Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-10-20
Should College Standards Be Lowered io
tho Athlete7

truth has not been cut and polished
until we have as many reflections from
it as from the facets of the diamond.
But there remains, it seems. little
doubt in some minds whether the jewel
of truth is paste or the real article.
Recently it has been said that there is
a feeling among some of the Bowdoin
students and some of the alumni, how
many we do not know,but probably the
number of the latter is not very great,
that the standard of entrance examina-
lions in that college if not raised too
high has been too rigidly adhered to
in some instances; that Bowdoin might
have had a better foot ball team, for
instance, if the college examiners had
borne in mind that every rule has tex
ceptions.
Now we do not know much about the
circumstances, nor how much consid-
Grafton they have occasiOned and we
do not propose to discuss them, but
rather the principles underlying that
complaint, so that whether it be gen.
eral or whether it exist only in rumor
does not have any particular bearing.
In conversation with prominent
man, the other day, man who has a
college education and has put it to
good use, who has won success and de-
served it, whose integrity and moral
character none who know him will
question, in short one who is represen-
tative of the best sentiment to be
found in any of the communities in this
State, he took the ground that were he
conducting an entrance examination
he should be willing to make some
little exception in favor of a youth
who. he felt confident, would help to
win glory for the college in the athletic
field. OF course, he said, theory was
against such a position, but theory and
practice are two different things in this
world, and he believed that with good
Judgment exercised SUCH .. course
would be productive of benefit to the
institution.
Now it will be difficult to convince
the average mortal that there is not
difference between theory and practice,
and that to make exceptions'is not just
as natural as to make rules. Both
these views are as comforting to the
conscience as they are common to the
understanding and the more the stress
laid upon them the less the effort to
carry out the theory or to enforce the
rule. Much of the difficulty of both is
due to the mistaken notion that the
exception is as much to be honOred as
the rule, also that it isn't necessary in
making the exception to say anything
about it or to explain our reasons to
those of whom we require observance
of the rule.
There is a moral and material side
to the view advanced by the gentleman
referred to. Strictly, if exceptions are
W Uc IuduS Ill Tic SooC VI lhS eAeAAhSSAN
applicant for entrance to the college
the fact ought to be announced along
with the other requirements. "Prac-
tically" such a position ought to be
fairly understood not only by the stu
dent body, the applicants, but by the
other colleges among which this par
ticular institution seeks high standing
by comparison, also by the parents
who are invited to send their sons to
the institution. But this sort of frank
ness is not to be had. The initiated
the student body and the examiners OF
rival institutions in time would come
to know of it but only by indirection
That sort of thing those who have re-
ceived the hard knocks of the world
learn to expect in some degree, but
ought we to expect it of those in
~charge of an institution assuming te
properly train our youth at an age
when they are especially susceptible te
influence? Is such a course just to the
students who fulfilled the requirements
that the school management is not
ashamed to advertise? Can those stu
dents regard those who do this as
strictly honorable and impose implicit
confidence in them not to show ia.
voritism in the class room and il
making the rank? Is it fair to the
student in whose favor the exception il
made? Is it not saying to him VIVA
we want of you is brute strength
athletic skill, but when you go out int
the world with our diploma you mus
take your chances and when the re
suits of sailing under false colors conn
to you, as come they will, you mus
make the most of them; we can't hell
you with excuses" Certainly it is no
fair to drop him, after admitting him
for the lack which was overlooked a
time of admission. Certainly it is no
fair to refuse him a diploma when h
was admitted as an athlete and ex
10 l@wy A. y ~