Chapter 7

A comparatively few men act as leaders, frame platforms, and shape legislation. It is quite difficult to find even this small number who are qualified for leadership. Nearly all our political and social reform movements are asking for a Moses, or a Luther, or a Lincoln, to lead them to victory. Some organizations of labor are officered by foreign born leaders who are ignorant and out of sympathy with the moral ideas and principles that have shaped our national life. There is a large number of imperfectly equipped men in all professions and in social movements, presuming to act as leaders, who might well be replaced by disciplined and cultured men, able to grapple with modern social problems, and to conduct the people to higher thought and nobler action. Men who are to become leaders and gain a strong hold on society must have a good foundation of general knowledge, and be trained to think on complicated questions. The man of thorough training, whether literary, scientific, or practical, has an immense advantage in leadership.

It is the prerogative of the college, in its aim to serve the people, to extend such educational opportunities to youth as will equip them for true leadership in every vocation of life.

The American college student should be sent forth with a purpose even stronger than that of the Greek youth, who took the oath of citizenship in these words:

"I will transmit my fatherland [its institutions, its civilization, its system of education, its people], not only not less, but greater and better, than it was committed to me."

V.

STUDENT LIFE IN COLLEGE.

Admission to college is dependent upon the mental and moral fitness of the student. If the student has completed the work of an advanced high school, or that of an academy, he may in many colleges pass immediately into the Freshman year without examination. The student is generally required to have, as a necessary preparation to gain admission to the Freshman class, three years of Latin and two of Greek, or an amount of modern languages equivalent to the Greek, besides mathematics, history, and English. In some cases the qualifications of the candidate must be such as to enable him to read at sight either Greek, Latin, French, or German. An essay in English must be correct in composition, spelling, grammar, expression, and division into paragraphs.

Some favor admitting the student on trial, and giving him an opportunity to show his fitness and worth by application to study. Certainly the best test of the student's knowledge is the ability to pursue advantageously the prescribed course of study.

After admission to college the student has at least fifteen hours per week of class room work. He may select, within a limited range, his studies. This selection is done under the guidance of the professors, and depends largely on the acquirements or deficiencies of the student. About three-fourths of the Freshman and Sophomore years are devoted to the classics and mathematics. A large share of the work in the Junior and Senior years may be devoted to specialization in science, language, mathematics, history, sociology, or philosophy. In some cases elocution, music, and the fine arts rightly receive a fair share of attention on the part of a large number of students throughout the college course.

The advantages of a college education do not consist alone in the training of the faculties and the acquisition of knowledge, but one of its chief advantages grows out of the incidental noble and generous associations and influences.

The college is a homogeneous community of a distinct and peculiar type. It is a little world by itself. The professors and students are separated from the common activities of life, and a common feeling unites all in a common bond. There are poured into this community the hopes, aspirations, habits, and tastes of the different students, which are soon molded into a common life, and become, in turn, an important factor in forming the character and directing the life of the student.

The college classes become the organic centers of college life. For four years the students meet, at least in the smaller colleges, in the same lecture rooms for common studies, and become acquainted with each other's talents, tempers, and characteristics. It is within this charmed circle that the students find their associates and form warm and lasting friendships. It is not to be wondered at that class spirit runs high and class sentiment becomes a strong abiding power with the student. It is worth much to any young man or woman to be initiated into this hallowed sanctuary and catch its spirit and receive its uplifting influence. These central forces of the college classes naturally combine into a community with a common life. Thus each college comes to have a _genius loci_ of its own. The subtle and fascinating influence of the common life and spirit is the _esprit de corps_ of a college, and exerts no small influence over the life of the students. It gives exhilaration and stimulus to the students, and its formative power is felt throughout their lives, molding character and giving form to their opinions and direction to their aims, so that the college becomes a real _Alma Mater_. It is this spirit that makes and enforces a peculiar sentiment in the college community, which becomes almost as strong as positive law. These influences emanate in various ways. No one can trace them to their ultimate source, but all feel the effect of these dominant forces, and realize that their lives are, in some measure, gradually but surely becoming molded and shaped by them. These influences are among the most cherished recollections in after years, and unite the student to his college with affectionate regard. There is certainly no better place for our youth to form and solidify a manly character, and develop independent convictions and humanitarian sympathies which will be of lasting satisfaction.

