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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 1897)
YALE ALUMNE WEEKLY DOUBLE STANDARD OF MORALS. The Curse of College Communities. Harvard's Attack on Dishonesty. — [From Report of Dean Briggs of Harvard to Presi- dent Eliot.] The most anxious disciplinary work of the year was not the closing of the probations, though that is never ef- fected without wear and tear, but the struggle for the suppression of dis- honesty in written work. This kind of dishonesty has baffled the authorities. How it undermines the sense of honor in a college community was clearly shown last year by the experience of a neighboring university in its effort to purse itself of this evil; how it dulls the moral perception of what we call “good fellows” in our own college, may be seen in the lightness which many of them talk about it. That every one of eighteen hundred men shall be honest is too much to expect; but that any considerable part of public opinion should wink at this form of falsehood is scandalous. Two years ago the board - undertook to bring about, through conference with students, a gradual change in public opinion; but soon, and with some im- patience, it abandoned the undertak- ing and issued a kind of proclamation in these words:— “The Administrative Board of Har- vard College, holding that the handing in by a student of written work not his own is dishonorable and unworthy of a member of this University, pro- poses hereafter to separate from the College a student guilty of Such con- duct.’’ COLLEGE EXCUSES. The proclamation was designed, first, to give fair warning to offenders and, secondly, to point out the real nature of the offence. At Harvard College a liar, clearly known as_ such, is ostracized; a student who hands in as his own writing what he has copied from another man’s writing may be, for social purposes, as good as ever. Few students approve of the theme. buyer and the theme-vender (who, by the way, feel a loity contempt for each other); and few defend the student who tries, with copied work to get scholarships, prizes, or honors; but if a companion is hard pressed by initiations oor theater parties or athletics, if his standng with the Faculty is precarious, if he is in dan- ger of losing his degree,—he may copy something now and then in sheer self-preservation. Looked at critically, he has missed an educational opportunity; but the loss 1s his only, and need not worry the Faculty; if detected, he cannot ex- pect credit for his comrosition, but to suspend him is monstrous. He himself aflirms that he did what everybody does; that he “had to hand in some- thing,’? was not well, and was short of time; that his name on the theme is a mere label, quite non-committal as to the question of authorship;— perhaps that he copied from a book which the instructor ‘‘could not help knowing,’ and that therefore he could mean no. deceit (he ‘‘agreed with Thackery’s ideas and could not im- prove on his language’). He adds that he learned to ‘crib’? at school. Soon he is reinforced by a father who assures the Dean that the young man is the soul of honor, and that this ‘breach of the rules’ is the thought- lessness of a mere boy, which will never show itself again. STANDARDS AMONG GENTLEMEN, If a man, invited to lecture before a society of gentlemen, reads, with- out acknowledgement, another man’s work, everybody knows where to put him. His offence is not “breach of the rules” but fraud. He may not say in words, “I wrote this lecture;” his very preserice says it; and if he did not write the lecture, he is a dishonest man. The motive may be money, or glory, or pressure for time and dread of failure,—no matter. Those gentle- men have done with him. — So with a student who hands in as his own for his own eredit, marked with his own signature, a composition copied from another mantis work. No matter what his motive; no matter how agreeable he is; no matter how much he is benumbed with the ter- with. ‘gentleman and _ does _iie, ror of public opinion; no matter whether he is generally upright with his fellows and is going by and by to be upright with everybody;—for the lime being and _ in this particular act he is a liar. If he admits that in one of those weak moments whch come to shame all men but the strongest, he has done a dishonest act which he bitterly repents and for which he is willing to bear the penalty he may be respected; otherwise, though by friends he may well be, forgiven, he must not, till time and thought have changed him be counted trustworthy. There is a close analogy between his offence and what is called by a coni- fcrtable academic euphemism “rag- ging’’ signs. Though men who have “ragged” signs are not now merely at large but in places of trust (and rightly), yet the student who engages in this sport takes another man’s vroperty, which has cost money, which money alone can replace. He is, therefore, a thief; and a thief with- out the excuse of hunger, or of pov- erty, or of belonging by heredity to the criminal classes,—a purely wanton thief. , THE CURSE OF COLLEGE MORALS. The curse of college morals is a double standard,—a shifting, for the convenience of the moment, from the character of a responsible man to the character of an irresponsible boy. The administrative officers accept without question a student’s word; they asume that he is a gentleman and that a gentleman does not lie; if as happens now and then, he is not a they had rather, nevertheless, be fooled son.e- times than be suspicious always (and be fooled quite as often). Frankly treated, the student is usually frank .himself; our under- graduates are, in general, excellent fellows to deal with; yet so much is done for them, so many opportunities are lavished on them, that the more thoughtless fail to see the