Apeil 3, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



527 



power and purpose? It is a significant 

 fact that the college graduate of the mid- 

 dle of the last century was about four 

 years younger than the college graduate of 

 to-day. Many of the great men of the 

 nineteenth century, men whom it is our 

 delight to honor as representing what is 

 best and highest in private life and public 

 service, were graduated at seventeen or 

 eighteen years of age. Has there been a 

 corresponding gain in maturity and in in- 

 tellectual and moral force in the graduate 

 of to-day to compensate for the additional 

 years of study 1 



The American college at the beginning 

 of the twentieth century stands for what 

 is highest and broadest in learning and 

 scholarship and research. Never before 

 was such an opportunity offered to the 

 earnest and thoughtful student, and never 

 before has there been such a large number 

 to avail themselves of this opportunity. 

 The college of to-day is an infinitely greater 

 power for usefulness in its increased facili- 

 ties for instruction, both material and in- 

 tellectual, than the college of fifty years 

 ago, and yet its graduates, taken as a 

 whole, can not be said to excel the product 

 of the older college in intellectual force, 

 maturity of judgment and integrity of pur- 

 pose. If I am right in this assumption, 

 may we not find the explanation in the 

 fact that there has been grafted on to the 

 life of the older college a new and differ-, 

 ent life, which concerns itself more with 

 the incidental advantages of a residence at 

 college than with those which are connected 

 directly with study ? . The social features 

 of modern college life are esteemed by 

 many to be of greater benefit to a young 

 man than attendance in lecture room and 

 laboratory. From the academic atmosphere 

 in which he lives he absorbs much that 

 resembles, if -it does not actually partake 

 of the nature of culture, and the pastimes 

 and sports relieve pleasantly the monot- 



ony and drudgery of the class-room. If, 

 while enjoying these careless years, enough 

 scholastic credits can be gained to secure 

 the degree, the college career may be said 

 to be crowned with a fair measure of suc- 

 cess. It will not be denied that three or 

 four years, such as I have depicted, may 

 be a good thing for many a young man 

 who has not the aptitude or the moral pur- 

 pose to pursue a serious course of study. 

 He has, it may be, acquired a certain 

 familiarity with the amenities of life 

 which makes him an agreeable and accept- 

 able member of polite society. 



But, let it be asked, is it fair to burden 

 an institution of learning with young men 

 of this kind, and thereby try the patience 

 and tax the strength of the teachers who 

 make up its faculties, young men whose 

 college records show a series of failures 

 supplemented, after many trials, with the 

 conventional passing grades? What an 

 amount of vigorous life and energy of the 

 teacher would be set free and available 

 for study and research if all the students 

 were at least earnest in their work, and 

 how much more efficient would be their 

 teaching. 



But more important than the effect on 

 the teachers is the effect of this life on the 

 student himself. Are not young men un- 

 fitting themselves for the serious business 

 of life by acquiring the habit of putting 

 off duty for pleasure? There is nothing 

 in the business world — in factory, store or 

 counting-room— corresponding to making 

 up of deficiencies or the excusing of ab- 

 sences. And does not the college which 

 makes this provision for the lazy and 

 neglectful become a party to the demora- 

 lization of character by encouraging 

 habits which have to be eradicated before 

 a man can become a useful member of so- 

 ciety ? 



Why should it be considered unreason- 

 able that a college should insist that those 



