,ncU NOV ISb i \ 0imion.„L- /^ fi> K, h Section..^P.^(5'4 No BY THE SAME AUTHOR. THE HUMAN INTELLECT. With an Introduction upon Psychology and the Human Soul. One vol. 8vo $5 oo ELEMENTS OF INTELLECTUAL PHI- LOSOPHY. A Manual for Schools and Colleges. Abridged from "The Human Intellect." One vol. crown 8vo, nearly 600 pages, cloth $3 00 BOOKS AND READING. One vol. crown 8vo. half calf, $4 50 ; cloth $2 00 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. (new edition.) WITH AFTER-THOUGHTS ON COLLEGE AND SCHOOL EDUCATION, NOAH PORTER, D.D., LL.D., PRESIDENT OF YALE COLLEGE. "It is not necessary that this should be a school of three hundred OR ONE HUNDRED OR FIFTY BOYS, BUT IT IS NECESSARY THAT IT SHOULD BE A SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN GENTLEMEN."— Z?r. T/tomas Arnold, of Rugby. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 743 AND 745 Kroadway, Copyright by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, ' 1878. Trow's Printing & Bookbinding Co. 205-213 Kast \iih St., NEW YORK. TO THEODORE D. WOOLSEY, D.D., LL.D., President of Yale College, A SINCERE FRIEND OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS, AS WELL AS OF ALL TRUTH AND GOODNESS, THESE PAPERS ARE INSCRIBED, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The first large edition of this work having been ex- hausted for several years, a second is now submitted to the American Public, with the addition of several papers on subjects that are nearly related to the topics already discussed. The writer trusts that it will be remembered that not one of the essays in the volume is exhaustive of its theme, and that the suggestions which they contain are expressed very frankly, with the expectation that they will not receive the assent of many who read them. The interests involved, however, are too important to allow the concealment of opinions which concern some of the most important interests of the community. N. P. Yale College, September ^ 1878. CONTENTS. I. Historical and Introductory, . . . • 9 II. The Studies of the American Colleges, . 39 III. The Prescribed Curriculum, .... 92 IV. Text Books and Lectures, . . . . 119 V. The Enforcement of Fidelity, . . . .134 VI. The Evils of the College System and their Remedies, ^4^ VII. The Common Life of the College, . . 165 VIII. The Dormitory System, 184 IX. The Class System 191 X. Laws and Supervision, 198 XL The Religious Character of Colleges, . 206 XIL The Guardianship and Control of the College, 238 XIIL The Relation of Colleges to one another, 250 XIV. The Relation of Colleges to Schools of Science, 259 XV. Educational Progress and Reform, . . 271 ADDITIONAL PAPERS. I. Preparatory Schools for College and Univer- sity Life, ^^3 Vlii CONTENTS. II. The Class System in Colleges 315 III, Classical Study and Instruction, .... 337 IV. Morals and Manners of Colleges and Universi- ties, 363 V. The Ideal American University, .... 381 VI. Co-Education of the Sexes, .... 397 Books and Pamphlets Referred to, . . . 405 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. HISTORICAL AND INTRODUCTORY. The American Colleges have of late been somewhat formally challenged by what is called the American Public^ to appear before its tribunal, and to give a sat- isfactory explanation and defense of their system of discipline and study, on penalty of being either con- demned or "suffering a default." The challenge has been repeated too often, and from too many quarters, to be wholly neglected, however confident the friends and defenders of the college system may be of the goodness of their cause. It should be remembered, however, that the present is not the only time when this system has been seriously called in question, or when important changes have been proposed in order to bring it into nearer con- formity with the so-called spirit of the times, the alleged wants of educated men themselves, and the demands of what was termed public opinion. In August, 1826, a detailed report was presented to the Board of Trustees of Amherst College proposing lO THE AMERICAN COLLEGES very important modifications of its course of study. This provided, among other features, for the addition to the " present classical and scientific four years' course," of " a new course equally thorough and ele- vated with this, but distinguished from it by a more modern and national aspect, and by a better adapt- ation to the taste and future pursuits of a large class of young men, who aspire to the advantages of a lib- eral education." It also provided for "a department devoted to the science and art of teaching ; but more especially, at first, to the education of schoolmasters," and also for " a department of theoretical and prac- tical mechanics." The proposed course, which was to be equally thorough and elevated with the old, was to be distinguished by the following features, viz., the greater prominence given to English literature ; the substitution of French and Spanish, and eventually of German and Italian, for Greek and Latin ; the study of Practical Mechanics ; greater attention to Chemis- try, Natural History, to " Modern History, especially the History of the Puritans," and to " Civil and Political law, embracing the careful study of American Consti- tutions." To these might be added " Drawing and Civil Engineering." Ancient History, Geography, Grammar, Rhetoric and Oratory, Mathematics, Physics, Intellect- ual and Moral Philosophy, Anatomy, Political Econ- omy, and Theology, were retained in both courses. In conformity with this plan, the studies for this parallel course were assigned to the several terms of the four years' course, text-books were selected, and it was con- fidently expected that many who aspired to the degree of B. A. would prefer the studies which were believed to AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. II be SO much better suited to modern ideas. The reasons for substituting the modern languages for the ancient^ and for giving a wider range to certain other studies, were urged with great earnestness by the authors of the plan, and they are ver}^ nearly like those which we find in the many publications which have been issued within the last few years advocating a reform of the college system. The views expressed m the Report presented to the Trustees of Amherst College in 1826, and those in the Report of the Committee on Organization presented to the Trustees of the Cornell University in 1866, are strikingly alike. Both reports assert, in strong language, that dissatisfaction prevails extensively with the college system as then and now conducted. Both insist,. with assured positiveness, that more valuable results can be attained by providing parallel and special courses of study. The principal differences are, that the Cornell report in its second general course substitutes German for Greek, and in its third, French and German for Latin and Greek, and that it also provides most liber- ally, and in a very sanguine and hopeful spirit, for op- tional and special courses, and for a large corps of special and non-resident lecturers. The scheme pro- posed at Amherst never went any further than to be printed in one or two annual catalogues, with the names of a few special students. No person, so far as we are informed, ever received the Bachelor's degree on the modern course of study. In 1827, Hon. Noyes Darling, a member of the Cor- poration of Yale College, introduced a resolution that a committee be appointed " to inquire into the expedi- ency of so altering the regular course of instruction in 12 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES this college, as to leave out of said course the study of the dead languages^ substituting other studies therefor, and either requiring a competent knowledge of said languages as a condition of admittance into the college, or providing instruction in the same for such as shall choose to study them after admittance, and that the said committee be requested to report at the next an- nual meeting of this corporation." In 1828 the com- mittee made their report, and included " in it two elab- orate papers written by President Day and Professor Kingsley," one containing a summary view of the plan of education in the college ; the other " an inquiry into the expediency of insisting on the study of the ancient languages." In the year 1825 a resolution was adopted by tlie governing boards of Harvard College, in the words : " The University is open tp persons who are not candi- dates for a degree, and desire to study in particular de- partments only." This scheme was adopted, says Pres- ident Quincy, " with great expectations, but, as the event proved, without any important success. During these sixteen years, only eighteen students have joined the college under this permission." After the failure of this experiment, the elective system was introduced in 1841, with expectations equally confident. In principle it is not strikingly diverse from that which has been re- cently adopted. President Quincy wrote a very able and earnest pamphlet in its vindication — not less able in its argument than the very brief statement of reasons in President Eliot's Inaugural, in which he asserts with a slightly emphatic positiveness, " the college therefore proposes to persevere in its efforts to establish, improve, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 13 and extend the elective system." The first system was in the most of its features singularly like the one re- cently provided. In two or three particulars it was less objectionable ; in others, it was more so. It enforced a prescribed curriculum till the end of Freshman year. It then allowed an entire discontinuance of the study of Greek and Latin, with the choice of substitutes in one or more of the following branches : " Natural His- tory ; Civil History ; Chemistry ; Geography and the use of globes ; Popular Astronomy ; Modern Langua- ges ; Modern Oriental Literature, or studies in either Greek or Latin which may not have been discontinued, in addition to the prescribed course in such branch." The Rules of the Faculty prescribing the details of the plan correspond very nearly to those now enforced, and need not be given at length. The scheme was by no means universally acceptable, either to the friends or the Faculty of the college. It was ably criticised in an article in the North American Review for January, 1842, which concludes as follows: " The experience of one or two years will probably show how groundless was the expectation, on which the authors of this sys- tem have acted, that a large body of students would be attracted to Cambridge by such a free and conciliatory proposal. Then, if not before, we hope they will be willing to retrace their steps and to stake the reputation of Harvard College, not on the numbers enrolled in its catalogue, but on the extent, accuracy and thorough- ness of the education obtained within its walls." This prophecy was speedily fulfilled. The elective system of 1841 was very soon abandoned, and the col- lege feil back to its old and approved ways of a fixed, uniform, and classical curriculum. 14 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES In 1829 the University of Vermont proposed some important changes which at that time were novelties. It endeavored to shake off tlie restrictions of the class system by exacting an examination upon each author and study, as a condition of being allowed to pass to the next, and it permitted students to pursue single studies or courses of study in any department of knowl- edge ; restricting, however, the first degree of the col- lege to those students who should thoroughly master its classical and mathematical course. The report of Pres- ident Marsh insisted with great emphasis, that to give this degree to any others would be a breach of courtesy and good faith, inasmuch as the degree had a fixed and uniform significance. The plan of study proposed was only suited to a college with a very small number of students, and resulted in no appreciable change in the conduct of the university, or in the college systems generally. The high scholarship of President Marsh was in many other ways, however, most happy in the tone which it imparted to the classical and higher edu- cation of the country. In the year 1850 a complete revolution was effected in the constitution of Brown University, in conformity with the principles set forth in a " Report to the Cor- poration, on changes in the system of Collegiate Edu- cation." The measures which it proposed were briefly as follows : " The fixed term of four years or any other term is to be abandoned, and every student is allowed to pursue as many or as few courses of study, as he may choose, subject to certain limitations. Every course of study, when once begun, is to be continued, without in- terruption, till it is completed. No student is to be ad- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 5 mitted to a degree unless he shall sustain his examin- ation in all the studies required for the degree, but no student shall be under any obligation to proceed to a degree. Persons are to be admitted to the studies of the several courses, if prepared to pursue those studies only ; no general examination for admission to the Uni- versity being prescribed. A variety of degrees and testimonials are also promised." This plan was carried into effect. A fund of 125,000 dollars was raised to enable the University to provide the necessary outfit of apparatus and professors. A considerable addition was made to its teaching force. The introduction of the new system was hailed by its advocates with great enthusi- asm, and the most confident predictions were uttered that there was at last one real university in the country which would teach the classics with thoroughness and success to those who might elect to pursue them, and which would also meet the demands and necessities of the very large number who might desire a scientific and practical education. The speedy downfall of the old scholastic system was confidently predicted. But these predictions were not fulfilled. On the contrary, the words which Dr. Wayland had written in 1842, probably with reference to the changes adopted at Amherst and recently introduced into Harvard, were signally realized at his own University. " The colleges, so far as I know, which have obeyed the suggestions of the public, have failed to find themselves sustained by the public. The means which it was supposed would increase the num- ber of students, in fact diminished it, and thus things gradually, after every variety of trial, have generally tended to their original constitution. So much easier l6 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES is it to discover faults than to amend them ; to point out evils than to remove them. And thus have we been taught that the public does not always know what it wants, and that it is not always wise to take it at its word." (Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System^ etc., 1842.) We have referred to these facts to remind some of our readers that the views which are now so confidently urged are not entirely novel, and that some of them have already been in a certain sense subjected to the test of an actual or at least a proposed experiment. But the lights of experience only shine upon the wake of the advancing vessel. The American colleges are, as we have said, brought again before the tribunal of public opinion. This is manifest from the changes which have been introduced into some of the colleges themselves, and from the very earnest claim that is made that such changes -are required by the spirit of the age, the advance of science, and by " the fluctu- ations of public opinion on educational problems." Several institutions have already been either newly founded or reorganized, in accordance with these de- mands. We name first of all the timely provision and the eminent success of special schools of Science and of Technology. The Lawrence Scientific School at Cam- bridge, 1842, and the Sheffield School at New Haven, 1847, began as special schools of Chemistry, and of Chemistry and Engineering. They grew out of the de- mand for special scientific and practical instruction in the two kindred branches named. These schools have steadily grown, and a great number of similar institu- tions have been provided in connection with the col- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 17 leges, and also as independent organizations. The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, established in 1824, had previously done good work in training naturalists and engineers, and had also supplied many of the ele- ments of a general education, but it had not exerted any disturbing influence upon the college system, or at- tracted general attention. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, the Columbia School of IMines in New York, the Chandler Scientific School at Hano- ver, to say nothing of the many Polytechnic and Agri- cultural schools which have been founded with the avails of the land scrip of the United States Govern- ment, are examples. Many of these schools have added special studies in the Physical and Mathematical sci- ences, instruction in the Modern languages and in Eng- lish literature, so as to provide a systematic course of study and discipline in what are called modern studies, to the exclusion of the ancient languages. These courses are somewhat analogous to the college curriculum with the classics left out, except that they usually require but three years and neither require Greek nor (with one ex- ception only) Latin for admission. In this way there have grown up schools of education, upon what are called modern ideas, which it is claimed are more practical in the education which they give, with the advantage of disciplining the intellect to equal power and refinement with that which the colleges impart. The education which is given has been significantly styled by one of its ablest exponents and advocates, '■''The New Educaiioii.^^ The most prosperous of these schools, however, it is to be noticed, have gradually laid aside the irregular system of teaching every student whatever he cared to study, lO THE AMERICAN COLLEGES and no more ; and have adopted in its place a regular curriculum, with the liberty of electing between two or more subordinate courses, at an advanced stage of progress, and have so far fallen into the approved ways of the colleges. It is claimed for these schools, how- ever, not only that they teach special arts and sciences with more thoroughness and practical adaptation than the colleges, but that their training in the Modern Lan- guages, including the EngHsh, is far better fitted for the culture of a large body of students, than the more an- tiquated and scholastic discipline which the colleges enforce. The doctrine is confidently propounded that for purposes of discipline the modern languages are as good as the ancient, while for every end of aesthetic and practical education, the new education is far superior to the old, in that it prepares the student more directly and consciously for the world in which he is to live, — preeminently because the knowledge and culture which these schools impart are^ taught with an energy and are received with an enthusiasm which a nearer connection with the actual and impending world alone can impart. The inference has been drawn from these assumed data and from the success of these important schools of science and art, that if the colleges desire to retain their hold on the community, and to retain the number of their students, they must introduce into their courses of instruction many of the newer branches of study, or at least must allow such studies to be elected m place of the severer studies, hitherto enforced as a condition for a degree. The Cornell University, at Ithaca, has attracted much attention in consequence of the very liberal gifts of the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 19 gentleman whose name it bears, the magnificent appro- priation to it of the college land scrip of the State of New York, the great prominence with which its concern and the principles of its organization have been urged upon the notice of the public by means of the press, the very great freedom and confidence with which it has criticised the traditional sj^irit and methods of the older colleges, and the largeness of its promises of im- provement and reform. All these circumstances com- bined with the peculiarities of its organization, or rather of its proposed organization, have been very fruitful themes for a large number of editorial announcements, discourses and advertisements, in which the merits of the Cornell University have been set forth in striking contrast with the defects and disadvantages of the col- lege and university systems which had previously com- manded the confidence of a large portion of the Amer- can public. Its peculiar features are, first of all, the comprehen- sion of its instruction under two divisions, viz : the di- vision of special sciences and arts in the six departments |0f Agriculture ; the Mechanic Arts ; Civil Engineering ; Military Engineering and Tactics ; Mining and Practical Geology ; History, Social and Political Science ; and the division of Science, Literature, and the Arts in general. This last embraces 7?7'^ general courses of study ; (i) the Modern Course of four years ^ in which " the place and labor usually given to ancient languages" " will be mainly assigned" " to modern languages," attached to _ which is the Modern Course abridged to three years ; (2) the Combined Course in which the languages studied will be Latin and German, which is also abridged to three 20 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES years ; (3) the ^^ Classical Course^' of four years ; (4) the Scientific Course of three years, also abridged to two years ; (5) the Optional Course. Different degrees and testimonials are given to those who attend these courses, but the Bachelor's degree is given indiscriminately to all who have completed any of the courses of four years. The qualifications for admission are the possession of a good common English education, and the mental, moral and physical capacity to pursue to advantage the course of study on which the candidate proposes to attend. For candidates imperfectly prepared, special provision is also made, so that " good health, good habits, and a good thorough education in the common English branch- es, are thus the simple requirements for admission." The scope of the University is expressed in the words of Mr. Cornell : " I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." The features of the University are the following : the practical utility of the education and studies, university liberty of choice, " the absence of fetichism in regard to any single course of study," especial prominence of studies in History, Political and Social Science, the absence of " a petty daily marking system," a close and manly intercourse and sympathy between Faculty and students, careful provision for the s tudy of Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Hygiene, and the absence of sectarian influence, in consistency with the promotion of Christian civilization as the highest aim of the University. The scope and features of the University in general are its signal and certain exemption from the evils which are observed in the colleges ; all of which, it is assumed, can be happily avoided by the sounder principles of organization and of administration by which it is to be regulated. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 21 Harvard College has a second time adopted the elec- tive system on the most liberal scale, and it has begun to advertise freely in the newspapers that its studies " are largely elective." How largely the studies are elective may be learned from its Annual Catalogue ; how wisely, can be determined only by experiment. The students are held to a prescribed curriculum till the end of Freshman year, at which time it is possible for any one to terminate his study of both Greek and Latin, though not of the Mathematics — which is ap- parently a mere incident of the arrangement of the hours of study. Ample provision is made for the elec- tive study of the three till the end of the course, but it is possible for the student to go on to the end of the course, with his chief attention devoted to the modern languages and the physical sciences, history and philos- ophy, receiving for proficiency similar honors and the same degree at the end, with those who jDursue what has usually been considered the severer curriculum. So far as we can gather from the plan as explained to the public, the election is not between courses of studies having an order and progress defined by obvious char- acteristics and controlled by some distinct purpose, but it is between one set of studies and another from term to term, according to the capricious or wise judg- ment of the student. In this particular Harvard falls behind most of the other universities and colleges which have adopted the elective system. The Michigan University was one of the earliest to deviate from the old and traditionary methods, and its success has been frequently cited as a decisive argu- ment in favor of radical reform. If, however, its courses 22 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES of study and instruction are carefully scrutinized, it will be found to be on the whole very old-fashioned and conservative in its most distinguishing features. It has a regular curriculum of classical studies, etc., such as is usually prescribed in the other colleges. This only admits to the Bachelor's degee. It has another curricu- lum called the Scientific in which the French language and special sciences take the place of classical studies. It has another, called Latin and Scientific ; another of Civil Engineering ; another of Mining Engineering. It provides also that students who do not desire to become candidates for a degree, may, if qualified to pursue any study, do so in connection with any of the classes. Be- sides these curricula and schools, there are the very numerously attended schools of Law and Medicine. The system when closely examined does not differ materially from that of , any college which is provided with a scientific and technological school, except that when the studies of the different schools coincide they are conducted by the same instructor. In all of its departments the elective studies are very few, for those who are candidates for any of the degrees in the arts or sciences. The Michigan University has however been the oft- used text upon which a multitude of homilies have been preached in favor of what is called the university as contrasted with the college system. The number of per- sons who have been attracted to its professional schools, many doubtless by its almost gratuitous instruction, has given it the appearance of greater prosperity, as a train- ing university in the liberal arts and sciences, than the facts would warrant. Its literary and general courses AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 23 combined, though very ably administered, have not been preeminent in point of numbers. We ought not to omit to mention that Union College was the first which successfully introduced and perse- veringly maintained the second or parallel course of study, mainly scientific and practical, which has so often been talked of as a desideratum that had been long delayed. Th'e distrust of our colleges and of their system of education which is now so freely expressed, and has led to many of the changes referred to, has been greatly stimulated, and is likely to be still more effectively re- inforced by the zealous and passionate assaults that have of late been made upon the great schools and universities of England. These critical assaults have appeared in almost every possible form, from the pon- derous blue-books, that embody the reports of Parlia- mentary^ commissioners, down to the spiteful and capri- cious attacks of titled and untitled demagogues ; from the elaborate volume of £ssays, written by experi- enced teachers and accomplished Fellows of the col- leges at Oxford and Cambridge, down to the ill-natured and ignorant thrusts of half-educated and conceited sciolists and scientists. It is scarce matter of wonder, in one point of view, that some ill-informed persons should imagine that the studies and discipline of the American colleges are the same with those of the Eng- lish schools and universities, and should draw effective arguments from the imagined uprising of the English people against scholastic traditions, to the propriety and necessity of our doing the same with what are 24 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES supposed to be similar burdens. It is, however, a matter of wonder that some who use such arguments should fail either to see or to confess that the points of difference are so great between the two as to forbid rather than warrant the inferences which are derived from them, or that any one should adopt the motto which Mr. Atkinson has prefixed to his very clever essay — more ingenious than ingenuous as it seems to us — miitato no77iine de ie fabula 7iarratur. It seems to us that it is only fair for the American assailants of the American colleges to remember that it is only a very small number of the most violent of the English reformers who contend for, or would even suf- fer any serious diminution from the prominence given to the classics in a course of public education. The Hon. Robert Lowe did, indeed, not think it unworthy of his character to use his fine classical learning and re- putation in contemptuously depreciating the study of the ancient languages and the ancient writers, in com- parison with the study of the modern tongues and litera- ture. But his was a capricious escapade of a rather uncertain leader, and it should weigh but little when set off against the deliberate utterances of that steady- going wheel-horse among the reformers, John Stuart Mill, himself not a university man, in his inaugural ad- dress at the university of St. Andrews. In that address Mr. Mill says : " The only languages, then, and the only literature, to which I would allow a place in the ordinary curriculum, are those of the Greeks and Romans ; and to these I would preserve the position in it which they at present occupy. That position is justified by the great value in education, of knowing well some other AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 25 cultivated language and literature than one's own, and by the peculiar value of those particular languages and literature." (p. 22.) That Mr. Mill is an earnest advocate for reform in all the other particulars which his associ- ates insist upon, is evident from another passage which sums up many pages of illustration and argument. " I will say confidently that if the two classical languages were properly taught, there would be no need whatever for ejecting them from the school course, in order to have sufficient time for everything else that need be in- cluded therein." (p. 16.) Mr. Farrar also, the editor of the very significant and able volume, entitled Essays on a Liberal Ediicaiio7i, to which we have already referred, says in his lecture be- fore the Royal Institution : " I must avow my distinct conviction that^our present system of exclusively classical educatioti as a whole, and carried out as we do carry it out, is a deplorable failure." (Lecture^ etc., p. 18.) " That Greek and Latin — taught in a shorter period, and in a more comprehensive manner — should remain as the solid basis of a liberal education, we are all (or nearly all) agreed ; none can hold such an opinion more strongly than myself; but why can it not be frankly recognized that an education confi^ied to Greek and Latin is a failure, because it is an anachronism ?" {Ibid^ p. 24.) These passages must be accepted as decisive by those among us who are willing to learn from their own declarations, what are the real sentiments and aims of most of the reformers of school and university educa- tion in England. It ought not to be necessary to cite them, however, in order to enable many among us to judge for themselves what are the methods and what 26 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES the Studies of these schools. Any well informed man ought to know that they are materially different from the studies and methods which prevail among ourselves. We do not say that our own methods are perfect, or that we have not inherited and retained some of the er- rors and defects which are so excessive in the English schools ; but we do insist that the American colleges should not be confounded with the English public schools or universities, in respect to their defects, as they certainly would not claim to possess all the excel- lencies which these institutions may fairly assert for themselves. That there may be no question or mistake in respect to this matter, we will briefly touch upon those features in the English institutions which have been subjected to special criticism in the polemic against them which is now so actively prosecuted in the mother country. The first of these is the excessive attention, — in some cases the almost exclusive attention, — which is given to the study of the classics. In connection with this, the methods of learning and of teaching, especially the enforcement of composition, eminently the composition of Latin verses, have been very earnestly assailed, and somewhat feebly defended. The comparatively little attention given to Natural History and Physics, as well as to the Mathematical, Historical, Moral, and Political Sciences, in the great schools generally, and in the University of Oxford in particular, as well as the preponderance of Physics and the Mathematics at Cam- bridge, have also been abundantly discussed. The meager requirements for the " pass" examinations in both universities, and the frightful excess to which the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 27 coaching and cramming processes are carried in pre- paring candidates for these examinations, with the de- cay of the normal efficiency of the tutorial office, and the consequent idleness of seventy per cent. — as it is said — of the residents and graduates of the universi- ties, have been thoroughly discussed and freely ex- posed. As incidental to these, the excessive develop- ment of a taste for gymnastic sports on the one hand, and the systematic indulgence in foolish extravagance or vicious dissipation on the other, have been the sub- jects of severe comments. The general neglect of the speculative sciences and of the investigation of principles in their application to all branches of knowledge is also noticed by some very sagacious critics as a defect in the studies of those who read for honors. It is urged with great force that ad- mirable as is the diligence of those who read earnestly, and excellent in some respects as are the results of their reading, ^'•et the absence of a truly philosophical or rhythmical culture is seen in the excessively sophis- ileal — in the sense of the ancient Greeks — character of the culture that is attained, as well as in the very ex- tensive prevalence of One sided tendencies in the two extremes of ultra anglicanism on the one hand, and of positivism on the other. The compulsory residence of all the undergraduates, the pedantic strictness in the forms and the notorious laxness of the administratioa of the college system, with the almost entire disuse of the professorial function, and of university freedom, are topics of almost universal complaint. The reme- dies earnestly recommended, are the abandonment of the college system, wholly or in part, the allowance of 28 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES free attendance upon the university lectures to lodgers in the town, and of the freest competition for the valu- able honors and emoluments which the universities have in their gift. All the reformers advocate the increase of the number of university chairs, and a very consid- erable enlargement of the course of instruction in re- spect to the subjects treated and the range of investiga- tion. A few insist on the abolition of all religious and ecclesiastical tests, and on a reorganization of the whole system of prizes, honors, and emoluments. It is obvious that while the discussion of school and university reforms in England must involve a great va- riety of principles and topics which are- of direct appli- cation to the changes proposed or effected in the American colleges, it is nevertheless true that the American colleges have in some most important re- spects either escaped or outgrown not a few of the most important evils under which the English institu- tions continue to labor. The American colleges give great, perhaps excessive, attention to the physical and practical sciences. They give instruction by lectures as well as by tutors. Their examinations are frequent and severe. They do not neglect the study of the principles of metaphysical, moral, and political science. Their supervision of the manners and morals of the students, and their care for their religious culture, are thought by many to be over strict and excessive. We return to our subject, " the American Colleges and the American Public ;" or, to reverse the phrase, as politeness requires, " the American Public and the American Colleges." The phrase as changed reminds AND THE AMERICAN PUBIJC. 29 US that it is our first duty to pay our respects to the tribunal before which tlie colleges are summoned to ap- pear. This tribunal it may be proper for us briefly to characterize without either questioning its jurisdiction or being guilty of "contempt of court." The tribunal, in the present instance, is both assailant and judge ; uniting generally the functions of the two in the persons of the same speakers and writers. The tribunal, consists, first of all, of a limited class of lec- turers and writers known as educational irformers, whose stock in trade consists of a scanty outfit of a few facts imperfectly conceived and incorrectly recited, in respect to the modes of education pursued in the middle ages. It is the profession or trade of these men to assail the colleges of this country as medieval, cloistered, scholas- tic, and monkish. The study of the classics is denounced by the cheap epithets of antiquated, useless, and un- practical. The study of the mathematics, — which these ignorants fail to see is itself the most unpractical of all, and which it is lucky that they do not know was com- mended by Plato in exalted language as tending to withdraw the mind from sense and utility, — is recom- mended as practical by way of contrast, because some mysterious connection is supposed to exist between it and the power to build bridges, to construct railways, and to drive mining shafts. The sciences of nature, as they are called, /. e., the sciences of matter, are regard- ed as the only sciences which are either real or useful. Physiology from the material standpoint is the only philosophy or psychology that is considered worthy the name. Of literature such persons have only indefinite or low conceptions as a subject of interest or critical 30 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES study. A traveling lecturer is, in their view, the model of a university professor. Superficial and second-hand knowledge, exaggerated declamation, paradoxical an- tithesis, and sensational extravagance are the desired characteristics of university instruction. There are but few of these downright quacks, it is true, but of better and wiser men there are many more than a few, who borrow some of the principles and methods by which these charlatans are characterized. Some of these are men of whom we had a right to expect better things. Another portion of the public who are so ready to prejudge the colleges and their system disadvanta- geously is drawn from that very numerous and most respectable class of self-made men who have risen to eminence without a collegiate education. Many of this class take the first rank in our political, commercial, and social life, and their success is a perpetual testi- mony to the truth, that neither a college degree nor a college education do of necessity secure eminence, and that both united must be followed by that practical training of actual life and contact with men, to which the school and the college are only the introduction. A very large class of these self-educated men are pain- fully -sensitive of the disadvantages under which they suffer from lack of early scholastic training. Many of them have labored assiduously and with eminent suc- cess to correct these disadvantages by careful private studies in the languages, mathematics, and philosophy. As a class they are the most generous sujDporters of the higher learning, and of literary institutions as admirably adapted to prepare for professional and business life. Their zeal and liberality in support of the higher edu- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 31 cation of the country jDuts to shame many of the Hberally educated, who are no less wealthy than themselves. This liberal and enlightened testimony of theirs to the value of a culture of which they feel the need, ought to be received as the decisive judgment of practical men. Others of them indulge a jealous contempt of all disci- plinary training whatever, and find in their own suc- cess a satisfactory argument for the uselessness of any other than the so-called practical or useful studies, as well as a decisive refutation of all that can be urged in the defense of any other. Self-made or self-educated men in this country are also very largely connected with the newspaper press ; for the reason that the editor's vocation is one of the most inviting in its rewards to those who have literary or political aspirations. It also promises success in the shortest time and itself furnishes an efficient education in the exercise of the mind and the pen in literary es- says. It is not surprising that this class of editors should be very ready to accept any misconception of the college system, which is either innocently enter- tained or ignorantly propagated in the communit}^ Nor is it very surprising that they should be often tempted to make the colleges and the college system prominent topics of criticism. Many of the colleges are old and respectable from the associations and traditions of their histor}\ They are the objects of love and affection to multitudes in the community. They are the pride and joy of the enthusiastic youth who breathe their exhilar- ant spirit and participate in their exuberant life. It must also be confessed that they are far from being perfect in their constitution or their administration- 32 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES Both of these features make them attractive as subjects for extemporaneous criticism and objects of attack. Whether they are regarded by our imaginative Quixotes, (to whom there is rarely wanting an acquiescent Sancho, perhaps an Artiiun Baccaiaureus), as venerable castles that have too long been objects of servile reverence, or as windmills which largely fill the public eye — and grind proportionately but little corn — the bravery of attacking them is all the same, and it has stimulated many knights of the press to the pleasurable advenim^e of making the assault. The patent and obtrusive follies of foolish and roystering youth are a very deserving and a very easy theme for severe editorial comments. The aim that could not successfully direct a rifle to a vital point can easily discharge a blunderbuss at the door of a barn. It is not a little amusing to notice how confidently an old college which has had some reputation for science and culture is coolly depreciated in some ambitious jour- nal as little better than a " high school" in its aims and methods, while some new institution that in more than one sense is not yet " out of the woods" is as confi- dently extolled as alone following the liberal methods of the university. If we ask who Avrites all this wis- dom, we may not always be able to answer. But we usually can say with truth, that it w^as indited by some one who has never ceased to be vexed at the injustice of the fates which denied him a college education, or is moved with envy at the fancied superciliousness of those who have received a college diploma, or is filled with conceit that he has outstripped, in the honors and emol- uments of life, so many graduates, or bears some mean grudge towards the Alma Mater whose good name he dishonors. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 33 Another important element in this varying and shift- ing tribunal before which the colleges are summoned to answer, consists of the many graduates of these col- leges who have received little advantage from their col- lege training, or are unconscious of the advantages which they have received in fact. The question very naturally presents itself at this point, how it can hap- pen if the college system is so excellent itself, that so many graduates of colleges are at. the present moment so clamorous for college reform ? Nay, how is it that they constitute so large and so important an element of the tribunal before which these colleges are sum- moned to plead their cause ? We will endeavor to an- swer these questions, premising that we ourselves admit and contend that the college system and its administra- tion require and admit some important changes. In answer to these questions, we would say in the first place, that many college graduates are not aware of the extent of the advantages which they have derived from their public education. All processes that are properly gymnastic and disciplinary perform a service and impart benefits of which the recipient is uncon- scious at the time of receiving them, and which, unless he has given special attention to education as a study, he cannot fully appreciate by subsequent reflection. The mental growth to which they contribute is so slow and insensible, that the fact that growth is achieved and by the means employed, is very rarely noticed at the time of its occurrence. Let it be conceded that some studies must be chiefly disciplinary, and it by no means follows, because the graduates of colleges are not distinctly aware of the value of the course by which 34 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES they have been trained, that the course was not the best conceivable for the very persons who are the leastT' sensible of what it has done for them. Again, every system of education supposes docility, cooperation, and effort on the part of the pupil. No scheme of educa- tion can be efficient without these. We add also the very obvious but almost forgotten truth, that no system, however skillfully framed or wisely administered, has ever been known actually to secure such zeal and en- tnusiasm as is required for the best effects. While we concede that one system of studies and discipline is better fitted than another to awaken and sustain the interest of students, we may safely assert that there are many college graduates who reproach the college sys- tem for not having done more for them, who would not have the hardihood to affirm that any selection of stud- ies, any course of discipline, or any wisdom of instruc- tors would have exorcised the indolence and self-indul- gence, the careless and irresponsible spirit which possessed them in their college days. There are others, and these are not few, who were bent on self-improvement in their college life, and were not unwilling to labor, whose want of success was chiefly owing to their very inadequate preparation for its studies. Any course of public education must as- sume or prescribe some previous knowledge and cul- ture, and those who persist in beginning or continuing their college life without such preparation, have only themselves or their friends to blame that the college course benefited them so little. There are some graduates, however, who were earn- est, laborious, and successful in their college studies. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 35 who are disposed earnestly to criticise the course which was prescribed, because it did not fit them more di- rectly for the calling or duties of their actual life. Such contend that a more direct adaptation of its stud- ies to the foreseen wants of the student would awaken greater enthusiasm and secure far more vigorous and successful work. It is natural, when a graduate comes to any special employment or duty, that he should regret that his college studies did not train him directly for it. He may desire to travel or study in a foreign country, or his professional or commercial success would be fa- cilitated if he were master of French, German, or Span- ish. He is very likely to exclaim, " Would that the time which I wasted in the tiresome Latin or hateful Greek had been spent in learning the living language which I now have occasion to use !" Or let him painfully feel his deficiencies in the command of a good English style or in familiarity with English literature, and he breaks out into a similar impatient reproach that his Alma Mater did not foresee and provide for his future wants in this particular, instead of cramming him with Greek and Latin syntax and etymology. Or it may be that he is a manufacturer or trader, and he would give twice or ten times the cost of his college education if he were a proficient in chemistry, physics, or navigation. Those who make these complaints leave out of view much which they ought to consider, and especially that it is often impossible to foresee what a man's employ- ment in life will be. Conceding that a college course may be both professional and disciplinary, it might be a worse mistake for a man to have studied German and find that he needs to use only Spanish, than to have 36 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES studied Latin and find that he needs either German or Spanish, or to have studied chemistry or physics when he requires a knowledge of English or French litera- ture. These considerations bring us back to the old doctrine so offensive to a few college educated men that the college course is preeminently designed to give power to acquire and to think, rather than to impart special knowledge or special discipline. But on this we will not dwell at present, but only remind those who utter these critical complaints that they do not always think of the very great advantage they have gained for acquiring German, French, Spanish, chemistr}', physics, and even business judgment and skill, above those who have not been thus disciplined. Most of all, would we ask them to notice whether if their sense of the nnport- ance to themselves of German, French, chemistry, etc., had been as keen while they were in college as it is at present, they would not or could not have mastered these special studies, in addition to the Latin and Greek which the college prescribed. Without such a sense of their importance, their mastery even of these branches might not have been so complete as they find to be needful, and the imperfect knowledge obtained might have been purchased at the cost of a feebler power to acquire, understand, and apply not only these useful studies, but all other knowledge and skill. Why should it be so easy for a man to forget that when in college he was something of a boy, and to cheat himself with the fond persuasion that any system of study would have en- dowed him with the wisdom and forecast of a man ? Why should reflecting men persuade themselve<> that a college training can of itself give the wisdom ox age AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 37 to the thoughtlessness of youth, or wake up that enthu- siasm for self-improvement which experience only can develop ? It is most unreasonable, unjust, and ungrate- ful, to demand of any system of education or institution of learning that it should place in the bow of the ves- sel which rushes impetuously before the breeze, those glowing " stern lights" which, even for the earnest and wise, shine so sadly and so luridly over the path which has engulfed so many good resolutions, so many vain essays, so many ambitious plans, so many schemes of study, so many promised acquisitions of knowledge and power ; which path for the vicious and indolent is but a foaming and dreary waste of ruin. There are still others, Ishmaelites by nature, who from sheer perverseness of spirit, or rankling jealousy, have never ceased to cherish some petty spite or perma- nent hostility toward their own college and the college system. Now and then a communication appears in the public prints, which criticises severely the college system, especially its disciplinary features, by gross car- icature and exaggeration of its incidental and unavoid- able evils. It is generally easy to read between the lines much more than the writer has penned. To the .signature, " A Graduate/' it is not usually unjust to ap- pend, " who himself was foremost in the petty deceits, the debasing tricks, and the shuffling superficialness, which he represents as common to the whole academic body." The woman who accuses her sex as univer- sally frail cannot herself be very high toned in per- sonal virtue. We repeat the assertion already made that we do not regard the college system as faultless. On the con- 38 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES trary, we believe it to be capable of some very import- ant modifications and improvements. At the same time, we affirm that the principal features by which it is characterized are susceptible of a triumphant vindica- tion even before the somewhat miscellaneous tribunal which we have briefly described. We propose to con- sider these distinguishing features, and to enquire how far they are capable of vindication, and in what respects the colleges may be improved either in their constitu- tion or their administration. We will consider, first of all, the studies which should be pursued. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 39 II. THE STUDIES OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGES. The American Colleges have been from the first and uniformly schools of classical study and learning. A knowledge of the elements of the Greek and Latin lan- guages has been required for admassion, and the study of the two has been enforced upon all, as the condition of receiving the Bachelor's degree. This has been univer- sally true, the few exceptions being too inconsiderable to deserve attention. The enforced study of these lan- guages upon all the students, and for the most of the undergraduate course, is a ground of complaint, and its advocates are required to give anew the reasons for ad- hering to it. The trustees of the Cornell University, while they shrink from the charge of abandoning or de- preciating the study of the classics, have distinctly taken the position, that for the purposes of discipline and culture, the study of the French and German clas- sics is as efficient as the study of the Greek and Latin, and that an equivalent knowledge of either two should entitle the student to the same college honors. The doctrine is also very extensively taught that it is ques- tionable whether the study of language is better fitted to train and discipline the mind in early life than the study of physics or history ; and, granting that it is, that it does not follow that the study of Greek or 40 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES Latin is uniformly to be preferred to that of German or French. In short, the mind of our tribunal, " the American public," is at present undecided, and disturbed by the question whether the colleges do not commit a grievous wrong in enforcing classical studies upon all their students, and in giving to these studies especial honor. We contend not only that the colleges have judged rightly in giving to the study of language the promi- nence which it receives, and that the Greek and Latin deserve the special preeminence which has been as- signed them, but that there are peculiar reasons why they should be even more thoroughly and earnestly cul- tivated than they have been. Our first position is, that for the years appropriated to school and college training, there is no study which is so well adapted to mental discipline as the study of language. We argue this from the fact that language is the chief instrument of intelligence. It is thought made visible and clear, not merely to the person to whom thoughts are to be conveyed, but to the person who thinks for and by himself. The earliest discrimi- nations and memories to which we 'are tasked by nature are those which are involved in the mastery of our mother tongue. It is true the observation required for the education of the eye and the ear and in the control and discipline of the body, involves a multitude of "object lessons," and imposes much "object teaching," but it can scarcely be contended that this discipline of the senses requires either the ailture or the discipline of the intellect, in the same sense as does that attention to language which is required in learning to speak AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 41 and write the language which is first acquired. We assume, because it is not necessar}^ to prove, that the most conspicuously intellectual of the various intel- lectual acts of infancy and childhood are exercised upon language. The slowness and difficulty with which some children learn to use language is correctly taken as an infallible sign of some defect or late development of in- tellectual power. Nor should it be overlooked that the most important part of the knowledge which we acquire is gained through Vv'ords spoken or written, and that the study of nature itself must be prosecuted to a large extent through books. Natural history, with its curi- ous facts and nice discriminations, geography with its descriptions of mountains and rivers, of distant and un- seen lands, and romance with its fairy tales, so exciting and so dear to the child, all presuppose and exercise the same knowledge. The world of words is, in its way, as important and as real to the child as the world of things ; and most of the intellectual relations of either things or thoughts can only be discerned by first appr^h^niing and attending to the relations of words. The world of words is not to him, as is often charged, a world of dead and dry abstractions, but it is the realm in which the imagination weaves its subtle creations, and disports itself in the delights of its never wearied romancing. As school-life begins and advances, the intellect is tasked and disciplined by special classes of studies, the object of which is to train the intellectual power, and to furnish it with facts and truths. The mind is constrained to reflection and analysis. From acquisition, observa- tion and memory, it proceeds to be trained to the inde- 42 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES pendent judgments of science. What shall be the sub- ject matter upon which its essays are employed ? Na- ture directs, and the experience of many generations has confirmed the wisdom of her intimations, that language is the appropriate sphere of these essays. The mind is not sufficiently matured to study nature in a scientific way. Of natural history the mind at this period is capable, but not of the sciences of nature. The facts of natural history, the experiments of physics and chemistry, do not discipline the youth enough ; the sci- ence of these facts involves a training and progress which the intellect has not yet attained. The mathematics present a most important field, but this field is peculiar and unique. For the sphere and materials of what we call intellectual training we are shut up to the study of language ; not exclusively, indeed, for, as we shall show in its place, facts and imaginations should both instruct and relieve the excessive and one-sided strain which the discipline of language ijivolves ; but if there is to be discipline in the eminent sense, it must be eiTected by means of the study of language. Whatever substitute be devised, it will fail of imparting that peculiar intel- lectual facility and power which this study secures. Assuming that the study of language is the most efficient instrument of discipline, we assert that the study of the classical languages should be universally preferred to any other as a means of discipline in every course of liberal education, and should continue to be made prominent and necessary in the American colleges. When we assert this, we do not assert it as a self-evident or as an unquestioned proposition. It is a fair question to ask, and a reasonable one to be an- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 43 swered, " Why is not French as efficient an instrument of discipUne and culture as the Latin, and why may not German be substituted for the Greek, provided each be thoroughly and scientifically studied ?" This question is fair and reasonable to discuss and answer, because there is prima facie evidence that the one is as good as the other. But this prima facie probability is, in our opinion, far from being the self-evident certainty which it seems to be in the judgment of our accomplished and admirable friend President White, when he says " It is impossible to find a reason why a man should be made Bachelor of Arts for good studies in Cicero and Taci- tus, and Thucydides and Sophocles, which does not equally prove that he ought to have the same distinc- tion for good studies in Montesquieu and Corneille, and Goethe and Schiller, and Dante and Shakspeare." (Letter to the New York Tribune.) With all due respect to the President, we think that it is not only easy to find one such reason, but that many very readily suggest themselves. First of all, it is obvious, we think, that the student who makes " good studies " in Cicero and Thucydides will be likely, in the present state of society in this country, also to make " good studies " in Montes- quieu, Goethe, etc., etc. We cannot take so narrow a view of the nature and operation of a literary education as for a moment to consider it as limited to a four years' course. The classical student who is zealous enough to do well, will not, in the present state of knowledge, and with the facilities which he enjoys, be likely to fail to learn one or two of the modern languages also. If he does not do this in college, should he have special occa- sion to use them for the purposes of study, travel, or 44 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES business, he will have acquired the power to learn them with comparative ease and rapidity. If he is to acquire several Romanic languages, the thorough study of Latin will even be a positive gain in their acquisition, so far as time is concerned. Mr. John Stuart Mill goes so far as to assert that the mastery of Latin " makes it easier to learn four or five of the continental languages than it is to learn one of them without it." Mr. Mill would make little or no provision for the study of the modern languages in the university, for the reason that it is to be supposed that a man who is bred a scholar will study some things after he leaves college, and especially such of the modern tongues as he has occasion to use. They are trite sayings that all modern literature goes back to these languages for its germs and beginnings, and cannot be thoroughly understood without a knov.l- edge of these languages and the life which they revecil ; that not only the roots of the languages of modern Europe are to be found in them, but the roots and germs of modern literature are in their literature as well ; that much of what we call learning is written in Latin and Greek ; that Greek is the original language of the New Testament, and records the beginnings of the history of the Christian church, and the great truths on which the church is founded ; that modern sci- ence has constructed its most refined and complicated terminology out of materials derived freshly from both languages, and the Greek in particular. But to all these considerations we shall be met with the reply, that the majority of the men who are educated at college v/!ll never become scholars at all, and do not require the education which is fundamental to a scholar's knowl- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 45 ed;je. We answer that, if this is so, the majority of such persons have even the greater need, and will be likely to make a more efficient use, of the power, discipline and scholarship which classical study will give them, than of the more or less of German and French which they may study in its place. The manifold relations by which a knowledge of the ancient languages and of ancient life is connected with the history which they read, the literature which they enjoy, and the institutions under which they live, make even a scanty knowledge of both to be of constant use and application. The student of Corneille and Goethe is also mainly conversant with modern ideas and modern civilization. However exquisite the diction or masterly the genius of his writer, the sentiments and passions are all modern. But the student of Virgil and of Homer cannot pain- fully translate a few books of the ^neid or the Odys- sey, without entering into the thoughts, sympathiz- ing with the feelings, and living somewhat of the life, of human beings greatly unlike those whom he has ever known or imagined, whose thoughts and feelings do not repel him by their strangeness, so much as they attract him by their dignity and truth, and open to him a new world of sentiment and emotion. The people, into whose life he very imperfectly learns to enter, though in many respects so unlike the men of present times, are yet closely connected with them by the civil- ization, the arts, the literature, the institutions, the manners, and the laws which the ancients perfected and transmitted. We do not say that to receive such impressions as an imperfect scholarship may impart, is worth all the painstaking which the study of Greek and 46 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES Latin involves, but we do assert that if these impres- sions can be superadded to the advantages which come from the discipHne which the grammatical study of two languages requires, then this is a sufficient reason why Greek and Latin should be preferred to French and German. We contend, moreover, and it is generally conceded, that in disciplinary influence the study of the classics is far superior to that of the modern tongues, not except- ing the German, which is most nearly akin to the Greek. The regularity and fixedness of the structure, the va- riety of the inflections, the distinctness of the articula- tions, the refinement of the combinations, the objective utterances to the mental ear, and the graphic painting to the imagination, when coupled with the wealth of thought and feeling, which verb and adjective, which noun and particle enshrine in words and sentences, all combine to give the classic tongues a supremacy over the languages of modern civilization, which all candid and competent judges have confessed. It is not perti- nent to claim, that one complicated and artistic lan- guage is of itself equally efficient with another for dis- cipline, especially in the beginning of the pupil's studies. It cannot be soberly urged that one dialect, if it be African or Semitic, is as good as another, provided it leads the mind to analyze and reflect. The discipline which is required for the higher education is not a simple gymnastic to the intellect, it is not the training of the curious philologist, or the sharp logician, but it is a liberalizing discipline which prepares for culture and thought, and which gradually lifts the mind from the hard and dry paradigms of the pedagogue, and the en- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 47 forced syntax of the class-room, to the comparative judgment and the esthetic culture of the philosopher and critic. We find, then, the following reasons why what are called " good studies " in French and German should not entitle a person to the Bachelor's degree ; and why these studies, however " good " they may be for certain purposes, cannot be as good for the commanding ob- jects for which language and the languages are studied in a course of education. They are not so good to teach attention to the struct- ure of language and all which such attention involves, and thus to train the student to the intelligent and facile use of English, or to the criticism of the same. They are not so good to prepare the mind to learn other lan- guages than themselves with rapidity, intelligence, and retention. They are not so good to prepare for the comparative judgment of the languages which one may learn. The exercise of such a judgment, whether it is employed for the remoter ends of the philologist, or the more general aims of the reflective thinker, is one of the most instructive employments of the educated man. No man can be a linguist, in the best and most intel- lectual sense of the word, who is not a classical scholar, because the ancient languages are the best material upon which to study language. The student, who has mastered the elements of Greek and Latin, has gone much further in the way to the intelligent knowledge of language generally, than one who has gone far beyond the elements of French and German. This is explained by the fact already adverted to, that the structure of the classical tongues is complicated yet clear, ramified 48 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES yet regular, artificial yet symmetrical, objective yet artistic ; and that in all these features these languages are preeminent above the modern tongues. Some phi- lologists do not confess this, we know. They persuade themselves that an Englishman can be trained as suc- cessfully to the reflective study of language, by the use of his own and one or two modern languages, as by the aid of the classic tongues. But we think such persons, being always themselves classicists, mistake the sugges- tions of their own insight and science for the insight and science which they imagine their pupils might or do attain. In short, they imagine their pupils see with an eye and reflect with a mind that have been disciplined and enriched by classical study. Again, such studies cannot be so good for the disci- pline of the intellect. The study of languages so charac- terized must be a better training for the intellect than the study of the languages which task the intellect less, from the greater simplicity of their structure and their greater similarity to the mother tongue. We of course assume that the two kinds of languages are taught equally well, and are pursued with equal zeal and spirit. This, we think, is possible. Studies in the modern languages are not so good as studies in the ancient, for the knowledge of man, which they directly and indirectly impart. The man of the ancient world is a different being from the man of modern life. Stately, artificial, decided, clear in his opinions, positive and outspoken in his aims, objective in his life, positive and sharp in his diction, impet- uous in his impulses, grand in his connection with the state, heroic in his virtues and almost in his vices, he AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 49 Stands forth in striking contrast with the man of mod- ern times — the idolatrous Pagan against the spiritual Christian, the self-cultured against the self-sacrificing, the idolater of country and the state against the wor- shiper of the Father and Redeemer of man. He is always intellectual, impressive, and intelligible, because he is the perfection of the natural and earthly in its purest and noblest manifestations. The man of mod- ern life is weakened and divided, it may be, by the strife of the natural with the spiritual, of passion with duty, of love with selfishness. And yet the classic humanity is not so strange that it repels or overawes us. It moves our common sympathies, while it enlarges our conceptions of the forms which humanity may assume. All that is good in it is the more impressive from its very exaggerated and one-sided character. It success- fully conveys what it has learned or felt by means of the clear, beautiful, and positive diction which it always employs. It corrects our special defects of thought, of sentiment, and of action, by the clear rationalism, the simple emotion, the manly behavior which it always sets forth. It even preserves us against its own peculiar errors by the very distinctness with which it avows them, and the consistent energy with which it acts them out. The student of modern literature is always conversant with men who think, feel, and act like him- self. The student of ancient literature is confronted with a human life, which in some most important par- ticulars was unlike what he has experienced or even conjectured ; and yet it is so positive, energetic, and consistent as to leave a strong and distinct impression upon the imagination. 3 50 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES The modern languages are not so good as the ancient to prepare for the intelligent study of modern histor)^ Modern history and modern literature have their roots in ancient institutions and in ancient Hfe. Modern poetry, philosophy, and art, were, at the first, inspired by the poetry, philosophy, and art of Greece. Modern polity and law were derived from Rome. Modern re- ligion came from Judea, through Grecian and Roman society. To understand the beginning and trace the progress of the new developments which these prime elements of modern history have undergone, we must go back to their originals, and understand the society and life in which they were first rooted and germinated. We cannot successfully penetrate into the spirit of an- cient life without mastering the languages and appre- ciating the literature in which the ancients have en- shrined and perpetuated this life. Our modern educa- tional reformers make much of the study of history, and of the philosophy -of history. But what can the teacher of history accomplish with classes who are practically incapable of appreciating the spirit and life of antiquity ? How can those judge of his assertions or follow his analyses, to whom the most important elements with which he deals are substantially un- known, and must remain forever unappreciated ? The last reason which we give why studies in the modern are not so good as studies in the ancient lan- guages is, that they do not so efficiently further the in- tellectual and aesthetic culture of the student. The evidence for this has been furnished in the considera- tions already adduced. If modern history is rooted in the ancient, much more obviously are modern thought AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC 5 1 and modern culture rooted in ancient thought and an- cient culture. Modern speculation was born of ancient speculation, and still recognizes its parentage, as it agrees with or dissents from the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. The modern materialists scarcely do more than illustrate and enforce from modern physics the an- cient metaphysics of the Atomists and Epicureans. The modern spiritualists give greater definiteness and au- thority to the mythical constructions of Plato and the masterly analyses of Aristotle. The images of the Iliad and the Odyssey are as fresh and as quickening as ever, and their rhythm is as musical and inspiring as they have been in all the generations since the birth of modern poetry. They have not been superseded by the subjective tendencies of the modern muse. The Greek Tragedies are still pregnant with mystery to the most subjective and questioning of the moderns who brood over the seeming perplexities of fate and Providence. Allusions to classical images, scenes, events, and per- sonages, are woven into the tissue of all modern writ- ing. Classical art, with its outlines as sharply cut as the faces of a crystal, and yet as graceful as the undu- lations of the moving waters, has not ceased to be the model of beauty and grace to modern art, because the products of the last have been animated by the living spirit of Christian love, or warmed and elevated by the spiritual graces of Christian faith and hope. The student who makes " good studies " in modern thought and literature, cannot fail, indeed, of a quicken- ing influence and guidance, but the student who has made good studies in ancient thought, has made him- self ready to occupy his life with a far more intelligent 52 THE AMERICAN" COLLEGES and refined appreciation of modern thought and culture. As in the order of the culture of the race, the severer discipline of ancient institutions first prepared the way for the more genial influences of Christian and modern thought and feeling, so in the training of the individual on the most generous scale, the pedagogical period is most profitably spent in the ancient schools, before the pupil enters upon the second stage of thought and conception in which he is to live and act, which, how- ever, is none the less truly educating, because it has become the wider school of life. The modern educators, who claim to themselves the merit and name of being especially broad and enlight- ened, take, in fact, the narrowest and most limited views of education and even of life itself. They forget that as soon as the student steps forth into life, modern thinking, modern literature, and modern culture will take him almost exclusively into their possession, and will assert supreme control over his education. Under the fair pretence of preparing him for the fields of thought and action on which he is to enter, they confine him from the first to the same round in which he is to walk all his life long, forgetting that the most efficient preparation for a sphere of action is not always made by remaining within that sphere, but that to be pre- pared most efficiently for the intellectual and sesthetical activity in which we are to be employed, we must be conversant with their germinant forces and their con- trolling principles. Against these views it will be urged, that though they are plausible in the ideal, they are impracticable in the real — that it is impossible to bring all the members of a AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. S3 colle^je claGS to study the classics with sufficient inter- est and zeal to make them eminently profitable ; that while a third of the earnest men may study them with zeal, the remaining two-thirds will study them with re- luctance. Or, as President White says, " When I was a student in one of the largest New England colleges, there were over a hundred in my class. Of these, twenty or thirty loved classical studies, and could have made them a noble means of culture ; but these were held back by, perhaps, seventy, who dreamed, or lounged, or 'ponied,' or ' smouged ' through — sadly to the detriment of their minds and morals. Consequently the classical professors — as good as ever blessed any college — were obliged to give their main labor to stir- ring up the dullards, to whipping in the laggards — in short, not to the thirty who loved their particular studies, but to the seventy who loathed- them." The Cornell University will not have things so ordered ; it will " indulge in no tirades against the classics." " It will have the best classical professors it can secure — it will equip their departments thoroughly, it will not thwart them by forcing into their lecture rooms a mass of students who, while reciting Greek, are thinking of German," etc., etc. That is. President White would have us to infer that, in his opinion — and we sup- pose there are many who agree with him — "the dul- lards" and " the laggards," the men who " ponied " and " smouged," would have committed none of these faults had they been allowed to study German instead of Greek, and that the majority of every college class would study the languages with alacrity and zeal, if only they were allowed to study German or French. 