The morning journal-courier. (New Haven, Conn.) 1907-1913, 1908-04-04
VALE AND THE DOLLAR.

VALE AND THE DOLLAR.
The fact that they learned some
thing more than the making Of money
IN college Is what makes so many OF
the graduates look back upon their
college days as the brightest spot in
their lives said DR.. Hadlcy at the
Yale dinner IN Philadelphia last Satur-
day, Yale's president was treating Of
new difficulties that have come with
the development of the elective system
of studies. He said; our elective sys-
tenn has to a degree run mad, flushed
with its own success, and the result is
tending toward the chaotic"
II Is a serious charge TO make
against policy which has become 50
well defined at Yale of late years and
doubly so when coming from the head
Of the university. Doubtless the class
icists will be pleased with what Or.
Hadloy has said His speech win he to
them like balmy ointment relieving
their distress at seeing the old stand
bys In the curriculum crowded out by
the onward march of modelnIsms. The
advance Of the elective system at Yale
has been a very rapid one Within Q
very few years a system of prescribed
Greek and Latin up to Junior year has
gwen way to an elective system dur
ins the whole four years Of college,
and even the abandonment Of the class
les as necessary entrance requirements.
That this advance has been too rapid
TO comply with wisdom thcre now
seems good reason to suspect
The cry for college electives seems
born Of the utterly false notion that
man goes 10 college to learn some.
thing that viii be Of practical value
TO him in the lifelong chase Of the dol.
lar Everything that is taught must he
practical II It would suit those false
views. The ability 10 think Is forgotten
In the mad rush to know. III there IA
any characteristic fault OF the Amcri-
can people" said President Wilson Of
Princeton at the recent Phi Beta Kappa
banquet in Now Haven. 1T Is that Of
hasty action on premature Judgment
In those days men who think are call
ed reactionaries The whole fault Of
the age is that It judges by false
standard Of efficiency the Judgment 10y
accomplishment alone"
Presidcni Hadley says he believes
the true standard of q college should
be to teach those matters wh,ch win
not be Of practical use by method
which viii he Of much practical use He
lays emphasis on the ability to learn
rather than the learning itself. He
believes that The collegiate will he tho
broader man who has not been taught
the details Of subjects pertaining 10
the bread and butter" Of his career.
Or, Hadley would lay stress on the val
uc Of disinterestedness over selAshnoss
aud glorify the performance Of good
public service To work unselhshly for
9 common good there must be unity \
of interest, and a community Of fool
ing 'Dr Hadley says he thinks the
question that is most vcxing the Yale
faculties today is the preservation o,
sense Of poetry and the spirit Of
service amid diversified courses and
departments in the uni
vcrslty'
At the Philadelphia dinner Hon.
William II, Tart spoke of the fines
'aIling for college taught men to enter
he lists Of politics. ut is true hc
iald, that college life promotes disin-
erestcdncss and clear unsclflsh think
ng ana these attributes Of the college
nan arc now most urgently needed IN
he public life Of the nation" This Is
10 new cry II should come with moro
orce for tho very fact that It has been
'eard times before II indeed as Dr.
ladloy thinks, the elective system at
PALE tends to develop the selfish side
# tho collegiate at the expense, not
My Of the community feeling and cs-
prit dc corps Of Yale, but also Of the {
lsefnlnoss Of Yale mon in public ser
ice, thcn tho time seems ripe for some
adical changes in the elective system, !
The world may look on and smile. II /
1ay continue to put valuation upon
college degree based alone on It's Q
capacity, which some.
limos seems very small, but Yale men ,
I lo9st must stIll be taught as DR.. +
ladley says, that "thc thing worth !
boxing back upon in our college life {
8 that wc were all working for the \
nc end that we learned something he- /,
ldes the making Of money, and some. $
hing other than helping ourselves