COLLEGE WORK AND THE R. O. T. C.

An explanation has been advanced recently that the reason for the low average of studies here and in other colleges was that students were putting all their time on Military Science and closely allied subjects, to the great detriment of other courses and the students' general standing. This explanation is of doubtful value. We believe that there are very few men in the University, who, from necessity or desire, spend so much time on their military work that their other courses have to suffer. Certainly this is not the intention of the Military or College authorities. If it were, there would be an obvious inconsistency in the policy of allowing no men on probation to hold office in the R. O. T. C.

There are undergraduates, however, who, though they do not overwork on the R. O. T. C., have the feeling that they are wasting their time in any but military courses. They must remember that they are not here merely to mark time before being sent to a training camp. To say that we are now preparing for after the war has become a trite though necessary truism; but it is also of distinct disadvantage for a man in his career as an officer to get into bad habits of loafing. Finally, we often overlook the value of a general college education in war itself. A single striking example will bring this clearly before our minds.

An applicant for the aviation corps, one of the most technical arms of the service, is quickly accepted by the Government if he has had a whole or part of a college education, whether or not he knows a carburetor from a crankshaft. An applicant without college training however, has to have considerable technical knowledge. We must of course, give great attention to our military courses, but we can do it without neglecting the academic training that the Government has so definitely approved.