Evening star., 1925-04-12
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from his work. absorbed in his bust
ness. He gives little attention to his
children. They have their own in
terests No wonder Shat boys come
here who, when asked for their
fathers opinion on certain subjects,
reply that they "have no idea what
dad thinks" or else that they don't
give a damn what dad thinks" I be-
lieve that lack of home life is the
root cause OF much of youths trou-
bles today.
@. How can we get modern youth
to think?
A. That question demands dis
sertation for any adequate answer,
but I will tell you what we are try
ing to do at Dartmouth.
We have come to the conclusion
that different men require entirely
different influences to start their
mental processes Some can be
argued into it, some have to be Sc
duced into thinking, some can be ex-
asperated into thinking, while in
other cases, it requires process of
mental blasting. Consequently, the
these various methods. Each instruc-
tor has his own approach to the un-
dergraduate mind. Meanwhile, the
college courses are designed to be
mind-stretchers, and we have come to
the belief, in our own work, that the
fact that a course could be more COM
pIetely absorbed by a man in his
senior year, is not necessarily an
argument that he should not be chal-
lenged to do what he can with 1t in
his freshman year. 1t is for this rea-
son that we have placed such courses
as evolution, with its discussion of
scientif1c hypothesis, and citizenship,
with its discussion of moot questions,
in the freshman year. Many of the
undergraduates can absorb only a
small proportion of what these
courses are about at the time they
take them, but the influence remains
upon them to the benefit OF all of
the rest of the courses which they
take.
Youth Always in Revolt.
Another procedure which is a part
Of the general policy, is the theory of
the college that undergraduates would
better hear different social theories
presented by their professional expo
nents than TO hear about them second
hand through prejudiced commenta-
tors.
There is A widespread deluslon
that the college undergraduate is so
credulous and unsophisticated mem
Der of the human race that he is go
iub to believe anything which is told
him. Hence arises the concern of
those who fear the appearance on col
lego platforms of the exponents of un-
orthodox theories
Much IS made of the frequent as
sertion that the youth of today is
rebellious and in revolt, but I cannot
discover when this has not been so,
and the chronicles of any college are
full of data indicating that the under
graduates at all times have either
covertly or openly rebelled against
oLinions imposed upon them. 1t
seems to me only common sense that
opinions should not be imposed, but
that access to data should be offered
and that men should be given the
opportunity of forming their own
opinions.
An amusing illustration could be
derived from the fact that for de-
cades practically all teachers of eco
nomics in New England colleges,
taught the theory of protection to be
wrong, and of free trade TO be right,
while during that same period, as
near as / can discover, the proper
tion of free traders to protectionists
among the graduates hardly varied.
The MateriaIistic Tendency.
Q. Do you find most students look
ing for courses which will earn the
biggest incomes after graduation?
A. AS freshmen yes. But after the
first year they get broader view of
life. However, admit that American
youth is following materialistic
path. This is especially true in the
large universities of the West and in
.the Eastern technical schools.
Il used to be that economics was