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THE STUDENTS JOURNAL.
Some of the University Faculty seem to deplore the fact that the attention of some of the students, (especially those on the Barb side of the fence)seems to be so engrossed with College Politics. They endeavor to show that the ideal college life is where there are no political rings or combines, but where every student and every professor votes for the man he thinks is the best fitted for the place. But alas! this is not human nature—at least in K. U. Well do old students remember, before the present political prestige was obtained, how the non-fraterality element, although out numbering their antagonists five to one, were always completely ignored in an election. And this was only five or six years ago, too. Radical changes—changes looking toward the breaking down of this ancient fendal system of K. U.—have taken place in all departments of the University, with one exception, the Alumni Association. This is governed on the old plan. The president (a frat man) appoints a frat. committee to nominate officers for the following year. The committee reports a frat slate, the report is adopted, the fixers are discharged and the ring gets ready for next year. In case any person doubts this, let him look up the matter and be convinced.
Our University should by all means have a Military department. A military education is necessary not only because through it the growing boy acquires an erect form, but because of the habit of obedience thereby inculcated. Nothing can be of more benefit to a boy in future years than the habit of mechanical, unquestioned obedience to those in authority, best inculcated by military drill. The addition of such a department to our University would not necessarily be expensive—and in consideration of the great amount of good accruing from it, certainly should be introduced. That the experiment has been tried before, and was rather a failure, should be no argument against it. He would be a poor reasoner indeed who would draw his conclusions from single experiments. Nor should our University feel that she is above such work—that this is work fit only for academies and institutions of less pretensions. The Military department is one of the features of Missouri University, of De Pauw, and of others too numerous to mention.
The members of our Faculty are sure to be heard from if they are any where around. A recent message over Blake's sea telephone announces that Dyche has got the North Pole boxed up, ready to bring home for our Museum. The addition of this scientific curiosity to our University will certainly make us, if not the cynosure of all eyes, at least the pointing mark of all needles. May the renown of K. U. spread to the four corners of the earth.
ONE of the frequent charges made against the modern method of education is the woeful lack of individuality among the college graduates. It is said they are machine made. They imitate another's ideas. They bow to another's judgement. They fear dissent from the conventional. They sacrifice their own sense of propriety to cringe before a social despot. They lack the stuff of real manhood. "The spirit of conformity prevails rather than the spirit of personal independence." The reason for this lamentable lack of individuality may be ascribed to various influences, but perhaps that advanced by President Angell in his baccalaureate address before the students at Ann Arbor may merit especial consideration. In his opinion, one great bane to the student's life is the existence of the college fraternity. Along this line Michigan's great educator spoke as follows: "I am inclined to think that there are many influences at work in our day which tend to break down in some degree the spirit of sturdy self-reliance and manly independence of thought and action. Take, for instance, the rapid multiplication of societies which we have witnessed of late years, societies social, ethical, intellectual, political, religious. These associations have become so numerous that the combination and permutations of the letters of the alphabet are well nigh exhausted in furnishing the initials of their titles. Few are the men and women who are not enrolled in several societies. Most of these societies have their uses. But what I wish to call attention to is this; the cases are rare in which one who is truly devoted to his society does not have his course of action modified by the views and examples of his associates. It may be they are changed for the better, but, alas, it may be they are changed for the worse; or at any rate they may be changed not as a result of his deliberate judgment, but simply from the desire to conform to the usages of his comrades, even though at first his conscience is somewhat stained. His personality is thus infringed on. He is not quite himself. His sense of personal responsibility is weakened. He persuades himself that he can make others answerable in part for him. It is men who dare to brave the criticisms of their day, and to stand in the face of all peril for the truth as they saw it, who have been able to carry the race on to higher lines of achievement and thought. They may not always be agreeable neighbors to those who do not appreciate the value of their innovations. It is not pleasant to have a man suddenly appear and run his plowshare under all our comfortable customs and hallowed prejudices and turn them bottom side up to the light of day. But sometimes we are obliged to admit in the end that he was our true friend and benefactor."