VOL.8, No. 3
AN I.ND1311GRADL'ATE SEMINAI1
. -.)., L.,
student is led to discover his own strength and weakness. We can do little more in a seminar than point to doors of opportunity through which the student will have to force his way by his own efforts. A seminar, graduate or undergraduate, which holds as its objectives the orientation of the student in his present location, and the pointing of the way into the future, has remained true to the basic meaning of the word seminar.
The Real Need of University Education. Though the trend of university education, on the whole, is toward sane and moral life, and though it can have no higher final end, it cannot pursue its result through any systematized machinery. "The rod behind the mirror," once the reliance of German households, has no placc in thc university. No system of rewards and punishmcnts ever made men good or wise, and nonc is more futile than t h a t of honors halanccd against demerit marks. Bnforccd attendance a t prayers or chapel or, for that matter, a t anything elsc, fails to arouse thc spiritual nature, and didactic teaching or paternal scolding are alike ineffective. As love casts out fear, so enthusiasm caqts out vulgarity-vice's initial step. The university man should rise above the cheap temptations which beset youth on cvery sidc, now tm-fold more numerous than before war raiscd the lid under which aociety formerly tried to confine vulgarity and folly. "War-time is the opportunity for fools," as Lord Courteney used to say. War's aftermath is their sPason for sclf-exploitation. But thc university man should resist all this. The foes he must engage are morr subtle than those which center in jazz and hootlegging-as varied also as his own rclations to society. The university should help him to meet them valiantly. This it can do through the contagion of personality, the inspiration of intellect, the arousing of enthusiasm for intensive work, a spirit of devotion and helpfulness toward others. As for the first, to turn our youth toward righteousness we must show thcm how rightcousness looks when i t is lived. As to the second, a great teacher always leaves a great mark on cvery studmt with whom he comes into real contact. As to the third, great investigators breed investigators; that such intellectual heredity exists among scholars is . recognized by every serious worker. The scholar's life should have a moral purpose. His training is not mcrely a possession but a privilege carrying with it a duty t o humanity. Give him a message to speak to othcr men and whcn he leaves your sidc you need fear for him not the world nor the flesh nor the devil. Any university can c r r r t a trcmrndous impulsc fur moral lifc, tl~oughonly through thc unflinching devotion of its members. This influcncc must be exerted spontaneously. cvcn unconsciously, by men alien to all forms of vulgarity and vice and thoroughly imhued with the best in mind and morals. Let me quotc, in closing, from an address by William Jnmcs a t Stanford in 19Ofi un "The University's Spiritual Superstructure": "The first unit of this superstructure must bc a faculty ol great mcn, a t wlmtever cost, from every part of the world. If you have the geniuses, you ran dispense with the organization. Spiritual life passes from man to man by contacts. Offer the opportunities, leave the studcnt to his natural reaction. Geniuses arc ferments. When they come together the effects arc incalculable h u t pervasive and momentous."-By David SLarr Jordan lrom '"l'hc American University System, Past and I'rpsent," part 3 of The l'rerzd oJ ibe A,iirriaw L',~imrsity, Slnufonl University l'rcss, IWII, uia J. N d I . E d w . Assoc.
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