a definite goal in view, and, in general,,is a responsible'being in the
fullest ■ sense of the term. All the university’s freedom of rules
regarding attendance, of course, proceed from this state of
affairs.
As for the college man, however, he is a mortal (presumably of
more common clay) who is only seeking to acquire the foundations
of the work which the universities do. We have been led, almost
unconsciously, to picture the college man as one. who, if not
actually driven to his work, must be held down to it by a system
which will compel his attendance for all but a small percentage of
the scheduled exercises. Those adherents of the “strict attend
ance” rules among us claim that in this latter class belongs the
State student, and to this assumption of theirs it seems necessary
to make a protest.
Right here we must say that we see no reason why college work,
as distinguished from university work, should be essentially
demoralizing to the student engaged in it. We see no reason why
it should not be assumed that the college man is as sincerely de
voted to his work, however much of the “fundamental” nature it
have, as is the university man’s devotion to his. However, the
spirit with which we too often see work done under strict at
tendance rules reminds us of the sort one observes in prep schools,
a sort of loss of all sense of responsibility and a tendency to do
just what is required and no more; the spirit of the man who
slams down his T-square and “bolts” at the first stroke of the
3130 bell. Concomitantly with the rise of such a spirit there
often evolves among the student body a class of men whose proper
sphere would be the prep school. Their standard of work and
what few ideals they have would seem to label them as having
been sent here by despairing parents to keep them out of mischief.
Now it is certain that the college administration never had prep
school methods in view as a standard; moreover it is certain that
the standard of class-room instruction here is not only free from
the “prep school” characteristic, but certainly seems to have uni
versity standards of work.; furthermore, the faculty rightly enough