Lake Forest College - Forester Yearbook (Lake Forest, IL)

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l9lI who a little later devoted himself chiefly to the college work, and was succeeded in the Academy by Milford C. Buitler. Mr. C. T. Dickinson, a tutor, also gave instruction to Freshmen. The work was limited in range, but of such a nature that Dr. Starli- weather was admitted to level standing in Williams in the Autumn of l86Z. The life of the school and community was in a manner primitive, but spirited. Enterprise was in the air, and everyone lent a hand to everything that was going. A half- holiday was granted now and then on condition that the students help shingle the church or grub stumps out of the streets The boys were invited to the village tea parties and were made to feel themselves partners in all activities, social and religious, as well as educational. The life had all the zest as well as the hard work of that of pioneers. The effort to maintain a college failed only because the civil war absorbed all the energy that did not go into the industrial and commercial activity of the region. The student body at Lake Forest was thrilled with the fires of patriotism, which was heightened still further when that dashing and fascinating leader, Col. Ellsworth, came out here every Saturday for a number of weeks to conduct the Zouave drill. At least three of the little freshman class went into the army, and the college idea was abandoned for a time, to be taken up again as soon after the war as was feasible. . Q ,gy A? I6

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fi 191: iionsrrisial. : f A New Chapter in Lake Forest History A line in the chronology in the college catalogue reads as follows: l86lfCol- lege work begun under Professor W. C. Dickinson,-discontinued in l863. Happily several members of the first freshman class, organized at that time, are still surviving, and we are able to present here somewhat further details than have heretofore been printed. What is here set down needs to be verified and amplified in some particulars, but is in the main accurate. Many of the data are due to the vivid recollection of Dr. Starkweather. In l860 the plan, proposed from the start, to develop a collegiate department in Lind University, took definite shape, and one young man named Heath, of whom we have no further trace, seems to have been regarded by his fellows as of superior rank, that is, as the first Freshman. But he did not continue in the institution, and it was in the Autumn of l86l that the hrst Freshman class was clefiniely organized. The members of this class were the following: Chandler, Charles Velasco, Macomb, Illinois. Mr. Chandler entered the Army. served through war, was wounded, has long been a leading citizen of Macomb. Chapman, Frederick-in the Army, according to one report, lost his life there: another impression is that he survived for some years. Manierre, C-eorge, Jr., Chicago. A prosperous business man, now of Dibblee and Manierre, Real Estate, 4l6-I35 Adams Street: residing at 61 Bellevue Place. Price, William D., Ottawa, Illinois. An attractive, brilliant fellow. Entered the Army, promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 63rd Illinois Infantry, killed in Tennessee, October 5, IS63. Starkweather, Ralph E., M. D. Entered Williams College as sophomore in l862, was graduated in IS65. M. :,:. ,Z ... in fs' li D., College Physicians and Surgeons, New York, l868. ix. U fi Practiced medicine in Chicago until l892. Resicles at IZZ3 A X' S: 7 C-rove Street, Evanston. 5: Patterson, john C. Went from Lake Forest in l862 4 E, ' gf' to Yale: did not graduate. Lawyer in Chicago, 503-59 F Clark Street: resides l350 Wilson Avenue. The studies of the freshman year included Cicero De Officis and Livy, Xenophon's Memorabilia and Homer, Geometry and Conic Sections, with Declamation and English Composition. The requirements for admission were not greatly lower in quantity than they are now, but it is interesting to notice that the collegiate age was lower, as students could be admitted at fourteen. The college teaching was done chiefly by Professor W. C. Dickinson, afterwards pastor for a time of the church, and by the Principal of the Academy, S. F. Miller, I5

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l9ll Pogcrrcggg 43-egg' 'Iv 'f' The American College Under Fire The American college is being severely criticized at the present time. This criticism comes not merely from men who are naturally hostile to a training whose purpose they are constitutionally unable to understand, but also from those who are qualihed by their ex- perience to speak with authority on educational matters. Doubtless it is partly due to the higher standards of educational efficiency which now prevail and to a more intelligent public opinion which expects more of the college because it understands more clearly its office and function. As President Butler says in a recent article, The American col- lege is under hre. No doubt well-directed intelligent hring will do it good. It is far from perfect, but it knows its job and is working at it with the skill born of long and successful experience. But this criticism should not be entirely disregarded as due to the inevitable con- trast between actual conditions never perfect and an ideal so high as to be impossible of attainment. For it does not stop with pointing out superficial defects: it strikes deep-at the very heart of our system of higher education. The college is charged by its critics with failure in the central purpose of its existence-that of preparing young people for life. Modern business and professional life, it is said, reouire concentration of mind, habits of punctualitv and diligence. faithfulness in the discharge of obligation and the carrving of responsibility. The college, so far from developing these habits and abilities, produces the very opposite. It developes idleness and frivolity, cultivates desultoriness of mind and inhrmity of purpose, encourages the shirking of work and the avoidance of responsibility. The college of today is often unfavorably contrasted in these respects with the college of hfty vears ago with its fixed curriculum and prescribed duties. The faults of the present institution are attributed to the introduction of the 'elective system' which is said to have supplanted order with confusion and stnctness with laxity in the field of study. The student, now permitted to plan his own course of study, chooses without purpose or principle, selecting those studies which suit his passing impulse or temporary convenience. If he follows any principle consistently it is of choosing the subiects which promise to be easiest of mastery. Hence his curriculum lacks sequence and unity and. failing to arouse interest or inspire enthusiasm. falls into disrespect and is made subordinate to other interests. athletic, social, etc. Thus the side-shows have usurped the place of the main performance. College authorities are now generally agreed that such criticism of the elective system, even when expressed in ithis exaggerated wav. is partially iustified. Moreover they are coming to believe that a reform in methods of instruction and study, will go far toward removing the other evils mentioned. The pedagogical principle on which the elective system is based-that a student's best efforts will be given only when a subiect appeals to his personal interest-is sound But the further conclusion that if a student. particularly in the first two years of his college course, is left to choose his studies he will select them with reference to his own true interest is seen to be fundamentally false. For in the course of human development the larger interests and higher aims only emerge gradually and in the face of constant opposition from lower impulses and narrower desires. To allow the college student to plan his own course and devise his own methods of study, is not therefore to appeal to his true interests and capacities. but to make him a victim of his own arbitrary whims and transient impulses. lnstead, he must be required to apply himself at first to certain fundemental sirhiects in which he receives thorough drill, follow- I7