54 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES We do not believe this opinion to be correct, and we think it effectually disproved by the indisputable fact that the men who are dull and who lag in Greek and Latin, are almost invariably " dullards " and " lag- gards " in German and French, in these very same col- lege classes and class-rooms. The few exceptions are explained by the greater maturity of mind and of char- acter with which the study of the modern languages is begun, and preeminently by the better elementary in- struction with which it is introduced to the mind, to say nothing of the advantage which has been gained by a previous, though imperfect study of the classics. Moreover, what was true of the class of President White in respect to the classics was true eminentiori sensu in respect to the mathematics, and yet we do not observe that in the scheme of the Cornell University it is proposed to dispense with a thorough study of the mathematics in the several courses, which are different ways to the same degree. Nor is the principle to be admitted that those who are dull in the mathematics are to be excused from studying them because they long for the classics, or long for history, or it may be, long for the lecture courses to the exclusion of recitations. We do not deny that the evils com.plained of by Presi- dent White in fact exist. But they are not peculiar to any course of study. We do not despair of a partial remedy of these evils, but are confident that the remedy is not to be found in the substitution of the modern for the ancient languages. It should always be remembered that the question with which we are concerned relates to the best theoret- ical selection of studies, and cannot always be decided by AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 55 the practical results in particular cases. What is best in theory will be best in practice, only when it is thor- oug-hly and wisely administered, provided the circum- stances are equally favorable. Among these circum- stances are to ba enumerated — adequate preparation by previous study and training, judicious methods of teaching and discipline, sufficient time to bring the pre- scribed course to its completion, and a thorough faith in, and enthusiasm for, the value of a study in pupils and teachers. In some of these respects there is room for great improvement, and this improvement, as we shall show, is to be desired and hoped for in the American colleges. At present we are concerned with the theory of the selection and distribution of the studies. It may be contended again, that if the modern cannot altogether take the place of the ancient languages they may share an equal portion of time and of honor with them. It being conceded that a knowledge of two or three modern languages is indispensable to every scholar who is truly educated, it is urged that the college ought to provide instruction in these languages as a part of its curriculum. In accordance with this view the modern languages have been provided for, more or less definitely and completely, in many of the colleges, and instruction in them is given either in the regular or the optional courses. The advantages are obvious. The student passes from a dead to a living language, as from a Pom- peiian to a modern dwelling. The first is artistic and ornate, but its associations are with the past ; the second is fresh and fragrant with modern elegancies and com- forts. The sense of a certain or possible utility in the language learned awakens a peculiar interest, especially 56 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES if the student has advanced several stages from school life and school-boy associations, and if the interests and responsibilities of manhood have begun to awaken and sober him. The mingling of the ancient and modern in grammatical analysis and in etymological research and literary criticism, is in every respect happy in its influence. On the other hand, it is to be feared that the time for classical study will in this way be seriously diminished, that the interest in, and estimate of, classical culture will be so far weakened, that the high academical tone will be injuriously lowered, and the most important ends of academical discipline will be in a measure thwarted. A still more serious evil is incident to the elementary character of most of these studies as at present pur- sued. The college class-room is not a place in which to drill to French pronunciation or German exercises. So long as the instruction in German and French is el- ementary, the tone and dignity of the curriculum must necessarily be lowered. The college course retains quite enough of the dressure of the pedagogue alread}^ and the subjection of the school-boy, and the enforced drill of the French and German professors cannot tend to relieve it of these features. No relief can be devised except to require both French and German — one if not both — as preparatory studies, or to make them largely optional, both of which expedients are at present open to serious objections. It certainly is a fair subject of inquiry, whether the study of both languages might not better be treated as an extra or private study, under the direction of a competent professor provided by the col- lege, and whether if the college should furnish such a AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 57 teacher and encourage attendance upon his lessons, it would not contribute to a more efficient training in both ancient and modern languages. If the classical languages cannot with propriety be replaced by those of Modern Europe, much less can the study of the English language with any success be made a substitute for either or both of them. Very much is said now-a-days, in a loose and general way, about the study of the English language and literature in our colleges. The critical study of English litera- ture cannot be overestimated, so far as the awakening and directing of a taste for the best English authors are concerned. To this should be added an ample and critical study of the history of this literature. There is no single study for which the great body of the stu- dents have so decided a taste as for this ; none in which they are capable of being aroused to so generous an enthusiasm. It is in efforts at original composition and debate that the consciousness of individual power is usually first, awakened, and it is by the critical study of the great masters of thought and feeling in the Eng- lish language that the spirit of independent activity and production can be most efficiently directed and confirmed. It is not easy to arrange for efficient and successful instruction in this department. The criti- cism of English composition, the training to effective debate and oratory, and the awakening to a genial and intellectual taste for imaginative literature are all inclu- ded within its sphere. There can be no question that a greater attention should be given to all these objects, and that the force of instructors in this department ought to be greatly increased. It were greatly to be 58 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES desired that to these studies should be united a thor- ough grammatical and philological knowledge of the language itself, and of its leading dialects through the original Anglo-Saxon and its various forms of develop- ment. But this, which alone is worthy to be compared with any study of the classics for discipline, is a branch of the higher philology, and cannot come within the college course, because it presupposes a somewhat crit- ical knowledge of the classical and some of the modern languages. It cannot, therefore, be urged by any per- son whose opinions are worth regarding, as a possible equivalent or substitute for the study of either. The utmost that can be hojDcd or desired in this department is the mastery of a thoroughly scientific English gram- mar, if such an one were to be had in the English lan- guage. But to suppose it possible to subject one's mother tongue to the same reflective analysis which the mastery of a language not vernacular involves, is to over- look the most important' psychological fact, that a lan- guage which is familiar and early acquired cannot be analyzed before the mind has reached its highest ma- turity, nor unless it has been especially aided by the study of at least one foreign language. This is one of the truths which experience may be supposed to have settled. The testimony of the late Dr. Arnold upon this topic is of greater value, because he was so earnest in his efforts to introduce the modern languages into the cur- riculum at Rugby, and because his method of teaching the classics was so eminently practical and liberal. " The study of language seems to me as if it was given for the very purpose of forming the human mind in AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 59 youth ; and the Greek and Latin languages, in them- selves so perfect and at the same time freed from the insuperable difficulty which must attend any attempt to teach boys philology through the medium of their own spoken language, seem the very instruments by which this is to be effected." Prof. Goldwin Smith, formerly of Oxford, England, and now of Cornell University, writes as follows in his tract on The Reorganization of the University of Ox- ford : — " Though the classics are no longer what they were in the sixteenth century, they are still, perhaps, the best Manual of Humanity, and they are capable of being practically enlarged in their scope and liber- alized to an almost indefinite extent in the way of com- mentary and illustration. I must own that my experi- ence of historical education leaves me finally under the impression that ancient history, besides the still une- qualed excellence of the writers is the best instrument for cultivating the historical sense. =*= * * Modern lan- guages which some are proposing to make almost the sta- ple of education, are indispensable accomplishments, but they do not form a high mental training ; they are often possessed in perfection by persons of very low intellect- ual powers. As languages and instruments of linguistic training the best of them are far inferior to the Greek and Latin, the merit of which, indeed, as organs of thought, is so preeminent that it is difficult to believe that their destinies are yet exhausted. Nor need men be brought to a university to learn modern languages ; on the contrary, they are best learned abroad." We approach what in the minds of many is a much graver question, and that is whether the study of the 6o THE AMERICAN COLLEGES physical sciences cannot furnish as effective, and per- haps a more desirable, mental discipline than the study of language at all, and whether, therefore, they cannot take its place as a branch of college or university study. It is contended by many that it can and ought. Mr. Herbert Spencer — Educatioji : Intellectual^ Aloral and Physical — urges very earnestly and in great detail, that all the processes which the study of the languages in- volves are brought into requisition in the study of na- ture — that discrimination, combination, and judgment are all tasked as variously and as severely in the gener- alizations and judgments of physics as in those of grammar and hermeneutics. His argument is more in- genious and plausible than convincing. The author of a very interesting and able Article on " Science in Schools," in a recent number of the Londo7i Quarterly Review — October, 1867 — argues very ably and ingen- iously in favor of introducing the physical sciences into the school and university curriculum. He contends with Spencer that, if rightly taught and allowed as large a place in the curriculum as the classics, they cannot fail to discipline the mind as effectively as these, for the uses of society and of life. At the same time he has the good sense to see and the boldness to say that unless they can be taught in this thorough method, they might, for all educational purposes, as well not be taught at all. He reasons with masterly and convincing power against the practice of teaching the elements of the sciences by compends or brief courses of lectures as tending only to superficialness and conceit. Our own opinion may be expressed in the remark that Natural History should be taught to children and AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 6 1 youth in the preparatory school, but Natural Science, with the exception of mathematical and mechanical physics, should be deferred till the very latest period of the college course, and cannot be taught even then with any success, except so far as its fundamental principles, and so to speak, its logical and scientific relations, are concerned. The mastery of its details and even a fa- miliarity with the application of its principles to partic- ulars must, of necessity, be referred to the Special Schools of Technology or Applied Science ; that is, it must be made a part of special as contrasted with gen- eral or liberal training. For example. Botany and Mineralogy wdth the elements of Geology, especially Botany, are branches which can be acquired in early life, — which is the observing period, — provided an excit- ing interest can be aroused in their objects. We can- not estimate too highly the habits which are induced by these studies, or the tastes which they awaken and re- fine. The nice eye for analysis, the attentive eye for research, the enterprise and self-reliance required for open-air excursions, the elevating influences that come from a contact with the purity and beauty of nature, and the habits of ready tact and rapid induction which such studies and researches involve, are all invaluable features of the character, and leave priceless treasures for life. No one can appreciate more highly than we the tastes and aptitudes of the enthusiastic naturalist, whether seen in their blossom in the youthful votary, or in their ripeness in the matured philosopher. We would therefore insist that these sciences should be studied thoroughly in the preparatory education, so far as they are mainjy sciences of observation and of fact. Besides 62 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES the advantages of which we have spoken, they tend to obviate and correct certain one-sided tendencies of the mere student of books and of words. They rub off his pedantry and take down his conceit. They relieve the tedium and monotony of the grammar and the dic- tionary. We might connect with Botany the elements of Vegetable Physiology, so far at least as the processes of growth and culture are concerned. There is no ob- jection to introduce at this stage the elements of exper- imental Chemistry and perhaps of animal Physiology, to awaken curiosity and stimulate wonder and reverence. But further than this we would not go, because the phil- osophical or generalizing power is not sufficiently de- veloped to grasp or appreciate the truths or relations of natural science properly so called. Science of any kind cannot be scientifically taught unless it can be scientifically received ; and in order to be scientifically received the recipient must have been trained to dis- criminate and to generalize, to construct and to judge. The devotee and expert in chemistry, geology, and physiology, is so entranced with the wonders of his fa- vorite pursuit, and so interested in the processes re- quired for successful research and experiment, as well as in the products which these researches and experi- ments evolve, that he cannot conceive it possible that any mind at any stage of culture should fail to be ex- cited by his own enthusiasm and be stimulated to his favorite labors. He says to himself and to the public : " Only give me the same opportunitities which the teacher of words has so long asserted to himself, and the training which I will effect will be as much more complete than any which the old systems have accom- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 63 plished, as the products are more useful and instructive. Only give me a college in which Chemistry and Physi- ology, Mechanics and Geography, Mineralogy and Ge- ology shall take the place of the Classics, and I will produce enthusiastic students and splendid philoso- phers." He tries the experiment, but the difficulty is still encountered to awaken enthusiasm and scientific power in undisciplined or half-disciplined minds — to stretch a narrow intellect wide enough to receive a large truth, or to understand and appreciate the manifold reach of philosophical relations. We venture to say that in every instance in which a scientific education has been substituted for one that is classical or liberal, there have been as many failures of the highest conceivable success as are charged upon the colleges. The classes have contained their due proportion of dullards and laggards^ and this not for the reason that such long for other forms of intellect- ual activity, but because they self-indulgently dislike any activity at all, or are naturally slow and dull, or have been forced — more usually have forced themselves — into studies for which they are not prepared by the mastery of their elements. Scientific and Technological schools, we are confident, do not show a better average of dili- gence or of success, than do the classical and liberal, where everything else is equal. It will even be found that a curriculum consisting exclusively of scientific and useful studies, if equally elementar}', equally long, equally thorough, and equally remote from any foreseen applications in life, will awaken less interest and zeal and emulation, than a curriculum of exclusively clas- sical and literary' subjects, and this for the two-fold reason 64 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES that the study of nature, as natural history, requires special tastes, which are as limited in their prevalence as they are intense in their energy — and that the power to grasp the sciences of nature is as slow and late in its development, as it is comprehensive and splendid in its rare jDerfection. The introduction of Natural Science and of Modern History into the curriculum at Oxford has not sensibly increased the number of studious or " honor men," if we may trust a writer in Macmillan's Magazine for De- cember, 1869, who gives statistics in support of his as- sertions. " Speaking roughly," he says, " not more than one man in three goes in for ' honors' in any * school' at the degree examination ; and it is remarka- ble that, after considerable fluctuation, the proportion is nearly the same as it was thirty years ago, though in 1853 the new, and as it was thought, attractive subjects of Natural Science and Modern History were added to the curriculum." (Study a?id Opinion at Oxford.) We contend, moreover, that such a training, if it were more uniformly successful in its results, would not as a discipline take the place of that which the study of lan- guage imparts and involves, for the reason that it neither requires so subtle a use of the intellect, nor one that is so manifold and various. The Physical sci- ences do indeed bring us in contact with 7iature^ and in- vite us to discover or contemplate her laws. But Lit- erary studies confront us with man as exhibited either in the refined relations of thought and feeling that have been inwrought into the structure of language, or in the expressions of thought and feeling that are enshrined by literature. They are properly and preeminently hu- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 65 man and humanizing studies, inasmuch as the}^ contin- ually present man to us in the various workings of his higher nature. Hence they prepare us for the more abstruse and formal study of man, for the science of the soul in all its forms and applications, as psychology, ethics, politics, law, and sociology. Man and nature are alike the works of God. The science of each nat- urally leads us to God, but surely neither the mechanism of the masses of the universe, nor the chemistr}^ of its molecules, nor the history of the development of its forces, are better fitted to bring us any nearer to Him than the constitution and workings of the soul, with its manifestations in literature, and its developments in hu- man history. From whatever point of view we regard the stud}" of the sciences, especially those which have been so greatly enlarged in the present century— as Chemistry, Miner- alogy, Geology, and Physical Geography, Zo51ogy, Bot- any, with Practical Engineering and Practical Astrono- my — the only course which is practicable is to teach their fundamental principles in the college, and their details and applications in a special school of Science or of Technolog^^ To attempt any other course is alike disastrous to the interests of Education and of Science. The man who would be accomplished in any of these sciences, must, in a certain sense, become a devotee, sometimes almost a martyr, to its cause. He must accumulate vast stores of facts and details, must reduce them to classified order, must retain them within his grasp, must pursue inquiries and researches of his own, and must be alert to receive and record the rejDorts of those of others. Hence, other things being equal, he 56 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES has the greater need of a previous general discipline and culture. If he is to be a philosopher, in distinc- tion from a scientific artisan, he will gain more than al- most any other class of professional men from a pre- liminary and classical course such as the college furnishes, for the reason that his subsequent pursuits tend to withdraw him more entirely from the field of general culture. The Scientific School does well to supply these defects, so far as it may, by combining with its more thorough training in the special sciences, instruction and discipline in the languages and litera- ture, in history and philosophy, but it cannot give the breadth and energy which the larger and more liberal discipline of the college is fitted to impart. But the Scientific School itself presents the best evidence of the truth that a course of a liberal training is preemi- nently fitted to qualify the student to make the most rapid and successful progress in pure and applied science. The well-trained graduate^ of a college with strong sci- entific tastes, will often in a few months overtake and surpass his companion who has had an apiDrenticeship of years in exclusively scientific activities. His pow- er of analysis and method, his capacity for easy com- prehension, for wide generalization, and for rapid achievement, as well as his greater subtlety in inter- preting nature, will all be conspicuous. We are well aware that some of the most distinguished philosophers in the special sense of the term, in the new and the old world, have had no advantages of classical or academ- ical training. We remember that Davy and Faraday, began their studies in the laboratory ; but these most gifted geniuses would have shone no less brightly in the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 67 domain of philosophy, had they been discipHned in other directions earlier in life, as they themselves would have been the foremost to acknowledge. If, then, the college teaches the grand sciences of nature, in their principles and leading truths, in their elements and their logic — allowing some range and opportunity for those who have special tastes to cultivate and discipline — and then provides special schools in which these sciences may be thoroughly mastered in a scientific and tech- nical way, it does all that it ought. To attempt to bring the two curricula into close relations, or to force them into unnatural and incongruous alliances, is to injure both sciences and discipline, as well as to assume higher functions and a more pretentious name than the college can lawfully claim for itself. That there is no magic — except the magic of pretension — in the name of a university, without a preparation for its appropri- ate instruction on the part of professors and hearers, we shall endeavor to show in its proper place. The only branches or departments of study which remain for us to consider, are the Mathematics and General Physics. These two are so closely connected that they may be regarded as one. We have already noticed the fact that the advocates of the so-called useful studies always include in them both Mathemat- ics and Physics, and that the real or technological schools invariably comprehend in their curriculum the pure mathematics, and often require the study of the most refined branches of the same. But the pure mathematics, both elementary and advanced, are the least directly practical of any sciences. It is only be- cause of their necessity as the foundation of the ap- 6S THE AMERICAN COLLEGES plied sciences and arts, that they are so readily admit- ted into the circle of practical and useful knowledge. The opponents of classical and humanistic studies are heard occasionally to insist upon the discijDlinary influ- ence of the mathematics, and to contrast them with the languages in this respect. Whenever they do this they forsake the ground on which they usually plant themselves, that no studies are to be pursued solely or chiefly for their disciplinary value. We observe, again, that in our country there are very few persons who insist on the entire disuse of the classics in favor of the mathematics. The only repre- sentatives of a view so extreme are the guardians of the Academy at West Point. But even they do not hold the opinion that the curriculum in that institution is a model for general education, but only that it is the best adapted as a training for military life. Whether they are wise in this opinion is a question open to discus- sion. We have no occasion to discuss this question here. The other alternative opinion is held only in limited circles. The University of Oxford and a few of the great schools of England alone give excessive and almost exclusive jDrominence to the classics. It deserves to be noticed that in the colleges of this country the Mathematics and Physics have had the pre- ponderance over the classics, and that of late they have been rather gaining than losing ground. That they ought to be retained and cultivated will be questioned by none. That they ought to be exclusively or chiefly pursued, is believed by few. The precise proportion which they should claim in a curriculum, we will not here discuss. We have already adverted to the fact AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 69 that were we to estimate the usefuhiess of a branch of study by the number of persons who pursue it with en- thusiasm and eminent success, the mathematics would fall far behind the classics. It was not only true of the college class of which President White was a member, but it is true of all college classes, that those who dis- like the mathematics greatly outnumber those who dis- like the classics ; yet the advocates for congenial or utilitarian studies, do not usually recommend that the mathematics should be abandoned, because they are abstruse and unpractical. The reasons are obvious : the mathematics are essential that the students may master what is called science, and must be studied whether they are liked or disliked ; or the mathematics must be learned in order that the mind of the pupil may be disciplined to that acuteness and self-control which the higher scientific investigations and processes impera- tively require. In either view, the principle is admitted by those who profess to reject it, that knowledge and study may be disciplinary when they are not directly useful. Throughout our discussion, thus far, we have assumed that certain studies may be of the greatest value for discipline which possess no other obvious and direct utility. This is denied or overlooked by many ; or at least it is urged that if a study is also useful, this does not hinder it from being also disciplinary. It is also urged that the range of studies which are both useful and disciplinary is so large that no study should be se- lected for its disciplinary utility alone. We have seen that this rule is not adhered to in the case of the math- ematics, even by the doughtiest champions of utility. 70 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES We are tempted to add a word here in defense of the opinion that certain studies ought to be pursued, chiefly because of their disciphnary value. Its truth will be more manifest from the consideration that the employ- ments and sports of childhood and youth are chiefly disciplinary and gymnastic in their influence and effect. The acquisition of permanent stores of knowledge is not the best result of the restless sportiveness of child- hood, and the unceasing excitements of youth ; they are the sagacity, the self-reliance, the quickness and self-control, and every other good habit which is gath- ered from those bright and busy years. The school-life of the child and youth is not so valuable for the knowl- edge which it imparts as for the power and skill to which it trains. What the boy brings away in his mem- ory, whatever be the subject studied, is worth some- thing ; but compared with the many years of study, and the multitude of lessons repeated, these acquisitions are but meager. What he gains in the power to learn, to judge, and to apply are acquisitions that cannot be esti- mated too highly. The man, when mature, can quickly master the lesson, or analyze the argument, or resolve the problem which would have cost him many a weary hour in his childhood, and he imagines that some method should and may be devised by which the forces of childhood should be more economically utilized. The child, he reasons, has time enough to learn a whole en- cyclopaedia of facts, and it is a pity and a shame that he does not. Only put him wisely to school, and give him the right description of facts, and he will bring away un- told treasures for his manhood. Perhaps he may, but if he is not also disciplined to the power to master and hold AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 7 1 these facts, of what avail are his lessons and opportu- nities ? By the same method of reasoning it follows that if he learns these facts in such a way as not to train his powers to judge, discriminate, and reason, his child- hood and youth, however richly freighted with facts and information, will have been almost wasted. We contend that if most of the employments and sports of childhood and youth are chiefly valuable so far as they are disciplinary to power and goodness, the presumption is, that in the studies of school and col- lege life, the same principle will hold good. Unless it can be decisively proved that the so-called useful studies are as efficient in their disciplinary capacity and effect, it forms no objection to a study that its acquisitions cannot be used. Its acquisitions of the noble sort cannot but be used. They may not be recorded in the memory indeed, but they are inwrought and ingrained into the very structure of the intellectual and active powers, and they make themselves manifest, not merely now and then when a fact is to be recalled and a date corrected, but on every occasion on which the man is called to think, speak, or write ; to feel, resolve, or act ; to delib- erate, advise, or inspire. Holding these views, we contend that the college training is preeminently desirable for those young men \A\o are destined for an active and hushiess life, and that these least of all should seek for what is called a more practical course of study. The disciplinary studies of the college quicken the intellect and form it to habits of method, of analysis, and of comprehension. Ail of these habits are brought into constant requisition, when practical take the place of speculative questions, and 72 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES men and their relations occupy the chief attention, in- stead of books and literature. The liberal studies of the college are if possible most necessary to those who by the necessities of their future calling are to be de- barred to a great extent from the amenities of literature, and the delights of reading. It is urged by many that for such, a briefer course is more appropriate than that of the college, but cer- tainly without reason. It would seem that for a life which is not to be primarily bookish or literary, the period of exclusive dealing with books and science required in the college is not an hour too long. Ex- perience also confirms this impression by the decisive testimony gathered from a multitude of witnesses, that the young man who leaves college at twenty-one and enters a counting or sales-room, will at twenty-three if diligent and devoted, have outstripped in business capacity the companion who entered the same position at sixteen and has remained in it continuously, while in his general resources of intellect and culture he will be greatly his superior. It is urged more confidently, that while this training should be liberal, it should in some respects be more practical than that which is permitted by the college. Accordingly the school of science or of technology is recommended as preeminently the place of training for those who are to become men of business or gentlemen of leisure. If their career is to be in any sense pro- fessional, as of the engineer, the mining director, the chemist, etc., and the time is limited, the school of sci- ence is to be accepted, but for a business life, the more generous course of the college, including, as it now does, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 73 the modern as well as the ancient languages, is greatly to be preferred for all the reasons which have been sug- gested, provided the person will take the time and has either the taste or the capacity for literary culture. If he must cut short his course of study, notwithstanding the especial need in his case that it be as long as possi- ble, then he must be content with what a briefer course will give him. If he has a distaste for books and some aptitude for mechanics or chemistry, then he may resort to the school of science and a less rigorous course in the languages and the mathematics. In the majority of cases, he should aspire to the severer and more lib- eral training which the classical curriculum furnishes. The world of practical life will take possession of him sufficiently early. It will absorb his energies, and modify his tastes, and occupy his whole being all too soon, and too completely. The future man of business or gentleman, of all other men, in such a country as ours, most needs the college training, and the country in which he is to live requires that he should have it. Thus far our attention has been occupied with the studies pursued in college. We have endeavored to show that the course or curriculum is, in its general features, wisely arranged, and that the prominence given to the classics and mathematics should never be abandoned. These two studies, we believe, must, and ever will, be regarded as the great pillars on which any education which deserves to be called liberal must always rest. The so-called college or university which does not require or presuppose these studies may assume the name of a college or university, but it is true to the meaning and spirit of neither. 4 74 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES But while we defend the curriculum of studies that is enforced in tlie American Colleges, we do not contend that the administration of it is not attended by certain incidental evils against which both instructors and pupils need to be defended by constant alertness and care. There are also many improvements and reforms which can be introduced as the appliances of these col- leges are enlarged ; and as the corps of instruction makes progress in numbers, in cultivation, and in de- votion to its work. We hope also for very great ad- vances from the improved cultivation of the community and the quickening influences of a higher civilization. What the colleges need first of all, is a more uni- formly adequate preparation on the part of those ad- mitted to their privileges. Any organized institution of learning must prescribe some conditions of ad- mission, whether one curriculum of studies is enforced upon all, whether it provides for many parallel or optional courses, or whether it admits students for a longer or a shorter period. Just so far as it professes to admit all comers at all stages of preparation, and to teach them any or everything which they need or desire to study, just in that measure is it nearer the chaotic or amorphic condition ; or rather is like one of those reptiles which were supposed to be produced from the slime of the Nile — the foreparts organized, and the re- mainder, as Richard Baxter says, ^^ plahi miidy It being granted that some preparation is required by nature and necessity, and ought therefore to be enforced by law, in order that any course of study may be pur- sued by even a few persons together, it is obvious that the further this preparation is advanced, and the more AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 75 uniformly it is reached, the higher and more complete is the work which the college can do. If the ground- ing or drill work in the classics which is essential to any progress or pleasure in the study of the higher relations of the ancient languages and literature, is not attained in the preparatory school, it must be performed in the college. If the elements of Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry are not thoroughly mastered before enter- ing college they must in some way be taught and learned afterwards, at whatever cost or disadvantage. If a part of the students are well taught, and a large part are imperfectly prepared, the college course must be ad- justed to the average condition of the class, and the disgust, ennui, and negligence of some, and the dis- couragement and disheartening of the others, will be certain to follow. The fact is notorious that the pre- paratory instruction in this country is not uniformly good, nor is it likely soon to become so. It is not easy for one college alone, nor for many combined, to bring it up to any desired or uniform standard. So many appli- cants for admission do, in fact, in a good measure over- come and outgrow the disabilities which are incident to this imperfect preparation, that it is impracticable to arrest many in their course, especially if through pov- erty or advanced age they have reason for pressing into the college. The door which is open widely enough to admit such persons, and with no very serious incon- venience to them, must admit others who cannot or will not redeem the promises which they make or the hopes which they excite. A brief or even a protracted exam- ination, conducted under the most favorable circum- stances, is not always a fair test of actual knowledge, 76 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES capacity, or promise. Least of all is it when it is ap- plied to strangers under the special embarrassments which attend their entrance into college. It may even be unfair and unjust in proportion to its minuteness and fullness, if it is conducted in the narrow or in- human spirit of a school pedant or martinet. But the explanation of how it happens that so many enter col- lege without being prepared for its studies does not in the least reheve or remove the evil. It does, however, remove the responsibility from the college itself for doing so much of that school and drill work which it ought not to be obliged to do at all, and for failing to do some of that liberal and intellectual work which is more appropriate to a higher institution. We cannot separate the higher from the lower institutions of the country ; nor, again, the education of either from the education imparted by its general culture and its com- mon life. The evils comjDlained of cannot be wholly, nor can they be immediately remedied, by one college nor by all the colleges united. Much of this improve- ment depends on the general culture of the community. So far as the respon'sibility rests upon the managers of the colleges, they ought to employ and combine all their efforts not so much for an ampler as for a better preparation in the classics and the mathematics. Nor should the improvement be confined to these studies. The incapacity of many students to turn the college curriculum to better advantage, results from their deficiency in general culture and the discipline and refinement which such a culture involves. The power of a college to impart is limited by the capacity of the student to receive and appropriate its manifold AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 77 educating influences. The incapacity of the student to receive may arise as truly from his ignorance of English Grammar and Geography, of History and Rhetoric, and even of Natural History, as from his weakness in Arith- metic or the Latin Grammar. Not a few students who are entirely competent to pass the prescribed exam- ination with credit, — of the vulgar rich as well as the vulgar poor, — are so illiterate and uninformed in their general culture, and so unrefined in their tastes, as to be almost incapable of taking that higher polish which the college curriculum and the college life are fitted to impart to a receptive and refined nature. If the col- leges are to aim to become more positively refining and liberal in their culture, they will need youths v/hose general as well as special training has been liberal and refined both at school and at home. No object seems to us more important or more easily within reach than to elevate and improve the secondary or preparatory schools in these respects, as well as in the thoroughness of their scholarship. The most dis- tinguished and the best endowed of these seminaries have confined their attention and efforts too exclusively to the aim of grounding their pupils in the classics and the mathematics. They have made their curriculum too exclusively a drilling, process. Abundant studies in history and geography, especially of the ancient world, ought to be connected with the drill work of the grammar and the blackboard. The analysis of Latin and Greek sentences should be enlivened and made intelligible by the analysis of English sentences and phrases as well. The stiflhess and drj-ness of the ancient classics, especially when painfully and slowly 78 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES construed, would be greatly alleviated by the concur- rent study of a living language. The work of Latin composition might be brought home to the compre- hension and made easy and familiar to the associations by the daily practice of French and even of English composition and phrase-making. The neglect of all these appliances and conditions of general culture in too many of the so-called classical schools of this country is inexcusable. So long as this neglect con- tinues, the colleges must suffer under reproaches which should not properly rest upon them. The advocates and laudators of our public school system as being so ample and efficient for general culture, ought to inquire how it happens that the system which they assert per- forms so important a service for the whole community, does not provide the college Freshmen with a more familiar knowledge of the so-called English branches and the English language. Surely the classical schools and the classical colleges are not wholly at fault, that the attainments of so many who have made the circuit of the public as well as of the special schools, are so pitiably low when they enter college. But the call and the opportunity for improvement, and it may be for reform, are not all within the preparatory schools. The colleges themselves, we believe, may do much to improve their methods of teaching the studies of their curriculum. It does not follow because the first and direct service of this course is disciplinary, that it ought not also to be intellectual and elevating. On the other hand, we contend that, as in the general education of childhood, the disciplinary and enforced should gradually pass over into the intellectual and the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 79 voluntary ; so in the special education of the college the drill-work should at each successive stage give ampler and still ampler place for the reflective and aesthetic activities of the pupil. In the mathematics there is less room for such a pro- gress. The pure mathematics can never be anything but a pure g}'mnastic to sharp analysis, to severe ab- straction, and, above all, to persistent and sustained attention. Their charms must always be severe ; the lights which they reflect must ever be colorless and dry. The practical uses to which they may be turned in men- suration and physics cannot divest them of that rigid severity which pertains to their very essence. The /al?or ipse voluptas in this discipline comes from the consciousness of power and from skill in invention. Upon the principles of the advocates for useful studies the mathematics should not be enforced at all. But even on the theory that many studies are valuable chiefly as a g}^mnastic — " the grindstone theory," as Mr. Atkinson calls it — it deserves to be considered whether the mathematics are not carried too far for their highest efficiency in a general course ; whether excessive tedi- ousness and painful drudgery are not sometimes the effects of driving a class into too minute calculations, or vexing them with manifold problems. The too much is better than the too little, but the danger is that a fac- titious importance may be attached to these studies which is derived from the axiomatic assumptions of the self-styled men of science that the mathematics are for no reason to be curtailed — that the more the student has of their abstractions, the more concrete, practical, and useful is his training. The students, not looking at the 8o THE AMERICAN COLLEGES matter from this point of view, may not be animated with a kindred enthusiasm for a period indefinitely long. We advocate most earnestly an enforced and rigorous mathematical discipline, but in a course of gen- eral education we would not have it uselessly or injuri- ously prolonged. Let it terminate when its best dis- ciplinary work is done. The college is not bound to yield to the exactions of the scientists, and prepare all its pupils for the principia of Newton or the calculations of La Place. We would propose that the quantum of Mathemat- ical study should be regulated as follows. In the pure mathematics let the principles of Algebra be taught with a sufficient number and variety of problems to illustrate the matter and to test the powers. The more intricate formulas and the more subtle analyses should be re- served for honor classes or sub-classes who might ac- complish their extra work in the same number of les- sons which are allowed to those whose tastes and pow- ers are less decidedly mathematical. Geometry might be divided into the Synthetic and Analytical, the first being required from all, the second from the select or honor students only. Trigonometry and Conic Sections should be required, because both are essential for Physics and Astronomy, but neither should be pushed for the unmathematically gifted any further than is essential for effective discipline. The Calculus should not be attempted except by the few. By the same rule Math- ematical Physics and Astronomy should be arranged for two grades of students. Whether the more extended and minute course should be limited to honor students or be reserved as an extra or perhaps an elective study AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 8 1 must depend upon considerations which will vary in dif- ferent cases. We urge this modification for the reasons already suggested. While the mathematical discipline is ener- getic and specific in its character, its efficiency is soon exhausted for those minds to whom it is for any reason positively offensive, whether from defect of capacity or defect of early application. We may explain the fact as we will, the fact remains indisputable, that to many college students who are conscientious and diligent, the mathematics are more or less of a weariness and an offense. They neither quicken nor discipline the mind that is forced to efforts to which it cannot arouse itself or is tasked with problems which it cannot master. To certain attainments such persons may and should be constrained, but these attainments should be within their comprehension and mastery. To drive this class of students hither and thither, backwards and forwards, through a maze of which they cannot steadily follow the clue and along thickets whose thorns they cannot avoid, is contrary to the wisest economy in the ad- ministration of disciplinary studies. While we cannot share in the depreciation of the mathematics which too many classicists and humanitarians advocate, we do not deny that their best results would be more effectually ac- complished, if the intellects of fewer of the unmathe- matical by nature were less perseveringly bewildered and obtunded by the prolonged infliction of hopeless tasks and demonstrations, in which for them nothing is so clearly demonstrated as their incapacity to master them. The drill-work of classical study might also be ex- 82 ' THE AMERICAN COLLEGES changed by degrees for those higher enjoyments to which the ancient writers invite when their works are read as hterature, or are studied with logical or aesthetic analysis, or are recited with a distinct regard to rhetor- ical praxis and improvement. Here the question presents itself, whether the mere grammatical analysis has not been pushed to a one-sided extreme so as to be over- refined, unnecessarily complicated, and unreasonably prolonged ; whether in the modern form in which it is taught, it is not both prematurely enforced and unwisely continued ; and whether "the importance which is at- tached to it has not seriously interfered with some more important benefits which might be derived from another method of classical study. When we speak of the modern form of classical grammar, we refer to those etymological analyses and constructions which are better fitted to interest comparative philologists than tyros in the Latin and Greek derivations and paradigms, and to those syntactical rules which are more easily fol- lowed by the philosophical grammarian or the meta- physical student of language, than they can be by the less advanced pupil. The modern system is immensely superior to the ancient in its gymnastic results, and, in- deed, to those who can compass it, in its logical and psychological discipline. But it is an open question which we desire may be definitely proposed and thor- oughly discussed, whether this gymnastic is not some- times premature and over driven, and whether in some of its consequences it does not supersede very important influences of classical study, as well as weaken faith in, and enthusiasm for, classical study itself. Prof. Francis Bowen's remarks upon this point seem AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 83 eminently worthy of attention. " Formerly we studied grammar in order to read the classics ; now-a-days the classics seem to be studied as a means of learning grimraar. Surely a more effectual means could not have been invented of rendering the pupil insensible to the beauties of the ancient poets, orators, and historians, of inspiring disgust alike with Homer and Virgil, Xeno- phon and Tacitus, than to make their words mere pegs on which to hang long disquisitions on the latest re- finements in philology, and attempts to systematize eu- phonic changes and other free developments of stems and roots. '^ " Classical learning seems to me to have steadily declined in this country of late years, in re- spect both to the number of its votaries and to its estimation with the public at large, just in proportion as its professors and teachers have diminished the time and effort bestowed on reading the classics, in order to enforce more minute attention to the mysteries of Greek accentuation and the metaphysics of the sub- junctive mood." (Classical Studies, pp. 23, 24.) The protest in Great Britain is equally earnest and strong against the use of a cumbrous grammar — whether the old or the new — at the beginning of the study of Latin and Greek, and the continuance of this use so as to displace the extensive reading of classical authors and the acquisition of a coj)ious vocabulary of Greek and Latin Avords. In the opinion of many, the cause of classical learning is brought into serious danger from the two-fold exposures arising from verse compo- sition and "high grammar." Matthew Arnold insists that as the result of the present discussions, "for the mass of boys the Latin and Greek composition will be 84 * THE AMERICAN COLLEGES limited as we now limit our French, Italian, and German com.position, to the exercises of translation auxiliary ra acquiring any knowledge soundly ; and the verbal schol- arship will be limited to learning the elementary grammar and common forms and laws of the language with^^ thoroughness which cannot be too exact, and which may easily be more exact than that which we now at- tain with our much more ambitious grammatical stud- ies." (Schools and Universities, etc., p. 266.) In the best American colleges the grammatical anal- ysis is far more minute, comprehensive, and philosoph- ical than it was twenty years ago. No one can doubt that as a gymnastic it is far more efficient, and that the student brings away from it a far more perfect disci- pline, as well as a better grounded knowledge of the history and structure of the languages themselves. This discipline has been of immense service to those who have taught the languages to others, as well as to all who have proceeded to the study of special or gen- eral philology. It is questionable, however, whether it has conduced to a better knowledge of the Latin and Greek literature, or to a warmer enthusiasm for the reading of the ancient authors. It is contended by its defenders that the decline of zeal and activity in these directions is owing to many causes, and that among them the modern methods of teaching cannot be enumerated. We will not discuss the question here. We observe, how- ever, that since the introduction of the modern system, the lessons in the classics have been materially shortened, and the use of translations has become frightfully preva- lent. The lessons must be short, if the whole of each is to be afialyzed by the student in the class-room. The AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 8$ construing of a short lesson can be easily mastered by the aid of a translation. But to read several pages with a translation must be very onerous, and the indo- lent and self-indulgent would soon find that it saves little, if any, labor. The superior scholars are soon at home in the more frequently recurring relations of etvmology and syntax, and they readily master the short exercises for translation, whether they do or do not resort to an English version. As a consequence, after they reach a certain point of attainment their energies are occupied in other directions. They either tire of classical study, or fail to be inspired with a high literary interest in it. The scholars of a middling rank use translations without scruple, and expend their chief energies upon the ever recurring analysis. By dint of effort they, in a sort, master it, but it is at the sacrifice of what, at a certain stage of the mind's development, is of greater importance to the general scholar. The dull labor on in the same painful round, with scarcely a gleam of light. Poor fellows ! They get little comfort from the grammar, but perhaps they might learn to read their " small Latin and less Greek" with some satisfaction, if there were more of both as- signed them. The negligent rely on their tact at im- provising, being guided by familiarity with the teacher's oft returning questions, and hastily run over the short lesson of the day with the help of an English version. We offer with diffidence our own opinion, but would propose, however, that the following experiment should be fairly tried. Let the time of short lessons and of special analysis terminate with the Freshman year or a little later. To grammatical exercises, as a chief matter, and Jo the hopelessly dull or wilfully negligent who have 86 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES failed thoroughly to master them, we would say, " There is a time for all things ; the grammar has had its chance for you, and you have had your chance at the gram- mar." Let both go their own way. They must give way to something better : xaiQirmoav. For the remain- der of the course let the lessons be very long in com- paratively easy Latin and Greek authors. Let them be so long that the use of translations shall be either superfluous or even burdensome. Let the ^^pofiies'^ and the '^ pigmies'^ who ride upon them, be fairly drowned out by the quantity of the text which is assigned to be read. Let the attention be directed to the import of the matter, to the logical connections and transitions of the thoughts, to the peculiarities of diction, and to a constant praxis in felicitous and idiomatic English ren- dering ; the possibility being always held in reserve and not sparingly applied, of exposing presumption and neglect by test questions in respect to grammar or meaning. Let the examinations be rigid upon the in- structions and analyses of the teacher, and let rapid and current reading be encouraged, with frequent re- views, for the sake of enlarging one's vocabulary. Let reading by phrases and by the eye, without reconstruct- ing the words after the English order, be recommended and enforced. Let an intellectual spirit, and an aesthetic feeling for the peculiarities in thought and diction of the author read, be earnestly fostered. It seems to us that the experiment deserves to be tried, and that it could not fail to be attended with gratifying success. Should this experiment be thought too radical, it might be tried occasionally, by giving up to it the whole or a part of a college term. Or after the end of the Fresh- man year the two descriptions of lessons and examin- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 87 .ations might be interchanged ; longer or shorter periods Deing allotted to each, at the instructor's discretion. The question also deserves to be considered whether tne interests of classical education have not suffered very seriously by commencing the study of Latin and Ureek too early, and thus burdening the school and college life with a tedium and monotony inseparable irom early school lessons in languages remote from iamiliar associations, and from the continuance of les- sons in the same language for a period of ten or twelve years. If classical studies were delayed to the age of fourteen or fifteen, and meanwhile the youths were thor- oughly drilled in a single living language, and taught to write and speak it correctly and readily, the Latin and Greek themselves would be commenced with very great advantage, and would be prosecuted with a far more intelligent and freshened interest. We are quite cer- tain, that, so far as the objections to the study of the classics have any show of reason, they are derived from imperfect methods of teaching and studying. Such ob- jections can be effectually answered by a change in these methods ; and he is the truest friend to classical culture and college discipline who holds himself ready to consider how far such changes are expedient or prac- ticable. Our interest in this matter arises from our de- sire that a new enthusiasm may be kindled in classical studies. We are especially desirous that the taste for Greek literature, and the interest in the Greek language, should be fostered in the colleges of this countr}^, as one of the essential conditions of a generous and re- fined culture. The Latin language is so much more thoroughly mastered as less to need fostering care. We trust that the classical teachers will not be 88 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES offended that we invite their earnest attention to the suggestions which we have offered. It is neither to be disguised nor denied that for many reasons the confi- dence of many of our best students in the value of clas- sical studies as pursued in our colleges has, of late, been seriously impaired. The protraction of the school method, the imposition of difficult authors, the confine- ment of the attention for years to refined grammatical subtleties, and above all the failure to encourage the habit of the current reading of easy authors in large qiiajitities^ with chief attention to the meaning^ and con- stajitly to require a free, facile rendering bito idiomatic English, are in part, not wholly, the explanation of this decay of enthusiasm for classical study as a literary discipline. The disciplinary and the philological results of the classical course were never so effective and valu- able as at present. Its literary advantages and what may be called its indirect influence were never greater. What we desire to see reinforced is its direct influence in inspiring a love for the best classical authors and in imparting an enthusiastic desire to read them fluently. We see no reason why, with the greatly in- creased facilities for a thorough grammatical prepara- tion and with the admirable philological and grammat- ical instruction of the Freshman year, this most desira- ble result may not be effected. By curretit reading we mean first, the reading by the eye without the necessity of transposing the words out of their succession ; lit- erally dislocati?ig them in more than one sense of the word, in order to replace them, in the English order — which in this instance is to displace them ; second, we mean the habit of reading without translating the words into the English equivalents. This implies a complete AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 89 familiarity with the common vocabulary of the author read. Facility in these two particulars would of neces- sity involve the capacity to reproduce the sentences of the author in idiomatic if not elegant English, and the habit of current reading would impart facility in idio- matic and felicitous rendering. Habits of reading in this way would favor, if they did not compel, a direct and constant attention to the meaning of the author — to his opinions and arguments if the treatise is logical, to his imagery and diction, and also his sentiments and feel- ings^ if he is an historian or poet. To the formation of these habits of classical reading and the achievement of these objects, the authors selected must at first be com- paratively easy, the lessons must be long, and there must be enforced in the preparation for the class-room a con- stant and comprehensive attention to every matter in which a literary critic and a liberal student ought to be interested. Most of all, the habit of frequently review- ing a single easy treatise must be insisted on and se- cured so far as is possible by every form of recom- mendation that can be reiterated and by ever^^ device that can be suggested to make the recommendation effectual. We cite the record of the experience of Daniel Wyttenbach when he returned to the study of Greek a second time. " I took out of a corner Plutarch's treatise on the Education of Boys, and read it once and again, with much effort, but little pleasure. Then I went over with Herodian, which af- forded me a little more enjoyment, but was far from satisfying my mind. I accidentally found, elsewhere, Xenophon's Memorabilia, Ernesti's edition, which I had before known only by name. I was captivated with the indescribable sweetness of that author. The grounds 90 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES of it I better understood afterwards. In studying this treatise, I made it a point never to begin a section with- out re-perusing tlie preceding ; nor a chapter or book, without studying the preceding chapter and book a sec- ond time. Having, at length, completed the work in this manner, I again read the whole in course. It oc- cujDied me almost three months ; but such unceasing repetition was most serviceable to me." How serviceable it proved can best be told in his own words : " All the works of Xenophon, the Memor- abilia excepted, I read four times in four months. I now thought that I could read any author with equal ease. I took up Demosthenes. I had a copy without a Latin translation, but accompanied by the Greek notes of Jerome Wolf. Darkness itself! But I had learned not to be frightened in setting out. I went on. I found greater difficulties than I had ever had before, both in the words, and in the length of the sentences. At last, with much ado, I reached the end of the first Olynthiac. I then read it a second and a third time. Every thing now appeared plain and clear. Still, I did not yet perceive the fire of eloquence for which he is distinguished. I hesitated whether to proceed to the second oration, or agam read the first. I resolved to do the latter. How salutary are the effects of such a review ! As I read, an altogether new and unknown feeling took possession of me. In perusing other au- thors, my pleasure had arisen from a perception of the thoughts and words, or from a consciousness of my own progress. Now, an extraordinary feeling pervaded my mind, and increased with every fresh perusal. I saw the orator on fire, in anguish, impetuously borne for- ward. I was inflamed also, and carried on upon the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. qi same tide. I was conscious of a new elevation of soul and wa9 ^o longer the sa*ne individual. I seemed my- self tc ,i^ X^f.mosthenes, standing on the bema, pourino- htxh this oration, and urging the Athenians to emulate the bravery and glory of their ancestors. Neither did I read silently, as I had begun, but with a loud voice, to which I was secretly impelled by the force and fervor of the sentiments, as well as by the power of oratorical rhythm. In this manner I read, in the course of three months, most of the orations of Demosthenes. My ability to understand an author being thus increased, I took more delight in Homer, whom I soon finished. Afterwards I studied other great authors, with far more profit." These words seem to us to be golden words, and to contain the suggestion of a plan of classical instruction and study which may be enforced with the greatest ad- vantage in the more advanced classes of the American Colleges. While no friend of a sound education would be willing to strike or lower the flag of classical study and culture, at the demand of illiterate utilitarians, it deserves to be asked whether we shall not raise it still higher and fling it more defiantly to the breeze. Let the classics be so studied in our higher classes that they shall be loved and admired as literature, and they will need no argument for their vindication. But we have lingered too long upon this topic. We proceed to consider some of the more general peculiar- ities of the American Colleges. 92 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES III. THE PRESCRIBED CURRICULI \T. The first peculiarity which we shall notice, is ^j\ the same course of study has been uniformly prescribed as a condition for the Bachelor's degree. We say " uni- fonnly^^^ for the exceptions have been so few as scarcely to deserve to be named, and any deviations, when al- lowed for a time, have very soon been abandoned. When we say " has been^^^ we do not include the few years which have just elapsed, within which some influ- ential colleges have abandoned, in part, a prescribed and uniform curriculum, and introduced very largely, the system of elective or optional courses of study. The period in which we are now living is eminently one of reconstruction and experiment, and with its tendencies and movements the colleges seem to have largely sym- pathized. The college which we describe is not the college of the passing year, or of the current five years, but the college of past years, and of the present gen- eration. The theory of education, after which a curriculum of study has been prescribed, has been, that certain studies (among which the classics and mathematics are promi- nent) are best fitted to prepare a man for the most effi- cient and successful discharge of public duty. By " public dnty"we do not mean merely professional duty, but duty AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 93 in that relatively commanding position, which a thor- oughly cultured man is fitted to occupy. By a thor- oughly cultured man we mean a man who has been trained to know himself in his constitution, his duties, and his powers ; to know society in its history and in- stitutions, its literature and art ; and to know nature in its developments and scientific relations. The liberal education which the colleges have uniformly proposed to give is none other than what Milton calls the " com- plete and generous education," that "fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war." It is a very serious mistake to say that, historically con- sidered, the education for which the colleges arranged their preparatory curriculum was what is technically called a professional education, and that these studies are especially necessary for persons destined to one of the three learned professions. It is doubtless true, that the studies of the English universities, from w^hich the American colleges are historically derived, were origi- nally arranged with special reference to the clerical pro- fession, and that to this day some of the peculiarities thus induced have not been entirely outgrown. The first American colleges were also primarily founded as training schools for the clerg}^, but as the other pro- fessions came to require a liberal culture, this special reference to the clerical profession was laid aside. It would be more exact to say that these universities and colleges were at first designed to give a professional as well as a liberal education. To use the language cur- rent in the United States, they combined the function of the professional school with that now assigned to the 94 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES college. But the English universities and the Amer- ican colleges were also designed, from an early period, to educate gentlemen as well as scholars. But inas- much as in the earlier, and in that respect at least the better days, every gentleman was supposed to take some position in society as a legislator or magistrate, a diplo- mat or soldier, the same education was deemed suit- able for all who aspired to what we have called a pub- lic position. These liberal studies were not thought unsuitable even for the duties and station of a mer- chant, especially of one who might be a prince among his fellow merchants in generous tastes, wide infor- mation, courtly manners, and refined accomplishments. Moreover, it ought never to be forgotten that the natural sciences were never formally excluded from the scheme of university studies. Even the scholastics included in their scheme of liberal knowledge the sciences of nature then received, and made an acquaintance with them an essential element of the lib'eral education of their times. The American colleges have done the same from the earliest period. They have never, either in form or in fact, excluded these sciences. Nor is the question now mooted in any of them whether these sciences shall be excluded from the liberal share which they possess of the curriculum. It is whether these sciences are to give law to all the others, whether they shall either occupy the entire field of liberal culture or direct the selection of studies in their own exclusive interest, so that the classics shall give way to French and German, because these last are more essential to the student of nature, and are, as is contended, equally well adapted to gen- eral culture. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 95 We contend that the American colleges have been in the right in requiring a prescribed course of study as the condition for a degree. In support of this opinion we shall offer no extended argument in addition to those we have already presented, but shall occujDy ourselves chiefly with the arguments that are urged against it. If the considerations already urged are admitted to be pertinent and convincing, our argument is complete. If it be conceded that the studies which have been usually prescribed in the American colleges are the best fitted to impart a liberal culture, then it follows that the practice of these colleges in making them the ordinary conditions for the first degree is well grounded and ought to be adhered to. If our argument concern- ing the theory of the curriculum of studies is valid, then these studies ought to be prescribed. There is not a single study that is superfluous. Not one should be displaced, because not one can be spared. The theory of this curriculum has been to provide for all those studies which could properly find a place in a system of liberal culture, or should enter into the scheme of a complete and generous education. The end has not been to train men for the learned pro- fessions as such, but to train for that position in life which many others besides professional men should aim to occupy. For such a position the curriculum has been arranged, not by theorists in education, nor by the traditional adherents to an hereditary system made sa- cred by hallowed associations, but under the just de- mands of public life as tested by long experience and confirmed in the success of many generations. In this curriculum the study of the ancient languages has been 96 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES prominent as training to the power of subtle analysis ; the mathematics, as strengthening to continuity and rigor of attention, to sharp and bold discrimination ; physics, to give power over nature, — real power, as we wield and apply her forces, and intellectual, as we in- terpret her secrets, predict her phenomena, enforce her laws, and re-create her universe ; psychology, that we may know ourselves and so understand the instrument by which we know at all ; ethics, that we may rightly direct the springs of action and subject the individual will to the consecrating law of duty ; political science, that we may know the state as to the grounds and limits of its authority; the science of religion, that we may justify our faith to the disciplined and instructed rea- son ; history, that we may trace the development of man and the moral purposes of God ; logic, rhetoric, and literature, that the powers thus enriched and thus trained may express themselves aptly and skillfully by writing and in speech. When we say this curriculum has been prescribed, we do not mean that the student has been forbidden to pursue other studies, nor that his time has been so en- tirely occupied and engrossed by the regular course as to leave no opportunity for favorite pursuits or general culture. On the contrary, the college course has usually contemplated much additional labor and study, and has encouraged such efforts and indirectly rewarded them by special prizes and honors. Whether or not academic degrees signify little or much, whether they are of greater value or less, it is clear that they are sought for, and are likely to be in the future, and that they ought, therefore, to signify AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 97 something. The something which they should signify is the having pursued with more or less fidelity and success those branches of study which are essential to liberal culture. We do not observe that those who depreciate the meaning and worth of the degree of Bachelor of Arts are any the less anxious or determined that the courses of study which they would substitute shall entitle to this degree, nor are they less affluent in inventing a variety of subordinate and special degrees for briefer and less comprehensive courses of study. The two let- ters B. A. are certainly as significant as B. S., D. S., Ph. B., C. E., M. E., if they are not as valuable. A strong pressure is just now applied to induce the colleges to abandon both the theory and the practice of insisting on a prescribed course of study. Some are very urgent that students should be freely admitted to the instructions of the college in any single branch, pro- vided they are qualified to receive such instruction, even though they may be unable or disinclined to pursue the other studies that are required for a degree. Others in- sist that no course of study should be prescribed as the condition for any academic honor, but that instruction should be freely dispensed to all who are qualified to appropriate it ; examinations being held as a test of progress and acquisition in the departments selected. Others contend that several parallel courses of study should be assigned, at the completion of any of which the student should receive the same or a different de- gree. Others propose that the course should in' part be prescribed and in part be elective, so that within the limits assigned the pupil may freely select the studies 5 98 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES which may please him best, and on passing his exami- nations shall receive the common degree. It is contended by the advocates of these several propositions that in these ways we can exalt the college into a university and invest it with the dignity, the priv- ileges, and, above all, with the freedom, which are sup- posed to belong to an institution with the more high sounding name. All these projects do indeed propose to attach to the college some of the features which properly belong to the university, viz. : freedom of election, the gratification of special jDreferences and tastes, real or supposed^ and a direct preparation for the student's contemplated profession or business in life. But they all fail to provide or require the feature which gives the university its dignity and invests its name with special honor, and that is a thorough discipline pre- viously undergone and a liberal culture already attained. These are indispensable before the student is fit to ex- ercise the freedom, to use the selection, or aiopreciate the instructions which belong to the university. A university consisting of uncultured and undisciplined youths, whose conceit may be supposed to be in direct proportion to their ignorance, and whose self-confidence springs out of their lack of knowledge, is the less to be desired for the highest ends of a university exactly in proportion to the amplitude of its endowments, the brilliancy and learning of its professors, and the san- guine hopefulness of its numerous friends. Its theory is false and its fruits must be disappointing. It can only become what it calls itself when it shall have de- veloped within itself a college or school of liberal arts which shall train fit pupils for its university classes, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 99 and when it shall have employed in its several schools the curricula and methods which are suitable to each. We grant that it may be desirable to establish insti- tutions in the large cities and in the newer portions of our country, on the principle of teaching a little of ever)'thing that those students may wish to study whose elementary education is deficient and whose time of attendance on either liberal or professional studies must be short. A little knowledge and a little study may be of the greatest service to persons eager to learn. Large endowments, distinguished professors, ample mu- seums, and abundant apparatus may serve to quicken the intellects and to stimulate the zeal of the strong- minded and strong-hearted young men to whom poverty, early toil, or misfortune have abridged the period of school and college culture. The colleges in the newer States, which have a small number of students in their regular course, have acted wisely and beneficently in al- lowing the attendance of irregular and optional pupils, so far as this did not interfere with the efficiency and prestige of the liberal curriculum. What we do not ap- prove, is the dignifying of institutions of any kind with the name of universities, when they lack the one fea- ture which gives to the university all its dignity and pe- culiar meaning, and that is the presence of a considera- ble body of students of liberal culture who are prepared by that culture to select some higher department of knowledge and to pursue it under the teachers of their choice, by free and independent methods of study. For example : The Michigan University has been more than once especially extolled as till recently the only real university in the United States, and no measured lauda- lOO THE AMERICAN CO'LLEGES tion has on this account been bestowed upon the insti- tution and the enterprising State which endowed it. This has been done by gentlemen of eminent literary culture and of high position in older institutions. We have never been able to learn any reason for these en- comiums upon this institution, nor why it \spar hninence a university in comparison with Harvard, except that while it furnishes a considerable number of well quali- fied professors in many departments of knowledge, the students are permitted to some extent to attend upon more or fewer of these courses at will, without the con- dition of previous training in the liberal arts. Other institutions claim that as compared with this relatively conservative university they are entitled to be called universities sensii eminentiori, because they impose only the most general conditions and regulations with re- spect to previous preparation or the choice of the de- partments to be studied. ^ They argue, in effect, that is indeed a university which teaches universal knowledge universally — /. e.^ to all comers — in which no man shall be denied who asks to be taught anything. But this feature, so far from elevating into a university what might have been a college, tends to degrade what might be a college into a preparatory school, and even to sink it to the level of those most superficial but most preten- tious things called "business or commercial colleges." The ineffable assurance and the contemptible perform- ance of these peripatetic and short-lived organizations are sufficiently notorious. It ought, as it would seem, to be an axiom in educa- tion that, to successful instruction, the capacity of the school to receive is as essential as the power of the in- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. lOI stnictor to give. Pupils capable of understanding and appropriating what is taught are as necessary as instruc- tors who are qualified to teach. Eminent professors may indeed astonish the beginner by the splendor of their generalizations, the boldness of their theories, the eloquence of their deliver}^, or the perfection of their style. They may quicken and stimulate to industry and ardor. But unless their hearers or pupils are already educated to the capacity of understanding and appreci- ating their teachings, they must be content to be ranked with the brilliant sciolist and the splendid declaimer, even in the judgment of their scholastic audiences, and in the judgment of the public to rank as somewhat lower, or, perhaps, at best, to serve as imposing figure heads to badly trimmed and badly sailing vessels. Such men cannot but be useful indeed, for they will in- sensibly diffuse the spirit and impart the tone of a higher scholarship and culture to not a few of the raw and uncultured pupils who come within their reach. But the partial success of gifted and learned professors, in spite of the defective theory of the institutions with which they are connected, only serves the more strik- ingly to illustrate the essential defects of the system itself. The modification of the college system, which we shall next consider, is that which does not abandon a prescribed curriculum, but makes the college studies largely elective. This does not sacrifice the college to the universit}^ system. It rather combines the one with the other, by introducing some of the features of the university into the system of the college. It requires all the students to pursue a common course up to a cer- tain period. At Harvard College, this continues to the I02 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES end of the Freshman year ; a selection is then allowed, till the end of the course, of any two or three of certain studies, for about two-thirds of the tune, the remaining third being devoted to certain studies pur- sued by the class in common. Prominent among these elective studies are the ancient languages and the mathe- matics, to the end of the course. The arguments urged in favor of this system are these. While it requires all the students to master the elements of liberal knowledge, it does not require that any one study should be pursued to such an extreme as to weary those to whom it is dis- tasteful, or to take the place of studies for which there is a marked predilection or special aptitude. It furnishes the opportunity to the student to make a selection with some reference to his future occupation or profession.' It adopts the happy medium of insisting on the neces- sity of a common groundwork of preparation in disci- plinary studies, and providing for each an election as the tastes and pursuits of 'the pupil may require. It satisfies the devotee of any special department of knowledge by allowing him to follow his favorite stud- ies. It excites him by the emulation and sympathy of fellow students as eager to learn and as ready to labor as himself. It releases the instructor from the intoler- able and disgusting drudgery of enforcing upon the un- willing and incompetent, tasks which they cannot or will not perform, and gratifies him with the pleasure of carrying a few enthusiastic pupils far beyond the ele- ments of the language or science to which he himself is devoted. It tends to enthusiasm in study and is fitted to relieve the college system from the spirit of mechan- ical routine into which it is so apt to fall. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 103 The objections to the scheme are many ; some of them seem to us to be insuperable. They may be ex- pressed briefly thus : The collegiate course will be so seriously shortened and curtailed as to fail of its appro- priate results ; the university course, which it is pro- posed to graft upon it, will be prematurely commenced, and, for that reason, cannot be really successful. Col- lege students, at the end of the Freshman year, are usu- ally incapable of selecting between any two proposed studies or courses of study. They do not know them- selves well enough to be able to decide in what they are best fitted to excel, nor even what will please them best. Their future occupation is ordinarily not so far determined as to deser\^e to be seriously considered. Their tastes are either unformed or capricious and prejudiced ; if they are decided and strong, they often require correction. The study which is the farthest removed from that which strikes his fancy may be the study which is most needed for the student. The pref- erences are also likely to be fickle. The real but un- anticipated difiiculties which are revealed by trial will occasion discontent and vexation, or some new discov- ery concerning the value of a study that has been re- jected, will lead to ennui and discontent. So far as the studies presented for selection are disciplinary, the reasons for jDreferring one above another are not so de- cisive as to warrant any great liberty of election. So far as they are professional or practical, it is not desir- able that these should be entered upon at so early a pe- riod of the education. What might seem to be gained in proficiency or in time, is lost many times over in mental breadth and power by a neglect of the studies I04 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES which are disciplinary and general. The student who begins the study of theology or law in his Sophomore or Junior year, or pursues a course of reading which has special relation to his future profession, in ninety out of a hundred instances becomes a greatly inferior the- ologian or lawyer in consequence, and does not appre- ciably abridge the time required for his professional preparation. By a similar rule, any very special atten- tion to any one of the physical sciences in the way of severe scientific study or of time-consuming occupation, is almost certain to involve a loss in scientific acquisi- tions and eminence at the end of a very few years. The speciality or profession to which a student is to give the best energies and the exclusive devotion of his life, will occupy him soon enough at the latest, and will confine his powers as well as rule his tastes with its ab- sorbing demands. All that he can spare from it in the way of energy, preferences, and time, is, in a certain sense, so much gained to his mental breadth, and, there- fore, to his final eminence. If it can be shown that there is any single course of study which is within the capacities of the majority of students who are properly prepared and who will use ordinary diligence ; which includes no branch of knowledge with which any man of liberal education ought not to be acquainted ; and if also these branches are not prosecuted farther than' is desirable for the ends of such culture ; it follows that such a course of study should be prescribed in every college. This is especially true if it can also be shown that a prescribed course can be so modified as to attain many if not all the advantages which the elective course promises to achieve. