The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-08
SENDING BOYS TO COLLEGE
SUGGESTIONS TO PARENTS CONCERN
ING AN IMPORTANT TOPIC.
Youthr Who Lack intellectual Inter
est and Those Deficient In VIII
Power UNIT for College.

mora than fifty years old and he has not
enteled college. The reason that he did not
On IN college is the reason which is usually
sufaiient to keep any one from going. viz,
the lack OF intellectual interests. A boy
NAV. really have intellectual interests. and
vet give to the ordinary observer slight evil
dence that he does have them. Some boys
develop late. But parents with knowledge
more intimate may believe, despite the evil
dence, that their son has such intellectual
abilities and the potencies of such intellec-
tual accomplishments that he should be en-
tered Happy the parent that has such a
true provision for his sons future. Happy
the son who has so true a prophet in his
father
A lad. too, may regard his intellectual
interests and conditions not as Of worth In
themselves but of worth means TO GER
tain pieces of work which he wishes TO do.
He may desire to become a tanner or a
butcher. He knows that these are callings
which demand executive and adminstra-
tive ability. He knows that their relations
10 Intellectual affairs are not so close as
the relation of the profession CT the lawyer
or librarian; but he also knows that he
cannot properly take up the work Of the
tanner or the butcher without having a
uraI result of passing four years engaged
in Study. The boy therefore, who looks
upOni intellectual interests as means and
not as ends need not exclude himself from
the Est Of college candidates. Because OF
his nsaterialistic calling he should be more
enger for an intellectual life before enter
ing It. But the boy who has or only
slight intellectual afinities and concerns
l. II nv
of getting or receiving college education.
know very well that the college contains
many. elements which cannot be described
as Intellectual Their value to many stu
dentists great. College friendships are pre-
cious. The greatest of modern poems
sprans out of such friendship. But If one
lack The intellectual relationship and af-
fnity .he is in grave peril OF converting op-
portunities of growth into opportunities of
disintSgration. The lack of intellectual in
terest converts the athletic condition from
one I'm which gentlemen indulge TO one
which professionals adopt. The lack of in
tellectual interest converts social condi-
tons from possessing a unique academic
charm. into the ordinary relation of friend
ship. The presence of intellectual interest
lifts fraternities- societies, clubs and ath-
letics into noble means and opportunities
for receiving and for giving the highest
things in life 1t keeps the campus from
becoming gridirOn, and the social parors
from becoming professional bathrooms The
stmospheres of oxford and of Cambridge
are Something Othec than merely intellec-
tual. :These universities are the mothers
OF gr9at men and OF greater movements.
They have inspired poems which will be
sung SO long as hearts break or hearts
melt; they color youth in the retrospect
and n: aturity in the prospect with glories
more glorious than richest window set in
college chapel can suggest. But behind
and before all these results. the origin and
the ca3se. is the life intellectual. The same
primary Of intellectual interest is to be-
long II the boy who enters the American
colIegd This interest will create other in
terests: some unlike the original one
which ARE indeed precious. but, if he lack
the intellectual interest. he cannot hope to
secure ;the other consequent results.
. ILLUSTRATIVE TYPES.
There are two types of boys who usually
lack Intellectual interest to such an extent
that they should not think of going to col
lege- They are what 1 shall call the vain
boy and the executive boy. The vain boy
is the boy OF the empty brain, but thinks
is ignorant that he does not know he
is ignosant He is the boy who said, when
his father told him he could not go to col
lege, well. then. will have a new suit
OF clothes" The executive boy is of quite
a different type He is the boy who likes TO
do thirgs. Blessings on himl He will be
OF far greater value to the world than
many thinker. But he would find the
life OF thought and OF learning Of the col
lege exceedingly dull. tedious, irksome. He
should not enter the door OF that life He
should be content with sitting down upon
its doorstep
Il am not going to send my boy to college
I'LL he can say no and stick to IT." said a
father. The remark suggests the truth in
terpretive Of the boy Of another type who
should not go TO college. 1t is the boy
who lacks strength OF will Most wills. Ike
steel beams, have a breaking point I also
know shat the will may yield once. or
twice. or even thrice. and retain its perma-
nent tension and tenacity. But the boy
who enters college should have The power
TO hold firmly the decision made wisely.
For the freshman Of to-day finds fewer
helDs ia rules and regulations for rein
forcing the strength of his Will than his
father and grandfather found. IL is pos
sible also he may ind less help n the per-
sonaI associations of his teachers He is
flung into new world. 1t is a world of
equals and superiors. Being a freshman
he will not be inclined TO believe IL is a
world also Of interiors. 1t is a condition of
moral temptations. but it is also a condi-
tion OF feneral testing. He is his own man
and matter as he has not been. His time
IS his own; he can transmute time into
treasures more precious than rUbies He
can also transmute il into pestiferous evils
Bis strength OF mind and OF heart is also
his owr. either 10 use wOrthily and in
crease it or TO use unworthily and 10 di-
minish rs sum and 10 degrade its POSSIBLE
tiles. Into this condition OF moral freedom.
so akin 30 the world OF freedom into which
God puts every soul, is put the college
student. II he be a man who needs re-
straint. supervision, penalties. be should
not entef il. IL he be at all the type Of a man
who once had an interview with Or. Bal
lou, the founder of Unfversalism in Amer
lea, he SHOULD not go 10 college. IF / be-
heved as you believe" said the man 10
Dr. BaApu. I should lie. steal. murder"
Yes. Replied Dr. BallOu, Il think you
would; y:ou look it" The man who cannot
DO right without fear Of penalty should not
60 10 college. The college is no place for