Northwestern University - Syllabus Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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PREFACE MAN lr jomorrowb mr!J,, he University, as it was first conceived, was known as an institution organized for teach- ing and study in the higher branches of learning. European universities in the middle ages came as an outgrowth of church schools. They were established to provide a place where the student might segregate himself from the world to pursue the course of higher learning. They provided a place where ithe student might retreat from every day activity and from which he could emerge, if ever, after a period of years into a strange, unknown world. As the university has developed so the con- ception of the purposes and function of it have changed. Perhaps the most recent impression of the university is that of a care-free four years 8 spent dashing to football games in a raccoon coat. More recently, however, it has been noticed that a more serious air pervades the modern campus. The university today has become and is still becoming less of an end in itself and more of a transitory preparation for entering and taking a part in a world engulfed with many serious problems. The conception of the university as a place of higher learning alone has passed, as has that impression of the thoughtless undergrad- uate who attended school merely for a good time. Today, more than ever before, the under- graduate is applying himself to the social and economic problems that confront him, and is

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X NX 6 MISS CLARE H. CHURCH Scott Hall Recep

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preparing himself more than ever to acquit himself well as a part of the unpredictable future. The problem of absorbing the increased number of university graduates has become acute to business and industry, and the students serious anticipation of taking his place in the world has grown. More interest is being taken in the activities of the professional, economic, and political world. In more specific studies, students are preparing themselves for commerce and for the professions. To one who knows Northwestern University, the term best applied to this great educational institution is a community of interests. It is a city within a cityg it has its own officers and its own citizens. It provides educational oppor- tunities for every individual interest, and pro- motes better citizenship and teaches practical democracy through a myriad of student man- aged organizations. Above all, it provides a place for the youth of today to live, work, and play under the guidance of outstanding per- sonalities. With this thought in mind, we present the 1947 SYLLABUS not only as a pictorial record of a great university, but also as our expression of the latest conception of the university as a transition period for the conscious preparation toward assuming a position in the countless activities of the world about us. 9