relation of their rights to other people’s, and, in the self-importance of early manhood, forget that the world is not for them alone. Students of this kind need delicate handling. They jealously de- mand to be treated aS men, take ad- vantage of the instructors who treat them so, and excuse themselves on the ground that, after all, they are only boys. This double standard is seen in both theme-copying and sign-stealing. its moral effect is probably more insidious in the former than in the latter; for whereas persons more or less men- dacious pass muster in all society but the best, no decent community outside of college, will put up with a thief. In college, both offences have been tolerated, through the pernicious doc- trine, held by some respectable per- sons, that the life of every. young man,—or at least of every young geli- tleman,—takes in a period of engaging anarchy during which period every thing short of murder may be winkcd at as boy’s fui. Fun, and not crime, is doubtless the motive; and the fault is no more in the young men than in those staid citizens who boast of their early escapades and are content that their sons should behave no better than they did. Yet, wherever the blame lies, the real nature of these acts is so plain to any one, however young, who suffers himself to open his eyes, that the usual slow processes of education may yerhaps be effectively discarded. Sign-stealing, for example, received a sudden check when the Corporation removed stolen signs from the dormi- tories, and when Judge Almy, himself a Harvard man, spread widely the announcement that the student next convicted of stealing a sign should go to jail. The rapidly educational effect of this announcement suggests a royal road to the suppression of cheating. What we want is a penalty that edu- cates, and educates not the offender enly but the easy-going college public, which in this matter has been per- -gistently blind. TO EDUCATE THE COLLEGE PUBLIC. No penalty can educate the public unless known to the public; and col- lege penalties have long lacked edu- cational effect, through secrecy. A man is dismissed from the University; and the student public, which either dces not hear of his dismisisal or understands that he has gone home for bis health, is none the wiser. Ac- cordingly the Administrative Board of Harvard College, holding that the FALL STYLES .. ‘+ NOW READY. KNOX’S WORLD-RENOWNED THE STANDARD OF FASHION EVERYWHERE. 194 Fifth Avenue, under Fifth Avente Hotel, New York. 912 Broadway, cor. Fulton Street, New York. 340 Fulton Street, Brooklyn. 191 and 1938 State Street (Palmer House), Chicago. > AGENTS ..- In all the Principal Cities. ‘Six Highest Awards At ene Columbian Exposition, | Prompt Attention given. . : eee Coal Mail Orders. handing in by a student of written work not his own is dishonorable, proposes to separate from the College a student guilty of such conduct, and to post his name on the College bulle- tin boards.” ‘To separate’? means, in most cases, “to suspend.’ Suspension though it has been tried and found wanting, is stil in favor with the majority of the Bcard,—especially when combined with the posting of names: whoever deserves the second part of the penalty dserves the first, and will probably be willing to take it; the College may be regarded as a club which publishes to, members the names of other mem- bers who by “conduct unbecoming a gentleman” have forfeited its privileges. The penalty of pusting names has been used now and itihen in the College Library, when a student, for hiding reserved books from his fel. lows, or for an offence equally sordid has been excluded from all the libraries of the University. ilu such cases public opinion is unmistakable; fellow-students, whose rights the of- fender ‘has selfishly infring+d are less sparing than the authorities them- selves, whether vublie opinion will up- hold this penalty for dishonesty in written work is not yet known, though a canvass of the large elective courses in English Composition give hope that it will. At the worst, the Board has shown students where, in its judgment, the offence belongs, and has left no excuse ‘for thoughtlessncss. ‘After fair warning, the pesting of a name loses that malignity which at first sight seems its chief character- istic. Indeed, the men who dread this penalty most are the executive officers . who may be called on to inilict it. My hope is that either self-respect or fear will make the offenze almost impossi- ble: for whoever cheats will know that he cheats, and will cheat with his eyes open to the result of detection; and my ultimate hope is a higher right for Harvard Coliege to maintain: that she stands for truth. — ~~ _. An Academic Difficulty. “You look gloomy; are you in debt?” “No; the trouble is I can’t get the chance to be.’—Yale Record. ABOVE BUTTON HOLE. “TRADE MARK WINAMAC —LINEN® ; sp THAT rae SCE IS PERFECTION EN PACKAGE SE OR AN oe ICES "1 130; ee RAY HYGIENIC SADDLE Insures Comfort and Safety. Price, $5.00 Constructed from an aluminum casting, shaped from exact impressions of the human anatomy in modelling clay, by riders actually propelling the wheel. Made in two sizes, with rigid or coiled springs. Send for catalogue of all sundries made by _ THE BRIDGEPORT GUN IMPLEMENT COMPANY. 313-315 Broadway, New York, AN ENTIRELY NEW PAINT is now used on HENLEY MELFORT BRAND and O. K. GOLF BALLS. RT SAWL BUCKLEY & CO. 66 Maiden Lane, New York, SOLE AGENT~ Hon. William L. Wilson, author of the tariff bill which bears his name, and at present the Postmaster Gene- ral of the United States, has accepted the invitation to deliver the Phi Beta Kappa oration before the members of that society in Sanders Theater, Com- mencement week. Mr. Wilson will soon assume the presidency of Wash- ington and Lee University at Lexing- ton, Va.
