12
THE BATTALION
Wednesday, April 24, 1918
APPRAISING THE COLLEGE YEAR
The Freshman who entered colleg'e
last September doubtless was sad
dened in the first few days of campus
life at the thought of the days and
months, before he would pack his
trunk to return home at the close of
the year’s work. But perhaps the
same student, as he now realizes that
the year will soon close, finds himself
looking back over the fleeting days'
with a consciousness that they have
not been so very long after all. It
is a fact of common experience that
the length of a day is not determined,
after all, so much by fixed number of
hours as by the use that is made of
those hours. To the man whose life
is crowded with important work, a
day is much shorter than it is to a
man who wastes his time in profitless
ways. For that reason and in that
sense the college year is not of equal
length to all students. I hear stu
dents say occasionally “I cannot rea
lize how time is flying,” or, “The
week has gone by before I realized
it.” This is the attitude of mind of
the busy college man absorbed in his
work and ambitious to make the most
of his college opportunities.
This is the season of the year when
the Freshman can afford to make an
appraisal of his year’s work. Every
student will profit by asking himself
several questions. Have I made the
most of my opportunities? Have I
acquired serious student habits?
Have I learned the importance of
thorough preparation of my daily
work? What regrets have I about the
year’s work? Have I met the char
acter test of manhood? Has my col
lege record thus far been one that
will reflect credit upon me in subse
quent years? These and numerous
other questions will help every stu
dent who appreciates the seriousness
of life and the responsibility of col
lege days in evaluating the year’s
work.
'ihe questions that have been sug
gested may remind some students of
several preliminary questions that
have a determining influence upon
the college man. Did the students
look forward to a college caieet while
enrolled in the public school? Was
the student sent to the coliege or did
ite come of his own choice 7 Did the
■•student select this college for himself
oi was it the choice of his parents
or of some one else who influenced
his decision? Is the course that I
am pursuing the one that meets my
needs and does it correlate with my
aptitudes and abilities ! These ques
tions entered into the student habits
and the result determines the stan
dards of his work.
I wonder if the Fresman college
man has begun to appreciate the im
portance of a college education. An
drew Carnegie said many years ago
that “The almost total absence of the
college graduate from high positions
in the business world seem to justify
the conclusion that college education
as it exists is fatal to success in that
domain. The graduate has not the
slightest chance, entering at twenty,
against the boy who swept the office,
or who begins a shipping clerk at
fourteen.” Do you suppose Mr.
Carnegie would defend that state
ment to-day? The demand for col
lege men in great commercial enter-
prizes is so great that the supply can
not be met. The fact is that the
handicaps are so great at the pres
ent time for the man without a col
lege education that it has become al
most an accident for a man without
adequate preparation to obtain the
largest measure of success. Of
course there are many very success
ful business men who never attended
college, but the chances of success
for this type of man is constantly de
creasing. This is the explanation of
w .y there are hundreds of young men
in our colleges to-day while the^e
were only a comparatively few when
Mr. Carnegie expressed his views.
The discerning freshmen must have
oeen impressed here with the unusual
advantages that a college education
offers in War times. Never before
has a college education been so help
ful or the merits of collegiate in
struction so completely vindicated as
in the months since the beginning of
ostilities with Germany. The young
collegian v/ould be very dense indeed
if he failed to see the enormous ad
vantages that a college education of
fers at this time.
These considerations ought to in
spire the college student with cour
age to fight his battles and with per
severance in overcoming difficulties
as he struggles for a college educa
tion. I am always depressed when a
young man turns in his resignation
and indicates thereby ^that he has ac
cepted defeat at the hands of discour
agement or some other counteracting
influence. A number of men who
entered the Freshman class in Sep
tember have accepted defeat in this
way. It is encouraging that so many
have met the requirements and are
continuing their work until the end
of the session. Every Freshman stu
dent who completes his first year’s
work has greatly increased his
'chances of receiving a diploma in
three more years. I trust that there
is a high resolve in the minds of the
members of this Freshman class to
maintain a high percentage of those
who will be awarded diplomas on the
completion of his course of study.
W. B. BIZZELL.
’21
RABBI’S RAVINGS.
HOW do you like to get up
* H: sfc
WHILE it is all dark
* * *
AND looks just like you
* *
OUGHT to go back to bed
* * *
AND sleep another hour or
* * *
TWO? I have always found
* * *
IT hard to get up at any
* * *
TIME of morning but now
* * *
IT takes Fish “Razor”
* * *
FIFTEEN minutes, with all
* * *
THE aid of the electric light
* * *
GLOBE held in my face
* * *
A COWBELL rung in my ears
* * *
TO convince me that
* * *
IT is reveille-time! When
* * *
I do get up I try to carry
OUT the purpose of this
* * *
EARLY rising and do not burn
I
if
(
My light—are you as conscientious
* *
ABOUT it as all that? I
f * *
THINK I have had irty last
* * *
MORNING of darkness tho!
* * *
THIS morning when I was
* * *
ATTEMPTING to “clean up” by
* * *
1 HE light which was conspicious
* * *
BY its absence—I found my
* ‘ifc *
BRUSH and tube and began the
* * *
COLGATE stunt with great
ZEST and pep. My enthusiasm
sje * *
INCREASED considerably in
* * *■
ABOUT seven seconds when I
* * *
DISCOVERED that I did not
# * *
HAVE the PINK tube of tooth
PASTE—but the BLUE tube of
SHAVING SOAP!!!!!!
The Idea: I’ll try any thing once!
Somethings I’ll try twice! But
that is one thing I’ll never try
again!
Parker-Astin Hardware Co.
Everything 1 in our Line and the Best.
Cadets and Campus people invited
to trade with us.
iPAKiKEH^ASTXI* IS AK* ID WARE CO.
BBYAlSr, TEXAS
^axclptmu'
^’lurp
to pixie tUHjcatrc
I COLE HARDWARE CO.
1
HARDWARE
m
PHONE NO. 12
SLlig
i
8
mmmm