April 29, 1896
Prof. E. A. Sutherland,
College Place, Washington, U.S.A.
Dear Brother:--
Your letters of February 27th And March 20th both came by the last Vancouver mail and reached me last Thursday, just as I was closing up the work of our institute and preparing to go to Sydney to attend the sessions of the New South Wales Conference. I returned yesterday and took the first opportunity yesterday afternoon to have a talk with Sister White with reference to the matter of the degrees, as you requested.
I am in great haste this morning, as we are packing up to go to Sydney this afternoon, and we sail for Africa on Friday, but I am anxious to give you a reply before leaving the country, as you wish the information in planning future work.
Sister White says that she is not aware that she has ever written anything about the question of degrees, and in fact she seemed to know very little about their significance, and so she said she was quite sure that she had never written about them. She said, however, as she has said many times, before, that our schools should give a better class of education than the schools of the world, but that it should be of an entirely different character. I explained to her the significance of the degrees and the meaning which was attached to them and the general course of study which was implied by them in the eyes of other educators, and her idea seemed to be that there was no need that we should pay attention to those things, that what we wanted to do was to educate for usefulness here and the eternal kingdom hereafter, and that the question with our people was not whether a young man had a degree, but whether he had suitable preparation so that he could be a blessing to others in this work.
You ask me whether I would advise you to secure a charter so that you could grant degrees. For myself I should say, No. If I were in your place, I should want to feel perfectly free to arrange the work just as I thought would be best for the young people and for the work, without being bound by the idea that you must maintain a course of study so that you could consistently grant degrees.
If I had more time at my disposal now, I would write my views more fully, but I have but little time and many things to receive attention. I have not had time to examine your correspondence work, but shall do as soon as possible. I am interested in the plan. Excuse a hasty letter this time. White me when you can get time. With kind regards to all.
Yours faithfully in the work,
(Signed) W. W. Prescott