Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-01-26
Preparation for College.

/ of their instruction.. IL Is an attempt on
their part 10 meet and stimulate the demand
for a higher and more comprehensive course
of training which the advancing age and
wealth Of the country exhibit. The sue
cess which their efforts meet will depend
upon the support they receive from the fitting
schools and from the spirit Of the young
men who become their students for 1t may
be taken as a general statement Of the truth,
that the success of college course will be
not very different from the nature Of the pre-
paratory work. The exceptions prove the rule.
1t is an unhappy fact that 40 many young
men, and even teachers, fail to appreciate
this. The large majority OF the smaller
academies and private schools, which fit
more students for college, il the aggregate,
than the large preparatory institutions, not
only send young men to college with very
imperfect preparation, but are willing to do
so. The standard toward which they work,
seems not TO be an endeayor 10 give the
scholar, previous to his entrance at college,
all the information and training that do not
legitimatey belong to his college course,
but merely an attempt to supply what will
enable him to squeeze past an examination.
The voice Of the teacher, instead of an in
centve TO more complete fitness, is fire.
quently the advocate Of sloth. 81 think
you will get in, though perhaps with condi-
tons" They urge their pupils to row out
into deeper water while one or more anchors
are still dragging.
Under such influences tho scholars often
obtain perverted ideas of the necessity Of
preparatory work College appears as
place where the very atmosphere in some
mysterious way instils knowledge and sup
plies the deficiencies of previous training
They are not led to see that academy and
college alike are schools for the training Of
skilled workmen for the fields of knowledge,
and that whatever is passed over in the first
is either never obtained at all or only at the
expense of other needed requirements. In
this way they do not covet earnestly the
best things" but are contented TO aim at
objects far below the real possibilities of
their attainment. We have not seldom seen
young men whose strongest expression in
relation to their college course has been that
they chopped they would get on" and gem
orally the hope has been the measure of their
progress but even if by diligent work they
have made good record for themselves, yet
the deficiency in their preparation has been
a constant hindrance-it has been clog to
the foot and a weight to the hand. In their
best work they have been hampered by con-
slant want of knowledge of subjects that
should have been learned before entrance.
There has been a continual looking back for
topics once passed by and now found necessa-
airy. The web of their work has been found
full of threads whose ends were not securely
fastened, aud were in danger of pulling out.
II has wanted the frmness and finish that
would come only from a secure beginning.
But the poorly prepared student is not
only badly equipped for his own work, but
he is hindrance to Others lie is not pre-
pared TO understand the same subjects as
those who are fully fitted, and when he is
called upon to recite in his class, the instruc-
tor is obliged to bring up topics which are
new TO him, but familiar to the more adj
vanced. The work that is profitable to him
is lost to them. Suppose that in given
class three-fourths are well and one-fourth
badly prepared, then the three-fourths lose
the advantage of good recitation over a
poor one for one-fourth of the time. The
standard of the class is inevitably lowered,
and at the same time tits impossible for the
teacher TO take up just the line of work
which the deficient ones need lie cannot
combine the work Of the fitting school with
that of the college. The time for the one is
past, and they who have failed to get it in its
proper place must take the disheartening
consequences, 1t is of course possible to
do merely the work of an academy but in
that case the name of college is an empty
sound, and fails to represent any of those adj
vanced methods and courses which are its
proper and distinctive features Poorly fit
ted students are an injury to the standard of
any college.
We urge upon young men, who are in
process of preparation for college, to see To
It that their foundation is laid well and
bread They cannot raise a strong and com.
modious building on loose and warped
basis. Let them not be in haste to enter
better delay than enter partially prepared
An additional year at an academy will
double the efficacy of subsequent work. A
} good beginning is half the whole. We urge
upon teachers TO beware of sending out
poorly-ftted students. The weight of the
teachers influence should be- therefore, in
favor of the fullest preparation possible
The academies are the pillars of the col
leges if they are unsound, what will be the
stability of the higher portions ? Upon
parents, too, would we urge the necessity of
carefully observing the fitness of their sons
as they send them to college. No father OF
mother would send son on long journey
without making ample provision for his
wants in clothing and comforts. win pa
rents be less careful of the furnishings of
the mind, when a new aud larger course of
training is to be entered upon than ever be-
fore
In saying this, We do not forget the large
class of those who, in our day are compelled
through neoessitous circumstances, to go TO
college with poor preparation, If they go at
all. For all such we have hearty encourage.
ments for their attempts to overcome diff.
euties, but pity for their inability to obtain
more. And to many of these we would say,
that while collegiate education is of
exceeding value, yet there are circumstances
where it is unadvisablo to attempt to obtain
it. Nor do we forget that a good prepare
ton does not insure success, but only opens
up possibility depending on faithful and
conscientious work for its realization nor
again that, in spite of the disadvantages
of want Of training, many have, with unhag-
ging zeal and indomtabls labor, obtained a
success worthy of all commentator. We
only wish TO reiterate the immeasurable adj
vantage of thorough preparation. Work
cannot be made up. Every college worthy
of the name, has arranged its course of study
with reference to the wants of those who
fully meet its requirements, and not of those