The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-05

stricted largely to the wealthy. the |
sons of so-called gentlemen.
The greater number of college |
students no longer come from homes
where the English language is spok-
en- We'll and where good books are
read. And. moreover. the mere Cul- |
tured type of family which used TO
send its sons and daughters to college
has changed within itself. It still
reads ook but it reads 4 very great
number OF books. and its tastes have
come away from Si.-P~Sltv.
"A few decades ago almost any book
that was printed and at all widely
READ was fairly sure to he literature.
Now there is d food OF books of all
sorts, himsy and ~ephemeral. Even
the home where good books only are
read has suffered from the scatter
ing Of attention brought about by the
enforced reading Of too many things.
Nov, TO surround a child with in
huences which all tel to induce a
superficiaIity of thought. a haStiness
of judgment, a disregard for accuracy
and painstaking method from the day
of his birth until his eighteenth or
| nineteenth year and then Xpect hat
by four years of college STUDY all that
influence can be Cancelled is to expect
an impossibility.
1.-The causes for supericiality of
At 1o4 iidO4iit ~ WI Gin
think must be sought through a much
wider field han that OF the school or
university. The higher Institutions Of
learning can do very little by way Of
correction and surely they cannot be
held responsible for the fault"
Would you. then, suggest a re-
striction Of the elective system and a
greater concentration in the col
leges?" asked the reporter.
80 fhipI that &c oE1rr "a r. of II
self. When President Eliot some
thirty-five years 6 introduced his
elective system there was inevitably
this scattering OF energy of which ]
have spoken. But l think the pend
ulum is swinging back in the other di-
r%ection. Just as we went to the ex-
IRENE in the endeavor to place gu
culture on as broad a base as possible
SO l think hat we are in danger 0,
going to the other extreme by trying
!. to make that base as deep as possible
1T the risk Of narrowing it unduly
/ In all the colleges, according to m,
7 observation. there is a tendency to
ward specialization, toward distinc
/ concentration. It is the nature
spring back from the former extreml
which we had reached and found IN
satisfying.'
s 1t is TO the study OF social prob
lens tina DR.. Mezes looks for tn
greatest immediate development.
r Economics and Government.
ct is inevitable that all our studio
i in economics being the newest in on
college curricula, should deserve NOR
G Of our attention." he said. "Whe
chemistry and physics were added t
e the study Of languages and Literature
y most progress in the past ten year
Compare the catalogues Of almost an
y university in the country with thos
of eight or ten years g and you Wi
e much fear that they would crowd OIL
. the original subjects.
"Now the study Of government he
% claimed the public attention u
0, which had formerly made up the co
lege course, attention was all directe
I to scientific subjects, and there w
I is in this field hat we have made tt
% find a swift growth Of courses devote
Sc to the study of social problems
es DR.. Mezes succeeds DR.. job ]
at Finley, who resigned the presiden'
IN of the City College to take the pla'
ut of State Commissioner Of Educatio
i The presidency Of the City College h
been vacant for a year.