grasped either by himself or by others. It requires study and
discriminating sympathy, to extricate a main desire from many
incidental likings. Frequently the desire itself must be virtually
created. It is a common remark among American undergraduates, “I
wish I _knew_ what I was fitted for.” The college is under deep
obligation to serve the nation not merely by presenting a great
number of excellent subjects, which, if properly selected, will
land the young man in positions of leadership and usefulness; but
it may and must go beyond this negative education, and assist
the student actually to form his life purpose.
American institutions of learning are at present neglecting an
opportunity _par excellence_ for presenting different phases of
life-work to undergraduates, especially emphasizing the relation
of this life-work to the great branches of leadership and modern
enterprise. There are hundreds of students being graduated from
our institutions to-day who have not decided what they are to
do in after life. Even if we assume that these men are prepared
in an all-round way for life, it must be realized that they are
severely handicapped by the necessity of trying different lines of
work for years after graduation before fixing upon their permanent
vocation. They not only miss the tremendous advantage of enthusiasm
and impulse of the young, but they are also in danger of drifting
rather than of moving forward with positive and aggressive activity.
A NEW COLLEGE OFFICER NEEDED
I see no possibility of bringing undergraduates to a decision of
their proper life-work without the assistance of a new office
in our educational institutions. A man is needed who can treat
with students with real human interest, as well as with teaching
intelligence. He should not be the college pastor, who is looked
upon as a professional religionist, and therefore shunned by
many students who need him most, but one definitely and actively
responsible for the development of leadership. He should be a
close student of college affairs, sympathetic with students,
human, high-minded, natural, and keenly alive to humor and social
interests. In some institutions this man might hold the leadership
in philanthropic, religious, and social-service interests. It might
be his privilege to arrange lectures by leading men of the country
who were filled with zeal for their callings. The man who could
make possible the endowment of such a chair in a great university
would be doing a great work for his country.
LEARNING AND INVESTIGATION
But while the American undergraduate may consistently look to the
college to furnish him with ideals and with the methods of making
these ideals effective, the world looks to the college for definite
and advanced information. The college, with its accumulated stores
of intellect, its apparatus, and its unusual means for observation,
owes the world a debt that none but it can pay. And this is the
gift which the college has given, and is still giving, to the world
so quietly, so unobtrusively, that the world scarcely dreams of the
source of its gain. Let one think of the myriad signs of modern
progress by which society is being constantly carried forward.
Behind the scenes you will find some quiet, hidden worker in a
laboratory or library, an unpractical man perhaps, but one through
whom a new realm of possibilities in science or industry or letters
have been revealed.
What is the world’s interest in these men--men who are so generally
underpaid that much of their best work is made impossible by the
necessary outside labors to support their families, who, beyond
their own personal satisfaction, have as little recognition as
perhaps any workers of modern society? When the world demands
expert knowledge in industry, science, literature, and art, the
college may well reply, “When are you going to show your gratitude
for the self-sacrifice and far-reaching labors of thousands of
devoted men whose work is both a challenge and an example to the
world to-day?”
And this example of the man who learns to devote himself to one
thing is not lost upon the undergraduate, to whom example is ever
stronger than precept. Indeed, it is this tendency to learn how to
do one thing well that is bringing the colleges into the attention
of the modern world. The secret of genius is to be able to seize
upon some concrete, near-at-hand piece of work, to see it with
unobstructed and steady vision, and then, out of the rich treasure
of knowing how to do one thing thoroughly, to draw by insight and
expression the general principle.
For, after all, the contribution of the college to the world is
often one which cannot be fully analyzed. It is not discovered
in a thorough knowledge of a curriculum or in the statistics of
athletics any more than a foreign country is discovered in a
guide-book or in a hasty recital of its industries. There is no
master word to express what a college career may mean or should
mean to American youth who in years of high impression experience
with a multitude of their fellows.
Days that flew swiftly like the band
That in the Grecian games had strife,
And passed from eager hand to hand
The onward-dancing torch of life.
