The Use of Leisure

DARTMOUTH has the honor to be classed with the most progressive colleges in the country. The latest proof that she deserves this ranking is the introduction of the Senior Fellowship, which was first put forth here by President Hopkins. It was received with a good deal of skepticism, but when the plan had been fully explained, the trustees saw its possibilities and gave it their sanction. With the result that five of us have been given the opportunity to spend our senior years in a way that has made them more vital in shaping our lives than any other years we have spent.

As I have been asked to relate some of my experiences in connection with this year's work, I hope the reader will pardon what personal references may follow.

First, a few words to recall to your mind the background with which the average senior is equipped. In his freshman year, everything is new; environment, studies, friends and interests. The whole year is spent in orientating himself to this strange new world. Nothing very tangible or assuring in the way of results can be expected from this early period. But the foundation has been laid and the habits formed which determine to a great extent the type of character that will develop during the following three years.

The next year a decided reaction usually sets in. The earnest, wondering-eyed freshman goes through some strange metamorphosis during the summer, and comes back to college in the fall a blustering would-be man of the world. He has that pernicious disease known as sophomoritis, but fortunately this usually wears off in the course of the year.

At the end of the year every sophomore must decide to what subject he wants to devote the major part of his junior and senior years. This is a very important decision for a student to make and one that has no little effect on his future career. I really don't think the average man is in a position at that time to know what is going to be best for him to do his last year in college. And I'm sure I wasn't. With a background mainly in the sciences and a little in French and English I did not have a very wide field of experiences to choose from. However, being serious-minded at the time, I chose economics as being most likely to be useful to me in business. In fact I had picked the great majority of my courses with a view to preparing myself for a better understanding of the problems in everyday life present and future.

The idea of taking some courses, in order to make the most of my leisure, had never entered my head. I had felt no such need for most of my spare time was taken up with outside activities of one sort or another. There had been no time to delve into the many subjects that fascinated me, no time to sit and mull over things with other fellows, in fact I am ashamed to say that I hadn't even stopped to think where I was headed. Then at the end of the year, by a stroke of great good fortune, I received a fellowship. But at first I did not recognize the hidden opportunities that this gift possessed.

Last fall found me back at college in precisely the same rut that I had been in the previous year; going on with exactly the same things I'd been doing before. However, all along I had had a desire to study art in the various forms. An interest that had been smoldering in the back of my mind ever since I could remember. This feeling gradually grew stronger and I wondered whether I was really taking advantage of the fellowship. But as the year got under way I found that I had no more leisure that I had had during the first three years.

GETTING DIRECTION

Finally I realized that it was up to me to make the most of this opportunity and that I wouldn't just drift into it without any effort. So I took account of the situation and saw for the first time exactly how things stood, and what opportunities I had been letting slip by. I was beginning to realize what President Hutchins of the University of Chicago so ably expresses in an article on "Working Through College." He is speaking of working for money, but of course extra-curricular activities can take up one's time in the same way. "Working deprives a man utterly of leisure, and leisure is the single ingredient of education which can not be dispensed with. Any normal youth can go through the bare routine of collegiate assignments in a very few hours a week, but the very soul of education is in the independent exploration the student does upon his own initiative. There is no education in reading a required passage in Green's History of England; the value of the assignment is only in its enticement to further independent study. The working student, however, has no time for this further independent study; his education becomes a matter of patchwork, hasty memorization, machine-made mental patterns. True education is an absorption from within, slow and fragrant mellowing. But this mellowing takes leisure, and the working student from one end of the semester to the next never learns what leisure is."

So I decided to give up my regular major, keep on with the outside activities, study music and explore in the fields of architecture, painting and sculpture; subjects that I had neglected up to then for those I had considered more important.

I kept on in one course in art last semester after I gave up all other organized class work. It was a seminar course on the "Meaning of Art" and it gave me a general understanding of art in its relation to contemporary civilization and its function in the life of the individual. The course was extremely well handled; it gave me an entirely new point of view and a very good background for my work this semester. It also proved profitable in that it brought me into contact with Professor Packard, with whom, from then on, I did a great deal of work. He possesses the very valuable faculty of being able to stimulate one's interest and make the subject matter seem real and vivid.

With his assistance several of us took up drawing and painting, not with the idea of ever amounting to anything as artists, but in order better to understand what others have done. The work was fascinating. We spent a great deal of time in the new studio in Carpenter and elsewhere, sketching and experimenting in oils. It is unbelievable how such crude attempts can increase one's understanding of paintings.

To guide our efforts, Professor Packard arranged to have Mr. Woodbury, noted Boston painter and teacher, and later Mr. Thomas Benton, exponent of the modern school of painting in New York, come to Hanover to work with us for several days. They both brought examples of their own work which we discussed freely, much to our advantage.

At the same time I was tracing the development of architecture starting with the early Egyptian pyramids. Of course this is a life-time's undertaking, but I was anxious to become familiar with the outstanding characteristics of the different periods. I have kept going at this during the whole year. This last semester, I have taken one course in Painting and Sculpturing and another in Music.

