FUNCTION OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 577 



be wiser to turn to some more immediately practical and active work. 

 But the situation which makes such a judgment common among col- 

 lege instructors is not, I am persuaded, just what it is frequently inter- 

 preted to be; it is not, that is, proof of a hard and fast demarkation 

 between the intellectually unfit and the elect, based on distinctions of 

 natural equipment. There are at least two other reasons for the sort of dif- 

 ference between students which makes it so difficult oftentimes to adjust 

 teaching to the material it has to work upon. The first is the lack of 

 preparation in the foundations of intellectual culture which the student 

 brings to the college — particularly in the power of good observation, 

 accurate thinking and clear English expression. A large share of the 

 difficulties of the college teacher consists in overcoming the handicap 

 with which the student starts. But theoretically this would not exist 

 if our lower schools were what they should be. Not, of course, that it is 

 equally easy to teach even these to all minds. But it is possible to do 

 it for the great majority. And for the lower schools, at any rate, to 

 fall back on the plea that they are there simply to provide the materi- 

 als of knowledge, while disclaiming responsibility for the mass of those 

 who need special encouragement and attention, is to confess the bank- 

 ruptcy of our educational system. 



The second great drawback to a proper level of attainment in the 

 mass of college students is the lack of interest and ambition. But this 

 again is a largely improvable situation. The simplest way to meet it 

 would be undoubtedly to devise plans for the quick elimination of stu- 

 dents who show that they have no real desire for a college training. In 

 this I can see no injustice; it only would be well before putting it in 

 operation, that educators should search their own hearts to make sure 

 to what extent the fault lies in themselves. The temptation is, again, 

 to take too readily the stand that the business of the teacher is merely 

 to set forth his educational wares, and leave it to the student to make 

 what use of them he will. And if our aim were merely to develop spe- 

 cial ability, as indeed it is in the university proper, there would be noth- 

 ing to be said against this. If, however, we take the stand that education 

 is not a matter merely for selected individuals, but has a duty to perform 

 in leavening the mass, it becomes an important point of the teacher's 

 duty to develop interest, as well as minister to it when it is already 

 there. For a persistent intellectual interest is not a natural taste, but 

 an artificial one. Natural interests furnish its conditions. But these 

 are transient for the most part and easily discouraged; to turn them 

 into permanent habits of mind needs all the technical skill and peda- 

 gogical enthusiasm that can be brought to bear. But when our school 

 methods, lower and higher, are revised to this end, then a rigorous 

 process of weeding out such portions of the student body as show no 

 genuine purpose and effort, but treat instead their studies as incidental 



