PAGE TWELVE
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 1925
University Life- ussian
Philosophy-Broadly Speaking
Behind the Scenes in Russian Dormitories-Where One Bed Does A Campus Pessimist Airs His Views on Life et al.
For Three and the Price of a Book is 10,000,000 Rubles ing to Contribute Further if Desired
Will Be Will-
Life is too short .to make action
worth while. If man attempts the ac-
quisition of power, if he drives his
creative ability to the attainment of
ponderous realities-he is old, old be-
fore he canpartake of the fruits of
his labor. Man dies and those who
follow close in line are not permitted
happiness from their inheritance, for
with the passage .of time, pari passu
with the increasing complexity of life,
I
To be a student in Russia in thisv
fifth year of the Soviet takes qualitiesi
which few of our college students
could muster. First-a student musth
have vision-the vision of a Russia-
to-be, and the part he is to play in itsg
reconstruction; next he must have de- r
termintion-to finish at all cost--
stick to it though starvation or
disease may get him; courage to meett
the obstacles in his path, and a desiret
for knowledge which learns in spite ofa
lack of most of the instruments of I
education. He should have humor,
and the cartoons produced by Rus-
sian students show that at least some
of the students have this best of all
gifts. At the time the student reliefl
committee was picking out the luckyt
though needy students to go to the
American kitchens, it was reported
that one student said to a friend,
"You have a suit and I have an over-
coat; now if we can only find a third
man with a pair of shoes we'll be all
right."
An American turned loose in a Rus-
sion university is at loss because oft
the difference in definition of terms.-
They use many of our words-fac-
ulties, courses, clinics, etc., but they
mean something quite different. The
university as a whole is composed of
four parts which they designate as
Faculties, Physico-Mathematical Med-
ical, Juridical, and Historico-Philogi-
ca. "Courses" mean year or class
and have nothing to do with subjects
and clinics are the practical and ex-
perimental laboratories for medical
students at different hospitals.
As in other continental universities
the system :is quite different from
ours. There are lectures, reference
reading, research work and confer-
ence with professors, but as long as a
student passes his examination it
doesn't matter whether he ever at-
tends a class or not. This is a for-
tunate for the Russian student at
the present-time, for he needs as
much free time as possible to earn his
bread and ro'ni, and if he can find
work for the day and find books and
a place to study- during the night, he
thinks himself fortunate indeed. Med-
ical and engineering students are less
favored in this respect, as their
studies are of necessity in labora-
tories 'and workshops and there is
little time to either earn of prepare
food.
Let's take a few snapshots of Rus-
sian university life as it is today.
First, we must find a good interpreter
and good interpreters are scarcer than
hen's teeth. You may find some one
who knows Russian perfectly and
English perfectly, but who has ideas
of his, own and uses them, or you
find one who is a machine and trans-
lates so literally that neither you
nor the other man gets any idea of
what you really mean-and woe to
the seardher after truth with either
of these two : kinds of assistants.
Then there is the man or oman who
is sympathetic with both sides, 'stick-
ing closely to 'what is said and yet
getting across not only the sense but
the spirit.
We visit a Rector of two. Rectors
are the presidents of the institutions
and were formerly of great dignity.
Now we find one remaining from the
old days-crowded into two rooms of
his former large, comfortable apart-
ment, surrounded by books, old- mas-
ters, pianos, trunks, baskets, beds,
family and grandchildren trying to
carry on the infinite details of an
executive. He has, no personal com-
plaint, only the bitter ,cry of the man
who has given his life to building up
a great work and sees it going to
pieces from lack of equipment and re-
pair. Here is a Rector of the new
order, deeply sensible of his respon-
sibility and sincerely trying to make
of the institution under his care a
a broad, democratic force for good in
the country, but not knowing quite
how to go about it.
Next we run into the apartment of!
a professor of electrical engineering.
He lives with his wife, daughter-in-
law and two grandchildren in two
rooms of a four-room apartment,
sharing with the other occupants of
the apartment one of his two 'rooms
for a dining room. This white-haired
man, formerly a general and a pro-
fessor in a Petrograd university, con-
siders himself fortunate because he is
still able to feed his family-and so
it goes--the old professors carrying
on to pass over to the next genera-
tion all they know of science and
truth.
