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THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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THE HESPERIAN STUDENT
Published soml'inuiithly by thu ntudunts of tins
Nobranka Htato UnlverMty.
Wednesday, Novbmhbk, 17, 1880.
BDITOHS INCH IKK,
Mat 1). Kaiiikiki.I), II. IIauiunoton
ASHOCIATK EtHTOlt MlNNIK Wlt.MAMS
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All articles for pnbliuatl in should ho addressed
Ktlltor Hestkiuan svwdknt, Statu University.
Lincom, Nebraska. Ml Mibscriptlons ami bus!
11088 communications, with the address, should
bi) sent to 1). V. FISIIKIt. Subscriptions col
lected Invariably In advauco. Advertisement
collected monthly.
Jgditorial,
CUltltlCULAti.
It would be safe to veil Hi re the assertion
thatcomptualivcly lew of t lie graduates
from any of the three hundred unci llllv
colleges of llie United Slates, can look
back over their course of xtudies, when
they step out over the threshold of iheir
vlnia Mater, and see each branch, though
diligently pursued, stand out in clear
and symmetrical form. The knowledge
is more .i vague impression, than a clear
ly defined fact that one can take hold of
and apply to questions that arc being con.
stunt ly discussed. The recollection of
here and there a term of desperate strug
gle over obstinate radicals, evanescent dif
tereutials or hydra-headed machines; of
a weary plodding through meaningless
demonsUalinus and consequent relief
when it is past, conies up, instead of a
clear outline of the development of a reg.
ulur chuiii of pure and practical reason,
ing which a course of mathematics is in
tended to produce. The facts, epochs
and personages of history are jumbled to.
gether, a bhapi less mass without definite,
form or meaning. The sciences even,
which arc constantly unfolding some
thing of deeper and higher importance in
life, are often vague and unsatisfactory.
Now to say that these results, if they be
true, and to a certain extent the) surely
cannot be wholly owing to neglect on the
part of the student, but rather to the fact
that the many different studies interfere
with, and tend to neutralize each other.
The studies of aesthetic literature and
mathematics arc incompatible. Change
is always accompanied with a loss of
power. If a man turns a street comer he
must slacken his pace. A change of sys.
tern in politics or in business involves a
reconstruction of the plans and readjust,
meut of the forces that are always follow,
ed by a period of inactivity. We often
hrnr a man of business say, "I have just
made a change, but oxpoot to get started
again soon." The same is true of the
student. Wheu he lays down one book
he must shake off the influence of that
subject before he can lake up another.
So we find the student who becomes ab
sorbed in one branch of study docs so at
tin' expense of the others. In short it is
impossible lor the mind to become so en.
grossed with more than one subject that
it shall be able to grasp them in all their
bearings. The courses of study lound in
our colleges are so calculated as to in.
volve nil of these dlfllculliea. The sill
dent who has four dillerent studies must
in the course of tiie eight hours which
occupy the preparation of his lessons each
(lit), change his line of thought four
times. These are sure to he accompanied
with a loss of energy. The diflerent
trains of thought conllict with each other.
Should all the studies taken at the same
lime be upon the Mime general subject
the work put upon one, would aid rather
than interfere with thu others. To ac
complish this is not an impractical thing.
Let the Hist years of preparatory study be
given enliiely to the memory, by the
studies of history, language, etc., in order
to form a basis for mental l.ibors. Then
let the icgular course be divided into per.
iods for each branch of study. A year
for mathematics, one for sciences, one for
comparative history and higher study of
languages and one for metaphysical
studies. Thus each line of study could
be brought out and developed Into u
rounded form with a definite aim
Thought would lie concentrated upon a
single central idea for a considerable
length ol time, each study tending to re
inlorce the powers for the others. .Men
tal force would be condensed rather than
diffused, and all the advantages without
the objections of special study would be
gained.
loading it with food and digestion 1m
paired or complclcly slopped, so can thu
mind he crammed so full of chunks of
wisdom that cool, discriminating, produc
tive thought Is impossible. The great in
teresls of the country twenty years hence
are to he cared for by the young men and
women now in college whom the present
systom of collegiate education is throw
ing into a most pitiable stale: that of a
literary dyspeptic.
"Knowledge is food, thought is diges.
lion," is the terse epitome of one ot our
clear headed ora'ors, himself a thinker
and full of wisdom. We wish this golden
sentence could be engraved upon every
professor's mind who is ever to have any
thing to do with making a college course
and thus deciding how much a student
must accomplish in college. It is a fact
that the lessons of a regular college stu
dent are suillcieully long uud difficult to
require all his waking hours that can
healthfully be spent in study. Perhaps
this is well enough for the lower classes
but after the commencement of his Junior
year a student should find that he lu.s
leisure for general reading, original in.
vestigalion and clear thinking. But this,
in practice, is far from being the cuse. A
Junior und Senior Uud that to stand well
in their classes they must spend all the
time they have in preparation for the rec
itation room. No hours can be devoted
to reading and thinking without running
the risk of falling below the required
grade at examinations. General com
plaint is made of the lack or original clear
cut ideas and opinions in the lileiary pro.
