St Olaf College - Viking Yearbook (Northfield, MN)

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.f '?' '-if X -Qsfi?-'i1I,5.':'-E.c7-ily? V if , ,,.. J .--T- ff.:c1?'- '.LJ:', Qiif'-.75 .J 4. For such an education we have to look to the Christian college. But not only is instruction in the Christian religion eliminated from the non- Christian colleges, but in many of them anti-Christian ideas are inculcated and the students are taught to look upon the Bible as a book which cannot be trusted. It is simply impossible to teach some of the subjects offered at a college Without touching on matters pertaining to our attitude to the Bible. It is often taken for granted and spoken of as an admitted fact that science and the Bible do not agree. You cannot, of course, expect that a student in all cases should be able to discriminate between mere hypotheses and facts, and stud- ents who are not especially interested in religion do not, as a rule, know much about what the Bible really does say. They hear and read all the time that modern science has done away with the old belief in the Bible. And they take it for granted that it is so. They do not stop to consider that scientific theories held a hundred years ago are ridiculed by scientists of to-day, and that theories held to be true to-day will be proved untenable a hundred years hence. It is the privilege of the Christian college to show its students that there is no conflict between religion and science, but that the most beautiful harmony exists between the two. In an address delivered two years ago at the North Dakota University Mr. I. I. Hill said : - I have a warm spot in my heart for the Christian colleges. It is a serious matter to send your boy to college, and many a young man comes back a skeptic, not because he has learned too much, but because he has learned too little. You may tind out many things by your laboratories and investigations, but when We come to spiritual things we are limited to revelation. Because St. Olaf College is of the same opinion it tries not only to help its students to read the Book of Nature but also the Good Old Book containing God's revelation, and it tries to show its students that the two books are by the same au- thor. 13 2- 1. ,SSC ..,-,vQ-Ei- 'E-T 75 lf .- fi

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N.- Rf 'xv-. g, -- .,..v-:F ..g A7-A, fLL.,.,. -7 , .- .,.x,s .. - N.,-CK ,F - St. Olaf College a Christian College By PRES. 1. N. KILDAHL. T. OLAF COLLEGE is a church school. It is the college of the United Lutheran Church. Why does the church maintain a col- 45, lege? Because the church believes in Christian education. What is the work of a Christian college? It is, of course, in many respects the same as that of any other college. Its work, i of course, must be college work. But, as logicians would express it, the term Christian college is wider in intention than the term college, because a Christian college has all the characteristics of a college, plus those characteristics which make it a Christian college. And what are the characteristics of a Chris- tian college? Or, in other words, what work must be done in a college in addition to general college work in order that it may be termed a Christian college? The special Work of a Christian college is to impart Christian knowledge, to inculcate Christian doctrine and Christian principles, to teach Christian morals and to in- fluence the students to lead Christian lives. This is what St. Olaf College is trying to do. It ought to be the aim of a college to develop symmetrically the whole man, and thus to produce the highest and most nearly perfect type of manhood and womanhood. The highest and most nearly perfect type of manhood and woman- hood is that which most resembles Christ. But this type of manhood and woman- hood can be obtained only by a thorough knowledge and constant practice of the Christian religion. It is evident that the college which neglects to develop the religious and spir- itual life of its students does not develop the whole man, and does not aim at pro- ducing the highest and most perfect type of manhood and womanhood. The ed- ucation which students of such a college get is very defective. And not only is de- velopment of the most important part of man neglected at a non-Christian college, but even the knowledge which is imparted at such an institution is very one-sided. The students of such a college study the works of Xenophon, Caesar, Goethe, Shakespeare, Longfellow, and Ibsen, but they do not study the greatest and most Wonderful book that has ever been published. They learn to know who Charle- magne and Henry VIII were, but they learn nothing about Moses and Paul, the two men who have influenced the world by far more than any other two men. They are instructed in regard to the relation between mind and body, but they are taught nothing as to the relation between man and God. The non-Christian college cannot give the best and most adequate education. ,. ,..-- 12

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K ssr9g,,lgiliI5-l-i:frf?f.'ftS-1ieiir-- r ,ME 7, A.: ti T-C, -fy-22 . r. -5? Opportunities of St. Olaf HIS topic bids us think as idealists and optimists about our college. The realist is too much interested in things XX as they are to think of the opportunities of the X future, and the pessimist does not see the oppor- tunities. However, we must not be idealists to ' 'I - such an extent that we forget the realities of the ' present and proceed to build our castles of oppor- tunity in the air. The small colleges in our country are apparently facing some serious conditions. On the one hand we note the remarkable development of the public high school. By the multiplication and lengthening of its courses, by seek- ing a close adjustment to the rural schools as well as the grades, and by adapting itself to the special needs of the people it is fast becoming a people's college. On the other hand we see the professional schools increasing both in numbers and species and offering economic advantages that attract many. Between these two classes of schools the pessimist sees the small college of the future lose its being as if between the upper and nether millstone. A struggle for existence does not mean, however, the absence of opportunity. The multiplication of high schools will mean an increasing number of young peo- ple ready to seek an advanced education, and the constituency of the college will increase rather than decrease, provided the college offers the education that the future high school graduate wants. As technical schools develop, in which only specialized training is given, and more and more people take advantage of them, there will also be greater demand for the more general and liberalizing education which the college tries to give. Someone will say, that in the struggle to meet the new demands many of the present colleges will fail. This will no doubt be true. Some so-called colleges will cease to exist altogether, others will become academies and junior colleges, some will become technical schools. But this very struggle will be an opportunity for the colleges that can meet it. It will compel them to advance and adapt them- selves to the changing conditions, and this compulsion is the very essence of op- portunity. What are some of the specific demands which in this struggle will come to St. Olaf College and which, if it meets them properly, will constitute its oppor- tunities? Will, there be a demand for more buildings, better equipment, more efficient teaching? Undoubtedly, and all of these will result in a general demand By PROF. JULIUS BoRAAs 14