Show I EDUCATIONAL E ED GA TIeNA fr i 1 I j jl 1 l i Against Prizes We W often forget that activities contain different degrees o of the ethical element And as one form shades imperceptibly into another we are apt in our analogies to assume identity when only similarity exists Working in the hope of obtaining obtaining obtaining obtain obtain- ing a scholarship is said to be working for a prize It is concluded that since it is honorable to work for a scholarship it is honorable to work for a hundred dollar prize in fn an oratorical cont contest st st. Scholarships are usually given given osten ostensibly ostensibly osten osten- sibly as aids aids aids' to further study and not for display The student is assisted because because because be be- cause he is doing able work and not because he has beaten an opponent Scholarships are usually awarded without without without with with- out regard to number of applicants but butare butare butare are governed by the funds of the giving institution n. n It does not ask that mo more e attempt than can succeed in order to have the pleasure of shutting the door on some that those inside may appreciate ate their fortune or if they choose gloat over a gain that has been secured at the defeat of another If any school does take such a stand it is giving prizes and not scholarships Distinctions are usually im implied lied in words not spelled the same While the motive that prompts the one activity seems worthy in the truest sense the stimulus of the other is unchristian barbarous The one represents represent honest labor the theother theother other ther is a form of gambling This is said without any personal reference and with due respect for those who differ The argument has been met met before Some persons seem to have a native love for the old and oriental because it itis itis itis is old and oriental and because it has stood the test of time through long epochs of human history For some of these persons I have sincere respect be be- ca cause se of I. I oth other r. r traits rats of f character and nd some are my personal fri friends But Bu on the subject of custom custom as on other questions that involve principle I am free to differ as far faras as frail reason shall direct I do not wish to feel or reason as do those who think it needless needless- to give further excuse for adopting the views of ancestry than simply that they have friends well educated and with good intentions intentions intentions in in- who with all their host of other friends of similar character agree that t they ey are right For it is very lery often true that these friends have been een led 10 to th their ir cherished d opinions by similar mode of conversion And when we do adopt such sanction we are apt to forget that the same argument may often apply with equal f force on the side of our opponents This same appeal led thousands of southern soldiers to shoulder their muskets muskets muskets mus mus- and wade into the jaws of death not many years year ago go to m meet et the no northern thern boys in blue who were not all au lead by more rational conviction And we have lingering specimens of scarred a id white haired II gray gray coats in our city today who are honest rebels to progress and to the Union and who can an give no other reason for their attitude of mind when pinned to an argument than han simply that sentiment has had it so that noble nobl respected respected respected re re- and educated minds believed and still believe and that preachers taught it from their text And this most bloody of all civil wars might have been avoided had people based their convictions convictions convictions on reason reson in place of mere sentiment sentiment sentiment senti senti- ment and custom of long standing We might follow follo all along the line of contest controversy and war to the dawn of history and find people spurred to a narrow patriotism military heroism personal ambition and bloodshed by the impetus of mere prestige And when occasion for real battle has been wanting we see them contriving tournaments for artificial show where knights are seen fighting for their most II beauteous dam dam- dam dam- sel And And when se have lacked number number num num- ber at home hom we see combs ee cocks combs combs and Don Dop ridi riding through the country in gaudy costume seeking occasions for II heroic deeds with the guidance of a past experience so absorbed in osten- osten display that ignorance of nature leads them to ride into the wings of a windmill they have mistaken for a giant And we have people in our own country and today who are led into the fallacy of mistaking It windmills in the form of human beings as mental giants because of their sounding brass and tinkling cymbals cymbals' in memorized speeches from borrowed sentiments As a result oratory is sinking to th the plane of school-boy school decla declamation While we are outgrowing a military type of society some of our most conservative customs are still seen in militant formulae formulae formulae formu formu- lae and terms of custom are expressed in military language and it i son sonly y two or three years since we were dri driven around fence corners and over oyer ditches by domineering domineering domi drill hill But we have lived this custom down because students