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The Weekly University Courier.
The Largest College Journal Circulation the United States.
Published Every Friday Morning by the COURIER COMPANY For Kansas University Students.
O. B. TAYLOR,
President. | DENT, HOGBOOM.
Secretary.
EDITORIAL STAFF:
JOHN A. PRESCOTT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.
ASSOCIATES:
CHAS. JOHNSON
F. C. KEYS,
G. C. GOLDEE,
FRED. LIDDEKE,
HARRY BUCKINGHAM
V. L. KELLOGG,
JUNE LEE,
THE CHAPMAN,
MAY HAIR,
MAY CHURCHILL.
BUSINESS MANAGERS:
WILL. A. JACKSON, | S. T. GILMORE
From the Press of P. T. FOLEY.
The attention of delinquent subscribers is called to the fact that the present volume of the Courier is drawing to an end. All subscriptions should have been paid up before now and it is to be hoped that our delinquents will not make it necessary to ask them personally. The Courier is no object of charity, nor is it a charitable institution. We want to give you the worth of your money and we want you to pay for what you get.
LAST Monday the Chancellor announced that the usual spring vacation would commence on the following Thursday and end on Monday, April 2nd. The announcement was written upon a small piece of paper and placed upon the bulletin board among numerous other notices far more conspicuous; yet there were very few students on the hill that day who failed to see or hear of it. It was not received in the same spirit by all: to those who lived in the neighboring cities and villages it meant several delightful days at home; to those whose homes were in distant parts of the State it meant several days to be pleasantly passed in the city, and a brief rest from the work of the University; to those who were behind in their studies it meant four, and in some cases five, days of hard work; to the department of English it meant several days to be spent in grading half a hundred Freshman themes. We are not told whether the vacation was acceptable to the faculty or not, although the notice stated that it was authorized by that body. But we may presume that there were no serious objections to it.
But the vacation is here, and let us make the most of it. Spend as much of your time as possible out of doors, all studies being laid aside. If the weather is propitious, and the ground in good condition, and if you are satisfied that Spring is here at last and that the backbone of Winter is really fractured, plant a tree.
To be sure Arbor day does not come till April 4th; but then "in view of the present vacation" school will be in session on that day. No matter if it is a little previous, this is to be regarded as Arbor day vacation, and Kansas expects every citizen to plant a tree. If you desire to plant one on the campus it will be necessary to use blasting powder in making the excavation. By special arrangement, however, any regular reader of the Courier who has paid his subscription can, by depositing the necessary funds with Superintendent Crocker, have a tree planted for him. This is certainly a rare opportunity. Now is the time to subscribe.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
The following, taken from a recent Oakland, Cal. paper, is respectfully commended to those gentlemen who fancy that a University "just grows," as Topsy did:
"The University of California is one of the richest in the United States. Indeed, we may say it is the richest, for it has behind it not only an endowment of three million nine hundred thousand dollars in money, but virtually the whole wealth of the State. That is to say, there is a recently enacted law which devotes a tax of one cent on the hundred dollars to the University; and at the rate at which the State is growing this will presently produce an immense annual income. But that which is of more value than the amount of the income is its certainty and especially its independence of politics—usually the bane of State supported Universities. * * * * It is the greatest free school in the country, for all fees have been abolished and the gates of learning are open to all who come."
When the University of Kansas can receive such treatment as the University of California now experiences, we shall not have so many of our hard-working faculty hampered in every direction by the lack of means and equipment; and we shall not have our hearts in our throats every meeting of the State Legislature lest some fellow who knows more about ward politics than about books manages to cut down the library appropriation to five hundred dollars, and thus leave us students out in the cold.
Notwithstanding the fact that several of the editors will spend their vacation at home, they should not fail to be promptly on hand next Tuesday morning with an abundance of copy. Remember that contributions must be in early if the paper appears on time.
Such a circular, if distributed throughout the State, will help greatly to advertise the department and the University and to make the people acquainted with the splendid opportunities which are offered here for study in this line. It is to be hoped that the heads of the other departments may follow Prof. Canfeld's example.
PROF. CANPIELD has recently issued a very neat little circular from his department. It describes, in a few words, the work which is being done there in the study of Political Science, the manner in which it is conducted and the facilities which the University affords for such work. Each subject taken up is briefly outlined and the amount of time which is devoted to it is stated.
production of "narrow-gauge men," The University Quarterly.
The usual spring meeting of the Board of Regents will take place before many weeks. The wants of the University are numerous; so numerous, in fact, that some will have to be laid aside for another year. But several have grown into "must haves." One of these is an appropriation for an assistant in the German department. The Junior and Senior German classes have had to be discontinued, as Prof. Carruth's time is entirely occupied with the sub-Freshman, Freshman and Sophomore classes, the sub-Freshman having over sixty members. Some of the members of the upper classes are reading with the Sophomores, while others are doing special work, not willing to stop midway in the course. Let us have an assistant.
The present tendency in college curriculum is to specialize. The effort seems to be to give a thorough education, and at the same time to furnish something of practical use in life. There is danger in this that the college will forget its true mission. That mission is not to develop specialties, but to produce the symmetrical man. It is not to cater to the particular likings of the student, which would be satisfied even if the college had never been entered; but to quicken to normal development the sluggish and latent powers of his nature. To allow a student to follow his own inclination is not education; it is simply pampering his appetite. The college student cannot be a better judge of what constitutes to him a sound education than men who have spent lives in watching the effects of educational processes. The postgraduate and professional courses are the places for specialties; the college is the place for a systematic, symmetric education. Even if this age of haste hurries into active duties, no one will lose time in the end by taking Professor Stevenson's sound advice: "More can be accomplished in a day by spending an hour in the morning to grind the axe, than to work all day with a dull tool."
