Education: Seed Beds

To help 600 small liberal arts colleges in the U. S., President Hoover became a committee-member last September of the Liberal Arts College Movement, to which 235 small colleges belong (TIME, Sept. 14). At the behest of Senator Simeon Davison Fess, onetime (1907-17) president of Antioch College (Yellow Springs, Ohio), he agreed to join in a radio appeal for the group. Last week, along with Speechmaker John Huston Finley of the New York Times, Director Charles Riborg Mann of the American Council of Education and President Albert Norman Ward of Western Maryland College, Chairman of L. A. C. M., Member Hoover spoke briefly. Said he:

“Most of [the 600] have little, if any, endowment or State support. In these times of trends toward larger units the difficulties of the unsupported small college multiply, which make their successful operations less hopeful, and in many cases a desperate struggle. . . . Whatever be the magnificent services of the larger and highly specialized universities, the liberal arts college places an emphasis upon personal contacts of teacher and student which render them a vital part of our educational system. . . . Throughout our history these colleges have been and are now the seed beds of leadership. . . .

“The disadvantage of the small college is obvious. The dramatic element in education does not play a great part in its activities. … In the last analysis . . . it is through them that each State and section must maintain ample cultural opportunities for the youth within reasonable distance from their homes and in circumstances fitted to the needs of each community and its people.”