MAKING SPARKS

The articles in the New York "Evening Post" on American colleges offer a generous supply of food for thought; the last deals with the influence of family in college--an influence found to be very great. What Mr. Gavit, the author of the articles, means by family, "is a complex of traditions, habits, ambitions" which makes the home atmosphere of far-reaching importance in the success of the student. And Mr. Gavit quite rightly criticises the family--that is, the hypothetical average family--because it does not set standards of culture, or because it coddles too much, or because it does not fit a boy to reap even a reasonable amount of profit from formal education. Here is the conclusion:

"'Right!' shouts the Professor. 'The purden of responsibility lies upon the home! Take your message to the Parent!'

"'Oh, very well. Quite so, Professor. Take it to him. He sits before you--the Boy, the Parent of the very near future. There is your job. Go to it."

This seems to imply that the college ought to do more than merely supply courses and professors. We are inclined to agree; yet we do not in the least favor making the college a mass of restrictions and regulations. No. But somehow more than one student goes through college without being awakened as far as his intellectual self goes--that bugaboo word "intellectual" again!--but there is no avoiding it. Fundamentally it is all the old problem of contact; because true teaching is what is necessary, and teachers work only through making contact. The resulting sparks usually start something.

Undoubtedly there is need for more teachers--here; scholars are not always teachers, although the greatest scholars almost invariably are possessed of that genius. But to assemble a large faculty combining scholastic and teaching abilities in proper proportion simply can not be done; yet teachers must be had. The tutorial system is a real advance along this line; the progress made so far is unimpeachable. The Faculty side of it, except for the English Department, is now well-organized. It remains to develop the refinements, and in this the attitude of the tutee is of overwhelming importance. The old story again--"What you put into it. . .

Faculty advisors are another point of contact; it is unfortunately true that at present many faculty advisors have been more or less forced into the position, and have not the time to properly discharge its functions. The fault is not theirs. A group of thirty or more younger men, qualified by training and by personality--probably personality first--whose work, at least at particular times of the year, would be to advise--and nothing else,--is an idealistic solution. What would be the balance of such a man's occupation at the University--if any--is a difficult question to answer, and there is not space here to go into details.

Clear it is that a college can not be run on the same principle as a University; conditions in American life make it necessary for the college to do more than offer opportunity and to insure the students' realization of those opportunities. This realization should not be brought about by compulsion, but it should be more general than at present. And insofar as the college provides general and genuine, ontato, cj utssorafrwi,a eral, and genuine, contact, just so far will the students take advantage of it; in the number who do can be measured the degree in which the college succeeds.