The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-06-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL 3
IN F o r M A TION
BUREA NJ
FREDERIC J. HASKIN. Director
Washington. D. c.
THE COLLEGES GO TO WAR.
Washington. D. c.

the. new governmen t method of train
ing technical men at American uni
versities, those institutions have been
changed more in one year past than
in any other quarter century of their
existence. Military barracks and even
tent camps have been erected on
campuses; athletic fields have been
turned into drill grounds; freshmen
in gaudy caps and sophomores ex-
plotting the latest things in college
styles have been replaced by large
bodies of busy men in khaki. Above
all. the traditional college atmos-
phere" of care-free prankiShnesS and
a somewhat leisurely pursuit of ir-
relevant learning in the name of cul-
ture, has gone down before the grim
spirit and severely practical require
ments of war time. Hazing, class
rushes. booze parties and all the other
stunts that used to occupy the abun-
dant leisure of the undergraduate
have gone the way of the more purely
"cultural' studies which he neglected
for them.
The war first hit the colleges in the
form of Greatly reduced attendance
Secretary of War Baker made a plea
for college as usual" but it was not
needed by the college man. Young,
free of the trammels of marriage and
business, and full of the spirit of ad-
venture, the undergraduates responded
to the war call in larger measure than
any other class. They did not wait
to be drafted; they enlisted in
punches. Twenty-Five per cent of
them are in the service, and some in
situations have lost as high as 40 per
cent of their normal attendance. This
was serious blow to many of the
colleges. for they depended upon tut
ton and other student fees for about
one-third of their incomes. Accord
ingly large committee of educators
came to Washington and suggested to
to Secretary Baker that the colleges
be used by the war department as
training schools for the numerous
technical men which were needed.
The plan, elaborated by the federal
board for vocational education. was
adopted and the "militarization" of
the American universities took place
In a surprisingly short time. Already
many of them are teaching large
bodies of men, under military disci-
pine, to be mechanics, engineers,
photographers and technicians of a
variety of other kinds. Columbia uni
Verslty, the Oldest and one of the
greatest of American colleges, is an
armed camp under 125 officers. Four
thousand officers of the reserve, in
squads OF one hundred, are here be-
This university is also the govern
ment's military school of photography
and cinematography. Schools of navi-
cation and aviation are to be added
on the athletic field marines blne
jackets and other recruits are to be
seen drilling morning and evening, and
even at night under the glare of great
searchlights.
Yale's most notable contribution to
the cause is its school In field artillery!
Ihe far-sighted governing board OF
TINS university organized a field artilx
cry battalion of ESQ students in 1915.
and more than 500 students are now
learning the difficult science of the
artlllerist at this school, Yale is also
distinguished by the fact that she has
contributes to war work seventy m en-
bers of her faculty, while six thou
sand of her graduates are doing war
work at home or abroad, two-thirds OF
them in the army, navy and marine
corps. Only forty of them have lost
their lives to date.
This transformation of American
colleges into war schools is being
watched by educators and alumni with
the greatest interest; for there is rea-
son to believe that the change will be
to some extent permanent. 1t is only
repeating a criticism made many times
before to say that there has been
something wrong with American uni
versities. We have had some excel
lent technical schools which turned
out excellent technical men. And some
of the western universities of recent
growth have been real products of the
educational needs and demands of
their communities. But our older uni
versities have been unduly hanlperel
by tradition. The man who went to
college for a SO called general edu-
cation was offered very little that he
could use. Dead languages were often
required for graduation. Live Ian
guages were taught in a dead way.
The United States consular service
has found that men who have studied
modern languages in American univer-
sites can seldom either speak or write
them. There has been much criti-
cism, too, of the rigid class control of
universities. which has made their
teaching of history. economics, politics
worthless. Quite recently faculty
members have resigned and student
bodies have rioted in protest against
the relationships exercised by boards
of regents.
To men who have been thru college
and look back, the worst of the trouble
seems to have been that their teach
ings were irrelevant. A man who eX-
pected to go into the wholesale shoe
business was taught to scan the odes
of Horace. A would-be Journalist took
up English as the thing most likely
to be of use to him, and was required
to spend long hours comparing the
fourth and sixth folio editions of
Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice
and summarizing the external and in
ternal evidence as to whether or not
that bard wrote his own works.
OF course, practical schools of jour-
nalism have been esta blished. and the
tendency has been toward making all
| the work more and more PRACTICAL; but
none the less the courses in most of
the colleges leading to a bachelors
or masters degree have had a very
slight and vague relation to the needs
of most of the students. These
courses did not hold the attention of
the average student because they did
not appeal to his self interest. He in
evitably sought other outlets for his
energy; hence his innumera BILE So