 to a CRIMSON representative yesterday. "The course for the degree is regarded as an ideal training for the life of a pedagogue, and the degree itself as an open sesame to a position on a school or college faculty." Mr. Brinton, who holds a Ph.D. degree from Oxford University, is now a tutor in the Division of History, Government and Cconomics.

Little Productive Research

"In the persistence of this attitude, it is not surprising I there is little productive research carried on by young Doctors of Philosophy. Nearly all of them would prefer to I teach, than to spend time in tiresome and painstaking solution of historical problems. And the research itself, tedious and exacting though it is, does not tell the whole story of a scholar's task. There is facing the inquirer the orderly and accurate presentation of his acquired facts. Few men today have the patience or the skill in writing to attempt this expository task. In this decline of capable writers lies one reason for the sterility of young scholars, and in it is apparent the fact that Ph.D. degrees are now being given to many incompetent students who have none of the qualities necessary for scholarly research.

Older Men Valuable

"But I believe that most of the profitable historical research in this country is done by collegiate holders of the Ph.D. degree, older men, who were trained to research, and who continue to follow their bent, in spite of many discouragements. These men are constantly producing valuable discoveries, and I think that there is enough historical inquiry made under the conditions that now prevail.

"Perhaps if, there were more endowment funds like the Rockefeller Foundation, and the other research funds, the inducement might be greater for young men to enter the research field. Also, if college professors were allotted more time to pursue this branch of their profession, considerable stimulus would be added to the movement. But while the road to a faculty position is made easy by the Ph.D. degree, there will be little scholarly investigation by the younger seperation of college graduates."