COMPETITIVE SCHOLARSHIP

"Victory or die!" Oh! yes, but to play only to win is the certain sign of poor sportmanship; and to study solely for high grades and Phi Beta Kappa is the displeasing brand of a "grind". Somewhere must He Aristotle's golden mean! It has been found in the realm of college athletics by a gradual building up of a commendable code of ethics and traditions, whose force becomes apparent if any competing team breaks its iron laws. But in the realm of scholarship it is otherwise.

There exists no true and general spirit of competitive scholarship. The whole college world can be divided into two unequal groups: the great majority who are satisfied to just get by in their studies and the small minority who find the present artificial honor system of the faculty stimulating. Unfortunately this second group counts in its ranks a goodly number of individuals who do study solely for grades.

As a result no appealing sportsman-like tradition has been evolved. Such men cast aside the ideal of a wellbalancd life, renounce athletics, social service, a hundred activities--even pleasure--for a selfish desire for classroom preeminence, deny the principle of reciprocity, and never once feel that they owe some self sacrificing service to the college which is doing much for them. Is it any wonder that the first and larger group feels some contempt for this type of student and this kind of scholastic activity?

What is necessary to change the fundamentally false attitude of the majority and the minority, too, is an adoption of the same policy for studies which is employed for play; "Athletics for all" must be paralleled by "Scholarship for all." Competition of brain must take its place by competition of brawn. Only so can the over emphasis on athletics, the sin of American colleges, be remedied.

At Harvard the Rank List might be judged a means toward this end. It is, however, based upon an unsatisfactory system of grading. It is not successful because everybody recognizes the fact that grades alone are no true, are no just measure of a student's intellectual ability and achievement. It is solely through effective use of the many prizes and scholarships offered and through emphasis on degrees with distinction that the whole student body can be imbued with the spirit of competitive scholarship.

One very simple expedient is to register every student automatically as out for distinction: requiring special application (which entails some thought) to drop from that status. Then the awards of prizes and scholarship should be given the publicity they deserve. The College bulletin boards are plastered with (very formal and unenticing) notices of such competitions, but very, very rarely are the results ever given to the world. Many men graduated this mid-year: but who in College has heard which candidates were awarded degrees with distinction, outside possibly of personal friends? Yet such news is quite as important and more stimulating than a thousand sport stories that jamb newspaper columns.

The psychology of college men must be faced frankly: their most strenuous efforts are put forth only when they are convinced that there will be some general recognition of their efforts. Like Cicero they seek fame. They are young and combative, full of zest and of a tremendous will to excell, but being young they need the encouragement of applause. The trustees and awarders of prizes and scholarships and degrees with distinction must, therefore, use publicity to attract, interest, and hold the attention of the great mass of students, just as the reward of fame attracts and interests them in the world of athletics. Academic machinery has managed to carry into effect the maxim of athletics for all; why should it not assume the more important, if superficially disagreeable, duty of making scholarship for all a reality?

When the so-called "grinds" find their field earnestly invaded by strong determined men, leading a healthy well-balanced life and as a result surpassing them in attainment, they will of necessity be compelled to change their methods and ideals. A few incurables will always remain: but they must take a low place in the general esteem. A tradition of competitive scholarship can be built up but the first task of the authorities is to convince the college man that such competition is worth-while. To rely on publicity is perhaps noxious, but in this case as in a thousand others, the end will justify the means. Youth will always seek fame, even if it is a will-o-the-wisp; and to use youth's fantasy for its own improvement is the height of teaching genius.