Oberlin Review (Oberlin, Ohio), 1876-03-22

              OBE REVIEW Vol 3 Wednesday March 22 1876 Number 3 College Prizes 1JY JMtOF C II CHURCHILL Many educators assume that prizes arc among theunholy devices of Satan for inciting a weak and foolishambition that they kindle rivalries jealousies and heartburnings among students that the better grade of scholars do not need them and that the poorer grade are not helped by them It has been observed that the prize pupils are not more apt to be men of superior power in after life than the lesssuccessful It is thought that the desire to gain a prize is so sordid and so pitiful as to lower greatly the tone of a students oeneral character and unfit him for a noble career that he comes to look down on his plodding unbrilliant fellows and develops into a snob a pedant and a bookwormSometimes it seems that the very success which the prize induces is a bane rather than a blessing that it begets discontent with the ordinary incentives to study and turns the students mind from the love of learning to a love of its rewards Moreover these rewards come to be regarded as of rightbelonging to brilliancy and promptness ot mind and theeminence that sometimes comes to patient persistent endeavor on the part of one who is possessed only of mediocre ability is regarded as undeserved Thus envy comes even to the gainer of the prize as the result of the prize itsdf But there is another view of the question To those who have no sufficient motive to study or rather whoappreciate the high motives set before them so little as never to yield to them a lower motive may with piopriety beaddressed There is a class of boys who have smartness enough to succeed but who are too fond of play and gossip andmischief ever to devote themselves to study with such a prize is sometimes effectual in getting them fairly at work A skillful teacher may avail himself of this initial momentum to keep up the velocity and guide the mind to some valuable result It is like teaching a child to walk by offering him sweets Having learned the delight of using his legs he can be safely trusted to do all the walking that is profitable Prizes too express the benevolent interest of the donors in the students progress and attainment These come almost always from men whose good opinion is worth having The gaining of the prize so long as the donor lives secures his personal interest in the individual contestant and may bring with it a blessing beyond all estimate Prizes often perhaps oftenest fall to students who are selfsupporting and may be ot untold service toward the end of the terrible struggle for a liberal education in relieving pressing wants and saving ones selfrespect just at thecritical moment in his career If it is true that prizes are nearly always awarded to those who need no stimulus who would stand first at any rate it is also true that in Gods greatlifeschool the great prizes are apt to be adjudged to theearnest the skillful the energetic the faithful It certainly cannot be supposed that Solomon is holding out an intrinsically selfish or unworthy motive for following the paths of wisdom when he tells us that in her right hand are length of days and ir her left hand richps and honor If a student labor hard and long to secure a college prize it docs not follow that this is his only or his chief object He may have the same benevolence that the giver of the prize had in founding it The prize is a mere incident in his career he took it as a matter of course scarcely departing from his accustomed habits or increasing his accustomed activity but merely diverging slightly to bestow a little more attention where it had been specially invited by the prize He accepts it because it is within his reach and was intended for such as he But what of the i 7Jfal for whom it is not intended and who could not reach it if it were Under Godsgovernment the prizes are graduated with infinite nicety so that some good things may be enjoyed by all and these measurably in proportion to fidelity or ability or both A perfect system of college prizes would imitate this admirable method as far as practicable The danger that prizes will become theprincipal object is no greater than that human beings in general will choose to have all their good things in this life which does not in the least prevent the Infinite Father from leaving to them the solemn responsibility of such a choice if they will make it Letter from Japan We extract the following from a private letter from Wallace Taylor ofTheological class of 73 now a missionary in Japan In onr next wc shall give anaccount of the Openinp of Kiyoto1 E1 Pravcr Meeting in Sanda When thework was first commenced in Sanda a village twenty miles north of Kobe none but the men came to hear the Bible read and explained and but few of them Gradually more and more came to hear and learn about this new religion But no women came Here was a difficulty to be met viz how to get the women to come to preaching services One of the young ladies from Kobe Miss Dudley went and staid all alone at