Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885, November 17, 1880, Image 2
m "fmttrimtmMmimi iirii jJjljTTTi in THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. li .mm f. M , 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 Looal Kurruit, It. 1). Davis BUSINESS MaNAIIKH D. V. I'lSllIIlt TKllMft (IP SUHDOIIU'TION. 1 co;y pur collogo year $1.00. 1 " six months .W) Single copy .0.Y HATKS OK AllVKIlTISISil. 1 column one iimurtlon $'J.(K). Jequarea " " .50. I " " - , .23. 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. 1 .