NEW BOUNDARIES

In his speech at the sesqui-centennial celebration at Andover last week President Coolidge brought out one important point which is frequently overlooked in many of the perennial discussions of the American educational system. That is that the principle of education for all, not long ago the guiding star of its development in this country, is still very young as human institutions go. At the time Andover was founded there was no provision for public education beyond what the scattered high schools could provide; for the colleges were very restricted in membership and mainly intended for theological students. By offering many of the advantages of a college without its exclusiveness and by avoiding through its wider range the provincialism of the high schools, such an idea offered the solution and was destined to develop into the present array of schools and colleges in which caste lines have ceased to be a barrier.

But young as it is, the mere fact of special limitation was bound to cause the abandonment of the strict democratic precepts as soon as the mass of the population realized their opportunities and began to take advantage of them in large numbers. Already, while this stage is still incomplete, restrictions are steadily becoming more stringent. The standards are no longer those of wealth and family, and aim, rather unsurely as yet, towards other based on the mental and moral qualities of the individual, but nevertheless education in the colleges at least, is no longer for all. An aristocracy is again growing up, but one better fitted for a democratic country.

Such progress has been inevitable. Education has never been supplied freely to everyone: it is only the requirements that have differed. And after a period which is comparatively remarkable short, in America the transition has almost been completed from the aristocratic aristocracy of birth to the democratic aristocracy of brain.