After we have said much concerning the life and the work of the
American undergraduate, there is still a valuable thing which the
college should impart to him, and through which he should become
enabled to present with greater charm and with greater force the
message which is in his soul. This valuable thing, at once both
idealism and incentive, is the undergraduate’s _individual_ message
to the world. It may be composed of knowledge, the ability to
think, the faculty of relaxation, and the power to do faithfully
and successfully some given task. These things, however, are all
dependent upon the _spirit_ of the actor, upon his vision, his
determination, his ambitious and unflagging attempts. The true
modern university contributes to the world a great-minded and a
great-hearted man, to whom college life has been a soul’s birth
as well as a mind’s awakening. It gives to its youth that peculiar
but indispensable thing which burned in the heart of the young
art-student who stood before the masterpiece and said, “I, too, am
a painter.”
END
INDEX
A
Action the Gospel of the Undergraduate, 130
Agricultural Colleges, Attendance at, 56
Alden, Henry M., 40
Alien Influences in College Life, 101
American Undergraduate Life, 8
Amherst College honor system, 109
Amherst College, value of fraternity property, 117
Amherst College, plan proposed to abolish the B. S. degree, 52
Analysis of attitude of the Undergraduate, 6
Anecdotes, humorous, 19-20
Anecdotes of the working of college honor systems, 110-111
Appleton Chapel, 16
Arnold, Matthew, quoted, 4, 84
Athletics fifty years ago, 38
Athletics in colleges, 31
Athletics over-emphasized in American colleges, 33
Attendance of students at state and representative universities, 56
B
Bacchic element among undergraduates, 26
Barrie, James, 135
Base-ball game, an exhibition of honor, 146
Bennett, Arnold, 105
Benson, A. C., 74
Bible classes, attendance, 25
Bible study, great organizations for, 125
Bible teaching, inadequacy of, 85
Billings, Josh, quoted, 78
Bismarck, quoted, 154
Book-binding as a relaxation, 184
Book-life in college, 158
Books and the undergraduate, 159
Books, influence of, 164
Boston University, 139
Branford, Conn., 159
Bryce, James, quoted, 72
Bushnell, Horace, 40
C
Cambridge, old life at, 102
Campus and schoolroom, 98
Carnegie Foundation, 143, 188
Carlyle, Thomas, 4, 89, 169
Chesterton, Gilbert K., 122
Chief end of an American college, 58-62
Choosing a college, 140
Church history, inadequately taught, 85
Church membership, 25
Classroom presentation of the professor, 77
Clay, Henry, 144
College, a means to the larger life, 169
College and the immigrant question, 186
College clubs responsible for large part of undergraduate life, 117
College, constructive action of, 191
College develops individual initiative, 147
College fraternities, dangers of, 120
College graduates in the missionary field, 26
College graduates of fifty years ago versus those of to-day, 71
College journalism, 154
College men and the world, 173
College men as leaders of reform movements, 29
College men should be makers of public sentiment, 60
College slang, 15
College spirit, 39
College teachers, what they lack, 75
College traditions, 102
College work and college relaxation, 93
College Y. M. C. A., 25
Colleges and the requirement of modern business life, 174
Colleges, dates of founding, 153
Colorado School of Mines, 139
Columbia University, 31
Columbia University, financial statistics, 57
Columbia University, report of plan to establish the university
system, 66
Columbia University, value of fraternity property, 117
Commercialism in American universities, 58
Cornell University, financial statistics, 57
Cosmopolitan life at college, 100
Courses of study, tendency towards the practical, 51
Criticisms of American colleges, 3
D
Dangers of modern college fraternities, 120
Degrees, radical plan proposed at Amherst college, 52
Dickinson, L. Lowes, 178
Discipline emphasized by athletics, 39
Disraeli, quoted, 168
Dodge, Cleveland H., 125
Dodge, W. Earl, 125
Drummond, Henry, quoted, 16
Dyke, Henry van, 24
E
East Indian student’s description of his daily routine, 101
