COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY 193 



activity. So many institutions have assumed the name without justi- 

 fication by deeds that it is necessary to lead up to our definition by a 

 preface of negation. The university is not, as some people believe it 

 to be, an overgrown college with an increased number of students, a 

 larger faculty, and greater material resources. Neither is the prin- 

 ciple upon which it is administered one that is based upon an expres- 

 sion of merely local or parochial interests. Chauvinism and insularity 

 do not thrive in the true university atmosphere. On this account, it is 

 impossible to conceive of any university as an institution which is solely 

 dependent upon the support of its own alumni. 



In order to understand the positive attributes distinctively charac- 

 teristic of a university, we must have some clear conception of what 

 constitutes an education; inasmuch as the institution under considera- 

 tion represents the acme of the entire educational system. 



Education, according to the original usage of the word, is a leading 

 out process, marked first by an attempt to measure the individual's 

 capacity and then to direct his energies along lines where growth is 

 possible. From this it is obvious that the chief aim of education is 

 the cultivation of good mental habits and not the imparting of informa- 

 tion. Modern educational reforms have for their object instruction in 

 methods of work, the information incidentally supplied being of sec- 

 ondary importance. The older system put the chief emphasis upon the 

 imparting of information. First one set of correctives or tonics and 

 then another was administered to students, and if they survived the 

 treatment they were classed with those " who had received an educa- 

 tion." Fortunately, there are signs that the age of this form of drug- 

 giving is rapidly passing away. A few pedagogues still have faith in 

 cultural specifics and liberalizing studies, with virtues as well advertised 

 and as highly extolled as any of the life-giving tonics and nostrums of 

 the quacks, but the general public is beginning to appreciate that the 

 original use of the word education, or intelligent effort to e-duct, not 

 a forcible attempt to ad-duct, expresses the modern trend of our educa- 

 tional system. Recently the suggestion has been made that mental 

 training is the only remedy for most of the evils connected with our 

 present system of education. 



How often the cart is put in front of the horse ! How often cause 

 is mistaken for effect ! People possessing special mental qualities have 

 predilections for certain subjects and these choices are the expression 

 of a complex individuality largely made up of factors acquired, not by 

 training, but by heredity. ' The doctrinaire often attempts to reverse 

 the natural order and attributes the characteristics of the personality 

 to the subjects studied. If the humanizing and cultural potency of 

 an education depends upon the proper selection of subjects of study, 

 what a poor showing is made by the human race after centuries of 

 expectant treatment! How long will the old superstition that all 



