UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND BUSINESS LIFE.
[TO TH1 EDITOR 07 TII1 " SPECTATOR:I
Sta,—Allow me to thank you for your excellent, and I may add, remarkable, article on " The Cavendish College : its Use and Abuse," in the Spectator of the 5th inst. It is long since I have read so sensible and so sound a disquisition on the educa- tion necessary for men of business, and the possible benefits an university education may be to them. It is so much the habit to measure education by the position attained at Universities, that it is satisfactory to men engaged in commercial affairs, to find that you at least do not consider this the only scale to measure with, and that commercial men—who not only far out- number all University men, but have responsibilities, both men- tally and financially, that would appal most of those who take high University degrees—have, at least, ideas of education worthy of consideration. What is the end of a good education ? Is it not that which makes men the most useful to society at large ? In the battle of life, the majority of men have to grapple with its realities, where, as a rule, the ablest and best-prepared win. At the best, the life of a young man at a University is but the beginning, and it seems strange to busines men to hear those who have been at Universities talk of men who have won University honours with such marked respect, no matter how moderate their achievements in after-life may be. No one would think of making so mach of a youth who had gone through his apprenticeship with great credit to himself ; yet what is a man who has taken a degree, however high, but an University apprenticek of three or four years " coming out of his time ?" And I cannot help thinking that the promoters of Cavendish College are making a
mistake, in placing a degree as an attainment worth sacrificing
those valuable years of a youth between fifteen and nineteen, which are now spent in a commercial or business life. I am sure Mr. S. Morley, M.P., if he reflects, must know that in business —no matter how small or how gigantic—a University degree is not a feather's-weight in the balance, and possesses no value whatever. The man who is the most appreciated, and who is the most successful, is he who is able to produce a more valuable article at a less price than another ; whose practical judgment seems innate, but is, in reality, only
that fine and perfect sense which cannot be acquired except in youth, by spending those valuable years in workshops, or houses
of business, so that such a knowledge of materials, processes, circumstances, and men is acquired, as, if left to later years, is rarely, if ever, attained. You truly say that young men kept too long at Universities not only do not obtain this, but acquire a distaste for it, and so work " against the grain." Your remark- able quotation from Mr. Bagehot forcibly exemplifies the pain- ful disadvantages that University habits and thoughts have
through a business life. Unless the knowledge of books—which is the learning acquired in Universities, and the gauge of Honours—forms the stock-in-trade of the man in his future career, so seldom does a University man succeed in a commercial or practical career, that his degree militates against him in his upward progress ; for it has been so often found that University men with degrees are unfortunate, that men dis- trust all those with such " handles to their names ;" and so much is this the case, that we find that even men whom, by their distinguished practical achievements, Univer- sities have delighted to honour by conferring D.C.L. and LL.D., never wear them, and discourage others to style them " Dr." I can name numbers of such men ; and in only a few instances does the persistence of public writers and speakers succeed in permanently fixing this degree to the name when spoken, and then much to their distaste. It will be probably a surprise to many who think so highly of high places in the Tripos or Class List, to be told that it takes a youth less time to acquire the knowledge to obtain them than to become a highly skilled artizan ; and if the " honours man," after leaving the University, attempted to acquire the skill of the skilled artizan in nine out of ten cases he would not equal him. Such skill is only obtained by commencing early, and it will be seen that as so little advance can be made by the University man, his chances are small of success in those pursuits to which the skill of the workman is but the entrance. Now, the very same reasoning applies to every other pursuit where book-knowledge is not the " stock-in-trade " in after life, as is the case with clergymen, barristers, &c. No gentleman thinks it strange that his son must enter the Navy at thirteen or fourteen years of age, or the Army at eighteen, and so be deprived of an University degree ; yet for those business pursuits and callings whose leaders possess as much talent, knowledge, and judgment as the most distinguished Admirals or Generals, it is strange that there should be a craving for a University degree, and this craving can only be accounted for by its value in private society, for in business, whether a man be an engineer or a merchant, there is no respect of persons or origin, and it does not matter whether he was born in a palace or has raised himself from a gutter. The man of highest skill and perseverance wins, and will distance another—though his position in the Tripos or Class List has been the object of envy and admiration—if he fails in what he under- takes in after-life, notwithstanding his " advantages." All of us will prefer the most unlettered cobbler who makes boots fit easy on our tender feet, to another whose productions make walking a martyrdom, no matter how high his reputation may be as a classical scholar.
