I don’t think the boy of lively mind is hurt much by going to college. If he encounters mainly jackasses, then he learns the useful lesson that this is a jackass world.
H. L. Mencken (1880-1956) American writer and journalist [Henry Lewis Mencken]
“Editorial,” The American Mercury (April 1926)
(Source)
Reprinted in Prejudices: Sixth Series (1927).
FYI, the whole editorial—indeed, the entirety of all issues of The American Mercury from 1924–1960, fully searchable—can be viewed at UNZ.org. This particular editorial of Mencken’s is at http://www.unz.org/Pub/AmMercury-1926apr-00418 (p. 420, col. 1).
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