in Freshmen Orientation at Indiana Central College, approximately 250 questionnaires were sent out to nearly all the colleges in the United States with attendance between three hundred and twelve hundred students. Replies were received from exactly 150 schools. The form of the questionnaire was as follows: Name of college Do you give an orientation course for freshmen? Yes.. No.. Is it given one .... or two....semesters? Is credit given?.... Yes.... No.... How much?. Does one man give all the lectures?... Or is it coöperative?.. Does course deal with social....academic....religious. vocational....hygienic problems?.... ...... Is the freshman group instructed in one unit.. ...or in groups?...... Do you regard the purpose as inspirational....cultural.... Do you have freshmen register earlier than others? Yes.... No.... How many days?.... What is the purpose, facilitate registration...... more intelligent registration ... .fraternity rush....inculcate college traditions..... practical advice on student affairs?. Do you give intelligence or "placement" tests? Yes...No... A tabulation of the replies reveals the following status of Freshman Orientation courses and Freshman Week in the one hundred and fifty colleges: Number of Orientation courses 73 36 36 19 19 3 2 8 26 44 In one case the answer "yes" was checked for the first question and the remaining ones neglected; and in many cases several questions were unanswered, with the result that the total number of courses given is in excess of the totals in the groups of alternatives. Since credit is indicated by fifty-one schools, it can be assumed that the remaining schools do not give credit. The high number of schools giving quizzes and required readings is significant,-the tendency is not to make "pipe" courses. A few schools indicated aims or content other than those suggested on the questionnaire. Undoubtedly, the rigidity of a printed list of questions prevented any general discussion of aims or devices not mentioned in the questions. A few schools, however, indicated additional data. "Scientific training," "comprehension of social evolution," and "reflective thinking" are some of the aims divulged. Others said that "student guidance," "world survey," "transition from high school to college," "Biblical training," "explorational," "habit forming," "survey of fields of knowledge," were other aims noted on the margin of the questionnaire. These expressed aims, however, are variations only in phraseology, and not in fundamental objectives. Four of the twenty-six schools giving the Orientation Course in groups, indicated that the sex of the students was made the basis of division. From a great many letters received from college deans it appears that another usual basis of division is the effort to maintain groups not in excess of fifty students. A few colleges instead of having a "freshman week," when upper classmen are not in attendance, conduct orientation exercises during the regular registration week. One college has Freshman Convocation weekly; and another entrusts the orientation program to the weekly meetings of the Y. M. C. A. Whether or not much reliance can be placed in intelligence tests, the fact that 112 schools out of the 150 are giving them is proof of the active interest in the problem of freshman testing. It is significant to observe that out of 150 colleges only eleven fail to offer one of the three devices-intelligence tests, freshman orientation, or freshman week. An orientation course was inaugurated at Indiana Central College not for the purpose of adorning the curriculum, nor with the aim of pleasantly diverting the faculty members who would participate, but rather with the object of supplying in convenient, timely, and impressive form a set of notions regarding student life which would supply the student with a point of view with which to confront his problems. The central idea of the course was the belief that the first few weeks of the young freshman is the critical period. If he plunges into study with gusto and good-will, in all probability his stride is set for the entire year; and he will most likely attack his work in the right spirit if he is given the impression that "everybody's doing it." The reiteration by the instructor of the necessity of persistent and purposeful application to studies will usually be sufficient to decide the attitude of the freshman, unless the opposite impression is received from the older students. The idea of a "gentleman's C" should be spared the new student if possible. Therefore, part of the orientation work is to nullify some of the deprecating remarks with which the lofty upper-classmen endeavor to disillusion the artless freshmen. No college administrator permits himself to be deceived into thinking that bald advice proffered to a college student is taken at its full value. The purpose of advice to freshmen is simply to attempt, in a feeble way, to counteract some of the destructive phases of student opinion. The new student must get his ideas somewhere; why not expose him to a few notions originating from the faculty? And there is no time when faculty advice will be more honored than during the first few weeks, before the student becomes too magnificently sophisticated. As a prominent educator once remarked, most of the problems of the campus would be easily conquered if the entire student population of a college would graduate at one time in order to have only new students each year. It is a fact that positive advice only aims at half the difficulty; the major element in the problem is to eliminate the negativing influence of the upper classmen. Once we have developed the technic of influencing the relatively supple freshmen, our attention should be turned to the more untamable upperclassmen. Meanwhile, the injection of the proper toxin into the newcomers is bound to raise the resistance of the college as a whole, for today's freshmen will become the upper-classmen of tomorrow. It is sometimes argued that advice to the present generation of wary youth should be judiciously and inconspicuously sprinkled through the regular school activities. This method is very good and should be employed as extensively as possible, but something more stimulating is necessary. Delicate suggestions will not penetrate student consciousness, bombarded as it is by so many intriguing distractions. A fullfledged course, prominently catalogued and in charge of a well-known faculty member, holds the possibility of impressing the freshman at least with the purport if not the details of its contents. There are two opposite dangers confronting an orientation program. One pitfall consists in such prescription of the regime of the freshman and such assiduous shielding from all the jolts of college life that he becomes too docile and apathetic. On the other hand, there is the danger of causing the freshman to entertain the feeling that all the attention and ballyhoo are only a deserved recognition of His Majesty, the college freshman. This latter state of affairs would inevitably constrain the sophomores to unthrone the upstart at considerable cost of campus tranquility. Either one of these false impressions should be avoided. Tractibility without apathy, and self-confidence without braggadocia is the golden mean. It is not asking too much for such a course to justify its raison d'etre; and after only a brief experience with the project there is a general agreement among the faculty of Indiana Central College that the morale of the Freshmen has been raised, better school work is being presented, and a more legitimate college spirit demonstrated. It is an open question |