Compulsory Attendance of College Students at Chapel Services.

Under the rather long heading "Compulsory Attendance of College Students at Chapel Services," the Journal of Education has an article that at the present time is particularly applicable to Harvard. The writer excellently draws the distinction between a college and a university, showing how much more election in the study belongs to the latter than the former. The college in its aim is "general rather that special, being to develop, as lies in its power, the youth into a man, not into a teacher, lawyer, or other professional or business specialist." The university, on the other hand, is for special study, and is peculiarly an elective institution. Study at a university is usually subsequent to study at colleges. It must be conceded, moreover, that the purpose of the university is not disciplinary. "It must be assumed," the writer of the article says, "that in the college the student has acquired self-control and self-determination, and in the university must be left free to elect whatever he chooses, and take the responsibility. If, now, the college be such only in name; if it be in reality a university; if its work be special and elective - election determined by students' judgment - certainly no such college can consistently require attendance upon chapel services. If, again, a college be in part general, in part special, in part college, and in part university, it may not be clear whether such services should be required or not. The question can only be determined in the light of facts surrounding such particular institution. The public and members of faculties of other institutions do not have all the facts which enable them to judge the case. The board of instructors of each institution is the only body of men who have before them the complete data. Whether, having those data, they reach a true determination, must and can be judged only by results. The capacity of the students, and later of the men, for self-government is the best evidence of the harmonious adaptation of ideal theories to the practical requirements of real life."