Eastern universities, attendance at, 56
Editors of _The Rake_ suspended, 105
Education the secret of American success, 153
Education to meet popular demands, 65
Elective studies, 63
Eliot, President of Yale, 154
Emerson, Ralph W., 40, 46, 181, 190
English literature, inadequately taught, 85
Enrollment in agricultural and mechanical colleges, 56;
in Johns Hopkins University, 56
F
Faculties’ attitude towards fraternities, 118
Faunce, President of Brown University, 118
Fish-hatching as a relaxation, 184
Financial statistics of various colleges, 57
Foot-ball in colleges, 37
Foot-ball, instance at a Harvard-Yale game, 131
Foreign students in American colleges, 100
Forms of relaxation, 183
Fraternities, membership, 116
Fraternity alumni, coöperation of, sought, 119
Fraternity houses, 117
Fraternity houses, problems connected with, 118
Fraternity life in college, 116
G
Garfield, James H., 144
German universities, research work in, 70
Gilman, Daniel Coit, President Johns Hopkins, 73
Gosse, Edmund, 189
Government by Undergraduates, 150
Graduate testimony concerning college, 138
Grant, Gen. U. S., 147
Greek-letter societies, 116
Growth of practical education, 55
H
Hadley, Arthur Twining, President of Yale, 146
Harkness, Albert, 75
Harper, Dr. William R., 55
Harvard University, date founded, 153
Harvard faculty authorized to inflict corporal punishment, 149
Harvard University, financial statistics, 57
“Hasty Pudding, The,” of Harvard, 117
Heine, Heinrich, 18
Hibben, John G., 187
History, two ways of teaching, 79
Honor and square dealing, 145
Honor of the college men, 108-112
Honor systems, 13, 109
Hopkins, Mark, 144
Humor of the collegian, 105-107
Humor, sense of in undergraduate, 17
Humorous anecdotes, 19-20
I
Ideals joined to action, 145
Immigrant question, the, 186
Individual character, the need of, 62
Individual training, 146
Influence of professors with students, 87
Influences on student life, 99
Irving, Washington, 27
J
Johns Hopkins University, 139
Johns Hopkins University, financial statistics, 57
Johnson, Owen, 4
K
Kipling, Rudyard, 93, 131, 163
L
Lawlessness in college, 108
Learning and investigation, 196
Learning to think, 152
Lectures, making interesting, 78
Literature, new realism in, 159
Locke, John, 153
Longfellow, Henry W., 40
Lowell, Abbott Lawrence, President of Harvard, 31
Lowell, James Russell, 46
Loyalty to leadership, 150
M
McLean, President of Princeton, 144
McKinley, William, 147
Mabie, Dr. Hamilton Wright, 152
“Mask and Wig, The,” of University of Pennsylvania, 117
Mechanical colleges, enrollment in, 56
Membership of Greek letter societies, 116
Mental resourcefulness, 187
Micah, quoted, 127
Mission contributions, 25
Mission of the university system, 66
Missions, origin of the student volunteer movement, 126
Missionaries, college graduates as, 26
Monroe, James, 147
Mount Hermon, Mass., conference resulting in organization of The
Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 126
N
Naturalness of the undergraduate, 14-17
Need of leaders in the world, 59
New college officer needed, 195
Northrup, Cyrus, ex-president of University of Minnesota, 76, 121
O
Oxford University, opened to American students by Cecil Rhodes, 70
P
Palmer, Professor George H., 152
Parallel courses, first conceded, 69
Parental sacrifices, 8
Paulding, James K., 27
Personality of great teachers, 73
Philadelphia, U. of P. settlement house, 128
Pierpont, James, 159
Pioneer spirit, 167
Practical courses of study the tendency, 51
Practical education, growth of, 55
Pranks of college undergraduates, 106
Predominant traits of college man, 11
Presidents who were college men, 147
Princeton University, date founded, 153
Princeton University, financial statistics, 57
Princeton honor system, 109
Princeton inception of World’s Student Christian Federation, 125
Princeton-Yale foot-ball anecdote, 45
Professor in the lecture room, 77
Provincialism as a result of college traditions, 103
Puritan influence on American college life, 149
R
Reasons for going to college, 135-169
Reform movements, led by college men, 29
Relaxation, the art of, 177
Religion and the college man, 23-26
