The long suffering student

Title

Creator

Thwing, Charles Frankling

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XIV (No.9) September 1962

Year

1962

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Abstract

Condensed from World's Work (1928)

Fulltext

THE LONG SUFFERING STUDENT By Charles Frankling Thwing The college student of to day, like the college student of yesterday, is a member of a democratic society or of a social democracy. But be it at once said that he is more of a social democrat than was his brother of the earlier time. The increase in the num ber of individuals in the college is accompanied by a decrease in the number of individualisms. Similarities are more abounding in the present college groups than are eccentricities. Fashions in clothes are only a symbol and sign of likenesses in thought and behavior. Aca demic quality is in the sad dle. Today the health of stu dents is the subject of a care more careful, and of a de votion more devoted and wiser — quite unlike the ap parent carelessness and official indifference of an earlier time. Every large college has its bureau or division of health, and every small col lege has its doctor. Of course the gymnasium and the playing fields repre sent a permanent condition for health, equipped with competent groups of directors and coaches. The great change, however, is found in the mental health of students. For the mental ill 'health of students is more common, more serious, more funda mental, than is the sickness of body. Colleges are be coming far more solicitous for this complex side of the student’s life. This solici tude arises in no small part from the increasing know ledge of the broad field of psychology. Students are unconsciously adopting the biological me thod of intellectual growth, and consciously neglecting the method of growth by hard continuous study. The normal number of hours of September 1962 31 intellectual labor done in the college has in fifty (sev enty) years been reduced in about the same proportion as it has in the industrial plants. In the former time ten hours a day, sixty hours a week, was not exceptional for the student. Today the forty-eight hour week in the college would represent the higher and severer standard. Some would say that six hours a day is normal: two hours of recitation, confer ence, or lecture, and two hours of preparation in read ing or writing for each exer cise. The problem of the amount of study is, of course, both quantitative and quali tative. The irttfensity of mental application is at least as important as the duration of application. The question is, of course, a very indivi dual one. It is also exceed ingly complex. But for one, I do lament the decline in the hard, close, continuous working of the student. My sorrow is made the greater by reason, at least in part, of the broader, more diverse, and more agreeable program of studies that is set before the student. A simple examination of the catalogue of any college, a simple ex aminations of the courses of fered in any department, pro vide convincing evidence that the program has become broader, more diverse, and more agreeable. The revolution wrought in the knowledge of the na tural world is incorporated in the scheme of studies of fered the student — schemes covering the chemical, physi cal, geological, and biological sciences. The changes are fundamental. But changes hardly less fundamental are wrought in studies linguistic, economic, mathematical, his torical, social. The scholastic wealth now set before the student is simply incalcula ble. He is made the poten tial possessor of riches of which his father or grand father could never dream. For the student this general’ enlargement of studies has been united with the need, a keener need indeed, of con centration: of concentration on certain subjects or groups of subjects. If the student knows less of all subjects than in the former time he certainly knows more of cer tain groups of subjects. The 32 Panorama relation of these groups of subjects to one another has been well interpreted and well controlled by college au thorities. Intellectual breadth, which carries along with it self the peril of intellectual superficiality, and intellectual concentration, which carries along with itself the peril of narrowness, have been well adjusted to each other. The student becomes a student in all subjects and a scholar in some. Choosing his vocation at an earlier age than did his father, he elects studies that specially fit him to take up his professional preparation. For medicine he takes chemistry, biology, and physics; for law, history and economics; for theology; philosophy and psychology. Through such concentration he gains in power as well as in special knowledge. Know ing that all studies aid in every professional equipment, and knowing, too, that he is a citizen and an individual person, he appreciates the value of studies that seem un related to his future. — Con densed from World's Work (1928). WHAT IS FREE ENTERPRISE? Some years ago, a friend of mine was invited by a Gallup poll taker to give his definition of "free enterprise." “Free enterprise,” said my friend, "is a euphemism un der which businessmen conceal their thirst for profits.” There was a pause while the poll taker wrote this down. Then the poll taker said, "What’s a euphemism?” Such is the fate of words. They are measures of our ignorance as of our knowledge; they are sources of darkness as of light. But though they are elusive as the breath which bears them, perhaps we may put faith in this: that men who understand the world will be masters of the word, and men who are masters of the word have the rudiments of mastery over the world. — Burrows Dunham, Man Against Myth. September 1962 33

pages

31+

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