Our system of popular education is the boast of our country, and well
may it be, for it has been making steady advances during all the years
of our national existence. At the present time the facilities for
instruction and the opportunities for obtaining a good general education
are so ample that it seems hardly credible that any one who is desirous
of obtaining an education should fail in the attempt.
It follows logically that as the standard of general education is
advanced, the standards in colleges, technical schools and universities
will also be advanced, and thus we find to-day that the majority of
these institutions are not only constantly improving their curricula but
they are seeing to it that those who go to them for instruction are
qualified to pursue the prescribed line of studies. The only wonder is
that the entrance standards in some of the professional schools have not
been advanced more rapidly than they have, for in no other way have they
been more handicapped than in this.
It is true there may be some parts of our country where the
opportunities for obtaining an education are more or less limited, but
this is no argument why those in the vanguard should stop in their
course and wait for the center of population to shift a few hundred
miles. We know that in Alaska and the Philippines the means for
education are not so ample as they are with us, but we are not thinking
of stopping to wait for those countries. On the contrary they desire us
to go ahead and they will follow as rapidly as possible. And so if the
youths of the country districts of Iowa, or Kansas, or Missouri have
not, as is claimed by some, the opportunity for obtaining a high school
education, is that any reason why those in Ohio, or Michigan, or
Pennsylvania should be excused for neglecting theirs? No, this is not
the way of progress.
If there are any two professions or callings where the unfit should be
culled out more than in others, it is in those of medicine and pharmacy.
These are the professions calling for the highest type of manhood, and
at the same time special educational equipment and intellectual acumen.
Being largely answerable to himself in the conduct of his business, it
is plain that the pharmacist must be of a high moral type, and if he is
of the type that he should be to assume such a responsible calling, he
will first see to it that his general education warrants him in
undertaking its pursuit. But if there are those who have not the moral
sense to conscientiously qualify themselves by obtaining the necessary
preliminary education, then the teaching bodies should exercise their
power to eliminate them. Here is where the highest obligation of the
schools and colleges of pharmacy rests, and here is where the supreme
test of their sense of their obligation to the public comes in.
Certainly those applicants for entrance who have had opportunities for
obtaining an education and have been so indifferent as not to improve
them, can hardly be considered fit candidates for the practice of
pharmacy. Entrance to a college presupposes a good general education;
the studies to be mastered require it, and to admit the unqualified
reacts on all those engaged in the practice of pharmacy and in the
teaching of pharmacy. It also does harm to those who are still in the
public schools, for instead of finishing their courses they discontinue
their studies knowing that they can fit themselves by short cuts. It
lowers the standard of the schools of pharmacy and so tends to keep away
those who are qualified to pursue the work. In short, it lowers the tone
of pharmacy at every point. And who can say that it does not eventually
make an impression on the general public and influence them in
withholding their support, both moral and financial?
I know of a young man who desired to study law, but who had not gone
further than the grammar school. When he came to inquire about the terms
of admission to the bar, he found that graduation from a high school was
required. He then decided to enter school again and go through the high
school. Can any one doubt the advantage of such a course to this young
man or to the profession of law in requiring him to complete his
preliminary education?
There are those who incline to take pity on those applicants in pharmacy
who have not the desired amount of preliminary education and who argue
that they should be given a chance. But this is a false kind of charity;
if the applicants are sincere and have natural ability, they should be
advised to go back to school, but if they belong to the shiftless class,
they should above all things not be allowed to ally themselves with
pharmacy. No, this is not the place for the exercise of charity,
particularly when we think of our obligations to the great public who
have so long and so implicitly trusted us.