Noah Porter, in speaking of the benefits of association in a college community, truthfully says: "It is enough for us to be able to assert that thousands of the noblest men, who stand foremost in the ranks of social and professional life, would be forward to acknowledge that they are indebted to the cultivating influences of college friendships and college associations for the germs of their best principles, their noblest aspirations, and their most refined tastes. * * * True manhood, in intellect and character, is in no community so sagaciously discerned and so honestly honored as in this community. Pretension and shams are in none more speedily and cordially detected and exposed. Whether displayed in manners or intellectual efforts, conceit is rebuked and effectually repressed. Modest merit and refined tastes are appreciated, first by the select few, and then by the less discerning many. Each individual spectator of the goings-on of this active life is learning intellectual and moral lessons which he cannot forget if he would, and which he would not if he could, and he comes away with a rich freight of the most salutary experiences of culture in his tastes, his estimates of character, his judgments of life, as well as of positive achievements in literary skill and power."

Some of the effective means of social life among the students are the _open_ and the _secret_ societies. They are purely voluntary, and are originated and managed by the members.

The _Greek Letter Societies_ are _secret_, and prevail in nearly all colleges. They are generally limited to ten or twenty members, and the chapters in the different colleges bear a friendly and mutual relation to each other. Among the Eastern colleges, nearly all these societies have elegant chapter houses, in which the members have rooms, and where they enjoy homelike comforts; while in the Western colleges the societies have attractive rooms, with tasteful appointments, which become a place of rendezvous for their members. Their only bond is congeniality. Some very different types of character are manifest in these societies. Students group themselves according to their common tastes, habits, and character. Some societies aim at scholarship or literary excellence, while others make wealth or social qualities an essential requirement. Even "fast fellows," if there be such, are eager to group themselves together into a secret society. A few of these societies are of a literary character, but the object of the majority is to promote sociability. It is claimed that their influence in some colleges is positively injurious, while in others they are beneficial and helpful in cultivating social qualities and in establishing warm intimate friendships among the members.

It is a question whether the attendant evils do not offset their advantages. They are expensive, and often accompanied with distractions unfavorable to student life. Sometimes the late hours and suppers and other convivial indulgences absorb time and lower scholarship. They afford opportunity secretly to do evil. The members may plan escapades and hatch intrigues, and cover them up so as to make it almost impossible for the college authorities to discover the guilty ones. Yet many excellent things are said of them and of the mutual benefits to their members.

The _open_ societies, devoted exclusively to literary work, need no justification. They are voluntary associations for general literary and forensic culture. Oratorical and literary accomplishments are a prerequisite to the highest success and usefulness. The student who improves the opportunities of these societies need not neglect his regular college work, but in them can train himself to think consecutively, and gain facility of expression and an acquaintance with parliamentary law. If he makes faithful preparation, he will escape bombast and loose thinking and expression, and will become familiar with public movements, political questions, and social tendencies. For these and other reasons the literary societies should be encouraged, and students should consider it a privilege to become members of the same.

Political clubs are, likewise, organized among the colleges to promote the success of their several parties and the triumph of their respective principles. At the time of national contests the clubs are especially active at mass meetings, in joint debates, and speeches, which set forth the merits of party principles and candidates. These experiences are both pleasant and instructive. The dignified participation of students in active political work tends to fire their patriotism and better equip them for the important social and civil duties of life. Political leagues are now organized in nearly all our colleges, with a view to strengthen the political party ties of the students in the several colleges and extend the party spirit and principle.

Glee clubs and other musical clubs, together with classical and scientific clubs, likewise afford ample opportunity for cultivating social life, and furnish pleasant entertainment.

Interest in athletic sports and outdoor amusements is often intense. Foot-ball and base-ball are the most popular games. Boat clubs are especially popular at Harvard and Yale. Bicycle clubs and lawn tennis clubs are made quite enjoyable to a large class of students.

College students also edit and publish college newspapers and journals. They are issued as daily, weekly, or monthly papers, and are supposed to voice the sentiment of the college and reflect its social, intellectual, and moral conditions. These journals help to keep the alumni and the undergraduate students in touch with the college and its work.

