SUPERVISED STUDY.

One of the more intelligent of the so-called "scientific managers" once had occasion to visit a factory that was reputed to be run on a thoroughly efficient and democratic basis. The managing employer, in the spirit of what he considered to be true democracy, had granted his employees the right of access at all times to the "front-office", for the purpose of voicing their complaints. In the course of his investigation, however, the visitor soon learned of several grave industrial abuses, to correct which no discoverable attempt had ever been made. Upon inquiring of the owner the meaning of this apparent inconsistency, the latter replied, "How was I to know that these conditions existed? No one ever made any complaint!"

To members of the S. A. T. C. and others acquainted with the routine thereof, the application of this little story to local conditions is only too evident. Whether or not the military authorities at Apthorp, however, could with reason make a similar plea of ignorance in regard to the policy of supervised study, is not certain. From all that we gather, the noctural practice of supervised study is not only tremendously unpopular but pre-eminently defeasive of the ends which it purports to further.

It is true that in questions of this kind, careful consideration should be given to a balance of interests,--of good against bad, of gain against loss. Often-times it happens that existing abuses are preferable to other evils of a more dangerous and destructive tendency. But in the case of supervised study, one has to reckon with a quite variable and therefore indeterminable quantity, namely, human nature. Will the average student study more and better under pressure of compulsion or of his own accord? In wartime, perhaps, no chance could be taken as to the probable outcome of this arrangement; the students should feel it their duty to study and officers should be put over them to assist them in every practical way in doing so. Yet in time of peace, with the supreme necessity of persistent application largely removed, it is at least open to question whether students profit more from the pursuit of study under supervision than under a system of voluntary performance. It is said that many of the men, in spite of the watchful eye of the observer, do no more than gaze stupidly at their books or add their talent to the well-wrought benches in Sever.

Inasmuch as the practice of supervised study now exists for the benefit of the student and of him alone, we urge that the matter of its modification or abandonment be put to a vote of the members of the S. A. T. C. and continue or cease by their decision. The homely maxim, however old and familiar, has yet much meaning for those who are willing to heed it: "You can drive a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!"