Golden Mean

In an article published in the Daily Princetonian, Dr. Mather A. Abbott discusses the relation of Preparatory Schools to the individualism creed of the colleges. Quite rightly, we believe, he absolves the schools and their emphasis upon spirit from blame, for the college reaction. It is a characteristic fostered by men of college age, independent of school training to disregard as superfluous all community interests which do not react to the immediate satisfaction of the individual. Dr. Abbott writes, "let us stick to the old order, if so-called individualism is going to bring to pass the current state of disinterestedness and selfishness in our colleges."

It is exceedingly difficult to draw the line between the pursuit of the proper individualism and selfishness. There can be little doubt that the tendency of the modern undergraduate to do what he pleases first, last, and always is as much of a distortion of true values as the most depraved dependence upon form, custom, tradition and so forth. He thinks that he is successfully resisting traps into which others before him have fallen. In reality, he is just as blind to his best interests as in the other extreme.

For, what those who take no part in the extra curricular life fail to realize is that however insignificant the ends, the process of work for a cause outside of one's self is a strengthening one. It is in such work that the character and the will are best nourished, and not by introspective selfishness. --Yale News.