Clemson University - Taps Yearbook (Clemson, SC)

Page 18 text:

o ( THE CLEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE friend takes the position that social intercourse is not desir- able, because but few invitations are extended to the cadets by the professors, and. that the cadets do not respond to these with alacrity. Now before this doctrine is accepted we must find out if the students and faculty are pleased with this condition. I know of no better way of finding out than to let them answer for themselves. I have recently gotten the sentiment of enough professors to assure me that the faculty is by no means pleased with the conditions ; and this discus- sion has caused numbers of students to speak to me about it, and nearly all that have expressed themselves to me regret that the conditions are as we have them. This shows that action is not a criterion of inward desires in this case. We may with safety charge this condition in part to hurtful and undesirable influences, which operated in the early history of the college and established a sentiment against social inter- course, which has been handed down to the present genera- tion of students. Speaking in broad, general terms and granting a few exceptions, I feel perfectly safe in asserting that a better social condition is very much desired by both students and professors. The plea that social intercourse engenders partiality, and causes unfairness is entirely unwarranted. I take the ground that social intercourse does not in any way interfere with fair competition among the students. I admit, how- ever, that it. is absolutely impossible for a professor to meet a class of students very long without having his favorites among them. Professors are human beings, possessing hu- man instincts, and subject to human errors. So it is with students. Students have their favorites among the profes- sors just from what they see of them in the class room, and the professors have their favorites among the students from what they see f them in the class room, whether or not they ever see or speak to them at any other place. These

Page 17 text:

THE CLEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE 375 cannot do less than sustain the position which I have previ- ously taken in regard to social intercourse between students and faculty. This is a subject which well deserves consider- ation, and I am truly glad that the opposing views are being presented, because it will only serve to assist me in exposing the absurdity of the objections raised to social relations be- tween student body and faculty. It was with a view of bringing this phase of college life to the attention of the students and faculty, and with the hope of making the environments more pleasant and profitable for both, that I first mentioned it ; and it is in this same spirit that I answer erroneous and misleading views that may be presented on the opposite side. I do not pose as an unques- tionable authority on this subject, though I have given some special thought to it from the standpoint of a disinterested observer. I say disinterested, because, in common with nearly all of the students, I have received none of the sweets of society by visiting the professors, and I do not hope to receive any. I claim to possess no unusual insight into mat- ters of this kind, but I believe that I can modestly claim for myself the ability to draw as correct conclusions after five years experience as others can from three years experience. I regret to notice that my friend is laboring under a wrong impression. He has charged me with overlooking the argu- ment in his February article, and analyzing his phraseology and exposing his literary short-comings. I am exceedingly sorry that he has so misconstrued my reply, for I am sure I was only after the argument ; I did not intend to point out any defects in his phraseology, because I think that he uses fairly good English. If, however, there was some room for this construction of my reply, it might be accounted for to some extent by the fact that his note contained more elegant language and rhetorical flights than convincing argument. Coming to the arguments advanced in the April issue, my

Page 19 text:

THE CLEMSOX COLLEGE CHRONICLE 377 favoritisms are inevitable,, they are bound to exist so long as students and professors possess human idiosyncracies. But I make the positive statement without qualification and with- out the fear of successful contradiction, that at this place they are not the outcome of social intercourse. The limited social intercourse has resulted from them. I have been here five years and I have yet to learn of a single instance where a student has been invited out by a professor unless that stu- dent has previously become a favorite of the professor. Under our present conditions the professors form their likes and dislikes for the students in the class room, and then if it is desirable thev invite those students out whom thev like best. When an invitation is extended to a student, this is only the external evidence of the internal regard which the professor has for that student, and incidentally it is evidence that this student has become a favorite of that professor. He was then a favorite before any social relation ever ex- isted between them. Let any one fail to recognize that these favoritisms precede social intercourse, and he will ex- hibit a lack of observation woefid to behold ' So we can eliminate the erroneous conception that favor- itisms are caused by social intercourse. As stated above these favoritisms are bound to exist re- gardless of social conditions. The social conditions will never reach the stage where none of these favorites will be invited out, and under our present conditions whenever a student accepts these favors, he creates a certain amount of jealousy on the part of his fellow-students. It was with a view of eliminating this particular objection that I advocated the entertainment of the students as sections or as classes, and thereby eradicating all manifestations of the personal likes or dislikes which the professors may have for the individual students. But my friend argues that this ought not to be done, because some of the students are more entertaining and