108 



iCciHT.il plans tli.il liMVc lu'cii ;i(l(ii)(tMl as a working' policy. Tlit'sc fall into 

 tlircf classes, namely, facnlty control, student irovernnient. and adniinistrntlvo 

 government. 



I. TIIK MKTIIOn ()!■ lACn.TY (ONTUOl.. 



This was the earliest form and assumed that the teacher and the faculty 

 were in hxo ixircntis. The school assumed the family relation aud family 

 i-esiionsihility. The student, as the hoy in the family, often Ix'came conscicms of 

 his .irro\vini,'i>owi'rs and felt the riyht to assume resi)onsihility. When this was 

 practically denied liy tlu' form of the j;overinnent a si)irit of rehellion often 

 (leveldiied. 11(> re.uanhnl himself as an ii-resi)onsil)le creature. lie never was 

 <tuite clear that the paternal idea was well founded. He assumed that the 

 faculty was a.su'ainst him and therefore he was against the faculty. The i)leasin.sj; 

 e.\ce])tion to this condition was found occasionally in some professor who was 

 an inspiring leader and who was so heloved that in his classes discipline was 

 invisihle. 'ilie paternal idea hrought many a hoy to regard his teacher as a 

 driver. The idi-al is that he should ]»e a leader. Further, under this system 

 rules were th(> logical conseciuence. The faculty could not always he in bodily 

 pi-esence. hut they could send a rule as re])resenting them. Then, too, faculties 

 adopted rules hy a ma.jority vote and it was not always cleai- that every rule 

 or law had a sufficient sanction hack of it. Indeed I think it fair to say that 

 this system with its disregard for law was demoralizing. Mjitiu-e men now 

 laugh and alumni come hack to the old college and hold up to laughter, if not 

 to ridicule, man.v of the customs and laws under which they lived as stu<lents. 

 'i'he narrowing effects of nuich of this government can not be denied. We have 

 come to see in these days that it is a mistake to overlook the dawning of 

 maturit.v that is in the college student. lie recognizes it and faculties ought to. 

 The family expected the college to do much that is now done before the students 

 stai-t to college. In the modei'n life our buys have pretty well formed and stable 

 lial)its before their college matriculation. This is not so nuich a matter of years 

 as it is ( f experience. ^lany of the results sought after in the college are now 

 secured iu freshmen. Less freedom in college than the boy has had in high 

 school will not be welcome to either parent or child. We are Ixmnd therefore to 

 move awa.v from the older methods. When this movement came it was impos- 

 sible to return to the old order of things. Some other method was a necessity. 



II. STUDENT GOVERNMENT. 



Naturally ]ierhaps the college world turned to the method of student govern- 

 ment. This was the other extreme and like all extremes attracted many i)eople 

 but was regarded with some doul)t by th(» conservative. At the T'niversity ot 

 Illinois about ISC)!) — then the Illinois Industrial rniversity — an experiment on a 

 large and (>laborate scale was attempted. This reall.v was a miniature republic 

 with ollicers duly elected and charged with duties to which the students had 

 assented under s*^udent legislation. That experiment was abandoned after a 

 trial. .V crisis came which tested authority which proved fatal to the whole 

 plan. .V full account of this interesting experiment may be found in the pro- 

 ceedings of the National Educational Association in an address by President 

 Selim II. I'eabody (see National Educational Association pnfceedings 1880, page 

 ."?)!).) Another notable exiieriment was with Tresident Seeley at Amherst. 

 Here a strong, forceful, ami pleasing ]iersonality won the students to him and 

 bis methods. For a time student govei-nment flourished, but here as so often 

 in political affairs the death of th(> rul<>r left a dismembered government. At 

 .\mherst there has been no successor to President Seeley in this particular. 

 When we examine into the causes of the decline of student government we dis- 

 c»»ver that it grants authority hut can not fix and locate responsibility. At any 

 moment a student may withdraw from college and leave nothing behind tuit a 

 record of suspension or dismissal. This in no way compensates for the lease 

 of authority. The college can not run away : it must remain as the residuary 

 leg.-itee of all the mistakes or blundei-s of the dei)arted authority. .Moreover the 

 force of law lies in its jienaltic's. A student court or legislature will neither 

 (U'cide nor legislate against students in a disinterest(>d way. Faculties even will 

 not criticise each other. They are very slow to dis<-ipline their fellow members. 

 What then can we exi)ect of students whose personal attachments are often 

 closer and more biased. 



