The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-19
HlGHsCHOOLPAGANS
President Northrop Thinks They're
Much Like UNCONVENTIONAL
School Grads Morally.
Other College Presidents Take Ex-
ception to Rev. w. M. Geer's
Views of Schools.

The assertion of Rev. w. M. Geer
recently, that the public schools We're
turning out pagans, is not accepted by
presidents of colleges whose students
are recruited largely from the public
schools. President Cyrus Northrop Of
the state university here is one who
denies the assertion in an interview
published In the Outlook of Novem-
ber His views follow:
Almost all the students in the University
of Minnesota have come to it from the
pubic schools. do not notice any differ
ence in the moral character of these young
men and women and the moral character
OF those who come from UNCONVENTIONAL
or other private schools. I do not think a
more laW-abiding body of students can be
found anywhere than are found here; but
it is to be said that the University of
Minnesota is not a goddess institution;
worship is held daily, and altho the at
tendance OF students is not compulsory,
the chapel is ordinarily filed and many
times crowded to excess. 1t does not di-
rectly bear upon the subject of your in
quiry. but have just come to my office,
and as l walked past one of our public
schools l heard the little children singing:
Our fathers God, to thee,
Author of liberty.
TO thee we sing:
Long may land be bright IS
With freedoms holy light;
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, King.
So far as I know. the training in the
public schools Of Minnesota is in perfect
keeping with this stanZa. I will add an
other fact, which was to me exceedingly
interesting when I first noticed it. On the
first day of the term when the students
OF the university gather for worship, the
chapel is always crowded to it's utmost
limits, every seat being occupied and hun
dreds or students standing wherever there
is a vacant space; five or six hundred Of
these students are new students who have
just come to the university. When some
old hymn is given out like "Joy to the
World or Il Love to Tell the Story" it
is noticeable that the whole audience sings
with an enthusiasm which shows their
familiarity with the hymns and a reason
able appreciation Of the spirit of the
| hymns; and this of itself would be suf-
Efficient indication to me that the children
who are trained in the public schools who
come to the university are not young pa
gans who. sooner or later, they or their
children, will make havoc Of our institu-
tions." On the contrary. believe that the
| training they have received in the public
schools tends very strongly to fit them fol-
patriotic citizenship, and am sure that
the training they receive in the University
Of Minnesota cannot fail to make then
more sensible of their duties to theil
country and more in love with their coun.
try as the beneficent mother of us all.
! An Iowa Opinion.
! Dan F. Bradley, president of Iowa
college, is very emphatic in his view
Of Mr.. Greer's statement. He says:
II think the statements alluded to in
your letter are either ignorant OF
slanderous. They are certainly not
justified by any facts observed by me
in the central western states" AS to
4, III IL, L. 4.
1.-THE fact is our public schools are not
goddess taken from the point Of view
Of their teachers, who are in very
large majority of cases active Chris.
tian people, or in the character and
| management of the schools"