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

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qf1ffs.ff..i -FQQWELY? ,THE I9 ll 12o1QErrc12 stfsgQ5 ing prescribed methods. Then in the subsequent years as, through the mental awakening which results from persistent study, he discovers what his true interests are, he may be allowed an increasing freedom in selecting those subjects which appeal to him and call forth his best efforts. Thus he wins for himself the only true freedom-that of self-de- termination-the ability to choose those lines of intellectual activity which serve best to realize the possibilities of his own nature. The American college may be improved, I believe, and its gravest defects removed, by giving more thought and attention to the main purpose of its existence-that of giving instruction. The work done in the various classes must be made more thorough and ex- acting. The instructors must assign heavier tasks and impose more definite responsibilities. The student must meet these requirements by greater industry and application. The primary purpose of thus raising the standards of attainment in the class-room is to arouse the student to more vigorous and persistent mental activity. This activity will have a tonic effect upon him. We will feel the awakening within him of new and higher interests. Gradually he may discover within himself, the ability to do creative intellectual work in some particular sphere and to derive great satisfaction from such achievement. Naturally he will select the vocation which promises the best field for the exercise of this capacity. But this increased emphasis upon study will have other results which, though secondary, are none the less beneficial. Because the best of the student's time and energy are absorbed in his study, he will have little left for idleness and frivolity. There will be less time for loafing, fewer opportunities for mischievous employment. Finally the col- lege student will receive that training in habits of concentration and industry which is a well-nigh indispensable condition of success in the business and professional world. While it is the duty of the college to prepare its students for life under modern conditions, we should not go to the extreme of regarding the college as merely a train- ing school for a business or professional career. The college will not perform its mission best by adopting the methods of business or reproducing the conditions of professional activity. It will continue to do its most valuable work in training voung people for bus- iness, profession, or calling, not by accustoming them to its methods and mechanical routine, but by giving them such breadth of interest and depth of insight as will enable them to distinguish the fundamental and enduring from the accidental and transitory in life and profession, and to resist the narrowing effects of vears of absorption in one sub- iect by holding ever in view the interdependence of all human endeavors and purposes within the one divine world-plan. After all, the chief purpose of the college is to inspire -to awaken in the mind of youth. the vision of the ideal-the ideal of a higher self and a larger life which represents the realization of all that is best in human nature. -HENRY W. WRIGHT. fill ' 7' gig Q.. i.L :T Zh i 1 c I. 51 I8

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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

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me I9 in IZOREJTERL' 47' wg. ' ' Alumni Association THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION The object of this Association is the cultivation of social relations and the perpetua- tion of fellowship among the alumni and former students, the advancement of the interests and the extension of the influence of the College. Membership in this Association is of three classes-graduate, associate, and hon- orary. To the first class are eligible all graduatesg to the second class, all former students who have been in attendance at the College for two years: and to the third class, mem- bers of the faculty, former students not eligible as associates, and others, who by reason of exceptional devotion to the interests of the College, may be elected by the Association to such membership, The active members of this Association pay to its treasurer an annual fee of one dollar or more for the maintenance of scholarships and for contingent expenses. The ofhcers for l909-IO are: President . . . A . William Mather Lewis, '00, Lake Forest First Vice-President . Lloyd A. Munger, '07, Chicago Second Vice-President . Mrs. Jennie Wood Sicltles, '99, Dixon Secretary and Treasurer .... Allen C. Bell, '03, Lake Forest Alumni Day, I908, will be Tuesday, June Zlst. The morning and afternoon will be devoted to class reunions, informal gatherings and old-time outdoor sports among Alumni teams. In the evening the annual meeting and dinner of the Association will be held. A few years ago saw the inception of a new movement in the Association, as a result of which an Alumni Fund has been created, open to class and individual contribu- tions, to be paid in annual amounts, and to be devoted to two purposes, as follows: I. Half of the contributions each year will go to the establishment of a permanent fund, the principal of which will be kept intact. II. The second half will form a current fund and will be used to satisfy needs which the general funds of the College cannot supply. This fund has already permitted the Association to undertake several laudable enterprises in the interest of better under- graduate life, as well as materially Ito assist in the promotion of the Alumni-Trophy Room. which has become the repository of interesting and valuable Lake Forest memorabilia. I9