RELIGION AND COLLEGE

The question of the relation of religion to education in our colleges is now receiving much attention. Four books have recently appeared: Character Building in Colleges by W. A. Harper; The Effective ChristianCollege by Laird T. Hites; Education andReligion by Charles F. Thwing and RobbingYouth of its Religion by James F. Halliday. The first argues for character building in the college; the second queries whether the average American college has ousted religion from its curriculum; while Dr. Thwing presents a number of essays, the one on, "What constitutes a liberal education in the twentieth century" being of special interest.

Robbing Youth of its Religion, while of little constructive value, will no doubt stir up considerable discussion. In autobiographic mood the author proceeds to tell how he was robbed of his religion by one course in his freshman year, and then he waked up to discover that he had also been robbed by his Christian home and by some clergymen whom he had consulted. The home, the church, the college come in for a serious drubbing as robbers of the faith of the modern youth. The worst case however is made out against the college. This is succinctly presented in a quotation from the opening lecture: "You young people pie come here tied to your mother's apron strings. Now, it's my business to knock the pins out from under you and make you swim; and, if you can't swim, then, damn it, you ought to drown." When trying to evaluate the educational policy of deliberately destroying, that something new and of more worth may arise upon the ruins, the experience of this writer will be of value.

Professor Biblical History and Literature.