In the lobby of a hotel, just previous to a banquet of an honorary fraternity, a group of students as they assembled idly discussed "shop". Typical phrases heared at random were: "Why, I haven't cracked that book this semester", "Wasn't that a good line of bunk that I handed out this morning in class, and I got by with it too". "Yes, I set my apparatus up at home, and you know, the resulted checked absolutely". Such remarks can be heard in any student group at any time. What do they mean? Simply this, that the average college student is cutting the corners, is getting by and is dodging responsibility. Is this condition a wholesome one?

Ethically, the proposition is all wrong. The man who is able to slide by in class, and knows that he is not doing the expected work, tends to form such a habit. This habit will grow and take in greater and more important things. Most men who do this thing know that it is wrong but their ethical standards are abstract, not a part of everyday life. They are to be dragged out and burnished occasionally but never used.

Many things can be cited, however, to condone this failing. A stock expression of faculty members is this, "Student activities are at least 50 percent of a college education if not more". But do they give 50 percent consideration for such work? A student who had committed the hideous offense of nodding in class was ordered by the broad-mined instructor to explain. When told that in was due to outside work the instructor replied. "Well, if you cannot carry that and stay awake in class, drop the activities". They lack the courage of their convictions, to say the least. A student is justified in cutting the corners in such a case. --Purdue Exponent.