Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 July 1885 — Concerning Oratorical Contests. [ARTICLE]

Concerning Oratorical Contests.

We believe .that the abolition of the oratorical contests should be taken into serious consideration. If there are reasons for i and against them, let us hear them. The whole university is interested. What are their benefits? Does any college escape trouble over its primary contest? Do they engender envy, enmity, and hate? Do they develop character and manhood? Is there any gain in scholarship? What kind of men do they develop? Do they produce orators and thinkers? •Has a diligent student, a clear writer an intelligent reader, a man of broad thought and ideas, equal chances against a mere declaimer ?» What do these orators amount to after they get out of college? Is there any good education training in the whole business ? If a man steals a speech and takes the contest, is it all right and is he a hero? We are not expressing an opinion; we are simply asking questions which we think are pertineiU. Those who Cire interested ought £0 answer,—Bloomington Progress.