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I05 Other objections might be named, as that the intro- duction of elective studies tends to weaken the class feeling, which may be so efficient for intellectual incite- ment and culture, and to interfere with that common life which is so powerful in most of the American col- leges. It must necessarily be complicated in its ar- rangements and operose in its working. It must also require greater energy than can be exacted of any sin- gle administrator who acts as the driving wheel of the class or the college ; or greater united and conspiring activity in the heads of separate departments than can be presumed in ordinary institutions or under the con- ditions of our imperfect humanit}\ It may further be urged that the existence of a prescribed, rather than an elective curriculum in the preparatory^ or the profes- sional school, was originally the result of circumstan- ces and the product of experience. The same circum- stances that compelled and the same experience which taught it at first, will, we believe, require that it be re- sumed as often as the attempt is made to abandon it in any institution which is designed for general culture. The inconvenience will be found to be so great and the advantages so inconsiderable — if, indeed, the disadvan- tages are not so manifold and overwhelming — as to compel a return to what is substantially a uniform and prescribed course. We have intimated that most of the advantages promised by the elective, may be secured by the prescribed curriculum. It does not follow because the same branches of study are pursued that they must be prosecuted by all the students to the same extent or with the same thoroughness. A minimum of classical study may be allowed, while a maximum may be re- I06 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES warded. A passable knowledge of the mathematics may be accepted, while a more thorough mastery of these branches may meet with encouragement and the more difficult problems need be assigned to but few. An arrangement or curriculum of pass studies prescribed for all, which shall be thorough and severe, is not in- compatible with provision for class or honor studies^ which shall be the conditions of academical prizes and distinctions. Private studies may also be provided for, to a limited extent, especially in those branches of liter- ature, English or modern, which are the favorite and not severe occupation of many persons who are not in- clined to the severer efforts required by philosophy or science. The division of classes into subordinate sec- tions, according to attainment, provides for a varying adaptation to different tastes and capacities. Enthusi- asm in study, the want of which is so much to be de- plored, and the maintenance of a high intellectual tone, the presence of which is so greatly to be desired, can be obtained, we believe, as successfully under the prescribed as under the elective curriculum. We have said that in almost every organized institu- tion of education in the civilized world, whether liberal or professional, some curriculum of study is presented as the condition of receiving the honors of the institu- tion, or of being admitted to public employment. The fact that several such courses are united in the same in- stitution makes it to be a university, which is therefore properly conceived when it embraces a collection of schools of learning, in each of which certain studies are prescribed, certain terms must be kept, and certain ex- aminations must be passed, before the pupil can receive AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 107 the certificate or degree which they all contemplate. The fact that in some universities single courses of lec- tures may be attended by those who expect no certifi- cate or degree, has caused the impression to prevail to some extent in this country, that these exceptions exem- plify the rule of university life. Nothing can be more untrue. In the German universities, which constitute with many the beau ideal of what the American colleges ought to become, the great mass of the students attend the lectures which are necessary in order to qualify them to pass the examination which is required before they are admitted to their life career. It is true, a few persons are admitted to the lectures who do not look forward to an examination, and who attend what lec- tures they please, but such are not members of the uni- versity, except they are from a foreign country. In the theory of university instruction and administration, there is no optioji of studies ; the option is between sev- eral instructors in the same department of knowledge, and between a faithful and careless use of its opportu- nities ; the last being no advantage to speak of. Another point still more material to be considered, and one that is almost universally overlooked in this country, is, that in Germany the gymnasium is the coun- terpart of the American college. The proposal in Amer- ica, that the colleges should become universities, is (equivalent to the proposal in Germany that the gym- nasia should be transformed into universities ; that is, that the instruction now given in two or three fidvanced classes of the gymnasium should be omitted in whole or in part, in order that the student might be admitted ,at once to professional or scientific study. Such a Io8 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES proposition in Germany would be received with de- rision. We observe, in passing, that as the gymnasium answers to the American college, so the Realschule cor- respond to the scientific school with us, — rather, to the scientific school as it was originally conceived in this country, for the form which these schools are now taking, e. g.^ the Sheffield School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, brings them somewhat nearer to the gymnasium. But even when the curriculum of these schools shall be extended to four years, and Latin shall be insisted on as a preliminary study, they will scarcely rise higher in their programme than do the real schools of Germany. But these schools, in Germany, prepare for business or practical life only. To matricu- lation and full membership in the university, and to a certificate or degree founded upon an attendance on the lectures in physics, the old-fashioned classical course of the gymnasium is the indispensable prerequisite. It is so because the university' professes to teach Science and not Technology, and to scientific knowledge in the eminent sense, an antecedent preparation of liberal cul- ture is thought to be necessary. Those Americans who plead the German universities as models for our col- leges, could not, therefore, avail themselves of a more unfortunate source whence to derive their tirades against classical study or a prescribed curriculum. They have one feature only which can be thus applied ; the stu- dent is not held to so strict account as in our colleges for his attendance upon lectures or for the use of his time. The principal motives which hold him to his duty are the love of study, and the desire for reputa- tion, which are actively stimulated by a public senti- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I09 ment such as is found in no other country ; and last, not least, by the intimate connection between fidelity in study and his future subsistence, which is so sensitively felt in a country in which the avenues to a decent living are choked by crowds of struggling competitors, and are guarded by numerous artificial barriers. But not- withstanding these stimulants to labor, the success of the German university system is not so remarkable as to justify the confident inferences which are urged by its American encomiasts when they argue that the American college system can only be redeemed by being modeled after its practice. The utmost that Matthew Arnold dares assert to its advantage, is the following : " There are, of course, many idlers ; the proportion of students in a German university who really work, I have heard estimated at one-third ; certainly it is larger than in the English universities." (p. 229.) Mark Pat- tison asserts of the students at Oxford, that seventy per cent, are " idle, incorrigibly idle." If these esti- mates are correct, we are confident that defective as are the operation and results of the American colleges, none of them will present so scanty a proportion of earnest and successful workers as do the English and German universities, while our professional and ad- vanced schools, which should more properly be com- pared with these, would make a much better showing. We speak not of actual attainments, but only of the spirit of labor. How ruinous and demoralizing it would be to allow to the students of the American col- leges the freedom and irresponsibility of the German university, a freedom which would not for a mo- ment be thought of in the g}uiinasium, needs scarcely no THE AMERICAN COLLEGES a moment's thought. Even if the grade of the stu- dents in the university and the college were the same, the circumstances of the two countries are so diverse as to exclude all inferences from the one to the other. The influence of a learned class is with us compara- tively feeble. The pecuniary prizes offered directly to scholastic attainment are far from being tempting. The road is nearly as direct and open to the professions from the log-cabin as from the university ; to political success it is quite as free and as crowded from the one starting-point as it is from the other. The colleges and schools have nothing of the value in the eye of the " pol- iticians" in America, which the university has in the view of the government in Germany, where all the patronage with respect to the more important civil offices, flows in a stream exclusively through the literary institutions, and is determined by the examinations held by the civil au- thorities. These, and manifold other circumstances ex- plain the energy and zeal with which science is pursued in the German gymnasia and the German universities. Were their system very diverse from our own, success with them would be no warrant for success with us. But inasmuch as their system is substantially the same with our own in respect to a prescribed course of study, it may confirm us in the purpose not hastily to abandon a feature which has been almost universally accepted, wherever literary institutions have been instructed by the wisdom, or have stood the test, of time. The results of the experiment of the elective system at Harvard College, as described in the report of the late acting President for 1868-69, are not such as to di- minish our confidence in the views which have been ex- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. Ill pressed. We give this part of the report in full, because of the importance of the subject and the significance of the views it expresses : " The elective system has been in operation long enough to develop both its mer- its and its defects. It has probably disappointed equally its opponents and its advocates. It has not drained the classical departments of such pupils as would have remained in them with honor and profit ; nor has it lowered the standard of scholarship. It is believed that there is at least as much of good work done under the present as under the former regif?ie, and with more alacrity. It is a decided advantage to the working of any department to be relieved of those who dislike it or are unfitted for it. It is impossible that teachers should not do themselves the more ample jus- tice when they have only capable and willing pupils ; and equally impossible that students should not make greater proficiency in such branches as they elect for themselves than in a required course. So far as the election on the part of our students is free, deliberate; and for just cause, these benefits have manifestly at- tended their choice. But a large portion of the stu- dents make their election, not from any conscious taste or preference, but avowedly from considerations of ease, or of rank, or of companionship. As the time for choice approaches, no question is more frequently dis- cussed than the higher or lower rate at which the sev- eral instructors estimate equally good lessons ; and a department is not unfrequently chosen because it is supposed, that, in the College phrase, " the marks run higher" there than in the collateral departments. The very large number of petitions for " a change of elect- 112 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES ive" is the best evidence of the insufficient grounds on which the choice is often made. It must be admitted, also, that the instructors are strongly tempted to do whatever is legitimately within their power to dissuade and discourage all except quick and capable scholars from entering their respective departments ; and a stu- dent of slender ability, but with a sincere and discrim- inating love of learning, may find the course which he would prefer virtually closed against him, or opened to him reluctantly and grudgingly. The undersigned would by no means recommend a return to the old method. The elective system is entitled to a prolonged and thorough trial. It was demanded by the public voice ; it is sustained by the suffrages of many of our wisest and most experienced educators. But, in order to give it a fair and full trial, it should be confined to those who wish to exert the prerogative it gives. It should not be discredited by the haphazard, miscalled choice, which on the first week of a term may crowd one recitation-room with students who, the second week, will be pertinaciously begging to be transferred to an- other. It is recommended that the present, and, when- ever it shall be practicable, a still wider, range of choice be open to all who desire that liberty ; but that there be also established a regular curriculum, not unlike the former required course, which shall be pursued by those who signify no wish to do otherwise. This arrange- ment would restore to the ancient routine of liberal study all who have no special tastes or adaptations, and would at the same time disencumber of indifferent pu- pils the special departments that have been added to the old curriculum'^ AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 113 The opinions and recommendations contained in this extract which are founded upon the actual workings of the elective system should be distinguished from those which are grounded upon other reasons. The wisdom of a regular curriculum for all those who do not desire an election is distinctly recognised. At the same time the frivolous and capricious reasons which excite such a desire in many cases, the unwisdom of the election made, as well as the injurious temptation to which the instructors are exposed to recommend to certain stu- dents total abstinence from their class-rooms, are all em- inently suggestive. An optional system that could be rigidly restricted to those students and those studies between which there exists an irresistible affinity — if it were subordinated to a regular curriculum which should be rigidly enforced in all cases in which no such reason for election could be made to appear, would be attended with few very serious objections, except that the student himself might in many cases be a serious loser. Under such an arrangement the college would give the weight of its influence in favor of what may properly be called the " well rounded" system of studies as the condition of manly and liberal culture. The force of its disci- pline, and the pressure of the joint working of every part of its adjusted machinery would all be brought to bear in one direction, and the confident impetuosity of youthful conceit with its restless desire of change would be quietly regulated. We cannot but hope it is in this direction and after this ideal that the words of the san- guine President of Harvard will be fulfilled, which an- nounce that " the college therefore proposes to perse- vere in its efforts to improve and extend the elective system." 114 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES The reasons which introduce the " therefore" in this announcement are not especially convincing, being made up of pleasant and obvious generalities with a slight glitter of specious humor. For example : " The enforced and uniform curriculum has the merit of sim- plicity. . So had the school method of our grandfathers, — one primer, one catechism, one rod for all children." We beg pardon — we had supposed that the " one rod" was electively reserved for those who especially deserved it — and among other reasons for bad logic. Of bad logic or a misapplied analogy the President's next par- agraph seems to us an example. The adherence by the Americans to the uniform curriculum is cited as an out- growth of the tendency of the Yankee to believe that he can turn his hand to anything, /. ^., the Yankee col- leges have generally confined their students to a fixed course of studies, in the belief that their genius when thus trained would render them dexterous in any spe- cial art without further preparation. The observation, " the vulgar conceit that a Yankee can turn his hand to anything we insensibly carry into high places where it is preposterous and criminal," is better illustrated by those directors of public education who think a Yankee stu- dent is " roundly " developed at a period so much earlier than he is in England or Germany that it is safe to trust him to choose his own specialty some two or three years sooner than is allowed in those countries. " The young man of nineteen or twenty ought to know what he likes best and is most fit for," says the Yankee President. On the contrary, Lord Macaulay, a rather slow Englishman, observes : " We believe that men who have been engaged up to one or two and twenty, in AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 115 Studies which have no immediate connection with the bus- iness of any profession, and of which the effect is merely to open, to invigorate, and to strengthen the mind, will generally be found, in the business of every profession, superior to men who have at eighteen or nineteen devo- ted themselves to the especial studies of their calling." This opinion is expressed in an elaborate and well con- sidered report founded on an actual observation of the results of a special education for the East India service, a service, success in which demands technical studies in a whole family of difficult languages, in a tangled and doubtful history, and a recondite philosophy and theol- ogy. The President says, very truly, " if the previous training" of the young man of nineteen or twenty " has been sufficiently wide he will know by that time whether he is most apt at language, or philosophy, or natural science, or mathematics." "^" — but the conclusion all depends on the if. Whether this is usually the case is the very, and the only point in dispute. We have as yet no satisfactory evidence that the students of Har- vard College at the end of the Freshman year have at- tained to more advancjed acquisitions of knowledge as well as to greater maturity of mind, than is granted to youths in general at this stage of college life. Perhaps it is the expectation that the college can enforce so thorough a classical and mathematical training upon applicants for admission as to be able to terminate the strictly disciplinary course of required studies at the end of Freshman year. If this is so, it would seem to be preferable that a system of special schools — say of Phi- lology, Philosophy, History, Literature, etc., etc. — should be provided, each with its fixed curriculum. This would Il6 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES involve a shortening of the time allotted to both liberal and special education, and this would illustrate another peculiarity sometimes charged upon " the Yankees" — that they shorten the time required for long and de- liberate work. This shortening or condensing process must involve the curtailing of the Latin and Greek, an effect which is open to the objection, made by an acute friend of ours, that it seems hardly worth while to com- mence the study of either Latin or Greek if either or both of these languages are to be prosecuted no further than is provided at Harvard. It certainly would illus- trate still another American peculiarity, the being con- tent with a smattering in studies. It may perhaps be the design at Harvard to absorb the Scientific School into the college, and after the Freshman year to give to modern languages, history and literature, natural history, etc., the time which has hitherto been devoted to the severer occupations, on the theory that the disciplinary and professional studies can be advantageously combined in the college course. Our whole argument has been directed against such a plan and the reasons which we have adduced are not set aside by the remark of the President, that all the studies open to the student " are liberal and disciplin- ary, not narrow and special" ; and again, the requisi- tions for the first degree "are nevertheless high and inflexible, being nothing less than four years devoted to liberal culture." Doubtless all these studies are disci- plinary. That has never been questioned and hardly needed to have been reaffirmed. The question in dis- cussion is, not whether these " modern" and special studies are disciplinary in any degree, but whether they AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 17 are as eminently disciplinary as those for which they are substituted. Or is it desired to transform the col- lege into a continental university as modified by the Yankee device of admitting young students to the elec- tion and the freedom of the university, without that pre- vious discipline or knowledge which is requisite for suc- cess ? Harvard has had for a long time the name of a university, with very much of the reality, in that one of its departments which has followed the methods hitherto characteristic of the college. It would be a public loss and a pity if she should cease to be a college, and fail to be any thing more than the mere semblance of a university. We venture to predict that if the new sys- tem is persevered in. Harvard College will contain three or four sets of students among its undergradu- ates : I St. The devotees of classical learning or of mathematical research, who, in their " small and lively classes" and with the aid of accomplished and earnest teachers, will prosecute their studies with excited enthu- siasm and make brilliant acquisitions ; 2d. The devo- tees of some special branch of Physical Science who wdll pursue their studies either from the excitement of love, or the interest which is derived from their intimate relation to future professional success ; 3d. A higher class than either, viz. : those who by reason of early youthful advantages or precocious genius have the ca- pacity and taste for properly university studies, a great number of which they will select and master ; 4th. A large, inferior, and heterogeneous class, who will select their " electives" with the keenest appreciation of what will yield a living standing at the least expense of labor — camp-followers and stragglers, who will require a vig- Il8 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES orous Provost Marshal to look after and to connect them in reputable relations with the principal battalions. The connection between these several divisions must be loose and uninteresting, the sense of interest in, and re- sponsibility for, the institution as a whole must be weak in the instructors, the common life of the college must be relaxed and feeble in its tone, and the degree with which all the members of these ill assorted classes are to be honored at the close must signify a frightful inequality of opportunities enjoyed, if not of acquisitions actually made. That Harvard College will continue to be an institution of great activity and acquisition in all departments of learning and culture, cannot be doubted ; but that Harvard College will be as useful to the public and to many of its students, as it would be if its awak- ening enterprise and its great resources had been admin- istered on a different theory, we may be excused from believing, without abating in the least our sympathy with the enterprise or our personal respect for the hon- est intentions and public spirit of its guardians — least of all, without diminishing our estimate of the learning and g^enius of its eminent instructors. AND THE AMERICAN FUiJLIC. LI9 IV. TEXT BOOKS AND LECTURES. Another marked peculiarity of the American colleges is the frequent examinations of the students, or the reci- tatmis, as they are called. This feature is almost un- known in the English universities ; the examinations occurring occasionally in the colleges for standing and prizes, say two or three times a 3^ear, and more rarely in the university — at " the Senate House" or in " the Schools" — for university degrees and for the great re- wards that bring fellowships and livings. In the German gymnasia it is rigidly maintained, modified, indeed, by the German methods of giving instruction. In the Ger- man universities frequent examinations are altogether unknown. After the student has passed through the final examination in the gymnasium, which answers to our Bachelor's degree, he is free of all intermeddling except the stern arbitrament which awaits him from the government officials who give him his passport to place and position in life, or the more trying one from the Senatus Academicus which shall promote him to a Doc- tor's hat. In the Scotch universities the examinations are more or less frequent, according to the subject mat- ter, but the instruction is given in large measure by lectures and the final examinations are conducted by the representatives of the professions, for the license to 7 20 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES practice in the guild or the church. In the Queen's Colleges and the London University there are examina- tions for degrees and honors, and more or less frequent examinations to ascertain the proficiency and to stimu- late the activity of the student. The German gymna- sium and the American college insist on these very frequent daily examinations or recitations. Instruction is not excluded from these exercises. It is imparted more or less freely according to the knowledge and skill of the instructor and the receptivity of his pupils, but the prominent feature is the examination of the student's private work for the purpose of holding him to his daily duties by a constant and even pressure of responsibility, and of noticing and measuring his at- tainments under the watchful eye of his tutor and the not uninterested inspection of his fellows. For the sake of making this responsibility more effective and just, the practice has been introduced into many col- leges of recording the work of every recitation by a mark according to a numerical scale. These daily ex- aminations are, in most of the colleges, supplemented by examinations at the end of every term and of every year, and in some by a final examination upon the whole of the course, for the Bachelor's degree. In many the examinations at the end of one or of two years serve, so far, as the final trial for the degree. In connection with these recitations from a text-book, lectures are given in greater or less number — /. e. oral expositions and enforcements of facts or truths — with experiments in the case of the physical sciences, and other illustrations in history, literature, and philosophy. Upon these lectures examinations are usually held. In AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 12 1 a few of the colleges, instruction is given very largely by lectures, and great reliance is placed upon the exam- inations held upon the lectures heard, in comparison with recitations from text-books. In others, text-books are made the chief instruments or occasions of oral in- struction. The methods of conducting these recitations vary very greatly in different institutions, according to the traditions of the college, the number of the stu- dents, the knowledge and skill, the fidelity and affable- ness of the instructors. It is, of course, implied, and ought here to be no- ticed, that attendance upon these recitations and lec- tures is required, and that in some colleges the custom has been introduced of also exacting that the lesson should be recited privately in every case in which an absence has been excused, certain exceptions being al- lowed for long illness, and other reasons ; if the ab- sence is not excused or the lesson is not recited, the student suffers in his standing. We have named all these features together, because they are features of a common system and because every one of them has been of late much discussed. They do not necessarily go together, but they are all special ap- plications of a common principle of college administra- tion, viz., the principle of frequent and enforced exam- inations. The principle itself we are prepared to defend as essential to the successful administration of the American college, and indeed to all thorough edu- cation in such a country as ours. The special modes of applying and enforcing it are all the fruits of experi- ence, and are not only capable of being vindicated as defensible, but may be recommended as important im- 6 122 THK ai\ii;rtcan colleges provemt'.its. We will consider these features in order. We notice, first of all, the relative advantages and disadvantages of giving instruction by text-books and lec- tures. This point has been very earnestly discussed in this country. Not a few contend that the only method of instruction which is becoming the dignity of a scholar, is instruction by lectures. For an eminent philologist or scientist to do anything but give prelec- tions upon his science, is represented as a profound degradation. It is held by many that the college, if it aims to be a university, should furnish instruction in no other form, and leave the students to be attracted and held to the lecture-room by the ability, reputation, or eloquence of the professor ; subject only to occasional examinations upon the knowledge which they have ac- quired, and their fitness to enter into certain employ- ments. These views have been propounded in this country for the past thirty years with great earnestness and zeal. Scarcely a day elapses in which some writer in a newspaper or journal does not take up and repeat the refrain. Inasmuch as lectures upon certain branches of physics seem to be required in order to exhibit ex- periments by apparatus, the professors of these branches and their friends are foremost in insisting that oral ex- position by lecture is the only method of teaching which ought to be required by the institution or submitted to by the professor. In some institutions in this country, particularly in the University of Virginia, it is used very generally in all departments of knowledge. This is the only method practiced in the German universities with some very limited exceptions. In the great Eng- lish universities it is used but little, and meets wuth AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I23 scanty favor. In the Scotch universities it is largely used, as it is also in the Queen's Colleges, and we be- lieve in the colleges of the London University. Instruction by lectures is the most attractive to the teacher, especially if he consults his private ease, com- fort, and reputation more than he considers his useful- ness or effectiveness as a teacher, or the best interests of the institution which he serves. This is especially true if the professor is required to give one or two courses of some thirty or fifty hours a year, and if with the preparation and delivery of these lectures his re- sponsibility begins and ends. Even when he lectures an hour every day, or even more frequently, it is an im- mense relief to know that he has no concern with the progress and fidelity of the students, except to give them sound and methodical teaching. Lecturing is es- pecially attractive when a man can be appointed to a special lectureship in one or more universities, and re- ceive a handsome stipend for reading ten or twenty pre- lections upon a subject to which he is supposed to have given special attention. A Professorship limited to such duties is, moreover, a very convenient endowment for the devotee of any special department of knowledge ; giving him position in connection with an influential and learned community, a limited excitement in the ob- ligation to deliver a few lectures yearly, which may sus- tain his reputation and make public his discoveries, and leisure for private studies, for the enlargement of sci- ence, and the honor of the university. But however attractive this method of instruction may be, in its re- lations to the dignity, the ease, the irresponsibility, or the pocket of the instructor, or even to the enlargement 7-24 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES and defense of science, it is not the most profitable to the pupil, unless he is far advanced in knowledge and is animated with an ardent zeal for learning. Even then it has only a limited usefulness and should never be exclusively employed. Its advantages, when used within proper limits, are the following : The instruction is given from a living man, with the interest and excite- ment which personal presence and oral communication possess above the written page. The accessories of an audience, composed of others intent upon the same themes, and moved by the same activities of thought and feeling, are not inconsiderable. The methodizing agency of an able thinker in recasting and representing acknowledged principles and received facts in such re- lations as are peculiar to himself, with especial refer- ence to the known wants of his hearers, to current ob- jections, to prevailing controversies, and to popular literature or passing events, whether public or private, is of the greatest importance. The Professor has been constituted and accepted by his class as their teacher, and communications from him are received with a def- erence and trust which are accorded to no other person. It is often difficult, sometimes it is impossible, for him to find a manual or text-book which accords with his opinions or method. For this reason, even if he uses a text-book, he must lecture more or less, in order to supply its deficiencies or rearrange its method. Even when he relies chiefly upon a text-book and recitations, lectures may be required to present matter which can only be gathered from many authorities, which the stu- dent is incapable of looking up and arranging for him- self, but which, when presented in connection with the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 25 author recited, invests the study of the subject with a heightened interest, and impresses its truths more firmly upon the memory. A brief course of lectures is often of the greatest importance as a means of gathering to- gether what has been read or studied, of restating it in a compact and intelligible method, and impressing it more firmly upon the memory. Lectures, also, help to reveal the individual peculiarities of the Professor's in- tellect and heart more fully, and in more particulars, than his occasional comments upon the authors which are recited, because the discussions can be more com- plete and exhaustive. They are of special importance in case the teacher has made important discoveries, or seized upon important truths, or invented a new method, or completed a peculiar system. The necessity and usefulness of lectures for these and other ends, will, however, vary ver}^ considerably with different studies and departments. Instruction in the Mathematics and in the Classics, with the exception of special topics of History and Antiquities, can be most advantageously given in connection with a text-book upon which the Professor comments and the pupil is examined. The objections to an exclusive reliance upon lectures for instruction in any department of college teaching are manifold. The pupil receives by the ear and not by the eye. The eye can re-peruse %vhat it sees and can reflect upon its import. The ear must hear it a second time, either as repeated, or as given in varied phraseology, and made obvious and palpable by copious illustrations. Hence the lecturer must necessarily be slow and tedious, or diffuse, repetitious, or superficial. Hence if a pupil relies upon a lecturer for all the knowl- 126- THE AMERICAN COLLEGES edge which he acquires, his acquisitions will be scanty and imperfectly grounded, even if he employs his own think- ing in revising and recasting what he has heard. A re- membered lecture is vastly inferior to a thoroughly mastered book, because the book will ordinarily be more condensed and scientific than the lecture, or, if not, more of it will be retained and placed methodically at the service of the learner. The reason why lectures are especially adapted to students who have read and mastered many books, is that the teacher in such cases m.ay revise and recast the knowledge which they have acquired, or, if it need be, supply what is wanting or con- fute what is erroneous, and have an audience intelligent and appreciative by reason of their previously acquired knowledge. Not only can the pupil gain less positive knowledr;e and fewer thoughts from a lecture than from an hour's reading, and for this reason receive less advantage, but he will acquire this knowledge in a manner which will less vigorously exercise and discipline his powers. The fact that acquisition by the lecture is the most pleasant, may indicate that the attitude of the pupil is passive and receptive rather than active and recreative. The stimulus and aid furnished by the presence and voice of the teacher may be at the expense of the self-exciting and self-controlled activity of the learner. Attendance upon lectures is exhaustive of the body and the mind, and it is especially injurious to both the taste and the power for close and effective private study. If the chief reliance is placed upon lectures, five or six hours of close attention will constitute sufficient labor for the day, and the remainder of the time of the pupil AND THE AMERICAN PIjBLIC. 12 7 must be given to studying his notes for retention or ex- amination. The consequence will be that ver}- little reading will be accomplished and the student will be- come the passive recipient of the doctrines and opin- ions of his teachers, and hence, even under the ablest and most various instruction, narrow in his range of knowledge and of thought, if not the passionate and bigoted adherent of a single school, with few resources and a feebler inclination to correct his defects. For the more advanced students of a college, and even for the students of professional schools, instruc- tion by lecturing should be sparingly applied. It should never supersede the independent reading of the student nor the task-work of individual acquisition and thought. For pupils who are less advanced it should be employed very rarely, and only for the purposes of rousing the attention, stimulating the zeal, and gather- ing into brief and comprehensive statements the most general views of the topic or author which is studied. The chief occupation of such students should be to commit to memory, and to master by thought, the words and principles which the text-books present for study. The use of a text-book is, however, in no sense degrad- ing to the instructor, nor does it preclude him from giving instruction in the amplest variety and the most effective manner. The teacher is not necessarily de- graded to the position of a mere examiner of his pu- pils' work or a hearer of recitations. On the contrary, he enjoys special advantages for the most effective teaching, viz., teaching by the Socratic method. The defects of his author in statement or in method may even be the convenient occasion and foil to set off his 128' THE AMERICAN COLLEGES own better phrased definitions or his neater methods. The felicitous or defective performance of his pupil may excite the instructor to draw forth the vindication or the correction of his work by well adapted questionings. Instruction given in this way is more concrete and lively than the more general and abstract expositions of the lecture-room. To comment upon an author may task the powers and display the genius of the most gifted teacher as effectively and variously as to utter his own lucubrations. Indeed the brief foot-notes of a learned commentator upon a printed text are often as valuable as the learned dissertations which he reserves for the appendix. Instruction by this method has also the very great advantage of bringing the teacher into a close and individual contact with his pupil, of giving him a personal knowledge of his powers and his de- fects, and sometimes of awakening an humane and friendly interest in his progress. The familiar ques- tionings of the class-room jDpen and invite the way to profitable intercourse and acquaintance in private. They tend to bring both pupil and teacher into the re- lations of confidence and friendship, and thus to make real the ideal of friendly guidance on the one hand and of grateful docility on the other. We dwell upon this point at greater length, for the reason that the opinion has extensively prevailed in this country, and is countenanced by manifold influences, that the American colleges can never rise to their proper position until they are manned by a large num- ber of eminent professors, to each of whom shall be assigned a lecture-room for instruction, and whose sole function shall be to read or expound the results of his AND THE AMERICAN TUBLIC/ I29 individual researches. If examinations are to be en- forced, it is held that even these should be conducted by assistants or tutors, but from all duties of this sort which involve a close personal knowledge of and inter- est in the progress of the individual pupil the professor should seek to be excused, as inconsistent with his posi- tion and interfering with his private studies. No heresy seems to us more dangerous than this. No disaster could be more serious than for college instructors or college guardians to cherish such ideals as this of what is desirable for the college or attainable by a professor. All tendencies in this direction should be discouraged as injurious to the welfare of these most important in- stitutions by weakening their efficiency, and as incon- sistent with efficient teaching by the instructor and thorough acquisition by the student. If a man desires to be a professor in an American college he desires a good work, but he ought to have just conceptions of the nature of the work which he de- sires. His official business is to educate the young, /. e.^ it is to teach and to train. This is the work for which the college exists, and for carrying forward which all its instructors, the professor included, are appointed. It is true, that in order to teach he must know, and in order to make progress in knowledge, must continue to study and learn. In order to continue to learn he must also have leisure and opportunities. For these reasons he should not be overworked in teaching ; he should not be employed so many hours in instruction as to be un- able to study with freshness and success, nor, we may add, should he be so distracted with cares by reason of insufficient pay, nor so worn with other labors required 130 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES by the necessity of earning his living, as to have little strength either for study or instruction. But it should never be forgotten that his post is one of duty to his pupils as an instructor. The American college is not designed primarily to promote the cause of science by endowing posts in which men of learning and science may prosecute their researches, but to secure successful instruction for our youth. In achieving the last object, it incidentally promotes the first, and cannot do other- wise, but its aims should be primarily and distinctly di- rected to effective instruction as the chief end of its ex- istence. It may be desirable, under certain circum- stances, to connect with a college special lectureships to be occupied by distinguished scholars whose duties should be limited. We will not discuss this question here, but would only remark in passing that, whatever the functions of such lecturers may be, they are very subordinate and inconsiderable, compared with those of the instructors who have the charge of classes as their regular employment and devote themselves to the business of education as their principal occupation. We return to our Subject. We assert that it is not only undesirable that our colleges should very largely give instruction by lectures, but that, on the other hand, our more advanced schools of knowledge, both profes- sional and general, would gain in thoroughness and effi- ciency if they combined with lecturing thorough courses of reading. Nothing is more unsatisfactory in the judg- ment of one who sees beneath the surface, than the superficial habits and the narrow culture which are con- tracted by the students of those professional schools in which the instruction is given chiefly by lectures. We AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 131 observe hopeful tendencies in these schools toward re- form in this very particular, notwithstanding the prev- alence of the notion in our speech-making and speech- admiring country that the millennium of colleges will never come till they are advanced to universities, and that to the conception of a university the essential elements are a library, museums, a suite of lecture- rooms wdth a professor in every chair,and classes of persons with pens and paper, who pay their fees with regularity and promptness ! But here we shall be met with the familiar inquiries and objections, how is it with the German Universities? Is not their practice directly opposed to your theory ? Is not the instruction in these universities given almost exclusively by lectures ? Where in all the world is in- struction more valuable or received by a larger number of appreciative and zealous hearers ? To this we reply, the German Universities, as has already been said, pre- suppose the Gymnasia. In the education which they give, both as to matter and form, they adapt themselves to students who have been trained, in these lower in- stitutions, to the power to understand, to assimilate and delight in, the lectures which the university gives. Take away the gymnasia and the hearers who have been trained by their peculiar method, and the univer- sity lecturers would either become unintelligible or else unprofitable by reason of the incapacity or inadequate culture of their hearers. The hearers of the university lectures are also stimulated to attention and zeal by manifold influences which either do not exist, or act but feebly in this country. Nor is it true, as is often repre- sented, that the majority of the hearers of these lee- 132 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES tures ■ are either enthusiastic or eminently successful devotees of knowledge. The enthusiasm of a. few, upon subjects which excite in this country the ardor of only here and there a solitary devotee, is indeed most noticeable, but this is not in the least to be as- cribed to the fact that the instruction is given by lec- tures. This enthusiasm is more frequent and more fer- vent, as not a few attendants upon the universities have had occasion to notice, at those exercises in which the instruction is given more nearly after the English and American methods. A large number of the students are negligent and idle, though they have been trained by the rigid and persistent discipline of the gymnasia, and though they are stimulated to effort by the mani- fold excitements of German society, — a larger number than in the American colleges ; notwithstanding the prevalent impression in this country to the contrary. Last of all, the judgment of many of the most intelli- gent professors and educators in Germany itself is in favor of modifying the lecture system by introducing in- struction by recitations to a large extent. The only in- superable obstacle which these opinions encounter is the indolence and indisposition of the professors them- selves, who greatly prefer a system which relieves them of the drudgery and petty details which the other method seems to involve. The authority of the example of the great English universities is decidedly against instruction by lectures. The few lecturers who are provided are little esteemed and scantily attended on. Now and then a brilliant and able professor attracts a few scores of admiring list- eners, but the educating influence of his instructions AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I33 is very inconsiderable. Of late a reforming party has sprung up within and without the universities, who ar- gue from the eminent scholarship and the scientific zeal which prevails in the German universities, that if a sys- tem similar to theirs were introduced in England it would be followed by similar zeal and proficiency. In these judgments they overlook or underestimate the very admirable results which the English method, ob- jectionable and deficient as it is in the particulars com- plained of, has effected in the manhood and power of the multitudes of its reading men. They also entirely leave out of view the difference in the structure of Eng- lish and German society and in the motives which in the two countries stimulate to intellectual activity, as well as determine the directions in which this activity shall be employed. 134 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES V. THE ENFORCEMENT OF FIDELITY. Leaving the question between lectures and recitations, we proceed to another point : the frequency of the reci- tations and the manner in which fidelity should be en- forced. Should these exercises be frequent or only oc- casional ? Should the acquisitions and diligence of the pupil be estimated daily, or oftener ; or should this be done only at what are technically called examinations, at longer or shorter intervals ? We call the attention of our readers to the fact that examinations are required under almost every S3^stem and in institutions of all kinds, in the English and German universities, the American colleges, and in most professional and sci- entific schools. The only difference of opinion con- cerns the question whether these examinations shall be held rarely and for the single purpose of testing the per- manent acquisitions of the student, or whether in addi- tion to such examinations, others shall be held, and very frequently, for the joint purpose of giving instruction and of testing the student's diligence and progress. It should also be noticed that, in all institutions, marks or their equivalents are employed at what are technically called examinations, and that the only difference of opinion relates to the question whether they shall be also em- ployed in what are technically called recitations. In AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 35 the English universities the private tutor, or coach^ hears the pupil recite his classics and his mathematics, but he does this simply to prepare him for his exami- nation, whether this be a class or a pass examination. He hears him recite while he works with him — oftener while he works at him — for the purpose of correcting his errors, of inculcating what he needs to notice and remember, and above all, that he may quicken and strengthen his capacity to retain and recall what he learns. In the great schools of England the practice of daily recitations is as abundantly insisted on as it is in the American schools and colleges ; the manner of conducting them being determined by the kind of wofk which the pupil is required to furnish. In the German g^-mnasia the pupils perform more of their studying in the presence and by the aid of the teacher than with us. Dictations are abundant, which the pupil records as they fall from the lips of the instructor. Passages in the classics are read and commented on by the teacher ; the principles and examples in mathematics are ex- pounded and explained before the classes. The five hours of attendance are indeed more conspicuously hours of instruction and of acquisition, of joint and ex- cited labor on the part of instructor and pupil, than they are in the English public schools and in the Amer- ican colleges. But the pupil also recites, and his task ordinarily is not complete without a great deal of work out of school, the results of which he brings up for the satisfaction of the teacher. Whatever is set as a task or has been communicated in the class-room is reproduced by the scholar and may be called for at any time. 136 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES In the American colleges the practice has till recently been uniform. Very frequent recitations have been re- quired and the performance of the student at every one of these exercises has been estimated in determining his scholarship, whether or not an entry was made by marks. Formerly the examinations were more hurried and superficial than they should have been. They were usually viva voce; written answers from a series of ques- tions being comparatively unknown. Of late, marks have been introduced at the daily as well as at the oc- casional examinations, and the occasional examinations have been far more formal and thorough. Indeed in re«pect of form and thoroughness, though not in re- spect of quality or quantity of matter, these occasional examinations, both written and viva voce, in the best col- leges, will compare very favorably with those of such in- stitutions as make occasional examinations the only tests of scholarships and the only grounds for honors. Moreover, till of late the' minute attention and the constant pressure applied in the regular recitations, in the form of marks or otherwise, have been intensified in the same degree with the increased breadth and pressure employed in the occasional examinations. Some tendencies to change have, however, of late been manifest. In one college a great excitement was recently occasioned by the application of marks to reci- tations evaded by unexcused absence. In connection with this the custom of using marks at all has been complained of as degrading to the manly spirit of the pupils, and this complaint has been reechoed in not a few of the public journals. The proposal has, in some quarters, almost assumed the form of a demand that AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I37 marking should be abandoned as savoring too much of the discipHne which is fitted for school-boys, and as therefore unsuited to young men at college. Other ob- jections have been urged, as that it tends to foster the spirit of servile and superficial study, and that it pro- motes cramming for the recitation immediately impend- ing, as well as brings constantly before the student an immediate gain or loss, one of which he will snatch at and the other he will evade by stealthy and superficial practices, to the damage of his intellectual and personal integrity. It is objected, moreover, that the attention of the instructor is divided and distracted between the work of instruction and of adjusting the measure of the attainments of his pupils. For these and other reasons it has been proposed to abandon marking at recitations and even marking for attendance, and to hold somewhat frequent examinations, say whenever an author has been read, or any special topic in science or literature has been finished, which examinations shall be the sole ground of determining the attamments of the pupil and his claims to honors. In favor of this arrangement it is asserted that the student will study his author and his subject more thoroughly, because he will study not in parts, but as a whole, — that, being thrown somewhat more on his own responsibility, he will study with more manly purposes and a more direct regard to his own self-improvement. It is claimed, as a chief advantage, that he will " cram " his intellectual nutriment less and digest it more perfectly. It may be said, on the other hand, that all these ad- vantages may be secured without abandoning the most stringent enforcement of the daily recitations. Exami- 138 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES nations may be multiplied as is proposed, and to any extent, for the purpose of giving the pupil a general view of and command over an author and a subject, and great comparative importance may be attached to such reviews and the student's performances, in the es- timate of his scholarship. But the advantages of fre- quent reviews of this kind need not be purchased by the sacrifice of the advantages which are peculiar to the daily recitations, at which the presence of the pupil is enforced, and his performances are marked. The claim that the substitution of the one for the other as a measure of scholarship would exclude or discourage " cramming," is, in our view, not only wholly untenable, but it suggests the most serious objection against such examinations, when made the sole criterion, that they eminently foster the cramming spirit. Indeed, we do not hesitate to affirm that nothing can intensify this spirit so actively as the introduction of such examinations as a substitute for daily enforced recitations. In any school, college, or university, let a single day of the week or the month be devoted to a review and examination upon the work of the week or the month ; and let this be ac- cepted as the chief or only test of that work, and the day or two preceding will inevitably be devoted to the most energetic cramming. The first part of the week or month will, by the less faithful and conscientious be wasted or expended on favorite pursuits, and the work that should have been distributed evenly among the several days will be crowded into one or two. Even the more studious and ambitious will be more careless of their daily studies and of course less qualified to ap- preciate and assimilate the instruction which is given. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I39 and will rely upon their capacity to employ their con- centrated energies in reviewing. If it be said that the daily recitations involve a daily cram, we can only re- ply that a daily cram is less objectionable than a weekly or monthly cram, inasmuch as the quantity taken is smaller and the unnatural strain of the powers is less severe. Moreover, the daily so-called cram renders the strain at the end of the week or month less severe. In- deed it makes the labor less a labor of cramming at all. Superficial, indolent, and unfaithful men will abuse any system, and hence the only question worth considering is, which system grants facilities for the least abuse. To dispense with the enforced recitation, moreover, would be to throw away one of the chief incidental ad- vantages attained by college discipline, apart from the special culture which it imparts, and that is the training of the man to the power and habit of successfully con- centrating and controlling his powers. Such a discipline trains a man to bring his powers to act with their ut- most energy, wdthin a given time, to meet an impend- ing necessity. To be able to do this under the varying calls of life with effect, is one great secret of success in any occupation or pursuit. To be able to do this in the greatest diversity of circumstances and exigencies, gives a man the widest and most varied influence. R. W. Emerson says very finely in his '" Conduct of Life," that of the conditions of success " the first is the stopping off decisively our miscellaneous activity, and concen- trating our force on one or a few points ; as the gar- dener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, instead of suffering it to spindle into a sheaf of twigs." " The one prudence in I40 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES life is concentration ; the one evil is dissipation ; and it makes no difference whether our dissipations are coarse or fine ; property and its cares, friends, and a social habit, or politics, or music, or feasting. Everything is good which takes away one plaything and delusion more, and drives us home to add one stroke of faithful work." "Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, — in short, in all management of human affairs. One of the high anecdotes of the world is the reply of Newton to the inquiry, ' how he had been able to achieve his discoveries ?' — ' By always intending my mind.' " " A man who has that presence of mind which can bring to him on the instant all he knows, is worth for action a dozen men who know as much, but can only bring it to light slowly." The con- stantly enforced recitations of the college, following each other day after day, and more than once in the day, made important as the conditions of success and honor, and continued for several years, are an admir- able discipline to this self-control and self-mastery. They hold a man to his work by a pressure that he cannot evade. They train him to bring his powers to act upon a task that must be achieved within the hour. They help him to despise slight indispositions, whether of body or of mind, to set aside inertia and headaches, to turn from the novel and the newspaper, the gymna- sium and the rowing match, in order to meet the de- mands of the teacher and the class room. If this is not the way fo treat the pupil as a man, it is the way to make him a ma?i, — with a man's command over his in- tellect, and a man's capacity to summon and direct his energies at will, and to energize them up to the demand AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I4I of every occasion. It is because of this very result that the Enghsh university system has clone so much for its reading men, and made out of them the mature, self- poised, efficient men of action ; and when the occasion required, men of effective speech. Notwithstanding all the evils of excessive cramming, increased as they are by the enormous pecuniary value of the prizes in pros- pect, notwithstanding, too, the one-sidedness of the cur- riculum prescribed, the training, simply as training, of these universities, has done more for England and more for the world than has ever yet been acknowledged. It has hardened the bone to a compacter grain, and toughened the muscle to a finer fibre than any other, simply because it has aroused and concentrated the en- ergies for the accomplishment of definite tasks, and be- cause, after the training of its champions was complete, the empire of England has furnished for them an arena in diplomacy, in commerce, in politics, and at the bar, which was fitted still further to excite and to display these truly consummate powers. However justly we may criticise or complain of the universities of England for doing so little for science, or philosophy, or even for the best kind of philology, we ought never to over- look what they have done for the training of the men who have wrought the deeds, and uttered the thoughts, and inspired the sentiments which have made England so great. But while the universities have so efficiently trained their honor or class-men, it is the universal testi- mony, that the pass-men have been as grossly neglected. And why ? Chiefly because they are not held to the responsibility of daily work under the pressure of a con- stantly impending necessity. We would not, if w^e could, 142 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES imitate their pass system with its irregular attendance at lectures, its feeble and intermitted supervision, its per- sistent and allowed dissipations and extravagance, its foolish waste of money and its more fearful waste of time and opportunity. We cannot imitate their class system if we would, because we have no such prizes as they possess by which to enforce and stimulate labor. The university of Oxford distributes yearly in scholarships, fellowships, etc., the sum of 120,000 pounds sterling, the hope of sharing in which, excites some four or five hundred reading men. It may be safe to dispense with daily examinations for reading and honor-men when the hope of such rewards con- stantly inspires and impels to labor. The failure of such a system to influence the pass-men to constant in- dustry, and often even to the appearance or profession of such industry, should warn the American colleges against any similar relaxation in the tension of the feeble incitements which ' they can apply. The German system has also prizes in the civil and professional appointments, which are determined by the result of every examination from the beginning of the gymnasial to the end of the university life, and which are most powerfully reinforced by the intense and pre- vailing intellectual activity of the cultivated classes. But the German system fails effectively to reach the lower two-thirds of the university men, notwithstand- ing all that the rigid and compulsory training of the gymnasium has previously done for them. As to the objection, or the sentiment on which it is founded, that to labor under compulsion or for marks is degrading to the manhood of the pupil ; neither seems AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 43 to US to require consideration or discussion. The con- straint is moral, and is of precisely the same character which meets a man all his life long. It is only made more definite and efficient in the college. It neither excludes nor weakens the nobler motives of self-culture and of duty, the motives derived from the love of learn- ing, or from a desire to be useful to man and to do honor to God. Marks for what a man is and does are everywhere noted for or against him, with more or less justice, as long as he lives, and for all his efforts, in the judgments of his fellows, and, as we are taught, even in the books of the Eternal Judge. We object, then, most strenuously to the substitution of the occasional examination for the daily recitation, because wherever it 'has been used it has failed even under the most advantageous circumstances ; because it can be applied in the American colleges with a com- paratively feeble efficiency ; and because the stimulus and training involved in constant and required intel- lectual application, is more needed and is less valued in this country than in any other. A few self-educated men reach the same results on similar conditions in differ- ent circumstances, as the lamented Lincoln forced him- self to master Euclid's geometry, and learned in that way to master his own intellectual powers. But the great mass of our ruling minds, and among them a consider- able number of college graduates, are shrewd and quick-witted, rather than reflective and self-directing — men of intense intellectual activity and exalted self-con- fidence, rather than patient and scrutinizing seekers af- ter truth. What is worst of all, many of them are men of little reverence for truth and small confidence in 144 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES principles ; in part because they have never been taught to know the value and dignity of conscientious, thor- ough, and methodical work. They believe in getting on by their wits rather than by work — which often sig- nifies by little of wisdom and less of honesty. If there is any country where the sobering and disci- plining influence of a vigorous but enlightened training from books is needed, or where it is fitted to be most efficient, it is in a country like this. If there is any country where those who themselves have had experi- ence of the benefits of college discipline, and have seen its power over their fellows, and to whom, withal, is en- trusted the direction of the discipline and instruction of wealthy and influential seats of learning, should be slow- in relaxing the efficiency of its forces, it is the country in which presumptuous demagogues, both lay and cleri- cal, editorial and speech-making, cry one thing one day and another thing the next, and where quacks in edu- cation, religion, and politics of every variety and degree find a ready hearing and devoted partisans. A continued residence at college, or keeping 07ie' s terms, has been esteemed important in all the American col- leges. Such residence has ordinarily been required as a condition for the first degree. The practice of short- ening the course by over-leaping a year or a term, or of presenting one's self for examination at any time, has not been allowed, on the general theory that no person, unless in very extraordinary circumstances, can perform the work of two years or of two terms in one, and there- fore no one should be admitted to examination in ad- vance of his standing. This practice and the theory on which it is founded, are called in question by some, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 145 and the doctrine is advanced and occasionally put in practice, that residence and class standing should both be disregarded, provided the pupil can pass the pre- scribed examinations. So much prominence has of late been attached to competitive examinations all the world over, that the importance of residence and con- tinued study has been somewhat overlooked, and it would not be surprising if the practice should be rec- ommended and introduced in some colleges of ceasing to require continued or regular residence, and of throw- ing open the examinations for degrees — possibly for hon- ors — to all well-accredited applicants. We do not propose to argue the subject of residence at length. It will come up again in another connec- tion. We will content ourselves by citing the follow- ing testimony of Matthew Arnold, in respect to the German practice : " A public school-boy, who, to evade the rule requir- ing two years in prima, leaves the gymnasium from se- amda, goes to a private school or private tutor, and of- fers himself for examination within two years, needs a special permission from the minister in order to be ex- amined. So well do the Prussian authorities know how insufficient an instrument for their object — that of pro- moting the national culture and filling the professions with fit men, — is the bare examination test ; so averse are they to cram ; so clearly do they perceive that what forms a youth, and what he should in all ways be in- duced to acquire, is the orderly development of his fac- ulties under good and trained teaching. "With this view all the instructions for examination are drawn up. It is to tempt candidates to no special 7 146 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES preparation and effort, but to such- as a scholar of fair ability and proper diligence, may, at the end of his school course, come to with a quiet mind and without a a painful preparatory effort tending to relaxation and torpor as soon as the effort is over. The total cultiva- tion ( Gesamintbildung) of the candidate is the great matter, and this is why the two years of prima are pre- scribed, ' that the instruction in this highest class may not degenerate into a preparation for the examination, that the pupil may have the requisite time to come steadily and without over-hurrying to the fullness of the measure of his powers and his character; that he may be securely and thoroughly formed, instead of being be- wildered and oppressed by a mass of information hast- ily heaped together.' All tumultuarische Vorbereitiwg, and all stimulation of vanity and emulation is to be dis- couraged, and the examination, like the school, is to regard das Wesentliche u?id Dauer?ide — the substantial and enduring. Perverse sticdet qui examinibus studet, was a favorite saying of Wolf's." (Schools and Uni- versities^ etc.) We had proposed to treat distinctly of the class sys- tem which is almost universally adopted in the Ameri- can colleges. It has not escaped severe criticism, and at present is likely to be exposed to still more earnest objections. It must stand or fall with the retention or abandonment of the several features which we have noticed, viz., a prescribed curriculum, an enforced and daily recitation, and a continued residence or keeping of terms. Some of its more important relations, as a means of intellectual culture and excitement, will need to be considered when we come to speak of the American AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I47 college as a society having a common and organic life. These several features of the American college sys- tem involve of necessity a constant enforcement of faith- ful study by the instructors, and a vigorous application of stringent discipline. A curriculum, frequent recita- tions and constant residence, can have no force or effect unless they are prescribed and enforced as law, and are made the conditions of enjoying the advantages and reaping the rewards which the college holds in its gift. This is so obvious as to need no elucidation. Young men who are too manly in their spirit, and too inde- pendent in their feelings to acquiesce in such a disci- pline, are too old in their feelings to be members of a college, however young they may be in years. A year's trial of the discipline of a banking or trading house, on shipboard, or in the army, might set them back a half- score of years in fancied age, and serve to correct some- what their ideas of the consistency of manliness with re- sponsibility and supervision. Their confident advisers of the press who recommend the abandonment of su- pervision and constraint over such high-minded youths, may be properly advised in turn to tr}^ the experiment in their own printing offices and among the members of their own editorial corps. 