The religious life in college is very important. One of the primary purposes of the founders of American colleges was to promote such a religious life among students that they would go forth into all vocations as religious teachers and leaders of the people. This religious purpose has not been entirely thwarted. The general religious interest was never more marked and aggressive than at present. From one-half to five-sevenths of the students in American colleges make an open confession of Christ. In 1893, there were 70,419 young people in Protestant colleges. Of these, 38,327 were members of churches. Within the last few years the religious tone of our colleges has been elevated and improved. The average American student feels the need of educating the spiritual nature, and that there is no better way to attain this end than through a knowledge of the Bible and the soul touch of the Christ-life.

College authorities, recognizing the student's need of daily spiritual food, almost universally require once a day attendance at college prayers, which last from fifteen to thirty minutes. The students have frequent opportunities to meet the college pastor or one of the professors for conversation on personal religion.

Revivals are of frequent occurrence in many of our American colleges. These religious awakenings are strong and pervasive, and not only show the deep religious interest, but give a Christian tone to the body of students. The extent and intensity of these revivals in some colleges is so manifest that from three-fourths to nine-tenths of the graduates go out from their halls professing Christians.

The Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations are organized in nearly all the colleges, to secure growth in the Christian life and to encourage aggressive work among the students. They have either separate buildings on the college campus, or rooms fitted up in some of the college buildings, for their regular religious meetings. These associations are operated through standing committees, composed of one or more members from each college class. These societies have done much to awaken, increase, and intensify the interest of the students in religious matters, and by prayer and mutual sympathy have strengthened each other's Christian character and principles during the trying years of college life.

The morals of students should not be expected to rise much above the morals of the homes from which they come. The formative period of the student begins prior to college life. Parents who neglect this opportune time for training the moral life should not place this responsibility upon college professors and expect them to make up for parental neglect. It is a well-known fact, however, that only a very small per cent. of college students are known to be immoral. The prevalence of the drinking habit is decreasing. In one or two of the Eastern colleges a large per cent. of the students will take a social glass on public occasions and at inter-collegiate games, but in Western colleges this custom is rarely practiced. Money supplied by over-indulgent parents is the occasion of most of the immoralities. There is no general laxity of college law and sentiment in regard to the morals of the student. Most college authorities deal severely with known cases of drunkenness, theater going, and gambling.

The consensus of opinion among college authorities is that the morals of students are better than those of the same number of youth outside the college. "Our opinion is," says Noah Porter, "and we believe it will be confirmed by the most extended observation and the most accurate statistics, that there is no community in which the pre-eminently critical period of life can be spent with greater safety than it can in the college." President Timothy Dwight bears this testimony: "There is no community of the same number anywhere in the world which has a better spirit, or is more free from what is unworthy, than the community gathered within our university borders. The religious life of the community has been earnest and sincere. The proportion of Christian men in the university is very large, and the influence exerted by them is manifest in its results."

President Thwing says: "I do believe, and believe upon evidence, that the morals of the American college student are cleaner than the morals of the young man in the office, or behind the counter, or at the bench. His life and associations belong to the realm of the intellect, not to the realm of the appetite. His discipline is a training in that virtue the most comprehensive of all virtues--the virtue of self-control. He is able to trace more carefully than most the relations of cause and effect in the sphere of moral action. He recognizes the penalties of base indulgence. It is, therefore, my conviction that the college man is at once less tempted to the satisfaction of evil appetites, and less indulgent towards this satisfaction, than are most young men."

The _expenses_ in college vary according to the means and dispositions of the students themselves. In making general estimates, it is impossible to be strictly accurate.

The average cost per year of an education at Harvard is estimated at about $900; at Yale and Columbia, $700; at Princeton, Boston, Cornell, and Amherst, $600; at Wellesley, Smith, and Vassar Colleges, $500 to $600. The average cost of an education in most Western colleges does not exceed $300 or $400. At Oberlin College, Wooster University, and the Ohio Wesleyan University the average yearly expenses are reduced to $200 or $250.

It is evident that higher education is more expensive in Eastern than in Western colleges. The difference arises from various causes. The tuition ranges from $100 to $150 in Eastern colleges, and from $30 to $50 in Western colleges. Again, the professors in most of the Western colleges receive smaller salaries than those in the Eastern colleges. In many of the smaller college towns the cost of living is low.