Research work in German universities, 70
Responsibilities of college fraternities, 119
Rhetoric versus ideas, 13
Rhodes, Cecil, 70
Rossetti, D. G., 161
Rules of a New England athletic leader, 14
Ruskin, John, 176
S
Settlement house of the University of Pennsylvania, 128
“Silence” insubordination at West Point, 94
Slang in college, 15
Slosson, Professor Elwin E., 32, 57
Social organizations in colleges, 112
Social service, promotion of, 128
Society life among undergraduates, 112
Soldiers’ Field, Cambridge, memorial shaft, 45
Specialistic training, 63
Spencer, Herbert, 178
Spirit of college play life, 41
Stanford University, financial statistics, 57
State institutions, growth of, 57
State universities, attendance at, 56
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 157, 160, 168
Student individualism, 151
Student, the “for popular” reasons class, 99
Student Volunteer Movement of Foreign Missions, origin of, 126
Students, and their relationship to teachers, 74
Students’ passion for reality, 12
Studies, choice of, 64
Studies, elective, 63
Systems of learning too bookish, 190
T
Tablet-talk in Columbia commons, 101
Taft, William H., 29
Teachers, for undergraduates, how to train, 85
Teachers, need of, 73
Teachers’ relationship to students, 74
Teaching a calling, not a means of livelihood, 88
Technical institutions, growth of, 55
Tennyson, quoted, 76, 164
Thackeray, W. M., quoted, 160
Town versus gown, 5
Training of the Individual, 146
U
Undergraduate life of a century ago, 148
Undergraduate life, two divisions of, 93
Undergraduate, perversity of, 4-11
Undergraduate philosophy, three stages of, 126
Undergraduate--his naturalness, 14-17
Undergraduate, his passion for reality, 11-14
Undergraduate, his sense of humor, 17-20
Undergraduate life, influences on, 99
Undergraduates and the temperance question, 27
Undergraduates as readers, 161
Undergraduates, book-life of, 158
Undergraduates, gaiety of, 105
Undergraduate’s philosophy of life, 122
Undergraduate’s philosophy of serviceableness, 130
Undergraduates, play life of, 29
Uninteresting lectures, 78
University of California, Chinese students at, 101
University of California, financial statistics, 57
University of Chicago, financial statistics, 57
University of Georgia, 139
University of Illinois, financial statistics, 57
University of Iowa, faculty discussion, 86
University of Louisiana, 139
University of Michigan, chapter houses, 117
University of Michigan, financial statistics, 57
University of Minnesota, anecdote of ex-President Northrup, 76
University of Minnesota, financial statistics, 57
University of Pennsylvania, settlement house in Philadelphia, 128
University of Pennsylvania, financial statistics, 57
University of Virginia honor system, 109
University of Wisconsin, financial statistics, 57
University system, its mission, 66
V
Value, Prof. Washington, anecdote of, 15
Vanderbilt University, 139
Vocational versus classical education, 55
W
Walking as a relaxation, 183
Ward, Artemus, 31
Washington and Lee University Mission students, 26
Wesleyan University, 146
West Point, an incident at, 94
William and Mary College, date founded, 153
Williams College, 146
Wilson, Woodrow, 32, 77, 121
Wishard, Luther D., 125
Wister, Owen, 189
Wright, Dean Henry P., 115
World’s Student Christian Federation, organization of, 125
Y
Yale anecdote, 12
Yale Mission in China, 26
Yale University, date founded, 153
Yale, early foundation of, 159
Yale University, financial statistics, 57
=TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE=
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=.
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Many words with hyphens, or without them, have been silently
adjusted to be more consistent. For example, instances of ‘Football’
have been changed to ‘Foot-ball’.
Pg xi: ‘Aften ten years’ replaced by ‘After ten years’.
Pg 33: ‘unforgetable sensation’ replaced by ‘unforgettable
sensation’.
Pg 42: ‘unforgetable scenes’ replaced by ‘unforgettable scenes’.
Pg 175: ‘both finacially and’ replaced by ‘both financially and’.
Pg 208: ‘college graudates as’ replaced by ‘college graduates as’.