14^ THE AMERICAN COLLEGES VI. THE EVILS OF THE COLLEGE SYSTEM AND THEIR REMEDIES. We neither overlook nor deny the evils of the college system. The evils attending upon its administration are neither few nor slight. The spirit of routine is con- stantly ready to take possession of both instructors and pupils, inducing in the one the mechanical and per- functory performance of duty, and, in the other, the constrained and enforced preparation of lessons. The pupil is constantly in danger of regarding the lesson as a task imposed, and of overlooking both the necessity that tasks should be imposed, and the fact that every task brings the opportunity for intellectual energy and improvement. Other modes of employing and improving the mind which are more exciting, or are rewarded by the acclaim of one's society or one's set, such as rhe- torical exercises and feats of reading and debate, or striking acquisitions out of the common line, whether in science, or letters, or in achievements less intellect- ual, are constantly preferred to the more sober and common-place duties of the college work. The resort to all sorts of expedients to meet the enforced recita- tion, the use of assistance to avoid dishonor or dis- credit, excessive cramming for those examinations which, properly used, furnish the best of opportunities^ AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I49 for a leisurely review, and the prevalent attitude of an- tagonism against, instead of cooperation with, the aims of instructors, are too widely prevalent and too notori- ous to be denied or overlooked. The disposition to find in the unconstrained pursuit of favorite studies for the fancied future an excuse for the neglect of studies that are imposed in the present, is fearfully prevalent. Self-reproach for neglect, or chagrin at disappointed expectations, or vexation at some real or fancied injus- tice, is made the pretext or excuse for persistent idle- ness and systematic neglect. The college studies are declared by consent to be a bore, even by many who derive from them no inconsiderable advantage. Even the most faithful and conscientious students are de- terred from pursuing their studies in the most enlight- ened spirit, and from perfecting and fixing them by ad- ditional thought and research, through the influence of associations which their better judgments resist, and of a prevailing sentiment of which in their hearts they are ashamed. Studying for rank and cramming for imme- diate effect, both tend to dwarf the love of knowledge itself and to induce bad intellectual habits. The instructors, also, are in danger of being either vexed or discouraged, and so of becoming unsympa- thizing with and distrustful of their pupils. Their best instructions are not always listened to, or are not appro- priated, through the impatience or the listlessness of their constrained and wearied pupils ; often " cabined, cribbed, confined," through the poverty of the college, in low and ill-ventilated class-rooms. The perpetual in- culcation of elementary knowledge becomes wearisome and disgusting to the men whose sympathies with the 150 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES young are not perpetually renewed. The experience of the same failures, the same mistakes, and the same follies is wearisome to the spirit. The antagonism and slyness of his pupils tend to evoke inhumanity and suspicion in the teacher. Hence the want of earn- estness and hopefulness, of courage and patience, some- times the want of interest in the truths imparted and in the pupils to whom they are given, which occasion- ally settle down upon the mind and heart of the half- paid and unthanked college teacher, which paralyze his efforts, and eat out his life, and sometimes make him pedagogical, hard, and dry, or supercilious, distant, and " Donnish." Not a few of these evils are incidental to any system of instruction, whether optional or enforced. The few that are occasioned by the enforced curriculum of the college, would, if it were abandoned, be exchanged for others more serious, and their name would not be small. It is, however, a fair and important question, by what expedients can they be obviated and the college system retained, — as it must be, or be sacrificed at the cost of evils manifold greater and more numerous ? In answer to this question, v/e beg leave to offer the following suggestions : First of all, an adequate and somewhat uniform prep- aration of knowledge and power should be sought for in the students, and as far as possible should be re- quired. We would allow great liberality in the trial of candidates, but if, after trial, any are found hopelessly deficient, they should be sent down either to another class or to a thorough-going coach, who will either drive them up to their duty, or discipline them to better AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 151 habits of study and acquisition. The men who are best prepared and whose previous studies in any way make it easy for them to master the college work, should, in case the class is divided into different sections, not be allowed to go into the section of lowest attainment, but should be compelled to keep up to the line which is fairly within their reach. Such men should be stim- ulated, if possible, by some additional work for honors or prizes, especially in extra classical reading, or in mathematical problems. As it is notorious that not a few enter college with a superior classical preparation, and have abundant time for extra reading, they ought to be encouraged to this by a special examination in some author not read by the class, at which honors should be given to all who acquit themselves well, and success be made to count in the estimate of the college standing. This exam- ination should require something more than the or- dinary studying which is exacted in the recitation room. By a similar method, encouragement for special studies in all departments of knowledge might be systemat- ically allowed. In order to provide for such studies and examinations, as well as to give somewhat more freedom and variety to the curriculum, it would be nec- essary that the time of the students should be less cut up by an excessive number of exercises. There are many reasons, indeed, wh}^, in the later years of college life, the recitations should not be so frequent, in order to avoid this evil of an excessive divis- ion of the time ; as also that the exercises themselves might be less exclusively exercises of recitation, and might admit more and more largely the element of in- 152 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES stmction. It would be most desirable if the instructor of every class should seem to be a fellow-worker with his pupils as in the English Universities. At least the habits of college recitations would be greatly im- proved if the pupils should be allowed to express their own difficulties or misgivings, or ask questions for in- formation and guidance. To this end the apartments should be made attractive and convenient, and lib- erally provided with every accessory in the way of apr paratus and illustrations. No classical room would be any the less a2:reeable if its walls were hung with at- tractive maps and photographs. The instruction need be none the less severe and exacting, if the students were allowed to breathe a respirable atmosphere, or to sit on comfortable benches. The hopeful son of Tim. O'Flaherty is better accommodated at the age of ten in the palatial public school-houses that are voted him by our sovereigns, than is the delicate son of a million- aire in the class-rooms of colleges which have educated thousands of the intellectual princes of the land. The instruction of the colleges should be made as intellectual and as wide-reaching as possible, in order that the drilling processes should justify themselves continually to the judgment of the most stupid and faithless. Even the driest analysis of word or sen- tence and the most rigid processes of the mathematics may be enlivened with some interesting illustrations and applications, provided the instructor be a man of intellectual breadth and have a desire to stimulate and enlarge the minds of his pupils. The teacher of the classics may teach much of English if he will, while he professes to instruct only in Greek. Geography, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 53 history, and ssthetical criticism can scarcely be with- holden if the teacher has a well-stored and generous mind. We have already expressed the opinion that a less strictly grammatical and a more liberal character should be given to classical study in the advanced years of the course. It would not be amiss if more frequent instruction and incitements of a general character were furnished in respect to the opportunities for improvement which attend each of the stages of college life, and occasional free and friendly communications were made respecting the hindrances and aids to self-culture and the best methods of making the most of the college curriculum. Perhaps there is no point in which students err more seriously than in respect to the use of their leisure, the selection of private or special studies, the direction of their reading and the cultivation of facility in writing and in speech. In short, while the disciplinary pro- cesses should be enforced with the utmost rigor, in or- der that they may be efhcient, the intellect of the pupils should be treated as little as possible as a mechanical recipient and should be stimulated and enlarged as rapidly as possible to independent and rational activity. This is possible only on the condition that the instruct- ors are men of generous intellectual training, that they are not so overworked as to become mere educational drudges, and that they give the best of their energies to the work of teaching and of training. The instruct- ors of a college should be men who are not merely at home in their own departments, but who understand and appreciate their relations to other sciences and to life. Otherwise they cannot teach in the liberal spirit 154 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES and with the generous effect which are to be desired. They should not be overworked in the college by being tasked too many hours to allow them to make progress in their favorite studies and to retain their freshness and vigor for work in the class-room. Nor should they be overworked by extra labors out of the college to gain the living which they fairly earn and which the college ought to provide. They should also give the choicest of their energies and zeal to the service of the college as instructors. The more widely cultured an instructor is, the more liberal will be the spirit and effect of his teaching, all other things being equal. Consequently to deliver the colleges from the tendencies of routine, they must be provided with men of liberal culture and varied intel- lectual endowments. The influence of such teachers is not, however, limited to the spirit and manner of their direct instructions. The presence of and contact with a man of such a description, who occupies the place and exercises the functions of an instructor, is itself both instruction and inspiration of the most ef- fective character. The driest exercises become fresh when conducted by such teachers, and the most monot- onous routine is varied by their admonitions and sym- pathy. The regular professors and instructors should also be the chief reliance of the college for the purposes of discipline and instruction, and even for the ends of incitement and enthusiasm. Irregular and extraordinary lecturers can do little to supply their deficiencies, and also very serious injury when they seem to be most in- spiring. No mistake can be more serious than that to suppose that a college gains very largely by adding to AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I55 its corps of professors eminent personages, who have little or no active concern with the business of instruc- tion or who come rarely in contact with the students. The continued presence of a resident professor of ac- knowledged eminence, or the occasional appearance of a non-resident lecturer of popular renown, neither of whom holds a constant and intimate connection with the processes of instruction and moulding that are ever}^ day forming and exciting the minds and charac- ters of the students, is of comparatively little signifi- cance. To attach to the roll of a college a list of names of men eminent for science or learning, whose connec- tion with its work is occasional only, may gratify the vanity of its patrons and sound largely in the ear of the American public, but it adds little of strength, and may impart much of weakness, to the efficiency of the corps. By the same rule, to found so-called chairs of instruction which shall serve as comfortable provisions for the real or professed devotees of special sciences, may promote the cause of science (in a questionable way), but it does not add to the energ)^ or effect of the college or university as a place of training. Even sci- ence is furthered in a questionable way by such endow- ments, for the reason that the man who is called to the constant service of instruction, is far more likely to make advances in his own department than the man who is installed upon an endowment of which study, and not teaching, is the chief object. The German professors lecture their one or two hours a day through the academical year, and yet they do far more for sci- ' ence than the Fellows at Oxford who are held to no duties of instruction at all. 156 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES There should be a constant advance in the matter and power of the instruction with the advance of the students in knowledge, in intellectual tastes, and intel- lectual power, as well as in the self-reliance and re- sponsibilities of manhood. The student of the Fresh- man year is a very different being from the student of the Senior year and he requires instruction and incite- ments of a different description. The one has not wholly ceased to be a boy in his intellect and his char- acter. The other has begun to feel himself somewhat of a man in botlT. It is senseless to absurdity, to in- struct or to govern the two by precisely the same methods. We have already given our reasons for modi- fying the methods of classical instruction, with the pro- gress which the professor may presume in the student —which he has a right to assume as the ground of his instructions ; and which if he does not assume, he may dwarf and belittle the intellect and character of his pu- pil by the very earnestness and energy with which he persists in treating him as a school-boy. The worst thing that can be said about the college system as at present administered, is that it keeps the students too completely in leading strings by training them for a se- ries of years too exclusively after the same exacting and mechanical methods. It should be the constant aim of the instructor to avoid and overcome this tendency by quickening the intellect and stimulating the enthu- siasm of his pupils as efficiently as possible. As they advance towards manhood he should teach and treat them more and more as though they were men. He should rise above their knowledge and aspirations, rather than fall below them. He will do them no harm AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 157 if at times he presumes that they know more than they do, provided he understands how to recur to elemen- tary truths and principles, and how to exemplify these in their remoter and more elevated applications. Some insist as we have seen, upon the gradual abandonment of recitations and the substitution of lectures on the ground that the instructor should teach more and ex- amine less, as the student becomes more mature. For this among other reasons they advocate the gradual in- troduction of the university system to the higher classes in order to exorcise the school-boy spirit. Many younger professors who are fresh froi7i the lectures of foreign universities show their f res /mess to the American col- lege by judging that to lecture is alone synonymous with to instruct. They overlook the fact that the most effect- ive instruction is that which is personal and familiar, and also that a college pupil who is compelled to work and to give account of his performances is far more promising than a college school-boy who is inflated with a belief in his capacity to take knowledge chiefly by the ear. Dependence and docility, even if carried to excess, are better in the long run than cramming and conceit. Others have sought to deliver the college from the evils in question by introducing a great va- riety of studies into its curriculum or by making many optional. To elevate the student to manly efforts and manly tasks, they would give him the taste of several liberal studies or at least the choice between several, especially in the later years of the course. But sad ex- perience has proven that to crowd too many important studies upon the attention just as the mind is awakened to respond to their importance, is often to weary, be- 158 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES wilder, and discourage it. To force the student to make imperfect preparation by excessive tasks, is ill fitted to excite that courage and hope which come only from actual achievement. To give him the choice between several is often to tempt him to work excessively and superficially, or to avoid the most difficult although con- fessed to be the most important duties, or to follow an ignorant or factitious preference under the name of obeying a prevailing taste. Indeed both the listless- ness and unnatural cramming for marks and honors with which the colleges are now afflicted are in great part owing to the enforcement upon students, of studies too high for their capacities, too numerous for thorough mastery, or too monotonous for ordinary patience. To attempt to avoid or prevent these evils by voluntary at- tendance upon lectures would be to go further in a wrong direction. The system of lecturing allows the teacher to be almost a stranger to his pupils and his pupils to be strangers to him: That close personal ac- quaintance and sympathy which is the only condition of successful instruction can be secured only by the system of recitations. To deliver the colleges from the mechanical and school-boy routine which are so justly complained of, we need first of all a system of skillful, progressive, and varied instruction which shall keep pace with the growing capacities and the advancing tastes of students. To devise and enforce such a sys- tem, a corps of able and devoted instructors is required who shall apply to their work the best energies of well trained and enthusiastic minds. No selection of studies and text books, however wise and progressive, will of itself educate a body of students. No system of disci- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 159 pline however skillfully devised will enforce itself. All men tire of mere routine — impatient and sensitive youth, above all — however essential its pressure and repetition may be to discipline, unless the routine be made living and adaptive by the skill and sympathy of a teacher who is a sympathizing friend and guide as well as monitor and overseer. It is, then, of the first import- ance that the instructors who man our colleges should be men of high general and special culture. It is equally important that such men should not merely be attached to the college, but should become its working forces by actually coming into frequent contact with the students as efficient instructors. The proposal to at- tach a species of university chairs to the American col- leges, to be filled by eminent savants or specialists who shall simply give a few lectures with the hope of stimu- lating and exciting the students, is founded on a seri- ous misconception of the actual' working of the college system. It would be far better for the efficiency of the col- lege system if there were attached to every large col- lege a corps of Fellows to whom should be assigned special duties of instruction in a private and familiar way, and whose intercourse with the students should diffiise a spirit of culture, and of enthusiasm for self- improvement. Such Fellows might be elected in special departments, as in Greek, Latin, English Literature, His- tory and Mathematics ; in each of the Natural Sciences, and Philosophy. They should be elected, not advanced on examination, that college rank alone need not deter- mine their position, but the capacity to receive and im- part culture, and general desirableness for the higher con- l6o THE AMERICAN COLLEGES siderations of character and promise. They should be elected for a term of years, that the spirit of sloth and self-indulgence should neither in fact nor in appearance be fostered by a life pension. They should be elected to an office with definite duties, as examiners, as critics of composition, as coaches to the timid or the halting, above all as priv^ate or parlor teachers to special classes who might desire improvement, and as inspiring friends to the whole community. They should be advanced to the post of private teachers in their special studies after they have themselves been admitted to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The provision for their sup- port should be ample enough to satisfy one who is ani- mated with a desire for knowledge and self-improve- ment, or who aspires to a literary career as instructor, editor, or litterateur, and liberty should be given to teach privately, for pay, only to a limited extent. The presence of such a body of studying and teaching Fel- lows would, it is believed, be most efficient in elevating the tone of the whole academic body. Being fresh from the undergraduates, they would retain their aca- demic sympathies and traditions. Occupying a quasi- official position, and being entrusted with certain du- ties, they would feel their responsibility to use their in- fluence in the right direction. The addition of such a corps of honorary students and teachers would do much towards elevating the college to the real efficiency and the generous spirit of the university. One hundred thousand dollars expended in the endowment at Yale or Harvard College of six or eight such fellowships, terminable in from five to eight years, would do more to furnish the country with a real university than the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC l6l expenditure of a million in founding a new institution on a scale of magnificent expectations. Such a body of Fellows would also serve as a school for the training of permanent instructors. On the same principle and for similar reasons, we deem it absolutely necessary to the best efficiency of the college system, that much of the instruction should be given by young men who are fresh from the experi- ence of college life. This brings up the much vexed question whether Professors should in all cases be pre- ferred to Tutors. Upon the first view it would seem that instruction by a Professor is in all cases to be pre- ferred when it can be had, because he has a permanent interest in, as well as responsibility for the institution and the department to which he is devoted, and because study and experience will render him more competent and successful. For these reasons it has been confidently inferred that permanent instructors, whether Professors or Tutors, who have taken a department as a life work, are greatly to be preferred. On the other side it is to be said, that a man fresh from his college experience brings to his work a knowledge of the latest college generation. As a young man he is naturally more accessible to the young than an older person, is more ready to appreciate their difficulties and to sympathize with their embar- rassments and their successes. Above all he is capa- ble of greater labor and for many reasons is more patient under it, and is therefore more likely to be ex- acting, thorough, and persevering. In discipline also he is more resolute, more zealous, and more enterpris- ing. A professor equally young is often not as valuable or efficient an officer as a tutor. The newly acquired l62 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES official position of the professor is sometimes an em- barrassment to his success. The necessity of providing so great a number of permanent officers as a large col- lege requires, would involve the serious risk of hasty- appointments which might entail upon the college the evil of an inferior or undesirable officer for a long life- time. The introduction yearly into the academic body of one or two new members who are free from the more serious responsibilities which rest upon the Professor, is a renewal of fresh and young blood, without which the body tends to traditionalism, stagnation, or official stiff- ness. Moreover, the fact is not to be forgotten or over- looked that the improvement of our colleges, as their resources increase, will necessarily involve a very great increase in careful personal tuition. The classes must be subdivided into very much smaller divisions, espe- cially in the earliest years. It follows of necessity that the greater minuteness of personal instruction, as well as the increase of personal sympathy, will in- volve the necessity that the tutorial as contrasted with the lecturing function should be in more abundant re- quest. For these and other reasons we regard the tutor- ship as essential to the efficiency and life of any con- siderable college. The office ought, however, to be placed upon a better footing than it is at present in most colleges. The salaries should be very consider- bly increased. The tenure should be longer, as it would be if the office were more lucrative. The office should as far as practicable be made a training place for the professorate by limiting the duties and studies of the tutor to special departments. With a few fellowships amply endowed ; an able corps of efficient tutors AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 163 handsomely paid, and to whom should be accorded the honor which they justly deserve of being indispensable to the successful working of the college system ; and with a full corps of professors in the several depart- ments of literature and science, the college would need nothing except that all these officers should be the best who are attainable. Much would be accomplished for the unity and effec- tive working of the college system as well as for the awakening of a generous enthusiasm for knowledge and improvement, if the heads of those departments in which are associate professors and tutors could exercise a per- sonal supervision of the instruction that is given. The teaching which they can give personally must be con- fined to a single class. But if they could also have leisure and opportunity to inspect and direct the teach- ing of others, if they could, as a part of their duty, visit the class-rooms of their proper subordinates, they might do much to quicken the zeal of both teachers and pupils. This method is practiced at West Point with the happiest results. Many other expedients might be devised to give greater efficiency to the college system, without relax- ing in the least from its thoroughness or departing- from those traditions which experience has established and confirmed. We owe some apology, perhaps, for bringing before the public these suggestions of detail in which they have little interest, and in respect to the merits of which they are scarcely competent to form an opinion. We mean no disrespect when we say that the American public, even that part of it which is made up of the 164 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES graduates of colleges, are as unfitted to advise in re- spect to the details of the management of a college as the'y are to direct the details of managing a. railway, a cotton mill, or a trading house. We shall therefore say no more upon the subject before us. The discussion of it thus far in these few particulars, may serve to con- vince our tribunal that those most familiar with these institutions are as well acquainted with their defects and as sensitively desirous that they should be re- moved as are the public who criticise them so freely. A few topics of more general interest remain, upon which we still ask a hearing. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 63 VII. THE COMMON LIFE OF THE COLLEGE. The most of the topics which we have in mind relate to the college as a C07ninu7iity. Sufficient prominence is not always given to the social and common life which characterizes most of the American colleges. There are a few of these institutions, it is true, in which these influences are not especially noticeable. Those col- leges in our large cities in which nearly all the students reside at home, and none live in common lodgings, have a much less marked and energetic public life. The students in these institutions are not shut up to the so- ciety of one another. They are not separated from the life of the family ; for this continues to exert its accustomed, though a somewhat divided influence. The excitements of society out of the family are as much within the reach of the student as before he en- tered college, and are likely with the progress of his student-life to be more and more attractive and en- grossing. The intellectual influences of the students upon one another are mainly restricted to the class- room and the occasional debate. They do not proceed from a social life which is created by residing in com- mon lodgings, eating at common tables, and participa- ting in common conversations, sports, and festivitieSc l66 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES Those colleges in which the number of students is very small, furnish a jDublic opinion, which, it may be, is less active for evil ; possibly one that is less efficient and controlling for good. It may not be easy to analyze this subtle but most potent agency into its various ele- ments and to assign to each constituent its relative force. Indeed the product itself is far from being a constant quantity. It is not the same in any two insti- tutions ; each individual college having a genius loci of its own, which is in part dependent on traditionary in- fluences and in part affected by the force of living men and of current events. This spirit varies in the same college, and it may be with each college generation. There are, however, a few salient features that are com- mon to all these colleges and that are active at all times, which it is not difficult to enumerate. These influences are not always adequately estimated even by those who have enjoyed the exhilaration and have been stimulated by the force of this highly oxy- genated atmosphere. Those who have not experienced them find it difficult to estimate them at their real value, and often listen with incredulous questionings to the representations of their great importance, or look with silent wonder upon the excitement which they occasion in the young collegian as he begins to feel the stimulus of this peculiar life, and in the gray-headed student whenever he greets an old classmate with an unmistak- able heartiness or reverts to the scenes of his college life with a special enthusiasm. It is important that they should not be overlooked in any attempt to vindicate the college system against the prejudices or misconcep- tions which are entertained by its censors and judges AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 167 of the American public. Possibly the discussion may result in a higher appreciation of the indispensable value of such an agency in a state of society like our own and of the duty resting upon the philanthropist and the patriot to make it more efficient and abundant in its influences for good. The college community is emphatically an isolated community ; more completely separated and farther re- moved than almost any other from the ordinary and al- most universally pervading influences of family and social life. When the student leaves his home to enter college, it is true that in a most important sense he leaves it forever. He literally leaves father and mother, not in his affections or his respect ; for both of these feelings may remain with him and grow stronger and tenderer with absence and the progress of years ; but he does leave them in respect to the controlling power which they are to exert over his opinions, sentiments, and aims. He may do this unconsciously and most un- willingly, but he does it none the less truly and emphat- ically. When the father has carefully provided for the comfort of his son in the apartments which are hence- forward to be his new home, he little thinks of the im- port of what he has done. When the mother takes her affectionate and most anxious leave of the boy who goes forth into his new life, she little dreams how true it is that she loses him as a boy forever. The public opinion of the little community which has hitherto formed his aspirations and his hopes, his principles and his prejudices, is henceforth to cease to be controlling ; in the future it will either entirely give way to another, or will share with it a disputed and divided influence. 1 68 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES The public opinion of that larger community of man- kind which had begun to be felt through the openings which the family life had allowed, is swept away by the new atmosphere that rushes around him, and gradually but quickly becomes all-absorbing and controlling. Removed from the restraints of home, not yet sub- jected to the restraints and responsibilities of society and its public opinion, the college student is abruptly intro- duced into an isolated and peculiar community, which is eminently self-contained and self-sufficing, most en- ergetic in its action and all-pervading in its presence. This common opinion is sensitive and changeable ; often it is capricious and unreasonable ; it exerts over all the members of the commonwealth a subtle and re- sistless fascination. Something of this influence is ex- erted in a large public school — but the influences of the college community are immensely more energetic and enduring. This is owing to many reasons. The col- lege student is older, and though for that reason he should be less pliable and more self-relying and inde- pendent, yet the first form in which the developing man asserts his being is ordinarily to attach himself to a so- ciety of those who like himself are ready to withstand the control of his " natural enemies." It is no para- dox to say that the first essay of the student's inde- pendence is often an act of prostrate subserviency to the opinion of the college community. This opinion he at first has little share in forming ; he does little else than yield himself to the sentiment which he finds already formed. This community has its traditions, which are represented to be sacred by age and uniform observ- ance ; its customs, which are so ancient that the mem- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 169 ory of man runneth not to the contrar}', i. e., for one college generation ; its self-constituted and venerable lawgivers in the guise of certain loud mouthed person- ages who are often little better than disguised sons of Belial ; its natural aristocracy of eminent scholars, dis- tinguished writers, prize and honor men, boating men, and gymnasts. To these should be added its ladies' men, its fancy men, its fast men, its witty men, and its stupid and silly men, through all the varieties of the Dii majo7'u?n et mi7ioriim gentium who make up the col- lege mythology. It is eminently a law unto itself, mak- ing and enforcing such laws as no other community would recognize or understand ; laws which are often strangely incongruous with the usually received com- mandments of God and man. It has standards of character which are peculiar to itself, unlike those which the great world recognizes, but which are well understood and most efficient within its own limited circle. It has an intellectual atmosphere of its own, stimulating to extraordinary and long continued labor, and to austere self-denial ; sometimes unwise in the aims and methods of activity which it enforces. Its social customs, laws, and criteria, are the products of its iso- lated and peculiar life, and are an unsolved mystery to all other societies. Its ethical and religious life is marked by singular excellences and as striking incon- sistencies and defects ; sometimes sinking far below the rules and attainments of men in other communities and again soaring loftily above them. No community is swayed more completely by the force of public opin- ion. In none does public opinion solidify itself into so compact and homogeneous a force. Before its power 8 170 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES the settled judgments of individual conviction are of- ten abandoned or overborne, the sacred associations of childhood are relaxed, the plainest dictates of truth and honor are misinterpreted or defied. Notwithstanding the unnatural virulence of the morbid epidemics with which this community is occasionally visited, and the steady operation of certain endemic tendencies to evil, justice requires us to assert that the prevailing influ- ences are not only healthful but are eminently vital- izing. In no community of persons of immature age is the intellect more likely to be efficiently awakened, and on the whole to be more wisely directed, than in this commonwealth. In none is real merit more likely to be discerned, or when discerned is it more gener- ously acknowledged. In no community are the facti- tious distinctions of life, as of wealth, birth, and man- ners, of so little account in comparison with intellect, generosity, and openheartedness. In none do the rich and poor meet together oli terms more honorable to the rich and more acceptable to the poor, than on the arena dignified by the presence of earnest intellectual labor, and cheered by the sunshine of youthful generosity. In none are shallowness, pretension, and shams more quickly discovered or treated widi a more unanimous derision. In no community in which young men live together are that conceit and assumption which are as natural to many youth as teething is to infancy, more effectually rebuked and more quietly abandoned. Even the resident traditionary follies and sins of the place, its antagonism against the faculty and the law, the oc- casional frightful evasions and untruth in the acts and words of otherwise honorable and honest students in AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 171 their dealings with the government, and the jealousies and feuds between classes and factions, are many of them exaggerated and perverted excellencies. Even the very " failings" of college students, however inexcusa- ble and injurious they are, may be truly said to " lean to virtue's side." In respect to the moral dangers which attend a resi- dence in this peculiar community, very superficial and very unjust impressions prevail. Our opinion is, and we believe it will be confirmed by the most extended observation and the most accurate statistics, that there is no community in which this preeminently critical pe- riod of life can be spent with greater safety than it can in the college. If needful pains were taken to de- scribe the dangers and enumerate the failures which be- fall an equal number of young men selected from fam- ilies of similar conditions in life, whether at home or among strangers, whether passing their youth as farm- ers or mechanics, as clerks or students, it would be found that the moral results alone would be in favor of the life at a well-regulated college. Many of the dan- gers and evils of the college are eminently short-lived, being quickly ended by their own excess and extrava- gance ; many are abandoned, outgrown, or repressed by means of the very intensity and publicity which they assume. Many of them are the results of artificial crises, somewhat like those which are superinduced by a physician, for the expulsion of morbific matter. Many of them are laughed at and frowned down by the better sense and the maturer experience of the older students and the more advanced classes. It is noticed in some of our colleo:es — and we believe it is true of 172 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES many — that some of the lower vices and the more de- grading indulgences which are incident to earHer youth, are less prevalent among the older than among the younger classes, as the natural result of the public and private influences exerted by the college community, apart from any special moral or religious improvement. The consideration of the common life of the college is essential to a just estimate of its importance. With- out it the college can neither be understood nor appre- ciated. It is a true and pregnant saying, " You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him." The studies, the systems and meth- ods of teaching, the knowledge and skill of the in- structors, do not constitute the whole of the educating influences of the college. Often they do not furnish half of those influences which are most eflicient, which are longest remembered, or which are most highly val- ued. It is true that without the first the second could not be exerted, for they could not exist. The more ob- vious and essential elements of the college also exert upon its common life a positive and formative influence. They do not merely serve as the necessary nucleus around which the crystalline material is gathered in bright and beauteous order, but they act as living germs which shoot vitalizing influences through the organized body. But they are not themselves the whole of the body, nor do they include all the forces which it has at command. Very many even of those college graduates who have turned to the best account all the resources which their alma mater could furnish, feel themselves quite as much indebted to the educating influences of its community for the awakening and direction of their AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 73 energies, as to their studi-es or their instructors. The examples of successful effort which are constantly pres- entc the inspiration that may be derived from the strik- ing achievements witnessed in others, the kind words of a classmate or a college-mate, the encouragement spoken at a critical moment, the prevailing estimate of literary and artistic tastes above the vulgar aspira- tions after wealth and power which is inwrought into the very fibres of the soul of every genuine college alumnus, his pronounced aversion to all sorts of Philis- tinism — the inbreathing for years of a stimulating at- mosphere that is fragrant with " sweetness" and per- vaded by "light;" these, — together with the warmth of college friendships, the earnestness of college rival- ries, the revelations of character, the manifestations of growth, the issues of villainy and passion in retribution and shame, the rewards of perseverance and fidelity in triumph and honor — all make the college world to the student to be full of excitement in its progress and to abound in the warmest recollections in the retrospect. The men whom the student knew so thoroughly in col- lege become ever afterwards the representatives and types of all other men ; the incidents which there oc- curred are examples of all other events ; its loves and its hatreds, its triumphs and defeats are those by which he ever afterwards reads and interprets society and lit- erature, politics and history. The intellectual stimulus and education which are furnished by the college community are of a kind which neither circumstances nor instructors can impart. They are eminently a self-education. Most of the efforts at self-improvement which are prompted by the inde- 174 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES pendent movements of one's fellows are zealously pros- ecuted because they are self-enforced. They fall in with the voluntary activities of awakening manhood and of dawning responsibility. They train to the dig- nity and duty of self-culture. The studies which they directly foster and inspire are preeminently literary and rhetorical studies, because these studies are more de- pendent on individual tastes and individual culture, and from their very nature cannot be successfully prescribed nor enforced in the regular curriculum. Studies and ambitions of this sort are indeed not unfrequently irregular, desultory, and unwise. They often inter- fere very seriously with the thorough mastery of the curriculum of the college. Excessive attention to them sometimes weakens the intellectual energies, induces bad intellectual habits, depraves the taste, and perverts the judgment. But with all these abatements, the in- tellectual excitement and guidance which are indirectly furnished from the community of fellow students are to many a man the influences of all others which leave the strongest impression, because it is with these that he connects the first consciousness of awakening power, the earliest sense of independent activity and the be- ginnings of a steady course of self-culture. Some book recommended by a fellow student, some incident casu- ally occurring in the varied course of college experi- ence, some conversation of a wise and faithful adviser, some achievement of a classmate or friend, is remem- bered as a starting or turning point in the intellectual life. Nor are the social influences less important in the formation of the character and the furnishing of the AND THE AMERICAN PbBLIC. 1 75 man with the beginnings of all kinds of practical knowledge. It may be said that the college world is a narrow and peculiar world, is artificial and factitious in many of its workings, is greatly unlike the larger and freer world of mankind, and is therefore incapable of serving as a preparation for the actual life for which it must so soon be exchanged. Whatever ma}^ be its dis- advantages in these respects, the advantages which it brings are manifold. The intimacies are most unre- served, the opportunities for the study and interpreta- tion of character are various and long continued. It is at this period of life that the man is, if ever, prover- bially frank and transparent, open and fearless. Dur- ing its progress the character rapidly undergoes many transformations, which are open to the inspection of one's fellows and are often forced upon their attention. The leisure and curiosity of this morning of life, to- gether with the zest with which its novel experiences of research and discovery are enjoyed, all contribute to give energy and interest to this study of character. This study of character must involve the constant exercise of ethical judgments and the training of the moral powers. That there are peculiar exposures and dangers of a practical sort from this excited and one- sided life in an isolated and self-sufficing community, cannot be denied. That not a few are misled by its special temptations, not merely nor chiefly to vices and prodigalities of a grosser sort, but to a refined and subtle insensibility to good that is more insidious and not less really evil, will be confessed by many. That the moral powers often become paralyzed in some of their functions and incapable either of right judgments 176 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES or active feelings on certain classes of ethical ques- tions, is one of those ever recurring enigmas and scandals that puzzle and offend the looker-on. To the guardian and instructor of one or many victims of these abnormal ethical paroxysms, the question will of- ten present itself whether he ought to be more vexed or amused at these instances of suspended animation in the conscience. And yet with all these biasing and perverting influences, it is found to be true that the ob- servations and experiences of college life are often em- inently effective in educating and quickening the con- science and in awakening and directing the moral faculty. The failures and derelictions of college life, and even the occasional paralysis of the conscience of which we have spoken, may serve most important uses as warnings from similar repetitions. The moral les- sons of college life are indeed sometimes learned at a painful and bitter cost. But similar experiences are not uncommon with youtlr in every situation of life. Perhaps under no circumstances can they be made with a more wholesome and permanent ethical effect. The religious influences of this common life should not be omitted. We suppose that the college is a truly Christian institution, so far as the instructions and the faith of its teachers are concerned. There are not a few reasons why the public life of such an institution should be favorable to earnest religious thought and a positive religious faith. The life of the student is nec- essarily intellectual and reflective ; whatever subjects are studied, the study of them involves intellectual ef- fort and studious attention. During the period of col- lege life the earnest mind often encounters those ques- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 77 tionings which require a decided answer, and it awakes to thoughts which cannot be repressed. It is haunted by the presence of mysterious reaUties which cannot be dismissed. The prospect of coming manhood with the responsibihties of individual character and of inde- pendent Hfe, at once sobers and elevates. It often happens that many nearly allied as friends and class- mates, are moved to similar earnest emotions and to like searching inquiries. The common sympathies of a familiar circle thus occupied quicken the better emo- tions and favor the happiest results. The temptations in college to sensualism and to unbelief are manifold ; but so are the influences which favor an earnest and zealous Christian life. The number of those is not small who look back to the common life of the college as the beginning or the helper of the higher life of the Christian. Were the religious influences that proceed from the colleges of this country to be withdrawn or sensibly diminished, it would seem that the Gospel itself might almost cease to be acknowledged, — so manifold are the relations of each generation of col- lege students to the faith and life of the whole Christian Church. The effects of these varied intellectual, social, eth- ical, and religious influences are so powerful and salu- tary that it may well be questioned whether the educa- tion which they impart does not of itself more than repay the time and money which it costs, even to those idlers at college who derive from their residence little or nothing more than these accidental or incidental ad- vantages. The constant companionship with the mem- bers of a community professedly devoted to intellectual lyS THE AMERICAN COELEGES pursuits and elevated by literary tastes, the constantly renewed interest in those incidents which will ever break forth from its exuberant and irrepressible life, the pressure of its necessary restraints, the countless les- sons of good which cannot be unheeded even by the most thoughtless and perverse, elevate the life of the merest laggard and drone at college immeasurably above the life of the luxurious do-nothing who haunts the saloons, promenades the streets, and lounges at the concerts and theatres of a large city, or who drones away the animal, most likely the sensual, life of a rich man's son in the country. Such idlers sometimes awake to manliness and to duty when they leave college. However heavy may be the burden which they carry through life as the result of folly and waste, they rarely fail to have stored up an abundant stock of rich experiences as well as of pleas- ant recollections. To many who persistently neglect the college studies, the college life is anything rather than a total loss. Even those who sink downward with no recovery, find their descent retarded by the associa- tions of dignity and self-respect with which their previ- ous access to culture has enriched them. We have dwelt somewhat at length upon these features of the college as preliminary to the question. Whether it is on the whole desirable that such influences should be cherished and fostered, and how far any proposed changes in the college system would be likely seriously to impair their beneficent influence ? Is it desirable that this peculiar life of the college should be retained and fostered or should it be cur- tailed and crippled ? We reply with an indignant defi- 17 'I AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 1 79 ance of all sorts of low and high-lived Philistines, let it be retained ! Let it not only be retained but let it be intensified and turned to far more effective results. We are sure that in these answers we have with us not only the warm hearts, but the sober convictions of all classes of collegians. The experiences of the college life are too valuable and its manifold recollections are too precious to be sacrificed, to satisfy the vulgar preju- dices of envious illiterates, and the prosaic theories of Quixotic reformers. Whatever else is taken from the college, its associations, its friendships, and its inspir- ing influences must all remain. The low-lived utili- tarianism of this money-loving age may grudge the waste of a year or two to the youth who is wanted at the counting house or in the field. The self-seeking rivalships of hard-faced greed may scorn its generous impulses. The sharp-faced and venal politician may see but little money in its elections and offices. The cold blooded realist may laugh at its romantic dreams. The man of wide experience may sneer at the inordi- nate conceit and the extravagant expectations of the great men of the college year or of the college society as " carpet-knights ;" but it still remains true that there is in college life, with all its ignorance and its romance, its follies and its conceit, a well-spring of living waters, of which these Gentiles of the outer court may never taste, and a sanctuary into which these inhabitants of Philistia are not worthy to be admitted. Of this liv- ing fountain and this hallowed sanctuary let all the initiated say : they shall ever be guarded by our loyal arms as they are hallowed in our best and most gen- erous recollections. Though the ignorant may despise them, we know their worth, though the vulgar and pro- l8o THE AMERICAN COLLEGES saic may scorn and dishonor them, we who have drunk of these refreshing waters and wandered in these sacred shades, can never forget, because we can never lose their life-giving and ennobling influences. To all the prosaic arguments of educational reformers and the passionate appeals of envious Philistines, we lift up the triumphant song of reply, " Gaudea77ius igitiir * * * Pereant osores, qiiivis antihurschius atqiie irrisoresJ^ We will not, however, appeal solely to the feelings of those who are already convinced, nor to the unreflect- ing preferences of those who judge from their personal experience. We think it is susceptible of satisfac- tory proof that in such a country as ours, the peculiar influences of the common life of the college are of the greatest consequence, to deliver us from that gross vul- garity of taste and superficial conceit of knowlege to which it is especially exposed. Among the conserva- tive and elevating influences which are most efficient in the promotion of general culture there are few so im- portant as the refining influences of the college life. It takes into its organization a band of young men, at the period of life which is most susceptible of permanent influences — at the period when they are not too old to be easily moulded, and not too young to lose the forms into which they are shaped. It isolates them from the world. It surrounds and permeates their very being with the intense and quickening atmosphere of a com- munity of youths slightly older than themselves, who are already at home in the place, and therefore masters of the situation, by means of a public opinion as overpow- ering as heat and as searching as light. These strangers are by natural attractions and repulsions drawn closely to one another as allies and friends, and before they AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. iSl are aware they begin to understand the sacred import of the words "class" and "classmate." Within the class, like soon finds its like, and friendships are speedily formed on the basis of mutual sympathy which are so closely cemented under the varied experi- ences of the college as to continue unbroken for life. The pursuits of this community are professedly intel- lectual. The thoughts and opinions of each of its members are occupied more or less predominantly with intellectual themes. The labors and anxieties, the strifes and victories, the discussions of persons and things, the loves and the hostilities, turn chiefly upon subjects of an elevated character. For four consecu- tive years, beginning as boys and ending as men, the members of this community make a common experi- ence, with interruptions frequent and long enough to give greater zest to their peculiar excitements. This life has conventionalities and factitious distinctions of its own, but they are grounded on no such false and su- perfiicial reasons as are those of the great world with- out. They are far more just, more honest, more saga- cious, and more generous than the distinctions of that coarser world. True manhood in intellect and charac- ter is in no community so sagaciously discerned and so honestly honored as in this commufiity. Pretension and shams are in none more speedily and cordially de- tected and exposed. Whether displayed in manners or in intellectual efforts, conceit is rebuked and effectually repressed. Modest merit and refined tastes are appre- ciated, first by the select few and then by the less dis- cerning many. Each individual spectator of the goings on of this active life is learning intellectual and moral lessons which he cannot forget if he would, and which l82 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES he would not if he could, and he comes away Mdth a rich freight of the most salutary experiences of culture in his tastes, his estimates of character, his judgments of life, as well as of positive achievements in literary taste and power. Let any reflecting man think for a moment of the kind of education which society furnishes to a great ex- tent in this country, apart from these higher influences. Let him reflect on the trickery of business, the jobbing of politicians, the slang of newspapers, the vulgarity of fashion, the sensationalism of popular books, the shal- lowness and cant that dishonor the pulpit and defile worship, and he may reasonably rejoice that there is one community which for a considerable period takes into its keeping many of the most susceptible and most promising of our youth, to impart to them better tastes, higher aims, and, above all, to teach them to despise all sorts of intellectual and moral shams. Whatever overweening importance the college student may attach to his own artificial life, with its factitious distinctions and its one-sided tastes, it is at least satisfactory to known that what he values and rejoices in is not in the direction of the ignoble, the selfish, the pretentious, and the trickish ; that he has been taught to honor what is true, solid, and permanent, and perhaps brings away from the scene of his discipline refined tastes for the beautiful in literature and art, which shall adorn his own life and brighten that of others. Were we to tear out of our American life the civilizing and cul- turing influences which proceed from college residence and college associations, we should do much to vul- garize and degrade it. If we vulgarize and degrade the life that is so depressed by materialistic tendencies, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 183 and beset by grosser temptations, we shall certainly de- moralize it. We cannot safely dispense with a single agency which tends to elevate and refine this life, least of all with an agency which has been so conspicuous in its history, and been so closely interwoven with all the subtle forces of its better manifestations. It is enough for us to be able to assert that thousands of the noblest men who stand foremost in the ranks of social and pro- fessional life, would be forward to acknowledge that they are indebted to the cultivating influences of col- lege friendships and college associations, for the germs of their best principles, their noblest aspirations and their most refined tastes. With the views which we have expressed there are many who do not sympathize. Not a few regard the peculiar influences of college life as anything but re- fining, as tending rather to barbarism than to civiliza- tion, to grossness and conceit rather than to refinement and modest self-estimation. To such we have no further arguments to ofler. Whether they are honestly or dishon- estly ignorant and unjust, they are hopelessly irreclaim- able. With those who do nothing but rail, it is useless to try to reason. There are others who propose changes which would materially modify the whole operation of the common life of the college. They would remove or introduce features which would weaken or set aside the influences which we have enumerated. They would do so with the express design of avoiding some of its al- leged social evils, or with the desire indirectly to ac- complish other important ends. 184 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES VIII. THE DORMITORY SYSTEM. The first of these changes which we notice is the abandonment of the dormitory system. This has been seriously urged by not a few of the friends of higher education as a most desirable improvement in the col- lege economy.. The reasons adduced in its favor are, that if the students should live in lodgings they would be brought within the amenities and restraints of the family, and be prevented from contracting the exclusive and perverse esprit de corps^ which is thought to be the curse of colleges — that they would live, and feel and think, and act more as other human beings do, and less like that particular variety of the human species which is cloistered within the walls of a college and se- cluded from the ordinary influences of human society. The expensiveness to the college of providing and keeping in repair a large number of dormitory build- ings is also insisted on, as well as the duty and desira- bleness of appropriating the money required for these purposes to objects that are more properly educational. It is often asked, "why invest so much money in brick and mortar, /. ^., in houses for students to dwell in, when so much is needed for salaries, for endowments, for prizes, for books, and apparatus ? It is time that the system of cloisters and quadrangles, inherited from other times, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 185 should be abandoned with the changes required by modern life. More than half of the barbarism and ab- surdity of college life would cease if the students were distributed generally throughout the community and in a certain sense were members of its families, subject to their restraints and elevated by their refining influence." To these questions and arguments the following con- siderations are pertinent. First of all, the advantages which it is thought would follow from the distribution of students in families cannot be realized. It is not easy to find, even in a ver}^ large community, a sufficient number of families which would at once be competent and willing to exert a wholesome influence over the students even of a small college. Families which are independent in respect to income are not willing to re- ceive lodgers, least of all students, unless they as- sert some claim of acquaintance or friendship. If the families are dependent upon the students for a part or the whole of their living, the students will control so many, either by a direct or indirect influence, that they cannot be relied upon for restraint, except against the grossest excesses, and not always against them. The experiment has been tried sufficiently often to be hard- ened into an intractable fact, that students who reside in the most faithful and conscientious families *often succeed in making them their allies rather than their guardians and guides, and that when a crisis or conflict arises between the students and the faculty, the families in which any considerable portion of them reside, even the best and most reasonable families, more usually side with the students than with the faculty. If the offense or custom of the students is not very serious in 1 86 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES its immediate consequences, the interference of the faculty is complained of as officious and unreasonable. Even if it is plainly mischievous to the community and dangerous to life and limb, if it has often been forbid- den and punished and is yet pertinaciously persisted in, the necessary discipline of the college is often greatly weakened by an antagonistic or at least an unsympa- thizing feeling in the families in which many students reside. ' It has almost passed into a proverb, that when a college is situated in a village even of considerable size, the college controls the public sentiment of the community, and the faculty are compelled to contend against the public opinion of both village and college united. It is often the case in a much larger commu- nity that the families in which a few students reside, or with whom they visit, are strongly moved by their rep- resentations and their prejudices to a not inconsidera- ble excitement in a direction which is anything but fa- vorable to the order of the' college or the welfare of the students themselves. The restraints and refinements of family life should not be expected, for they cannot be realized in a large community of students, except by those collegians who reside at their own homes in a large city. It may be questioned in respect to these students, and in respect to all who can reside at their homes when the college is situated in their own city or village, whether they do not lose more by the absence of the salutary excitements and educating re- straints of the common life of the college, than they gain t)y the restraints and refinements of their own fam- ilies. This leads us to observe that the residence in dormitories by a very considerable part of the students AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 187 is absolutely essential to any vigorous and definite com- mon life. This is foremost among the advantages of the dormitory system. If the maintenance of such a common life is desirable, then dormitories are essential. The students, in order to enter into a common fellow- ship, must have ready access to each other's society on an equal footing. They must occupy the same prem- ises by day and night, so that they can see one another under every variety of circumstances. They must chat and talk with one another as they walk and as they lounge. They must be able to discuss the topics of graver and of lighter interest, the politics of the coun- try and the. politics of the college ; the character of the leading statesmen of the time, and the character of the leading men of their class and college ; the literature of ancient and modern times and the prominent writers of their own circle ; the last lesson, the last lecture, the last boat race, and the last party ; they must be able to report and circulate the latest joke, the latest news, and the latest canard. If college students are distributed in lodgings throughout the village or city they will form sets and associate in cliques, which, the more intimate and exclusive they are, are likely to become more nar- rowing, but they cannot partake of a general public life with its manifold cross and counter currents, its checks and counter checks, the influence of which upon the plastic minds of active minded and sagacious youth is liberalizing in an eminent degree. The dormitory system gratifies the student's desire of independence. It fosters that feeling of self-reliance which is suitable for his time of life, which cannot and ought not to be repressed. At the same time it tempers l88 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES and tones it down by the manifold restraints of the com- munity in which he dwells. At the age when a boy en- ters college it is usually time for him to be released from the petty and minute oversight of the domestic house- hold and to be thrown somewhat upon himself. " The wise instructor," says Emerson, " will press this point of securing to the young soul, in the disposition of time and the arrangements of living, periods and habits of solitude. The high advantage of university life is often the mere mechanical one, we may call it, of a separate chamber and fire, which parents will allow the boy, without hesitation, at Cambridge, but do not think need- ful at home." At this period of life he must in some form or other make the experiment, which is inevitable for all, of pass- ing from the restraints of the family among those of the great community of men. He makes it under peculiar advantages, to which are incident special but not unde- sirable perils. He cannot be effectually nor can he be advantageously subjected to the restraints of another family than his own. It is not desirable that he should be restricted to the uncertain chances and the narrow- ing influences of a private and exclusive clique. It is far better, and far more safe that he should be cast upon the common life of a college which is properly restrained by skillful discipline, which is guarded by wise super- vision and invigorated by a healthful ethical and relig- ious life. Residence in dormitories is also morally safer than the distribution of students in lodgings. Should it be conceded that it is attended by certain peculiar tempta- tions, it is also attended with certain more than coun- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 189 terbalancing advantages, so far as it subjects the stu- dent to a more direct and ready supervision and brings him Avithin the reach of healthful public sentiment. Residence in lodgings withdraws the student from su- pervision and opens abundant opportunities for secret mischief and gross vice. In those colleges in which the students are largely distributed in lodgings it is notorious that the grossest outrages against decency are plotted and executed in apartments which are remote from the inspection and interference of the college offi- cers, and that the most deplorable examples of aban- doned sensualism and sin are more frequent among those who hide themselves in remote and obscure habi- tations that they may indulge themselves in secret or undetected vice. Whatever may be said and said with truth of the energy of temptation and the facilities to sin which inevitably arise in a congregated mass of ex- citable and passionate youths,is offset by what may be said with equal truth of the restraining and elevating influences which such a community develops within itself when its sentiment is projDcrly directed and rein- forced. Residence in a dormitory is less expensive than residence in lodgings, and is therefore, in a large institution, absolutely necessary, unless such an institu- tion is content to be a college for the rich ; which wou!d involve a great calamity for both rich and poor. It is said that the college is not obliged to furnish lodging at a rate below that which the ordinary and natural de- mand would justify. We reply by two considerations. First, the college can furnish apartments in public dor- mitories at a cheaper rate than private parties will do it, even without loss to itself ; and second, the college IQO THE AMERICAN COLLEGES may as properly furnish room rent as tuition to its pu- pils at less than remunerative rates to itself. But it is notorious that the instruction is furnished at less than half its cost, to both the rich and the poor. The American colleges in their theory and administration are all beneficiary institutions. As long as they remain such, it follows that public lodgings should be furnished either at comparatively high rates, because the colleges can do it more advantageously to the students, or at rates which are lower because they are beneficiary. Public dormitories may and should be made more convenient and comfortable than private apartments. They may and should be provided with all the appli- ances of modern civilization, with water, gas, and heat, and every other comfort which conduces to health or morality, to neatness or self-respect. We have nothing to offer in excuse or defense for those dormitories which are not so constructed and provided, except the excuse or defense of poverty, and for this the guardians and officers are not responsible as long as they themselves suffer in common with the students. But perhaps we have delayed too long upon this topic, and therefore proceed to another. We were led to speak of the dormitory in connection with the common life of the college. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I9I IX. THE CLASS SYSTEM. To this general topic we again return and obser\'e that the class systej?t is essential to an efficient and en- ergetic common college life. The class is the organic centre, or rather one of the organic centres, the combi- nation of which constitutes the college into an organic whole. Indeed, we do not see how an American col- lege without fixed classes can have an efficient common life. The English universities find in the separate col- leges the proper central forces, which work together into what there is of university feeling and university life. The separate colleges are distinct communities in separate buildings. The number of undergraduates in each is so small, and they are brought so frequently and so closely together, that though they may difier in age and in acquisitions, they make up a separate family, with family interests, family traditions, and family pride. Closeness and frequency of intercourse, and a sense of family honor, with their common relation to the elder fellows who eat at the sam.e table and lodge under the same roof, unite them all by many ties and connect to- gether men of different years and attainments by warm and intimate friendships. In the American college, the class is the charmed circle within which the individual student contracts the most of his friendships, and finds 192 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES his fondest and most cherished associations. The sen- timent of his class is that which influences him most efficiently, and is to him often the only atmosphere of his social life. He enters the college community as a timid and often an uncultivated novice. He meets with a company of strangers to one another and strangers to the place, its customs, and its inhabitants. These are all supposed to have reached the same grade of intel- lectual culture and are destined to be associates and competitors for four years in the same studies and the same amusements — in the same relations and the same rivalships. The members of this community are at once united by a sense of their common strangeness to the place and by the mutual sympathy which it en- genders. This union is usually cemented by the an- tagonism in which this newly formed society finds itself with respect to the superior classes, and is more firmly fixed by the necessity of protection and defense. Its members soon become mterested students of each other's powers and observers of each other's progress. They meet in the same class-room, or hear from one another of the achievements and characteristics of a fe-.v prominent individuals. Not a few of those who at first stand in the foreground become less conspicuous as others take their place, till under the searching tests of the class-room the capacity of each man is sat- isfactorily ascertained, and under the still more saga- cious and nearer scrutiny of youthful companions, the character and temper as well as the practical sense and judgment of each are thoroughly tested. Like is at- tached to its like and the foundations of friendships be- gin to be laid, some of which do not survive the fortmies AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I93 of the college generation, while others endure through all the changes of the earthly life. Each term has experiences and a history which is limited to the class, but in which every member of the class takes a lively interest. Each college year carries this community through its appointed cycle. As the youthful excite- ments of the beginning are gradually sobered into the more thoughtful anticipations that gather around the close, the fervor of its friendships increase rather than abate, till at the hour of parting the class feeling be- comes more intense and the ties of its union are welded into links of iron. But while the class is the most important society to the college student, the class itself shares largely in the sentiment of the college community, being largely formed by it and reacting upon it. The new^ class lives upon the common life of the whole body, while it in turn ministers to and modifies that life. It is, how- ever, as essential to an efficient common life, as an en- ergetic and efficient local community, whether it be township, county, or state, is essential to an energetic national life. Should the class be destroyed or set aside by the substitution of the regime of the university for the 7'egime of the college, the energy and interest of the common life that at present characterizes the Amer- ican college, must inevitably go with it. Such intima^ cies can only be developed by the common studies and common interests, the common enjoyments and com- mon antagonisms of a succession of years, during the most plastic age. If we substitute for them such classes as are held together for a few weeks or months by com- mon attendance in the same lecture-room, and allow 9 194 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES these classes to be broken up and re-formed of new ma- terials in new combinations, we shall lose much of the charm and more of the educating power of the college life. Whatever this common life is worth in its mani- fold training of the intellect to practical judgments and of the heart to its finer affections, must be sacrificed if the class system is greatly weakened or practically abandoned. The value of these influences is in our view another weighty argument in favor of retaining fixed classes, in addition to those which have already been urged. We ought not in this connection to omit entirely another prominent feature of the college as a commu- nity, viz., the arrangements for culture and enjoyment furnished by the so-called college societies^ secret and open, larger and smaller. These societies are common to all the universities and colleges of Europe and Amer- ica. Their existence in some form is a necessary out- growth of human nature. In similar circumstances ardent and ambitious young men will devise some ex- pedient for self-improvement, particularly in rhetorical and literary exercises. The university cannot furnish all the culture of this sort which is required, nor if it could would it be either as acceptable or as efficient as that which is originated and managed by young men themselves. It is not surprising that in the American colleges, animated as they must be with the practical and independent spirit of the country and sympathizing most warmly with every public movement, whether po- litical or literary, these associations should have as- sumed great prominence and should have exercised a powerful educating influence. The social tendencies AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 195 of young men must necessarily lead to associations for other than exclusively literary purposes. The clannish tendencies which result from their ardent likings and their violent antagonisms, as well as their newly devel- oped feelings of independence would tend to make these societies exclusive and secret. We do not pro- pose to discuss the general question of the desirable- ness or the undesirableness of some associations of this sort. It is scarcely open for discussion. They are so natural to young men, indeed to men of all ages, as not to need defense or justification. Whether it is desira- ble that they should be secret or guarded by a mysteri- ous reserve, and so invested with a factitious import- ance, admits of more question. The love of secrecy and reserve is too strong in human nature, and espe- cially in boyish nature, to be easily thwarted. We doubt the expediency because we disbelieve in the pos- sibihty of destroying or preventing secret societies. That such societies may be, and sometimes are, at- tended with very great evils, is confessed by the great majority of college graduates. Prominent among these evils is the fostering of an intriguing and political spirit, which is incongruous with the general tendencies of college life toward justice and generosity ; and the division of the community and the classes into hostile factions. Whatever excesses attend them, of late hours, late suppers, noisy demonstrations, and convivial indulgencies, should be repressed by the good sense and manlier spirit of the college community. Could the continuity of many of these societies, from one col- lege year to another, be broken up, the college life would be greatly ennobled. 196 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES The consideration of this subject suggests another which is nearly akin, and that is whether the arrange- ments for social life in the college are sufficiently nu- merous and complete. Is it practicable and desirable that such arrangements should be more attractive ? Some colleges have provided bowling alleys for exercise and relaxation. Ought billiard rooms and club rooms to be added ? Is it desirable that public parlors should be furnished, or places convenient for rendezvous and conversation ? Questions of this sort are more easily asked than answered. It is safe to say that whatever withdraws the students from resorts for eating and drinking or gaming — which may furnish facilities for other excesses — is so much gained to academic manners and morals. An accessible and cheerful reading room, amply furnished with the best newspapers and journals, should be esteemed a necessity, and if it were made at- tractive and tasteful in its, appointments and supplied with retiring rooms for conversation, and could also be rigidly controlled by the rules of gentlemanly etiquette, would be a most desirable and useful agency in the college community. The tendencies to barbarism and roughness are manifold in the college. Jeremy Taylor enumerates as among the miseries of our human life, that the boy at a certain age yields himself in subjec- tion to " a caitiff spirit." That a caitiff spirit prowls around the buildings of every college and sometimes takes possession of scores and hundreds of its inhabi- tants is too notorious to need any evidence. Whatever may impede its influence or repress its manifestations is obviously most salutary. That this spirit has some- times been exasperated and rendered more brutal and AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I97 barbarous by barbarous methods of punishment may be safely admitted, without abating at all from the author- ity of any existing government or without conceding in the least to the amiable delusion that a college commu- nity can be managed without rigid authority ; and even in entire consistency with the doctrine that the govern- ment must be absolute in its commands and summary in its administration. Whatever removes the occasion for the exercise of mere authority, or even for the sem- blance of its assertion is, however, usually acknowledged to be a real blessing with both men and brutes, and a col- lege student may surely take rank somewhere between the extremes of the series. 198 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES X. LAWS AND SUPERVISION, That a 'college community requires rules, and that rules must be enforced by discipline will not be dis- puted. That a certain measure of inspection and su- pervision should also be exercised over this community, to preserve decorum in the apartments and grounds, would scarcely be denied. It is not, however, easy to answer the question how minute the supervision by the college authorities should be. Upon this subject opin- ions differ very widely, and these opinions differ in the case of the same persons with their varying circum- stances. One class of critfcs contend for the constant and minute supervision of a Jesuit seminary, every rule and provision of which is founded on suspicion and distrust. Another class would abandon all special rules and inspection and leave the students entirely to their own sense of honor and decorum. One class of advisers would proceed on the principle that all stu- dents are liars and scoundrels, another that they are all gentlemen and men of truth ; neither of which opinions happens to be just. The complaint is often heard and urged with special earnestness for or against this or that college, that in the one the instructors are on intimate and familiar terms with their pupils anc/ exert over them a parental supervision, while in the other AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. I99 they are distant and leave the pupils to themselves. Some insist that if students reside together they should be inspected in their apartment by day and carefully locked in at an early hour by night. Others would leave them alone by day and night, without even the presence of an officer in the building in which they con- gregate, and to and from which they have ready access and egress at all hours. Many insist that all special laws and penalties provoke disorder and mischief, while others insist that college laws should be numerous and be strictly enforced. We cannot discuss these questions in detail, nor need we in order to vindicate the system of college residence and general supervision. The English system of locking in at an early hour is mani- festly unsuited to the general freedom of our institu- tions, and is chiefly valuable as a security against a single vice. It is better adapted to their system of small colleges in each of which the inmates live in some sort a family life. It is the supplement or coun- terpoise to the greater freedom of their students in many other respects, as in daily attendance at lectures and in daily examinations of the work performed. It is in fact the single controlling influence which the col- lege can constandy enforce, in place of which the American college has manifold more efficient substi- tutes. Frequent visitation of the students by day and evening has been recommended by many as essential to the faithful supervision and the parental care which the college is bound to exercise. This was practised in many of our colleges in other times and has not been entirely disused. In some instances the lodg- in^^s of students have been attached to and been alter- 200 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES nate with the residences of professors for the purpose of making this inspection more constant and complete. It has been generally found that such minute and con- stant supervision is exceedingly ungrateful and annoy- ing, because it presents the aspect of meddling ; and it provokes in return an antagonistic attitude in manifold petty annoyances. The agression of constant interfer- ence provokes the resistance of boyish mischief and arouses the wrath of the manhood that is half devel- oped and is therefore intensely jealous for its invaded rights. The proper medium between the too little and the too much, is for the government to maintain and occasionally to assert its right of visitation, and provide for the presence in every dormitory by day and night of officers clothed with complete authority, but to exer- cise its supervision chiefly by methods that are indirect. The judgment of what students are doing and the con- trol of their movements can be most efficiently exer- cised by their attendance af all the required exercises, by constant responsibility for the work of every day, and by the manly and scholarly sentiment of the college community. The monitor's returns and the instructors' record book, when closely watched and efficiently used, if conjoined with occasional personal interviews with students who are any way derelict are, we are per- suaded, the most efficient as well as the least oppres- sive instruments of official supervision. That the senti- ment of the college community is far more important and far more efficient than is commonly supposed we have already sought to establish. It is a most interest- ing and important inquiry whether any system of meas- ures can be devised by which this public sentiment can AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 20I be elevated to a higher tone and can be maintained in greater efficiency. Can any formal arrangement be made by officers, discipline, or studies which shall in- troduce into the community better and more elevating influences ? It is manifest that such influences must to a great extent be personal and individual. The selection of officers of high personal character and of ardent and self-sacrificing devotion to the interests of the students is the first condition of success in this respect. The maintenance of a certain degree of free and familiar in- tercourse between them and their pupils is equally es- sential. The traditions of some of the colleges in this country are unfavorable to a too familiar intimacy, and the feelings of the students themselves demand a meas- ure of reserve and isolation on both sides. Too much advice, especially if it is obtrusively administered, is if possible more offensive than too much supervision. The students themselves naturally withdraw from the society of those who are older than themselves and who hold official relations that involve some constraint on both. sides. The opinions and sympathies of their fel- lows are of far greater concern to them than the judg- ments and feelings of their instructors. While all this is true there is room even under the present arrange- ments, for the exertion of a very efficient influence over the college community, by those who are disposed to use it. The English universities have one advantage however which we should seek to engraft upon our sys- tem. The intercourse of the tutor with his pupil is constant and intimate. It is often generous and con- fiding. The tutor works with his pupil and teaches him how to work. He sympathizes with his difficulties 202 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES as well as corrects his mistakes. He inspires his am- bitions and elevates his aims ; he liberalizes his drudg- eries and imparts to the flagging somewhat of his own enthusiasm. He lays the foundation for life-long friend- ships, and in this way perpetuates his own influence, and the spirit of his own attainments and culture. Can we do anything of the sort ? We could if we had the means. We could avail ourselves of all the advantages of the system of " fellows " and " private tutors " with- out m.any of its incidental evils. The advantages to our system of instruction of terminable fellowships or scholarships of the house have already been insisted on. The services which they might render as connect- ing links between oflicers and students are if possible still more important. The presence in a college community of a sufficient number of recent graduates, of eminent attainments and of attractive characters, who should share in the sympathies and have access to the opin- ions of the undergraduates, 'whose associations should be constant with the better men of all the classes, while their services as tutors and guides to the weaker should open to them abundant opportunites for be- friending them intellectually and morally, could not fail to be most efficient in elevating the tone of college opinion and of college scholarship, manners, and morals. Such a provision would go farther than any other to- wards redeeming these communities from much of the reproach which rests upon them, however undeserved and exaggerated it often may be. Dr. Arnold remarks more than once in his letters to this effect : if the sixth form is with me I can defy evil in- fluences from every other source. This thought occurs AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 203 to US in connection with the inquiry whether the higher classes, — rather, whether the highest of all, should not have the privileges proper to a more positive manhood than are allowed in respect to its methods of study, relations to the instructors, and its responsibility for the controlling sentiment of the institution. Under the operation of natural laws a somewhat different position has been accorded to it in all these respects than has been conceded to the other classes. The studies pur- sued are at once more directly liberal as well as more practical. They are at least more practical in the sense of having a more vital relation to the principles which underlie individual faith and character, to the historical and political questions which agitate the world of living men as well as to the literature in which* men of culture find at once their refreshment and inspiration. The methods of instruction may be less constrained, and the intercourse with instructors more free and confiding. Some have advised that the freedom of the university should be introduced in the closing year, and that for the selection of their studies as well as for their responsibility in pursuing them the Seniors should be more largely left to themselves. We have already given the reasons why elective studies can- not to a very great extent be allowed and why private studies are to be preferred. It is however altogether essential to the perfection and the full development of the college system, that the last year of college life should be turned to its best account in self-culture. With its beginning there begins to be developed even to the frivolous and the idle the sense of individual re- sponsibility for the future. Many of the studies invite 204 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES to manly and moral reflection. Many of them exercise the inventive and aesthetic powers to an unwonted degree. All of them introduce the students to the thoughts and opinions of cultivated men upon subjects of comprehensive and general interest. During this year the student begins, perhaps for the first time in his life, to read, and is earnest to learn how to read. All these influences tend to awaken whatever of man- hood may hitherto have lain dormant, and to quicken into life some sense of his responsibility for his influ- ence over the community in which he lives. Whatever can be done to turn these advantages to the most effi- cient use will elevate the tone of feeling in the whole college. We do not advise the release of the Senior from any of the obligations of an enforced system of study. He needs them as much as ever and can profit by them more than ever. But he can certainly be made to understand the value of a manly sympathy with the decorum and order of the college and the importance of his own influence in this regard. It is not desirable that he should be instructed without constant responsi- bility for his work. But he may certainly be treated as a man who has ceased to be a school boy. The Senior year ought to be the busiest year of all, but it ought not to be overburdened with manifold and novel studies. Nothing is more injurious and discouraging than the practice of crowding a great number of liberal scientific studies into the last year of the course, which has been allowed in so many colleges, by way of "finishing," as if the student were to cease to study and learn as soon he completes his college course. The habits of thorough work and the satisfaction of successful AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 205 achie\«ement, which come from a very few things well and carefully done, are worth quite as much to the character as they are to the intellect, ^^latever gives tone to either in the management of the Senior class in any American college will give elevation and tone to the sentiment of the whole community. It is not too much to labor and hope for, that in the future development of the college system the Senior class may feel its responsibility and exercise its influence for good with greater efficiency, and as a consequence the American colleges may attain a nobler and more healthful common life. Our discussion of this common life requires us to consider the moral and religious influences which may properly be employed in invigorating and controlling it. To this subject we proceed. 