Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 76.djvu/79

Rh rest was obtained originally on the plea that the student's body must be cared for that he may do better work with his mind. The colleges have not kept faith with the donors. The college is becoming an annex to the athletic field so rapidly that the absurdity of the relation affords the most fruitful source for newspaper jests; while the equipment for physical culture has been diverted from service for the great number to service for the few. Coaches are selected because of their well-known qualifications and are paid accordingly; college instructors are not always selected and paid on a similar basis.

Is the condition to continue and to grow worse? Certainly, unless those in control of our colleges change their conception of what a college should be. Denunciation of commercialism rings out in hoarsest tones from many a college rostrum and one might suppose that in our haunts of learning there is freedom from the coarse influence of the market. Yet nowhere is the so-called commercial idea more prevalent than in college management. The only conception of success seems to be growth in wealth and in number of students—quantity not quality. A great increase in the freshman class brings jubilation and a decrease leads to gloomy search for cause of the decay. This evil has brought about the present condition. Wandering glee clubs and successful teams gain much free advertising; the public reads the sporting pages and becomes aware that the college exists; boys in secondary schools learn which college has gained victories and they long to share in the glory. It " pays " to have coaches of high grade, well remunerated. But a faculty of men, competent and willing to give the best of teaching, would bring no advertising, would attract only a small class of students; the college would not become great during the lifetime of one man; it is not worth while to expend much on that which brings such small returns.

The present wretched condition will be changed when the control of college affairs has passed from the hands of men unacquainted with the actual needs and when it has been placed in the hands of those who know what teaching means and have respect for teachers.