Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-08
LIFE At WEST POINT
Col. Larned Discusses the Sys-
tenn Maintained There.
GREAT HELP TO MANHOOD
Effect of the Military Service on
Character and Individuality.
RAPs AT HIGHER EDUCATION
Some Severe Criticism of the Go-as-
You-Pleas System in Other
Institutions.
GREAT HELP TO MANHOOD
RAPs AT HIGHER EDUCATION

NEW YORK February SIN a public
school lecture delivered at Cooper Union
on West Point and Military Ed
ucation" Col. c. w. Larned of the Military
Academy spoke in anything but a compli-
mentary vein of the ''eo-as- you-please" sys-
tenn of education that now prevails in many
universities and other institutions of learn
ing here. Speaking of the student who
graduates from one of these institutions,
Col. Larned said:
Strange it is that, although. under train
ing for years and years of his impression
able youth. he should reach the fuliness OF
manhood and citizenship without disci-
pline of body, without trained respect for
law. without knowledge of his social obi
cations to his neighbor or of the greater
history of man in the struggle of the masses
for light and life and fair share in the
bounty of Gods providence. In majority
of cases he has not even acquired what cul-
ture processes to give him-disciplined
powers of thought
The lecturer took quite different view
of the education given at the military
school, which. he said, trains for character
and for the state. Continuing. he said:
1T systematically develops the body and
it trains the mind along cans tstent hne
for the double purpose of clear thinking and
n.
acter to discipline of action. habits of sub
ordination to lawful authority. strict per-
sonal accountability for word and act, truth
telling integrity and fidelity to trust. sim
plicity of life and courage. ~
A School of Character.
ut requires the surrender of life and PER
sonal interest to the service of the state
without hesitation and without other re-
ward than the satisfaction of duty accom-
plished. 1t demands the remuneration OF
luxury and of the pursuit of wealth, and it
places the service Of others above the sefv-
ice of self as the ideal of LIE 1t is there
fore essentially a school of character and in
genius this function is supreme. for in char
acter lies the highest potentiality of &C
complishment in the military as in every
walk of life.
West Points motive force is eoercive.
there is an irresistible must making for
righteousness behind every act
of a cadets career which during four years
of the most impressionable period of his
life is in countless different ways leaving
a formative impression upon his character
development. Today higher education seems
as a rule to concern itself no whit about
anything but intellectual development or
it's technical applications and its processes
are mainly for culture gain Whatever
influence is exerted upon moral, social,
disciplinary or physical development is In
cidental. sporadic and feeble. Character is
the essential meaning, III the idSC uUdly
of every attempt l have seen to define edu-
cation and yet the practical mechanism
by which education generally operates ap-
pears to me an exceedingly poor device to
secure it's development in it's highest con-
ception.
The military school. as typified~ BY West
Point addresses itself distinctly and sys-
tematically and pre-eminently to the vital
principle of them all-the molding of char
acter.
An Honorable Career.
What West Point does for its cadets is
precisely this: 1t takes its youth at the
critical period of growth; it .isolates them
completely for nearly four years from the
atmosphere of commercialsm; it provides
absorbing employment for both mental and
ply activities; it surrounds them with
exacting responsibilities. high standards.
and uncompromising traditions Of honor
and integrity; and it demands rigid ac-
counta bility for every moment of theD
time and every voluntary action. 1t offers
them the inducement of an honorable ca
reer and sufficient competence as a reward
of success; and it has imperative authority
for the endorsements Of its conditions and
restraints.
Unlike other institutions Of higher edu-
cation, West Point cannot be indifferent to
the general performance of its students. 1t
exacts of every individual rigid conformity
to its standard and it's maximum standard
of proficiency in every branch of study
taught in it's curriculum"