July 25, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



115 



This study" will be made (1) with special refer- 

 ence to the student's character — to find out 

 whether he is responsible, or careless, or shiftless, 

 or perhaps vicious; (2) with special reference 

 likewise to his intellectual capacity — to discover 

 whether he is unusually able, or bright, or average, 

 or slow, or dull; (3) with reference to his special 

 intellectual characteristics — to learn whether he is 

 independent and original, or one who works largely 

 along routine lines; whether his logical sense is 

 keen, or average, or dull; whether his ideas are 

 flexible, or easily diverted, or rigid; whether he 

 has control of his mind, or is given to mind-wan- 

 dering, and to what extent he has power to over- 

 come difiSiculties ; (4) with reference to his special 

 capacities and tastes — to determine whether these 

 are evenly balanced, or whether there exists a 

 marked preference for some special subject; 

 whether he prefers those aspects of study which 

 are of the book type, or those of a mechanical or 

 constructive type, or those of a laboratory type; 

 whether his special gift lies along lines of an 

 esthetic character, or those of a literary or scien- 

 tific or philosophical character; whether his special 

 aptitude, supposing it to be in the literary field, 

 lies in criticism, or interpretation, or creative 

 work; whether his preference in scientific lines is 

 for the observational or the experimental side of 

 work, or for general principles; and, finally (5) 

 with reference to the social side of his nature — to 

 judge whether he is fond of companionship ; 

 whether he is a leader or a follower among his 

 fellows; whether he is a man of affairs, or devotes 

 himself exclusively to his studies; the character of 

 Ms recreation; the way in which he spends his 

 leisure hours; whether he is compelled to work for 

 self-support, or for the support of others. 



These details, among others, will be secured in 

 various ways; in part from preparatory teachers, 

 in part from parents, in part from the student 

 himself, in part also from careful observation of 

 his work in the first months of his college life. 

 It will be no easy task; but the difficulties will 

 not be greater than its importance. 



Such a diagnosis would serve as the basis for 

 the selection of studies; it will be of paramount 

 value in determining the character of the in- 

 structor under whom he should study; it will also 

 determine the character of all advice given the 

 student and of any punishment administered; like- 

 wise, it will determine in large measure the career 

 of the student — will help him to find himself and 

 decide upon his life-work. 



" ' ' The Trend in Higher Education, ' ' pp. 321- 

 325. 



The object of this paper is to recommend 

 in detail the plan thus proposed. It is 

 urged not as possessing the virtue of a dy- 

 namic in itself, but simply as a testing of 

 the personal dynamics of the college to ef- 

 fect the purposes for which it was estab- 

 lished in the hope of making practicable a 

 wiser direction of those personal dynamics. 



First of all, the college will need, in order 

 to determine its effectiveness, will it not? 

 to discover the position of the student at 

 the moment of the beginning of his course. 

 In order to accomplish this, it will wish to 

 send out to the student's teachers in the 

 secondary schools a blank asking for much 

 other informaton than that at present de- 

 sired. This other information would cover, 

 as far as found practicable, the mental, 

 moral and temperamental characteristics 

 of the student, though in a less detailed 

 manner than that suggested in the blank 

 to be exhibited. Inquiry could also wisely 

 be made regarding the educational and 

 moral advantages of the student's parents 

 and family, as well as the family's social, 

 and perhaps also its economic, status. 



At the same time a blank of a more inti- 

 mate sort could be submitted to the parents, 

 and also, in the case of a small town, to the 

 local minister or the librarian, asking in- 

 formation regarding the personal char- 

 acteristics of the student in question — 

 whether, for instance, he is ambitious, ener- 

 getic, serious-minded, truthful, of a plod- 

 ding or intuitive mind, possessing marked 

 self-control, etc. In the cities the obtain- 

 ing of such information might conceivably 

 be difficult; in the small towns, however, 

 there is a wealth of personal interest in the 

 chosen few who go to college which will be 

 happy to make itself useful the moment 

 colleges become organized to take advan- 

 tage of it.^ The smaller towns and cities, 



° At the University of California facts of the 

 kind suggested are obtained in order to facilitate 

 the assignment of the proper advisory oflScer. 



