early years has reference to immediate ends: as appreciation of the claims of other persons intensifies in adolescence, all pursuits can be interrogated from the standpoint of their consequences. The individual and his group can be recognized to be players in a complicated drama.
Without venturing dogmatic judgments, a few considerations to be taken into account may be outlined. If we adhere to the principles underlying American democracy, it may be asserted that in a progressive society every institution must demonstrate its right to continue by its fruits; that, on the whole, the claims of the community within which a group exists is superior to the corporate demands of the smaller group. The fraternity is one outlet of natural desires for companionship; it expresses the tendency of the like-minded to unite for forwarding their purposes: but whether the fraternity is a help or a drag is to be determined according to the same standards which decide the right to persist of any other group—family, school or political party. The queries to put-to it are: Is the group open to others who are fit? Is the basis for selecting members a worthy one? Does this purpose conduce to petty rivalry or to catholicity? Is there a rule of custom which can not be reconciled with the function and public opinion of the whole school? After long experience with the workings of fraternities and sororities in secondary schools, Dr. Owen writes:
The specific means of attaining the "controlled development of social power" comprise all those reorganizations of outlook, method, curriculum and "uses of the school plant" which have engaged the attention of educators in recent years. In spite of considerable consensus of judgment regarding the relation of school to society, much remains to be accomplished. After years of discussion it is still pertinent to state that the work of making the secondary school a genuine
- ↑ W. B. Owen, "Social Education through the School," The School Review, Vol. 15, pp. 23-24.