Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1882)
HESPERIAN STUDENT UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA. V01..X. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, MARCH 1, 1882. No. XI. (gflisccllmin. THE FUTURE UNI VERSITY. In nn article in "Our Continent" Pros iilcnt Eliot, of Harvard University, says, Ii is plain that by tlie steady expansion and improvement of the elective system the American college is to be gradually I'onvofted into a university ot a new kind; not 1111 English University, because it will not Mibordiuato teaching to examining, or enforce any regulations by means of bars, gates and lines; and not a German univer sity because the elective system does not mean liberty to do nothing, and no Amer ican university has absolved itself, as the German university lias done, from all re sponsibility for the moral training and conduct of its students, but a university of native growth. liioh will secure to iN teachers an inspiring liberty and an unlimited scope in leaching, oiler its stu. dents free choice among studies of the utmost variety, maintain a discipline adc quale to the support of good manners and jinml morals, but determined by tlie qunl ity of the best students rather than of the worst, admit o its instruction all persons competent to receive it, while jealously guarding its degrees, and promote among all its members u productive activity in literature and in scieutitlc research. THE LIBRARY. It is not oo much to say that only npper.classinen know how to uso the library, for it takes about u yeav to learn what is in the library and another year to learn what to do with it, and not until a man ronchos the Junior or Senior class does he appreciate fully what those shelves can give him as tin aid to study. As a child learns the uso of tv dictionary, must a student the use of the enoyclo. paedin. To glance at their backs in search, say, of something under the letter O, and seeing only "Nap-Pal," conclude that there are no O's, shows that the disap pointed ono is not accustomed to the keys which unlock the great knowledge box. Strange word that, Encyclopaedia, and of admirable etynologicnl construction! It was the name the wise old Greeks gave to tlie knowledge of the liberal arts, en in, kuklos circle, pnutea learning " learning in a circle." So, speaking broadly, we may say that Appleton and Chambers and the formidable Briltanica are not the only encyclopaedias in tlie library, if we know how to get at the treasury for what a fund irtkuklos-l.ni(lea wo have in tlie two long rows of North American reviews, or the Edinburgh, or tlie Atlantic or Littel, (for which wo arc soon to have nn index, thank 1 1 oward) Indexes are deceptive, and some are very meagre, so be not content In search, ing for an article to look only under one heading, but think of some other caption beneath which the article jou desire may stand. If you cannot find "Louis Qua. torzo " in the Indexes, look for " France " and run your eye down " laws of," ' lands in," and so on until you strike " Louis XIV." When a woik is in several volumes do not search the index of each, but turn immediately to the last volume for that will usually have tlie general index for all. Renicmbar, too, that index makers are queer fellows and often confound the con sonants J and V with the vowels I und U. In some, other arrangements are very bad. Do not be deceived into thinking that "Mill on the Floss" has the same author as " Mill on Liberty," becauso the two titles foPow alphabetically. An arti clc on Milton was onco set under tlie heading, "Mr. John." THE PRINCETON PERSECUTION. "MTKKA11Y NOTES." The hatred of the Philistines for the children of light has been conspicuously illustrated by the conduct of tlie Jersey men who have caused the indictment and arrest of a score of Princeton's students engaged in pursuing their studies It is perhaps to bo expected that ignorant men should undervalue the importance of ed ucation, and should even have some little prejudice against college graduates and undergraduates, but when this projudico is curried so far as to result in the legal prosecution of studious young men, it is time for tlio press to spoak out boldly and fiankly- The of leu so with which the Princeton victims of Pliillistino persecution have been charged was nominally that of "riot ing," but, as everybody knows, this is but a pretense, and the real offense for which they are to sufler is that of pursuing their collegiate studies. On a recent evening tlie students in question went through the streets of a quiet New Jersey town, break ing all the street lamps in their path, wrenching off bell-knobs, destroying gates, and carrying off' tradesmen's signs. Had this been done by drunken Irishmen or uneducated rovdics of any nationality, It would very properly have been called riotous conduct, and the offenders would have deserved to bo arrested and sent to jail, but the fact that it was done by col lego students puts an entirely dilfurent face on tlio affair. In former years American college stu dents were held to be boys needing to bo kept in order by the Faculty. This was doubtless to a great extent the result of traditons brought to this country from England. In spite of its lofty namo, the American collego corresponded not to the English universities, but to the great Eng lish schools; schools such as Eaton, liar row, and Rugby. At these schools the pupils have always been regarded as boys rather than young men, and have been kept in order by discipline suited to boys. As the ago of tlio members of the lower classes in American colleges lias usually been that of the older schoolboys of the English school, our fathers fancied that lliey needed, not precisely tho birch, but a discipline nearly- as strict as that which has made the English schools so succors ful. Of Into years, howovor, wo have learned better. Wo know now that tho Froshman who is 17 or 18 years old is not a boy, but a man: that he does not need to bo governed bythe Faculty as if ho were a schoolboy, and that it would bo tyrannical and degrading to the student to hamper him with rules as to his conduct and to punish him for their Infraction. The American collego student must bo nllowed to do what seoins good In his eyes, and tho utmost punishment that can ever bo iulliclcd upon him is to suggest to his parents that ho bo withdrawn from col lege. The days whop students roomed to gether in college buildings under the care and inspection of tlio tutors are over, and MrtiMirn.TtBi. narftttl