COLLEGE DIVERSIONS 75 



rest was obtained originally on the plea that the student's body must be 

 cared for that he may do better work with his mind. The colleges have 

 not kept faith with the donors. The college is becoming an annex to 

 the athletic field so rapidly that the absurdity of the relation affords 

 the most fruitful source for newspaper jests; while the equipment for 

 physical culture has been diverted from service for the great number 

 to service for the few. Coaches are selected because of their well-known 

 qualifications and are paid accordingly; college instructors are not al- 

 ways selected and paid on a similar basis. 



Is the condition to continue and to grow worse? Certainly, unless 

 those in control of our colleges change their conception of what a college 

 should be. Denunciation of commercialism rings out in hoarsest tones 

 from many a college rostrum and one might suppose that in our haunts 

 of learning there is freedom from the coarse influence of the market. 

 Yet nowhere is the so-called commercial idea more prevalent than in 

 college management. The only conception of success seems to be growth 

 in wealth and in number of students — quantity not quality. A great 

 increase in the freshman class brings jubilation and a decrease leads to 

 gloomy search for cause of the decay. This evil has brought about the 

 present condition. Wandering glee clubs and successful teams gain 

 much free advertising; the public reads the sporting pages and becomes 

 aware that the college exists; boys in secondary schools learn which 

 college has gained victories and they long to share in the glory. It 

 " pays " to have coaches of high grade, well remunerated. But a faculty 

 of men, competent and willing to give the best of teaching, would bring 

 no advertising, would attract only a small class of students ; the college 

 would not become great during the lifetime of one man ; it is not worth 

 while to expend much on that which brings such small returns. 



The present wretched condition will be changed when the control 

 of college affairs has passed from the hands of men unacquainted with 

 the actual needs and when it has been placed in the hands of those 

 who know what teaching means and have respect for teachers. 