206 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES XI. THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF COLLEGES. The consideration of the American colleges as com- munities has brought us to the question of their reli- gious character. This includes several subordinate questions, such as, whether they ought to be placed un- der a positive religious influence, and to what extent and in what manner this influence may jDroperly be ex- ercised. These questions, and many others which arise under this comprehensive topic, are from the na- ture of the subject not easily answered, and in the present state of opinion are involved in somewhat seri- ous complications. We may as well say, at the outset, that the view which any man, otherwise well-informed, will take of this subject, must necessarily vary with the views which he takes of religion itself, as to its essential nature and authority, its evidence, and its relation to man's respon- sibility and destiny. It will vary also with the views which he takes of Christianity ; according as he re- gards it as supernaturally given and historically true, or as he believes it to be of human origination, and, therefore, so far as its miracles and the claims and con- ceptions of its central personages are concerned, as more or less historically erroneous. It will vary also according as his views are more or less enlarged of its AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 207 relations to human culture, and of its friendliness to the highest forms of human development. The position which we occupy is that " the Christian faith is the perfection of human reason ;" that super- natural and historical Christianity is the only Chris- tianity which is worth defending or which is capable of being defended on the grounds of reason or history ; and that such a Christianity, when interpreted by en- lightened judgment, as to its truths and its precepts, is not only friendly to the highest forms of culture, but is an essential condition of the same. There are not a few at the present time who do not agree with us in this position. More than a few, we fear, of those interested in the higher education of the country, so far hesitate to receive any positive form of religion as to assume in all their reasonings, that the claims of supernatural Christianity are more likely than otherwise to be set aside in the progress of historical and scientific investigation, and that it is therefore in- consistent as well as impolitic for the universities and colleges of the country to be very positively committed to the support of these claims. Such a recognition of Christianity, in their view, hinders the freedom of in- vestigation and of teaching, and is inconsistent with that tolerance among scholars which is required by the spirit of the age. They might repel the charge of be- ing anti-religious or atheistic or even anti-Christian in their own faith, but they reason that for a college to recognize the Christian faith in its teachings is to com- mit itself to an implied bondage of opinion, which can- not but constrain the freedom of its spirit, or which must, at least, make it unwisely intolerant. We cannot accept this position or the inferences to which it leads. 2o8 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES We must discuss this question in an important sense from a Christian position, and judge of the whole sub- ject from a Christian point of view. But wliile we frankly avow our position, we trust that it will not make us so one sided in our construction of those whose posi- tion differs from our own as to render us incapable of appreciating their difficulties or of looking at college and university education from their point of view. Though our position is distinctively and avowedly Christian, we do not propose to argue simply as theolo- gians, or to use our assumption of the truth of Chris- tianity as a vantage ground ; but to argue as friends of education, and to occupy, so far as we may, the ground which is common to all friends of culture who are not illiberally or fanatically irreligious and atheistic in their scientific and practical theories. The view which we shall endeavor to maintain is that the American Colleges should have a positively re- ligious and Christian character. We have in mind the college such as we have conceived and described it, — the college which is a distinct community and maintains a separate and distinctive intellectual and social life. The few colleges which are not distinct as communities — the colleges of the very large cities, where pupils live in their own homes and are rooted in their own families — can derive their religious influence from the same sources from which other youths derive theirs, that is, from the domestic, social, and church relations of the great community from which they have never been transplanted. While it is desirable, and in a sense, necessary that institutions of this kind should exert a positive religious and Christian influence, the necessity AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 209 in this case is not so imperative. We are concerned with those colleges which maintain the distinctive and intensely active common life which we have described. When we say that the college of this description should be positive in its religious and Christian influ- ence, we mean that the essential facts and truths of the Christian system should be recognized in all its teach- ings as true ; that as a community the college should participate in Christian worship, and that its instruction and discipline should, with rare exceptions, be in the hands of men of a positive and earnest Christian char- acter. Our reasons are the following : First. — The colleges as such have the same duty and need of social religion which exist in every community. This can be doubted or denied only by those who deny altogether the obligation of united and common reli- gious teaching and worship. We have seen that the college, as a community, is eminently independent and self-sufficing, deriving the roots of its life eminently from within itself, and living that life with an energy that is especially intense. If other human societies need to be socially religious, the need of the college is preeminent. If it is becoming that the great commu- nity of men should divide itself into separate societies in order that it may maintain religious teaching and worship, then it is especially appropriate that a society which is separated from every other so emphatically as is the college, should be provided with such teaching and worship. If every household ought to be a religious commonwealth, then the college which takes the youth from his home and introduces him into a larger house- 2IO THE AMERICAN COLLEGES hold of its own, ought to sustain that religious teaching and worship which are ajDpropriate to its own necessities and position. Second. — The college, as compared with other com- munities,- stands in special and imperative need of re- ligious restraints and religious influences. The indi- viduals of which it is composed have been released, sometimes abruptly, from the restraints of the family and of the public opinion of society at large. They form to themselves a public sentiment of their own, which, though often generous and just, is yet liable to strange caprices and sudden revolutions, even when sobered and elevated by the most active and ennobling religious elements. The passions are strong, the will is impetu- ous and weak, the judgment is immature, the experi- ence of temptation is limited, the habits of good are not fixed, while those to evil are sometimes fearfully strong. Such a community, as it would seem, does of all others stand in pressing need of the best religious influences, and these should be constantly applied, wisely varied, and patiently maintained. If Christian- ity can do anything to control and elevate any class of persons, or if it is needed for any, it is adapted to and required for the susceptible, intelligent, and impetuous youth, who resort to the American Colleges. What is adapted to the welfare of young men as in- individuals, is equally required for the order and disci- pline of the whole body. To govern a college by mere law, or by the force of rules and penalties, without ap- pealing to the ethical and religious feelings of the pupils, is not always successful in the lowest sense, and it never can be in the highest. The reason and con- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 211 science must often be appealed to, and if this is done with effect, both reason and conscience must be rein- forced and quickened by religious faith and feeling. If religious restraints and religious hopes are required in every community of full grown men — not as is some- times charged to do the work of a police, but to make the w^ork of a police less necessary, — this must be emi- nently true in a community of youths whose sense of propriety is not always proportioned to their knowl- edge, and whose mobile and impetuous tempers are of- ten exasperated to resistance by rules and surveillance. If the college contains none whose principles of duty are made sturdy by religious reverence and whose con- sciences are quickened by the presence and love of God, then, on those occasions of strain and conflict between the students and the faculty which must inev- itably occur from time to time, the cause of order must be imperiled. It is not according to the wisdom of ex- perience to affirm that such exigencies will not arise, nor if they do occur, to rely upon any principles which are not enforced, either directly or indirectly, by reli- gious faith. Third. — It is a legitimate and important function of the college, to form the character to moral and religious excellence. Education should not and cannot be lim- ited to the culture of the intellect and the tastes. It also properly includes the training of the character. The Christian believer holds that the character can only be rightly formed when it is subjected to the authority of Christ. He holds that discipleship to Christ is the condition of complete success in the culture and regula- tion of the springs of action. When then he requires 212 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES that the college should teach and influence its pupils according to this theory, he is only consistent with his own most sacred convictions. Whenever the instruction on scientific and literary themes can be of such a char- acter as to afford the opportunity of confirming the Christian faith, and strengthening Christian purposes, it should in all cases be given. If it furnishes no such opportunity, the character of the instructor may still at- tract and influence his pupils. Those who found and endow Christian colleges may as properly endow them for purposes of religious culture, so far as such culture can be successfully applied, as make them places of Intel- lectual discipline. Those who do not accept the Christ- ian notion of character, who do not believe in Christ as the object of man's confidence and the light and hope of his life, may see no propriety in connecting these in- fluences with his training in youth. They would ex- clude religion and Christianity from the college for the same reasons and no other for which they would exclude them from the conduct of the life. Conversely, the same reasoning which would exclude them from a place in the college, would require that they be rejected alto- gether. Fourth. — If moral and religious perfection are the end of all education, then moral and religious culture are friendly to education and culture of every kind. " The end of learning," says Milton, " is to repair the ruins of our first parents, by regaining to know God aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to imi- tate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest by pos- sessing our souls of true virtue, which being united to the heavenly grace of faith, makes up the highest per- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 2x3 fection. But because our understanding cannot in this body found itself but on sensible things, nor arrive so clearly to the knowledge of God and invisible things, as by orderly conning over the visible and inferior crea- tures, the same method is necessarily to be followed in all discreet teaching." These views, with some quali- fications of phraseology, will be accepted by all those who have any faith or interest in religious truth. They are in brief " that moral and religious perfection are the final aim of all human culture, as they are of our existence and discipline in the human condition. This end is promoted by education, chiefly by the study of nature and of books." * Now the question upon which opinions differ, is, whether this final, that is the religious aim, ought to be distinctly recognized in our educational arrangements, especially in the higher institutions of learning. Some contend that any recognition of reli- gious ends other than the most indirect and incidental must interfere with the direct object of education, w^hich is culture, and in this way may defeat the ends of reli- gion itself Others contend, that inasmuch as religion is supreme, it should be recognized and pursued in the college, even at the expense and sacrifice of culture ; that whatever else should be sacrificed even in an in- stitution professedly devoted to education, religion should be regarded as supreme. We contend that there is no incompatibility between the two ; that while culture should be made the direct object of every insti- tution of learning, and in one sense the immediate aim of its arrangements, this aim is not hindered but promo- ted by that enlightened recognition of religion which culture makes possible. We hold that religion controls 214 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES and tempers culture, in order to stimulate, refine, and ele- vate it ; and culture, in its turn, enlightens and liberal- izes religion. We do not agree with Matthew Arnold in his Culture and Aiiarchy^ that the Christian element is essentially " Hebraistic" in the sense of being dog- matic, narrow, and intolerant, and that as such it is op- posed to the " Hellenistic" element, which is reflecting, enlightened, tolerant, and civilized. Rather do we hold that Christianity mediates between Judaism and Hel- lenism, that it is Hebraism Hellenized, and contains in itself the excellences of both directions, softening the austerities of Judaism by the refinements of Greece, and thus enlarging its narrowness by " turning a stream of fresh and free thought upon our stock notions and habits." Or rather we should say that it is only by the touch of the divinely human Master and Lord of Chris- tianity, that these antagonistic elements can be fused into something nobler than either, the self-sacrifice and worship of that Christian love which " seeketh not her own." Did we not believe that an earnest and spir- itual Christianity is compatible with and favorable to the highest forms of human culture, we should not be- lieve it to be from God. But believing that it is divine, not merely in its moral and religious relations to the individual soul, but in its adaptations to every possi- ble development of humanity, we think that its truths and spirit should be distinctly and prominently recog- nized in all our higher institutions of learning ; and this not merely from its acknowledged importance and supremacy, but because of its beneficent influence upon learning and culture themselves. We would not make of our colleges houses of piety as such, we would not AND THE AMERICAN PDDLIC. 215 turn their scholastic exercises into spiritual retraites ; we would not lower the standard of learning or dimin- ish the requirements of taste and culture ; but we would distinctly hold up and exemplify the most spiritual and earnest forms of Christian duty and the Christian life, as the ends to which all learning and all culture should be consecrated as supreme. The mottoes upon the seals of Harvard and Yale respectively, when united into one, happily express our own opinion, as they do justice to the claims of religion on the one hand, and of culture on the other. Harvard, in her Christo et Ecde- sicE, pays the chief homage to religion, as it was natural that she should, being older in time. Yale completes the motto, by Lux et Veritas^ providing for culture in words that remind us of Arnold's oft-repeated " sweet- ness and light." We trust that none of our readers will be surprised that we assert, that other things being equal, — as en- dowments, time, access to an intelligent and refined community, with the appliances with which such a community provides itself, — that institution of learning which is earnestly religious is certain to make the larg- est and most valuable achievements in science and learning, as well as in literary tastes and capacity. Among the particulars in which an earnest Christian spirit is fitted to act favorably upon the culture of the colleges, are the following. It is favorable to persever- ing industry. Culture of every sort is the fruit of ap- plication. Success in any science and art is achieved by labor. The spirit of Christianity is a spirit of self- denying and patient service. To what feats of literary work has it not prompted, in the amazing toil by day 2l6 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES and night, through month and years, which has wrought the ponderous tomes that fill the libraries of the learned ? It is true other motives prompt to laborious erudition and scientific toil ; the motives of ambition in all its forms, and sometimes those of malevolent pas- sion or critical spleen, but none of these is a force which in its nature is so tense and untiring as are reli- gious duty and Christian self-denial. What superhu- man patience has been shown by the devotees of Christian art in all its forms, who have labored, not merely for an immortality of earthly fame, but under the inspiration which came from the assured hope of a personal immortality which should surpass by its sat- isfying realities their loftiest ideals ! The Christian spirit is in its nature truth-loving. If there is any one feature prominent in the character of its great Founder, in which he was before his own time and has given character to all the time that has fol- lowed, it is his recognition of the independence of the truth as such, and of its authority, by virtue of its hold upon the reason. If there is any one spirit which he has inculcated by precept and example, it is the spirit of brave allegiance to truth. If any duty may be said to have been prominently recognized and enforced by him, it is the duty of candor in weighing all sorts of evidence. The father of the inductive philosophy could give no better illustration of the spirit which he regarded as the condition of successful investigation and of actual progress, than in these words, " that it is no less true in this human kingdom of knowledge, than in God's king- dom of heaven, that no man shall enter it except he be- come first as a little child^ It enjoins the love of all AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 217 sorts of truth — Truth of art and literature, as well as of that beauty which is but another name for aesthetic truth. The precept " whatsoever things are true, what- soever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these thi?igs,''^ provides for the most catholic taste conceivable, for the most progressive civ- ilization, for all true refinement in art, in literature, in manners, and in civilization of every kind. It not only provides for all these, but it enjoins them all as duties. It is, moreover, refinifig in its operation and influ- ences, and so far is eminently favorable to culture. It represses the animal passions with the spiritual debase- ment which they involve. It rises above mere worldly tendencies \ with their inevitably hardening tendency, however brilliant the polish of which this hardness is capable. It substitutes for this the more delicate graces of spiritual modesty and spiritual aspirations. It destroys the selfish affections and introduces in their place a love which is warm as well as ennobling. It rises above the envious jealousies which, if reports are true, do sometimes separate scientists, poets, and musi- cians — as well as theologians and religionists. In short, the indirect effect of Christian feeling is to call forth and encourage whatever in human sensibility is of finer texture, and to keep it fresh and pure. The same Christian faith which, when it enters a cottage, other things being equal, awakens and intensifies the love of flowers, of music, of poetry, and of pictures, does also, when it dominates in the cultured soul, increase the delicacy and enlarge the sphere of its tastes. By the same rule, when it prevafls in a university it tends to make its members more refined in all their capacities 2l8 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES for aesthetic progress, as well as quickens the desire to exercise and perfect them. We do not contend that Christianity is the same thing as culture, or that Christian attainments may be accepted in a college as an equivalent for attainments in science and literature. As we have said, the university and the college are not proximately designed for re- ligious culture and spiritual edification, but for study and intellectual discipline. To turn them into houses of religion or to use them chiefly or prominently as places for spiritual instead of intellectual exercises, is grossly to pervert them, and like all other perversions and half-truths is to foster all manner of spiritual mon- strosities ; as hypocrisy, cant, spiritual jDride, asceticism, and the like. Hence we do not care to see the religi- ous features of a college paraded in the newspapers, or the reports of its religious condition and doings made the subject of ostentatious comments. The impropriety in such cases is eminently. conspicuous and offensive, be- cause it is an offense against religion and culture com- bined. Pharisaism and cant are never in good taste. We cannot deny that Christianity sometimes seems to be antagonistic to culture, especially to culture in its higher fonns. Its ethical claims are supreme and un- compromising. It sets the moral excellence which comes of its faith and obedience, far above all other excellences and requires its disciples to esteem all these as nothing in this comparison. It requires that whenever a question arises between the gratification of a taste and the discharge of a duty, or between the culture of the intellect and the culture of the heart, the former should be sacrificed. All tastes and all enjoy- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 219 ments, which pertain to the present, must be held as secondary to those which pertain to the higher and un- seen life. Hence it has been inferred by the detractors of Christianity, that it is barbarous because it does not exalt art and culture as supreme ; they forgetting that the nature or fate which they set up in the place of Christ is equally inexorable and cruel, when it burns, and deforms, and drowns, or limits, in myriads of ways, the works and aspirations of culture and art. It has also been inferred by those of its friends, who are nar- row in their understanding of Christianity or who make it a cloak for envy or suspicion toward those whose tastes are more refined than their own, that while a certain degree of knowledge and culture are enforced by Chris- tianity, any excess beyond is inconsistent with its spirit. For these and other reasons the impression has pre- vailed that it is unfriendly to eminent attainments in science and letters, and therefore cannot be comfort- ably housed in a university which would stand at the front of modern achievements. To shut off any such unfortunate and unwarrantable inferences, we concede that Christianity has much to learn from culture ; that while it is refining in its influ- ences and therefore tends to culture, it is itself refined and enlarged by the learning to which, in its essential nature, it is altogether friendly. Culture as such largely pertains to the expression of that character of which Christianity is the spring. Grace and perfection of man- ners, purity and felicitousness of diction, dexterity in the accomplishments of music, drawing, and painting, or nicety of sense in the judgment of the same, as well as skill and science in the more intellectual departments. 220 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES all confer upon Christianity the means of more per- fectly manifesting the power of its spiritual beauty, and teach Christianity itself how to become more attractive by assuming those adornments which she herself has very largely created, and all of which she welcomes and rejoices in as appropriate to herself. But while we concede all this, and even contend that Christianity may learn from culture, we contend also that culture itself is exposed to certain excesses, for which Christianity is the only adequate counterpoise and remedy. We affirm that a vigorous religious influ- ence is needed in every university, if for no other rea- son, simply as a corrective against the one-sidedness, — the Philistinism we might call it, of modern science and literature. Modern culture, from the very perfection which it re- quires and attains in particular departments, tends to narrowness, positiveness, and conceit. The devotee of any single branch of knowledge or department of art must devote himself exclusively and perseveringly to his chosen profession. His zeal is usually propor- tioned to his success, and his enthusiasm confines his attention more and more exclusively to the objects and pursuits of his limited sphere. He becomes great in a single department, because his mind moves within that alone. It often happens that while he is strong in one direction, he is weak in thought and opinion with re- spect to every other. But it does not follow because he is weak and even ignorant, that he is sensible of his de- fects and incapacity. On the contrary, his conscious superiority in his chosen pursuit, makes him positive, dogmatic, and conceited in respect to every other. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 221 Hence the sectarian narrowness which divides the dev- otees of the physical sciences, and their acknowledged proneness to cliques which is recognized in the pointed words of President White : " It may seem strange that this should be alluded to ; but in view of the fact that more than one American college has been ruined by such feuds, and that very many have been crippled ; in view of the cognate fact that the odiiwi theologiaim seems now outdone by hates between scientific cliques and dogmas ; that as a rule it is now impossible to re- ceive an impartial opinion from one scientific man re- specting another ; and that these gentlemen, in their jealousies and likenings, are evidently awaiting some one with a spark of the Moliere genius, to cover them before the country with ridicule and contempt, we do not think that the Board is likely to give too much im- portance to this." (Report, etc., on the Organization of Cornell University.) It may seem to some a little strange that we suggest that Christian science furnishes the natural and most efficient prophylactic and cure for these sectarian nar- rownesses and embitterments. The study of God in his relations to what is known or knowable in the uni- verse of spirit and matter certainly forces to a general consideration of what is known or knowable in the sev- eral departments of science. It requires the considera- tion, superficial indeed but respectful, of the principles and authority of every one of the sciences. It forces each expert to look beyond the narrow bounds of his own speciality, and to see how it adjusts itself to its neighbor. It now and then carries him up to a point of view which overlooks the limits of the special sci- 222 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES ences, that he may see how they all adjust themselves to that underlying philosophy, which recognizes in some sort their bond of unity — whether this bond is called the Absolute of the schools, or the living God of the people. In this Avay Theology becomes, not merely in the language of Bacon the " haven and Sabbath of all man's contemplations," but in a certain sense the com- mune vinculum of the special sciences. It is such, so far as it forces the devotee of each to look beyond the limits of his own field, and to recognize the existence and rights of his neighbors. It even becomes a har- monizing and purifying power, so far as it liberalizes the mind of each narrow devotee, by lifting his thoughts now and then up to God, and forcing him to recognize the relations of his own science to Him. Even if The- ology is not cultivated as a science, but is present to the individual scientist and the scientific community only so far as is required for religious faith and feeling, it must still quicken and widen their intellects, and ena- ble them to pursue their special departments in a spirit less narrow and more catholic. Should it be urged that Theology, in its turn, is jealous of scientific progress, and hostile to its freedom, we have no occasion to affirm or deny that it may be. All that we contend for is that the influence of Christian theology and of Chris- tian faith upon the professed devotees of science them- selves, legitimately tends to make them more profound, and therefore more broad and catholic as philosophers. So far as observation or history has taught us. Christian Geologists, Chemists, Philosophers, and Historians have not loved scientific truth as truth any the less purely, or followed it any the less boldly or bravely than those AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 223 who were not Christian. Nor have they, when other things were equal been a whit less diligent, earnest, and successful, than those who have accepted none of the so-called "theological dogmas or Christian tradi- tions." We venture to affirm, that when other things were equal they have been, in every respect, better phi- losophers for being also "theologians;" more broad and more profound in their intellectual activities and achievements, and immeasurably more noble and gen- erous in their tempers as teachers and writers, and in the intercourse of science and of life. Faraday was no less enlightened and broad-minded as a chemical philosopher because he kept his Chris- tian faith warm and true in the humblest fashion. Alex- ander Humboldt would have been wider-minded, and larger-hearted as a thinker, had he not so timidly shun- ned those religious avowals and religious sympathies, which his brother William so freely expressed. " They that deny a God, destroy man's nobility," says Bacon, and Atheism never fails to develop something of the ignoble, whether in the school, the saloon, or the beer- shop. No Atheistic theory- or Pantheistic philosophy was ever intellectually great, or aesthetically noble. The mark of intellectual narrowness and conceit will be in- effaceably set upon any college or school of science of which the prevailing spirit is godless or anti-Christian. The question is not, as many would represent it to be, a question between the interests of theology and re- ligion on the one hand and the interests of scientific culture on the other, but it is a question between the most efficient methods of advancing both science and culture. We contend, for the reasons already given, 224 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES that a religious college will, in the long run, if all else is equal, do more for science and culture than the col- lege which sets aside or makes little of religious influ- ence and of Christian truth. Nor is it a question whether science shall be free and be pursued in a lib- eral spirit, or whether it shall b'e constrained by theo- logical prepossessions and be limited by Christian dog- mas and the Christian history. We contend that the Christian investigator is pledged by the very spirit of his system to be a bold and fearless follower of the truth wherever the truth shall lead, even though it should lead him to the rejection of any part or the whole of the Christian history and theology. It is sim- ply whether true culture can be effectually received without moral culture, and whether moral culture can be effectually enforced without religious motives, and whether in a community which is in a condition of emi- nent exposure as well as of especial promise. Christian influences ought not to be employed with the utmost possible efficiency. Fifth, — Religious influences and religious teaching should be employed in colleges, in order to exclude and counteract the atheistic tendencies of much of modern science, literature, and culture. We have already alluded to the advantage which sci- ence and culture receive when they are truly Christian. We cannot overlook the fact that not a little of science and culture at present is conspicuously anti-Christian. Under whatever name this exclusion of Christianity is known or under whatever covering it may hide itself, its existence and its presence can neither be disguised nor denied. Indeed, science in many of its forms does and AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 225 must, as science, take a position which is theistic or anti-theistic, that is, which in principle is supernatural or anti-supernatural; which either includes or excludes religious faith and worship. In much of the teaching that is appropriate to the college, scientific positions must be taken which, by logical necessity, lead to the one or the other of these consequences. Every edu- cated man now-a-days must either accept or reject the ill-disguised materialism of Huxley^ the cerebralism of Bain^ the thin and vacillating metaphysics of Mill^ the evolutionism of He?'bert Spencer^ with its demonstrated irapossibility of a positive theism, or the confident but superficial fatalism of the devotees of Nature or the Absolute. In History every man must take or reject the atheistic fatalism of Buckle. In Literature, every one must accept or reject the worship of Genius, or the worship of God ; the self-centered adoration of self-de- velopment, or the generous self-forgetfulness that has made heroes and martyrs ; the imitation of Goethe^ in his contentment with the present, and his cool submis- sion to fate, or of those Christian poets and critics who have been discontented with the best of earth, be- cause of their ardent out-reaching to what is promised in the future life. There are, we know, multitudes of cultured youth who seek to evade the necessity of adopting either of these antagonistic theories of faith and of life, under the impression that true opinions and fixed opinions were never so hard as now to be reached, that philosophy, and literature, and theology each re- quire and sanction uncertainty of decision and pro- tracted inquiry, and that so much can be said for each of these opposing sides, that he must be a nar- 226 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES row and audacious man who decides and acts too soon. The plea of freedom and tolerance is put in on every quarter, and the dignity and duty of positive opinions earnestly held is too generally lost sight of among men of the most refined tastes, and the loftiest aspirations. To yield to this solicitation is for the time, to be prac- tically materialistic, atheistic, and un-Christian, and the fashion of the times in certain circles of educated young men, sets strongly in this direction. Least and last of all, would we have our colleges countenance or 3deld to su:h a fashion! If the higher institutions of learning take an indifferent position with respect to their influ- ence, that position must be practically a negative posi- tion. If for fear of losing patronage, or in order to seem to be tolerant and just, they shall abstain from exerting any positive religious influence, they must ab- stain altogether from teaching physiology, psychology, metaphysics, morals, history, and literature, for all of these do involve what is called a theological bias, either positive or negative, in whatever way they may be taught. The question is not whether the college shall, or shall not, teach theology, but what theology it shall teach, — theology according to Comte and Spencer, or according to Bacon and Christ, theology according to Moses and Paul, or according to Buckle and Draper. For a college to hesitate to teach theism and Chris- tianity is practically to proclaim that in the opinion of its guardians and teachers the evidence for and against, is so evenly balanced that it would be unfair for them to throw their influence on either side ; and is in fact to throw it on the side of materialism, fatalism, or atheism. Such a position, under whatever fair pretences it is AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 227 taken, we hold to be not only dangerous to the com- munity in the present crisis of opinion, but to be fear- fully and fatally criminal. We assume that the guard- ians and patrons of every college in this country are in the very largest proportion positively and earnestly the- istic and Christian in their own faith. It is their privi- lege and their duty to use the means within their own hands to arrest and stem the tendency to atheism and anti-christianism which we have described. They are bound to do this, not merely as theists and as Chris- tians, but as the friends of science and culture. This they can do, as we shall show, without departing in the least from the utmost respect to the private judgment of their pupils, and without incurring the reproach or arousing the suspicion of sectarianism or bigotry. It is surely competent for the guardians of these colleges to judge whether the men whom they select are or are not possessed of the tolerance and tact which may be re- quired to avoid reasonable occasions of offense. If all classes of opinions should have a hearing, as they ought, let theistic teachers be selected who will represent fairly all the atheistic and anti-Christian objections and diffi- culties, but let not atheism or anti-Christianity be taught in any college chairs, either directly or indi- rectly, either in the form of philosophy or theology, or in the guise of history, literature, or criticism. To claim that these forms of opinion have a right to be heard is to claim that any one of the so-called Am.eri- can public, or any score, have an inalienable right that any shade of opinion which he or they may hold, should be held and taught from some one of the chairs of every colle2:e. 228 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES We would distinguish here between the college and the university. The disposition to confound the two is perpetually appearing at every turn of this discussion, and at every step of our progress, not merely as involv- ing an intellectual fallacy of the ambiguous middle, but the practical error of prescribing a course of instruction for boys which is only suitable for men. The college is a training place for minds that are yet immature in the elements of knowledge and culture. The university is a teaching place for those who are supposed to have been trained to the capacities and responsibilities of in- cipient manhood. Whatever freedom may be claimed for the university in teaching and learning, does not sanction a similar freedom in the college. We are not prepared to allow, that even in the university every shade of opinion should have an advocate, under the countenance of its guardians, and with the sanction of their consent. While we, would defend to the last de- gree the tolerance of free speech and free discussion, and would enforce with the utmost scrupulousness the cour- tesies of fair and dispassionate controversy, we are not required by these duties to set in the chair of authorized teaching, even in a free university, the representatives of every shade of literary opinion, or of anti-religious philosophy. We acknowledge it is not always easy to apply these general principles. It is not easy to say how far a man's philosophical or religious creed should be considered as an objection to his holding a college or university chair, but the principle iolds good that at whatever sacrifice, the college at least should maintain a positive religious influence and character, whatever freedom may be allowed in the university. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 229 President Eliot has touched upon this subject in his Inaugural Address somewhat more daintily than upon many other topics. We accept without reserve his re- mark, that "the word education is a standing protest against dogmatic teaching," whatever subject matter is taught. The President limits this observation to what he calls " philosophical subjects." We would ap- ply it with equal freedom to the science of Theology and even to the inculcation of religious truth in col- leges. With some qualification, we find a most impor- tant truth in the following sentence : " The notion that education consists in the authoritative inculcation of what the teacher deems true may be logical and appro- priate in a convent, or a seminary for priests, but it is intolerable in universities and public schools from pri- mary to professional." It is one thing, however, for a college or a university to teach by " authoritative incul- cation " and altogether another thing for either to as- sume in its teachings and in the selection of text books and teachers, that some truths, scientific, historic and religious are to be regarded as established ^nd perma- nent. We presume that President Eliot would have the university both presume and assume that the Newtonian system is true rather than the Ptolemaic. Possibly, he would go further and have it accept as axiomatic the rather recent and as yet not undisputed doctrines of the Correlation of forces and the Conservation of force. Doubtless he would proceed upon the assumption that the axioms and demonstrations of the common geome- try are trustworthy, though different philosophers still prosecute their opposing, and in some cases, " bottom- less speculations " in respect to both. He would also 230 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES accept the methods of induction, although Kant would make the principles which underlie them the outgrowth of forms of thought having simply subjective validity, and J. S. Mill would make them the products of " insepar-* able associations," and Herbert Spencer, brain growths that have been evolved by a long continued course of dif- ferentiation and integration, and have been transmitted by hereditary propagation. Surely it is not dogmatic, to assume in the same sense and for the practical direction of our teaching, that the Christian theism, and the Chris- tian history, and the Christian ethics are still " in force" and that they are likely to be permanent, and in this belief to consecrate to Christ and the Church a univer- sity designed for liberal teaching. We may presume that President Eliot means something of the sort in the rather equivocal observation that " the student should be shown what is still iii force of institutions or philo- sophies mainly outgrown.'' If the Christian theism, the Christian ethics, the Christian history, and the Christian civilization may be allowed that recognition in the instructions and arrangements of any university which is accorded to the Newtonian system and the Baconian induction, there will be no question that that "university in our day serves Christ and the Church." It cannot be objected that ethical and Christian science are to be excepted because they rest on "bottomless speculations " by any one who is aware that the nature of matter and of spirit as well as the fundamental prin- ciples of mathematics and of all scientific processes and results are variously defined and defended in the speculations of those who none the less agree in the conviction that they are established facts and AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 231 truths. We agree most cordially with President Eiiot that : " The worthy fruit of academic culture is an open mind, trained to careful thinking, instructed in the methods of philosophic investigation, acquainted in a general way with the accumulated thought of past gen- erations and penetrated with humility. It is thus that the university in our day serves Christ and the Church." Thus^ indeed ; but not only thus ; for the reasons already given. Why it may and should do more, we need not explain a second time. These thoughts lead us to our next inquir}^, by what means can the colleges maintain a religious character t What methods of influence may be employed ? and within what limits may these be applied } We cannot, as we have just suggested, be required to discuss or to answer these and the like questions any more than when we lay down positive fundamental principles and rules of duty, we can anticipate all the refinements of casuistry. The following duties are clear. The college should maintain public Christian worship, and this should be conducted in an earnest and positive manner. It should give positive Christian instruction concerning the evi- dence and truths of theism and Christianity. It should by the influence and activities of its teachers favor an active Christian life. It should pervade all the teach- ing which admits it with a distinct and earnest recog- nition of Christian truth. At the same time, as we have already explained, the college is professedly and primarily a place for intellectual culture. To intellect- ual culture the chief energies of instructors and pupils should be given. All the conditions required for sue- cessful study should be furnished. Among these are 232 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES prominent, perfect tolerance of every form of religious opinion, encouragement to the utmost freedom of read- ing and inquiry, and the inculcation of the bravest confi- dence in the authority of evidence, and the application of a critical judgment. The point of the greatest delicacy is one in respect to which no fixed rules can be established, and that is how far the religious opinions and character of a per- son should be considered in estimating his qualifica- tions for the post of teacher. Such a question as this cannot be settled in a general way, or by prescribed formulae. There are manifold peculiarities of personal character, besides erudition or even aptness to teach, which render an individual a very suitable or a very unsuitable member of a college faculty. There are many well instructed, and very eminent men, who are withal very earnest religionists, who by the very indis- cretion and overplus of their zeal, are totally disquali- fied for a place in a college. There are men, on the other hand, the sensitiveness of whose conscience, and the hesitation of whose temper, make their " inquiring spirit " and their " honest doubts " express infinitely more of religious earnestness and of religious power, than the plump and unhesitating orthodoxy of many a coarse-minded and hard favored dogmatist. There are some chairs the instruction of which cannot be greatly affected by the faith or the character of the incumbent. There are other chairs, which an anti-Christian sophist or a velvet-footed infidel might pervert to the most dis- astrous uses. If the principle and duty be acknowl- edged for which we contend, the application may be safely entrusted to the wise discretion of those whose business it is to decide upon individual cases. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 233 Against the view which we have taken, manifold ob- jections may be offered. One of the most formidable is, that if the colleges are positively religious institutions, they must be necessarily sectarian. This does not fol- low. A sectarian or denominational college is a col- lege conducted with reference to the interests of a single denomination. Its distinctive doctrines, its forms of worship, its peculiar religious spirit, are all made promi- nent, as fundamentally Christian, as alone authorized, or as preeminently excellent. Such colleges may some- times be needed for the prestige of the denomination, or to guard its youth against being drawn from its fold. The lamentable and unjustifiable divisions among Christians may therefore involve the necessity of a few colleges that are distinctively and avowedly secta- rian. But the foundation or the conducting of a col- lege in the interests of a single denomination has not generally been successful, for the reason that the cul- ture which colleges impart is, in its nature, liberalizing ; and that to Christian earnestness, when instructed by Christian learning, the exclusiveness of any Protestant sect becomes almost invariably distasteful. Just in pro- portion as the college becomes eminent in its culture, just in that proportion does it lose sight of any single sect and denomination, and take into its larger view the common relations of all to culture and to Christ. A truly religious college cannot, in our opinion, be emi- nently sectarian, and yet be true to its appropriate func- tion, by yielding itself to the influence of the science, art, and culture which it is appointed to promote. How- ever strictly it may be held by its charter to the name or the organization of any single denomination, it will 234 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES outgrow all narrowing relations to it, or make its de- nomination outgrow them, just as fast as it grows at all. If this be so, then why should it be attached to any one denomination, — why should it not be the common property of many, or the common property of none ? We reply, a college in which several denominations have a partial interest, will inevitably be divided and dishonored by ignoble sectarian strifes. The several denominations which hold it in common will regard each other with that " eternal vigilance " which in such cases easily degenerates into perpetual suspicion ; "its officers will be elected, and its policy will be deter- mined, with a judgment divided between the interests of the college and the interests of the sect. Some of the most disgraceful exhibitions of sectarian wrangling and craft of a religious sort that this country has ever witnessed, have occurred in the history of colleges which have been the joint property of two or three denominations. But why not let them be the property of none } This can only happen as the board of trust and management is made up partially or wholly of members who have no religious preferences at all. Or why not solve the prob- lem by throwing the college upon the endowments and the care of the State ? The objection to either of these arrangements, so far as the religious relations and char- acter of the college is concerned, is that it will immedi- ately become the object of the ambition, or the victim of the strife of some one or more religious sects, with the never ending discussions which must inevitably fol- low ; or it will have no religious character at all. In the present divided condition of Christendom, there AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 235 seems to be no solution of the problem, except the one which has been accepted in this country, viz., that the college should be in the hands of some single religious denomination, in order to secure unity and effect to its religious character and influence, and that it should be preserv^ed from sectarian bias and illiberality, by its re- sponsibility to the community which it would influence, and the enlightened and catholic influences of the cul- ture to which it is devoted. We see no alternative between this and the abandon- ment of any special and eflicient religious influence L e., the complete secularization of the college. For this alternative many leading minds are already prepared ; more than are ready to acknowledge. There are not a few who contrast what they call the people's colleges, or the State colleges, with what they choose to designate as sectarian colleges, to the disadvantage of the latter, — who do not desire that the college should have any positively Christian influence, either because they do not believe it has any place there, or because they would attract students from those who have no positive religious faith for themselves, or desire none for their children. That these views are incorrect we have en- deavored to prove, by our argument. We have only to add, that as between terms of reproach, if sectarian is fairly charged on the one side, godless may be as fairly retorted on the other, and if a purely secular college will attract a certain portion of the community, posi- tively religious colleges will attract another. If the two sorts of colleges are fairly tried, the fruits of the two will be made manifest. It will be seen after a gen- eration, whether Christianized science, art, and litera- 236 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES ture, has any advantage over that which is un-Christian or non-Christian ; whether the education and culture that are elevated by the Christian faith, have any advan- tage over those which are secular and atheistic. One thing is certain, that all the experiments which have been tried in this country to conduct institutions of learning without Christian worship and Christian influ- ences, have failed ; that all the so-called State colleges have, in some sort, been forced to adopt, either directly or indirectly, the same methods of religious influence which are employed in the Christian colleges ; that in the choice of their officers, they have largely given the preference to men of positive and earnest Christian faith, for their greater usefulness as teachers, and theif greater acceptableness to the community. Those who believe that the Christian argument has been nearly ex- hausted, or that the Christian history has been demon- strated to be impossible, and must be regarded as prac- tically false, — that the Christ of the New Testament is but a human idea, with no personal authority, will of course, in the light of their advanced opinions, be wil- ling to repeat the experiment under what they consider more favorable auspices, but they cannot ask those to believe in its success, who hold another theory of re- ligion and Christianity. Those who believe that Christian truth and the Christian history are divine in their origin and perma- nent in their influence will do well to remember, that a Christian college must be amply provided with all the appliances of Science and Literature in order to be ef- ficient and successful in the service of either Chris- tianity or culture. Its scholarship must be varied and profound. The several departments of knowledge must AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 237 be represented by able men. Its Libraries must be re- plenished with the stores of the oldest learning and the contributions of recent research and speculation. The spirit of every such college should be catholic, liberal, and tolerant, while it should be beUeving, devout, and fervent. The culture which it imparts should be in no respect inferior to that which the country or the tim.es demand. The friends of Christianity very readily ac- knowledge the obligation to provide institutions of learning for the service of the Christian Church. They are not always aware that the duty is equally incumbent to place the institutions in the foremost rank in respect to the thoroughness and perfection of the culture which they impart. 238 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES XIT. THE GUARDIANSHIP AND CONTROL OF THE COLLEGE. We are reminded here of another topic which has been more or less distinctly discussed by and before the American public — whether the instruction and government of the American colleges have not been too largely intrusted to clergymeji ? Clergymen, it is said, must, by the very nature and influence of their profession, be essentially artificial and one-sided. They cannot and they ought not to be " men of the world" in the good sense of the phrase, that is, they cannot judge of men as they are, with fairness and discrimination, for the reason that all men present themselves to their view in constrained at- titudes and under artificial lights, and they in their turn must look at men through highly refracting media. They usually want tact and delicacy in the management of men. They do not approach them with that skill which can only be acquired by a large experience under a great variety of circumstances. They are also not usually good men of business, and ought, therefore, not to be intrusted with the investment and care of the large sums of money which are required for the support of a college. They are not familiar with the advance- ments of modern science, and unlikely to be abreast with the culture which is required by the present gen- eration. For these and other reasons it is urged that AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 239 they ought not to constitute so large a portion of the boards of instruction and management as they have done in the majority of our colleges. We are not prepared to assert that in some cases there is not reason for these criticisms. But we can as- sert with considerable confidence that it would be diffi- cult to show in any individual case that where clerg)-men have failed, either as members of a college faculty or of a board of trustees, layman would have succeeded. The relation of one of these boards to the other is so different in different colleges that it is almost impossi- ble to reason from failure or success in one case to failure or success in another. In some colleges the fac- ulty have little influence in the policy and appoint- ments. In others one or two individuals, either lay or clerical, very largely determine both. The success or failure of many institutions seems to be occasioned by excellences or defects which are individual rather than professional. There are several obvious reasons, however, why clergymen have been, and must still continne to be, in- trusted very largely with duties and responsibilities of this kind. In the first place, most of the colleges have originated in the most thankless and self-sacrificmg ser- vices. To services of this kind clergymen are conse- crated by the vows and the spirit of their profession. The labor, self-denial, and disinterested toil which have been required to lay the foundations and rear the su- perstructure of the most successful colleges of this country cannot be too easily estimated. To a very large extent these have been endured and rendered by clergymen. The care, inquir}^, invention, and corres- 240 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES pondence, the personal toil and sacrifice which devolve upon those who act as trustees of an infant and often of a well-established college are such that few persons except clergymen are willing to undertake them. Cler- gymen may not always be good men of business, but they generally know who are such, and have generally the good sense and good feeling to ask the advice and to defer to the decisions of those who are, which is more than can always be said of laymen who are called to duties and trusts to which they are not competent. Hence, with the best intentions and with far greater experience in affairs generally, laymen may fail where clergymen succeed. As to defect of tact or power of adaptation, especially in the management of men, an excess of tact has not unfrequently been charged upon the clergy. Clerical art and finesse have in not a few cases become proverbial as grounds of reproach. Clergymen are far more commonly interested in mat- ters of education than laymen, by reason of a certain breadth of culture and generosity of disposition which are the results of Christian science. Though the idola tribii's may exact from them a devotion which is some- times narrow and exclusive, yet their profession is from its very nature, as we have shown, the most liberalizing of all, from the common relation it involves to other branches of knowledge and from the habit of seeking for the foundations of truth which the study of God and religion induces. It is but the simple truth to say that there is many a country clergyman, whose income is counted by hundreds where that of his classmate lawyer and judge is counted by thousands, who knows incalculably more of science as such, and of the way to AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 24I learn and to teach it than the aforesaid judge or la\\yer whose reputation is the very highest in his profession. The professional studies of the clerg\-man do also very emphatically involve and cultivate a sympathy with lit- erature of all kinds. The practice of composition and of public speaking upon elevated themes, involves more or less interest in the study of language and in works of imaginative literature. The clergy as such have, at least in this countr}^, a more pronounced and catholic literary taste than the members of any other profession. They constitute, indeed, to a very large extent, the lit- erary class — the class who furnish most frequently pub- lic addresses, essays, reviews, and pamphlets. Educa- ted lawyers, physicians, and merchants write very little in comparison with them, and are much less frequently readers beyond the range of their own profession. The reason why clerg}^men are so generally selected as professors and teachers in colleges, is two-fold : First, that the men best qualified by special culture are oftener found in the clerical profession ; and, second, that the profession of teaching is akin to that of the clergyman in the smallness of its pay and the unselfish patience which it involves. At the same time it is not usually true, so far as we have observed, that there is not a sufficiently large number of laymen in the facul- ties and boards of trust to correct the one-sidedness and to supplement the defects of their clerical col- leagues. We have never observed that there was in such boards any jealousy of lay cooperation, any dispo- sition to foster a clerical spirit or any one-sided results from clerical supervision. The cloistered, scholastic, and pedantic influences of the college which are some- II 242 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES times complained of, so far as there are any, usually proceed from lay professors, who have never known anything but a scholar's life. The doctores twibratiles of the American colleges are not infrequently laymen. The relatmis of the colleges to the commimity are those of partially endowed be?iejlceni institutions, which are de- signed to confer important benefits upon the young. For the faithful and successful discharge of their duties, the instructors are directly responsible to the mana- gers or trustees, and both are indirectly responsible to the public. Many of the beneficent results which these institutions propose to accomplish are not imme- diately obvious. The adaptation of the means to the ends fproposed is not always easy to be seen, and as a general rule can be judged and estimated only by a few. When the results do not seem to be the best conceivable, it is not always easy to say whether any other training or appliances would have wrought results so good. The training of an individual youth in a lib- eral spirit to the capacity and the desire to be a useful public man, either in the exercise of a profession or in any leading position, is a matter concerning which the experience of the past should be most cautiously re- garded. It should be committed to enterprising men, indeed, who are not afraid of innovation or reform, but who are also far-seeing, thoughtful, and self-relying. Extemporaneous and flippant dogmatism and ambi- tious and satirical criticism by bold adventurers or un- cultivated Philistines are especially out of place in dis- cussions concerning such trusts or the persons who manage them. They do not deserve to be heeded ex- cept for their power to mislead the confiding public. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 243 Though, in one sense, the managers of colleges need not ask the advice of the public, because they know and understand, better than the public can, the duties with which they are intrusted ; yet, in another sense, they ought never to forget that, if they do not retain the confidence of the public, it will be impossible for them to be of service to the public. If the community does not value the training and the instruction which they give, they cannot benefit it, and they might as well not exist. And yet, as we have observed, the public are not competent to judge directly of many, not to say of most, of the questions which are to be decided. It is most fortunate that, under these circumstances, the colleges have always had one resource. They have usually been able to rely upon their own graduates. These act as internuncii between the colleges and the public whenever there is occasion for explanation or danger of misunderstanding. In times of a conflict between the two, the alumni of a powerful college are, indeed, as " arrows in the hand of a mighty man." " Happy is the ' college' that hath its quiver full of them ; they shall speak with the enemies in the gatej^ The graduates of the American colleges are their glory and their strength. They are their glory, so far as they show, by mental power, by varied acquirements, and accomplished culture, what their Ahfta Mater has done for them, either by her unwelcome restraints and hard duties, or by those influences that were more genial in their operation and are more delightful in the remem- brance. They are their strength, so far as they are dis- tinctly conscious of the benefits which they derived from the college, and are forward to acknowledge them. 244 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES The colleges of this country have nothing to fear, so long as the majority of their pupils continue to confide in their systems of discipline and instruction, and in the men who administer them. While it is true that colleges and universities, all the world over, are objects of special regard to those whom they have trained, the colleges of America have the strongest conceivable hold upon the affections of their pupils, from the strength of the associations which are here fixed and interwoven, as well as from the sense of the value of the discipline here received. These alumni, it is true, retain and somewhat liberally exercise the traditional privileges of all children, freely to criticise the ways of the house- hold. They retain vivid recollections of the tedium of many of the college tasks, and the unwelcome charac- ter of some of its discipline. Nor do they always weigh the import of what they say, or are they always entirely confident of the justice of the criticisms which they un- thinkingly utter. Sometimes their fault-finding is but the result of their jealous regard for the honor of their college and an indirect expression of the fervor of their zeal for its more abundant prosperity. The alumni are greatly mistaken if they ever suppose that the trustees or faculty are indifferent to their good opinion, or delight to trifle with it. This good opinion they are not only most desirous to gain, but they are sensible that if they lose it they must lose their hold upon the public at large. At the same time, as honest men, they will be more anxious to deserve than to gain their favor, and they would act most out of character should they strive to attain it by any species of educational charlatanry or any varnish of superficial culture. They AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 245 are not only willing to hear, but they are most ready to regard whatever suggestions may be made in respect to any improvements in the college system. But some of them are not prepared to initiate or follow any headlong rivalship for numbers which may be proposed, or to sacrifice their matured convictions at the dictation of editorial demagogues, or the direction of the self-styled styled " spirit of the age." It is their duty to desire, and we believe they do de- sire to be brought into intimate communication and sympathy with their graduates. They wish that the graduates themselves should feel that the college is their own ; not as their property for capricious experi- ments and hazardous speculations, but as their trust for wise support and administration in behalf of the inter- ests of their country and of mankind. The impor- tance of the colleges, as organized centers of the most valuable species of power, cannot be estimated too ex- travagantly. The man who feels any obligation to act upon his fellow-men for their good can scarcely find a place in which his influence can be so extensively felt with respect to the most important interests as through a college that has a mature and established growth. Oxford and Cambridge are more powerful in England at this moment than the Lords, the Commons, and the Queen together. As permanent and enduring institu- tions, they are more lasting than dynasties, and have survived revolutions. If the alumni of the American colleges could but appreciate the dignity and duty of this trust, the country and mankind would have occa- sion to bless them, and they would have occasion to rejoice in their own wise beneficence. 240 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES The wish has been expressed that this real trust, which is, in fact, committed to the alumni, should be assumed by them in form — that they should under- take the actual management of the concerns of the colleges, by electing their trustees in whole or part. Such a measure has been in ^part introduced at Har- vard, and an election is now held at every Commence- ment, by which a class of tlie board of overseers are chosen by the direct votes of the graduates who are present. The movement in Harvard did not originate, as we understand the matter, in any special desire of the alumni to take a more direct part in its administra- tion, but it was adopted to deliver the college from the interference of a troublesome class of political and sec- tarian intermeddlers who were constantly introducing into their deliberations, held in public, all manner of uncomfortable insinuations and appeals, intended quite as much for their effect upon political and religious par- ties as for any application to the internal economy of the university. This board of overseers, though a numerous body, has only a confirming and visitorial power. The corporation of the university, as is well known, is a very small body, and has within its hands the chief, and as some contend the sole, authority. This remains in- tact upon its old historic foundation. But the move- ment thus initiated has been imitated by other colleges and propositions have been made, — and in one instance, at least, adopted, to give to the alumni a similar power of electing by classes, at intervals, a part or the whole of a board of trustees. By some, such participation is claimed as a right, by others it is recommended as expe- dient. We do not propose to discuss this question here, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 247 for any arguments concerning the principle or the de- tails of such a measure would be entirely out of place. We have mentioned it as one among many indications that the alumni of many of the colleges are awakening to a more lively interest in their concerns, and we hope to a more serious sense of personal responsibility for their prosperity. We believe that the discussion of this and of every other subject which respects their external or their internal relations will be for their good. We deprecate only that this or any other question should be discussed with the spirit or debased by the arts of demagogues, or that the results of any discussion should tend to drive from these venerable seats of sound learning the studies and the arts which make men sol- idly great or nobly good. That college does not deseft'e to live which would not welcome the coujisel and accept the guidance of the choicest of its sons. We believe, more- over, that there are few American colleges which have any character or age of which the majority of its trus- tees are not its own graduates. The question is simply whether these boards are not at present so organized as to secure an adequate representation of the feelings and judgment of the alumni. It is a still more serious question, whether the uncertainties of a chance nomi- nation, from a constituency that changes every year, would not on trial give eminent dissatisfaction to the alumni — whether it would not awaken jealousies and strifes which would divide their opinions and weal<:en their affections instead of uniting their efforts and kind- ling their enthusiasm. A self-perpetuating board of trustees, resting on some historic basis, with a traditional spirit, acting in rela- '248 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES tions of confidence and free communication with the board of instructors, cannot be ignorant of the wishes and feehngs of the alumni, and cannot, if they would, refuse to be affected by them. The chance nomination and election of one or more representatives by a body which is organized for an hour, and changes its members very considerably every year, might open the way to constant dissatisfaction and personal discussion, and should not be resorted to except after grave delibera- tion and inquiry. The alumni of an institution which has prospered under any system of organization and government, may well be content with its constitution and history. If any college has failed to explain its condition fully and frankly to its alumni, from motives of delicacy or for any other reason, let it freely and frequently open to the whole body its position, its pol- icy, its wants, and its fears, with the frankness and free- dom which are suitable to a family gathering, and it cannot fail to command the confidence and to receive the sympathy of all the generous and noble-minded of its sons. Criticisms and complaints are also beginning to be heard in another direction. It is contended that in this country the colleges have unwittingly departed from the original signification of Fellows ; these, in the col- leges of England, having been originally resident and charged with the duty of governing, as well of teaching the»college. It is urged that, in substituting for such Fellows a body of persons, who may themselves have been uneducated at a college, and many of whom have had little or no experience of its instruction and gov- ernment, to the exclusion of all the faculty except the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 249 president, we have weakened too greatly the influence of the instructors. This is not the first time that this doctrine has been urgently enforced. About the year 172 1 an attempt was made to oust the non-resident Fel- lows of Harvard College and to supply their places by an election from the professors or tutors. It resulted in a serious and protracted quarrel. In 1824 a me- morial was addressed to the corporation of the same University, signed by all the professors, among whom were Henry Ware, Andrews Norton, and Edward Ev- erett, urging that, according to the original constitution and design of the charter, the Board of Fellows should consist of resident instructors, and giving many reasons why such an arrangement would be most advantageous to the university. It failed after having given birth to a half score of able and spirited pamphlets. We call attention to these incidents on account of their relation to the most important of all the conditions of the pros- perity of any college. This condition is the mainte- nance of a full understanding and complete harmony be- tween the boards of trust and the faculty or faculties of instruction. It is of little consequence what may be the legal privileges and powers of the three great ele- ments of college administration and legislation, provi- ded they conspire together for its support. A college in which the trustees, the graduates, and the faculty are of one mind, and work in harmony and mutual con- fidence, cannot but prosper, providing there is any occa- sion for its existing at all. 250 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES XIII. THE RELATION OF COLLEGES TO ONE ANOTHER, We are brought insensibly by the progress of our discussion to this somewhat delicate topic. The col- leges are not in a proper sense, rivals or competitors for the public patronage or favor. They exist for the public benefit, which they aim to promote by the disciplining and elevating influences of that culture, which is commonly recognized as Christian civilization. They adopt substantially the same principles of educa- tion and they apply them by similar methods. They ought not to be estranged from one another through petty jealousies, or superciliously to ignore each oth- er's existence or influence. Those which are older and better endowed ought not to assume such airs of superiority, as are least of all appropriate in the common- wealth of letters ; those which are younger and more scantily furnished ought not to be envious or jealous of their neighbors who are more favored by the acquisi- tions of wealth and experience and the strong associa- tions of young and old. Neither the religious prefer- i ences nor the attractions of favorite teachers should be allowed to breed a narrowness which ill befits the gen- erous pursuits of learning and culture. Least of all should a college or any school of learning, play the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 25 1 demagogue, by adjusting its principles of education or its methods of teaching to any real err supposed fluctu- ation of the public taste which it knows to be capri- cious, and presumes may be temporary. If its faith in its reforms is sincere and honest it should " know no arts but manly arts" in urging and defending them. If the colleges and universities of the country in any way seem to countenance the methods of political managers by suppressing the truth, or throwing tubs to the whale, or manipulating the press, or holding out repre- sentations of the truth of w^hich they are not well- assured ; if they countenance a vicious rhetoric, or ap- peal to political rancor, to sectarian prejudices, or to irreligious and atheistic superciliousness, they not only give just cause of offence to associate institutions but contribute just so far to the demoralization of the com- munity. The community have a right not only to ex- pect but to demand that those who occupy these high places of trust shall have a sensitive regard to their own intellectual integrity and maintain an incorruptible faith in "the majesty of honest dealing." We are not averse to adventurous enterprise on the part of our higher schools of learning. We concede that there can be no efficient progress without enterprising activity and bold experiments, but we are averse to the confident proclamation by any school of knowledge, that the royal road to an education that is adapted to modern ideas and to modern life, can only be traversed by entering its portals. The relations of comity to one another in matters of discipline have usually been punctiliously obser^^ed. Most of the colleges have considered it for their inter- 252 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES est as well as for their honor to sustain the commoc discipline by refusing admission to any student from another college who does not bring what is equivalent to an honorable dismission. It is to be hoped that the same comity will still prevail, and that those institutions which profess to enforce the spirit of a more efficient discipline while they relax many of the customary forms, will not consider it compatible with their new ideas to open a door of welcome to all those who think themselves aggrieved by unjust sentences under the ancient system. If they initiate such an enter- prise, they will most certainly be overwhelmed by a " colluvies gentium" of which the number will be more than compensated for by the infection which they will introduce. It may sometimes happen that a college deals harshly and even unjustly toward an offending stu- dent. But such injustice is not often carried to the ex- treme of refusing permission to another college to make any experiment of reform' at its own risk. We hope that the proposed University freedom will not involve a deviation from the wholesome traditions which have been observed between the colleges. Similar rules of comity have been tacitly observed by most of the colleges towards the more thoroughly organized public schools. These schools are often more difficult to manage than the colleges. Their in- mates are younger, some of them are more rude and untamed, not unfrequently more grossly sensual and de- based than the worst members of a college ; chiefly be- cause the power of public sentiment is not fixed as in the college by the traditions of the place and the more manly and matured character of the members of the AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 253 older classes. Moreover, not a few young men make the experiment of study and good behavior in the pre- paratory school and utterly fail. For these reasons they must be governed by a strong hand and sometimes with little regard to form. These institutions have of late been quite as frequently the scenes of organized re- bellion as the college, and as they become larger, more numerous, and more systematically organized, it is not unlikely, will need a more uniform and stronger gov- ernment. Tliis government should be respected by the colleges as rigidly as that of sister institutions. In some respects it is more important for both schools and colleges that it should be supported than that of the colleges tliemselves. Nothing could be more disas- trous to these schools than the impression that a senior class at the moment of leaving their enclosures, may of- fend against good manners, good morals, or wholesome discipline and find such offences to be no insurmounta- ble barrier to admission to the college. It is doubtless true that a school-boy or a class of school-boys, ought not to be perpetually excluded from college for any or- dinary offences. It may be that the government of the preparatory school is more liable to caprice and mistake than the government of colleges. It does not often happen that such a government is so inexorable as to interpose its veto in the way of the advancement of the pupil to the college, provided he makes suitable conces- sions and apologies. It is not more essential for the school than it is for the college that whatever position is taken by the government of the school should be sustained by all the colleges with ingenuous as well as inflexible integrity. 254 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES Are there too many colleges ? There are not too many for the whole country with its constantly widening area and its rapidly extending population. But they are in- conveniently crowded together and many are therefore practically useless because they are unavailable for those who need them. They are worse than useless, so far as many who need them are concerned. They hin- der rather than aid one another by their jealous rival- ries ; and their sustentation involves an inevitable waste of the most precious resources of the country — its en- dowments consecrated to education and its accumulated knowledge and intellectual power. The most thought- less if not criminal stupidity is often manifested in found- ing new institutions in a city or vicinity that is already over supplied. It is not difficult to obtain a large gift from some plethoric donor who is ambitious to con- nect his name with a new college or university, or by means of it to dignify the-place of his residence or nativ- ity. In his simplicity he thinks it as easy to found a university as it is to build a cotton mill, and he finds no difficulty in securing the cooperation of a zealous board of trustees and the praises of a gratified if not a grateful public. To create for the new institution a rai- son d^etre some special features are set forth by which it is to be distinguished. It promises to be especially religious or especially irreligious. It will exemiDlify some new theory or experiment in education, that has long waited but never found an opportunity for being put into practice. It will be eminently scientific or specially practical or more probably both in one. It will task the energies by severe discipline and high schol- arship or provide unusual advantages for manual labor AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 2^5 and varied recreation. There is no end to the " distifi- guishi7ig features^^ of many new institutions that, in the judgment of their sanguine friends^ are certain to be speedily distinguished. Often there seem to be no Umits to the effrontery of agents or the simpUcity of confiding patrons, whose money, often given by hundreds of thou- sands of dollars, had far better be thrown into the sea than contributed to found a " new university " which can only live at the expense of its neighbors. For this constantly recurring evil it is not easy to devise a remedy. Intelligent men should protest against it as an evil and call the attention of persons of influ- ence to its very serious character. It is not in vain to hope that the American public may be educated to greater wisdom by the lessons that are taught by so many instances of disappointed expectations. Perhaps it is too much to expect that any institution which bears the ambitious title of college or university should be content to fill an humbler but much more useful sphere. The need is pressing however of superior secondar}?