The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-04-02
HOBO At THE DESK
FLIPPANT PUPIL WHO APES THE
WORST IN COLLEGE LIFE.
He Is Scored Roundly BY Dean Reed
of Ann Arbor; Put Down as an
Intellectual Vagrant; Follower Of
"Frats" and Cigarettes; Too Many
Girls Are Attached TO Bridge and
to the Dance.

Chicago, March 30.-"I have taught
, the barefoot boy with cheek of tan
and the college boy with cheek of
brass"
That was the opening statement
made by Dean J. 0. Reed of the Uni
versity of Michigan before the North
Central Association of Colleges and
Secondary Schools at the Auditorium
hotel. He was discussing intellectual
Hoboism," opponents of which, he said,
are TO be found in large numbers in
high schools and colleges.
"In the high school, he continued,
"intellect,lal hoboism finds its express
sion in numberless ways, chiefly in
iaping the worst features of college
land university life without the appre-
citation of any of its redeeming quail
ties.
"Such student is at the bottom of
every surprising outbreak of disorder.
He may be an athlete or flop, or
both combined; he usually excels in
dancing and other social functions, and
maintains toward the principal an at
Ititude of armed neutrality, or of open
insurrectiOn, according as he feels him
self safe in assuming the one or the
other. He shews gum or tobacco, as
his social standing dictates, and is
usually addicted to the cigarette.
Does Harm; Gets No Benefit.
"Snch n student does the school I'M
told injury and receives no benefit from
its teachings. IF he he compelled to
work or leave, he promptly leaves, and
betakes himself to some prominent
eastern private school or military aca-
denny, from which he graduates with
great eclat in a surprisingly short
time.
''ln many cases he may be a girl,
i'm which event devotion to society, to
theatre parties, to bridge whist, to
late snppers, to balls. to pink teas
and to similar intellectual pursuits
leaves the poor dear in such nervous
and overweight state that the dread.
full mathematics, the horrid Latin or
the detestable French are quite i'm
possible, really, while the duty of
reaching the high school on time is
more than should be expected of one
so frail and so sensitive in spirit
"This amable creature is not likely
to know anything or to learn anything
useful in the high school, and is soon
ready for the girls finishing school.
from which she returns highly educated
in Il few months.
Children of the Well to Do.
''These intellectual Migrants are in
a large degree the children of parents
in good circumstances in life. They
come from homes where discipline is
either unknown or of such a character
az to be practically worse than none
at all.
"For such as these the high school
is failure from the very nature of
the case, and such pupils should be
removed from it as soon as possible
The school can do little or nothing for
them, while they can work untold
harm to the school.
'The counterparts of these charac-
tiers in college or university life are
still more accentuated and unique. The
university hobo, or hoboess, speaks
loftily concerning the duty of subor-
dinating classroom work and serious
study to the demand for the larger
life of college man or woman.
h. -,
in plain English, athletics, fraternities,
college politics, dramatic clubs, anna
teu minstrel shows, elee and banjo
clubs, hazing, class rushes and the
thousand and one other devices for
wasting time, money and vital energy
in the precious four years of college
life.
"The idea is to select line of study
that will interfere with the larger life
Just as little as possible.
Usually Scorn the GREASY Grind"
again, it is this class of educa-
tional perverts who speak scornfully
of the conscientious student as
greasy grind A typical specimen of
this class called on me i'm my office
last spring in Indignation, to learn why
he had not been allowed to take part
in certain athletic contests.
81 pointed ont to him the fact that
in two years he had gained less than
one years credits. He loftily assured
me that he did not attend the uni
versty for credit. His was soul
above buttons. He assured me that
his being kept out of athletics was an
outrage, and that in all probability
it would change the course of his en-
tire life. He also explained that his
mother was afflicted with heart disease,
and that he feared the shock of his
being debarred from the contest might
kill her. the young man did not COM
pete in the contest, and his mother is
Stin bnp old