are to be reacted upon. Independent processes of thought must be set in motion. A boy ought to be excited by a new idea just as he would be excited by fresh tracks when out hunting. The material presented for consideration must be passed upon. It is to be arraigned before the high court of one's own thought. Let us not be too modest to think. Doubtless the text-books are about right; and it is to be presumed that the professor knows vastly more than does the pupil; and no doubt wise heads have weighed the matter. But notwithstanding all this, the student now sits supreme. It is his court; he is trying the case for himself and not for another. The student must next organize the whole matter that has been brought before him in accordance with his own purpose and his own needs, so that he may carry away with him his own compact and usable kit of new and important information. There is a residuum of fact, or truth, or inspiration that results from the study of a given subject. This outcome of one's thinking, whether large or small, becomes a lasting personal acquisition. It is not merely the asset of an hour, but is a possession for all time. The student has it not by rote or merely on authority, but upon individual approval and acceptance. Finally, knowledge results in permanent enrichment only when it has been put into play; that is, it must be related to life and must flow out in action. This explains why instructors frown upon "cramming." "Crammed" information is for immediate use; and it passes away along with the crisis that led to its acquisition. It is, then, not to be thought for a moment that the final end or outcome of a college assignment is the presentation of it to the instructor in recitation or examination. That is to miss the point entirely. Knowledge that is worth while will become so much a part of the student that he will forget when and where he got it. Not only shall he have it; it will have him. That is, in so far as it is a workable thing, it will become habit. For example, you do not count yourself an expert with your gun, your camera, your automobile nor do you get much enjoyment from them—until their manipulation has become second nature to you. In the same way, no lesson can ever be said to have been mastered until it has entered into and become a part of one. The sheer, brute work of memorizing does not amount to so much as is commonly supposed. When important subjectmatter has been dealt with in some such way as has been suggested in the preceding paragraphs, one's nervous system will remember of its own accord. The things that have interested us supremely that we have considered worth while and have made a part of ourselves we cannot forget. They have enmeshed themselves in our central being, and will always be promptly available. There are certain things such as spelling, the multiplication table, the facts of geography, and the Ten Commandments which had to be laid up in memory by an outright effort of the will by frequent repetition. There always will be a good deal of this pure memory work to be done; but, aside from stated demands of this kind, it will be of little avail simply to memorize mechanically. Besides, the quality of any individual memory is a fixed thing. One's memory is either good, bad, or indifferent by nature. Each person is endowed with brainstuff of a certain degree of power to take and hold impressions, and there will be no change of quality. Some minds are "wax to receive and marble to retain," and some are quite the opposite. This is not to say that the memory of a given person may not be stronger and more retentive at one time than at another. Whatever strengthens or weakens the general state of bodily health - in particular the general condition of the nervous system will no doubt affect the memory as well. But it seems certain that at bottom the memory does not yield to cultivation. Fortunately for most of us, however, that is not necessarily the best type of mind that has the most tenacious memory. It is a good sort of mind to have, but there are other qualities that may offset the lack of it. Some of the finest and most productive minds have been endowed with rather poor memory-stuff. The thing for a student to do is to find out and to practise the most approved methods of memorizing. That is all one can do; yet that may count for a good deal. Again, and finally, the best way to remember is to be so interested in a thing that one cannot forget it, and to connect it and inter-connect it with a thousand other interesting and familiar things. VI The student The student owes it to himself to preserve his intellectual independence and integrity. No one can think for him. He should let no one coerce his will, or secure his consent to what he does not believe. It is not the instructor but the student who is to have first consideration. is the supreme end for which the college exists. man will, of course, honor his instructors and will be considerate of them in every way. But the faculty is not the center of gravity of a college. A student has the right, as an honest and earnest seeker after truth, to weigh himself over against the whole college establishment, considered as an organization fitted to supply the need which led him to enter college. The worthy student puts his all into this college adventure his money, four years of more than golden time, his chance for fruitful life friendships, his plastic capabilities. So he must know his rights and must expect and demand much. RECENT TENDENCIES IN COLLEGE EDUCATION 1 BY PRESIDENT DAVID STARR JORDAN IT has long been recognized that a four years' college course, after the course in the secondary school, and preceding the course in professional training, holds the young man a very long time in school. Few men are prepared for college, as matters stand, before the age of seventeen or eighteen. Few graduate under twenty-one or twenty-two, and the professional school demands the years to twentyfour, twenty-five, or twenty-six. After this follows another year or two of petty beginnings, and by the time the young man is fairly under way, he has reached the age of thirty. If from ill health, hesitation of policy, or for any other reason, the college course is delayed, the entrance on professional life becomes correspondingly later. By this process, the ancient rule of, "Rise early, before you are twenty-five, if possible," is persistently violated. There is no advantage in merely putting in time in college at the expense of serious work outside. Every day in school should justify itself. Wherever time can be saved without sacrifice of results, it is a real gain in education. The college course has been systematically lengthened 1 Reprinted from The Voice of the Scholar, by permission of Paul Elder and Co., San Francisco. |