That is the best education for a youth which best fits him for an upward career in life. A parent, when he enters his son in the Army, hopes he may become a General, and no education which gives him but the chance of remaining a subaltern would be considered sufficient ; and if the career be a commercial one, he has the natural expectation of rising in it. As a University career up only to nineteen or twenty years of age, as proposed by the promoters of Cavendish College, would greatly hinder the upward progress of a sailor or soldier, it will similarly retard the career of a manufacturer, a merchant, or an engineer. Except a youth has his fortune or his business made for him, to enter into after attaining his degree, such as a Goschen, a
Spottiswoode, or a son of Mr. S. Morley, M.P., the proper edu- cation is to leave school not later than sixteen, and enter into the business he has to learn, beginning with the details at the lower parts, and gradually working upwards, according to his- powers. Our best leaders in business are like the best Generals in an army. Those who are masters of all the details, and know how and when to combine them, are the most successful. These high qualities can only be learned by practical application, and explains why almost all our great commercial men, engineers,. and contractors, have sprung from the ranks.
Yet the life at a University has advantages which are worth having, if they can be had without material injury to the main purpose of life. If he lives in a college, the society a young man- mixes with gives a tone which benefits him through life, and enables him to hold his own in any society afterwards. And the attendance on lectures and examinations, and the reading necessary to obtain good places in a, list of honours, gives him a wider range of any subject than can usually be got elsewhere.. How, then, is a young man who has a commercial career before him to obtain these advantages, without detriment to the more important objects in that career which is his main business of life P The vocation of a University in England is to examine can- didates, place them according to merit, and confer degrees. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, &c., make residence at their Colleges, or affiliation thereto, a condition precedent. The Uni- versity of London will examine all comers without college residence or affiliation. The advantages that have accrued by the practice- of the University of London, and the high standard of its degrees, sufficiently shows the soundness of the principle. The tone and the gentlemanly bearing of those who have lived in college at our Universities, also testifies to the wisdom of those Universities making residence a sine gad non. Cannot these be combined ? Oxford and Cambridge will never get our best business men, if they insist on three years' residence ;. it would only injure their prospects in after-life. Nor will Cavendish College get them, if they are to be kept till nine- teen years of age. If, however, they will reduce residence to one year's compulsory residence before granting degrees, I have no hesitation in saying they will not only widen the portals of Universities, but confer the highest benefits on our business men and on the country at large. But it may be said,. —How is the necessary learning to be acquired by only twelve- months' residence ? The University of London exacts and obtains more learning than Oxford or Cambridge for their pass-degree- without any residence; and by private study, in a lesser degree, before the men go there, will Oxford and Cambridge obtain it. A young man can spare one year at twenty-one years of age to- go to the University, without any loss to his after-career. The German Government insist on every German serving at least one year in the Army, and no serious practical inconvenience is found to arise from this compulsion. If, therefore, a young banker, merchant, engineer, contractor, solicitor, or other pro- fessional man wished to obtain a degree—and only the elite- would try—he would use all his leisure hours in reading, and take advantage of tutors to direct him in his studies, with the in view of going to Oxford or Cambridge for his degree,. and as you say, he will get " nothing but good." Nothing makes or mars a man so much as the good or ill-use of leisure hours, so that we may truly say, "Tell me how a man spends- his leisure hours, and I will tell you his future." Very few men, whether they go to Universities or not, love learning for learning's sake. We must have an object in view, to incite us to study. There is no greater delight than thus employing time after business is done ; it is the true recreation ; it makes us better for our daily work, and it promotes habits that will ensure the greatest blessings afterwards, and prevents much evil. I therefore beg to suggest to the promoters of Cavendish College to aim at the attainment of these suggestions. They will reduce to a minimum the cost of a degree, and they will add yet greater lustre to these time-honoured institutions, and men will be proud of the degrees they have thus obtained. Had what is here pro- posed been accessible, Oxford and Cambridge would probably have been able to acknowledge among their sons a Stephen- son, a Brassey, a Fairbairn, a Whitworth, a Bessemer, a Napier, a Penn, and many another great commercial magnate, who would have been proud of their Alma Mater, and have remem- bered them in their deaths by their large bequests.—I Ban, Sir, Lilleshall Old Hall, Shropshire.
Previous page