But let's go on with our snapshot-
ting. Here is a student dormitory-
one of the best. When we asked to
see how the students live the reply
was, "Will you see the best, the med-
ium or the worst," and not being in
any way mean, we answered, "Some
of each, please."
The "best" had been in the old days
quite good. It had been built as one
of the several buildings around the
court for the use of the students of'
the Medical school. It contained a
variety (how many of other varieties several occasions we did see a stu- (Editor's Note:'
it would be hard to say). dent wielding a broom. And yet in sertation, entitled1
The kitchen and the dining-room every room there were big tables in Vivamus," came to
were closed, each individual getting the best light; books tattered though accompanied by' a
his or her meals on a one-burner they might be, T squares, triangles, that the writer wo
lin t v h nrOininowihCi t nstruments and draftis showing I in L, iJia
gasoline stove or snaring Wi o ners , ucac uJ~~
not so fortunate as to own one of that ne reason for this slipshod life
these, the big bitchen stove which waslthe fact of more serious things ofr
whic otik
was heated once a day. Some of this hich to think.,s
cooking we saw going on. A big mAnd so it went, the "worst" places
tiled stove, once white, was sur- hseemed to us only a little worse than
rounded by ten or a dozen young men the best, and yet the students in all
and women, each watching a little these holes ant hovels are lucky.
kette. omeof heseketleswerofI rihe unfortunate ones are those that
kettle. Some of these kettles were of live for months in railroad stations,
clay, some of chipped enamel ware, Iwho move from one friend's room to
but they were all alike in being ,womv rmoefin' omt
and thwa land fedanother so as not to wear out their
small, blackened and old and filled welcome and who live in stables as
with about the same ingredients-a one young student did. There was,
large quantity of water, a small quan- however, a note of pride in his voice
tity of cabbage, a potato or two, that's when he told us he had found a va-
all. This is- called soup and with cant stall formerly occupied by a goat
black bread makes a student's chief which he now called his home. Two"
meal. His other meal or meals con- girls early last fall were snugly fixed
sist of tea and black bread, with now in a room, only to find it had been as-
and then a dried herring or slice of signed to other students, "But," said
bologna. they, "possession in Russia is quite
in print, andathat,
cation call forth
ment", he (or she)
with other articles
The last paragraph
to form a good im
piece.)
"-Education as
versity training c
to rise in an indiv
versity advance
counteract them?
The following dis-
by its author "Our
our hands by mail, I
note which stated
uld enjoy seeing it
, should its publi-
"considerable com-
would follow it up
of similar nature.
h of the note seems
ntroduction for the
presented by Uni-
auses these doubts
vidual-Does a Uni-
a single thing to
I have wondered
the power of a will other than his his soul could pass. Man believed his man is robbed of the fullness of his
own, and man goes out of the world soul to be something intangible and heritage by that very increase of com-
against his will. Man comes and goes as a consequence was morose, melan- p exity.
as the toy and plaything of Fate- choly and possessed with a desire to The optimist says, "though life be
how then can man's life be other than live his earthly life for every second sad, there is joysin living it." Whence
II 'comes this joy and when? The
one of constant pessimism and un- I it existed. "Eat, drink, and be merry, thought is beautiful and peace giving,
rest? for tomorrow we die" became man's but its actuality is questionable.
It is said that God made man in his byword. That was the philosophy of When, man's life is dull aid sad,
own 'image, gave him life and invest- the Middle Ages-today man }tries to there is no joy. Pessimism is real, it
ed within him the germ of knowledge. falsify himself into believing that he dominates the soul, it is meditation.
Around this bit of knowledge he dif- is entirely happy and content. He It is the pessimist who realizes the
fused philosophy-the phlosophy of feels certain that the end of the world narrowness and gaudiness of his sur-
despair, of death and of pessimism. shall never come and from such an roundings, the sheerness of earthly
God's first man had all the traces of idea concludes that he is a supreme life and the hopelessness of all be-
pessimistic philosophy, but as yet they being-supreme because he is positive yond. Man's philosophy of despair is
were ungerminated, undeveloped and that he possesses the greater philoso- not a condition of his liver, it is a
lay dormant in the innermost recess- 4 phy of life. Poor idiot that he is, man strip out of the life line that en-
es of man's being. Then came wo- fools himself, for always death and circles his mental being. Always will
man, and accompanying her chaos, the worms get him in the end. man wonder "What shall it profit" or
death and the unfathomed beyond. Life is action and action is impossi- "to what end shall it be good?" It
Man's philosophy grew, paralleled by ble if devoid of motive or hope. Beyond is his philosophy of despair; man is
his knowledge, and with this new man's earthly existence there is not a dog at the table of Fate and he
philsophy there sprang up in his soul action. Oblivion, peace, immobility cannot help but visualize hi-> realities
the feeling of hopelessness and a fear and rest, all these are said to come from the crumbs upon the table cloth
h k T him th nftor ld t t dit th_
By Renle Regnitte
Man comes into this world underj
will surely come again such giants of,
thought.
