Kenyon College - Reveille Yearbook (Gambier, OH)

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In all ways, selection and guidance are the primary functions of a college faculty and administration. To Ik great a college must first select its scholars with prudence. Kenyon selects carefully. Mow can a college staff have its students study all that has been designed or written? The Kenyon faculty is unusually competent in taking the grain and letting the chaff lie still. The Kenyon man will then make his own selections. By this freedom he will Ik prepared to state his opinions with surety and finesse. } T i HAVE TALKED IX THEORETICAL TERMS of the Kenyon man’s phi- losophy. The validty of the theory will be proved by its daily ojicration in Kenyon life. Now it is time to examine some of the facts. Perhaps the first fact to remember is a small college. It is only classified as “small ’ because of the tremendous expansion of other colleges and universities in the last two decades. In the beginning Kenyon was a college, without any restrictive adjective. Today Kenyon is not much larger than it was fifty years ago. It has maintained a steady per- sonality. By carefully limiting the expansion of the college, Kenyon’s administrators have put into practice the famous dictum of Alexander Pope — “The proper study of mankind is mail. 'I'he Kenyon man can see his theory working every day for lu can freely discuss with the faculty or any of his fellow students the meaning or value of any thought which may enter his mind. The Kenyon family is small enough in numbers to make the college a friendly place, and great enough in mind to give its scholars an intelligent understanding of humanity. Although comparatively small in numbers, the Kenyon family is by race, religion, and varied ex|K rience, a heterogenous group. Kenyon’s faculty and students come from all sections of the United States and from many foreign countries. 'I'he Kenyon man is privileged to live and study in a place where so many external societies are represented. His views will be modified by the views of those around him and they will gain a kind of universality in the process. From the day he begins his college career, the Kenyon man is continually faced with ini| ortant situations. 'I'he problems which he discusses in and outside the classroom con- cern basic principles of humanity, education, and life in the world today. Xo driving force is necessary at Kenyon to keep its scholars thinking. With his fiery intellectual curiosity, the Kenyon man is kept alert bv his own volition. The Kenyon man is ready to talk after testing a mathematical formula, learning a principle of economics, or reading a line of poetry. He will decide the meaning of such particular segments as things in the whole of T‘8f fi

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his fellows at a common point of understanding. This common point is truth. Perhaps the Kenyon man is not yet satisfied with his interpretation of truth, but at least he knows its shape. Understanding is the root of love. From his four years of living in a free-thinking society, the Kenyon man has philosophically upheld this first principle. Saint Paul gives what is |x ssibly the world’s most | erfect measure of living. After enumerating the transitory experiences of lift---the things that pass away — Paul stated in conclusion three |ualities that are permanent — and of these three one is the greatest. The supremacy of lore in the trilogy of graces has heen tested by the Kenyon man through his long ex- amination of philosophy, history, and literature. The first principle has passed all intel- lectual tests. Talk not of wasted affection, affection nearer was wasted; If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, returning hack to their springs, like the rain, shall Jill them full of refreshment: That which the fountain sends forth returns again to the fountain. I ongfellow stated it well. The fountain sends the Kenyon man forth, but he returns again to the fountain. Nothing is thrown away at Kenyon. The necessity of keeping the whole experience intact makes it necessary to keep on file all that is read or seen. The young man begin- ning at Kenyon has brought with him a few lean threads of truth. At Kenyon these threads will be untangled, added to. and woven into a handsome fabric. r Z' frmr

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 tin subjects he studies. When he realizes tin value of the part, the beauty of the whole become , apparent. The form has meaning. Hv this careful process of learning, the ideas which result are not very easih forgotten but kept fresh and ready for future application. Perhaps this serious philosophy of education is what makes the Kenyon man a giant in his own world. When he understands what a powerful and lasting thing education is at Kenyon, he can gaze at the ivv-covered towers and see more in them than external beauty. He can love Kenyon’s spires localise they have become impressive symbols of his achievement. nother principle the Kenyon man accepts — the first principle of the psycholo- gists«—is that man is a social animal. The intellectual and social worlds harmoniously combine at Kenyon. If a man is strong only within himself, if he does not understand society and appreciate the thoughts and ambitions of other men. all his learning comes t nought. We have heard many “intellectuals and less-than-intellectuals cry out against fra- ternities in American colleges on the grounds that they are exclusive cliques, “intoler- ant'' of outsiders. Kenyon's fraternities are not secluded circles of friends, but groups with equal respect for one another. Fraternity and non-fraternity men alike are cordi- ally welcomed at any Kenyon social function. Ostensibly Kenyon's social organizations provide a convenient framework for all the social activities of the college. In addition, they provide the physical conditions under which much of the understanding of humanity discussed above is effected, hraternities on the Hill are valuable and mature. Bv studying and living in such a society as Kenyon offers, the student gains an abiding strength. Here triviality and immaturity are discouraged bv circumstance. The Kenyon man can hardly Ik less than a serious individual when he lives in an intelligent world. A Kenyon party is an unusual thing. After Jack has worked hard, he is willing to play just as vigorously. hen a group of Kenyon men gather together for relaxation, the wit. s(»ngs. and good humor combine to make a unique and extremely pleasant rest from toil. And the Kenyon man participates enthusiastically in the extra-curricular ac- tivities of the college which apjK-al to his tastes and sensibilities. There is no demand at Kenyon, nor hardly the |x ssibilitv. to be a doer-of-all. If the Kenyon man attempted such a feat, he would encounter so much conqx'tition from the talented men who participate in one or two activities that he would soon be discouraged. He does not become a general tiX