The eloquent words of Chauncey M. Depew, at the recent Yale dinner are worthy of repetition: "The student of the present and the future should be left not to his own ideas of what he needs, nor to the narrowing forces of a specialty through the abuse of the optional system, but he should be so broadly cultured, and at the same time so practically informed, that when he comes out and enters the law, which will narrow him; upon the pulpit of his sect, which may make him to some extent a bigot; upon the journalistic career, which will develop the partisan; upon the medical or scientific course, which will absorb his attention and enthusiasm from other pursuits, the healthful and never-ceasing influence of the broad and general realization of his universal education will prevent him from ever becoming completely narrow, or bigoted, or partisan, or blind." Professor Fisher sounded the same note of warning with reference to Yale, thinking that changes enough had been made in the curriculum; and fearing that a further development of the specialization process would result in the
The above is taken from one of the best of our exchanges, and we cannot refrain from recommending it to our readers as presenting thoughts and suggestions worthy of most careful consideration. Our University has recently remodeled its curriculum and now offers splendid opportunities for optional work. We believe that the changes which have been made are good ones, and that on the whole they cannot fail to produce good results. But we have alreally noticeed a tendency among some few students who happen to be taking special work in one direction or another, to neglect their other work in order to give more attention to their specialities. Fortunately the number of such persons is yet small, but, unless they are brought to a proper understanding of the narrowing influences of such a practice, it will, we fear, increase. A tendency of this kind should by all possible means be discouraged.
To the Editor of The Courier:
In your issue of March 9, appeared a short view on the proposed young ladies' boarding house, in reply to an editorial of a previous number. The writer, Mr. F. N. K., seems to be laboring under some misinformation, and has also, I think, drawn conclusions which are, to say the least, not founded upon a careful consideration of the matter in question.
In the very first sentence of his article, Mr. F. N. K. assumes that the proposed donation is to be made to the University. He makes this assumption the premise of his whole argument, if argument it can be called, and from it draws the dormitory idea which he condemns. Now if he will carefully re-examine the article whice he has attempted to answer, he can readily see that his assumption is altogether erroneous as far as the editorial is concerned, and consequently his argument is without any logical foundation.
Let him read the following paragraph:
"It is proposed that the concern shall be owned by a stock company or corporation, and the stock shall be taken by citizens of Lawrence who desire a safe investment with moderate returns." Is there anything in this from which a gift to the University, or University control over the boarding house can be implied? And if the proposed institution is to be owned by a corporation entirely beyond the control of University authority, is Mr. F. N. K. justified in inferring that it is the inauguration of the objectionable dormitory system? I cannot see, simply because it is designed to accommodate a large number of young ladies and to make them as comfortable as possible, that it would in any truer sense be a dormitory subject to a disagreeable system of espionage, than any private boarding house on Tennessee or Kentucky streets where several young ladies chance to room or board together.
In the third paragraph the writer says, "I do not think it will in any
way be a benefit to the school, unless, as was stated last week, it will bring more girls to the University. That is just the effect it would have." Though he here admits, in the first sentence, that it would benefit the institution to have more girls here and says that the proposed boarding house would bring them, he immediately afterwards declares that we want no more, and justifies this inconsistency by a hastily drawn distinction between girls and young ladies. His language indicates that his discrimination is founded upon age; but had he chosen other grounds his point would have been stronger. The legal age which forms the border line between girlhood and young-lady-hood is eighteen. Now if anyone will take the trouble to carefully examine into the facts of the case, I feel confident that fully as large a proportion of the girls under eighteen attend strictly to their studies and conduct themselves becomingly and discreetly, as of the young ladies who have passed that age. It is not the girls as much as the young ladies who "skip" their classes and walk in the corridors. It is not the girls as much as the young ladies who neglect work and give themselves up to society. Why, then, should we prefer the young ladies and wish the girls to stay at home? Which do the University the most good and which are most benefited by being here? If the boarding house, nay even a dormitory, would bring the girls here, I think it is a strong argument in its favor.
Mr. F. N. K's next point is, that to young ladies who are old enough to take care of themselves, a "dormitory" would be no extra inducement. Admitting that a "dormitory" would not, though that is an open question, I beg to differ from him in the case of a "boarding house." Would not any young lady be far more likely to come here, if she was sure of good board and lodgings, a comfortable convenient home, upon the hill near the University, than if she was compelled, as at present, to take a room and board wherever she could get it, and to climb the hill once or twice every day? I feel sure that parents would be far more willing to send their daughters here if accommodations were better than they now are. I cannot see why the proposed institution should necessarily give a foot-hold to the objectionable dormitory system, if, indeed, it is abjectionable. I think it would prove a great benefit to the University and to the young ladies of Kansas, and I sincerely hope that every student will earnestly second the efforts of the citizens to accomplish so good an object.
Yours truly,
S. S. S.
The North-Western presents its usual tidy appearance. It has lately been changed to a weekly magazine, but it it seems to keep up its usual high grade of subject matter and its former literary merit.
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