(Copyrighted 1924 by Student Life,
in Foreign Countries.)
. of- - o te t uut o. rte unknown. ro nm, came ne a~t
The wealth of a student is gauged ten-tenths of the law, so we will sit ,realization that beyond his earthly aft
by the number of potatoes helis able quiet and never leave the room un- Don't delay-Pay your Subscription 'life there was nothing-beyond was mo
to bring from home in the fall and' guarded." Several weeks passed andthgraunow aditohsolyo
we saw in a corner of one of the men's J they thought the danger over, so they today.
dormitories one of these plutocrats. went out together one night to buy
He lay on his back with his head on a some supplies too heavy for one to
bag of potatoes, studying from a medi- carry. When they returned they found I
cal text-book and covered by a blan- their belongings in the hall and the =
ket. 'There," said our guide, "is our door fastened with a new lock. About
richest student, thoughlie hasn't even the time we were being told this in-I
a bed to lie on." Our trip was made cident our visit to the dormitories !unday E v eng g
in June, a wonderful day for taking finished in a rout. We were standing -E
pictures, but also a difficult day to in quite a group of students all talk-
picture oneself what these 'same ing at once about how they had pro-
rooms would look like and smell like cured the building, old and dilapidat--
in January when the windows had ed, and had put it to rights, when ab-nhedr
been sealed for months and the tem- clear voice asked: "Are American
perature had been near the freezing 'students just like Russian students?" Get the bunch he and
point. "Alas!" said one of these Glancing hastily around the shabby =together
boys, "we can't use in-k in winter, for place, but seeing only the green cam- have real steak andc din-
it is always frozen." pus, immaculate buildings and cozy =n chop
Our next stop was in a "medium" roores of our Alma Maters, we fled,
dormitory. This was a huge building pretending not to comprehend. ner at
which had 'been nearing completion I Still they come, they stay and most
as a hospital before the war and had of them conquer-unless themselves;=
been left for the last eight years as it ,conquered by the relentless tubercu-
was, without windows, stairs, lighting losis, or some other disease which =-^
or plumbing.. The , students them- thrives on such conditions. A woman
selves had wired it and "plumbed" it medical student in her last year was
and put in windows here and there, taken last year to the hospital with
boarding'up the other openings. It a mind deranged because of overwork
was habitable, but that is all one and lack of food. Many of the stu-
could say for it. Here we saw a room dents work from 10 to 4, go to classes ,
big enough for one occupied by three; from 5 to 3, and study late into the = Across from D. U. It. Depot
one had a bed, but the other two night. Is it any wonder that they are
slept on the floor-this was con- victims of tuberculosis, heart or men-
venient because it made more room. tal disorders? T'hree girls sew 41
The, owner of the bed flourished a: hours a day to earn the privilege of
tattered book before us and triumph- sleeping in a corner of a room and I
antly told us that he had just bought then go to class after 5 P. M. and sev- e've been ser g e besorears
it for 10,000,000 roubles ($2.50 at that eral men have found positiohis as itight
time) and now twenty of them could watchmen, which leaves them free to =
pass their examinations.- In this attend classes by day.II
same building we also found four Out of the stuff of these Russian
girls living so huddled together that students have come Dostoevsky, Tols-
to open the door it was necessary to toy, Tchaikowsky, Mendeley, Mechni-
move the bed. As a whole the women kov, and Jonkovsky, writers, musi-
students' ;ooms showed signs of care cians, and scientists; and out of the
and thought, while those of the men determination and the difficult search
seemed simply lived in, though on for knowledge of to-day's students
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er ueac and o ominae e e soul of his life.
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