The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 13, April to September, 1871
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
When we come to the practical question. What could be done now, at
once, toward the beginning of such a colossal undertaking? it is by
no means so easy to solve it as it is to sketch the plan of our ideal
university. We do not fancy, of course, that such a grand institution
as this we have described, or even one similar to the best existing
European universities, can be created in a hurry by any speedy or
summary process. But if it is commenced now, can it not be brought
to completion by the beginning of the twentieth century? It seems to
us that in the year 1900 or 1925 we shall need not one only, but
three grand Catholic universities in the United States. That we can
and ought to begin the work of founding one without delay, we have
no doubt. The difficulty is, however, in pointing out a sensible
and feasible method of doing well what many or most of us are ready
to acknowledge ought to be done quickly. Let us suppose that the
requisite authority and the necessary funds are confided to the hands
of the proper commission, who are to lay the first stones in the
foundation of a university. How should they proceed, and what should
they first undertake? As these high powers exist only potentially and
in our own imagination, we can be certain that they will not take
offence if we presume to offer them our opinion and advice.
What is the first and most obvious want which we seek to satisfy
by founding a university? It is the want of a collegiate system of
education and discipline superior to the one already existing in
our colleges, and equal to any existing elsewhere. The first thing
to be done, then, is to select some already existing college, or to
establish a new one, as the nucleus of the future university. We will
suppose that some one of our best colleges can be found which has the
requisite advantages of location, etc., making it an eligible place
for a great university. Let measures be taken to place the grade of
education and instruction in this college at the highest mark. The
first of these measures must be to give it a corps of professors
and tutors fully equal to their task, and to make the position of
these professors a dignified, honorable, and permanent one. Another
measure of immediate necessity would be the total separation of the
college from the grammar-school, and the establishment of a system
of discipline suitable not for boys but for young men. The mere
announcement by sufficiently high authority that such a system would
be inaugurated in a college, would draw at once within its walls
students enough eager to begin a thorough course of study, to secure
the success of the experiment. At first, the course of study already
in vogue might be carried on, merely adding to it such branches as
would not presuppose a previous preparation not actually possessed
by the students. For admission to the class of the next year to
come, the conditions might be raised one grade higher, and thus by
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