Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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28 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. called the college. This fact should bring to the college man and woman with all seriousness a keen sense of re- sponsibility for the ninety-five per- cent. lt should make them conscious of the great need of proper training. so that they might become efficient men and women of their communities. The college then in its training for efficiency, is not dealing with a body of adults in the heat and ardor of life 's struggles, nor of common youths as they walk our streets, but choice niaterial destined for exalted ends. Nearly every village and country com- munity selects, unconsciously perhaps, its most promising young men and women and sends them to college to train them for lifc's best work. The colleges today are training the excep- tional men and women of their society. They are the Helitel' of mankind. The college trained man or woman then, becomes a leader, at constructive, aggressive force in society. lt is to this body of men and women that the world looks for leadership. lt is they who will make society march forward. As a leader of society the college graduate must be efficient, for the true test of leadership is efficiency. Wlizitt is Efficiency? What do We imply when we speak of an efficient man? Efficiency, says Dr. Eliot, is effective power for service during an active life. The phase 'power for service' suggests another very essential question. ls the college graduate, to be a man of service or what ought to be his relation to society? These ques- tions mnst be answered before we can consider the education which will make for efficiency. Man is a social being and as a social being he either becomes a help or hindrance to society. The man of greatest benefit to society is he who loses his life in service to his fellow- men, One of the essential qualities of this man of service is efficiency. Effi- ciency means more than goodness. A man to be efficient, must be more than good. He must be good for something. A man may have an excellent char- acter and yet be wholly inefficient for his life work. Being a good man does not excuse a physician or dentist, who does poor work and is inefficient. He must he a prepared, trained, efficient man. A man must know how to do as well as to be. The modern Diogenes does not go about with a lantern seek- ing goodness. Ile seeks for efficiency which implies goodness. lint if Dio- genes should seek for men of etficiency, whereshallheseek? Where shall these men of fitness and capacity to perform come from U? Theqnestion must be an- swered by the colleges of our land. lt is true that in times past, the great leaders have not come from our col- leges. ln fact some of them were often failures in college life. Our colleges of times past have not given the in- struction which has developed leader- ship. Society was on a lower plane of civilization. Men who half a century ago were considered great and efficient. leaders would be considered today as ordinary and mediocre men. The coin- plaint of the the modern business man is often well founded when he says that the high school or college gradu- ate is often utterly helpless. lle con- not work out any problems by himselt He does not know how to get the in- formation needed for its solution. The school life of this individual has been characterized by conformity of direc- tions, learning so far as required what was put before him, but uninspired to

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27 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. Our interest now centers in another of our classmates who we reniemher for his ealm deliberation. C. li, Shank af- ter a year's work in Manual 'llraining at Purdue 'University eomes lmaek to take his degree with the t'lass ot' 1914. lt is his purpose to devote his energy to the industrial reforms ot' lndia's middle and lower classes. We lielieve that his disposition as well as his train- ing has peculiarly fitted him for his ehoseu profession. NVe will very prob- alnly in the near future hear of his appointment hy the Mennonite lloard of Missions to the tield in CW-ntral Pro- vinees, lndia. At' first' sight you would eonelude that the plaee this member of our elass fills in the world must, necessarily he a small one. We need, however, hear him speak hut a tew times at our week- ly devotional meetings until we eon- elude that it is another illustration of the faet that things in this material world are not always just like they seem. Vtle are l'ully eoutident that WV. li. VVeaver's position as instructor in the History department of our College will be well tilled. Along with his teaehing he will eontiuue his work in the nearby ehurehes. Several years ago when EX-President Byers was assigning seats for chapel exereises, Sylvia Johnson 'found his name listed with the girls. lllr. John- son has proven to us sinee that it was lmeeause ot' nothing more than the mere sound of his name. ln gymnasium, on the tennis eourt, and in. the elass room he has proven himself a man of eftfiei- eney. YVe remember him ehietly for his optimism. 