A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

That every branch of human endeavor is in some way competitive, seems at first to be a most evident truth to the college student, who is always "going out" for something--for distinction, or a team, or a paper. But there is one branch of college life which is not in any way competitive for the reason that the demand far exceeds the supply. This is social service.

If this work were not so easy to enter, if the candidate were obliged to survive a rigorous competition with frequent cuts before being accepted, there would be no lack of men "out" for social service. Why? Its attractions are perhaps as many and as worth while as those which any other activity can offer. A year of this work will teach the student a good many things he can never learn in any college course. Through intimate contact he will learn, as he never could through casual observation, about the habits, opinions, and ideals of people of a very different economic status and education from his own. Besides this the worker has the solid satisfaction that comes from doing something for others. He has the responsibility of accomplishing his task well and the knowledge that what he is doing is worth while. But it is so easy to get into and to stay in this activity that many students think it cannot be of any real value. This is its only drawback, and it would seem that Harvard men should be able to see through such a fallacy.

Last year four hundred and thirty-two men enlisted. Double that number should report at Phillips Brooks House tonight. A year of social service is essential to a liberal education.