- schools devoted to classical and higher edu- cation. Some of these colleges which are now worse than useless might become eminently serviceable to the common welfare as scientific and technological insti- tutes. Their buildings, endowments and names — what- ever these last might be worth — would in many cases be far more worthily employed by being used in the service of a superior classical or scientific school than by being wasted on an inferior or contemptible college. Every purpose which they subserve of honor to their founders or the community in which they exist, would be far more effectually promoted by such a disposition of their en- 256 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES dowments. We do not intend by these remarks to de- preciate the present or the prospective value of many of the smaller colleges or of the education which they give. A small college well-manned and thoroughly ad- ministered has many advantages over one that is larger, in respect of the intimacy of acquaintance and inter- course between the officers and pupils, and also in respect of the rigor with which a few studies, wisely selected, can be thoroughly enforced. The larger col- leges have much to fear from the bulk and weight of the mass of material thrown upon their care and from the growing tendency to exalt the professorial to the disad- vantage of the tutorial function, to say nothing of the increase of a selfish or luxurious consideration of pri- vate acquisition, and of a learned reputation. The fact ought to be specially noticed that some of the smaller colleges of the country have produced not a few of its most eminent -men — men eminent not only in public and professional life, but in science, literature, and philology. It is interesting to observe that more than one institution in which the number of professors was small and of no especial eminence in their respec- tive departments, and which possessed but scanty appli- ances of books and apparatus, has sent forth in a single year a considerable number of students who were in- spired with special zeal for literature, science, or philos- ophy, and who under its direction and excitements have laid the most solid foundations for subsequent eminence. Of many, not to say of the most of the American col- leges it might be said a generation ago, in the words of an animated narrator of the condition of his own Alma Mater forty years before, " Her wealth consisted not in AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 257 a long list of rents and dividends, but in the ability, at- tainments, energy, aspirations, and zeal of her instruc- tors and students ; in their mutual goodwill, respect and courtesy ; in the harmony with which they cooper- ated for the advancement of the institution, and the ac- complishment of the great ends for which it had been founded ; in the strong sense of religious obligation that prevailed ; and in the blessing of God resting upon all." It may seem like a truism to assert that these are the most important species of wealth to any col- lege whether great or small, and that without these resources no institution can be a desirable place of study, whatever other attractions it may offer. Many of the younger and smaller colleges have no reason to be either ashamed or discouraged by reason of the greater wealth of those which are older or larger. There is ever}^ reason why the sentiment of Daniel Webster towards his own college, which was uttered on a memorable occasion, should be cherished by many graduates of the minor colleges. " It is a small college but there are those who love it !" The suggestion is made by President M'Cosh after the practice ol the Dublin and London Universities, with which he is familiar : Why may not the several col- leges of a State or a vicinage be connected together as subordinate members of a common university ; the last being a corporation existing solely for the appoint- ment of examiners and the conferring of degrees ? Each college might be a subordinate to the university ; even its trustees might by their representatives constitute its Board of Managers either wholly or in part. Its ex- aminers might be selected in rotation from the colleges. 258 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES If need be the degrees of the college and some of its honors might be conditioned upon a successful exami- nation by the university. No special advantage would follow from this arrangement except the more perfect harmony of the several institutions, their cooperation in the elevation of the standard of good learning, and the stimulus to high attainments which would be felt by the Students. But these advantages are most important. We simply present the proposal as appropriate to this part of our discussion without enlarging upon it. We only add the remark, that many considerations of duty and interest might be named which if duly regarded, would bring the American colleges into closer and more familiar relations with one another. AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 259 XIV. THE RELATION OF COLLEGES TO SCHOOLS OF SCIENCE. These schools are indebted to the colleges for their existence, and it would be unnatural though not impossi- ble that the parents should become jealous of their off- spring. Those founded the earliest were constituted as special or professional schools j the chief if not the sole object of which, should be, to prepare for those departments of life which required a more extended and thorough acquaintance with chemistry and engineering than the colleges could properly impart or provide for. In respect to the requisites for admission, they were placed upon the same footing with the other professional schools. While a course of collegiate study was regarded as a very advantageous preparation for admission, this was insisted on no more stringently than it had been for the schools of law and medicine. Moreover special en- couragement was given to those whose previous educa- tion had been very limited, to enter upon such a brief course of chemistry as might qualify for some skill in agriculture or the arts, or such a course in engineer- ing and even in land surveying as would prepare for speedy service in the field. Mining was very soon re- cognized as one of the leading practical interests for which these schools should give a special education. 26o THE AMERICAN COLLEGES Inasmuch as a knowledge of the French and German language is almost essential for the successful prosecu- tion of such professional studies, provision was made for instruction in these languages for those who might choose to avail themselves of it. Other branches of study, all looking to some practical application, were added as these schools increased in the number of stu- dents and in other resources. The question then arose whether distinct courses of study should not be pre- scribed, and definite periods for their prosecution should not be assigned. When this step had been taken to- wards organization, another question arose : Whether in order to prevent this education from becoming too one-sided and illiberal, it was not wise and necessary to make distinct provision for instruction in English litera- ture and history, and in the moral and political sci- ences. Such provision M'as made, in one of these schools at least, tiH its curriculum became " well rounded " into something like organic completeness. The thought had all the while been entertained that such an education was better adapted to a certain class of young men the texture and habits of whose minds and the limitations of whose time seemed to preclude them from the longer and the more valuable courses of the col- lege and the professional school. In response to this call and under the impulses which we have described, new schools were founded and old schools were shaped with the distinct object of furnishing an education in which the English and modern languages should take the place of the classics, and the physical sciences should be the objects of special and thorough research, while a somewhat more practical direction should be given to AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 26 1 the Studies than is contemplated in the classical college. In this way " the New Education," as it has been called, came into being in a natural way, the demand stimulat- ing the supply and the supply shaping itself according to the demand. It is administered after somewhat dif- ferent methods in different institutions, e. g., by the elec- tive system of Harvard University, the Scientific School at Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the mixed systems of Union College, Cornell and Mich- igan Universities. The Sheffield Scientific School contemplates a defi- nite and orderly scientific and literary training, for the first year in common studies, and for two years follow- ing in special departments of study and research. Its friends claim that in connection with the classical de- partment it enables Yale College successfully to accom- plish the ends proposed by the elective system without its disadvantages. It has done not a little for higher ed- ucation. It has attracted a large number of the gradu- ates of the college and put them upon a post-graduate course, giving them the advantages of both the classi- cal and scientific courses and making a reality of thor- ough university studies. It has certainly done its share, as a constituent of the so-called department of philosophy and the arts to awaken an interest in and to provide instruction for an efficient post-graduate de- partment, or a University proper in connection with Yale College. A very large number of independent schools have been organized under the special act of Congress, and constitute what are sometimes called the National Schools of Science. The existence and efficient or- 262 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES ganization of most of these institutions are however to be ascribed to the example and shaping spirit of the scientific school as modeled after the college. Many of these schools are as yet inchoate and unformed in respect to both theory and administration. Not a few- are simply training schools for some practical art or employment. A few only aspire to be schools of sci- ence proper ; connecting with the discipline appropri- ate to such an object, more or less of general culture. No two of them can be said to be alike either in the comprehensiveness of their aims or the thoroughness of the culture which they impart. It is only the best of them that can come into special relations with the colleges. The differences between schools of this kind and the colleges have been ably indicated by the author of the two papers in the Atlantic Monthly which have been al- ready referred to. "The fact is, that the whole tone and spirit of a good college ought to be different in kind from that of a good polytechnic or scientific school. ^ In the college, the desire for the broadest cul- ture, for the best formation and information of the mind, the enthusiastic study of subjects for the love of them without any ulterior objects, the love of learning and research for their own sake, should be the dominant ideas. In the polytechnic school should be found a men- tal training inferior to none in breadth and vigor, a thirst for knowledge, a genuine enthusiasm in scientific re- search, and a true love of nature ; but underneath all these things is a temper or leading motive unlike that of a college. The student in a polytechnic school has a practical end constantly in view ; he is training his fac- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 263 ulties with the express object of making himself a better manufacturer, engineer, or teacher ; he is studying the processes of nature, in order afterwards to turn them to human uses and his own profit ; if he is eager to pene- trate the mysteries of electricity, it is largely because he wants to understand telegraphs ; if he learns French and German, it is chiefly because he would not have the best technical literature of his generation sealed for him ; if he imbues his mind with the profound and exquisite conceptions of the calculus, it is in order the better to comprehend mechanics. This practical end should never be lost sight of by student or teacher in a poly- technic school, and it should ver^^ seldom be thought of or alluded to in a college. Just as far as the spirit proper to a polytechnic school pervades a college, just so far that college falls below its true idea. The prac- tical spirit and the literary or scholastic spirit are both good, but they are incompatible. If commingled, they are both spoiled," (pp. 214, 5). These views we think to be correct, and they indicate the relations which should be maintained towards one another by the colleges and the schools of science and technology. These institutions cannot with any pro- priety be jealous of one another, for they propose to accomplish different results and for two classes of stu- dents. The colleges propose to attain discipline and culture directly, and practical results remotely, though not the less efficiently and certainly when such results are estimated by a proper standard of utilit}^ The schools of science propose to occupy the student with the study of mathematics and the sciences of nature, with more or less attention to immediate and direct 264 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES practical applications ; intellectual discipline being se- cured incidentally so far as all earnest and diligent study must involve intellectual labor and activity. They proppse also a thorough study of the modern languages and philology, including the English, for the reason that these languages are more nearly re- lated to the uses and needs of pratical life. Hav- ing different spheres, that are distinctly defined, they need not and they ought not to be antagonistic in their feelings or their activities. This being so, the question would naturally suggest itself : Why not com- bine the two in one ? Why not unite the college and the school of science .? To these questions the author already cited, replies with equal point and truthfulness. " But the two kinds of education cannot be carried on together, in the same schedules, by the same teachers. The classical course will hurt the scientific, and the sci- entific the classical. Neither will be at its best. The experience of the world and common sense are against such experiments as those of Brown, Union, and Mich- igan. Nevertheless, they may be good temporary expe- dients during a transition period, or in crude communi- ties where hasty culture is as natural as fast eating. They do good service in lack of better things," (p. 215). These reasons seem to us satisfactory. The institu- tions are so diverse that they will act with greater effi- ciency if they are independent of one another in respect to government and instruction. The officers will feel greater freedom and greater responsibility if they are chiefly concerned with one set of students. Their classes will be far more laborious and enthusiastic if they are made up of pupils who study in a common AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 265 Spirit and with similar aims. The genius of each insti- tution will be far more free to form and develope itself if the institution is shut up to its own activities and fre- quented by men of common aims. The inspiring and regulating influences of the common life of each will be far more efficient if their sway is undisputed. We con- tend that it is not wise to combine the two, as is done in effect by the elective system adopted in Harvard Uni- versity. We are aware that President Eliot would ex- plain his apparent deviation from the views of Profes- sor Eliot as quoted above, by insisting that the scien- tific studies to be elected are pursued as sciences and not in the practical spirit of " the new education," but this distinction is somewhat too subtle and refined to satisfy ordinary minds. Were it admitted, it would limit the attractions of the elective system, and weaken many of the arguments in its favor more than would please the President himself These institutions may be separate schools under the same board of trustees and thus exist as members of one university. In such a case they may preserve all the independence which is essential to the vigorous and sep- arate life of each and yet may avail themselves of the as- sistence and sympathy of one another as w^ell as of the same libraries, museums, and other appliances. Their existence in the same community brings together a larger number of the devotees of science and literature and unites them under the generous relations which are appropriate to their common aims. The diversity of their activities and the distinctive character of the schools with which they are connected may serve at times to correct the one-sidedness and pedantry to 12 266 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES which humanists and scientists, theologians and physiol- ogists are alike exposed. An able expert or proficient in any department of knowledge is often more valuable and convenient to his neighbor in a different line of study, than a whole library of books or a series of elab- orate experiments can be. Each of these institutions may also avail themselves of the instructions of the neighboring school. Though it is desirable that each should be furnished with a separate staff of teachers, who should be responsible for the most of its instruction and for all its government, there is no reason why the instructors of each should not teach the pupils of the other, in their own or in separate class-rooms according as the number of students and the nature of the instruc- tion may decide. Each of these institutions has advantages which it cannot share with the others. The student of the school of science studjes with the tests of truth immedi- ately within his reach or the end and application of his labors more directly in his view. For either or both these reasons, other things being equal, he will study with greater enthusiasm, more patience, and sometimes with a keener intelligence. Its instructors will have less occasion to arouse those pupils, to whose studies Nature is constantly presenting herself with her fresh and posi- tive aspects to excite to new zeal or to reprove vague surmising, or immediately behind whose examinations or analyses, there lie some of the tempting prizes of active or professional life. He will often be able to make that clear which would be otherwise obscure, by illustrating its working in some actual application, or by explaining its relations to some practical art. Whether the students AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 267 of the school c^ science are fresh from the high school, or just graduated from the college, they will be more likely to be earnest, business-like and enthusiastic, than the students of the college. While much of the teach- ing must be elementary and toilsome by reason of the slow and inflexible minds of those students who are imperfectly disciplined, not a little will be advanced be- yond that which is given in the college. If the school of science in some things has the disadvantage of the high school as compared with the college, in other respects it has the advantages of the university over the college, in respect to the character of the instruction and the interest of the pupils. In point of fact, some of the instruction given in these schools has been of the very highest order which the country can show. The absolute necessity of a greater division of labor, tends to secure to the scientific school an important ad- vantage. On the other hand many of its studies are not and cannot be liberal, in the special sense of those of the college, even if it be conceded that they are proper- ly disciplinary. They are connected by fewer relations with the history of the past, and the ever varying thoughts and feelings of man. They do not cultivate the man so broadly nor for pursuits that appeal so pro- foundly to the higher manifestations and achievements of life and character. At the same time, it must be conceded that these more elevated aspects of the training and studies of the college, are not within the eye of the pupil. He does not comprehend and often he will not believe in their importance. The college instructor must often labor with pupils who do not always appre- 268 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES ciate the value of the studies which are imposed. He labors however with the assured confidence that the re- sults will by and by appear, and that if his pupils do not at present appreciate what he is doing for them, they will do so hereafter. While he contends with special discouragements and disabilities, he has the assurance that the system which he applies has the approval of the wisest men of the past and has stood the test of time. He learns from not a few of his pupils, who have had occasion to prove the value of the classical discipline, that these enforced studies have been of inestimable value, in the subsequent activities of professional, pub- lic and business life — that the worst calamity which could have happened to them, would have been a com- pliance with their impatient youthful desires to be re- leased from these apparently useless studies. He stands fast in the truth expressed in the words of Prof. Gold- win Smith : " Liberal education need not be ascetic or regardless of the usefulness or the interest of the things taught, as it has hitherto been ; but it must be liberal not professional ; its function is to cultivate the mind, and to store it with the knowledge which a youth of a certain class requires as a formal preparation for life. Mental power and general information are its objects and tests, not utility." " Subjects attaining admittance into the liberal course, must prove not only their utility, but their fitness for the purpose of education ; and though the ear of the educator ought to be open to each member of the group of Natural Sciences where it tenders proof of this, the proof ought to be required." He may believe that the study of Nature is as essential to a truly liberal culture as the study of literature and his- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 269 tory and yet hold intelligently and firmly that the study of language and of the classical languages is indispen- sable to furnish the highest and best preparation for the most successful and liberal study of Nature herself — that if a man is to be a philosopher he must in his childhood combine the study of Natural History with the subtle and rigid analyses of classic study. But while the advocate for the classical course contends for its essential and permanent superiorit}^ as a means of a truly liberal culture, he rejoices, if his own culture is itself liberal, in the development and prosperity of the school of science. The most zealous advocate of »the college system as best adapted to the highest education of the community, is usually the warmest friend of those schools in which the magnificent sciences of Na- ture are pursued with that zeal, concentration, and pa- tience, which these sciences must always exact from their successful devotees. That man cannot be a truly liberal scholar or thinker who does not rejoice in the splendid achievements of modern science and in the enthusiasm with which its students devote themselves to its service. He cannot be awake to the necessities of the times, and the true enlightenment of the largest number, whose zeal for the Old education, disqualifies him for intelli- gent and cordial sympathy with the New. 270 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES XV. EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS AND REFORM. The charge has not unfrequently been urged against the American colleges, by some portions of the Ameri- can public, that they are bound so rigidly by the tradi- tions of the past, as to be incapable of those improve- ments which are required by the changing phases of the present generation. No charge is more untrue or unfounded. The older of these colleges were not in the beginning servilely copied from the colleges of the old world, though founded at a time and by men who rev- erenced the traditions of the venerable schools in which they themselves had been trained. In their original con- stitution they were adapted to the condition and wants of the communities for which they were provided, and in their growth and development they have undergone successive transformations, according to the shaping spirit of successive generations. We have not designed to protest against reforms in the college system or in its administration. We are quite willing to admit that some are imperatively required. We are not displeased that questions concerning them should be freely dis- cussed by any class of thinkers or writers or before any tribunal. We insist only that the tribunal should be competent to judge of the questions, and that the parties who discuss these subjects should have clear and AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 27 1 just conceptions of the ends of higher education, and some experience concerning the means by which these ends can be most successfully attained. The recent agitation of these questions which has occasioned this series of papers, will, we are confident, result only in advantage to the higher education of the country, by calling attention to those reforms which the colleges re- quire, and by vindicating their essential features from the objections of shallow and ill-informed critics. We are in no sense averse to the development of the college into a university. We believe this to be desira- ble and possible, with enterprise, patience, money, and time. But we are opposed to the employment of uni- versity instruction, and of university freedom and irre- sponsibility, for classes which require the discipline of the college. To introduce the option of the university, or the lectures of the university, to pupils who are grounded in nothing but in a conceit of their adequacy to grapple with any subject, and who are impelled by aspirations to arrive speedily at the goal without travel- ing over the intervening space, tends only to destroy the college by substituting the show of a university, and to sink the so-called university into a special school of technology. Were it not advocated in England by men who represent both the aristocracy of birth and of cul- ture, we should pronounce it to be an American expe- dient, to dignify superficial and limited attainments by high sounding names, and to substitute an apparently short cut over bushes and briars for a path that has been often tried and found to be the shortest practicable. We are not opposed to trying every method and study by the criterion of usefulness, but we would always in- 272 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES terpose the question, useful for whatl We believe that those studies and that discipline which are the most useful to train to manly thinking, to nice discrimination, and simple diction ; as well as to noble purposes, and an enlarged acquaintance with man and his history, are the most useful studies in fact : while the criterion of direct service for the exercise of one's immediate trade, calling, or profession, is sophistical and misleading. We do not reject the mathematics from the course, though their direct utility in the vulgar sense seems to be more questionable than that of any other class of studies. At the same time, we question whether, in a general course, they should be pursued beyond the limit at which their best disciplinary effect seems frequently to be exhausted, and their special refinements and intri- cacies serve to confuse rather than to sharpen the wits, and to burden rather than to excite the powers. We would retain the study of the classics, for the reasons which we have given at kngth, but we would, if possi- ble, make the study serviceable to the cultivation of the taste for literature as well as to intellectual discipline. The design of this study in college should be, not to train for the tastes and discriminations of grammarians and philologists, but for the mastery of the ancient lan- guages for pleasurable and easy reading. We would resist to the last any concession which would tend to dim.inish the time or lower the estimate which has been conceded to classical study. At the same time we would freely adopt any method of studying or teach- ing the classics which promises to make them more in- teresting and more valuable as literature. We hold the opinion very earnestly that upon the retention and sue- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 273 cessful regulation of classical study more than upon any single feature of the college economy hangs the question for this country whether we shall continue as a people to respect and honor what is noble in the past or shall give ourselves up to the unsteady and often mistaken guidance of the unreflecting and uninstructed present ; whether, in short, our public opinion and our press as well as our politics shall be controlled by sci- olists and demagogues, or by scholars and statesmen. The sciences of nature have already received liberal attention in the colleges. The claim that they can take the place of the humanistic studies as a means of disci- pline, or that they can even be thoroughly taught and mastered except in special classes or in special schools, must, we think, be abandoned. The claim that the Scientific School proposes a better education for most men or even a more desirable or useful education for any man than the colleges, would seem to be premature to one who reflects how very short has been the experience of the oldest of these schools and how very discordant with one another are the theory and practice of those schools which have been organized the longest. The New Education, if it had been in operation long enough for its advocates to define or describe what it is, has not yet been proved by its fruits, and it would be the height of presumption and folly to pronounce it so far a success as to justify the abandonment of the old system which has at least a defi- nite character and has produced some good results. Perhaps unsuspected defects may appear in the theory and administration of the new. The remark of Gold- win Smith is worth considering: "The results of a 2 74 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES training exclusively literary have long been manifest ] the results of a training exclusively scientific are begin- ning to appear." If we substitute "prominently" for " exclusively," the observation has no little meaning and force. There are those who would decide the question by contrasting the old education as " the study of words," with the new as " the study of things." Those who use such expedients usually betray an equal ignorance of the nature and the influences of the study of both words and things. Their position is in principle similar to that of Rousseau, who would send man back to the bar- barous condition in order to restore him to the sim- plicity of nature. The study of things must lead to the science of things, and the science of things must ex- press the thoughts of man about things, and the expres- sion of the thoughts of man about things must be made in words. The soul of man in the creed of some peo- ple is a thing as really as his liver or his brain — the thoughts and feelings of the soul are as really phenom- ena as are electricity, or protoplasm, or cell growths. Government, literature, languages, religion, philosophy, and induction itself are as really products of nature and things as cell-growths and chemical combinations. No man can study words who does not study things, and no one can study what he calls things without also very largely studying words. The modern languages have already been freely in- troduced into the courses of many colleges. It is greatly to be regretted that the elements of French and German cannot be required for admission in order that the college training might be more liberal and aesthetic. For this and many other improvements in the college AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 275 course we must look to the preparatory schools. These are an essential element in the system of higher educa- tion of which the college forms a part. Some of these schools are admirable, needing no other reform ex- cept in respect to general culture, as in Natural Histor}^', in Geography, History, and the English language ; in all of which special knowledge and refinement, as w^ell as the facile use of some modern language, is more im- important than is usually believed as a preparation for the highest advantages from the college course. Indeed, many of the defects charged upon the colle- ges of the country, are fairly chargeable to the low standard of general culture among the better classes among us, and to the want of thoroughness and breadth in many of the secondary schools. We shall nev^er forget the remark of one of the most eminent scholars of Germany, the late Frederick W. Thiersch — himself a courtier and a man of the world as w-ell as an accomplished classicist: "The great want of Eng- land and America is an organized system of secon- dary schools. You cannot have a successful higher in- struction, till these are provided." We believe it to be true, that if the tens of millions of dollars that have been wasted, and worse than wasted, in founding and equipping superfluous colleges and pretended universi- ties in this countr}^ had been bestowed in endowing and equipping a large number of classical schools of the highest order, the colleges themselves and the high- er education of the countr}^ would long ago have been lifted to a higher position. Perhaps we should have been ready by this time for the inauguration of the American University — that much talked of institution which so 276 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES many long to see, and complain that were it not for the stupidity and obstinacy of the colleges, it would have long ago come into being. Will it ever appear ? When and by what methods will it begin to exist ? We answer, it will not come into being by jDremature- ly introducing its studies and methods into the college. Nor will it be hastened by overloading the last year of the college course by a great variety of studies, a little knowledge of which is desirable, and a short course of lectures upon which is therefore prescribed. The spirit of crani^ and of the superficial and mechanical mastery of a few elements of many sciences, is the curse of the colleges as they are. To intensify this tendency as has been done persistently for the past generation is to commit the worst of all blunders. The university will exist only when professors are found capable of teaching more than the elements of the branches which they pro- fess, and when pupils are found who are willing to pursue them with the requisite thoroughness and perseverance. We have a few professors who are already qualified to give as valuable and as profound instruction as any pro- fessors in European universities. Some of them, indeed, are so occupied by college work, or by bread and butter labors, as to lack the time and opportunity to prepare and give the formal instruction which organized uni- versity classes would require. Others have more leisure and would delight in nothing so much as in giving ad- vanced instruction to pupils competent and desirous to receive it. The chief desideratum, however, is a suffi- cient number of pupils in any one place to furnish an inspiring audience, and to warrant the beginnings of organization. The experiments already made at Har- AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 277 vard and Yale are not without promise. We are glad to see that another step forward has recently been tak- en at Harvard in the direction of systematic university instruction. The serious desiderata in this tentative course would be acknowledged most readily by its orig- inators and friends. It deserves, however, the best wishes for success — a good word for the enterprise which it exhibits, if it did not for its promise of good. We trust that this movement will be followed in the most enterprising spirit in every institution where it is prac- ticable and that special instruction and special classes will be organized as rapidly as possible. It must be confessed, however, that the number of persons in this country' is exceedingly small, who are competent and desirous to receive university instruction in branches which are not professional, and who are also not able and desirous to go to the continent. Or rather, we should say, the attractions of travel, with the opportunity of becoming familiar with two or three European languages, are so decided as to present a very serious obstacle to the development of provisions for any university studies except those which are strictly professional. Not a few professional students even, seek to prosecute or to finish their studies in France or Ger- many. Of a large class graduating at Yale within a short period, a fifth visited Europe within the first year. Students who have the leisure to give a year or two to general studies in history, literature, philology, or any branch of philosophy, usually have the means of cross- ing the ocean, and, when they have done this, the ex* penses of living are lower than at home, and they meet many attractions which, for a long time, will continue to 278 THE AMERICAN COLLEGES be fascinating to the natives of a new country like ours. It is ridiculous to hear such empty gasconading as has been written within a few months, to the effect that it would not be very long before European students will flock to some great American university as freely as American scholars now go to Europe. We feel no dis- position to depreciate American scholarship or Ameri- can thought. We are forward to acknowledge that some among us have no reason to be ashamed when measured by their peers in Europe. But a great university can- not be built up in a day even in an old country ; and in a new country, not till many generations have provided the material. That material is something more than a few millions of money and a score of brilliant occasional lecturers. A great community of highly cultured schol- ars and literary men must first exist before the repre- sentatives of every branch of knowledge can appear who are competent to teach the choicest youth of the world, and before a large body of American pupils will be satisfied that they can find no advantage in going abroad. These facts should teach us good sense, which is another name for modesty in our expectations and promises. But they furnish no reason why the begin- nings of university instruction and study should not be made at once in connection with all the leading col- leges. The professional schools already exist, and have flourished for many years, and so far as they have given thorough and scientific instruction, and have required an adequate preparation, have been the disjecta me7nbra of a proper university. Let schools of philology and modern literature, including the English, of the higher mathematics and physics, of geography and geology, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 279 of metaphysical, moral, political, and social science be added — or, in brief, let a department of philosophy, in its comprehensive import, be added to the schools of law, medicine, and theology, and we have the skeleton of a university complete. We must be content with small beginnings in such a department for the reasons already given. One thought we have omitted. The sentiment of the cultivated classes of the country must favor the love of learning for its own sake, and the pursuit of study for the satisfaction it brings, and the manhood which it forms, if University professors are to be encouraged by the presence of even a small number of pupils knock- ing at their doors. As long as study is valued for the money or position it procures, and the theory of disci- plinary study and of liberal culture is openly scouted in the forum and the market place, and attacked in the newspaper and the review, so long will the true univer- sity be unknown among us. It is in the name and in- terest of true progress and of real reform that we pro- test against the supercilious and positive spirit in which the professed guides of the people — some of them grad- uates of colleges — have treated the aims and objects of education, as well as the contemptuous and ignorant ap- peals to the prejudices and ignorance of their readers which many have allowed themselves to employ. No ar- gument to our minds is so convincing that we need to re- tain the old theory and practice of liberal culture, if we would sustain high toned thoroughness in the for- mation of our principles and high toned courtesy in the expression of them, as the lamentable lack of both these qualities which has been exhibited in many lead- 28o THE AMERICAN COLLEGES ing articles of the American press, upon the subject of college education and college reform. We are not sorry however that these discussions have arisen, or that this clamor for reform in the American colleges has been raised, however ignorant and unreas- oning it may be. We neither expect nor desire it to cease. We shall not be surprised if the excitement which now moves like a quickening breeze shall rage like a furious storm. It connot fail to be useful, even if its temporary effects are injurious to the colleges and disastrous to the youths whose critical discontent it may stimulate to excess and whose untamed conceit it may flatter into folly. We are quite willing that the whole subject of the higher education of the country should be thoroughly discussed if it can be discussed by those who are competent to judge of its merits. We are anx- ious that every reform in college education should be introduced which can be shown to be required and that instructors and pupils should be invigorated by the most quickening sense of their responsiblities to the community and the country for whose service it is the duty of both to labor. The American public, though often imposed on, is not incapable of wise judgments in respect to educa- tion. It is the only community in the world which by its voluntary offerings endows colleges and higher insti- tutions on a liberal scale. Its princely benefactors and its humble contributors have had the sagacity to appre- ciate the advantages which the colleges bring to the public and the generosity to furnish the money which they have required. This public may be for a moment AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. 28 1 disturbed in its accustomed faith in the desirableness of the liberal education which is furnished by the col- leges, but it will not readily withdraw its confidence in the deliberate judgments of those who are competent to decide such questions. It is to such persons alone that our arguments have been addressed. All that we ask of such is that they may be fairly considered. We began this discussion with no expectation that our contributions to it would exceed the limits of a sin- gle paper. But the single paper has expanded into a volume, for the production of which the interest and importance of the subject must be our apology, if any apology is needed. AFTER-THOUGHTS ON COLLEGE AND SCHOOL EDUCATION. I. PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. (Read before the National Educational Association at Detroit. Michigan, August s. 1874.) The conviction seems to be gradually dawning upon the American public, that an adequate preparation is as necessary to the highest success in the college or university, as a faithful use of the opportunities and in- struction of either. The community is slowly but surely learning, that without a supply of good upper schools, the supply of colleges may greatly exceed the demand, — that the preparatory processes of intellectual culture are as necessary to its well-ripened fruit, as are the ger- mination of spring, and the bloom and leafage of summer, to the maturing and ripening work of autumn. Those who have looked into the statistics of our educational appliances are not more astonished at the over-supply and overgrowth of colleges in both newer and older States, than they are to learn that in some of the newer States the number of chartered colleges is greater than of well- organized institutions in which students can obtain a decent preparation for college. 284 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR The writer of this paper does not propose to discuss this important and fruitful topic systematically or ex- haustively. He ventures only to offer a few suggestions in regard to it, chiefly of a practical character. HISTORICAL VIEW OF SCHOOLS PREPARATORY FOR COLLEGE. Harvard College was founded in 1636. In 1647 the Massachusetts Colony enacted a law that every town of one hundred families should maintain a school, the teacher of which should be '' able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the university." This law, though imperfectly obeyed, introduced very early into Massachusetts and New England a small number of clas- sical schools, and subsequently prepared the way for the endowment of a few academies in which young men were prepared for the colleges. A large number, however, of the students in the New England, and, indeed, in all of the American colleges before the present century, were prepared by clergymen and private teachers. Here and there an academy has been specially endowed which has rendered eminent service. The Hopkins Grammar Schools of Hartford and New Haven, Conn. ; the Hop- kins Academy, in Hadley, and Phillips Academy, at An- dover, Mass. ; Phillips Exeter Academy, at Exeter, N. H. ; Amherst Academy, in Massachusetts : and, later, the Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, Mass. ; and a few of still more recent origin will occur to many of my hearers. Among the public schools of the country, the Boston Latin School was, for a long time, almost the only classical school supported by public taxation, and free to all, at which students could be prepared for college. It COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 285 was pre-eminent alike for the thoroughness of the educa- tion which it gave, and the freeness with which this was proffered to all the residents of Boston. Numerous pri- vate schools have also been built up by the zeal and repu- tation of distinguished teachers, some of which have been perpetuated under a succession of masters. The States southwest of New England, before the War of Indepen- dence, depended more generally upon private teaching for preliminary classical tuition : now and then a secluded clergyman, and here and there an eminent Scotch and Irish classicist, gave excellent instruction. The States subsequently settled from New England have provided themselves somewhat extensively with schools of a higher order, usually without endowments, and generally as the result of a special interest in education on the part of an intelligent community, or of the private enterprise of some devoted teacher. The State of New York has been singularly well provided with schools or academies of a higher order, in many of which classical instruction is promised. Many f these have received a somewhat liberal annual subsidy, under the direction of the Regents of the University of New York. The great majority of the so-called academies of the newer and older States have, however, not made it their chief design to prepare students for college, and many which have professed to do this have very imperfectly fulfilled their promises. With the reorganization of the public school systems of the older States, and the foundation of such systems in vigorous operation, (almost simultaneously, in many cases, with the redemption of the soil from the forest and the wild prairie,) provision has been made in not a few of the most flour- ishing, for a system of high schools, which propose, in 286 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR theory, to give a thorough preparation for the college curriculum. The State of Michigan has distinguished itself above all the States of the Union, not only by the liberal endowment of its university, and the economical administration of the funds provided, but by furnishing in many of its large towns — at the public expense — a high school in which pupils can be prepared for the University. But, in most of the other new States, the several colleges have found the appliances so defective for the preparation of students even for their small classes, as to be compelled to provide a preparatory department, under the direction of their boards of trus- tees, and faculties. No intelligent educator ought to be surprised, in view of these facts, that the preparation for college instruction is found to be unsatisfactory in many particulars, nor that it is so difficult to suggest adequate remedies for many defects. DEFECTS OBSERVED IN PREPARATORY EDUCATION. — THE FIRST DEFECT. We name some of these defects. The selection of studies a?id of authors is far fro?n uniforin. For this defect, the colleges are partly responsible. They do not prescribe the same number of topics, nor the same text- books, or their equivalents. We do not blame the col- leges for this inequality. It is very natural and almost inevitable that they should adapt their rules to the cus- toms of the section of the country in which they are placed. But these again are partly formed by the tradi- tions of bodi colleges and schools. The fact cannot be questioned that a very considerable diversity prevails. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 287 That this is a serious evil is obvious. In England, where a few schools give character to the classical teaching of the whole kingdom, the smallest amount of reading and the fewest topics for study which may serve to prepare a student for the course are fixed by traditions, which are as unchanging and as well known as Magna Charta itself. In Scotland the parochial schools obey uniform customs. In Germany the curriculum of the gymnasia is fixed by uniform laws w^hich are established by the highest au- thority of the State, and enforced by inspections and examinations, which are as particular and as exacting as a military bureaucracy can enforce. But in this country the traditions are neither fixed nor uniform, and the en- forcement by the schools and colleges themselves of the several traditions which they inherit and the special laws which they make, is notoriously lax and variable. If one college exacts on paper a larger, and another a smaller quantum of preparatory work, it may easily happen that the college which proposes the largest amount in its catalogue should actually be content with less than the college which limits itself to a smaller. It is patent to the most superficial and confiding reader of catalogues and announcements, that the quantity of preparatory reading required neither determines the quality of the work bestowed, nor the value of its results. Every teacher knows that a rapid and uncritical study of a Latin or Greek author, and a superficial smattering of algebra and geometry, may be achieved, and yet the student be entirely unprepared to follow the curriculum to which these studies are the essential preliminary. 288 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR THE REMEDY PROPOSED. The remedy for this evil proposed by educational theo- rists is a very simple oiie^ afid in their view is certain to be effectual. " Let the leading colleges agree upon some curriculum and adhere to it, and support one another in enforcing it. Let them make the standard for admission uniform for themselves and they will certainly lift the stand- ard for all. The colleges which will not conform will be forced to a secondary rank and a lower reputation. The pressure on the schools will in time become efficient, and they will be compelled to adopt the highest standard — and this standard will be universally accepted." This sounds well in theory, but when the attempt is made to apply it, it fails for several reasons : First of all, the colleges are not inclined to agree upon a uniform stand- ard of acquirement. Nor if they should agree would they trust one another in the enforcement — not so much because they doubt one 'another's faith, as because there must inevitably occur so many cases for exception. As long as our country is young and new in culture, yet vigorous and enterprising in its activity and hope on the one hand ; as long as the schools are new and the teachers diverse in culture and capacity, on the other ; as long as so many vigorous but rough-handed young men are in- spired with a late but overmastering desire to be edu- cated, so long will a pressure be brought to bear upon the colleges to relax from their rigor in respect to the quantity and the quality of preparatory work. This ])res- sure will be constantly enforced by the experience that trivial and even serious defects have been so often more than overcome in a few months' trial of the first vear in COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 289 college. It is useless to urge that by a steady persistence and exacting rigor the schools will be finally forced into compliance, and that even new schools of a higher order will be supplied at the imperative demands of the col- leges. The newer and feebler colleges are in no condi- tion to exact conditions before they confer their gifts. Their function is rather to persuade the ignorant to re- ceive gifts, the value of which they imperfectly understand; and to persuade rather than compel. The older and more independent colleges are often greatly indebted to the salutary examples of successful perseverance, which an occasional relaxation of rigid prescriptions brings into their society. Every year brings some striking proof that the capacity to grapple successfully with the college cur- riculum cannot in every case be tested or measured by the number of books of Virgil which have been read, or the number of demonstrations in Geometry which have been mastered. Whatever theory of preparation be set up, the fact remains unchanged, that in such a country as ours, a portion of the first year in college must for the present, within certain limits, be regarded as a fairer and more wdiolesome test of a student's capacity to go on with success, than the minutest and most rigid entrance examination. THE SECOND DEFECT. It is charged as a second defect thai the amoimt of pj'eparatory study is far too small. The curriculum for entrance, it is contended, ought, in all reason, to com- prehend and cover the elements of every study which is to be taught in college, be these studies more or less numerous. The colleges, it is urged, ought not to be in 13- 290 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR any sense elementary schools, of any branch of knowl- edge. They should steadily and sturdily refuse to con- descend to such ignoble and time-consuming service as this. They are not schools in any sense, nor ought their officers to be forced to do the work of pedagogues. Let them assert their independence, and they can force the preparatory schools into compHance, and they will them- selves rise to the dignity and the emancipation of their appropriate activities. If they will but stamp upon the earth with an energy sufficiently emphatic, schools will be called into being which will perform these servile occupa- tions. General statements of this kind, however confi- dently made, are found to have little weight when con- fronted with the facts and considerations already referred to. So far as the necessity to teach the elements of any branch of knowledge is a burden upon the colleges, it is incidental to the transitive condition in which a young and rapidly growing country must for a long time find itself. We cannot, 'however, assent to the general and unqualified statement that the colleges are not called to teach the elements of any branch of knowledge. There are many sciences of which the elements cannot be grasped before the mind has been matured by pro- tracted discipline. To teach the elements of many sci- ences to mature minds, may be the most exalted occupa- tion of the most gifted teacher. The successful commu- nication or illustration of many elementary truths, presup- poses at once the largest acquisitions and the most con- sunimate training. The teacher who is impatient of the duty of perpetually referring to the first principles of the science which he professes, shows that he himself is igno- rant of the first principles of the science of teaching. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 29I SPECIAL FAILURES— THE WANT AND WASTE OF TIME. Dismissing these more general defects, we notice two special failures in the working of our preparatory- schools, which are in striking contrast, and yet some- what closely allied. These are the want afid the waste of time. It is not easy to say which is the most serious of the two. Insufficiency of time is observed in schools that are imperfectly furnished and incompetently manned, and of pupils who are under so strong a pressure to make rapid advance, that they cannot or will not listen to wise counsels. The want of money, the wishes or will- fulness of friends, age, a sanguine and ignorant self-con- fidence, the advice of ignorant or wrong-headed coun- sellors, or some other reason, one or all, is pleaded against the application of those rules which long experi- ence has established. Many a student has undertaken to do the work of two years in one, and has in consequence been lamed for life, in his intellectual habits and his intel- lectual acquisitions ; perhaps he has been disabled in his moral character, as well as soured and discouraged in temper. His conceptions of study have been perma- nently vitiated. His satisfaction in study has been greatly- diminished if not altogether precluded; while his self- confidence and self-respect have been greatly impaired. Such a student may have had the noblest aspirations. His purposes may have been pure and his character elevated,' but the ways of learning and discipline in col- lege will have been to him the farthest from being ways of pleasantness. He will be happy if he shall be able to recover himself in the later years of college life, in his professional studies, or afterwards, and if the evil and 292 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR wrong which he has suffered do not occasion life -long regret or bitter reproach to himself or to others. The waste of time ^ in the technical preparation for col- lege, is not infrequently observed in older communities, in the best organized schools, and in those pupils whose external circumstances would seem to be the most favora- ble for a thorough discipline. The boy who is destined for a classical education is too often either prematurely set to the study of Latin, and this is too often made his principal occupation for several years, in such a sense as to exclude the energetic pursuit of many useful studies, or at least to be the excuse for the comparatively unproduc- tive employment of some of the most important years of schooling. It is Latin in the morning, Latin at evening ; Latin at home, and Latin at school. If the boy is a bright and apt scholar his time is wasted in useless iterations and vain repetitions. If he is unapt and stolid, his classical lessons become a task and a pretext for neglecting a great variety of studies which; if they should fail to awaken enthusiasm, might, at least, furnish the relief of variety. Greek is commenced at too early an age, with similar con- sequences, though not always in forms so obvious or so aggravated. The work of four years is often spread over six or eight, with the negative consequences of excluding much valuable knowledge and the stimulus of diversified and exciting occupations, and the positive harm of disgust- ing the pupil with wearisome monotony, and confirming him in habits of mechanical and listless drudgery. THE NEGLECT OF GENERAL CULTURE. Incidental to this waste of time is the neglect of general culture which often follows from the arrangement of COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 293 Studies ill our schools of preparation. This defect is not always to be ascribed to the waste of time, for it not infrequently follows from the want of time in which to pur- sue a generous curriculum. Whatever be the occasion, the defect itself is acknowledged to be very serious. The college curriculum not only presupposes a mastery of the elements of Greek and I^atin and the pure mathematics, with the mental discipHne which these studies imply, but also a competent knowledge of the English language, and such an acquaintance with the universe in which we live as is gained from the elements of history and geography on the one hand, and the elements of physics and natural history on the other. The college curriculum is emphat- ically called liberal, because it proposes not erudition so much as culture ; not facts, not reflection, not feats of memory, not even the mechanical mastery of abstractions ; but the power of subtle and ready thought, and of apt and finished expression. But if it proposes culture as its end and aim, it supposes some culture as ks condition. The college studies presuppose that the pupil can read his mother tongue without hesitation ; that he can spell cor- rectly — alas ! that this is not always true ; and also that he is somewhat at home in that knowledge which observa- tion and memory have gathered and preserved of the world of nature and the ways of men. Such knowledge and culture cannot be obtained without some familiarity with all the branches named. Without insisting on some knowledge of one or two modern languages, as imparting a special advantage for the more intelligent and less mechanical pursuit of the classics, it would seem that this generous culture may be rightfully expected, as it is certainly imperatively demanded, for the most successful 294 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR prosecution of the higher education. Such is the theor}'. What now, are the facts ? The facts are, that the prepa- ration of the majority of college students is seriously defective in many of these particulars. Among those students who are most highly favored in their opportuni- ties, we find that many are furnished with the amplest opportunities, only to waste them all, through the incom- petence or unfaithfulness of instructors, or the foolish indulgence of weak or ignorant parents. We find, also, that many others who are well trained in early childhood, in all the branches essential to their general culture, are no sooner admitted to the classical academy or high school, than these so-called English studies are altogether omitted, or, driven into a corner; that in many such schools, under the plea of necessity, or shortness of time, or in obedience to the demand of traditional grammatisers, the pedantries and mechanisms of philology become the absorbing occupations, and " the drill " of etymology and syntax, with the abstractions of mathematics, thrust aside the acquisitions of earlier years, till, for want of repe- tition, they cease to interest, and are practically forgotten oi despised. Had these studies been carried through the classical course, in more liberal and intellectual forms ; had they been resorted to as a relief from, and often as auxiliary to, the more abstract occupations with the grammar and the dictionary, these acquisitions of child- hood would have stimulated the dawning reflections of youth, and the drudgery, which is more or less insepara- ble from grammatical linguistics, would have been more cheerfully endured, and more intelligently performed. We do not blame the trustees and instructors of prepara- tory schools, altogether, or chiefly, for this state of things. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 295 We only notice the fact that it exists, and that the col- leges suffer from it most seriously. The fact is too notorious to be denied, that not a few of the pupils from the most favored communities and the best-furnished and best-conducted schools, are seriously impeded in their general culture by the deadening and depressing influence of the excessive and well-nigh exclusive occupation of their minds, for three or four years, with what are tech- nically called the preparatory studies. Their curiosity is enfeebled by want of stimulus, or blunted by repression ; their germinating activities of thought are arrested, and sometimes blighted. Even the results of their disciplinary studies resemble more closely the movements of a smooth- ly-going machine than the joyful activities of a spirit fired by increasing enthusiasm, and inspired with ardent pur- poses of self-culture and self-improvement. We insist most earnestly upon the indispensable value of classical and mathematical studies as a discipline. We do not for- get that the age of boyhood is not uniformly animated by an intellectual spirit or eminent desire for culture, nor that boating and batting are esteemed by many school- boys to be the most inspiriting of accompHshments. But, for this very reason, it follows that all the studies which will be required so soon as the period of earnest culture begins should be prosecuted with an even propor- tion. The defects of general culture in college students are also, in many cases, to be ascribed to the lateness of the time at which their preparation begins, and the ab- sence of early advantages for study. A considerable number of students in our best colleges have, for one reason or other, enjoyed but few advantages for intellec- tual culture except those furnished while preparing for 296 • PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR college. For this class of persons, more truly than for any other, is it desirable that the preparation for col- lege life should not be exclusively disciplinary or techni- cal. It may be urged, that difficulties of this kind ought not to present themselves in a country like ours, which abounds in high schools, and academies, in all of which the elements of what are called English studies receive especial attention ; that the classical schools have a right to expect that this part of general education should be attended to elsewhere, and should only be required to fulfill their appropriate function without assuming those of the lower schools. Whether we can explain these de- fects of general culture complained of or not, it is lamen- table that they exist, notwithstanding the country seems to be so amply furnished with the appliances for what is called a good English education. For deficiencies of this sort the colleges are not responsible, although the education which they seek to impart must be seriously impaired in consequence. It is for those who are directly responsible for the secondary schools to inquire whether they may not be remedied. Meanwhile let the trustees and managers of our classical seminaries ask themselves whether a pupil is in any sense properly fitted for college whose general culture is neglected or interfered with by the zeal and exclusiveness with which his special prepa- ration is prosecuted. THE REMEDY FOR THESE DEFECTS OF GENERAL CULTURE. To remedy these defects, it has been proposed that a large addition should be made to the studies required for admission to college ; that Physics and Natural History, COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 297 Geography and History, English Grammar and English Literature, and the elements of French and German, should all be required at the entrance examination. The objections and difficulties in the way of enforcing at once a large addition to the preparatory studies, especially in branches of this more general character, have already been referred to. They are so manifold and formidable as to deter the writer from the attempt to discuss them at length in this paper. He is frank enough to confess that he looks for a remedy for these and other defects in the higher education, less to changes which may be imagined and proposed in the machinery of education, than to changes which may be effected in the general sentiment of the community as to the conditions of success, and in the elevation of teachers in respect to their own cul- ture and their aims and power of wise adaptation. He even ventures to add what to some may seem a paradox : that not a few of the evils which are characteristic of the higher education in all its stages, may be directly traced to an excessive and romantic confidence in schemes of study, methods of instruction and examination, and to low theoretical and practical estimates of what the indi- vidual teacher can and ought to do in the way of inspira- tion and instruction when he has the earnest and laborious co-operation of pupils and guardians. The lavish expen- diture of wealth on school and college buildings and ap- paratus, the organization of complicated systems of pub- lic education, the building up of imposing universities, the confident reiteration which promises success to the so- called New Education, the sanguine encouragement that children and youth need only to be trained in the study of Nature, to be inspired with a universal enthusiasm for study 298 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR of every kind, — all these have, by perversion, induced the community to overlook the necessity of severe and at times painful labor as the sole condition of success, and have persuaded teachers and managers of schools that a system of education needs only to be skillfully devised and it will run of itself. The attractions of school-life have been in some cases so multiplied, that all drudgery in school work has become irksome to both parents and children. Labor and diligence were formerly enforced by parents and teachers upon children and pupils, but now- adays pleasure and amusement are enforced by children and pupils upon parents and teachers as the conditions on which they will consent to patronize a school or a col- lege. The defects of preparatory schools are due in no slight degree to this very low and superficial estimate of the necessity of close and patient labor as the condition of successful achievement. If the preparatory education for college is to be judged of by the important improV^ements in apparatus and ap- pliances, it has certainly made great progress. Text- books of every description were never before so good, and never so accessible as at the present moment. The schools were never so well organized. The importance of a skillfully arranged system of exercises was never so generally acknowledged, and so generally and cheerfully submitted to. The necessity of rigid examinations was never more generally insisted on and accepted by pupils and parents. The science and art of teaching was never more earnestly discussed, and the results of these discus- sions were never more readily and venturously applied. A scholar of the last, who enters a first-class preparatory school of the present generation, and looks round upon COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 299 the external conveniences of the apartments and furni- ture ; who next observes the careful and rigid division into classes, and then the well-trained teachers, the elaborate text-books, and the manifold illustrations from geography and history, almost wishes that he were a boy again, that he might begin with all these advantages. When he looks for the results, he finds, indeed, much formal im- provement in the exactness and completeness of the ex- aminations. But when he looks for a corresponding real advance in the awakening of mental power, in the disci- pline of the intellect to a more intelligent method, and a more complete self-command, and, above all, when he seeks for a more glowing enthusiasm for science and art, and the evidences of a wider and more generous culture, he may be excused if he sometimes asks whether the new classical discipline produces results which are at all com- mensurate with the immense improvements in the appli- ances and methods of training. A candid observer has no need to decide this question of the relative future sac- cess of the old and the new schooling, in order to find some explanation of the failures of the new to accomplish all that might be expected from its manifold advantages. SPECIAL DEFECTS IN THE OPERATION OF MODERN SCHOOLS. The first of these is the spirit oi formalism and routhie which has grown up in our modern schools. We do not mean the formalism of tradition, nor the pedantry of the cloister, such as had been consecrated by the traditions and romance of antiquity, but the pedantry of spick-span newness, the formalism of marching and counter-march- ing, of elaborate and unnecessary explanations, of end- 300 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR less and mechanical repetitions, of an artificial mark- ing system, and a worse than mechanical reliance upon examinations. We include all those features of organiza- tion and administration which tend to destroy individual- ity in the pupil, and to repress humanity in the teachers. Much of routine and machinery is the necessary result of the large classes of the schools, and the small number of the teachers. We complain not of the rigor which attends necessary methods, nor of the strictest impartial- ity in their application. Machinery and routine are of enormous advantage when they are wisely used. They give to school laws the fixedness and inexorable charac- ter of the laws of nature, and they restrain the teaicher from temptations to favoritism and ill-placed sympathy. But when they hide earnestness, or excuse indolence in the teacher, and encourage cramming in the scholar ; when they repress the freedom, the curiosity, the inde- pendence, and the enthusiasm of the pupil ; or again, when they turn the teacher into a mere administrative or teaching machine, who withdraws himself from all per- sonal interest in, or adaptation to, his scholars, they very largely restrict the highest advantages and best ends of school association and discipline. Better far were the old-fashioned schools and the old-fashioned schoolmasters, with their noisy and disorderly school-rooms, their scores of classes, and total lack of system, in which there were earnest teachers, and curious and enthusiastic learners, than these mechanical drill-rooms of modern times, in which teachers and pupils are reduced as nearly as pos- sible to impersonal enforcers of rules and givers forth of knowledge, and to uninterested receivers of lessons which are heard without interest, and recited without COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 301 digestion. Tendencies and evils of this kind are not limited to secondary and upper schools. They are ob- served in college and university instruction and disci- pline. They partly grow out of the self-indulgent temper of the times, the ambitious vanity of learners, and the hire- ling spirit of teachers. They are explained by the readi- ness in the public to mistake feats of memory and glib- ness of utterance for solid achievement and methodized reflection, by the disposition of teachers to do their work as easily as possible, and therefore to do it in the gross, with a feeble sense of obligation to prepare and adapt their instructions to the capacities and the disabilities of individual learners. We do not complain that in our best preparatory schools the classes are large, that even the " little folk" of the lowest forms are summoned in crowded groups to perform their tasks in grammatical an- alysis or composition, or that order and alertness are en- forced by military methods, nor that twenty are taught to write as one ; nor again, that misdemeanors in conduct are noted as by the finger of destiny, and that mistakes and successes are set down as by the recording angel, with never a tear and never a smile. These may be the necessary incidents of large classes and large schools, which may, notwithstanding, do much to stimulate, and inspire, and awe. But if the " little folk " under such a system, are never to have a word of special advice or special sympathy, if the instruction might, so far as human adaptation or human feeling are concerned, have pro- ceeded from Faber's talking machine, or Babbage's cal- culator, as from the automaton who sits at the teacher's desk, then the teaching fails of one prime essential of success. If, on the other hand, the teacher first studies, 302 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR then understands, and then sympathizes with his pupils, and thus wins each individual of the score of little folk that make up his classes, the excitements and even the mechanism of the class may help rather than hinder the successful adaptations and kindly sympathies of the teacher. We have supposed the representative class to be made up of " little folk," because these are the most liable to suffer from the mechanical arrangements, and the impersonal administration of which we complain, and because there seems just now to be a strong tendency to transfer to the lowest forms of classical schools those methods of instruction and examination which are suit- able only to the more advanced and mature classes of the college. Closely allied to mechanism is the tendency to stimulate to excess the spojitaneoiis or verbal memory. So much of early culture necessarily depends on the exercise of memory, and so easy does it seem to many teachers and a few favored pupils to fulfill its tasks, that excessive demands are often made upon the majority of pupils, who are deficient in this aptitude. Facts, dates, and par- adigms, are exacted, with little judgment of their value or significance, as an indication of promise or of progress. The more inquisitive and thoughtful pupils, whose mem- ories are necessarily more slow, because their intellects are more comprehensive and inquiring, are discouraged and disgusted, and their capacities for successful achieve- ment fail to be duly developed. As a consequence, many of the most promising youth very early lose their faith in the importance of school and college discipline, and content themselves with Hmited acquisitions and feeble efforts, because they are so readily outstripped by COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 303 their more showy competitors, with larger memories and feebler inteUisence. THE THOUGHT POWERS SHOULD NOT BE TAXED TOO EXCL USIVEL Y. This carries us to the opposite evil which seems to be gaining ground in our classical schools, 7'iz. : the dispo- sition to develop pi'ematurely the generaliz'mg faculty. Those who yield to this tendency are unconsciously mis- led by the truth that just so far as man learns to use his intellect properly, he learns to generalize, and that the sooner he is trained to reason in any sphere of knowl- edge the more rapidly will his higher powers be devel- oped. But they overlook a truth which is equally im- portant, viz. : that this power can be developed but slowly, and that it is not till the work of disciplinary or even of professional education is complete, that the pupil can ordinarily master and manipulate either abstract principles or highly generalized formulas. The secret of its training in education lies in the capacity to present the concrete in such order and by such relations as grad- ually to suggest and enforce the abstract, and to use the abstract in such ways as may impart light and interest to the concrete. The unskillful teacher, forasmuch as he has learned to explain and rationalize his own knowledge of facts by a few comprehensive principles, leaps to the conclusion that he can begin with his pupil where he has finished with himself, and hence essays to introduce him at once to the metaphysics of algebra and geometry, before he is familiar with the conceptions and processes of either. He gives his pupil the philosophy of case formations and inflections in order that he may more readily commit 304 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR to memory the paradigms, or forces him to master the last devised psychological and logical theory of syntax before he has learned to read with moderate facility a simple Latin or Greek sentence. The criterion of the teacher's highest success is conceived to be the number of questions which he can torture out of the shortest lesson in the classics, or the number of ways in which the simplest arithmetical or algebraical equation can be stated or applied. The splendid generalizations and the far-reaching results of the new philology have reinforced the tendency, always prevalent, to this pre- mature r-nd literally preposterous method of teaching the classics. Not a few teachers of the new grammar are Uterally bUnded by "the excess of light" which modern researches have shed upon language, so far as to become more or less insensible to the capacity of their pupils to appreciate or enjoy what seems to themselves most lucid and instructive. Certainly the complaint is made, whether justly or unjustly, that general and special grammar is taught in college and school rather than the ancient languages, or more exactly, that so much of these languages is taught as may be needed to understand their grammar rather than so much of the grammar as may be necessary to facilitate the mastery of the lan- guages. We believe these complaints to be well founded in regard to both colleges and schools. The evil is greater in the school than it can be in the college, and yet it is an evil to which the school is especially exposed. Indeed, our classical schools seem for many generations to have been doomed to suffer between the extremes of too much or too little grammar. It is not many years since the Boston Latin School assigned the first year of COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 305 its classical curriculum to Adams' Latin Grammar pure and simple, and required that it should be committed to memory, paradigms, rules, and exceptions, before the pupil was permitted to read the simplest sentence. The " new grammar " is full of exciting interest to the teacher who can find volumes of poetic history in inflections, and prefixes, and whole systems of metaphysical phi- losophy in syntactical constructions. But to the unre- flecting pupil the " new grammar " is as dry and abstract as the old, and the minds of the new pupils of each new generation are as incapable of historic and philosophic enthusiasm, as at the outset were the minds of their teachers, who are so thoughtless as never to ask how it was with themselves at the beginning. Some forty years since there was awakened in the city of New Haven a strong desire on the part of several graduates of Yale College and some of their acquaintances of the other sex, to study the German language. No competent teacher could be found who was thought to be so desira- ble as the eminent Dr. J. G. Percival. After not a little diplomacy and many misgivings the Doctor con- sented to teach. His classes were organized, the pupils were full of hope and ardor, the Doctor was always punctual in attendance, and the pupils were forward to be taught. The lessons in grammar and reading-book were faithfully prepared, and the Doctor inundated his learners with a flood of discourse. But alas ! his themes were too profound for their comprehension. The flood of his learning was too copious and rapid to leave more than the scantiest deposit. The scholars were intent upon learning to read German. The Doctor had no thought but that he was teaching them to read German, while in 3o6 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR fact he was attempting to teach them the comparative grammar of every one of its dialects. His pupils were excited and interested by his discourse, but they failed to learn either German enough to understand the philology, or philology enough to give interest to the German, and the failure of the enterprise was not a little mortifying to teacher and pupils. This example is extreme, but it is fitted to suggest abundant food for reflection to the teachers of elementary Latin and Greek. THE DEFECT OF THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT. This brings us to the most comprehensive of the de- fects of preparatory training, viz. : a defect in its intel- lectual spirit. Teaching can never be truly successful unless it be given by a thoughtful and sympathizing instructor, who watches its effect in developing and in- structing the intellects of his pupils. The organization may be faultless, the methods may be perfect, the books and appliances for illustration may be all that can be desired, but if the instructor be not himself intelligent in respect to the ends and aims of study ; and if he does not enter into the individual capacities and needs of his pupil, and insinuate himself into his heart by a kindly care for his welfare, he cannot be a successful teacher. So much has been spoken and written, of late, of the art or science of teaching, that it seems to be almost forgotten that if there is any eminent success or failure, that failure or success is chiefly to be ascribed to the spirit and aims of the teach- ers who man the colleges and the schools. It is impor- tant to remember that the instructor who reposes more upon rules and methods and organization than upon him- self, thereby betrays his own weakness, if not his incompe- COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 307 tence. The most promising of all possible indications in our preparatory schools would be a high intellectual tone in the teachers themselves. A teacher with such a spirit makes every description of teaching a vehicle of intellec- tual quickening. No subject can possibly be dry in his handling. Least of all can classical teaching, with its teeming occasions for historical, geographical, and Uterary illustration. The fact that so many pupils come to the colleges with low conceptions and scanty achievements of culture, is a sad commentary upon the instruction which they receive ; as the poverty of thought and knowl- edge in their instructors must, in its turn, be ascribed to the institutions in which the instructors themselves have been trained. THE COLLEGES TRAIN THE TEACHERS OF THE PREPARATORY SCHOOLS. It is simply just that we should not forget that the colleges, to a large extent, furnish and train the teachers of these schools, and that they are, very properly, and ought to be very largely held responsible for the quality of the instruction which is given by the men whom they train. It is neither courteous nor just for the colleges to assume a distant attitude or to put on supercilious airs towards the preparatory schools of the country, as long as they are themselves so directly responsible for the classical and scientific culture of the teachers who man these schools. Rather should they maintain an intimate intercourse with both schools and their teachers. They should acknowledge their own responsibility for what they are and are to be. Not only should their own in- strucuons have a more generous and intellectual quality, 3o8 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR but they should furnish those of their pupils who purpose to become teachers, special and ample training in the science of elementary instruction. Every college ought to aim to become a normal school for the training of the teachers of secondary classical schools. It ought to ani- mate this training with the highest and noblest spirit, and to lift it above a skillful knack at drilling after certain me- chanical methods, and of a speedy preparation for a formal examination. It should never be forgotten that the direct instructions of the college in the classics and the mathemat- ics, in literature and science, inevitably become the forms to which their pupils will conform their own teachings. It follows from all that has been suggested, that the position of the teachers of our preparatory schools should be a position of respectability and independence. No class of men do more for the republic of letters than those teachers who train students for the college and the uni- versity. None deserve mor^ than they from the educated classes of the community. The professional and the cul- tivated men of the country owe more to the really good teachers who trained them in the fitting school, than to any or even all those whom they have met at any later stage of their education. They may recognize a more definite obligation to some distinguished professor who has stimu- lated their inquiries, resolved their doubts, or widened their field of thought at a later and apparently more critical period of their mental history ; but if a man has been so happy in his youth as to enter the field of classical study under the intelligent and friendly guidance of a competent and wise director, who taught him gently yet firmly to meet and conquer the early difficulties of his elementary studies, who fixed him firmly in the ways of COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 309 good habits, and made his study of Greek and Latin from the first an aid to thought and culture ; if, in addition, he found in such a teacher a loving friend as well as a Christian monitor, he will remember him longer and more lovingly than any who have followed, however much and deservedly they may be honored. Such a teacher many pupils love to honor, as often as they hear or think of the late Samuel M. Capron, of the Hartford Grammar and High School ; a man who never failed to sympathize with as well as to stimulate his pupils ; who had the rare gift of uniting to the severest drill-work of the new grammar the most generous and stimulating of in- tellectual excitements, and who made the study of the classics a medium for every species of incitement and discipline. There are not a few like him now living who are doing more efficient work for the higher education of the country than, perhaps, many who occupy posts nominally higher in dignity and honor. That the number of such teachers should be increased is the great and imperative want of the country. We have colleges by the hundreds, which would render the best possible service would they content themselves with being secondary schools of the first class, instead of aiming to be what so many never can be — successful colleges. We have no desire that any college should be overgrown, or fail, as one easily may, to do the best work, by an exces- sive confidence in its reputation or its resources. We concede that a small college may, in many respects, do as good or better educational work than a large university, but yet we contend that many of our so-called universi- ties would be far more usefully employed were they transformed into efficient secondary schools. 