In essence, the secondary and tertiary academic establishments impose a double life on the students that enter them. One life is defined by the so-called “serious purpose” of the higher education: the course of study, the examination, the diplomas, the degrees. The other life is defined by the psychological traits, the wants and the frustrations of young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-four. One life is the life of the classroom. The other life is the life of the fraternity or the sorority, the club, the prom, the press, class-politics, “contacts” and all the rest, including the “bull sessions.” To these, curriculum and professor are mostly irrelevant; president and dean affect them only as policemen affect corner gangs. Yet these are what is meant by “college life.” In a word, the correlation between the “serious purpose” of the academic establishment and the ruling passion of the youthful psyche is negative. “College life” and “serious purpose” of schools and colleges are in conflict. Thus, authorities in secondary schools find obscene notes being passed; notice masturbation, spy out chanceful or organized petting parties; point to unnecessary noises, desultory killing of time, smart-aleckism, and especially to cheating. They make elaborate studies of disciplinary situations and talk about bad home conditions, natural meanness, and the like. But they ignore the fact that they are themselves passing judgment on situations in which they are active parties. How can the manifestations of the overruling sex-urge be anything but illicit, when school life is overtly organized as if sex were either evil or non-existent? To whom are unnecessary noises unnecessary? What else can one do with time but kill it desultorily, when one’s ruling passions are ignored and one is required to pay attention to matters one’s heart cannot possibly be in? As for smart-aleckism and cheating--are not those who succeed therein heroes in the eyes of their peers? Do they not overcome an enemy and put him in his place? VII