The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1926-02-11
Official City, State and County Newspaper)
Education


What is wrong with the modern American uni
vcrsity?
This question was put to young student at
Drake University, Iowa, Thomas Duncan His
reply, delivered without hesitation, is:
! Everything
Shakespeare would be snubbed by everybody if
he were a university student now says young Dun
Lord Byron, Dean Swift and Votare would be
expelled in short order; Shelley never would be
admitted to fraternity. And he reaches his eli
max by declaring that the Ideal college student"
nowadays must not be unusual on extraordinary if
he expects to remain in favor; the contrary says
Duncan. che must be ordinary to the nth degree;
he must be overwhelmingly normal
Young Duncan with refreshing frankncss makes
fiat statement of thing that good many of us
have suspected; that the modern university is not
much place for acquiring an education as it is
immense "varnshing works" where the young
idea get the rough edges, socially, polished off
and get the hang of few Of the minor vices
in genteel manner
AS this undergraduate points out, all of this
would not matter very much were it not for the fact
that all Of the young people at the various universe
ties consider themselves students and are
sidered such by their respective communities.
They expected to emerge from their four-year
course with broader minds, wider horizons greater
mental capacities; with mental training that will
B anable them to become leaders Of men, with clear
sysion that will make it possible for them to help
guide our nation along the proper paths.
But do they?
49, Is the average college man able and eager to
discuss integently the major issues of the day,
to converse about literature music and art?
He is not. He knows all of the latest jazz music,
can tell you how to mix cocktail properly, has a
spontaneous flow of chatter ready to turn loose on
any and all corners, dance very well and knows
how to dress neatly but in all too many cases, that
about lets him out. Ask him to- talk about any
thing that really matters, whether in politics, eco
nomics or music, and he will treat you to blank
-astare.
- And it isn't his fault Nor is it entirely the fault
u the university authorities. 1t is the fault of all
Of us-of the nation whole.
Our universities reflect our national life very
curately. The average man who plans to send his
son to- university does with vague notion that
/. it will "help him to get in fe"-and by get
ting on in life he means to make more money, to
move with ease in higher social circles than those
to which the lad was born. The idea of university
5. as place to teach man how to think, how to
search for the truth and use it after one finds it,
has never occurred to us.
Consequently, most of know of the existence
Of the majority Of our places of higher education
only because the Of their football
teams in the papers each fall: and most Of rate
the excellence of these schools by the records their
teams make.
There won't be any change right away either.
For good many years our universities will
tinue to muddle through, existing for the majority
as social and athletic clubs and for the small. select
minority as places for spiritual and mental develop
ment; and we will rise, as usual, to crack the
heads of chaps like Duncan who imply that any
change is needed
Until, some day, we grow more intelligent and
civilized. Then universities will become, IN
real earnest, places of higher education.