580 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 619. 



upon. He promptly translates the idea of 

 developing naturally into wishing to do 

 only, or mainly, those things which he likes 

 or which come easy to him. 



Of all the habits and principles which 

 make for success in a young man, the most 

 useful is the determination to do and to do 

 right all of those things which come his 

 way each day, whether they are agreeable 

 or disagreeable; and the ability to do this 

 is best acquired through long practise in 

 doggedly doing along with that which is 

 agreeable a lot of things which are tiresome 

 and monotonous, and which one does not 

 like. 



Now neither the kindergarten idea, the 

 university elective system, nor the lax col- 

 lege discipline tend to develop this all im- 

 portant habit in young men. 



True cooperation, cooperation upon the 

 broadest scale, is that feature which dis- 

 tinguishes our present commercial and in- 

 dustrial development from that of one 

 hundred years ago. Not the cooperation 

 taught by too many among those of our 

 trades unions which are misguided, and 

 which resembles the cooperation of a train 

 of freight cars; but rather that of a well- 

 organized manufacturing establishment, 

 which is typified by the cooperation of the 

 various parts of a watch, each member of 

 which performs and is supreme in its own 

 function, and yet is controlled by and 

 must work harmoniously with many other 

 members. 



It is a mistaken notion that character of 

 this kind needed for successful cooperation 

 is developed by the elective idea of allowing 

 each boy to choose for himself those things 

 which he will do. It requires far more 

 character to do successfully those things 

 which are laid out for one by a wiser man 

 than to do only what one likes, and in 

 modern cooperation, while the work of each 

 man is modified and more or less controlled 

 by that of others, there is ample scope left 



for originality and individuality. We 

 must remember that of all classes in the 

 community, college boys are being trained 

 to fill some day the position of leaders in 

 the cooperative field. And there is no fact 

 better established than that the man who 

 has not learned promptly and fully to obey 

 an order is not fit to give one. 



An examination of the studies chosen by 

 boys in the university academic depart- 

 ments will show that the logic and motive 

 back of about one half of the students is 

 that of obtaining an easy course, and even 

 the better students show generally a lack 

 of clear-cut logical purpose in their selec- 

 tion. In their case, the studies are chosen 

 because the young man likes or is interested 

 in the subjects, or because they come easy 

 to him, rather than because they give a 

 well-rounded and balanced course with a 

 distinct logical purpose. The loose, flabby, 

 purposeless courses chosen by fully one 

 half of the students under the present sys- 

 tem furnish but poor mental diet. 



Why can not all of the good features of 

 the elective system be better attained by 

 permitting each young man to choose in 

 general the object or purpose for which he 

 wishes to educate himself, and then leaving 

 the entire course of studies to the one or 

 more professors in the faculty who are es- 

 pecially fitted to plan a complete and log- 

 ical course in the chosen field? Let the 

 young man say where he wishes to go, and 

 let the faculty tell him the road he is to 

 travel to get there. 



As to the object of college life, some boys 

 are sent to the university to learn how to 

 mingle with men, and to form friendships 

 which shall prove useful and agreeable in 

 after life. Some go there to amuse them- 

 selves, and some to get the standing given 

 by a college degree. 



Something can be said for each of these 

 objects. Is not the true object of all educa- 

 tion, however, that of training boys to be 