3IO PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS REQUIRED. It will natuiall}^ be inferred that one of the most im- perative wants of the country is the endowment of inde- pendent coUt'giate institutions, some of which may be similar to the great schools of England. Not a few educational men look to the public high schools to prepare students for college, and point to the example of the schools of Michigan, and the many excel- lent high schools of the eastern and western cities as the ideals of what we are to aim at and hope for, as fitting schools for the colleges and universities. We are not re- quired to think or speak lightly of any of our public high schools or their teachers to justify the opinion, that the friends of college education cannot rely permanently, and certainly not universally, upon these schools as training places for college and university students. Our reasons for this opinion are, first, -that the maintenance of supe- rior classical and scientific instruction by the popular will and at the public expense is a doubtful experiment, the success of which in a few communities and for a brief period, furnishes no ground for concluding that it will be realized in the majority of cases or for any considerable length of time. Those cities and villages which furnish the best classical training at present do so in obedience to the enlightened public sentiment of their communities, such as we cannot expect will everywhere exist, or can always be steadily and permanently maintained. Second, if the colleges depend on the public schools to prepare their pupils, the managers of the public schools will have it in their power to change or regulate the courses of study required for admission to the colleges. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 3II Should the board of public education in any State or city see fit to make no provision for the study of Greek, or Geometry, or French, or German, and should the colleges have relied upon the pubHc schools to train their students, .then it might be difficult, if not impossible, for the col- leges to exact Greek, or Geometry, or French, or German, or any more of either than the managers of the public schools should see fit to allow. That this is no imaginary case is proved by what has happened in Ohio. In many of the leading high schools of that State suitable instruc- tion in Greek is not provided, while Latin and advanced Mathematics are well taught, and in consequence the colleges in that State have been forced to agitate the question whether it were not practicable and wise to defer Greek altogether till the college course should begin. Possibly this circumstance may have emboldened the adventurous president of Harvard College to moot the question whether it might not be expedient to make Greek elective, even in the preparatory studies for a so-called classical curriculum. In the present uncertain state of pubHc opinion in regard to classical study, it will not be safe for the friends of a classical curriculum to trust its regulation to any but safe hands. Third, the fortunes of our public school system are yet uncertain, because the system has not in all respects been fully tested. Whether it will attempt more or less than it has done already, or whether it can successfully achieve more or less, is as yet undecided. The friends of colleges and universities hold no uncertain convictions in respect to the principles on which they build. But, in order to give these principles effect, they must make sure of well-appointed training schools. 312 PREPARATORY SCHOOLS FOR Fourth, there is ample room and an imperative demand for a class of independent collegiate schools, which should rank midway between the colleges and many of the best public schools, in which many of the advantages of col- lege life and college discipline might be secured by special literary culture, by the study of the modern languages, and of advanced mathematics and physics, which shall be taught by able specialists or professors, under a fixed sys- tem, with a regular curriculum. Such institutions, whether they are endowed by an individual or a community, or are built up by individual enterprise, are required every- where throughout our country, and it is to the endow- ment of many such institutions that the public attention should be directed, and the liberaHty of the rich should be invoked. As has been already suggested, could scores of the colleges of the country be content to use their endowments, apparatus and buildings in this most excellent service there would be a saving of the pub- lic wealth, and no inconsiderable accession to the ap- pliances for the higher education of the country. Not a few friends of education have urged that these higher schools should be affiliated to the colleges ; each institution giving to and receiving patronage from the other ; that each college should gather about itself its special satellites, and hold itself responsible, in a certain sense, for the school from which it receives special favors. We cannot regard such an arrangement as either practi- cable or desirable. It is not practicable, because the patrons of no large school of such a description will be willing to pledge themselves to a particular college. The attempt to manage a school in the interest of, or with ref- erence to, a single higher institution, is foreign to the COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 313 free and independent spirit of our people. It is not de- sirable, for the reason that the preparatory school which limits its associations to a single college must necessarily be restricted in its views and provincial by its narrow- ness. Whatever advantages it might expect or receive from the counsel and aid of the instructors and friends of its patron college or university would be more than coun- terbalanced by a sense of limitation and bondage. It is better, on the whole, for both the preparatory schools and the colleges, that the pupils who are trained together in the first should be distributed among the higher institu- tions, and be stimulated by their remembrances of one another at school to make the most and best of whatever they shall have gained or lost at parting. The colleges would also be the gainers, by bringing together a greater variety of men with a somewhat different training, to help or vie with one another in freshly-opened arenas. In this way both colleges and schools would prepare their pupils for our liberal and varied American life. 14 II. THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. (Read before the National Educational Association at Louisville, Ky., August 14, 1877. j By the Class System as contrasted with the Elective System, is meant a fixed curriculum, as distinguished from a course of optional studies. I cannot suppose that any educator would object to the instruction of classes, as contrasted with individuals, in either school, or college, or university. As we can neither understand nature nor control nature till we classify individual objects, so we can neither understand man nor train man till we avail ourselves of the common likenesses and sympathies by which man instructs and stimulates his fellow-man. Sci- ence is impossible till classification begins ; and education, whether in the family, the kindergarten, or the school, begins only when like is brought to its like through the instructive guidance of parent or teacher, and the quick- ening excitements of children of nearly equal attainments. From the half articulate lispings and the expressive ges- tures of two infants whom chance brings together for an hour, to the exciting encounters of two intellectual giants like Samuel Johnson and Edmund Burke, or Ben JoNSON and William Shakspeare, man is continually educating his fellow-man ; like with like. These thoughts may seem to be irrelevant common- 31 6 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEOTES. places. I introduce them because not a few theorists in education seem in a measure to have lost sight of the important truth that education is necessarily social by reason of the reiteration of the truth that individual tastes and adaptations should be chiefly regarded in our educa- tional arrangements. We ought never to forget that if men are to be educated they must in some sense come into communication with their kind, and share in a com- mon yet pecuhar intellectual and moral life. I do not deny, nor would I depreciate the importance of what is called Self-Education. I should be one of the last to undervalue the truth that skill and success in a teacher are tested by his sagacious insight into the indi- vidual peculiarities of his pupils and his masterly control over them. But I cannot forget that in order to either he must bring them under the influence of the common life of their kind — and that unless he can do this education is impossible. Even when a single child is given over to the undivided influence of a single teacher, it is only as he brings his pupil into active sympathy with other minds — through books and an actual or imagined community of fellow-beings — that he begins to educate him, or that edu- cation becomes possible. It will be scarcely questioned that in public institutions of education, considerations of economy require that pupils of equal capacities and attainments should be taught in classes. In the wayside school the first advance is made from chaos to kosmos, when the children, instead of saying their lessons alone, are gathered into groups. It is now universally conceded that in this way they can be more effectually taught and excited by their teacher, and at the same time instruct and inspire one another. The THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 317 establishment of graded schools of all kinds, from the primary to the High School, is acknowledged as essential to the efficiency and success of any system of PubUc Schools. Hence comes a fixed curriculum, notwithstanding its disadvantages — as of large classes, excessive and weari- some routine, and the failure of the highest conceivable adaptation to the diverse capacities, tastes, and attain- ments of individual pupils. What is true of public schools is true of all those Schools or Seminaries which prepare for college or busi- ness life. It is acknowledged universally that certain studies are essential to the education required, and these studies should be insisted on by common consent. The curriculum varies somewhat with the circumstances of individual pupils and the cultivation of the community. More or fewer studies are taken up into it, but as fast as society becomes organized certain studies are insisted on as absolutely necessary. These constitute the fixed curriculum, and are taught to classes at assigned periods of time, with regular examinations. The same method is followed in our Schools of Law, Medicine, Theology, Science, and Technology. All the so-called Professional schools and the majority of our Schools of Science and the Arts, recognize very dis- tinctly the truth, that certain studies are essential to the successful profession or practice of the Science or Art for which the school is a preparation. In many cases the State steps in to guard the door of the profession or guild. In every case the community not only consents but demands that fixed courses of studies should be pre- scribed, covering definite periods of time. Most of these studies are appropriate to the University, so far as the 3l8 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. university is distinguished from the college, and yet the sentiment is gaining, if possible, a firmer hold of the pub- lic, that in schools of this kind the class system with a fixed curriculum should be rigidly enforced. Those schools, which under any specious pretence shorten the time of study, or abandon the classification of their pu- pils, are visited with severe and well-merited criticism. Harvard University has recently made itself conspicuous and honorable by introducing into its School of Medicine several new features, every one of which is a reinforcement of the class system and fixed curriculum, which it has seemed to repudiate, if not to abandon, in the Academ- ical Department. The weight of opinion seems to be more and more fixed, and more and more distinctly ex- pressed, in favor of a complete and definite preparation for every department of public activity by a course of prescribed study extending through a definite term of time. I do not forget that very many persons in our country have become not only eminent, but pre-eminent in every one of the professions — as also in every sphere of civil and military service, without a technically pro- fessional training ; but I cannot be mistaken when I as- sert that the more eminent such persons have become, the higher is their appreciation of the importance of such a training. Nor can I be mistaken in asserting that as our civilization becomes more advanced, the more rigor- ously will the requirement be enforced, that no man shall be entrusted with the responsibilities of public service, who cannot give proof that he has made those studies and undergone that discipline which are formally ex- pressed in a fixed curriculum prescribed for a definite period. THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 319 It would be silly and pedantic to contend that no man shall be admitted to the responsible posts of professional or public service who cannot produce his diploma from the High School or the College, the School of Science or of Art — although it is not impertinent to notice that such a requisition or its equivalent has within the last two generations lifted Prussia from the meanest to the proud- est position on the Continent of F.urope. But I would insist, as all would concede, that if we are to maintain a high standard of special or professional culture in this country, our special schools of training must prescribe a fixed curriculum of study and appoint a definite period of time for its prosecution. If these views are just, they will have prepared us to understand and rightly to determine the question before us. We assume that no one will question, for the rea- sons already given, that the class system and the fixed curriculum are essential to the best working of profes- sional schools, on the one hand, and of public and aca- demical schools, on the other. The question before us is, whethej' a similar sy stein should be applied i?i a course of college or university training. This question in our view is nearly identical with the question whether such a course of training shall be retained in our country. I would urge that unless such a course of study and disci- pline shall be made permanent and honorable by a fixed curriculum and a prescribed term of years, it will inevita- bly cease to have a recognized position in our educational system. Unless the class system can be retained, no place will be reserved in our country for that higher general culture, which has hitherto been assigned to our Colleges and Universities, intermediate between the High 320 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. School and the Academy on the one side, and the Pro- fessional or Technical School on the other. That the introduction of the elective system into the colleges tends to this result is manifest from most of the arguments that are used in favor of this system — such as that the student has thereby the opportunity of selecting those studies which will be of the greatest service in his future life ; or for which he feels the strongest interest, or towards which he has a prevailing inclination. All tliese arguments im- ply that the value of the college course depends chiefly on its relation to the special line of life which the student expects to pursue. We contend that education of every kind, whether general or special, has a higher aim than to qualify a man for any sphere of practical or professional life ; and that aim is the culture of the man who is to practice the art or fill the profession. The wider is his culture and the more liberal his training, if other things are equal, the more complete will be his fitness for his special oc- cupation, provided he superadds to this general culture the requisite professional knowledge and skill. It fol- lows that as the elementary education of the Academy or Public School introduces the pupil to that knowledge of language, and man, of nature and her laws, which is deemed requisite. for his individual and social life, there is ample room and imperative need for an enlargement of this general knowledge of language, of science pure and applied, of literature and history, for all who are to be leaders and guides of their fellow-men, in the special spheres of public and professional life. We also contend that this higher college and university training should be prosecuted, whenever it is practicable, before the student THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 32 1 enters upon his appropriately professional studies. It is true that all study, whether general or special, is more or less disciplinary. It is true that a professional and technological curriculum involves culture, but it is also true that every description of special training requires for its best effect that enlargement of elementary knowl- edge which is furnished by the studies usually assigned to the college or university. Whatever studies of this sort are rightly conceived to be necessary, should be pre- scribed as a fixed curriculum. But such a curriculum implies that those only can enter upon it with advantage who are prepared by previous study. This implies an entrance examination or its equivalent. For the reasons already given, if students are equally well qualified, in- struction and training can be imparted with greater effi- ciency and profit if they are gathered into classes. It were unreasonable to expect that the members of any one class should be equally gifted, or equally industrious, or equally enthusiastic, or equally well trained. If the classes are large and there are striking inequalities of capacity or industry in their members, the classes may be subdivided and the instruction and tasks adapted to the capacities of the members of these divisions. Extra studies, or studies for special honors, may be superadded, and still a-n average amount of diligence and success may be made the condition of an honorable testimonial, before the student proceeds to the professional or techno- logical school, or to higher attainments in some specialty of general learning. The theory of higher education, Avhich has been briefly sketched, has been generally accepted since the revival of learning, and has shaped the constitution and adminis- 14'" 322 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. tration of our colleges and universities with their classes, their curricula, their examinations, and their degrees. A brief sketch of these institutions may give us a clearer conception of the appropriate place and proper functions of the class system and curriculum in the American col- lege and university. The German and French Universi- ties are what we should call professional schools, with the addition of schools of Philology, Physics, Metaphysics, and Mathematics. But all of these schools look toward the degrees of Medicine, Law, Theology, Philosophy, or to some testimonial upon examination which shall admit to an honorable place in public life. These degrees and testimonials not only presuppose a successful examina- tion, but a fixed curriculum, usually of lectures, extending over a prescribed number of terms. They also presup- pose a rigorous course of enforced study at the Gymna- sium, or College, or Tycee, which is analogous to that prescribed in the Americaji college, with this difference, that the latter in the last year proposes studies and gives instruction which in France and Germany are assigned to the University. The English University prescribes a curriculum and residence as the conditions for its de- grees, with admission to special honors and rewards on passing rigid competitive examinations in a very limited number of special departments. These studies and ex- aminations are mostly, we may say wholly, in the line of general as contrasted with professional culture. The Scottish Universities are the most consistent adherents of the elective system which is so strongly recommended in this country, and has been introduced in part into a few American colleges. These universities give but few de- grees. The curriculum of general culture so far as it is THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 323 fixed, is determined by requirements and a sentiment which is outside of the university, and is created and en- forced by ecclesiastical bodies and professional guilds, etc., etc. The American college was originally modeled after the college of the English University, but has un- dergone many changes in accordance with the peculiari- ties of American life and the rapid developments of mod- ern science and modern learning. Most, if not all of these changes have been suggested and confirmed by ex- periment, and have been safely incorporated into the origi- nal structure by natural assimilation and growth. The earliest important deviation from the typical American College was made by the organization of the University of Virginia, which, whether designedly or not, approached more nearly in its constitution and workings to the Scottish University than to any other model. It allows the student to elect as many or as few branches of study as he chooses — arranging them in courses for his convenience, but leav- ing it for him to select those which he will pursue. For its degrees it prescribes a severe curriculum, which it en- forces by a rigid examination, but as these degrees are designed to mark rare and extraordinary attainments, the majority of the students have liltle care for them, and the public little interest in them. This being the case, it is not surprising that its degrees in Arts or in the several Pro- fessional schools are rarely sought for. The certificates or testimonials which the majority of students receive in their place must necessarily be so varied in their signifi- cation as to have little importance, even with the limited public of educated men. More recently in the University of Michigan and the Cornell University, elective courses of study have been 324 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. introduced, running through several terms, of which the several branches are arranged in a certain order of prog- ress and relationship, and each leads to a special de- gree. The old class system has not been abandoned — nor the fixed curriculum except so far as special students are admitted freely to study any high branch of knowl- edge which he is judged capable of pursuing with advan- tage. Inasmuch, however, as these various courses and their degrees require residence for a varying period of time, and the number of occasional students is large, the integrity of the classes must be more or less weakened, and the culture and stimulus which proceed from a com- mon life in liberal studies must be far less marked and positive. In Harvard College residence for four years is required, with now and then a possible exception. A single degree is proposed in the college proper. A fixed curriculum for the candidates for this degree is, however, abandoned after the end of the first year. After the Freshman year a multitude of elective studies (not courses) is proposed, a certain number of hours in which must be taken in order to admission to the first degree in Arts. In many, if not all, of the colleges there is an increasing partiality for elective studies on the part of professors and students for reasons not discreditable to either. There is also a popular desire for such studies, on the part of students who are impatient of the severit}'' of any study which is imposed and of the value of which they can know but little. The changes in the direc- tion of election are so many, and the tendency to other changes is so decided, that the inquiry is becoming seri- ous and practical, whether any curriculum of studies is to have any significance, even when it seems to be retained, THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 325 provided a greater diversity of studies shall admit to a de- gree in Arts, or provided the number of degrees shall be so largely increased as to outgrow the capacity even of the educated public to interpret the significance of the letters by which the degree is symbolized. In other words, it is a question whether the colleges of the coun- try, in aiming to become universities, will not in fact be- come professional and technical schools, and whether a curriculum of general and generous culture shall have any place in our educational arrangements except in the High School and Academy. Viewed in this aspect our discussion of the claims and advantages of the class, as compared with the elective system, becomes important. The writer holds that it is vitally important to the cul- ture of this country, he would almost say to the existence of this country as a country, that the American college, with its class system, its fixed curriculum, its generous and earnest common life, and its enforced discipline, should be retained and re-enforced, and for the following reasons : (i.) It is important that the ideal of what constitutes a generous education should be distinctly defined and thus be made familiar to the public mind, and be suitably hon- ored in order that the civilization of the country may be sustained and advanced. There is no method by which these results can be attained so effectually as for the in- stitutions of higher education to require certain studies in a fixed curriculum. If nothing else is accomplished one end is certainly secured, and that is the assertion for these studies, the place of honor which they deserve. If the colleges do nothing more by this arrangement, they testify to the importance that every educated man should 326 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. have some acquaintance with the ancient languages and with ancient hfe, with modern languages and modern his- tory, and with the sciences of nature and of man which are working such changes in modern civilization and modern speculation. We believe it to be true that with good apphances, and under favoring circumstances, this cycle of studies can be mastered with reasonable success by any studious and earnest youth of ordinary endowments, with ordinary industry, and that it is well for the community to accept the conclusion that every young man who as- pires to the highest positions in society should master this curriculum at whatever sacrifice of disinclination or labor. The colleges have no right to indulge the whims or fancies or the indolence of the young men of a coun- try like ours, nor to pander to the prejudices of those half- educated and conceited specialists who are tempted to despise or depreciate those branches of knowledge of which they are ignorant. , It is urged indeed by the advocates of elective studies that we exalt the curriculum of generous studies to still higher honor when we give the opportunity for- eminent attainments in special branches — as in the classics or the mathematics or the physical and moral sciences — by con- centrating the energies and kindling the enthusiasm of a few pupils in a single direction. To this we reply, that so far as the community is concerned, the colleges which adopt the elective system declare that it is not necessary that the generously-educated man should know something of all these studies in order to take his place among the leaders of men. On the contrary, they assert that it is as well or better that he should master some few of them ; even if he is wholly, or almost wholly, ignorant of the rest. THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 327 This class of educators say in effect that a mastery of Greek and Latin or Philology is wisely purchased at the cost of entire ignorance of modern Physics and Physi- ology, with then- wide- reaching appHcations to every form of human belief and every species of human institutions. They insist that a student who is to devote himself to history or political science may wisely select from the cur- riculum those studies which bear most directly upon his subsequent life — overlooking the fact that not a few of the studies which seem useless may prove to be most im- portant, and that of these he must be totally ignorant, unless he masters their elements in his youth. We repeat the assertion that the colleges do a great, though it be an undesired service to the community by holding its youth to the necessity of a fixed curriculum as the condition of entering into the honorable rank of generously-educated men. They cannot render this ser- vice by providing for instruction in this round of studies while they are elective, because they thereby testify that eminent attainments in a few branches are equally if not more valuable than a general acquaintance with all. To this it is replied, that the university does by no means abandon the theory of a generous education by making its studies largely elective, if it requires that the elements of certain branches of science and learning should be learned at the High or Preparatory school. Its advocates urge as a reason for the elective system, that if the fixed curriculum is extended through the uni- versity, the attainments in each of its branches must neces- sarily be meagre. They assert that under the enforced system, whether it be of classics, mathematics, or any of the sciences — with all the time and force of both preparatory 328 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. school and college, nothing beyond a smattering of results is achieved. They force us to conclude that all which the pupil needs to know, say of Greek or Astronomy or Chemistry or Physiology, is the smattering of the prepara- tory school. They assume, moreover, that as soon as the magic influence of the opportunity to elect one's studies begins to act, every student will be inspired with enthu- siasm, will be animated to industry, and will move for- ward to eminent success. (2.) The class system has the important advantage of uniting the students in those common sympathies and that common life which grow out of common interests and common pursuits. We assume that it is of the greatest service that the men of culture and education in any country, pre-eminently in a country like ours, should have common convictions and common sympathies. Common convictions must have as their basis common studies. Common sympathies must grow out of con- genial tastes. Unless the men of highest education have common thoughts and common sympathies among them- selves, they can neither form a community of their own nor exert a strong and united influence upon the com- munity without. Unless the students of our schools of liberal learning are held together in the same class by a curriculum of common studies, they will be divided into separate cliques or factions. If the devotees of science and culture desire and expect to exert that influence in the commonwealth which it is their duty and privilege to employ, they must be united by common bonds of thought and feeling. The culture which they represent must be expressed by a definite curriculum in which each one has had a personal share and from which each has THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 329 derived a conscious advantage ; in which every one has enlightened faith and for which he feels an intelligent and fervent gratitude. It is not alone for his successes and acquisitions that the student of the American college is grateful. Even his failures and his neglects continue to instruct and warn him in all his subsequent Hfe. Viewed in this aspect, the common studies and common pursuits — the achievements and failures — the sympathies and the antipathies attendant upon the class system, consti- tute a very important part of the general and the generous education of the college life. The college itself becomes by these characteristics an important bond of union and source of inspiration to the entire community. If on the other hand the college or university is only the common dwelling-place of many separate sets or cliques, each shut up for the time to its special studies, its selected instructors and its limited spheres of instruc- tion and inspiration, — if even these cliques are constantly disintegrated and reconstituted, largely of new materials, the chances are that the opportunities for intellectual and personal intercourse will be limited to brief periods and shut up within narrow bounds ; or if social relations occasionally shall stretch across the boundary lines drawn by special and favorite studies, they will be such as are cemented by few common intellectual activities and tastes. It is otherwise when a college class is gathered at the beginning of four years to pursue for four successive years substantially the same curriculum. During this period, the most exciting and plastic period of life, its members are brought into contact with each other, and as their capacities are tested their growth is observed — 330 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. their characters are manifested, and, it may be, are changed for the better or the worse. They seem at times to learn as much from one another, whether in suc- cess or faiUire, as they learn from their text-books and their instructors. It is universally confessed that the opportunities of studying one another under these varied experiences prepare them eminently for the knowledge of their fellow-men in subsequent life. It is not to be denied that certain disadvantages are incidental to the class system and the enforced curricu- lum. There is more exposure to wearisome routine — there is less opportunity of taking advantage of decided tastes or preferences in individuals and of making extra- ordinary acquisitions in special lines of study. These advantages, however, are dearly purchased at the cost of the certain evils which attend the elective system in fostering capricious self-indulgence, unreasonable and ignorant tastes, and in opening the way to systematic in- dolence. Compulsion is an odious term ; but the best things come to men through the force of necessity, which compels them to do what they are disinclined to, and often through the judgment of those who are older and more experienced than themselves. We offer no apology for teaching which is mechanical and perfunc- tory. We are well aware that it is never pleasant to press men to study what they do not believe in or do not like, but we have yet to learn that under an elective sys- tem indolence and neglect and superficial work are un- known. We have abundant evidence that under the Class System those who do the best work are the most eager for special improvement, and those who stand high- est for general excellence are most eager to perform ex- THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 33 1 tra and elective work. Whatever advantage attends elective studies may be attained by giving such studies a limited place in the regular curriculum. By such an arrangement all the desired variety can be secured, individual tastes may be gratified, and the satisfaction of mastering some special field of study may be enjoyed. The doctrine has been confidently asserted that the distinctive feature of the University as contrasted with the college is, that it allows of a free election of branches and courses of studies, of subjects, and of teachers. This may be accepted as true, if the University is viewed only as a teaching body, not a body which also confers honors and degrees. The German Universities give but few degrees, but the State and the Church admit to offices and posi- tions only after severe and often-repeated examinations. The preparation for these examinations is to a certain extent left to the option of the student so far as places, teachers, and studies are concerned. And yet under the German system the pupil must bring to the examining tribunal satisfactory testimonials of faithful attendance for a prescribed number of terms, with a sufficient num- ber of Professors, before he is permitted to show what he knows. In Scotland the same is true. In Germany the academical freedom of both teachers and pupils, for which so many American contend as the condition of University enthusiasm and dignity, is supplemented by the constant watchfulness and the rigorous discipline of a military bureaucracy. Whatever may be urged of the advantages of the German freedom on the one side, and whatever may be true of a small number of students, should be largely supplemented by what is known to be true of the reckless waste of time and opportunities 332 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. into which so many students are betrayed, especially in the earlier years of university life. In this country there is as yet nothing at all analogous to the severe examinations of Germany and Scotland. The doors of the professions are practically open to all who choose to enter them. It can hardly be expected that a Uni- versity which makes its studies to be largely elective and attendance to be optional,- and which must necessarily allow examinations to be infrequent, should, however fair its promises and upright its intentions, bring a pressure upon its pupils through its examinations which shall be strong and steady enough to counterbalance the mani- fold temptations to abuse which must attend the freedom of its academic life. Some of the reasons which are urged in favor of the election of studies according to the tastes and prospective occupations of life seem to be arguments for the very opposite method. The ,very fact that a young man has a positive distaste for the mathematics and as decided a love for the classics may be a reason why he should be trained in the very school the threshold of which he de- sires to avoid. If he is to be an engineer or a chemist all his life, it may be the more desirable that he should know something of the languages and of philosophy, and should even be compelled to give attention to studies of which he would otherwise be lamentably fgnorant. The very fact that he is to make no direct or conscious use of these studies may be the best evidence that these studies will be the most useful. It is urged with great earnestness by the advocates of elective studies, that at the present time the necessity is imperative for a division of labor by reason of the im- THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. ^^^ mensely augmented field of intellectual activity which is opened by new discoveries in the material and spiritual universe, as well as by the severe demands which the new learning makes upon the student of history and philos- ophy. This division of labor should be commenced, it is argued, at the earliest possible period, because such a division is the only condition of the highest eminence or usefulness. We admit the fact, but deny the infer- ence ; rather we derive from the fact the very opposite conclusion. While it is true that the special fields of scientific and literary research are becoming more and more limited and more and more absorbing, it is also true that the facilities for investigation are multiplied in proportion as the resultsof other men's labors are becom- ing more and more available. What is most important, the broad and intense light of the widest generalizations is becoming more and more serviceable in deciding special questions. It is so far from being true that the special- ist from the beginning has the promise of eminent suc- cess, that he is on the contrary the man of all others to whom the highest success is certain to be denied, and this for the reason that in every department of knowl- edge light can be derived from many others, or rather from those general truths which the study of many special sciences is certain to reveal. A hard and positive nar- rowness of mind is the besetting danger of the science and literature of the present day. Only those men can rise above it who look beyond the boundaries of their own special fields of study and labor. Against this inevi- table exposure no security can be more effectual than a general and generous education at the beginning. The absorbing and limiting demands of professional and prac- 334 THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. tical life, and the inexorable requirements of a division of labor, are decisive arguments for general education wherever it is attainable. The patent fact that in the field of science men who begin as specialists, like Tyn- ' DALL, and Huxley, and Helmholtz and Spencer, mani- fest the gift of scientific genius by the impulse and at- tempt to solve all the great problems of Philosophy and Theology, is itself a proof that every student of Science or Technology would be greatly benefited by a general training in history, literature, language, and philosophy. On the other hand, it is equally true that no man can un- derstand the movements of the present age in the field of Literature, or is competent to influence them, who does not interest himself in the new problems which are pro- posed and the new solutions which are given in the Sci- ences of Nature. The narrowness of many modern littera- teurs is equally conspicuous with the narrowness of many devotees and schools of physical science. The tendency of the students of Nature on the one hand, and the students of Man on the other, to go farther and farther apart is becoming more and more positive and more and more dangerous. Nothing can be more effectual in withstanding this tendency, or sooner bring and hold these divergent classes to a common understanding, than the adhesion to the old theory of a truly liberal education as the appro- priate and necessary introduction to every special de- partment of study and culture. All that is needful is that we should modify and enlarge this scheme to suit the changing demands of the times. The class system and the fixed curriculum will cer- tainly not succeed unless they are administered by schol- arly, enthusiastic, and self-sacrificing instructors. In de- THE CLASS SYSTEM IN COLLEGES. 335 fending these features of the college system we are not required to overlook or to deny the imperfections with which this system is often administered and the unsatis- factory character of its results. None of these imper- fections of administration or results are, however, fairly chargeable to the college system as such. Some of them may be owing to an imperfect preparation for the course on the part of teachers and pupils. Others can be traced to the very defective education of the community and the very low conceptions which prevail of the nature and value of the higher education. The college system can- not stand alone. It depends on the lower schools, and these depend on the sentiments of the community in respect to education and on the culture which the com- munity itself has attained. It must find its roots in the strong and nourishing soil of a prevailing and cultivated common-sense, and an earnest religious faith, while its leaves and flowers must be stimulated by the sunshine of refined culture. In view of the many defects which attend the operation of any system, it is easy to imagine that the novel and the untried will produce better results than the familiar and the tried. There seems, however, to be no good reason for abandoning the old system for the new. While it is obviously practicable and desirable to introduce elective and special studies into a fixed curriculum, we may rest assured that the class system and the fixed curriculum ought to be retained and enforced with a more fervent faith and untiring energy. III. CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUC- TION. (Read before the American'Institute of Instruction, at Providence, R. I., July 7, 1875.) We may assume that it is no longer a question whether classical study and instruction shall be maintained in our higher education. The assertions so often repeated of late, that classical learning is no longer required by the present generation, are now more rarely heard ; and the confident depreciation of classical instruction, in com- parison with instruction in modern literature and physical science, has already, to a large extent, been either quali- fied or retracted. It is now conceded that, for a certain class of educated and professional men, classical study is indispensable, and that for this reason provision should be made for classical instruction in all the schools of higher education. A great diversity of opinion, however, prevails in re- spect to two questions, viz.. For what classes of pupils should classical study be prescribed as a necessary, or a very desirable element in their education ? and what are the best methods in which classical instruction can be imparted ? One of these questions, in a certain sense, 15 ^^S CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. involves the other. The answer to the first, wko should study the classics 2 must necessarily determine the answer to the second, how should the classics be taught 1 If classical learning is to be confined to the few w^ho may be expected to become eminent proficients in its gram- mar and dialects, then it may be proper to teach it after one method ; but if it is to be used as an in- strument of general culture for a larger number of pupils, of whom few can hope to become masters of its grammatical metaphysics or its erudite history, then it is possible that another method of instruction should be preferred. I am aware that some of my hearers will hesitate to assent to these positions. The thought will at once occur to them — whatever is worth learning or teaching at all, is worth learning and teaching thoroughly and well so far as we proceed. Especially would they contend that, in the higher schools, it is absurd to sanction, or even tolerate any study or instruction which is not in the most eminent sense thoroughly scientific. Their maxim is — whatever is studied or taught for discipline or culture, must be taught in its principles and after a scien- tific method ; and this, whether more or less knowledge is imparted or received. They urge that the object of higher study is training, and that whether the boy studies Latin or Greek one year or ten, he should follow but one method, so far as he advances, and make everything that he learns sure and scientific. All this is plausible to the ear and the mind. On the other hand, it should be remembered, that what is sometimes called a thorough and scientific method, presupposes that the powers of analysis and generalization are already develQpe4, or CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 339 are ready to be unfolded. Moreover, it is no paradox to assert that teaching is sometimes scientific in fact, very nearly in proportion as it is unscientific in form. It may prove itself to be philosophical, by carefully refraining from taxing the powers to efforts that are be- yond their natural and easy achievement ; i. e., by shun- ning, rather than by following the forms and language of science. In like manner, that method of studying and teaching any branch of knowledge can alone be truly rational which distinctly keeps in mind the ends which it seeks to attain, and wisely adapts the means of accomplishing these ends; Four distinct reasons may be given why the study of the classics should be prosecuted in our schools and colleges : (i.) This study imparts a knowledge of the grammar of two of the most refined and finished languages which have ever been used by man. (2.) This study is the most efficient method of learning general or philosophical grammar ; i. e., of mastering the nature, the laws, and the history of language. (3.) It brings the mind into familiar acquaintance with the literature, the history, and the life of the two most important nations of the world, with which, indeed, all the cultivated modern races and na- tions are most closely allied in their literature, their life, their philosophy, and their institutions. (4.) Last of all, this study is an excellent instrument of intellectual gym- nastics, which would be worth all, and more than all, the labor it involves, were this the only application that could be proposed. The inquiry would at once present itself : Which of these four is the supreme or the superior end ? On second thought, however, the question might arise whether 340 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. these ends need be regarded as standing in any relation of formal subordination to one another ; i. e., whether any one of them is properly supreme. A thoughtful per- son cannot fail to inquire, supposing that mental disci- pline may be gained by classical study, whether culture, in the wide and more elevated sense of the term, is not also desirable ; and whether this may not often be of greater worth than sharpness and strength. It would be easier to answer the question, whether the mastery of the gram- mar of either the Latin or Greek languages should be proposed as the chief end of classical study, no reference being had to the power which it might give to read Latin and Greek authors, or even to study language and gram- mar in general. But perhaps it might not be easy to set- tle the question, whether the mastery of linguistic science should be made by any man, the chief end of studying Latin or Greek for a considerable part of seven to ten years. Were the ability to read with fluency, enjoyment, and appreciation, the literature of Greece and Rome to be i)roposed as the most desirable end of study, some would hesitate to place it so high as to oveirlook the other advantages which have been named. These questionings — not all of them easily settled — would point to the con- clusion that all these ends are important, and that all should be sought for. Let this be conceded ; the ques- tions will still return, Which should be supreme, How far, if at all, should one be sacrificed to one or all the others ? How can we arrange and estimate all these ends in that harmony which combines grace and strength — which im- parts culture and rewards with the consciousness of power ? Our inquiries should also be practical as well as theoreti- CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 341 cal. We should not conceive the ideal youth, or the ideal instructor, or the ideal university. We should conceive to ourselves the actual American boy, the American school, and the American college as they are — no, not as they are, but what we can hope to make them. With this ideal before us, which we may hope to turn into the actual, let us proceed to inquire, what are the ends which we should propose to ourselves in classical study and instruction, and by what means can we attain them ? It will be my aim to show that every method of classical study and iiistruction is defective which does not propose to enable the pupil, withi7i a reaso?table period of time^ to read the Latin a?td Greek languages with ease and plea- sure. I maintain that from the beginning, this end should be constantly and prominently kept in view, that all the instruction should be regulated by this aim, and that whatever else is taught should be taught in subordi- nation to this as the commanding purpose. I hold that if this object is made supreme, all the other ends which have been named will be achieved with greater certainty and effect, but that this alone can be relied on to sustain the interest of either pupil or teacher in their studies and their teaching. I must, of course, assume that the instructor is able to read easy Latin and Greek prose with some facility and pleasure ; that he has a cultivated historic imagination, with some sesthetic sensibiHty and training ; that he is interested in English literature, and has some familiarity with the grammar and rhetoric of the English language. It would not be an unreasonable requisition to add that he should possess a somewhat familiar acquaintance with the French 342 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. and German languages and literatures. But it is not ne- cessary that he should be an advanced or consummate scholar in any direction, provided his conceptions of what he should impart to his pupil are liberal and elevated, and that in all these particulars he is considerably in advance of his classes. We do not require, because we have no right to expect, that the teachers of the elements of clas- sical instruction should be accomplished linguists or widely read litterateurs^ but we may presume that they have formed and endeavored to realize for themselves those ideals towards w^hich they should direct and inspire their pupils. For one, I certainly should be very slow to trust a child of mine to a teacher in Latin or Greek who had never read his Virgil or his Homer for pleasure, and who knew and cared for nothing beyond the correct translation and analysis of the selections with which his own school and college life had made him familiar. A teacher who has no attainments or aims higher than these can impart Httle inspiration to others, because he has none for himself. He can scarcely be trusted to teach even what he has learned, because what he knows has hardly become a possession of his own, not having been taken up or assimilated into his best inner life. Looking at things as they are, and adjusting my remarks to the actual conditions under which many classical teach- ers begin their work, I would say to every person who pro- poses to teach Latin or Greek : Do not content yourself with simply mastering your lessons, even if you are cer- tain that there is not a point in the translation and analysis in which the most dreaded and exacting professor would find you deficient. Make it your first duty in the first month of your teaching — rather in the first month before CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 343 yoii begin to teach — to master so as to read with the ut- most facihty some shorter or longer portion of a Greek or Latin author, and make it as much your own as a fami- liar selection from Macaulay or Cowper. After this ini- tiation maintain the practice of reading in this rapid and cursory way several pages every week, of new or old mat- ter, until the languages which you are to teach become to yourself living forces instead of dry and dead tradi- tions. Do not be content till some one Greek and Latin author shall have ceased to be to you a stiff and swathed mummy, and shall have become a living and breathing man. In this there is nothing proposed which is extrava- gant or excessive ; nothing which is not entirely within the reach of the most moderate abilities and scholarship. The immediate effect would be that the relations of the classic tongues to our own language would be appre- ciated by the teacher as never before. No teacher, however carefully he may have been drilled in the gram- mar of his own language and that of Greek and Latin, can ever come to regard a dead language as a living speech till he has learned to read it somewhat as he does his mother tongue, with a quick eye and in continuous discourse. But suppose this is done and the imjiressions desired have been received, what ought to follow? I answer, something which does not always follow, even when the teacher has learned to read abundantly and easily ; and that is, the constant reference of the pupil by his teacher to the English language as the testing or starting-point for whatever he learns in the Latin or Greek. To this end it is not necessary that the pupil should have already learned the English grammar in a formal way, or indeed 344 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. in any way of reflection. He need not have been drilled after its processes, or have been forced to master its dry and abstract nomenclature. Indeed, he may begin the study of its grammar with his study of Latin. But it is necessary that the knowledge which the pupil re- ceives of the Latin and Greek should be placed in a living relation with what he already knows or may know of his own mother-tongue, and that the mysteries of case and declension, of agreement and dependence should be illustrated and exemplified by what is familiar to his practice in his mother-tongue, even though it has never been analyzed by his thought. The teacher's path will usually be smoothed and prepared if his pupil has already learned to apply the simplest grammatical relations to a living language, even in the most mechanical fashion. With this advantage the teacher finds it somewhat more easy to awaken the mind of his pupil to the intelligent apprehension of what grammatical relations signify. The method too often pursued, of leaving the pupil to the grammar alone, forcing him to commit its rules to mem- ory, and drilling him to their dexterous application, over- looks the first condition of success, which is to introduce to the pupil as early as possible the conception that the classic languages might have been used by living men in actual writing and speech. Many a scholar can re- member the time when, after years of mechanical toil, such a revelation was made to his mind. Every one to whom it has been made can also remember that with it there came to him a new inspiration, which imparted freshness and enthusiasm to all his subsequent studies. We are not so ignorant or sanguine as to suppose that this conception can at once take such possession of any CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 345 child or youth, however wisely trained, as it now and then does of a mature and earnest man. We would have our pupil so trained, that no such sudden revelation or inspiration could be possible or necessary. If we may suppose that a just conception of the rela- tions of the ancient to the mother-tongue shall have been established, we are prepared to follow both teacher and pupil in their course. We insist, as the next thing, that from the beginning and onward, liberal reading should be exacted of easy passages, for the enlargement of the vocab- ulary, coupled with the recital to the ear of selections learned. Let the grammar at first be as simple as possi- ble. Let difficult and exceptional forms of paradigms be avoided for months, and only the simplest relations of syntax be recognized. In other words, let it be a prime rule in our teaching that the language should be familiar- ized to the mind as a language as far as possible, and its grammar be obtruded as little as possible, until a certain facility in reading and in writing shall have been attained. I am well aware that the views expressed are not in accordance with the theory or the practice of many able teachers, and that they seem to run counter to the theories of our best grammars ; but I maintain that they are correct notwithstanding ; that their importance is beginning to be recognized ; and that, unless the current practice is somewhat modified, the interests of classical study and instruction will be seriously endangered. The opposite theory may be characterized thus : The ancient languages are studied, not for the sake of the language, but for the sake of its grammar ; the grammar is studied for its relations to philology, and philology is studied for the ends of linoniistic science, or mental dis- 346 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. cipline — one or both. Some few of my hearers may be able to recall the successive steps by which this theory has come to control our teaching. The most of us know that, with the advance of philosophic reflection and of positive knowledge, the syntax of the ancient languages has been more philosophically treated, that better theories of the cases of the noun, and of the moods of the verb have been adopted, and more satisfactory generalizations have been reached in respect to the constituents of the sentence. It is true the theory of grammar can hardly yet be said to be settled, and the students of compara- tive philology maintain conflicting theories with no little asperity. It is not to be forgotten that each grammarian has his special theory, which more or less affects his views of syntax, so that teachers and pupils are con- stantly exposed, not only to the thorny mazes of a highly abstract and refined logical theory, but to the harassing discussions of not always amiable controversies. But, passing over this, fairness would oblige us to concede that the results of comparative philology are most im- portant in unfolding the history of the inflections of verb and noun. The light which its conclusions cast upon the doctrine of the paradigms, cannot be over-estimated by the students of language or of history. It were not only inevitable, but most desirable that these results of the new philology should be incorporated into exhaus- tive and scientific grammars of the ancient languages, and that the most eminent philologists should write these grammars anew. Every critic and scholar must neces- sarily study the structure and formation of those lan- guages by the light of these discoveries, and not only analyze them into their constituent elements after the CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 347 correct theory of their composition, but reconstruct them again out of their elements in an historic order. No scholar can render any but the sincerest honor to the new philology, and to the truly scientific grammars to which it has given birth. To attempt, however, to in- troduce the elementary student to a scientific theory of the paradigms, to teach him to evolve his own grammar out of his own brain, or to impose on him the duty of mastering an elaborate system of syntax, is literally and metaphorically preposterous. That this has been for- mally attempted, no well-informed person will deny ; that, when it has not been attempted in form, the methods of teaching and of learning have been controlled by this aim, is too obvious to require any proof. What has been the consequence ? It cannot be denied that a useful discipline of the mind has been achieved by many students. It cannot be denied that now and then a good student of philology has been trained, that the ele- mentary and higher teaching of the classics has been more thorough, and that a broader and more scientific foundation for future study and reading has been the re- sult. On the other hand, it is equally certain that a positive interest in classical study among the middling and even the better scholars, has been steadily subsid- ing, and that the capacity and the desire to read the classical authors as literature, has been declining in di- rect proportion to the multiplication of the facilities for understanding their relations to history and culture. Other causes have contributed, in part, to this result : — as the greater facilities for studying the modern lan- guages, a higher appreciation of English philology and literature, the splendid attractions of physical science, 348 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. and the engrossing problems of speculative philosophy. But the chief reason must be found in the theory after which elementary instruction has been imparted, and elementary text-books have been written. This result is not confined to this country. An able critic * of university and gymnasial instruction in Ger- many, writes as follows : " For ten years observers have wondered and been disturbed at noticing that our young students, so soon as they leave the school benches, very rarely afterwards take a classical author into their hands. For this, not one reason, but two in one, may be given. They read the classics no longer, because in thsir nine years in the gymnasium, they have never learned to read them ; and, moreover, in these nine years they have heard from their teacher, but have never seen with their own eyes what fullness of instruction, elevation, and delight is stored up in these ancient writings. As an offset, the utmost possible has been attempted in perfecting the study of grammar as a means of intellectual gymnastics, by scientific thoroughness, from the first day of the lowest form to the last day of the highest. It was formerly the fashion to learn by play, but the rational method is now all the rage. There is this great difference between the two : the first was founded on false principles ; the second proposes results that are altogether rational, but an aim which is the highest of all may become injurious when it is introduced at an unseasonable place. Instructors pride themselves on being able to explain to their boys, on grounds of historical and comparative philology, the origin of every grammatical form and rule, and by * Heinrich Von Sybel : Die deuischen Uiiiversitdten^ ihre LeisU ufigen und Bedilrfnisse. Bonn : 1874. CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 349 the same methods to set aside the unpleasant exceptions and irregularities, and to make manifest to the youthful mind the pure conception of that conformity to law which prevails in languages. The inductive process is employed even in the lower classes, with similar enthusiasm. The rules are not given to the boy, but he is instructed how to evolve them out of his httle reading lessons. He does not learn them by heart, but he derives them afresh from every case that presents itself. Rector Peter * has shown very clearly that such a method, though admirable for a mature scholar, is antagonistic to the age of boyhood, and for that reason to all the conditions of successful elementary instruction. Every science requires for its successful prosecution, that certain elements should be unconditionally appropriated by the mind, and should forthwith be appHed with unconscious dexterity. These first steps are essentially an affair of the memory, and it is fortunate that Nature herself has provided for this necessity, in that, till about the fourteenth year, the boy has an unslaked thirst of memory, while the impulse to judge and reason is dormant in the soul. While it is altogether germane to nature and reality, however, at this stage of the boy's progress, to give single impulses to the power of judgment, as is done in geometry and grammar, the chief stress should be laid upon the simple acquisition of material, and all questions respecting the wherefore, and the why, should be thrust forward to that future period of life which will enable the boy to answer them. " Above all should it never be forgotten, that the boy learns a foreign language in order that he may learn to * C. Peter : Ein Vorschlag zu Reform icnserer Gymnasien. Jena : 1874. 350 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. speak well, so that he may think well. For this reason he should in the grammars at first be confronted with the simplest, and the most easily comprehensible forms for systematic development, simply those isolated prin- ciples which are indispensable for reading and under- standing, and with these he should proceed directly to reading, writing, and speaking. That the Latin will not at once, and perhaps never come to us as our vernacular, need give us no concern ; it is enough if it shall again be regarded by our boys as la?tguage, and not as mate- rials fo?' the science of language. "We expect more from grammar than we do from the mathematics. Besides its disciplinary force, its special function consists in its capacity to teach the pupil to find the fit expression for the most delicate shades of thought, and by this means, to render him capable of clearness and definiteness, as also of skill in combining and developing his thoughts. ^ These advantages can never be reached, if the language by which they are achieved does not become to the pupil somewhat plastic and living ; /. ^., if grammatical study, and the practical use of the language do not go hand in hand. The knowledge of a foreign language is for the gymnasium ; not as an end in itself, but as an instrument of culture. The pupil studies Latin and Greek, partly that he may be confront- ed with the spirit of ancient life, partly that he may learn to speak and write in good grammar. The additions of the modern method help neither to the one nor to the other ; on the contrary, they withdraw strength from both. After these considerations, we shall no longer be aston- ished to learn that the greater part of the abiturients who come to the universities are unable to read an easy Latin CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 35 1 author without difficulty, or a Greek author without the grammar and dictionary, and that the majority write German in an awkward and unskillful style, and many do not know how to write even their vernacular with gram- matical correctness." We have already observed that these tendencies and consequences in Germany and this country have followed from a sincere desire on the part of professors and teach- ers to make the study of language more truly scientific and more severely disciplinary. It would not be difficult to show that if they are not checked they will defeat the very ends which they propose to promote. That method of study cannot be healthful in its discipHne which intro- duces the methods of science before the mind of the pupil is capable of severely scientific processes, and meanwhile neglects to cultivate the memory and stimu- late the imagination at an age when the memory and imagination are most active. Grammar in all its forms is the product of abstract reflection. The student who traces its history from its first beginnings with the Stoic logicians, down to the highly artificial and severely sys- tematic forms which it has now attained ; the teacher who reflects superficially upon the nature of the relations with which it requires the pupil to become familiar, and the dryness of the nomenclature which it forces him to learn and apply, cannot but be sensible that the intelligent apprehension of the simplest syntactical relations is no easy task for the youthful mind. This task is not alle- viated when the additional burden is imposed upon him of mastering the theory of case and tense formations in the light of their historic changes, and especially when these historic changes are made to illustrate a recondite 352 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. theory of linguistic development. The only possible method of making the grammar tolerable is to make the language interesting ; and the only way of making the language interesting is to stimulate and reward the memory and imagination by the exercise of power. The beginner in the study of language has little power to reason or to generalize. This capacity can be awakened only gradually. But he has abundant capacity to remem- ber or recite. This he can be taught to exercise, and as he makes progress he will gain confidence in his own capacity and find delight in his own achievements. He must be made to study and be compelled to learn at any cost ; but it is one thing to make a boy study what he can actually master, and another thing to compel him to learn what he cannot understand. The teacher after the new method now and then finds " a prodigy of parts " — who has a precocious and one-sided memory, or an unnatural prematureness for generalization. Such a pupil meets the demands of the new system, and the teacher takes his achievements as the normal and proper standard for the average boy who is neither stupid nor perverse, and he satisfies himself with driving an entire class through the unnatural processes in which only a very few can be suc- cessful. And what is the result ? There is no genuine enthusiasm in the work — there is little pleasure in con- scious progress, because there is no exciting and rewarding sense of power. Even the prodigy of the class has little delight in the language which he studies, as a living em- bodiment of thought and feeling. The drill is admirable, as it must be if the exactions are severe, but the sense of monotony soon becomes intolerably dreary. The pre- paration for the class-room is mechanical ; the recitations CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 353 resemble the wearisome round of the mill-horse. As the result of the whole, the prodigy of grammar — the one boy among ten — studies philology and Sanscrit in order that he may teach grammar to another generation. Of the remainder, a few more become, by much pains- taking, good Latin and Greek grammarians, who bring from their studies valuable results as the reward of the painstaking application and the severe intellectual gym- nastics to which they have been subjected for years. 6ut they retain because they have formed, few or no fresh and exciting associations with the sentiments and life of anti- quity, and their impressions are comparatively feeble of the wonderful precision and flexibility of the diction for which the classic writers are so conspicuous. To read a Latin author has become, to but very few of the many who study Latin, a positive pleasure. To read Greek prose is to the most of them a task, and so when the col- lege curriculum is over the majority of the class smile significantly when advised to read even a single Latin author for enjoyment, while the best scholars respond to the suggestion with no enthusiasm, and, with few excep- tions, fail to put it into practice. The teacher has the satisfaction of having taught the languages in a truly sci- entific method, of having drilled his classes with the most exacting severity, and sharpened their faculties by the most perfect milling process that could be conceived. He has laid a broad foundation, as he calls it, for the future study of the languages, provided the pupil, after his seven years of school and college, shall give a sufficient portion of the following years to the mastery of the vocab- ulary and the correct reading, as literature, of the great masters of ancient thought and feeling. 354 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. We contend that, under a different method, the same or better attainments would be achieved in scientific gram- mar and comparative philology, with the addition of a far richer vocabulary, of the power of easily reading l^atin and Greek prose, and of an insight into and a sympathy with, the peculiar life of antiquity ; and above all, of a more intelligent appreciation of whatever is excellent in English literature and English diction, and a more refined enjoyment of whatever Christianity and science have done for modern literature. We also contend that the method of classical study and instruction which we have sketched is the only method which is truly scientific, because it alone follows the laws of psychological development and adapts its methods to the progressive capacities of the recipient. It is not one of the least of its advantages that it. compels the instructor to study the capacities of the individual pupil, and to bring himself into close and affectionate sympathy with every new class which comes under his care ; in short, to be perpetually young again, as he must perpetually renew his own youth through the young minds and the young hearts which the Creator and renewer of life brings freshly to his love and guidance with each returning year. If the remark of Coleridge may be accepted, that the secret of genius is to carry the feelings of childhood into old age, it is pre-eminently true of the genius for teaching, which in this respect, like every other divine gift, " blesseth him that gives and him that takes." P. S.— READING OF GREEK AND LATIN AT SIGHT. Since this essay was written the attention of teachers has been distinctly called to the necessity and practica- bihty of training pupils at an early period of their classi- CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION, 355 cal Studies to the habit of reading Greek and Latin at sight, as a means of bringing them forward more rapidly and pleasantly to the mastery and enjoyment of Greek and Latin authors. Prof. John W. White, of Harvard University, has within a few months published a series of papers upon this subject in the New England Journal of Education, the substance of which he subsequently printed in a little pamphlet. The University itself has proposed to accept an examination by reading at sight as a substitute for a more rigid scrutiny of the pupil's mas- tery of select portions of more difficult authors. Prof. White and his associates are not alone in this movement. They can hardly be said to have originated it. It seems rather to have sprung up by common consent under a common impulse in the minds of several younger teachers in different parts of the country. These teachers, strange as it may seem, are attached to our secondary schools rather than to our colleges. And yet this very circum- stance should give courage to the friends of the move- ment. If skill in reading at sight is to be attained with eminent success, it must begin in the schools rather than in the colleges. Those who would defer it to the college curriculum will practically defer it altogether. The late Dr. Samuel H. Taylor would never be so far satisfied with the proficiency of the best of his students in the seventy-six questions which he proposed upon the first three lines of Xenophon's Anabasis, or the one hundred and twenty upon the first three verses of the JEne'id, as to let them loose upon a rapid reading of the authors them- selves. The late Professor Hadley would find only here and there one of his most accomplished pupils sufficiently master of his drill to be trusted in the free study of Hom^r 356 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. or Demosthenes. Even Wyttenbach himself would scarcely think the drill of the American academy and college united to be more than a scanty preparation for the current reading which he so earnestly recommends. The same tendencies which lead the ablest and most ac- complished teachers to defer a special training in reading at sight to an indefinite period which is rarely or never reached, will prevent it altogether except in the rare in- stances of exceptional enthusiasm and decided literary tastes. Even the graduate who ought to be an advanced student will be held to severe critical studies, either in textual conjectures or extraordinary meters, or grammati- cal metaphysics, or etymological theories, while the golden harvest of profitable and inspiring literature shall remain ungathered by him forever. There will be abundant reasons for this tantalizing de- lay, all derived from some abstract theory of d priori necessity rather than from the teachings of practical wisdom. But let the teachers of the secondary schools show that the thing can be done and the college profes- sors will accept it as im fait accompli, and will gladly welcome to more advanced studies the pupils who are trained to the facility and culture which such a discipHne will certainly involve. Classical study and culture will become quite other than what they now are in the enthu- siasm which they will excite and the results which they will leave behind. Grammar itself in its most refined subtleties, and philology in its historic philosophy, will be better appreciated, while the literary tastes of the men educated at our colleges will put on somewhat of their ancient severity without losing anything of the freedom and flexibility which are characteristic of modern life. CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION, 357 No principle can be more firmly established than that a certain mastery of grammatical science is essential to the rapid reading of any language, whether it be living or dead. The testimony of experience is decisive that the attempt to read a foreign language rapidly and yet in- telligently, without clear and fixed principles of grammar, is certain to be disappointing. The gains which seem to be made are as evanescent as they are worthless. In- deed, the reason why they vanish so quickly is, that they stimulate to so little thought and awaken so feeble en- thusiasm. But while we concede that it is absolutely necessary that the formal grammar should be learned to a certain degree before the pupil begins to read, we con- tend that formal grammar is not an end in itself* but should be taught so far, and only so far, as is required for the easy and rapid reading of the language itself.