FOR A CLOSER RELATIONSHIP

In years gone by it was considered one of the essential privileges of a college education to become intimately acquainted with the men of learning of the time, and the homes of the professors used to be thronged continuously with groups of students eager to discuss questions of all sorts. There existed, at places like Shady Hill, the home of Charles Eliot Norton, a stimulating atmosphere of intellectual intimacy and real friendship, approaching almost the informality of a Greek philosopher's "companions." Of late years, however, there has been a gradual drifting apart of professors and students, until now they hardly ever meet outside of the classroom.

This estrangement is due chiefly to two great causes: the great increase in the size of courses; and the change of attitude on the part of the new generation of professors.

The great bulk that many courses have now attained has made it practically impossible for the instructor even to know his men by name, and this has necessarily tended to drive out the element of personal interest. Added to this, the professors have changed from men who had a philosophical interest in their students as well as in their subjects, to scientific experts who have devoted their whole energy to their subject and the best means of imparting it to others. Efficiency based on knowledge is nowadays sought more eagerly than wisdom, both by the professor and by the student. The result is that the instructor has become to the student more and more of a speaking text-book, rather than a human being whose friendship is to be cultivated.

One of the last links still remaining between the Faculty and the students is afforded by the University teas; and a great deal could be done toward the reestablishment of a closer union by utilizing them to their full extent.