New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-05-12
College Discipline En-
forced by Board Which
Seniors Control.
PUPILS NEED UNITY
OF LIFE AND STUDY
Educator Thinks English Class
Will Be Spiritual Clear
ing House.
By HENRIETTA RODMAN.

"Of course. the City College is man
aged 70 a considerable extent By the
faculty" one Of the faculty said to
me.
why OF course" 7 asked. and
found that this excellenr young chemist
didn't know that there are few coll
leges in the United States controlled
absolutely by the president and board
Of trustees.
DR.. Sidney Mezes. the president Of
the City College, is one OF the rela-
lively rare Americans who believe in
democracy.
THE discipline Of the students 10
handled by a Joint committee made
up Of three instructors and four
seniors, so that the students have the
deciding vote" DR.. Mezes told me.
81 am not at all satisfied with this
degree OF self-government for stu
dents" he continued. 81 believe that
in order TO develop in these young
men q sense OF responsibility for the
welfare Of their community. we must
actually make them responsible for it.
"They must be made TO feel that the
fortunes Of the college are largely in
their keeping, that It's reputation rests
on their conduct Thus they may be
expected 20 form the habit Of testing
their actions by their practical and
moral effect, not only upon themselves.
but upon the community OF which they
are Q part"
The Teachers Association Of the Col
legs Of the City Of New York is the
medium through which the ideas and
convictions Of the faculty, in regard
TO the welfare Of tho college, are con-
veyed to the president or other author
! tiles.
Any request or criticism which is
signed by tho members Of the faculty
must be submitted to each one Of the
teachers for q written vote. II such a
resolution receives tho Affirmative vote
Of three-fourths Of the total member
! ship It must be presented by the exec
utive committee 10 the president or
other proper official.
1.-THE English room may yet become
the the spiritual clearing house for
the adole.cent's problems says Sam
Schmalhauser in this months "Ameri-
can Teacher"
English may yet become the inter
prefer Of current social aspirations;
failing that, English will simply re-
main a corrective exercise. a kind OF
inherited pathology Of culture.
"The most human ideal for English
teachers. ought to be 70 identify their
splendid NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
philosophy Of everyday life. Why nos'
Ponder these words Of Bernard Shaw's;
4 deal with all periods, but never
study any period but the present,
which have no. yet mastered and
never shall
"Tf this most illuminating thinker
can find inexhsustlble significance In
our own age, shall We sentimentally
cling to our moribund ideals, denying
our modernity, to emulate an alien cul-
ture?
II love 70 think Of the English room
as an exchange centre, throbbing with
the pulse of question and answer,
analysis and hypothesis; a laboratory
/ for thinking and natural failurei
vital concourse where sympathetic hu-
mans are honestly debating tho living
! issues Of this marvellous age. 10 thia
/ ideal beyond our capabili.iesI
Professor Dewey has said that there
I, danger In the schoolroom OF isolat-
ing intellectual activity from tho or
binary affairs Of life. =.
PREACHERS and students alike tend
10 set up a chasm between logical
thought and the concrete demands OF
everyday events"
Mr.. Schmalhauser is more sensitive
/ TO this situation than most OF us. lie
proposes TO relieve it by presenting 20
/ students vital questions, such as;
"Why do you behave better in Q
strangers home than in your own
! "Why have women played so small
part in the intellectual development OF
! the race?
"What cruelties are children guilty
Of In the pursuit OF pleasure :"
An educational conference is 70 be
held in New York at the close OF tho
present school year 70 consider crit
/ icisms OF the present school system by
successful business men, and its fall
ure TO properly equip graduates for
| business life.
And, then, suppose We teachers and
parents hold conference and criticise
! the failure Of business 10 provide prop
/ erly for the young people we send into
it?
lie. US discuss such matters az un-
employment. living wage, child labor
and the eight-hour day. Shall we?