duclious of students and yet nothing is
done to remedy the defect. Too many of
the clear headed powerful meu and
women in this country to day are self
made, not college nwu'e. The universi.
tics and colleges! are noi sending out into
the world men and women equal to those
who by strength of character and will
have so nobly made themselves. As the
body can be injured or destroyed by -over
Some college professors wonder why
they are not popular and favorites with
the students and often their obstiiiaucy in
seeing their own milnkes has endanger
ed the discipline and good order and rep
utation of a whole institution. In olden
times when the professors lived apart by
themselves, spent tdl Iheir time in study,
ing, had no intercourse with the students
outside of the leciialion loom, and seem
ed loiake no interest in their Welfare or
pursuits, dilllculties between students and
faculties were of more Irequent occur,
rence than now, and half the troubles to
day which do occur between a professor
and his classes are due to the impress
sions that the students have that the pro
fessor feels no personal interest in them,
cares not whether they enjoy themselves
or not and intends to go no further than
the class room where petulance, sternness
and general ill humor and stiffness are
the chief characteristics. ' If a professor
is not popular, nine times out often it is
his own fault and i lies in his own pow.
er to make himself popular and a power
ful force among the students by taking
nunc inteiestin them and 'doing all that
he can to make them happy and inlerost
ed pleasantly in their work.
Nothing would add more lo our person
al happiness, and to the improvement of
our paper than for each student to show an
interest in having it good and readable.
What a pleasure it would afford us for all
to come crowding into the sanctum with
their manuscripts, each one eager for
I. is article to be published! What an
excellent opportunity fur n to display
our excellent judgement in selecting!
But instetid of this we must bear ihc bur
den of producing till the matter, and In
addition, the criticism, which, by Hip
way, is not ulwa)sof the mildest charac
ler, botli of our associates and exchanges
Now it is the interest of the students in
general that we labor for, and in no way
would each one be more benefited than by
writing a good spicy article once a month
or so. Let every one who has a thought
contribute it to our need and we guaran
tee that some day "their children shall
rise up and call them blessed."
It has several limes been suggested by
the members of the Senior class that if
they were not obliged to deliver iheir
term orations in public the best one of
them ail could be selected for the com.
meiiceinunt oration whether it were writ,
teg in the spring term or in the fall. An
average Senior does not generally, ovui
in his last year, write more than one ora
Hon worthy of commencement day and
in all probability this will bo the one
written in the long fall term when the
length of the term gives more leisure for
careful production. If thU is so and the
oration must bu delivered us soon as writ
ten il prevents iis delivery in June, when
the best that one can do is needed, as few
students have llie oourngu to take an old
oration for their graduation llieme. We
hope that the power.- that he will take the
suggestion into careful consideration as
it comes from the bottom of the heart of
many a poor over-worked Senior, mil ex.
cusu the class from the public delivery of
the orations of this fall ill least.
The Stuoknt is thoroughly ashamed of
the "rowdyism" that characterized lull
loween night. It is a great shame that
the recreation vud fun of so many of the
boys, for they can not be called gentlemen,
should take so foolish and absurd a form.
What enjoyment can be derived from
pulling up fifty feel or more of sidewalk
and propping it up in the middle of the
street, the Studknt has not yet found out.
It is very poor sort of fun to change
about all the cows in a neighborhood,
carry off ihe gates and cut the ropes ol
wells. It ia a sort ol reckless spoil whol
ly unworthy of University students and
the bloodshot eyes, haggard laces and
dull looks of the day tiller were the marks
of guilt that hetrajed the culprits. Be
tween this dissipation and election ex-citeuu-nl
lessons have been decidedly be.
low par lately.
Sciitor's j&abh.
We agree with lite Cornell Jicview that
il is lelreshing to meet with an exchange
that has not "the stereotyped salutatory of
the modest incoming editor, followed by
rehearsals of victories won during the
summer; an exclamatory word of greet
ing at the head of tiie locals; and a sum.
mer's adventure among the literary ar
ticles." but assumes at once its undispu
ted dictatorial prerogative. Collegian mid
Neotoriun please take note. We are
morally certain that a girl wrote the ex
change notices in the October number of
that paper, for who bu a girl could have
produced such a column of gush, "im.
ploring admission into the ranks "greet
ing all with a friendly kiss" and putting
in a parenthesis to explain that It was
only figuratively.
The MmUsonemis is one of the papers
that keep a close account of their Alumni.
This is as il should be. We like lo see
students interested in the cause of those
who have gone the way before Ihem, even
though they may not have been personal
friends or even acquaintances.
We like to see indications ns well
that Alumni sometimes remember us
made by contributions to the paper. One
of the exchanges contains a poem signed
'70, showing that someone lias not allow,
ed the) ears to efface his interest in his
Alma .Mater. We think that this habit of
signing by the year ol the class' gradua.
lion to which the writer belongs make an
article doubly interesting, and wish that
it was more universal than it is.
The Knox Student contains an excep.
lionally good article entitled The People
in History, the first prize oration at the In
ler-coilogiaie contest Hint came off at
Galesburg on Oct. 13th. Good, we say
although the Jllini, which seems to be ii
little sore over tl.e fact that the orator .it
M'Of 'lli" lit, li.
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