of the University had the courage to plead for other reasons than the mere fact that it was custom in the East and other reasons were wanting And yet I have no doubt that disciples of conservatism conservatism conservatism and formalism are not far distant who would still reinstate the custom if they could because it is a custom Fellow Fellow Fellow Fel Fel- low students we are living in a progressive progressive pro progressive pro pro- age and the spirit of this age demands a higher reason for prescribed actions than simply that It what is is right because it is or the opposite fallacy that It custom is wrong because it is custom We must meet these questions questions ques ques- on rational grounds to d do cred it to our places as bodies of deliberative college students And I submit as the highest possible rea reasons ons that one of the central ideas of the grandest moral doctrine the world has ever known as e expressed in Christian te teaching ching and phil philosophy soph alike condemns' condemns the element lement of controversy controversy controversy contro contro- versy as incentive t to moral action in a amoral amoral a amoral moral being The one asserts that He only is truly great that is little in himself himself himself him him- self and no account of honor The other holds that in the highest t stage of ethical development the conduct conduct conduct con con- duct of the individual is such as secures not only his own but the success and happiness of others I do not apply these statements as authority in the the sense that that- because they have been uttered uttered uttered ut ut- by authority they are right but because through ough long and logical reason by the one and the highest life example in the other they have shown their shown their tenets tenets tenets ten ten- ets to be true No philosophy except that of the pessimist will admit that an ideal society must be stimulated to action by arousing arousing arousing arous arous- ing the combativeness of its members And some even eyen talk of a in inthe inthe inthe the near future where altruism is the moving motive and on Sundays expound expound ex pound the method df of f hastening this expected expected ex ex- day through ideal conduct How they reconcile the doctrine of ot controversy controversy controversy contro contro- versy with its opposite is more than I Ican Ican Ican can understand and I should like to hear an explanation If ideals and progressive thought are not to be fostered in the institutions of higher learning I beg to know where they are appropriate or what is their function in the life of mind Let us not meet to II beat but meet for the sake of meeting The instructors tors of the state have met on on the latter plane and have formed the most vigorous group of thinkers in it We can assist them in uniting the educational interests of Utah and in making true knowledge felt because of its better moral tone And let us not reduce life to a game of II snatch and grab by prompting every action with the mercenary motive expressed expressed expressed ex ex- pressed in the proverb that competition competition com petition is the life of trade Activities that d do enot necessitate the defeat t of t others are are numerous are hum numerous rous and varied We dont don't want to indulge in e exercise f for r the sake of spoils or or r booty or trophy Either term reminds us of a militant stage of social life and of course success that has been won won at the cost of others other's fortune and pleasure j and experience has shown us too often that men who have formed the habit of chasing chasing chasing chas chas- ing honor for honors honor's sake do not usually support the truth for truths truth's sake or elevate humanity for the sake of its im im- provement The two motives will in inevitably inevitably inevitably in- in clash Ever since the Arian family left its home in Central Asia the West has been in the van-guard van of progress As one people has gone beyond another those left behind have become stifled in the ruts of custom and the newer wave has taken up the work of advancement We Weare Weare Weare are on on the frontier at at- present presen t j let us appreciate appreciate appreciate ap ap- the fact and be cautious in accepting the the oriental They have treasures of culture and knowledge we may well covet but they have with them most serious defects and often under the alluring cover of the term college spirit If we let down the bars for controversy controversy controversy contro contro- versy the next enthusiast will put in a plea for hazing Some are earnestly anxious to make our college life more pleasant and lively and to develop a t true e col college ege patriotism I hope I shall not tend to hinder such in their success But what do we mean by patriotism The old patriotism meant anything to win for our ur side and warlike warlike warlike war war- like nations measured their success by others defeat and their conquest st st. The newer patriotism seeks real worth and lets merit speak for itself Why not think of college patriotism in the same sense And And- Andin in proof that I am not alone in inthis inthis inthis this matter permit me me meto to quote a part of an editorial in the Popular Science Monthly entitled The fhe In Intercollegiate Spouting Match