Americans -- England -- Oxford; Education -- United States; Education, Higher -- England -- Oxford; University of Oxford
The causes of Harvard's abundant failures and the remedies have been a
fertile theme of discussion. One cause is obvious. The rivals with
distressing frequency have produced better teams. Every one knows that
what Cambridge chooses to call Yale luck is nine parts Yale pluck; and
the quality is well developed at Princeton, Pennsylvania, and
elsewhere. But why is it developed at these places more than at
Harvard? The explanations are legion. The first cry was bad coaching.
This was repeated until the fault was corrected, at least in part,
and until every one was wholly tired of hearing the explanation. Then
came the cry of bad physical training. This in turn was repeated until
it brought partial remedy and total weariness of the agitation. By and
by, all other complaints having been worn threadbare, Harvard's defeat
was attributed to the fog on Soldier's Field. It is not unlikely that
the fog will be dissipated and the athletes duly benefited. Yet it is
far from certain that this will make the athletic body sound.
The fault lies deeper than Yale pluck--or even the fog on Soldier's
Field. It is to be found in the conditions, social, administrative,
and even educational, which are at the basis of the life of the
university. If these conditions were peculiar to Harvard, it would
decidedly not be worth while to discuss them publicly. But they are
inherent in the type of university of which Harvard is the earliest
and most developed example, and are destined to crop out in every
American institution of learning in proportion as it grows, as Harvard
has grown, from the English college of a few decades ago into the
Teutonized university of the present and of the future. In considering
the causes, it is necessary to speak concretely of our one eminent
example; but the main fact brought out will be applicable in greater
or less degree to the present or future of any American college.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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