Six Scribulus THE VALUE OF EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES by Nevin Richards During the last century and a half, the general attitude toward college has changed considerably. The senior academic institution was once looked upon as one of man's sanctuaries from the cares of ordinary life. When a man went away to college one hundred and fifty years ago, he forgot his every-day cares and problems, and for four years he lived in a quiet, peaceful world, studying literature, the arts, and the finer phases of life. Higher educational circles were known as retreats where a man could live in seclusion from the common current of life and in harmony with himself and his friends. But because of the demands arising from more advanced standards of living, the college of today offers a startlingly different picture. Today most of us are inclined to regard the once revered institution as a playground where rich men's sons waste their time and money running around in roadsters and cheering at football games, a sweatshop in Which poor men's sons waste their time and health hanging over their books all day and all night learning how to make money, a place where semi-professional strong men waste their time pushing each other around a football field. Of course this is not an accurate picture of true college life, but, nevertheless, the idea generally entertained is that the college has become cheapened in a sense, even though, to a great extent, it has only followed the trend of the times. Still, in the midst of the development of commercial, athletic, and practical education, these higher schools have retained a large part of their orginal purpose, and have also increased their usefulness in other lines. When a young person attends college today, even though it be for the express purpose of obtaining a practical education, he can at the same time learn to enrich his life considerably. A student of the modern college, if he accept the opportunities offered him, can pave the way toward greater enjoyment of life, as surely and as firmly as the student of the old unversity. The method to follow in getting the most out of life is to balance properly the activities of life. The values of such balance are numerous. The proper balance of a variety makes for interest. To substantiate this statement we need only glance at the effect of occupation, as occupation forms a major part of life. A person who has a daily routine job has practically no interest in his work. When one must stand for hours and perform the same trifling task all day, such as placing one bolt in automobile engines, or fastening the same type of tag to hundreds of shirts or other articles of clothing, there can be no interest present. The work resolves itself into a steady humdrum of monotony, a trying sameness that should be finished as soon as possible. In contrast to this type of work, examine that done by a traveling agent, a school teacher, a doctor, any one of which offers an opportunity for meeting people and new situations. The work is filled with new, exciting problems. There seems such a great number of different interests that the work is constantly filled with change and adventure. So it is with life. When a variety of interests are contained in life, the mind and body are continually refreshed and Scribulus Seven strengthened. There is no better way to make life interesting than to keep it filled with a variety of activities. This balance of different activities also has another very great effect upon life. It tends to produce understanding. The men and women who are noted for their ability to understand humanity are those whose lives are brim-full of experiences covering a wide range of human thought and action. The person whose life has been devoted to one and only one interest and purpose lives a narrow, selfish life, with scarcely any tendency toward human friendliness and compatibility for its own sake. He never realizes the feeling of human unity that can come from an understanding mind and heart. Such an understanding, such an insight into human lives, is gained through varied activities and experiences. A varied course has another point of merit in that it tends to produce positive characteristics. That is, it develops one from every angle and thus helps to bring out the aggressiveness and the decisiveness that are necessary for success. It develops a degree of efficiency in many lines which imparts confidence, another element of success. Then, since a variety of activities and their proper balance are to be sought, what greater mission could a college fulfill than to teach its pupils how to find that balance? Such an accomplishment would affect the happiness of the entire life of the student. If the modern college can do this one thing, then surely it justifies the change that it has made, and surely it surpasses its predecessor, which relied too much on a few activities. But, can the colleges of today accomplish this end? They can! Even a very brief survey will show that policies necessary for this purpose are already in existence. The opportunities may be found in the program of extra-curricular activities offered by all standard colleges and universities. These activities cover, in some Way or other, practically all of the phases of life. Participation in these activities is a very good way to secure the benefits named above. Now, since it can be seen that great benefits result from participation in extra-curricular activities, the next step is to determine how one can most intelligently engage in them to derive the maximum good therefrom. The first thing is to discover, if possible, those fields in which one is best adapted. One should try to discover one's own talents or the thing he likes most and is most proficient in. Participation in the activities one is best fitted for and most affects will result in a great deal of pleasure and add interest in life. Engaging in pursuits one likes will make for enjoyment and self-confidence. It may also point the way toward specialization in some particular phase of activity. But the most important thing to determine is the type of development that one needs most, If one does not pay attention to his most necessary requirements, his development will tend to be one sided, resulting in narrowness and a lack of understanding. So, if one's life has been spent largely in one field of activity, the wise thing to do is to branch out into work of a different nature. For instance, if one has been active in athletics and in athletics only. In the field of extra activities, his needs lie in the field of the intellectual or the spiritual. He should, then, direct his efforts towards the field of drama, or of music, or of speech. If, on the other hand, one's life has been largely concerned with intellectual pursuits, he should "go out" for activities in the athletic line, such as basketball, football, tennis, swimming, boxing. Also, one might enter more freely into social contacts in order to learn better the art of compatible living. continued on page Ten