edgar b. oxley

i had never seriously considered going to college until, during my junior year in high school, a visiting university professor, who addressed the student body on “the advantages of a college education,” offered statistics to show that, while only two per cent. of the high school students of this country ever graduate from college, about seventy-five per cent. of the successful men to-day are college graduates. this came as a surprise and a revelation to me, and set me to thinking seriously about what advantages a college education really had to offer, with the result that i decided that it has many in this day and age. and so i resolved to go to college.

then there arose the question of finances. i consulted my parents; they encouraged me in my ambition to continue my education, but told me that if i went away to school it would be on my own resources. however, i knew that there were a great many self-supporting students in the colleges of the united states. i had sufficient confidence in myself to be willing to make a trial at earning my way as others were doing. 246

i entered the university of arizona in the fall of 1911. the first two or three weeks i made expenses by beating carpets, hoeing weeds, and mopping floors; then a newly made friend, the superintendent of the university dining hall, gave me a job there waiting on table. i was the only student waiter. there were, in addition, eight or nine japs serving as waiters, with whom i managed to get along all right. from that time on i have had easy sailing. to-day, the japs are no longer in the mess hall, but in their places are thirteen student waiters. this is indicative of the rapid growth of our college, and particularly of the number of self-supporting students who enter every year. ninety per cent. of the men students of the university of arizona are self-supporting; this is said to be the highest average of any college known.

there are three essentials that the young man who enters college with the intention of working his way must possess. first of all, he must have stamina. call it what you will: “grit” or “sand” or “pluck,” it all amounts to the same thing, that he must “screw his courage to the sticking point,” and, in the face of disappointments and rebuffs, keep it screwed there.

the fellow who can best do this is the one who has the happy faculty of looking on the bright side of things. for the young man who starts out to work his way through college, an optimistic temperament and a flat pocket-book are to be preferred to 247 a pessimistic disposition and a purse with $25 in it. the college or university man working his way should take to heart that little rhyme which says:

“it is easy enough to be pleasant

when life goes by like a song,

but the man worth while

is the man who can smile

when everything goes dead wrong.”

a third essential is inventiveness and originality of mind. many a fellow has worked his way because he could invent opportunities, while others sat and waited for them to come their way. the young man who goes to college ambitious to work his way ought not to become discouraged when he gets there because he finds the usual occupations taken. let him consider that they are not the only possible ways of earning money; that there are others, dozens, yes, scores, of other ways, and that it remains for him to invent the way.

these three essentials just discussed are those that are demanded of the young man. and in return he gains from his experience—what?

for one thing, a stronger confidence in himself; a deeper, more abiding faith in his own abilities; he puts them to the test, and finds them not wanting. and if he finds any wanting, he feels stronger in realizing his weaknesses.

another thing that he gains is a surer appreciation of the value of money. he may never have had 248 to earn much before. but when at college he is thrown on his own resources, when he gets each dollar by hard work, he appreciates its value—and he will be slow to waste it.

grit, an optimistic outlook, and a quickness to discern or to invent opportunities, then, are the three essentials for the young man ambitious to earn his way through school. and when he has achieved his ambition, when his college days are over, and someone asks him, “was the experience worth all the hardships it cost you?” he can unhesitatingly answer, “yes, many, many times over.”

university of arizona,

tucson, ariz.