New-York tribune., 1919-12-18
The Game of Going to College

We print elsewhere on this page
an excellent defense by Harvard
senior of the prevailing spirit of
college life in America. 1t is a con-
tribution to the debate of private !
schools vs.. public schools, in which |
we and a number Of our readers
have already taken part. 1t brings
up the larger question in which the
preparatory. school problem plays |
only one part, sof whether the whole |
spirit Of higher American education
is sound. For the game of going to
college thus described affects both
private school and public school boy.
1t is the essence of college, not as it
is planned in curricula, but as it is
practiced on campuses, at least here
III the East.
Goodness knows, we should hate
to see all college boys become grinds
Of the thin-ipped breed described
by our Harvard correspondent But
we do wish there was less dread of
being known as d grind and less
horror Of scholarship in the souls of
our college undergraduates. What
blame there is attaches not peculiar
~ to those undergraduate who have
made college what it is. 1t is fairly
we'll distributed throughout Ameri-
can character. 1t controls conversa-
ton in smoking cars and at bridge
tables quite as much as in fraternity
houses.
We are inclined to tag it as the
American horror Of being serious
or, at least, Of being serious and
being found out. Yet if there was
ever anything more serious than
American business, or the grown-up
American will to achieve culture, or
American college athletics, we Go
not know what it is. No, there is
plenty Of seriousness in American
character, but it has never accepted
scholarship, sheer knowledge. mind
stuff pure and simple, as worth both
ering about. When the registering
college boy moves on to law school, or
an engineering school, or medical
school, or graduates into Wall
Street, he is serious enough lie
takes into his new mental activities
(which are closely related to his
success in lfe-nOt at all The horror
of concentration and application
, which has characterized his college
studies, but the zest and energy with
, which he tried for his crew or toiled
to make his college paper.
No one who knows anything about
college life will be scornful Of the
, non-scholastic activities. In them
our national knack at improvisng
: needed institutions has built up a
training Of mind and character of
great value. Talk of the rigors and
: benefits of military drill! It's drill
is mild, indeed, compared to the
course which any varsity football
player undergoes. For all-round
| effectiveness and eloquence in teach
5 ing promptness and alertness, ODE
] dience and vigorous attack, give US
: the vocabulary Of any varsity coach
: as against the language of the
! ablest regular drill sergeant of the
, Oldest school. But only very small
percentage of college boys undergo
, such training. We are inclined to
accept the Wow of our correspondent
that our college system breeds
leaders," 1t certainly breeds the
qualities of leadership in its strong
, est and most forceful personalities.
But to the bulk of it's subjects it
yields chiefly dabbling at a dozen
interests, lot of pleasant friends
and more loafing than is good for
any one.
1t is precisely the dread of schol-
arship, the phobia exhibited in this
Harvard letter. that we think should