552 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 692 



called good, in scholarsliip, or poor, by common 

 consent, when there is a difference of not more 

 than two or three per cent. With hut one ex- 

 ception every college professor whom I have 

 asked says that there is a marked drop 

 throughout the class in scholarship from the 

 winter to the spring term and yet our Amherst 

 statistics show a deterioration of less than one 

 per cent, in that term. 



Further, the drop of four per cent, in any 

 considerable group of students naturally, and 

 in this case does, in fact, bring a considerable 

 number of students toward the failing line 

 and so throws more work on the teachers. 

 " There is in every garden an outside row 

 which needs a lot of hoeing." If it is wise to 

 attempt to reduce this four per cent, by a 

 scholarship rule for athletes the labors will be 

 somewhat reduced. 



Once more, the effect of much poor work in 

 the class-room is somewhat demoralizing, espe- 

 cially when it is done largely by one group at 

 certain seasons, making them seem a privi- 

 leged class. Assuming, then, for our argument 

 that it is worth while to further question the 

 cause of this difference, let us ask ourselves 

 first, do the competitive athletics cause the 

 drop of four per cent ? To get light on this 

 subject we have taken the averages of men on 

 various teams in terms when competing and 

 when not competing. This has been a rather 

 difficult task, as the men frequently are on 

 different teams. The men have been taken in 

 order in the four classes, 1897, 1898, 1899 and 

 1900. 



The results are as follows : 



These figures indicate that both the football 

 and baseball men drop off noticeably in their 

 work during the terms in which they are 

 competing, while the track men keep at about 

 the same level. 



It may be objected, regarding the figures for 

 baseball and track men, that there is, as indi- 

 cated previously, a noticeable dropping off in 

 work on the part of all students during the 

 spring term. To ascertain what that reaUy is 

 we have averaged the scholarship work of non- 

 athletic men each of the terms of the college 

 years under consideration and find for these: 



Fall terms 76.62 



Winter terms 77.42 



Spring terms ; 76.79 



There, is to be seen here a drop of .63 from 

 the winter to the spring term, but the fall 

 term averages are even lower, .80 per cent, 

 below those of the winter term. When, how- 

 ever we take the averages of the winter and 

 spring terms to compare with the fall one, as 

 in estimating the scholarship of football men, 

 there is but slight difference and the same is 

 true when we average the fall and winter terms 

 to compare with spring in considering base- 

 ball men's rank. 



Thus much of this difference in rank be- 

 tween athletes and non-athletes may be as- 

 cribed to the competition and not to inherent 

 mental inferiority or to seasonal effects. 



Our paper has brought us then to these 

 conclusions : first, that the average scholarship 

 of men competing on varsity football, base- 

 ball and track teams in various schools and 

 colleges is, if uncontrolled, below that of their 

 fellows by an amount approximating four per 

 cent., that it is lowest in the football, next in 

 the baseball and highest in the track teamj 

 that this difference is due to the large number 

 of low-rank men on these teams and the small 

 number of high-rank men as compared with 

 the non-athletic students; and that the low 

 rank of these athletes may, in the case of foot- 

 and baseball, in large measure, be ascribed to 

 the effect of being on these teams and not 

 primarily to incapacity. 



Would it be better to keep the standard of 

 scholarship up on these teams, at the expense 

 of depriving some of the members of this 

 stimulus to exercise — if not to study. What 

 is it wise to do? 



If the enforcement of such a standard would 

 deprive any considerable number of students 



I 



