If you were to design a college for the youth of America, what would be its essential characteristics? This in substance is the question which was asked many individuals by the sponsors of Goddard College which is to open its doors in the little village of Plainfield in the Green Mountains of Vermont next September.

From the replies to this question there seemed to emerge the general pattern which is outlined in this article. Prominent educators will further discuss the educational needs of college youth Friday and Saturday at Plainfield.

Common sense and sound psychological principles demand that a college be dedicated to the task of educating its students for a living. Moreover, common sense tells us that the way to educate for life is to think of education as a process that begins and ends with life and to act accordingly.

From this it follows that the best kind of education for the life of tomorrow is living wisely today. Certainly, when the choice of leadership for tomorrow's issues arises, most of us are prone to place our confidence in those who meet today's issues sanely.

Accordingly, the starting point in the Goddard plan is life itself. It is intended that the young people who study at the college shall have an opportunity to become acquainted with many of the problems that are now current in normal living.

This does not mean that the wisdom of the past will be neglected; it means simply that instead of attempting to shield the student from the disturbing issues of modern life for the duration of his college experience by applying a protective coating of academic learning, he will be encouraged to examine our cultural heritage for the guidance it may yield in the solution of the problem that perplex his own society.

If the life of the college community is to be normal, it must include among its students, as well as among the faculty, men and women. Therefore, Goddard is to be co-educational. A comparison of the marriage and divorce records of existing co-educational colleges with those of men's colleges and women's colleges seems to indicate that where normal social relationships exist during the college years successful marriages are more likely to ensue.

In planning an education for a living, the study of a vocation is likely to be regarded somewhat differently than if the chief purpose of the institution is to train for earning a living. The latter is not to be overlooked, but the emphasis needs to be shifted from the acquisition of skills and techniques to utilizing one's skills in living the good life.

Perhaps one of the first requisites of the good stenographer is mastery of the English language and a close second is skill with the typewriter. But if American life is to fulfill its promise, our stenographers, as well as our engineers, our doctors, our teachers, our mechanics, and our lawyers, must be more than technicians.

They must know how to live. They must find joy in their work. They must know how to use their leisure. They must develop appreciations for the arts. They must be religious. They must become devoted to the ideals of American life. They must develop sound philosophies. They must regard their vocations as parts of living and not ends in themselves.

Therefore, an essential feature of the Goddard plan is the recognition of the oneness of the cultural and the vocational.

Doubtless most persons who are familiar with campus life in American colleges will agree that there is an unfortunate separation of college and community. Some of our educators refer to teaching as a sheltered profession. The academic person is frequently regarded as highly impractical and the college graduate is sometimes astonished, as he takes up his first job, to forget all that he learned in college. The atmosphere of the classroom is far removed from the life of the factory, the office, the market place, and the farm.

Yet, if we are to educate for living in this world, we must live in this world as we are educated. So, again, common sense tells ust that the college should regard the community as a laboratory in which real persons live. The students should go into the community, become familiar with its problems, know the people, and become part of the community with a genuine desire to aid in its continuous improvement.

The college should become a center for certain phases of community life, a place to which citizens will come for enjoyment and information. By adopting this policy it is hoped that Goddard College will avoid becoming an academic cloister.

During the past few years some of the more progressive colleges have been reviving a feature that is said to have characterized some of the medeival universities. That is, participation of students in the management of the institution. The sponsors of Goddard believe this practice to be sound.

The operation of a college involves many functions and raises many problems. To reserve the performance of these functions and the solution of these problems to a salaried staff may make it easier to run the institution, but it deprives the students of excellent opportunities for becoming educated in living. The college is a community and a business enterprise with all the problems incidental to both - ecomony, personnel relationships, government, fixing of responsibilities.

If the students share in its administration and maintenance, they will be dealing with real issues that will demand the use of creative minds and restless hands thus offsetting to a degree the unfortunate tendency in American life to deny youth opportunities for assuming adult responsibilities.

It should also be observed that if every student does his share of the actual work of running the college, the charges for tuition and board and room can be kept at a lower figure than would otherwise be possible. Hence, every student at Goddard will be expected to participate in doing some of the manual work needed to maintain the college.

That more and more adult education is an imperative for America no longer requires argument. The question is:

"How and where shall it be provided?"

The sponsors of Goddard College believe that the colleges should take an important part in providing opportunities for adults to continue their educational activities. Therefore, it is proposed that this new Vermont college set aside at least one month during the Winter when adults may live at the college to pursue such studies as may seem to them desirable.

It is also proposed that the college serve throughout the year as a center for the formation of informal study groups among the near-by communities. Such a program should, of course, be a valuable aid in bringing about greater cooperation between colleges and community.

One other feature of the Goddard plan is its physical education and athletics program. From the outset intercollegiate athletic contests of the usual type are discouraged. In their place the activities which appeal to and are possible for normal men and women after leaving college will be emphasized.

Goddard's location on a 250-acre estate in one of the great recreation areas of the East will make it easily possible for its students to enjoy such sports as horseback riding, hiking, bicycling, camping, fishing, gold, tennis, skiing and skating. Thus the recreational program will contribute to the whole scheme of education for living.