FRESHMEN MATRIMONIAL IDEALS 



Robert T. Hance 



Unk'crsitv of Pciiiisyhc'auia. 



THE characteristics of the person 

 I shall or did marry have been 

 more or less filling the columns 

 of various magazines for the past few 

 \-ears and the mirror has been held up 

 to wiie and husband (particularly the 

 latter), most mercilessly. Far better 

 would it be if the holder of the looking- 

 glass had been a bit more previous in 

 this occupation in order to save the dis- 

 tressing postmortems and to eliminate 

 the enervating sex triangle ])lots of the 

 modern middle grade publications. The 

 possible plea of these writers that their 

 stories will bring greater happiness to 

 the readers will not bear the scrutiny of 

 logic, for in them, as in the quack 

 medicine claims, each one may always 

 find symptoms that fit his own case 

 with apparent exactness. To a certain 

 point ignorance is no doubt bliss, but 

 it may also be stupidity and in this case 

 end in disaster. 



Believing, contrary to current opin- 

 ion, that people, given the opportunity 

 to talk are occasionally stimulated to 

 think, the writer has always made open- 

 ings for a general discussion of matri- 

 monial ideals and desires when such 

 subject matter might naturally crop up 

 in his zoological teaching. Since few 

 men are given to thinking very heavily 

 or exactly on the qualities necessary 

 to complement their own admirable per- 

 sonalities, open discussion of home 

 problems is sure to present new vistas 

 beyond the present requisites of sun- 

 rise complexions and a half bushel of 

 more or less artificial hair. The oppor- 

 tunity to talk does gradually bring out 

 opinions and the interest soon becomes 

 such that the students forget to talk for 

 eft'ect and begin to put into words what 

 they have never really considered con- 

 cretely. 



In a recent examination the following 



question was given to get some written 

 statement on this subject from a large 

 number of college freshmen : 



The aims of genetics and eugenics have 

 been elaborated in discussions and in your 

 readings in the books of Guyer and Conklin 

 and by this time you should have some ap- 

 preciation of what can be done in the way 

 of perfecting all forms of life through 

 proper selection and breeding. Obviously it 

 is impractical, not to say impossible, to apply 

 the same rigorous methods of selection and 

 mating to man as is done with the lower 

 organisms. Laws along these lines must 

 consequently be ineffective and the greatest 

 hope of improving the human race is through 

 a comprehensive educational program. 



The importance of the proper selection of 

 mates is great, both as regards the possibil- 

 ities of the future generations and as regards 

 the happiness of the individuals concerned. 

 It is important that men and women have 

 a clear conception of the type of person with 

 whom they will be most likely to live in 

 harmony. 



Write an exposition on "What characteris- 

 tics I believe to be necessary in the person I 

 shall some day marry." Discuss this ques- 

 tion from the point of view of individual as 

 well as racial happiness and success as fully 

 as your information permits. 



There is little reason to doubt the 

 sincerity of the writers, for it was 

 very easy to recognize an answer writ- 

 ten to impress the reviewer. The an- 

 swers have been strung together into a 

 continuous tale and follow. 



The Ideal Husband. 



The famous admonition, "Women and 

 children first." requires that we con- 

 sider the attitudes of the Co-eds on 

 matrimonial ideals before we do those 

 of the men. General experience indi- 

 cates that on the whole the women fre- 

 quently have a bit more concrete, defi- 

 nite and worthwhile ideas on the sub- 

 ject of the qualifications of their mates, 

 suggesting that they probably have 

 given the matter more attention. Their 

 statements tend to be. I think, a bit less 



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