A SUCCESS?

During the present week, the supposed work of the Student Advisors reaches the climax of what should have been a year of valuable service to the Freshmen. In choosing his field of concentration and the courses for next year, the Freshman has presumably been aided by his advisor--or will be aided in a last minute rally before Saturday. Throughout the year, the advisor has assiduously attempted--not, of course, to form his advisee's tastes--but to help him choose wisely in accordance with his tastes and abilities. He has opened the broad vista of opportunity to the dazzled eyes of the unwitting advisee; he has indicated the easiest course which will fulfill the science distribution requirement; he has settled the problem of going out for the track team or for the baseball managership. And so on.

But how mockingly this idyllic description contrasts with the facts! Of the 225 chosen advisers, how many have conscientiously discharged their duties! It is true that their duties were not sought by them; that many had little sympathy either with the purpose of the Advisory system or with its method. They were asked to inconvenience themselves to the extent of calling on from three to seven Freshmen, in most of whom they had not the slightest previous interest, to win their confidence, and to aid them in every possible way to adjust themselves to the new and complex problems of the University. Virtue, of course, is its own reward.

The Freshmen on the other hand, have not in all cases shown great willingness to cooperate or to obtain the possible benefits of more mature advice. And the advisor, somewhat reluctant, reticent, a bit diffident, perhaps, has been too easily repelled by the slightest lack of interest on the part of the advisee. As a result, the great expectations of the system cannot be said to have been realized. If the blame must be placed, it undoubtedly rests with the advisors.

It is obvious that the advisor must be the keystone of the whole structure. If he is timid and diffident, his advisers are certainly more so; if after two or three years of college he still lacks the confidence to invade a Freshman's rooms and make himself at home, he cannot expect such assurance on the part of the advisee. And if he has no great faith in his own advice, he may be sure that no one else has. But in any case, whether he gives good advice or bad upon his energy, his willingness to get up and grapple with the problem which has been given him depends the success of the Advisory system.

The Committee have done everything in their power; the Faculty have lent their support. The Freshman must be regarded as raw material, from which no initiative ought to be expected. And the advisors, even though they feel little responsibility and less interest, have certain duties which they have accepted. To obtain the best results, the spirit of the advisors should be otherwise. But taking it as it exists; there is still the obligation to carry out the task assigned, which it is difficult, in all conscience to resist.