Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1923-04-07
Frank Vielus
OF A Teacher
By A COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR.
Continued from last weck)

lazy, or pedantlc, or miSdirected
teaching. The sins Of the college
have received ample publicity. Less
publicity has been given, however, to
the fact that most boys who come ia
college to get an education do some.
how get one. Arthus was born ineli-
gible for liberal studies, and the Is
years of his life have UNNECESSARILY
increased his handicap. But the chief
reason why we can do nothing for
him is the fact that he does not under
stand what we have to give him, and
would not want to receive it if he did
understand.
Out Of His Element.
"Arthur is unable to account for his
presence in college. He is perplexed
when l question him on the subject,
because going to college seems the
obviously conventional procedure. The
burden of proof, he feels, is on me.
Why should he not 60 to college? He
speaks Of the practical Importance of
an education, and with his next breath
proclaims the usefulness of all that
he is studying. The explanation on
which he falls back is the value of a
vague abstraction called college life.'
No doubt you have assured him that
college life is great thing. won
der how great it really is.
Zone Of the obscure fraternities
welcomed Arthur to it's bosom rather
than have a disgracefully small
freshman delegation. Your boys
friends will be chosen almost exclu-
sively from the members of this order.
Such companionships, held together in
college by external and artificial ties,
are either dissolved after graduation
or kept up only by the most determin-
ed sentimentality. Do not overesti-
mate the practical advantages of
these associations. The fraternity has
la few prominent graduates, but they
are generally faithless to their mystic
VOWS in direct proportion to their sue
cess in life. Though Arthur will of
course make some genuine friend
ships, question whether they will be
more beautiful or lasting than those
he would have made elsewhere.
"Nor should you hope for very
much from the extra-curricular &C.
Invites into which Arthur's fraterni-
ty has driven him. He has not be-
come big man on the campus Such
pre-eminence requires rather large
amount of misapplied~ force. His
brain and his muscles do not co-ordi-
nate well enough to make him an ath-
lete, and he lacks the wit to rise high
in college politics. He is a member
of the Committee on Designing the
Glass Pipe, and owes his failure in
scholarship partly to cavorting in the
chorus Of the Varsity Show Of
course, he cheers loudly at all the
games. You pride yourself on being
a practical man. Let me ask what
practical benefit you expect Arthur to
derive from four years of such elab-
crate childishness?
"Or do you believe that your son
will graduate with stronger, more
manly character? My own observa-
ton has been that college makes the
strong boy stronger and the weak boy
weaker. Arthur is a weak boy. b
do not mean that your son will be
seriously corrupted; he is perhaps not
avid of experience for that. He will,
however, develop habit of Singer
ing and leering at sacred and beauti-
full things, a habit to which little
genuine sin would be preferable. AL
ready he make parade of vices which
he does not possess. Two glasses of
beer would make him silly, but he will
loudly whisper of wild liquor-parties.
With girls he is clumsy and silent,
but to hear him brag at the fraterni-
ty house you would think him a mas
ter of amour. He swears, of course,
and tells bad stories, though merely
out of difference to the code of the
regular feller.' Your boy will prob
ably not be ruined by college, but he
will not be greatly ennobled by his
experiences.
Poor Sort All Around.
"And so into Arthur's world of col
lege life I burst with the stern claims
of scholarship. To him it is game,
rather dull game. He tries to con-
ceal the fact that he is not studying,
and I try to catch him. If I gave him
passing grade, he would boast to
his fellows of his talent for bluffing.
Since won this curious contest, how
ever. he thinks me a cold-hearted ty-
rant. He wants me to raise his mark,
arguing that his work for the varsity
chow entities him tn a Snecia1 diSnen-