All of her
early friends predicted a brilliant future for her, but because of the
very consciousness of possessing so many brilliant qualities and of the
fact that she was flattered during all her student life and not obliged
to depend upon herself for anything, she continued to exercise her
strong scholarship faculties only, little dreaming that the neglect to
develop her weaker ones would wreck her usefulness and her happiness.

It is not enough to possess ability. We must be able to use it
effectively, and whatever interferes with its activity to that extent
kills efficiency. There are many people who are very able in most
qualities and yet their real work is seriously injured and often
practically ruined, or they are thrown into the mediocre class, owing
to some weakness or deficiency which might have been entirely remedied
by cultivation and proper training in earlier life.

I know a man of superb ability in nearly every respect who is so timid
and shy that he does not dare push himself forward or put himself in
the position of greatest advantage, does not dare _begin_ things.
Consequently his whole life has been seriously handicapped.

If children could only be taught to develop a positive, creative mind,
it would be of infinitely more value and importance to them than
inheriting a fortune with a non-productive one. Youths should be
taught that the most valuable thing to learn in life next to integrity
is how to build their minds up to the highest possible producing point,
the highest possible state of _creative efficiency_.

The most important part of the education of the future will be to
increase the chances of success in life and lessen the danger of
failure and the wrecking of one's career by building up weak and
deficient faculties, correcting one-sided tendencies, so that the
individual will become more level-headed, better balanced, and have a
more symmetrical mind.

Many students leave school and college knowing a great deal, but
without a bit of improvement in their self-confidence, their initiative
ability. They are just as timid, shy, and self-depreciatory as before
entering.

Now, what advantage is it to send a youth out into the world with a
head full of knowledge but without the confidence or assurance to use
it effectively, or the ability to grapple with life's problems with
that vigor and efficiency which alone can bring success?

It is an unpardonable reflection upon a college which t