Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/103

 real reason seems to me to be not that the freshman has too little time, but that he does not know how best to utilize his time. He fritters a good deal of it away instead of using it energetically or systematically either in the pursuit of normal recreation or pleasure, or in the mastering of his studies. He does not know where his time goes to, for he follows no schedule.

One of the main difficulties seems to me to be the fact that before entering college very few boys have learned the first principles of concentration, or know anything about study; nor do many realize that college is fundamentally different in its demands and requirements from the academy or the high school. I have no doubt that there are preparatory school boys or high school boys who have learned to concentrate their minds upon their work until they have actually mastered it, but I do not happen at this moment to recall the names of any. It has been my privilege recently to be an observer for a few weeks of the mental travail of two boys, students in one of the high class academies of the Middle West. They study like squirrels at play. They are quiet for scarcely a moment. They are restless, talkative, kittenish while they are supposed to be at work. They tease each other more persistently than they apply themselves to their books. They are constantly