246 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 



ment at which election is safe; for no one advo- 

 cates freedom of choice from infancy. There is 

 no such thing as a perfect curriculum, and all 

 college courses must represent in some degree a 

 compromise among varying influences, or else an 

 adaption to the needs of a certain class of students 

 to the exclusion of others. All systems are liable 

 to abuse ; and as there have been many students 

 v^ho made a farce of the classical course, or who 

 made it a mere excuse for four years spent in 

 boating or billiards or in social pleasures, so in the 

 same way can a farce be made of the freedom 

 allowed under the elective system. 



Some of the chief deficiencies of the elective 

 system may be summed up under the following 

 heads : — 



I. There are some students who from pure lazi- 

 ness select only the easiest studies, and go through 

 college with the very least work which is possible. 

 But this is no new thing, and it is not for such 

 students that the colleges exist. The college 

 should not obstruct the work of its earnest men 

 to keep its idlers and sneaks from wasting their 

 useless time. As Dr. Angell has said : ** No plan 

 will make the college career of lazy men brilliant. 

 . . . The work of the college should be organized 

 to meet the needs of the earnest and aspiring 

 students rather than the infirmities and defects of 

 the indolent." That most students as a matter of 

 fact do select the easiest studies is not true, as 

 statistics certainly show. It' is, in fact, simple non- 

 sense to call any study easy, if pursued in a serious 

 manner for a serious purpose. If any subject 



