CORRESP ONDENCE. 



2 39 



come habituated to attend from choice, but 

 he will profit more by his attendance, and 

 will less frequently be found endeavoring to 

 beguile the weary hours of his imprison- 

 ment in the class-room, by petty frivolities 

 out of harmony with the character for man- 

 liness which he should at this period of his 

 life be forming. 



As to the results of this system in prac- 

 tice, the following remarks, taken from the 

 annual report of the president of the col- 

 lege to the trustees, in 1869, which repre- 

 sent the facts as they apeared then, may be 

 applied without any important modification 

 to the experience of the more recent years : 

 " The effects of the change have proved a 

 very interesting subject of observation. Af- 

 ter the lapse of four entire months, it may be 

 said, of a large majority of the students, 

 that no perceptible difference can be dis- 

 covered at all in the degree of the regularity 

 of their attendance upon scholastic exer- 

 cises, as it was rendered before and after 

 the adoption of the new regulations. A 

 certain limited number have never been ab- 

 sent at all. A much larger number have 

 been absent only at rare intervals. A num- 

 ber larger still, while absent more frequent- 

 ly, have not at all increased the frequency 

 of their absences in consequence of the 

 change of regulations. Some of these re- 

 side at inconvenient distances, or are liable 

 to interruptions of their regularity from 

 other causes beyond their control. . , . From 

 an inspection of the record, it is safe to say 

 that there are more than three-fourths of 

 the entire college body, whose regularity of 

 attendance has been totally unaffected by 

 the introduction of the new regulations. In 

 regard to the remaining fourth, or probably 

 a proportion less than a fourth, it must be 

 admitted that their irregularity of attend- 

 ance has sensibly increased. This fact 

 shows a degree of parental indifference or 

 of parental indulgence which was hardly 

 looked for ; but the evil, so far a it exists, 

 admits of a simple remedy, since the cause 

 is obvious. The inspection of the record 

 makes it quite evident that there is no ne- 

 cessity to make so large an allowance for 

 occasional absences as one-fourth of the 

 entire number. The majority of the stu- 

 dents are probably not absent one-tenth of 

 the number. It is practicable, and may be 



advisable, to reduce this latitude to one- 

 sixth or one-eighth, or even to a less pro- 

 portion, and the evil will inevitably disap- 

 pear." 



As yet, however, it has not been thought 

 necessary to resort to the expedient here 

 indicated ; and, though, in the statutes of the 

 college as they stand, the power is vested 

 in the faculty to apply coercive measures to 

 enforce attendance, this power has never 

 been resorted to, nor has the evil increased. 

 In occasional and very rare instances, a 

 student has been obliged to withdraw from 

 college on account of persistent irregularity 

 or neglect of study ; but this by no means 

 more frequently than had been the case 

 under the system of coercion. One quite 

 effectual corrective, applied with us in cases 

 of this kind, is, to require a student deficient 

 in scholarship to study out of college hours 

 under a private tutor, while still continuing 

 his attendance with his classes ; and to 

 make his restoration to regular standing as 

 a candidate for a degree dependent on the 

 presentation of a certificate from his tutor, 

 attesting his faithful attention to the studies 

 prescribed, and his satisfactory proficiency 

 in them. 



The expedients here described, by which 

 we aim to hold students in college to the 

 proper discharge of their duties, may be 

 said perhaps to partake, after all, of the na- 

 ture of coercion ; but they are not coercive 

 in the sense in which that word is usually 

 employed, when it implies a system of pains 

 and penalties which offend a young man's 

 self-respect, and carry with them, more or 

 less, a sense of disgrace. If they are coer- 

 cive, they are so precisely as the rules of 

 morality or of gentlemanly propriety are 

 coercive, by operating on the conscience ; 

 or as the suggestions of prudence in the or- 

 dinary affairs of life are coercive, by con- 

 straining men so to govern their conduct as 

 not to prejudice their substantial interests. 

 This is a kind of coercion under which we 

 should desire all young men, and all men of 

 every age, to be placed. It is in itself an 

 educational influence, and one of the most 

 salutary to which men can be subjected. 

 When all our colleges shall have seen their 

 way to the adoption of a regimen like this, 

 as sooner or later they inevitably will, we 

 may hope to see the complete disappear- 