Then the student's personal and social habits play an important part in making up the general average. The large room rent and elaborate furnishings, expensive athletic sports, and costly fraternity life is much more manifest in the Eastern than in the Western colleges. The students are prone to follow the standards of home expenses, and fall in with the spirit of the wealthy social class, and indulge in elaborate living. Parents should discourage any display of wealth or extravagance in college if they wish their sons not to spend their time attending clubs, theaters, and questionable places of amusement, but to devote their attention to attaining true scholarship.

The student's manner of living varies according to location and circumstances. In Eastern colleges the students reside mostly in dormitories located on the college campus, or in fraternity chapter houses, and secure their board outside in clubs or restaurants. These rooms rent from $50 to $300 a year, and the price of board varies from $3 to $7 per week. The dormitory system does not prevail to any great extent among Western colleges. Students rent rooms in private residences, paying from 50 cents to $2 per week, and find board in families or clubs at a cost of $2 to $3 per week. The students boarding in clubs are comparatively free from restraints, and often fail to cultivate the social amenities and table manners which should characterize a cultivated gentleman. For this reason, boarding in private families, where a woman's presence usually lends grace and dignity to social life at the table, is better for the student. The college student cannot afford, for the sake of cheapness in club life, to become rude or coarse. The people look to the college-trained man for that inherent polish which reveals itself in good taste and refined manners. Success and usefulness in life often depend upon these small matters.

The students in American colleges are not measured by social and financial standards. The colleges sustain democratic ideals and methods by discouraging costly luxury, and encouraging simplicity of living without making life bare of all that is elevating and refining. They believe that "plain living and high thinking" is the way to call out the talent hedged about by financial difficulties, as well as to spur those gifted with fortune to higher aims and nobler efforts. The student who has the promise of a large inheritance has intimate social relations with those whose only capital is brain and heart. The true college test is thus expressed by President Thwing: "Brain is the only symbol of aristocracy, and the examination room the only field of honor; the intellectual, ethical, spiritual powers the only test of merit; a mighty individuality the only demand made of each, and a noble enlargement of a noble personality the only ideal." This is a healthful condition in college life, and tends to develop in the student self-respect and independence as an essential element in true citizenship.

Students of limited means are encouraged to secure an education. The young man of ability and perseverance, who commands the esteem of the college community, will receive encouragement and support to complete his course in college. There are many charitable foundations to help a needy young man in college. Harvard gives away annually to students nearly $100,000 in prizes, scholarships, and fellowships. Cornell has six hundred free scholarships, and other colleges deal generously with earnest and worthy students. The hesitating young man who desires an education would do well to follow Franklin's advice, "Young man, empty your purse in your head." If necessity requires that the student should go through college poorly dressed and with plain living, he can afford to face these apparent disadvantages when he is confident that within a few years, by force of application, he can win a position of honor and independence as the reward of true merit. It is a significant fact that the majority of the students in our American colleges come from homes of moderate means, and that fully one-third are earning their way through college.

VI.

THE PERSONAL FACTORS IN A COLLEGE EDUCATION.

One of the personal elements entering into a college education is the choice of a college to attend. This decision is a problem of the first importance, and should not be left to ignorance or caprice, but ought to be carefully considered, inasmuch as it largely involves the future type of character a student will have after the formative period of college life. The college puts a life-long stamp upon its graduates. It largely shapes their tastes, determines the company they keep, and greatly influences the serious work of their lives. There are a few principles by which we may test the excellence of a college without undue disparagement of any.

In the first place, a young man or woman should select a college where the standard of scholarship is high. The number and extent of studies in the college curriculum is not so important as the quality and tone of instruction. The world has come to require accuracy and thoroughness in instruction. What little a student knows he ought to know thoroughly, and then he can speak and act with assurance. A low intellectual tone or lack of critical work on the part of a college has a debilitating influence on the student. The professors should have a ripe scholarship, and be earnest and strong in their work, as well as inspire scholarly ambitions. Their bearing should be kind, courteous, and gentlemanly, in order that the students may come to possess more manly and womanly qualities of character as well as scholarship. Such teachers, in close personal contact with students, will awaken new powers, and help to discipline the mind to clear thinking, and impart noble impulses that will enrich manhood and womanhood.