University of Virginia Library

Opened The Door

Today no one would think of
applying to education the terrific
selectivity proposed by Mr. Jefferson,
but it will be a great pity if we
ever lose the sight of the goal he set
himself. We are not likely to improve
upon it. He opened the door
to higher education without charge
to those who demonstrated their
ability to profit by it. Because the
standards he set were too high. It
seems foolish to jump to the conclusions
that there should be no
standards at all.