The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-01-03
Our Colleges
Should Teach
Good Manners
Asserts Brown University Dean
Who Says Cpnd duct of Many
Students lis DeplorabIe.

BOSTON, Mass, Jan. The dean
Of Brown University has interjected
"a theme not often discussed when
educators are attempting to account
for their calling and its results. says
the Christian Science Monitor. That
Is. II is not usually debated by COLI
lego and univ ersityS presidents or
deans as TO whe ther or not good man
ners shall be insisted on or fostered
among students under their care. But
Dean Randall is disposed to question
whether a. man is being rightly edu-
Gated, even though, he makes phi Beta
Kappa, II he Is not in some way taught
how to conduct himself acceptabIy in
the presence OF men and women OF re-
hnement, and II he is not made to
know that reverence IS due persons
representing academic authority aud
scholarship. AS II Is, Dean Randall
finds that on the campus, at the table
and In the drawing room the bear
ing and conduct Of many students
IS ..deplorable =
Preparatory Schools Also "a 4:
II q college retOrts that it must take
what II can get in the way Of youth
and that responsibility for any short
comings OF this kind rests with the
home and with the preparatory school
Is the excuse. a valid one ? II INF.
versity limits its moral responsibility
Tor students to q minimum degree,
and some OF them do place such a
limit, 1t is quite likely to be equally
Indifferent to the ideal OF good man
ners. But a college begun By Chris
tan men and women can hardly be
administered with loyalty to Its fonn-
ders unless 1t insists upon conduct
that Is consistent with the ideals set
forth in classroom and in chapel,
ideals of courtesy and good WIN sucii
as underly gentility wherever found
and among whatever people. The
home thus concerned and the prepar-
atory school should aud usually do
initiate the lad or maiden into the
simple forms and ceremonies with
which fine manners abound and that
are understood wherever. practised,
because so natural and universal in
their appeal.
But IL neither home nor school has
done It's duty It is, we think, no ex-
ctse for similar evasion by the COLI
lege. SO that for some students. at
least, the college should be school
of manners rs well as OF attaining
understanding. instruction no doubt
may well be indirect rather than d.
rect, and impaired BY example rather
than By precepf on teachers and
Administrative officials that are
brought In contact with students viii
rest most of the resp bility. They,
and not text books, VIII be the stud
led models. But even so, there SUI!
VIII be "a place for more direct and
explicit statements than usually Is
given, showing that beers are not
wanted as pupils and that yulgafity
and horseplay will not be tolerated.
Words appreciated
The timelIness Of such word as
Dean Kendall VIII be appreciated by
alumni who notice how steadily al
Imni gatherings Of late years have
lowered their tone and been given
over, as never before to butiQpnefy,
Vaudeville features and IRE eTencc.
An excellent place Tor colleges and
,Inlvegs lilies TO take q staud for good
manners Is at gathering when alumni
Willingly or INV ttfngiY set an nx-
ample OF cpndnct Tor 9ndere graduates
which the latter ate atiicl 10 note and
10 follow & <; 4. %. "a,