Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-01-07
A Crack at College
ny Frederic J. Haskfn

university. .x--y....
When the college professors themselves
,hus boldly hint that college is not all 1t
should 10. the time may he ut hand when
Tho general public will also begin TO sup-
meet es much. II may be that sven the
students will come To realize that the dear
old alma mater is not giving them the pest
kind Of an upbringing. Those Bachelors
of Art and Science, whom we turn out by
the thousand every year with the speed
and uniformity of cakes Of soap from
factory. NAV be visited by the disturbing
notion that they are bachelors indeed In
the sense that they are not welded to any
art or any science whatever-that IN TACT,
they have never more than flirted with
those two dangerous damsels and know
no moro about them than the true bache-
lor does about women. -.
This does not apply, of course, 70 tne
men who 90 TO universities to learn sPeoi-
fic thirgs, such rs agriculture, engineering
chemistry, physics, law or medicine nesr
iron find at the universities the books ana
laboratories they need, and men to guide
them in the use of these facilities. That 10
enough for any man who really wants to
learn something ;,
II is the so-called liberal education
which we refer to. and which the Chan-
cellor of Washington University refers 70.
II is further referred 10 very cpporhnely
in n long report which has just been pub
lished by the Bureau of Education, trao-
ing the history of the degree of Bachelor
of Arts in the country from l642, and show
ing lust what il consists of In some hum
dred different universities.
TABLE p'HoT'E EDUCATION.
This report IL respectful, not TO say
laudatory in tone; but the facts OF 10
reveal with painful clarity just what
liberal ed uoation in the United States has
come to be. II has come To be much like
a 80 cents table d'hote dinner-a little
of this and little of that. There may be
choice between prunes and bread pud-
ding for dessert. but aside from that you
cant have ANYTHING different from the
other fellow, and you cant have any more;
These table d'hote dinners are founded
on the notion that all human animals are
about alike in their gastronomic needs and
tastes. The assumption works larry well
in most cases, individuality IN eating ncs
being of any special value And the Bacho-
I,r of Arts degree is founded on tho notion
that all boys of 20 are almost exactly
alike in their mental needs and tastes.
That assumption is fundamentally wrong
because thev differ, and the first purpose
of education should be TO keep them dlf-
ferent, TO develop their differences. 1t
man does ANYTHING OF unusual value, 10
is because he is "A different sort OF man
The average man does the average thing.
4 army of mediocrities ~ what the col
Ieges produce, when they ought above
aII TO be machines which sift out the fellow
with special aptitudes and develop those
sptitudes.
DADS or KNOWLEDGE.
A little Latin, little mathematics,
little French or German. a little physics,
little chemistry, little English literature,
little economies. that is what the typical
Mndidate for Bachelors Degree gets.
Now remember that no man is going 10
learn about anything unless he is inter
ested. How many men are you going TO |
find who are interested in sll Of these |
things. He cannot afford to be much in |
terrsted in ANY one of them. If he were, |
he would not learn enough about it 20 do /
him any good He must be jus a little |
interested in each Of them But IN the /
nature of the case only about one man in /
a hundred feels any interest in more than
one of these things which he must study, |
and most of them feel no interest IN any Of
them. They are there TO get degrees They /
get them. Anyone not a moron can get |
a degree in an American university A
class in economics takes nine months 10
dawdle through books that a man really /
iu the subject would read in
his leisure in one We X The dullest stu
dent can hardly fail n absorb fair share
Of their contents in that time, while the
bright bow postpones his acquaintance
with them until the night before the exam
jnation, then makes a hastv digest in
hoy,f hreo hours nn5 masses u-af
MAKING MEDIOCRITIEs.
This leaves him free for the real business
Of college life, which consists Of athletics.
a system of school politics as elaborate
as those Of 8 Chicago ward, a fraternity. |
dances and social life generally. This IS
he live part Of college life II IS colorful, 4
spontaneous, exciting, barbarous II Il
gives a man a good training for social life, 4
'or politics on its pettleT side, for the life i
Of human herd and group generally. But, i
like MS hopelessly standardized course Of |
study. II does not develop his invdidual 1
tendency, If he has any, /
10 stand apart and criticize, to think for /
himself 1t teaches him to conform to /
customs, and ideals, not TO |
,reate or to criticize them HIS college |
life IS pleasant and successful just in so far
IS he develops a. aptitude for following
and aplng leaders for accepting ready /
made polnt-of-view. for being a mental
and moral chameleon
The man of marked individu atty is not I
comfortable when he gets to college He is
not the kind who delights In yelling in
chorus who accepts the dictatlon of SEN
ors IL the matter OF neckties and caps.
who toadles and truckles to get In fratern-
ties, who bows down before some chunk
Of beef and bone who spoiled a promising
career on the farm to become football
hero. Heis not the chap who is interested
n collecting little dabs of irrelevant use
ess information as a crow collects bright
pebbles. This chap Is an easily recognized
type IN every freshman class At best he
the sort of fellow who is known |
n every college by the name "sorehead' .
That is, he becomes chronically disguised
With himself and with college At worst.
he is overwhelmed by the example Of the
ife around him, and by painful effort con-
rerts himself into "a good, aLl-around
nan, who looks, talks yells. and thinks
exactly like all the rest of the tribe. spends
our years learning nothing about any
hing, and goes forth to gladden. the
world with the spectacle Of one more
educated gentleman