The President's report, of which a digest was published in the CRIMSON some weeks ago, contains some interesting statistics upon the average ages of the entering classes of the University. From 1865 until 1880 the average age of the freshman classes was 18 and a fraction. This fraction gradually grew larger until in 1881 the age was 19. Two years later it fell to 18 years and 9 months. In 1887 it rose again to 19, where it remained, varying a few months each year, until 1894, when the average age of the entering class was 18 years and 117/12 months. The present freshman class averaged 18 years and 9 months.

These figures are of considerable interest. In the opinion of President Eliot, expressed in his Report, the age, though showing an improvement in the last few years, is still too high, and the President's opinion is probably shared by the majority of those who are interested in the subject. But whether it is a good thing to reduce the age of these entering classes below eighteen is an open question and there are many and strong arguments against doing so. To begin with, a man gets more good from a university education if he is somewhat matured when he enters. He takes life more seriously than the boy of seventeen. He feels the obligations that he is under, and he approaches his work with earnestness of purpose, and is quick to see and take advantage of his opportunities. It is useless to expect an attitude of this kind in the average boy of seventeen. Perhaps this is to be deplored, but whether it is or not the fact remains that a lad of this age does not take life seriously, he does not feel that society has any claim upon him, and he does not fully appreciate nor take the best advantage of the splendid opportunities that such a university as this offers him. It is to be remembered that we are speaking of the average boy of seventeen, and not of the precocious fellow who has advanced beyond his years, and has little of the boy left in him. He is the exception that proves the general rule.

It does not help the man who intends to enter a profession to begin his college course at the age of seventeen, for it has frequently been proved that the man who begins to practice his profession at twenty-three gains no advantage over the man who begins active work at twenty-six. The world shuns the very young practitioner, and turns to the older man, even though he has no greater experience or skill. The young man does not find the positions open to him today that the young man of twenty years ago did. The places are now being given to older men, and the college graduate who achieves any considerable success before he is thirty years old is rare.