Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1876Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 17, No. 100, April, 1876
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
authorities permitted such conduct toward one whom they had invited
to take the initiative in beginning a new study. It was a
perfectly-understood thing that I had accepted the temporary
appointment more to relieve the college than for my own benefit."
The writer of the above is now one of the leading professors in
another college. His name and reputation are among the best in the
land. He writes concerning his present position: "We have here two
hundred and fifty students, all told. The utmost courtesy prevails,
both in the recitation-room and in the streets. During the five years
that we have been in existence as a college I do not remember that a
single rude act has been committed toward any professor. I attribute
this to a variety of circumstances. We began with a small body
of students, who gave tone to the subsequent ones. We have no
dormitories. The college is in a city too large to be controlled by
students. Nothing could be pleasanter than the intercourse between
town and college. Not a gate has been carried off, no loud shouting is
heard. If there are night-revels, nobody ever hears of them. We have
no prizes, no honors, no marking system. We hold rigid examinations,
and watch the tendency to negligence if it shows itself."
One circumstance may lead us to take a more hopeful view of the
situation. The colleges--and consequently the classes--are growing
larger. At Yale and Harvard, for instance, the classes exceed two
hundred on entrance. It is clear that so large a body cannot cohere
very firmly. The sense of homogeneousness is lost. Furthermore, the
class is divided into sections and sub-sections. The occasions on
which the student can see his entire class together are becoming
comparatively few. The so-called elective studies will also help to
keep down the class spirit. In many colleges the curriculum is no
longer an inflexible routine. On reaching a certain standing the
student, although not entirely free to select his studies, has at
least an option. He may take German instead of Greek, French in place
of Latin, advanced mathematics or the natural sciences in place of
both. Whatever estimate we may set upon the intrinsic value of
such options, we can scarcely doubt their efficacy in the matter of
discipline. The class which branches out on different lines of study
has already ceased to be a class. The results of the system of free
selection established at the Cornell University are very instructive.
We find here three or four courses of study, now running parallel, now
overlapping one another, and outside of them the elective students who
follow partial courses or specialties. The university has scrupulously
refrained from the official use of the terms Senior, Junior, Sophomore
and Freshman, and arranges the students' names in the index in
alphabetical order. The sections in certain departments, especially in
the modern languages and history, are made up of students of all four
years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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