* * *' Darum ist die formelle Sprachkenntniss so weit auszudehnen, dass die Schriftsteller gelesen und verstanden vverdeii konnen. Sie ist mit allem Nachdruck zu betreiben und muss sich sehr wesentlich unterscheiden von der Art, wie etwa ein Commis Voyageiir sein Franzosisch lernt ; dies ist cine iTria-T^/in] ti.vev vov ; im Gymnasium handelt sich's aber um wahre Bildung. Naturgemass muss nun der formelle Sprachunterricht im Knabenalter vorherrschen, und wenn die nothigen Resultate gewonnen sind, kann er im JUnglingsalter zuriick treten Fiir die Ausdehnung der Lecture der Schriftsteller ist aber als Ziel aufzustellen, dass der absolvirender Gymnasiast es zu einer genussreichen Lectiire der iiberhaupt genuss- reichen Schriftsteller in den gesunden d. h. kritisch unverdorbenen Partien gebracht habe. Wahrend in Frankreich wenigstens 171 p-axi ein andrer Grundsatz gilt. . , . '■^ On les expliaue {les auteiirs) mats OH ne les sait lire'''' fordern wir, dass der Abiturient seinen Xenophon, Homer, Krito, Apologie, Cicero, Livius, Virgil, Horaz, lesen konne, und zwar meist so wie seinen Schiller. . . . Dass 358 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. The proposal of Prof. White has, as might have been expected, been earnestly criticised and opposed. The ar- guments which have been urged against it may be reduced to the two following : The prescribed directions or con- ditions of success imply a preliminary study of grammar, which will require as much time and as severely tax the attention, as the old method of slow and limited reading. It is far wiser to make thorough work of this preliminary study before proceeding to its application than to put the student to reading before this work is finished. The positions of Prof. White and those who sympathize with him, in reply, may be condensed as follows : While it is conceded that a scholar cannot read as a scholar should unless he reads grammatically, it does not follow that he must need learn the entire grammar before he begins to apply it, much less that he should be able to state in an abstract form the knowledge which he learns in fact to apply. , ^ ^ Instead, therefore, of giving the pupil a minute know- ledge of the grammar at the outset, they would carefully limit his attention and his interest to those relations and principles which he has occasion frequently to employ. The classification of word-forms and the rules of syntax should be as few and as broad as possible, and each of those should be applied as soon as learned, in a care- fully selected variety of sentences. To this end the vocabulary of the student should be enlarged with the man an Gy7?inasien so ruenig lehrt die Schriftsteller zu lesen, ist der Grund von dem Misscredit, in dem jetzt die klassische Studten stehen.'''' — Carl Friedrich von Nagelsbach : Gymnasial Fddagogik. 2te Auflage. Eriangen, 1869. CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION 359 Utmost rapidity. Definite and continued efforts should be used to increase his stock by exacting from him daily the recital of a select vocabulary of words. If possible the meaning of no single word that has once been learned should ever be lost. Every analogy should also be em- ployed which can possibly suggest the meaning of unfamil- iar words. As words are never complete by themselves, but are always waiting to be expanded and supplemented by other words in completed clauses, and as clauses are always springing into sentences, the eye and mind of the pupil should be taught as early as possible to look at words as parts of clauses and clauses as parts of sentences. As every language has its own forms of expression and construction, the sooner the pupil becomes accustomed to these special idioms the more quickly will he find and make himself at home with them. The sooner he has gained this familiarity the more readily will he train his eye and his mind to interpret words and phrases by their connection ; to read phrases rather than words, and sen- tences rather than phrases. Concentration and quick- ness of mind must necessarily be stimulated by the impulse to judge quickly under the excitements of the class-room. If to these influences be added the constant practice of the extempore construction of Latin and Greek sentences, the discipline will be still more efficient. Another important advantage attending this method, and one which ought not to be overlooked is, that it introduces variety into the otherwise monotonous drudgery of the grammar and dictionary, and kmdles into more or less active excitement the attention of all who are present in the recitation room, making the hour spent with the in- structor the most active for acquisition and excitement of 360 CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. any hour of the day. It brings the dead language into freshly perceived relations to one's mother tongue, and compels more or less attention to the thoughts and feel- ings, the imagery and passion of the writers whose works are read. It rewards both pupil and teacher with an animating sense of progress, and imparts a sense of power to both, as the capacity of the one to receive and of the other to give are necessarily tested and enlarged by the experiences of every lesson. Not the least, perhaps the most important, of the incidental advantages of reading at sight is, that it compels the teacher himself to original illustrations and independent activity. This necessity tasks his powers of invention and creation, and certainly supposes conscientiousness and enthusiasm for his work. Hireling and mechanical teachers are not likely to be pleased with it. Those who are content to follow a text with its notes, or the traditions of their own teachers, may object to the demands which it will make upon their own capacity to invent and create. Indolent and mechanical pupils will, of course, not be enthusiastic for methods of study and recitation which render translations almost useless, and bring their past acquisitions and their present resources to a constant and searching test. But all these features recommend the system to right-minded teachers and pupils. The writer does not feel called on to adju- dicate upon this question of reading Latin and Greek at sight, or to decide whether the sanguine expectations of the friends of the new method or the confident criticisms of its opponents have the advantage. He does not hesi- tate, however, to express the opinion that the interest which this discussion has excited is itself a most gratifying proof, first, that the faith of competent judges in the CLASSICAL STUDY AND INSTRUCTION. 36 1 value of classical study and discipline was never so strong as it is at present ; and second, that our best classical teachers are animated with a more determined enthusiasm than ever to make this discipline thoroughly efficient to the best results. The controversies of the last few years in respect to humane and literary studies have established the conviction beyond question that there is no substi- tute for classical culture, and that classical culture may be immensely improved in its methods and its efficiency. Those colleges and secondary schools which are the most thorough, enterprising, and successful in following this conviction in both directions, will, in the long run, stand highest in an honorable reputation. 16 IV. MORALS AND MANNERS OF COL- LEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. Rev. William Harrison, Rector of Rad winter, in his "Description of England," 2d Ed., 1587, writes thus of abuses in the Grammar-schools and Universities : *' Such bribage is used that poor men's children are commonlie shut out and the richer sort received, and yet being placed, most of them studie little other than histories, tables, dice, and trifles as men that make not their liuing by their studie the end of their pur- poses, which is a lamentable hearing. Besides this, being for the most part either gentlemen or rich men's sonnes, they often bring the Universities into much slander. For, standing upon their reputa- tion and libertie, they ruffle and roist it out exceeding in apparell and b[r] anting * riotous companie (which draweth them from their books unto another trade), and for excuse, when they are charged with breach of all good order, think it sufficient to sale that they be gen- tlemen ; which greeveth manie not a little." B. II., Ch. III. It would seem from this extract that the manners and morals of students in England three hundred years ago were exposed to perils and misconstructions similar to those under which they suffer at the present time. We have also abundant evidence that since that time the Eng- lish universities have not infrequently been the nurseries of idleness, dissipation, and ineligion. The testimony * This is a conjectural emendation of the text. 364 MORALS AND MANNERS OF of Gibbon, of Adam Smith, and scores of credible wit- nesses, is decisive that not infrequently instructors and pupils have, for a series of years, sunk into sloth and self- indulgence. It is equally certain that they have often been animated by the noblest spirit of industry and a zealous and fervent religious life, and have given the first impulses to important and pervasive movements for good. The American colleges exhibit similar alternations in their moral and religious history and influence. That their good and evil have often been misconceived and exaggerated, will be disputed by few. The gossiping and suspicious are always ready with some extravagant and unfavorable representation of immoral practices or of decay of faith in any college which is not the object of special favor with these reporters of evil. The weaknesses and sins of college life are none the less real and none the less serious, however, because they are similar to those of other generations ; but the fact that they are liable to be exaggerated and misunderstood in every generation might suggest some lessons of caution in listening to all the "lamentable hearings," which are so readily and so credulously received in regard to the moral dangers of our colleges, particularly those which are prom- inent before the public, and awaken more cheerful views of the moral and religious influences of academic life. That college life is beset by special moral exposures, it would be senseless and silly to affirm ; that it may bring salutary and peculiar advantages, it were equally blind and unjust to overlook or deny ; that a prosperous and wealthy college is of necessity given over to be the chosen dwell- ing-place of evil spirits, is as weak as it is uncharitable to believe. The special exposures of academic life in respect COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 365 of both manners and morals are easily enumerated and ac- counted for. The members of this peculiar community are all young. They are also nearly equal in age. Their pur- suits and aims are common in both relaxation and study. Their aspirations and aims are by profession, at least, not ignoble. These inspire self-reliance and self-asser- tion, either of which, when strengthened by the presence of a large and most sensitive community, becomes one of the strongest of forces, both in its perversion and its legitimate use. These young men not only constitute a community acting within itself, but a community very largely separated from that direct action of the family and the public, to which other men in their youth are more or less sensitive, and with which they are brought into constant contact. From the immediate action of the judgments and sympathies of family life, students are with- drawn, though not necessarily from their indirect influ- ence. To the judgments and sympathies of the great com- munity of their fellowmen without they are, as yet, almost completely insensible. They have not as yet learned to recognize its existence, or if now and then they are sum- moned to regard the opinions or feelings of the public, they are ready in moments of excitement to answer the sum- mons with contempt or defiance ; rarely through malig- nancy, most usually through the self-confidence which comes from simple ignorance or want of thought, strong self-reliance or an intense sympathy with their fellows. It is not surprising that in respect of manners at least such a community sets up standards that are peculiar to itself, nor that in regard to morals its self-imposed standards should be more lenient in respect to certain classes of offences than those which are recognized by the world ^66 MORALS AND MANNERS OF without ; excusing many actions as between young men, which it would be foremost to condemn and punish if committed by other than members of its own com- munity within itself, and covering a multitude of sins by the broad mantle of a common understanding that even outrageous and unmannerly acts are to be freely given and patiently taken, whenever the academic customs or traditions require either. In vain does the tutor forbid, the parent remonstrate, the preacher argue, the police threaten, and the law denounce ; the practical reply is, " We have a law or custom of our own, with which no man may meddle as long as we agree to bear and enforce it." Even the rules of common morality which are confessed to be sacred and inviolable are hastily set aside under the excitements of social gayety or the impulses of youth- ful passion, and the plea for leniency which is sure to follow on the part of the offender and his friends, backed by fair promises for the future, is urged with piteous and tearful earnestness before the college courts and the com- munity. It is not surprising that some members of such societies are hopelessly overcome by their peculiar temp- tations. The ease with which they fall, the rapidity with which they sink, the recklessness with which they set aside better influences and wholesome restraints, and the perverseness with which they justify and excuse them- selves to parents and instructors are not unnaturally as- cribed to some evil genius which is supposed to haunt a particular college or to be inseparable from university life. It is not surprising that in the bitterness of disap- pointment and the depth of shame, harsh and unjust judgments should be pronounced by suffering friends and sympathizers upon the guardians and officers of some par- COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 367 ticular college or the special temptations and inexcusable neglects of a college course. The attention of the public is not infrequently called to some glaring outrage against good manners and decent morals in a particular school or college, or some banded rebellion against academic authority, or some boyish assault upon an unpopular officer. The material for a sensational narrative is too attractive to be left unused ; the reporter at once repairs to the scene, the interviewer is gladly welcomed by the offenders, who are only too ready through him to appeal to the public. Perhaps the college officers feel com- pelled to make their explanation to the public and to reiterate the assurance that the affair was trifling and is blown over, and that order "now reigns in Warsaw." It is certain that the "lamentable hearing" of the whole affair " greeveth manie not a little." Then follow the never-failing comments of the newspapers and other journals upon this particular outbreak and upon the general subject of college manners and morals and the most approved methods of preventing and putting down college disorders, as well as the hereditary follies of aca- demic youth, all of which are as luminous as they are confident. Or it may be that the case is tried a second time by the newspapers, and the students not infrequently have the advantage of giving their own version of the alleged imprudences, the unpopularity or the discour- tesy of their officers, and of setting forth the trivial and even the amiable character of the offences with which they are charged. Their guardians are slow to re)»ly, and perhaps respect themselves too much to venture upon a contest which is certain to be unequal. To add to the perplexity of the public, either in the way 368 MORALS AND MANNERS OF of confirming these unfavorable impressions of the espe- cial depravity of academic youth, or their incurable juve- nescence, the college newspapers admit the unpractised eyes of the community to an altogether too frequent and familiar gaze upon the interior of academic life, their conductors being altogether too insensible of the fact, that the too free exhibition to the vulgar gaze of their peculiar wit and wisdom does not always redound so much to the credit of the community as they would fondly believe. In these various ways it happens that the repu- tation of students and their guardians is both unjustly and justly brought into discredit. Certain it is that in general and particular the subject of the manners and morals of college life is very frequently discussed by our American public, and a great variety of expedients are proposed to prevent or remove the evils which beset them. Perhaps no single feature of the life of some of our colleges has of late attracted the attention of the public so much as the practice of " hazing," which within a few years has assumed in some colleges frightful proportions, and been attended with cruel indignities, which had been unknown in other generations. It is not necessary to inquire into its history, or to explain its causes, or to trace its growth. All agree that, however certainly the impulses which occasion this practice are incidental to academic life, it is wholly indefensible in its excesses, that in its principle it is ungenerous and ungentlemanly, and even in its mildest forms is often barbarous and cruel in the extreme. That it should be sustained by the tem- porary excitement or the deliberate public sentiment of any considerable number of the members of any school COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 369 or college, is inexplicable to all lookers-on, and is not infrequently set down as a decisive indication by many that there is something radically wrong in the constitu- tion or the administration of any institution in which it is tolerated for an hour. The remedies proposed for these evils are as various as the protean forms of the evils themselves. Not a few critics contend that the evils are the necessary effects of what they call the monastic features of these institutions, by which they intend the withdrawment of pupils, and to a certain extent their teachers, from the amenities and restraints of family life and the public sentiment of the larger community without. Only break up the dormi- tory system, they argue, and these evils will cease to exist. Let the students be distributed throughout the homes of the community within which the school is located, and they cannot but feel the refining and re- straining influences which are so greatly needed during the critical years of academic life. Upon this theory, it is urged very earnestly that the larger cities should pro- vide themselves with colleges, in which students can be educated without being separated from their homes, and that systematic arrangements should be made for the residence and oversight in responsible families of all those students who, coming from the country, must be separated from their own relatives. The unnaturalness of withdrawing young persons from their natural guardians, and from the gentle and faithful oversight of near rela- tives, is emphasized in support of this opinion, and the fearful barbarisms of boarding-school and college life are earnestly appealed to in its support. The sharp critics and eloquent advocates who represent these opinions 370 MORALS AND MANNERS OF usually overlook the manifest advantages of the common life of the college, which seem to require the dormitory system. They forget altogether to notice that the dor- mitory or boarding-house is a necessary condition or consequence of this common life, which is enforced by considerations of economy, and convenience, and super- vision. What is still more material, they overlook the patent fact that to attempt to distribute students of a large institution into families, in which an efficient family influence can be used, has never been successful, except in extraordinary cases. They also omit to consider that in cities and large villages it is very often desirable, and almost necessary, to remove children from their homes, in order that they may come under efficient moral and intellectual discipline. This necessity is by no means in every case owing to any especial fault of either parents or children, but is simply incident to the advance of the child from the dependence and tenderness of the domestic circle towards self-reHance and the responsibilities of adult years. They also fail to remember that the college student who lives at home is not unfrequently as much and as unfavorably affected by the impulses and caprices, the immoralities and the crimes of the college communi- ty to which he belongs, as the student whose home is a thousand miles distant. They also fail to consider that the foUies and vices of a community even of young men naturally attract the attention of the public, while the manifold and nameless advantages and virtues which are fostered by its discipline and its better public sentiment are noiseless and unobtrusive, even though they are none the less real and important. They forget that the esca- pade of a single silly or vicious youth, with its necessary COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 371 penalty and disgrace, may teach a salutary lesson to scores of his companions which they will never forget. They overlook the fact that the moral exposures of col- lege life need not be greater, and in many institutions are not greater — indeed, they are not so great — as those which are incident to almost any other condition of tran- sition from youth to manhood, and that the positively good influences which come to hundreds are not infre- quently the late but the certain fruits of these very exposures and moral trials which are dreaded by so many as only evil. Not a few censors of college morals and manners are disposed to charge the failures of students — especially those which are gross and notorious — upon some general defect of discipline and supervision, insisting, in effect, that were their guardians and instructors more watchful, such offences could not occur. The parent of a student who suddenly yields to temptation, or falls a victim to some barbarous college practice, very often believes, if he does not say, that neither could take place without seri- ous negligence on the part of college officers, and reasons as though a constant and minute supervision of the Hfe of each student could and should be maintained in every well-regulated college and school. Such impressions are not unfrequently encouraged by the criticisms of igno- rant and unreflecting judges, who have no just concep- tions of the difficulty of exercising such a supervision as will be salutary to students, or will be sustained by their parents. This suggests the question which has often been raised of late, whether it were not better for the officers of our colleges to disown all responsibiHty for the conduct and 372 MORALS AND MANNERS OF character of their pupils, and to concern themselves only with their instruction. It is contended by not a few that the performance of police duty on the part of col- lege officers is inconsistent with the successful discharge of their higher and appropriate functions, and it were bet- ter for pupils and teachers that all special supervision of the manners and morals of students should be abandoned. Leave the students to themselves, say they, to the guardi- anship and watchfulness of the pohce, and the family re- finements and social restraints under which they may chance to fall. Let it be understood that their instructors are responsible for their morals and manners no farther than these affect the order of the lecture-room and the courtesies of gentlemanly intercourse, and are under no special obligation to seek to form their character or to amend their manners. The sooner the old theory of college discipline is discarded the better will it be for all parties. Students wilU be relieved from an odious and irritating espionage, and instructors from vexing and ungracious responsibilities. Above all, students will cease to regard themselves as exempt from the ordinary restraints which are imposed by the law and a regard to their reputation, and will feel and acknowledge the force of those influences to which older men are amenable. Instructors will be free to deal with their pupils as gentle- men with gentlemen, and by ceasing to claim any factitious deference will receive all the courtesy which an instinctive sense of propriety will be forward to render. In- short, let all special college laws be abolished, and with them every arrangement for special college police. Let all special re- sponsibility for the morals of the students cease, and with it all provisions for their moral and religious training. The COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 373 consequence will be that the peculiar scandals and follies of college life will die out, and the young men who con- stitute a college community will be no better and no worse than the youth of any other community. It is urged especially that the most serious of college scandals might easily be stopped if the students were made amena- ble to the public police and the civil magistrate. The argument has been a thousand times repeated : The stu- dent of a college commits a breach of the peace ; he is guilty of intoxication or noisy disorder on the streets ; he assaults his fellow-student of a lower class, or does some se- rious injury to his property. The legal penalties for offencs of this sort are fine and imprisonment. Let the offender be handed over to the civil authorities, be arrested by the police, confined in the lockup, or sentenced to thirty days or six months in the jail or penitentiary, or suffer whatever punishment the statutes provide for the offences which he commits under the countenance of college sentiment and with the connivance of college authorities, and we should hear less of hazing, college rushes or riots in the streets. These charges are repeated too often and reiterated by the press too confidently to be neglected. For they seem to indicate the conviction in the minds of intelligent men that most of the moral evils of college life are the direct consequence of college government and discipline ; in other words, that college laws and college supervision directly or indirectly pro- duce the evils which they are designed to prevent or repress. We beg leave to suggest to these well-meaning ad- visers that, first of all, it would be well for them to inquire whether college officers are usually unwilling that their 374 MORALS AND MANNERS OF pupils should be held amenable to the laws and police of the State ; whether, on the other hand, they do not re- joice whenever student offenders are brought to answer before the magistrate for every kind of disorder which they commit. It is very easy to say that, if the offenders against college order were promptly and justly dealt with by the civil magistrate, college disorders would soon ter- minate. But those who think and speak thus confidently, might infer that were it desirable or easy to resort to the civil law for the prevention or punishment of such offences, no sufficient reason can be given why college officers should not be inclined to avail themselves of the assist- ance of the policeman and the magistrate. From the fact that they rarely take this course, it might be inferred that the reasons against adopting it are in their view de- cisive. Among these the following may be named : the student who engages in what are technically known as college freaks against person and property may commit these offences either from the spirit of recklessness and depravity such as is incident to young men in any con- dition of life, or he may be incited to these acts by the public sentiment of the community. That the first class of offences would not wholly be prevented by the civil law is obvious from the fact that they are not wholly re pressed by the operation of law upon young men who are not collegians. In not a few communities in which students reside, those who offend against the public peace are as liable to arrest and punishment as though they were not collegians ; and yet the combined influences of college and public law are insufficient to restrain them from crime. College tricks, even when they become crimes against the person and property of a fellow-student, are unfortu- COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 375 nately sanctioned by what is conceived to be the public sentiment of a portion of their own community, as the class, the society, or the set to which the offender belongs. Some loose impression concerning a college tradition or custom, some fiery access of class or society spirit, some fancied sense of injury or insult, the thought- less love of excitement, or simply boyish readiness for a frolic, becomes the motive, or is made the pretext, for a gross outrage upon decency or a cruel indignity upon an innocent person. The deed is done. Suppose, now, that the aid of law is to be invoked by the consent and with the aid of the Faculty. The first thing is to convict the offender; but to this end a complaint must be entered, or information must be furnished, and wit- nesses procured. Unfortunately, it is not always, it is not usually, easy for the injured person or the Faculty to fulfil a single one of these conditions, for in the majority of cases the party injured does not know the assailant, or, if he does know him, he is not willing to inform against him, or, if in rare cases he would venture so far, his testimony is not sufficient to convict. The sentiment of the community also, either in whole or part, so far sanctions or palliates the offence, that the offender can neither be detected nor corrected. Even the college courts are often baffled in their most honest and earnest efforts to discover the offenders whom they stand ready to punish, although they have means of detection and con- viction which no civil court can employ. Were it under- stood that, in the very rare cases in which it should be pos- sible, the college Faculty would bring the offender to justice, the civil penalty might add no terrors to the punishment of the college court. A parent or relative is 376 MORALS AND MANNERS OF very slow to ask that a fine or imprisonment may be pronounced upon a son who is intoxicated or disorderly in the streets, even if he is not a college student. For similar reasons, a college Faculty may ordinarily be excused from bringing offenders of any description into the presence of the civil magistrate. The source of the evils of college life is the public sentiment which this life engenders. The existence of a strong and independent sentiment is essential to the highest efficiency and useful- ness of the college. It is only as this is sound, earnest, and high-toned, that the laws of college are of any value — or their educating influences are assimilated by its pupils. Separately from the tone, feeling, and opinion maintained by its students, its curriculum, its laws, its instructors, and its amplest appliances, are of little con- sequence. It is true of every community of men that its laws cannot rise higher than the convictions of and con- trolling sympathies of a considerable minority of its members, and it is pre-eminently true of the college, be- cause it is an isolated community of sensitive, sympa- thizing, keen-sighted, and self-relying young men. It follows that no mere machinery of laws or ingenuity of penalties can purify a college of its evil traditions, or cleanse it of those tenacious habits of evil which have dwelt in it for generations, like leprosy in its walls. Isolated and self-sufficing as it is, strong and self-relying, defiant of intermeddlers, it can only make progress as its moral tone is elevated, as the convictions of its youth are reformed, as their better judgments are convinced, and their nobler aspirations are aroused and confirmed. It follows that the morals and manners of a college de- pend upon several conditions, and first upon the com- COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 377 petence of its instructors to perform the work of their departments. Young men of all others are keen and quick-sighted in respect to the capacity of their instruc- tors. Even the indolent and superficial are quick to detect the inefficiency or ignorance of their teachers. If it is the duty of instructors to scrutinize the fideUty and attainments of their pupils, it is one of the chief occupa- tions of pupils to examine, scrutinize, and study their teachers. They are equally quick to discern and faithful to report their real or imagined defects. No ignoramus or quack in education can by any arts maintain an efficient control over those whom he pretends to instruct. What- ever one discerns or detects will be reported to and ap- preciated by his fellows, and will speedily become the possession of the community. Secofid. The instructors of a college should be men of strong moral convictions and earnest moral purposes. It is as truly their business to inspire as it is to train. There are rarely great achievements on the part of stu- dents except as their ambition is aroused and their aims are elevated to high attainments, and no man can in the long run inspire or animate others even to that which is intellectually great whose own purposes have not some- what of moral greatness. Much less can an instructor exert any efficient moral stimulus or formative energy, who is not himself strong in his own moral convictions and fervent in his moral loves and hatreds. Third. The college should concern itself with the moral and religious principles of its pupils. It cannot do otherwise if it would, in these days when all higher scientific thinking runs into ethics and theology, when physics carries us before we are aware into metaphysics, 378 MORALS AND MANNERS OF and metaphysics are atheistic or theistic perforce, and poUtics are ethical by a logical necessity. Nor is it only because of the activity and boldness of the speculative inquiries of the higher education, that the colleges must of necessity be religious and ethical. It is equally necessary in the practical domain, for the reason that thinking young men must demand the reason, for the simplest duties which they are commanded to do, as truly as for the funda- mental truths which they are called to believe. Ethical in- quiries lead to religious, and a well-rounded education is inconceivable which does not include earnest inquiries in respect to religious truth on the part of the pupil, and intelligent and loving guidance on the part of the in- structor. We are well awace that assertions like these sound like paradoxes in the ears of not a few college officers and theorizers upon university education at the present time. We know there are many who persuade themselves that the acceptance of positive religious faith is inconsistent with true scientific enlightenment, and especially that any belief in supernatural Christianity must be more or less narrowly sectarian, and particularly that the positive recognition of Christian truth and duty in a university is of itself inconsistent with the liberal spirit of scientific investigation and the independence appropriate to individual freedom. Or if they concede that there must be positive teachings and training in the school, they would lay it wholly aside in what they call the university. It were well for them to remember that the community by whose confidence the colleges live, and which looks to the colleges for the training of its sons, is in great measure theistic and Christian, and that it would dread most of all the indirect but effective teach- COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. 379 ing of atheism under whatever form or guise of science, and the denial of immortahty under any teaching of physi- ology. It were well for them also to remember, that the new theory of secularizing the higher education of the country has not been taught long enough to be fairly understood by the community, nor tried long enough to bring forth its fruits of degradation and death — that some truths may be accepted as true beyond question, so far at least as the practical use of them in government and edu- cation are concerned, and that these are to be assumed as axioms in a Christian college, whose duty it is to educate the young men of and for a Christian community. While it is true that science and scientific thought, in its in- quiries and discussions, accepts nothing upon mere author- ity, and the atmosphere of a university mus^ be breezy with freedom, it by no means follows that nothing in the- ology and morals is settled or venerable, or is to be assumed in training and teaching. That it is sometimes not easy to steer clear of serious difficulties in working a Christian college, we are willing to allow. But that a college, as distinguished from a university, which is not in a positive sense Christian will for a long period satisfy a community which is itself Christian, we do not believe. We do not admit that if you make a college Christian you must make it sectarian, however ready we are to concede that the folly and narrowness of our unchristian sectarian- ism very seriously hinder the freedom of science and the freedom of Christianity. But we must take the world as we find it, and it were folly, if not something worse, to make our colleges practically atheistic for the sake of stopping the mouths of a few noisy scientists who are ready to confess atheism after the briefest possible noviti- 380 COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIFE. ate, and to deny immortality because it is the latest fash- ion of advanced thinking. We speak of colleges as con- trasted with universities, if, indeed, it is practicable to draw the line between them. How to draw this line is the question which underlies most others in our discussions upon higher education. Rather, it divides itself into several questions : What is the ideal American univer- sity ? Can it be sharply distinguished from the college ? If so — how? These questions can be more advanta- geously considered in another essay. THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVER- SITY. The very distinguished Dr. H. Helmholtz, in the dis- course pronounced at his accession to the Rectorate of the Berlin University, October 15, 1877, discussed the topic of Academical Freedom in the German Universities. Near the conclusion, in allusion to the dangers which it involves, he observes: "In all these relations we rely upon this, that the course of public opinion among the students cannot permanently go astray. The majority of the students, who represent the common judgment of the university, must come to us with intellects satisfactorily schooled in logic, with an adequate training to mental activity, and a tact which has been sufficiently trained by the best examples to the capacity of distinguishing the truth from any fine phrases which are substituted for it. There are intelligent men among the students who will be the spiritual leaders of the next generation, and perhaps fix upon themselves the eyes of the next generation. These are pre-eminently the men who form and express the public opinion of their fellows in matters of science, and after whom the others will form their opinions. " Such men the gymnasia have hitherto sent to us. It 382 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. were very dangerous for the universities should there flock to them great numbers of students who are greatly defi- cient in the particulars named. The general standard of development must not be allowed to sink. Were this to happen, the dangers of our academic freedo?n zvould quite overgrow its advantages. Let no one charge the universities with pedantry or arrogance if they are sus- picious of the admission of students with a lower grade of culture." In the discourse itself, Dr. Helmholtz states very clearly and defends very earnestly the traditional freedom of research, communication, selection, and study, with their necessary limitations, which have been so conspic- uously characteristic of the German universities. In the remarks which we have translated he distinctly recog- nizes and forcibly states the importance of the thorough and enforced training of the gymnasium as the necessary requisite for a safe and profitable use of the freedom of the university by either student or teacher. This last consideration has been usually, if not universally, over- looked by the projectors and defenders of the ideal American university in most of the forms in which it has been urged upon the American public. The theory of a university defended by Dr. Helmholtz is strikingly contrasted with that which has been zeal- ously propounded by a great variety of American wri- ters within the last few years, and has been put in prac- tice in several prominent institutions. The ideal Amer- ican university, as conceived by these writers, provides very largely for academical freedom, but fails to insist that the only condition under which this freedom can be successfully used, or even safely permitted, is that the THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 383 Students shall have been thoroughly and systematically- trained by classical discipline. A brief review of these American theories, as outlined in ideal schemes or embod- ied in well-known institutions, may serve to make this apparent. Academical freedom has been the rallying cry of all these theorists ; freedom in the selection of studies and teachers, in some cases freedom from enforced attend- ance upon university exercises, and from frequent exami- nations. The training for the competent and wise exer- cise of this freedom has in scarcely a single instance been emphasized as essential to success ; more rarely has it been confessed that this training must be provided by a thorough course of classical study. The founder of the University of Virginia led the way as a theorist and organizer of university education. Jefferson was a be- liever in freedom as a charmed word. So far as he took any model for his favorite institution, he doubtless fol- lowed the lecturing universities and mstitutes of France as he knew them. His university was at first an associa- tion of lecturing schools, in which instruction in elemen- tary knowledge might be given to students, many of whom certainly had no special, and many could have had only an imperfect general training for the work of hearing and judging. Hence, with all its excellences, it could not fail to be exposed at first to the dangers to which Helmholtz adverts. It has been modified in some im- portant particulars in its administration, if not in its the- ory. The same was true of the university scheme which President Wayland introduced at Providence, The history of the University of Michigan deserves especial attention^ as it illustrates the mischievous influ- 384 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. ence of this defective ideal of the American university in connection with very many excellent features. While it conceded more than we think was wise to the spirit of academic freedom in the demand for elective studies, it has persisted till very recently in holding its students to continuous courses of progressively related studies, each of which was indicated by an appropriate degree. It also retained the feature of daily recitations in place of lec- tures. It was unfortunately forced from the first, by the necessities of its theory, to place its undergraduate stu- dents in science and arts too nearly upon the same or- ganic footing as its professional students, and to accord to them greater practical independence of judgment and action than their immaturity could render wise and safe. The consequent exposures to evil would have been more serious had not the students been morally mature in character and earnest in purpose, and had they not been the sons of frugal parents and from a community singu- larly homogeneous in race, associations, moral purity, and religious faith. As a State university this institution has also been singularly fortunate in escaping the inter- ference of managing politicians, and the disastrous influ- ence of theological, medical, and scientific prejudices, by reason of the homogeneous character of the people of the State. But with all these singularly fortunate ex- emptions from embarrassment public rumor must have been more than usually false if some of her declarations have not been true, that in the selection of professors sectarian considerations have sometimes prevailed, and the practical freedom of its Regents has occasionally been hindered by influences and considerations not purely academic. The university has also had the very THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 385 great theoretical and practical advantage of crowning an admirably organized, a well-administered, and liberally- supported system of public schools of every grade, which is also sustained by the enthusiastic confidence of an in- telligent and Christian population. In order to bring it- self into nearer relations to these schools, the university, a year or two since, proceeded to receive to its classes the graduates of the high schools without examination. To this formal act no reasonable objection could be made, provided the high-schools are what the university guaran- teed they should be, and provided the university itself gives only such instruction as well-instructed men (in the sense of Dr. Helmholtz) are capable of hearing and judg- ing. We had hoped that in a certain sense this might be true. But these hopes have been not a little weak- ened by the recent announcement that any student, not less than sixteen years of age, who does not desire to be a candidate for a degree, will be admitted to the university, — provided he passes the special examinations required of the candidates for such degree ; and moreover, students not less than twenty-one years of age, who do not desire to be candidates for a degree, may be admitted without even such special examination, provided they give evi- dence to the Faculty that they can profitably pursue the studies which they propose. Here we have the utmost stretch of academic freedom. That it has an amiable aspect, we concede — especially when we reflect on the cheapness with which this university dispenses its gifts. We have little doubt that many students with scanty prep- aration and comparatively untrained minds will derive important advantages from their unrestricted admission to academic instruction. But we cannot but think that 17 386 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. the old-fashioned notion is correct, which Helmholtz re- affirms, that the more freedom is allowed to professors and pupils in teaching and hearing, the more imperative is the necessity that the pupils should bring minds trained to insight and discrimination, and enlarged by breadth of liberal studies. We would interpose no objection to the presence of any student at university lectures who can profit by them, but we deem it absolutely essential to a vigorous university life that its professors should be stimu- lated to their highest and best efforts by the conscious- ness that keen and well-instructed eyes are always bent upon them, and that weak logic and imposing rhetoric cannot fail to be discovered and exposed by the majority of their hearers. Especially pre-eminently is this true un- der any extended use of the elective system in a univer- sity in which instruction is given by lectures. These remarks apply at least with equal force to the Cornell University, with its larger liberality and its more gener- ous promises, which in some directions has stretched the theory of academic freedom to the widest interpretation conceivable. Harvard University, in its new, and newer, and newest departures, aims at the academic freedom of the German university, not considering that the drill of the best fit- ting schools in Massachusetts, even when followed by the required course of its own earlier years, cannot be re- garded as an equivalent for the steady and uncompromis- ing regime of the German gymnasium, which, according to Helmholtz, is the conditio sine qua nan of a safe introduc- tion to the liberty for which he so earnestly and so wisely contends. The combination of recitations of the English and American colleges with the academic freedom of the THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 387 German universities can only aggravate instead of reliev- ing the difficulty of working an organization which is neither a college nor a university. The most serious objection to the attempt to unite under one system the features of these two institutions is, that under the pres- sure of influences and reasonings which the institution has itself created, the voluntary element must inevitably prevail, unless a very definite line is drawn between its college and university discipline and its college and uni- versity life. It had been wiser in our view to draw this line by following the norms and traditions furnished by our existing professional schools, adding every additional school in science and philosophy which the widening and deepening speculation of our times requires. In this way the largest demand for academical freedom which could possibly be made by either professors or students would have been satisfied, and no possible difficulties could have been encountered. To the college would have been left the amplest opportunities for giving a more severe and yet more liberal training in every department of ele- mentary knowledge ; discipline and culture would have been made a reality, with less of pedantry and formalism, but with more of severity and earnestness, while moral and religious training might have been none the less earnest for being liberalized by science and refined by art. After the college would have followed the university, with its freedom for all those who had proved themselves worthy to use it. Instead of flattering our youth and de- luding the public with the idea, though unintentionally, that the ideal university will spring into life so soon as instruction is given by lectures, and half-fledged and conceited young men are incited to change their 388 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. teachers with every semester, it were more salutary to hold fast to the doctrine that the roots of true culture must first be established in thorough fitting schools, and from these roots should grow the strong and stately stems and branches of a proper college life, with its enforced disci- pline, while to such a growth the flower and fruits of a free and generous university life could not long be want- ing in such a country as ours. On the other hand, to attempt to carry into the college the forms of university life, when the conditions of its development cannot pos- sibly exist, must be disastrous to both college and uni- versity. The learning and enterprise of instructors and guardians, and the zeal and industry of pupils, only prove that better results could have been realized under a bet- ter system ; that the college and university, which have been so disadvantageously blended, would have been more perfect in theory and more satisfactory in achieve- ment, had each been independent of the other. Not a few of our theorizers contend that the ideal American university can only be realized by the aid and direction of the State. They look to the few State uni- versities which have maintained a respectable existence amid the wrecks of so many — pre-eminent among which is the University of Michigan — as the germs of the Universi- ties which alone promise to be permanent and great, and to the as yet unchartered and unendowed University of the Nation, as the protector and nurse of them all, con- tending that in the future development and perfection of our educational system no other can survive in the strug- gle for existence. Their reasons are the following : As society advances, the State will more and more liberally provide for the education of all its citizens. As the lower THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 389 schools improve, so must the higher. As the advantages of a more complete education make themselves manifest in the intellectual, moral, and industrial progress of the citizens, the community will demand a more liberal en- dowment and patronage of its highest institutions, and the conviction will prevail that the best intellectual resources should be enlisted, at whatever cost, in the noble service of educating its citizens. It will follow, as a necessary- consequence, that the universities of the State will surpass in resources and appliances every institution of an in- dividual or corporate character. The advocates of this theory rest their hopes upon the interest in every form of popular education which is everywhere prevalent, and look forward to the time as near when the State shall esteem it to be its duty and its honor to provide public universities, at the public cost, with which no private cor- poration can possibly compete. Against these arguments it is enough to reply that ex- perience has proved that it is difficult, if not impractica- ble, to preserve a State university from interference by popular and political critics and leaders. However care- fully the boards of management are removed from direct interference on the part of political or popular leaders, the Regents of a State university can never be wholly removed from public and private demands and remonstrances on the part of men who have the ear of the people for the hour. Places will be sought for by unworthy aspirants and their friends ; the teachings of the university will be called in question on every point where they bear upon current questions of science, or religion, or finance, or health, or education. Whatever theory of culture the university may adopt will now and then be assailed by 39© THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. an organization of honest or dishonest demagogues, either educational or political. A great university must be the growth of time, during which a commonwealth of seekers after knowledge shall have been trained by one another, and shall have learned to accept common principles, to adopt common aims, and to share in a culture that has been warmed and made effective by active personal sympathy. To success in such a growth, independence is the prime and indispen- sable condition. The principles may be defective, the training may be defective, isolation and seclusion may confirm prejudices, but with independence there can be strength and continuity, while without it there can be neither. A State university with no chartered privileges can never in the best sense be a society that perpetuates itself, but must have a precarious, and therefore an un- certain life. To expect for a State or a National Uni- versity stability or independence in such a country as ours is to hope against reason and experience. It is urged still further in their favor that no other in- stitutions can be administered with entire freedom from partisan and sectarian influences. The State university alone can rise above the party and personal biases which prevail in all scientific schools and religious sects, and which constantly control the appointments and hinder the researches of the most enlightened professors and students. It is only in the universities which are sup- ported and directed by the State that there can be insured the most absolute freedom for investigation, unbiased liberty of instruction, and untrammelled desire for truth. Every other school and university must neces- sarily be more or less influenced by some foregone con- THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 39 1 elusion of science, or some accepted dogma of religion. Moreover, it is only to the State that we can look for the liberal endowment of simple research. Other institutions can do little more than provide for chairs of instruction ; the State may be expected to provide for the sustenance, the apparatus, and the museums which those require who are predestined to the service of science as investigators ; the few favored souls who, as by a star on their foreheads, are set apart from the vulgar duties of imparting truth to others, and are consecrated to the more sacred functions of discovery and research. Thus write many theorists upon education who look to universities endowed and in some sense controlled by the State, as the only insti- tutions which are destined to attain the highest rank and to render the most eminent service. These gentlemen are especially disturbed by the so-called sectarian uni- versities, as they persist in designating every college which recognizes any formula of Christian or religious belief, overlooking entirely the notorious fact that sects are numerous in science, engendering strifes, and bitter- ness, and intolerance, and that the dogmas which they hold are represented by professors and schools, as truly as when these dogmas pertain to matters of religion. It is also assumed that all questions of religion should in a uni- versity be treated as open questions, and that they cannot be discussed with any scientific fairness unless every possible opinion is represented by some ardent devotee or believer, and that this cannot be thought of in a univer- sity which recognizes any dogma of religion as settled or true. This opposition to universities which call them- selves Christian is not confined to the advocates of State universities. It is urged with equal spirit by the 592 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. representatives of some corporate institutions which have no relations to the State, and who, moreover, are un- friendly to State universities. Both contend that the division of the religious com- munity into sects is incompatible with that unity of action and that liberality of endowment which are indis- pensable to success. This argument may now and then hold against institutions which deserve to be called de- nominational or sectarian, viz., institutions which are avowedly founded and sustained in the interest of a sin- gle Christian sect. It must be conceded that in the com- munity of science and letters an institution of this class cannot look for the widest influence. However impor- tant its scientific and educating power may be upon its own pupils, and within its own sect or church, and indi- rectly among the learned, it cannot but be seriously re- stricted as an instrument of general culture and re- search. The most perfect examples of institutions of this class are those of the Romish Church, and they count this no reproach from their point of view. Protestant Christians and the Protestant community, with rare ex- ceptions, however intensely sectarian or denominational either may be, do not regard the inculcation of any of the special doctrines of their sect, or the maintenance of some form of worship, or the maintenance of a denomina- tional esprit de corps, as the supreme object of their col- lege or university. Hence, to most Protestants, there is a propriety in objecting against a sectarian university or college, as an incongruous and inconsistent concep- tion. No such objection, however, can be urged against a Christian college or a Christian university that is truly Protestant and liberal in its spirit. As Protestant, it THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 393 must try all truth by evidence, and hold fast only that which stands this test. It must be a friend of all truth that is new, and believe in progress in science and criti- cism in morals and theology as possible and desirable. It must respond to every challenge that any dissentient may offer. Even should all its teachers be positive Christian believers, and even be zealous in Christian earn- estness, it does not follow that they are incapable of un- derstanding and of fairly representing the arguments of an atheist or a materialist, any more than it follows that a believer in the Newtonian physics is incapable of doing justice to Ptolemy's theory of the celestial mechanics. While it is true that a Christian believer, like every other earnest believer, is liable to be sectarian, it should also not be forgotten that the unbeliever is exposed to the same peril, while Christianity furnishes motives of toleration and liberality which are peculiar, and which, when enforced by the liberalizing spirit of intellectual culture, is itself a security against the unscientific spirit. Nor should it be forgotten, when the German universities are cited as instances of the liberal spirit in which the State can protect academical freedom, that the State in Germany continues, in an important sense, to perform the func- tions of a Christian State, in a sense of which we know nothing ; that, however indifferent it may be to university, teaching, in some of its relations, it is stringent enough in others ; and, moreover, that in its gymnasial curriculum it imposes some form of positive religious instruction from the beginning to the end. We cannot forget that, happily, we have in this country a large community of scientists and philosophers who are avowedly Christian, and are yet neither bigots nor fools ; nor that it is largely 17* 394 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. the braggarts and romancers in science and the Bohemi- ans in letters who seem never satisfied and never tired with asserting that theism and Christianity are regarded as exploded by the truly advanced and scientific. Nor can we forget that the large community of parents who in our country endow and patronize universities and col- leges are men and women who in some sense are intelli- gently and earnestly Christian. It follows that, if our State universities cannot be in some sense positively Christian, the people who control the State will not sus- tain them. They will endow and patronize institutions in which Christian theism is positively taught, and where something of Christian influences may be used. How long this can continue to be true in many of the State universities it is not easy to predict. The tide is now setting strongly towards the complete secularization of our public educational system. It may be the current will prevail. Should it rush through our higher schools, and sweep out from them all opportunity for reflective thought on God, and duty, and immortality ; should it exclude all study of history in the light of God's presence and guiding hand, and all inspiration of literature which is furnished by faith and worship — it will give us an edu- cation so barren and degrading that Christian parents will abandon the high schools in abhorrence, and will shun the universities to which they open the way as they would the infected wards of a house of death. The State universities and the secular universities that call them- selves non-religious or non-Christian have quite enough to do to keep their own houses in a proper sanitary con- dition, without occupying themselves with criticising those of their neighbors. THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. 395 Even the scientists themselves are aroused, by the excesses of their own romancers, to consider the effect on the character and morals of their pupils, and the safety of the community, of some of the dogmas of atheistic evolutionism which in some quarters are asserted to be axiomatic. It is a significant fact that less than a month before the delivery of the address of Helmholtz to wliich we have referred, an address was given at Munich by Dr. Rudolph Virchow, before the fiftieth gathering of Ger- man physicians and scientists, On the Freedofn of Science ifi the Modern State, in which ^he forcibly distinguishes between those conclusions in science which may be ac- cepted as established or objective truths, and those hy- potheses, or highly probable theories which have not reached this position. The first only, in his view, are to be taught in any sense by authority in the university and the school of science ; the second are to be held in abeyance. The entire address is an injunction of cau- tion to scientific inquirers, against giving sanction and currency to doctrines which might be dangerous to the public order, as well as to private morality, in the con- fident and reckless manner in which this has been done, in the last few years, in universities and before scientific associations. The high position and the free spirit of the writer, give no little importance to this deliverance of his, as indicating that scientific men are beginning to feel that neither academic nor scientific freedom is unlim- ited, and that a reaction of sobriety has commenced against the audacity of briUiant romancing in science and immoral and irreverent speculation in criticism and philosophy. If the university and scientific activity of Germany 396 THE IDEAL AMERICAN UNIVERSITY. cannot be wholly dissevered from the life of its people, much less can it in a country like ours, in which the most recondite scientific thought diffuses itself most rapidly through all the strata of society, and the latest conjec- tures of brilliant theorists or critics are accepted as axioms by thousands of quick-minded and sympathetic readers. If any community needs, for its own security, to be defended against universities where extemporized or one-sided professors have unlimited freedom to ex- pound adventurous theories before half-educated and un- trained pupils, it is a country in which speculation is so rapidly crystallized into faith, and brilliant theorizing is so readily accepted as established truth. If the universities of a country in which the people rule ever become the chief seats of scientific demagogues, and their lectures are crowded by a conceited and half-educated mob, the country itself will find that neither its popular nor its academic freedom will long endure, nor will they be long worth preserving for any honor or blessings which they may bring. There is one feature of the ideal American university which, in the minds of many, is regarded as more impor- tant than any which has been considered, and that is, the Co-education of the Sexes. This we will reserve for a separate essay. VI. CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. It is inevitable, in the judgment of many persons, that the future American university should be opened to both the sexes. Such persons are confident that the highest schools of learning will find it not only desirable but necessary to grant their privileges to each on the same footing, for their excellent influence upon one another and upon the manners and morals of the community. Not a few writers upon education are very positive that this arrangement will certainly remove the most serious difficulties under which colleges and universities labor at the present time. From this opinion others very earn- estly dissent. The evidence and the arguments for and against, are fully presented in a work entitled " The Liberal Education of Women : The Demand and the Method,'' etc., edited by the late Prof. James Orton, of Vassar College. This collection of essays so nearly ex- hausts the facts and the reasonings on both sides as to leave little more to be suggested. Unfortunately the discussion of this subject, in the minds of most people, is mixed with that of several other points in respect to the relations of the sexes, which are discussed with great earnestness and often with no little acrimony. It is 398 CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. most important to remember that the question is not whether women are the equals of men in intellectual capacity and intellectual enthusiasm ; nor whether their health will allow the same continuous tension to which young men are subjected ; nor whether it is desirable that they should go through the same curriculum ; nor whether their presence in classes and in the academic community would not often be most salutary; nor whether in communities in which educational appliances are scanty and incomplete, and aspirants for higher edu- cation are few, it is not only admissible but even desira- ble to allow females to enter the college and the uni- versity ; nor whether in communities more abundantly supplied with educational facilities they may not be ad- mitted to special courses and to select classes; nor whether in exceptional circumstances as to the character and training of the inmates, or the religious influences of the institution co-education is not positively beneficial — but it is whether the education of the sexes together as members on equal footing in the same college or uni- versity is to be regarded as a desirable or normal arrange- ment in an ideal college or university. The question as thus stated is purely hypothetical — a question of doctrine or theory. It is, however, an important question in the minds of all those persons who find in co-education the solution of many difficult educational problems, and who contend that for them there is no other so satisfactory an adjustment. It is equally, if not more important, that it should be cleared of all the other questions with which it is usually blended, so that it may be decided on its own merits. It is also desirable, if it were possible, that it should be discussed dispassionately, in a temper free CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. 399 from the heat and excitement and querulousness which seem to be inseparable from any claims of rights or com- plaints of wrongs as between the sexes or the champions of either. We believe that women as a class are equal to men in capacity and enthusiasm ; that as teachers and pupils they are capable of rapid advancement and dis- tinguished success. We also believe that the considera- tion of health in many cases need create no decisive ob- jection to their reciting in the same classes and listening to the same lectures with boys and young men. We believe that the curriculum for each ought not in many studies to be essentially different ; that although the pro- portion of studies for the two sexes may differ, yet there are not a few women who are capable of excelling in manly studies, and not a few men who are feminine in tastes and pursuits, and that therefore co-education might introduce a desirable flexibility and variety into the curriculum of the university, were co-education for gen- eral reasons desirable. We doubt not in the least that in some institutions the presence of the two sexes is advan- tageous to the manners and morals of each, nor that in every institution ladies may properly attend upon occa- sional classes. We do not call in question the testi- mony, which is so abundant, that in circumstances of an exceptional character, co-education may be attended with positive benefits. These concessions, as they might be called, may remove some of the most serious objec- tions to co-education in the minds of many. On the other hand, so far as the advocates of co-education are content to rest their cause upon these irrelevant and in- decisive considerations, the concessions only expose more fully the weakness of their cause provided decisive reasons 400 CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. can be urged against the arrangement as permanent and normal. These reasons, if they seem to be few, are in our view weighty. The community is beginning to supply itself with female colleges and universities. It is also ready to furnish them as rapidly as they are needed. These are coming into existence m a way that is natural and legitimate, as the outgrowths of lower female seminaries and schools. We do not say that every institution which calls itself a female college deserves to be called such in fact. But no one will dispute that there are at least two or three institutions in this country which as truly deserve to be called colleges as the majority of the colleges for men. In England, also, Girton College gives university in- struction, and holds intimate relations with the University of Cambridge. So far as this country is concerned, we may say with confidence that there are as many colleges for females as are demanded by females qualified to avail themselves of their advantages, due allowance being made for those communities in which, as a temporary arrange- ment, the few persons who require college culture may be accommodated in colleges not specially designed for themselves. Should a general and pressing want be felt and expressed for many female colleges, and any diffi- culty be experienced in supplying it, there are scores of colleges already in being which might at once be assigned for their use, with advantage to the community. There are, then, or there can be provided, as many female col- leges as are needed. If it is argued that the supply should precede the demand in order to stimulate it, then let the colleges which are needed be created in advance of the want which is real, though unfelt by those who suffer CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. 40I under it. It certainly is as easy to supply colleges for women as colleges for men, if indeed there are not already in existence twice or five times as many as are needed for both. No reason can be urged for co-education, on the ground that there is a demand that college education should be furnished to females. The only reply to this argument must be that the older institutions furnish advantages which the newer cannot — advantages which time can only manure and supply — and that, in order to enjoy them, both sexes must be admitted to the same institutions. As an argumentum ad hominem^ the reply would in most cases be fitting that, in the opinion of the majority of the advocates of co-education, the newer col- leges and universities are better for men and for women than the older ; also, that the newest female colleges are, in fact, amply furnished with apparatus, and libraries, and other appliances, while their instructors are glowing with the enthusiasm and confidence of youth. But let it be granted that female colleges can and will be sup- plied as rapidly as they are needed, the question still returns upon us, and is sometimes urged with no little earnestness and energy — Why should the two sexes be withdrawn from one another, it being conceded that they are to pursue similar studies, and can do this with equal rapidity and equal success ? it being also conceded that in many cases they might act favorably on each other in respect to studiousness and character, and indirectly might improve the morals and manners of the academic community ? The reply to this comprehensive question can better be suggested than argued at length. We would, with some confidence, submit that the ex- perience of many generations, and the varied results of 402 CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. manifold quiet experiments in household and social edu- cation, have brought the majority of men and women of every Christian community to the deeply rooted convic- tion that it is not salutary for the morals and manners, for the tastes and the associations, for the habits and the industries, for the affections and the imaginations of either sex, that they should associate with one another in large communities, in ways of unreserve, when freed from the unfelt but powerful restraints of the household and the associations of home, as they must under the ordinary, and even the exceptional conditions of college and uni- versity life. These conditions must invoke formal and factitious rules with supervision of a special character. This supervision must of itself, as often as it is enforced, be a perpetual suggestion of possible danger and evil. It is all true that is said sometimes of the very serious evils which attend isolation of boys at school and at college ; and of the occasional rudeness and audacity of girls in like circumstances. It is possibly true that some evils to both might in some cases be avoided by frequent and familiar association. But the worse things which might come, now and then, and might come very frequently, through the necessary familiarities of academic life, and cannot be guarded against, and the constant unrefinement which must attend the perpetual enforcement of such artificial restraints as could never be dispensed with, would slowly but surely eat out and wear away that inner modesty and unconscious purity which the old-fashioned manners were fitted to cherish by precluding any suggestions of evil. It may be true that many inherited customs and tradi- tions respecting the relations of young persons before marriage, and respecting the occupations and manners CO-EDUCATION OF THE SEXES. 403 of younger and older women need to be changed. But the occasion for those restraints which have moulded our manners into modesty, is .as permanent as is the race itself; and any customs of home or society, or arrange- ments for education which do not recognize the exposures agamst which modesty of manner and refinement of senti- ment are the only safeguards, become real, even though indirect, educators to evil, which may be appalling in its consequences in proportion to the wit and plausibility with which these arrangements are defended, and the boldness or grace with which they are urged by man or woman. It has been said, perhaps untruly, that the legitimate operation of co-education, under the most favorable cir- cumstances, is to make the men more feminine, and the women more man-like. Whether this is true or not, it remains true that were womanliness in the character or manners of our women to suffer soil or harm by any well- meant theories of co-education, the loss to the country and the world would be poorly compensated by any other gain, and would be a loss from which the country and the world would be slow to recover. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS REFERRED TO. TJt!; Substance of two Reports of the Faculty of Amherst College te the Board of Trustees, -with the doings of the Board thereoti. Am- herst : Carter & Adams. 1827. ReJ>orts on the Instruction in Yale College; by a Committee of the Corporation and the Faculty. New Haven : H.Howe. 1828. An Exposition of the System of Instruction and Discipline purs,*ea in the University of Ver?nont. By James Marsh. Burlington : 1829. Remarks on the Nature and Probable effects of introdticifig the Vohm- tary System in the Studies of Latin and Greek, proposed in certain Resolutions of the President and Fellows of Harvard University, etc. By Josiah Quincy, President of the University. 1841. Classical Studies at Cambridge. North American Review. Jan. 1842. Thoughts on the Present Collegiate System in the United States. By Francis Wayland, D.D, Boston : 1842. Classical Studies, etc. Edited by Sears, Edwards, and Felton. (Daniel Wyttenbach. Pp. 246 — 264.) Boston : 1843. Report to the Corporation of Browjt University on Changes in the System of Collegiate Education. Providence: 1850. University Education. Bv Henry P. Tappan, D.D, New York : George P. Putnam. 1850. Education: Intellectiial, Moral, and Physical. By Herbert Spen- cer. D. Appleton & Co, : 1861. 4o6 BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS REFERRED TO. Report of the Committee on Organization, presented to the Trustees of the Cornell University, Oct. 21, 1866, Albany : 1867. The Cornell University. Second General Announcement. Second Edition, with additions. Albany : 1868. Letter of President White in tJie New York Tribune ; March 16, 1868. Classical and Scientific Studies, and the Great Schools of England, etc., etc. By W. P. Atkinson. Cambridge : 1865. Remarks on Classical and Utilitarian Studies, etc., etc. By Jacob BiGELOW, M.D., etc. Boston : 1867. Classical Studies, etc., etc. By Francis Bowen. Cambridge : 1867. Inau^ral Address delivered to the University of St. Andrews, Feb. I, 1867. By John Stuart Mill, etc. London: 1867. Science in Schools. London Quarterly Review. Oct., 1867. A Lecture delivered at the Royal Iftstitution, Feb. 8, 1 867. By Rev. J. W. Farrar. London: 1867. Speech of Robert Lowe, M. P., at Edinburgh, Nov. 2, 1867. Essays on a Liberal Education. Edited by Rev. J. W. Farrar, etc., etc. Second Edition. London : 1868. Schools and Universities on the Continent. By Matthew Arnold, etc., etc. London : 1868. Suggestions 07t Academical Organization, with especial reference to Oxford. By Mark Pattison, etc. Edinburgh : 1868. Lnaugural Address of Jajnes M^Cosh, D.D., LL.D., as President of the College of New Jersey, Princeton, Oct. 27, 1868. New York : Robert Carter & Brothers. 1868. The Reorganization of the University of Oxford. By Goldwin Smith. Oxford and London: James Parker & Co. 1868. Study and Opinion at Oxford. Macmillan's Magazine. Dec. 1869. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS REFERRED TO. 407 The '' A'ezo Education.'''' The Atlantic Monthly, Nos. 136, 137, for February and March, 1869. Culture and Anarchy, etc. By Matthew Arnold. London : 1869. Memorial of the College Life of the Class of 1827, Dart7noiith Col- lege, etc. By Alpheus Crosby. Hanover, X. H. : 1869-70. Addresses at the Inauguration of Charles William Eliot as President of Harvard College, Tuesday, October 19, 1S69. Cambridge: Sever & Francis. 1869. Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Ha7'vard College, 1868-69. Cambridge : Welch, Bigelow & Co. 1869. Von Deutschen Hochschiden Allerlei, was da ist and uuas da sein sollte. Von eine?n Deutschen Professor. Berlin : George Reimer. 1869. Addresses at the Inauguration of Professor Noah Porter^ D. D. , LL.D.^ as President of Yale College, Wednesday.^ October 11, 1871. New York : Charles Scribner & Co. 1871. Heinrich von Sybel : Die deutschen Universitdten, ihre Leis- tungen und Bediirfnisse. Bonn : 1 874. C. Peter : Ein Vorschlag zu Reform tinserer Gymnasien. Jena : 1874. Carl Friedrich von Nagelsbach : Gymnasial Pddagogik, 2te Aufiage. Erlangen : 1869. La Reforme de U Enseignement Secondaire. Par Jules Simon. Deuxieme Edition. Paris : Hachette & Co. 1874. Die Freiheit der Wissenschaft im modernen Staat. Rede gehal- ten in der dritten allgemeinen Sitzung der funfzigsten Versamm- lung deutschen Nattirforscher und Aerzte zu Miinchen am 22. Sep- tember^ 1877. Von RuDOLF Virchow. Zweite Auflage. Berlin : 1877. Ucber die Academische Freiheit der deutschen Universitdten, Rede beim Antritt des Rectorats under Friedrich- Wilhelms- Uni- 4o8 BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS REFERRED TO versitdt zu Berlin, am i<,ten October, gehalten. Von Dr. H. Helmholtz. Berlin : 1878. German Universities : A Narrative of Personal Experience^ together with Recent Statistical Information, and a Comparison of the German, English, and A7n eric an Systems of Higher Education. By James Morgan . Hart. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 1874. University of Michigatt^ Department of Literature, Science and the Arts. Announcement for 1878.-9. Important change in the Plan of Work. The Johns Hopkins University. Austin Bierbower. Penn Monthly. September, 1878. The Liberal Education of Women : The Demand and the Method. Current Thoughts in America and England. Edited by James Orton, A. M. , Professor in Vassar College, etc. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York & Chicago. 1873.