Opposing Tendencies in College Life

Improvement Era Vol. XVI MAY, 1913 No. 7. Opposing Tendencies in College Life BY MILTON BENNION, M. A., PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, ON LEAVE OF ABSENCE It is the purpose of this paper to direct attention to two manifestly opposing tendencies in current college life. One of these may be described as the tendency to make the college a means of entrance into "society" and the sporting world. It is seen in the prominence given by groups of students to "society" affairs and sports as primary interests in college life. This, and the consequences following from it, is the basis in fact for charges against the college, such as those made by Mr. Crane. From this point of view the college is a place where young men frequently acquire the tobacco habit, the liquor habit, the gambling habit, and may even get initiated into the life of the underworld as a climax to the class or the fraternity "bust." That this is true in some degree of many colleges is a fact beyond dispute, witnessed not only by enemies of the college, but by some college men who have been through the whole list of vices and on to the gutter, but who have reformed and are now giving their lives to Christian work among college men. One such worker has recently had personal interviews with 1,500 college men who are now serving terms in prison for crime. He reports that almost uniformly these men attribute their own downfall to having thoughtlessly entered upon a "society" and sporting life while in college. "I did not think," is the general cry of regret. So this reformer is calling with all earnestness upon college men to think, indicating that it is possible for men to go through college without thinking of matters of most vital concern in life. Rich young men are able to meet the heavy financial burden of "society" life, and even to pay the money cost of dissipation, but many men of moderate means have thereby been led into habits of dishonesty. This has happened also to sons of the rich when they could not otherwise get money when they wanted it. It accounts in large degree for the 1,500 college men prisoners mentioned above.

658 IMPROVEMENT ERA These are facts which can be confirmed by college men, both in and ont of jail. They are recorded here, not for the purpose of depreciating college life, but to show that there are dangers here as elsewhere, and in the belief that the college, like many an other institution, owes itself a thorough house-cleaning. If this is not attended to by the college itself, it will be done by the public to the great discredit of the college. This house-cleaning is now being done in a vigorous way in some of the leading colleges and state universities — directly by calling upon students to think of the consequences of foppery and dissipation, and indirectly by fostering an opposite ideal. This opposing ideal is that of social service. It is illustrated in social settlement and kindred activities carried on by college graduates with the co-operation of university departments devoted to the scientific study of social problems. A prominent professor of sociology has called this ideal that of a "latter-day saint," intending thus to indicate the likeness and the difference between this ideal and that of the mediaeval and the ancient saint. Both are ideals of service to fellow men, but the saint of former days went about offering such relief as he could to his fellows, with little effort to abate the sources of suffering. He manifested a maximum of sympathy and devotion with a minimum of knowledge of the nature of society and the causes of social ills. The saintly ideal of a modern college calls for as much sympathy and no less devotion to a cause, but it calls also for infinitely more knowledge — knowledge of sanitary science, industrial and business principles and methods, and practical politics. The result is that the modern saint is not simply carrying bread to the hungry and medicine to the sick ; he is removing the causes of poverty and sickness — cleaning up and renovating the slums, supplying the needy with pure food at cost, promoting educational activities among the poor (adults as well as children), and, in the mean time, forwarding the enactment and enforcement of suitable laws to make secure these reforms, such as tenement house laws, pure food laws, and strict sanitary regulations for residences, business houses, and factories. While the above mentioned problems are characteristic of the great cities, there are others as worthy of attention that pertain to life in the country. Of these we may mention the revolutionizing of the country school, and the organization of civic-social centers for the patrons of the schools. These centers aim to promote elevating forms of amusement, to develop good taste in art and literature, to disseminate knowledge of rural sanitation and of current social and political problems. The open country naturally offers more fresh air, sunshine, and room for the distribution of filth than does the great city ; but every observer must have noted that in the country and the small town there is unlimited opportunity for the modern scientifically

OPPOSING TENDENCIES IN COLLEGE LIFE 659 trained saint to exercise his powers in bettering the condition of the people. In both city and country people are generally very ready to abandon the worse for better conditions when they see the difference between their conditions and their possibilities. Who should be better able to point out this difference and lead the way in realizing possibilities than the men and women who have had the advantage of higher education? And who should be more ready to serve the public than the men and women who have had this advantage at public expense ? State educational institutions in connection with their graduates— many of whom now hold responsible political offices — and in co-operation with able men and women whose training has been chiefly in the school of practical experience, are now rapidly bringing about these reforms. It is a difficult and often thankless task, likely to be opposed at many points by powerful financial interests and boss-rule politicians ; but with unselfish, persistent effort behind the reform movement, it is sure to receive the approval of the masses of the people. The part that colleges and universities will play in this forward movement of civilization is the justification for higher education at public expense. MADISON, WIS. Photo bv Hamilton Gardner. ON THE TEMPLE SITE, JACKSON COUNTY, MO.; THE REORGANITE CHURCH TO THE LEFT