DEVELOPING THE "ARTS"

With this program I have not been tied down to a regular unbending routine, and have been able to spend time on the extra-curricular activities when needed. Of these, I spent most of my time with the Arts, an organization with unlimited possibilities of promoting interest in the various arts among the undergraduates, but one which had dropped into disrepute several years ago as it had come into the hands of a group of light- footed tea drinkers, at least so rumor has it.

However, it was revived last year, and due to the ability and perseverance of this year's board of governors, with whom I had the privilege of working, the Arts came back into its own on campus stronger than ever. Probably the thing from which I derived the most benefit in connection with the Arts, was the contact I had with the outside speakers. The fellowship enabled me to arrange my work so that I could devote myself to the various lecturers during their stay in Hanover. A day or so spent in the company of such men and women as Harry Emerson Fosdick, Thornton Wilder, Bertrand Russell, and Edna St. Vincent Millay are opportunities that few are fortunate enough to have. And it would be hard to estimate the value derived from such contacts. But there is no question that to talk with and hear Carl Sandburg, for instance, recite his poetry, arouses one's interest and appreciation far more than reading and studying his work in class.

The Arts sponsored a poetry contest in order to stimulate interest among the students. We offered prizes for the three best poems and promised to print them along with the thirty next best poems in an Arts poetry anthology for 1930. There were over four hundred poems handed in by some sixty contributors, and the book just recently went to press.

One of Hanover's few weaknesses is the lack of opportunity to hear good music. In an effort to lessen this deficiency the Arts rented an orthophonic victrola, made arrangements with the college for the use of its records, and started a series of weekly recitals open to the college at large. A great deal of interest was shown and the concerts have been well attended. Students have gone even so far as to lend their own records to the Arts, and the room is now being used continually for impromptu concerts.

The Arts also delved into the field of painting. First by giving several exhibitions of excellent reproductions, made by a new German process, of the work of recognized painters which could be purchased for from one to seven dollars apiece. In this we have hoped to encourage fellows to buy worthwhile pictures for their rooms, rather than spend the same amount of money for poor stuff as many of them do. Secondly, the Arts cooperated with Professor Packard in organizing groups for sketching and painting in the studio. A great deal of interest was shown by quite a large number of students and a model was engaged. The work has now spread out and an etching press secured, while some have taken up modelling.

Finally, as in previous years, the Arts continued to sponsor short talks by members of the faculty.

As I mentioned before in Hanover a man studying music, art or drama has a very limited opportunity to hear and see really good things. However, this barrier is broken down by the Fellowships. We, as Fellows, have been able to go to Boston and New York on several occasions to attend the opera or listen to a recital by one of the world famous symphony orchestras; spending the rest of the time visiting museums and galleries. Also several of us attended four of Fritz Lieber's performances of Shakespeare's plays. In this way it has been possible for us to see and hear the best examples of the things we have been studying, thereby giving the work real meaning and greatly enhancing our interest and enthusiasm for it.

WHAT THE FELLOWSHIP GIVES

Now some may wonder why a year spent in this way is more worth while than one spent in the ordinary manner. Every man that graduates from college must work at least eight hours a day, five and a half days a week from next summer on—that is, if he ever wants to amount to anything. And, of course, the really ambitious ones will work for much longer hours than that. However, these men are going to have a little free time on their hands from the first, and as time goes by they will have more and more, until they finally retire. The big question is, to what use will they put this time? Movies, cards, golf and gossip are all very popular forms of diversion but, when carried to an extreme, they have a decidedly narrowing influence on the individual. And by the time he retires there will be little besides his business to hold his interest. What is the cause? Well, while in college he is forced by popular opinion to spend what spare time he has either in extra-curricular activities or in being a good fellow with the boys. And neither of these pursuits—worthy as they may beare very conducive to an intelligent use of leisure. There is no time to pursue or even be seriously interested in any of the fields of Arts. Nor does he have much chance to read by himself. If he takes courses in these subjects, the daily assignments, weekly quizzes, long required readings and exams usually stifle his enthusiasm. At the end of the four years when the last exam is passed, he sells all his books and hopes never to see them again. It is the natural reaction and one really can't blame him.

And here is where the Senior Fellowship renders its greatest service. If a man has proved his worth during the first three years at college, and is going to have to keep his nose to the wheel for twenty or thirty years after he graduates, would it not be of infinite value to him if he could spend his last year at college totally free?

And, if you will again pardon the personal reference, this is exactly what I have had the privilege of doing this year. With the result that my whole attitude toward education has changed. It is no longer the old game of just doing enough work to pass the exams and get good marks. There has been no one to check up by giving me a quiz on pages 315 to 375 inclusive. I have been working for the personal joy and satisfaction derived from it. There are new fields to be explored, past histories to unfold, paintings new and old to see and music to hear.

I don't claim to have sprouted wings or to be any kind of an authority as a result of this year spent as a Senior Fellow. But I have developed a growing enthusiasm and appreciation which will stay with me.

Working hours all over the country are continually being reduced and people are beginning to realize the increasing importance of training themselves how to most profitably and enjoyably spend their leisure. And to my mind colleges in the future will have to lay greater stress on training students how to use this freedom, for it isn't something that can be picked up after graduation.

Thanks to this year as a Senior Fellow, I have discovered the key to the door that opens out into a field of interest totally unrelated to the material side of life. And it is now up to me to unlock this door and explore the ground lying beyond.