Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 84.djvu/455

Rh ethical nature of the excuse that "a man must live" may be called in question, but no married man dare question the validity of the corollary that "a man's family must live," nor blame the teacher who, with wife and children dependent on him, places bread and butter ahead of ideals and starvation. On these stern conditions the teacher is often forced to countenance practises which he knows to be fundamentally wrong; and on the same stern conditions he is often forced to assume public responsibility for these same practises. If he protest, he is curtly told that teachers are not wanted who can not loyally support the institution and its policies, and is given the choice of upholding a policy which he knows to be harmful or of tendering his resignation. In short, while they are not allowed any appreciable share in determining the policies of the college, the faculty are forced to pose as the authors of these same policies, and criticism of any one of them is sufficient ground for a charge of "disloyalty" to the institution, and often a threat of dismissal from one's position. In all such matters, the teacher is not a free agent. He acts virtually under duress. The real responsibility for existing conditions must be sought elsewhere.

Above the faculty stands the board of trustees, a self-perpetuating body governing the college from without, sometimes with slight sympathy for the views of those within. The power of the board is absolute; its will is the supreme law of the college. For the most part it is made up of successful business men, few of whom are in agreement with the ideals of the faculty, many of whom indeed are incapable of understanding such ideals. They are keen, enterprising men, who have made money, who are proud of their business, intensely if blindly loyal to the town, and always ready to push its interests in season and out. They are proud of the fact that we have a college here. Its presence advertises us as a literate people, and it attracts new families to the town, thus "making business." While some of them have a rather hazy idea as to what college is for, they are very sure it is a fine thing, and they are willing to work for it, spend time and money for it, and use their utmost endeavors to advertise it effectively. Standards of scholarship are beyond their comprehension, but size appeals to them, for to them size and success are synonymous terms. They are ambitious for a big town and a big college. Whether the latter shall be a center of sound scholarship or merely a degree mill is a question that is not considered; indeed, the very meaning of such a problem is beyond the comprehension of most of them. Theirs is the narrowly commercial point of view, and they are constitutionally incapable of appreciating any problem that can not be expressed in commercial terms.

"M is to be asked to resign on account of inefficiency," declared a member of our board of trustees, in the hearing of a friend.

"But I had supposed M to be highly efficient," objected the friend. "He has certainly had fine training in his subject, and all who