New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-05


College graduates about this time receive a
great deal of wholesome advice. BaccaIaureate
sermons are preached in which the duties and
obligations of educated men are squared with
the principles of Christian ethics Addresses
are made before alumni and Phi Beta Kappa
circles in which the practical experience Of the
old boys is generously and sometimes obtrusve-
Iy placed at the disposal of the rising genera
ton which is supposed to be abashed by its
rawnesS and ignorance. The newspapers con-
tain homilies upon youthful hopes and aSpira-
tons and not infrequenty caustic comments
upon the lack of practical efficiency in modem
educational methods. If the graduating stu
dents fail to get in the world and to dis
charge their responsibilities as educated youth
it will not be from lack of counsel. There Is
enough Of that, and perhaps something to spare
Indeed if the older alumni we're to be quite
candid they would have to admit that the rising
generation coming from the colleges stand less
in need Of advice than they did themselves Ill
teen or thirty years ago
If they think otherwise, the colleges must be
doing their work very badly, for their endOw-
monts, buildings and educational facilities are
increasing steadily. There ought to be, and
and practical value of academic education. The
plant is larger, and the force of skilled educlt-
ors is recruited with painstaking care from
body of graduates enjoying advantages OF train
ing superior to those by which Od-timc in
Structors and professors profted. generation
AGO the chars in the claSS-rO0mS were occupied
by teachers who had several departments OF
study to direct. Now every professor has one
thing to teach. He is a specialist, and centres
all his thought, force and experimental that
he iS-upon the one study. There are more
over. higher stan lardS of scholarship at every
college and a remarkable gain in practical eft-
| cheney The alumni, as they return decade
after decade to commencement exercises, cannot
fail to be impressed with the signs of progress
which they witness There is better work now
than there was in their day; and the results
are shown in a marked Improvement in tone,
practical ability, 'manlinesS and morale III the
graduating colIegians.
Sometimes lamentations are heard from old
| timcrSo over the deCadence Of the literary and
debating societies which were once a character
! ist;c feature of the colleges. There might be
ground for Encouragement here if there were
| not many substitutes for what was once use
| fu agency in stimulating intellectual activity.
For one thing the methods Of the claSs-rooms
have changed, rectations now taking the form
of discussion between the professor and stu
dents. instead of being a Stted and parrot-lilie
repetition of the text of book or dictated lect-
ures The Greek letter societies, moreover do
much to promote literary power and de-
hating ability among their members. With
the increased attendance at the colleges the old
/ l. \. it,1t,1. tIRql
Their work is more thoroughly done by the
numerous societies in which secrecy is only an
other name for privacy. Then, too, there Is
| the college journalism of the day, which per-
| forms a most useful function in enabling men
to write easily and with clcameSS and ANNA
| ton of style. Perhaps there is no moro unem-
ing sign of progress in the colleges than the
marked improvement in their periodical liter
aturc during the last twenty years.
Physical training is also doing much to i'm
prove the working power of collegians. Some
! times there may be undue attention paid to
athletics and field sports but on the whole the
educated youth are much better fitted for their
work in life by the present conditions of
phvsical training than were the graduates of
thirty years ago in their time. If group photo
graphs of graduating classes Of the two periods
be compared a substantial gain in .robuS quail
tiles, in snewy grace, erectneSS Of carriage and
real mannesS is disclosed. College boys are
better trained in body and mind than they were
thirty years ago; and they are also more mod
est and have a clearer dScernment Of the
limitations of their knowledge and attainmentS.
Thackeray used to say that it was a mis-
fortune for Il boy to be the cock of the walk
that it was better for him 10 have a place in
the middle OF the form and to take a sound
thrlshng now and then. In the large college
classes men are certain to meet companions and
rivals who are superior to them in one respect
or another and they are taught that it is i'm
possiblo to excel at every paint. Moreover, the
increased thoroughneSS Of their education and
the multiplication Of branches of study tend to
impress them with the magnitude of the worlds
working stock of knowledge and their own
limitations The bumptiG-lS youth, who are
found ge,tculating wildly, talking in loud
key and assuming to have exhausted the 10
sources of human knowledge. are almost al