St Olaf College - Viking Yearbook (Northfield, MN)

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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

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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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gf W G-NZ N. X 5 1 ri ,f 1.LaQff.'qG'tfx-T-dff' f J -f--: f--,..,,, -zfrzav-' . .- 1. S,--C:- ,u-..- L. ..,..-:-. W for more money. Fortunately, there seems to be a growing conviction among peo- ple, that many, if not most, of the social problems of to-day can most efficiently be solved by educational methods. Consequently, there is an increasing tendency among those who have means and the disposition to use them for the good of society to make use of educational institutions as the agents. The numerous and large donations annually given to the cause of education give abundant proof, that an institution which performs a worthy service and does not keep its light under a bushel need not fail on account of the lack of financial support. A college that shall prove its right to exist and grow must, however, have more to its credit than the things which have been mentioned, indispensible as they are. It must be an institution that stands for definite ideals and offers a definite and real service. It must be the bearer of a specific message to the growing gener- ation, a message which is peculiar to it as an institution and which it can voice bet- ter than any other institution, a message which will stamp itself upon the charac- ters of teachers and students, control the spirit of the school, and form the center of its life. In olden times, when educational work was less organized than it is now, and the individual teacher counted for much more than he does at present, it was cus- tomary for students to wander from one place to another in order that they might listen to this or that famous teacher, who was not a school master only but a teach- er in a wider sense, a prophet with a message for his time. He was best taught who best succeeded in carrying forward the spirit and the message of the master, and so definite was the influence of the teacher over pupil that people could tell by it whose disciple a young man had been. While this is yet true in certain lines of special education, such as music and art, it is no longer true of education general- ly. The individual teacher is merged in the institution. As there seemed to be a loss of soul when the individual business man was lost in the corporation, so there has apparently been a loss of spirit when the teacher was lost in the institution. We are beginning now to complain of the fact that the corporations are so soul- less. Will it not be well also to inquire of institutions as to what manner of spirit they have? And, will not that inquiry, whether expressly and consciously made or not, be an opportunity for the college that can meet it well? St. Olaf College is an organ of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church. As such its possibilities for service are merged with the life and the ideals of the church. Two distinct opportunities may be discerned in this relation. One con- sists in conserving the present ideals of the church and transmitting its message so as to make it a vital force in the coming generation as it has been in the life of the one that is passing. This service aims principally at the continued existence of the church. There is another and more difficult opportunity for service. Its aim is not only the conservation but also the growth of the church. The demand is made of public education to-day that it shall not only transmit to the coming generation 15 -W .adggf 5 , N f be 9 . 4- I x 15 .1