Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-11-15
Don't CHOOSE
CAREER EARLY.
SAYS FAUNCE
Chief of Brown Uni
versity Is Wary of
Immature Selections
Of Youth
by WILLIAM H.. r. FAUNCE
President of Brown University


boSTON, Nov. 15.-(Py-If l were
entering college today. I certainly
would not attempt TO choose a life
career before entrance.
What does a boy Of II or Is know
about hi sown latent capacities or
the changing spheres of private OPP
~portunity and public service? The
limitation of detectives" is a com
mon error Between is and % a
Young man is discovering himself
and acquiring wholly new horizons.
The college course is a voyage
through strange seas of thought. Be-
lore the voyage begins no sailor can
select the single island on which 70
make his future home.
j am told hat cor of young men
IN New York business offices, train
ed in a business college" deeply re-
grat their own ~narrowness OF out
Competent in bookkeeping n
banking methods, they are yet un-
able to talk with men who know his
tory and politics and modern science.
Trained to run in n groove, they
are bored by Libraries and music ana
art, and are strangers in large sec
tons of American life. A liberal
education should liberate a man
from spending his life in a groove.
IL ! were entering college | would
try not 10 Join everything in sight.
Many college organizations seem
brilliant only TO outsiders. They Of
fer the student a pin, a foolish ri.-
nal. his lecture in the college annual
and a nance to fritter away MS
evenings.
As a fresh. nan | would go in heart
ily for some form Of outdoor sport
not only for physical development
but for release of the play instinct
for resting tired nerves, Tor learn
mig TO make quick decisions, ludge
distance and time and chance, TO ace
opponents unterrified, and be n gen
tleman and a good sport. But the
moment any game becomes a species
Of war, it ceases to he play ana De-
comes a useless grind.
The process of selecting students
for the freshman class Is now ms OF
the most difficult and delicate be-
fore our crowded colleges. No long
er can we rely on a mere number Oh
points" as certifying that a man Is
III 10 profit by a college course. lie
may present points without NUMBER
but IL he is lazy or vicious. II ne IS
a loud-mouthed nouveau rich. II ne
in destitute of the instincts oil a gen
tleman or loyalty TO truth and honof'
We do not want him.
Three years ago we introduced a
psychological test for every lnteho-
iug freshman, and the results are eN-
tremely helpful. We also ask COM
mittees of alumni in all the large
eenters Of population to meet inc
spplicant and "size him up. Is
soon as a student enters he meets
our student counselor, is assigned
"a a faculty advisor. Is invited 70
meet some representative alumnus
H Providence, and in case OF any
Complex is SEN TO the psychologist
who Is one of our medical stair. We
do not mean that any tuden shaii
be lost in the crowd.
In our mobile, hurried modern ne
.hs need Of psychology and psy-
eh;atry is vastly greater than 20
vsarx ago. Matters of temperament,
establishment, discomfort at home
sense ~ inferiority IN eollege'
changing moral standards IN socie,
". and religious difflculties-all
these things are more urgent tnsn
sver before. and the specialist who
fills the professors chair may not
r,drrstand how to meet them. \.
Mythology has n message Tor the
modern world, it is vitality mes m
the freshman year.
II am old-fashioned enough 70 be
,~horoughly opposed TO coeducation'
sxcsnt as a makeshift until the col
lsve can afford something better.
Tssre are distractions enough with
ant that. To treat men and women
!, exactly the same way, academic
,IIv and socially, is to damage ootn.
Put / would 20 further and decline
:. treat the budding genius IN
,~a.t the same way rs the common
.riscs mind. Through small classes
shrnugh individual instruction a
.n.or,sl system and through "honors
so.,ssss / would give the exception,
q mind n chance Of exceptional
n..;svement Let some students
s.rdv n months in the year, II they
Ill he relieved Of marks and grades
a. attendance, and graduate IN two
o. ,hree a il they can.
Peal democracy means no tread
III hut a chance for unusual minds
kreach swift and shining attain
-~rt