118 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 969 



doubt that the diagnosis would be found 

 tremendously helpful — indeed absolutely 

 necessary — ^to that newest officer in the 

 college world — I mean the vocational ad- 

 viser. If he is to make himself genuinely 

 useful to the student he will find it essen- 

 tial to possess himself of many more facts 

 than can be obtained in any number of 

 conferences with the student. It will be 

 noticed, I venture to prophesy, that the 

 vocational adviser, within six months after 

 his election, will raise a cry for facts that 

 wiU not be stilled until every part of the 

 whole educational system — including the 

 secondary schools — is busy handing them 

 in perhaps in much the way here proposed. 

 It is, as a matter of fact, significant that 

 one of the few institutions in the country 

 that have already been using a system com- 

 parable to this, is a school where the claim 

 of the vocation is strong, the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology. There, in addi- 

 tion to the gathering of detailed facts re- 

 garding every student, at the hands of his 

 instructors, a stenographer is present at 

 every faculty meeting where names of stu- 

 dents are mentioned to record any remark 

 made about them. Everything ever said 

 or written concerning a student is gathered 

 together for the use of the officer in charge 

 of the placing of graduates. As a result 

 of this the dean of the institute has assured 

 the writer that the officers have enjoyed a 

 remarkable success in fitting their gradu- 

 ates into positions making unique require- 

 ments. Doubtless for the same reason an 

 approximation of the same plan has re- 

 cently been proposed for the adoption of 

 the Springfield T. M. C. A. Training 

 School by the committee charged with the 

 responsibility of testing and increasing the 

 effectiveness of that institution. 



Further there will be added to the facts 

 already collected the showing of the intel- 

 lectual and general status of the student 



at graduation. These tests can be chosen 

 from, and related to, those made of the 

 entering freshman in whatever proportion 

 and extent seems desirable. Undoubtedly, 

 the application of Professor Whipple's 

 "information range fijider" would be par- 

 ticularly significant. If the student shows 

 a much greater familiarity with such terms 

 as "southpaw" or "snapback" than with 

 "cytology" or "Pythagoras," it may be 

 held to indicate that the realm of athletics 

 had been more suggestive than that of sci- 

 ence or philosophy. In any event, the 

 tests chosen should serve as an approxi- 

 mate measurement of the advance made in 

 scholarship, mentality, character, tempera- 

 ment and social qualities within the four 

 years of the college. 



Only an approximation, of course. The 

 real value of the years could only be shown 

 after the secretary in charge of alumni 

 relations had made it his business to secure 

 in legitimate and effective ways some gen- 

 eral measurement of the effectiveness of 

 the former student as a person and a citi- 

 zen. It is quite likely that the next college 

 oifieer to follow the vocational adviser will 

 be such a secretary for alumni relations, 

 charged with the very serious and states- 

 manlike responsibility of making the col- 

 lege mean as much as possible to the grad- 

 uate and the graduate to the college. Pos- 

 sibly the vocational adviser would himself 

 be this officer, traveling part of the year in 

 order to consult with commercial, profes- 

 sional and other leaders, with successful 

 graduates and with unsuccessful ones — all 

 for determining in what ways the college 

 stands in need of improvement as a devel- 

 oper of abilities, interests and viewpoints 

 required for the meeting of the needs of 

 the world. 



When the report of such an officer has 

 been turned in and put alongside the ma- 

 terial already mentioned, then the college 



