New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-02-18
COLLEGE LIFE ILL-T1MED.
PRESIDENT JONES OF HOBART SAYS 1T
BEGINS AND ENDS TOO LATE.
VOICES A DEMAND FOR AN EARLIER HEALTHIER
SIMPLER CHEAPER AND MORE EARNEST
STUDENT LIFE-EXCTssIvE ENTRANCE
REQUIEM lNrs-rHE EXPENSES
OF MEN WHO CANNOT
EARN s. A WEEK

EARN s. A WEEK
A r,ee,tne Of the Drawing Room an organization
for the study OF literature and science was held
last night in the East Room Of the Waldorf-As-
toria Mrs William p. Neftel. the president was
IN the chair and the Rev. Or Robert Ellis Jones
the president Of Hobart College. the speaker Of
the evening. He introduced by waiter :
LOGAN tho vice-president OF the society. and dis
ousscd some Tendencies in Education He said
In part:
'sWhen. AT a college football game one sees hun
dreds Of well-dressed. stalwart undergraduates
twenty years and over rejoicing In boyish sport
and reflects that few OF them could earn s. week
~ thrown upon their own resources. he feels that
there must be somewhere n forgotten man. some
one must pay the cost OF all this The forgotten
man is the parent. There is something wrong
when IL IS possible for full-grOwn 70 find their
chefest Joy in shouting on srandstand at an age
when men in other countries graphing with
their life work.
MANY old-fashioned people honestly per
picked at the elaborateness and luxury Of college
life Al pursuit OF recreation evidently incompau-
be with substantial attachments. For them the
college is kind Of Alice's Wonderland where ali
things are topsy-turvy. College lfe with rs Is 100
expc nsive II begins and ends too late. The aver
age aee of graduation Is twenty-three: then como
three four years Of professional study; then an
equal period OF waiting for practice and reward.
The IS twentyeight or thirty before he reaches
ward dinner this complaint importunate. from
alumni and professors alike This is felt no less
keerly in other college circles
There Is a great unvoiced demand for earlier.
healthier. simpler. cheaper and more earnest col
ege NE which shall permit Of earlier sef-support.
The parental paymaster will not alw Avs consent to
be forgotten The worm will turn.
LArENBss IN ENTERING COLLEGE
MANY causes cooperate to produce an unrortu-
bsrt .ho AZ
cause IL the excessive entrance requirements.
which involve nearly two years more work than
vas necessary twenty-five years ago. All our
present arrangements seem TO conspre TO compel
the average boy to tarry at the Jericho Of the fit
ting-schoo until hts beard be grown This in
Grease in entrance requirements has been brought
about by a movement to assimilate our colleges TO
the model Of the German university and 10 force
the fitting schools TO become German gyTnasia.
both Of which attempts have failed The entrance
requirements should be Of such reasonable extent
and character 10 make il possible for any boy
seventeen years old 10 enter college.
Unless boy can begin his college course 81
seventeen great change IN the expense Of col
lege life be looked for It's expense while IL
lasts Is great evil its lateness. A simpler
earnest. healthier. less luxurious college life
is inaperatively demanded, and IL cannot be had
unless the oollegian becomes such AZ an age when
he is content with simple pleasures routine work
and unaffected boyishness Under twenty simplicity
and tutelase natural: over twenty they are not
At twenty The boy becomes man. and he wants
to be a of the world and have everything
and 70 DO everything necessary 10 a brilliant.
recreative. social life
THE SOCIAL PACE THAT COSTS.
Consider what modern college life Involves
Beautiful fraternity houses. costing sometimes az
high $4,000. whole weeks In midyear given up to
dances and Junior promenades football games
netting $4,000 In a season. tours Of mandolin and
rxian a.,
Of other objects. which make the poor student
hopeless tail-ender. and in other cases bear hard
the forgotten men. The expensiveness OF col
lege life is caused by tuition and other official
charges, nor by actual living expenses. but by the
cost of the social encourage by the OF keeping
academic swim has Increased Immensely IN the
sendirG men TO College instead Of sending Boys
IF yor want to enforce disciplinary study and
must get your boys into college when these things
are natural N and acceptable Our present college
with the pleasures and desires OF men. In It's
between adolescence and maturity, It's instruction
and regimen were suited TO the transition period.
radical change that comes at majority. The psy-
choogy of boyhood is quite different from that Of
While they are boys, before they begin 70 want TO
be clu5men and figure in the social world.
FOUR YEARS IN A FOOLS PARADISE
"ESverything has It's time. and college nfe
Is il-timed with reference 10 the desires and
temptations OF opening maturity II a man can
not attend his college duties because tho lust
of the flesh the lust OF the eyes. and the pride Of
life the assaants Of early manhood strong
upon him. he mad better leave college and engage
IN the struggle for daily bread. which for most
moderate these temptestuous longinzs The
social pleasures and luxurious surroundings which
col!egians now demand, may 90 small haTm 10 nim
who earns and pays FOR them. but for men 10 de-
sire nd have these things when they cannot earn
$ week does DO harm IL does one 20 Eood 10 I'VE
four years in foo!'s paradise, oe'hlIs everything
without counting the cost. Early college life has
mora issues no less than academic and economic
ones There liz d certain tOpsy-turvydom in prevail
ing academic conditions which justify the strict
ures made upon them ar uniting men Tor what
Il plead for the interests and autonomy Of the
rapidly developing American university. Ii IS
making a university grade of college work unneces-
eary and teful. because we now have genuine
universities the college can afford to return 70 us
subordinate place and TO admit the sons or the
people conditions and a; times which Will allow
OF their attendance.
II am convinced that National welfare Is en-
dangered by the great expense Of education. The
taxpayer Is heavily burdened ar the individual
parent and they viii not always be silent
'Nfany Interests are impaired. a forgotten man
peeps from behind every bush. the untmehness
of the college course has central Significance.
destructive reaction. The forgotten man is not
90 p,cfurescue as his football PLAYING son but we
cannot do without him re is mild creature, but
his wrath when aroused IS not 10 be despsed. Inc
worn will turn
Charles Gilbert. superintendent Of the public
schools Of Newark made short address upon the
same subject, and predicted great things for inc
the standard OF the college Of twenty years ago
After the meeting luncheon was served
Among those Dretent weTT Mrs pane a'Ssi
r. + Mackaye, w. r. Wilcox. Mrs \. O.. WASH /
ington. DR.. Charles Gilbert, Mr. and Mrs. Gardner
wetherbee and W. s Logan.
CHARGES AGAINST DIR. JOY DISMISSED. |