'l'he eoming years will find him working for the development oi' the raee along lines directly physi- eal His genial temperament together with his determination to make a. sne- eess of anything he undertakes insure for him a sueeesstful medical eareer. Our attention at last eenters in our valedictorian. While in College she has proven h erselt' a. hard worker which has won for her marked intelligence. Her seemingly inexhaustible store of optimism and good lunnor have made her a great favorite among those who have learned to konw her. Future years will tind her teaching liatin and llistory to High School pupils. lt is the expeetation ol' her classmates to some time read in the head lines of the t'hic-ago Reeord Herald, Nola Banta, sneeessor to Ella Flagg Young as Su- preintendent ol' Sehools ot' Uhieago. Little need he said about the remin- ing member ol' the elass. She will proli- alnly eontinue her work in teaehing and hopes to find a 'field of activity to which she feels herself more favorably adapt- ed than to that of a Historian and Prophetess. NVhether these plans of the individu- als of our elass and are only air elastles like those of our ltlreslunan years or the real fundamental plans of our life work. the One who holds the destiny of futures alone can reveal. As we look far into the distant fu- ture we express our hopes and fears in the words ot' llrowning. 'tflrow old along with nie! 'l'he lmest is yet to be, PX: if: 2? SG 36 Youth shows hut halfg 'Frust God: See all ,nor he afraid.

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GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 29 wander from the beaten track and bring some contribution of l1is own. lt is simpler to follow in college work, especially when it leads to good ex- amination marks. ln such an educa- tion, enthusiasm is chilled by school- ish ideals and the initiative of the in- dividual destroyed. VVith. such an edu- cation for preparation, the business man's complaint is justified. Many college men and women have gone out inefficient, unfiitted for actio11 in the world. They learn to be efficient af- terwards at great cost. But these H1611 and women are l1Ot really educated. A college student may spend four years at an institution and 110t be educated. Dean Swift- said at Oxford in a bitter way, that it was a seat of great learn- ingf' For, said hc, 'tEverybody who enters must bring some learning there, if he wishes to enter, no one when he leaves takes any away. Therefore it has steadily accumulated until there is much therefl Such a theoretical im- practical education which leads to no positive practical results, is like the road described in Longfellowls 'fHy- pcrion, which after leading over pleasant hills and thru smiling mea- dows and shady woods, narrows at last into a squirrel track and runs up a tree. Society today demands efficient men for it leaders. We are living in an age of progress and achievement. Yet so- ciety realizes very keenly the great need of efficient, educated men, for it is only by the guidance and leadership of such men that society can be made to march forward. Signs of ineffici- ency and waste are noticeable on every hand. Consider the great waste of na- tural resources today because of the lack of efficient means of consumption. We waste millions of dollars a year through losses of growing crops, fruit trees, grain in storage by noxious in- sects whose multiplication is largely due to careless methods of agriculture, not only in these lines but in all our activities, political, social, moral and religious, there is a great waste due to lack of organization Hlld inefficiency of leaders. The great need today is for efficient leadership. Wlmat kind of an education should a college give so that the students might become efficient men and women. The answer is given in the popular cry to- day, Practical Education. Practical education, however, in the minds of many of its advocates means primarily an education for purely material ends. The question of concern for them is VVhat education can I get that will help me to make money? Because of this narrow view they say, Banish Philosophy, Latin and Greek from our curriculum. Are Latin and Greek not practical just because they are not spoken at railway stations or in society in general? ls Philosophy not practical just because it may not directly aid you in getting a position? lt is un- doubtedly true that scientific and in- dustrial schools are doing an invalu- able work in thc preparation of men and Women for lifcls wo1'k. They should hold a high place in education- al agencies, but having them because they p1'epare an individual for a spe- cific work should be a subsidiary point. The prime motives of these subjects and in fact all subjects in a curriculum should be that they prepare the indi- vidual to become an efficient promoter of the great interest of society. The true aim of education then, is not to make teachers, farmers, lawyers or