And now the higher education has taken another spirited stride forward Half-a-dozen Half colleges in different parts of the country have made up a grand spouting match hired the Academy of Music in the metropolis for the exhibition exhibition exhibition tion got together three newspaper editors editors editors edi edi- tors for judges brought on their most promising young oung declaimers and let off the show before a large and admiring audience Nothing was wanting to call out the best effort of the candidates who were fired by y personal am ambition c collegiate applause and impending newspaper glory while even more peppery and pungent incentives incentives tives were by no means overlooked It Itis Itis Itis is related that on a certain occasion the sportsmen somewhere out West resolved to have a grand hunt fox-hunt in the true old English sh st style lr and nd so they came to together together together to- to gether with horses and hounds not forgetting forgetting forgetting for for- getting to bring the indi little beast they were going to hunt which came secure in its cage When all was ready they let the fox go The animal might probably have been trusted to torun torun torun run by natural instinct but but to furnish furnish furnish fur fur- nish him with an immediate motive for making his best speed they gave him a acut acut cut ut with a horse whip as he escaped In tn th the case of the young orators the case was different The high incentives might perhaps have sufficed to unseal the of eloquence but to in insure insure insure in- in sure a gushing flow an additional stimulus stimulus stimulus ulus of was held out as a premium to the winner Whether the green greenbacks backs were ere put in a purse and placed in conspicuous conspicuous conspicuous con con- view of the contestants does not appear Be this as it may they strove with each other the editorial discrimination discrimination discrimination dis dis- crimination was invoked some one oue got the money and the others of course didn't and andt it was agreed all round that the cause of the higher education had been moved along several notches Hitherto we have been assured with great emphasis that this system the system the perfect and purified results of centuries of experience has experience has risen above all low and sordid inducements and rests its superior claims clams on the dignity of scholarship scholarship scholarship schol schol- the value of for its own sake and the intrinsic excellence of culture The instigators of this movement we are told with miraculous logic still speak of certain studies in inthe inthe inthe the curriculum as born horn of a base utilitarian utilitarian utilitarian butter bread-and-butter motive that would degrade the lofty and disinterested disinterested disinterested disinter disinter- ested ideal that should ever be held before before before be be- fore the student the student the cultivation and discipline of his intellectual powers as asan asan an n end in it itself itself to to be debased by none of the incentives which animate the beastly crowd in the practical scram scrambles bles of life and beg to know if the grand old liberal and ennobling culture con consecrated consecrated consecrated by centuries is to go down before the narrow arid and selfish exactions of materialistic and a money-getting money age But these gentlemen we are told are not after all unmindful of the educational potency of filthy lucre nor that students may be plied with the motives of the gamester the gamester the passion to win The inter-collegiate inter speaking- speaking match had about it more of the ethics and incitements of the pit cock-pit than is quite consistent with the lofty claims that are put forth in regard to the in inspiration inspiration inspiration in- in of the higher culture We doubt if the multiplication tion of intercollegiate intercollegiate intercollegiate inter inter- collegiate contests and ostentatious ri rivalries rivalries rivalries ri- ri whether for the winning of purses or the beating of antagonists or orthe orthe orthe the exhibition of accomplishments is either healthy in its influence upon the internal life of the institutions themselves themselves themselves them them- selves or favorable to that quiet concentrated concentrated concentrated con con- uninterrupted mental exercise which is the indispensable condition of solid attainment and sterling scholarly character MARCH 1875 But while this seems reasonable to some some it it- itis is still still argued argued- J li that hatt t it it is right j to do evil that good may may come fl It is said we are indebted and need to cons con contrive con con- s hive some means of I liquidation I do donot donot donot not believe that wrong motive motive- or act end in ultimate Moreover Moreover Moreover More More- will viII ever good over the same argument might be held out after we have gone in debt again and we may go in debt again very often And so to the argument that by making making making mak mak- ing the prize a University affair in place of individual I answer that such a scheme while of two evils perhaps the least does not eradicate the wrong If it did one night might on the same grounds work from a wrong motive in other ways and give his ill-gotten ill gain to a good cause to atone |