ATHLETICS AND THE FACULTY

"If college teachers could once by their teaching kindle the great mass of students to the actualities of life, if they could bring to them greater understanding of the demand the years will lay upon them, greater sense-of the privileges by which the struggle of life is postponed for them until they have had opportunity to prepare for it, the problem of undue emphasis and false values in college athletics would solve itself." Thus Dr. Charles W. Kennedy. Chairman of the Princeton Board of Athletic Control, gives to a no longer novel question a rather original turn. For a change the public, the undergraduate, and the coach are left unattacked while the moment's censure is upon the faculty. And since the real reason for the existence of a college is to prepare men for life; since the real reason for the existence of a college faculty is to direct that preparation, the statement of Dr. Kennedy contains much that is true.

The mind of the student must be led, and the lead must be attractive. If the classroom, the lecture, and the conference have not the vigor of the world of sport, one cannot condemn youth for choosing the latter. The educator who would build character, build the wholeness which has been an ideal ever since the Greeks first demonstrated it, must not content himself with thwarting natural tendencies. He must divert those tendencies into the most effective channels.

And yet, however praiseworthy the purpose in Dr. Kennedy's mind, it is doubtful if professors alone will ever succeed in endowing colleges with a right perspective in athletics. Whenever the pendulum does swing to its proper position, the motion, will begin in a subjective impetus. Although faculties may be counted on for support, the solution of this problem in American education lies almost entirely with the students themselves.