Robert Todd Lincoln --The vitals

[kerry]

I think college was totally different then - so few people could afford to send their kids, and there were so many alternative career paths, that it just was not all that competitive or rigorous. The really prestigious institutions were in Europe. I think Robert was intelligent, but getting into Harvard was not anywhere near as high a bar as it is now. Most lawyers were self-educated, and being an apprentice was probably viewed as more valuable in terms of real-world knowledge. Holmes, who said it was a disgrace, was probably pretty snobby about those tings, but he thought they could get degrees with little class attendance or work. It was more of a social club. The same criticism was made in that paragraph of Cambridge - basically, wealthy white men just had to put in their time and they had a job network for life. That being said, people like Sumner did pretty well out of Harvard Law, intellectually if not financially. In 1870 they adopted the modern law school exam format, which from experience I can say is not easy. The dean who whipped Harvard into shape in 1870 opposed women's admission way longer than a lot of other schools - "the law is entirely unfit for the feminine mind."