I..,. , ■• THE AMERICAN COLLEGE Reprint of a Monograph prepared for the Educational Exhibit of the United States Government at the Paris Exposition of 1900 V^^IX By ANDREW F. WEST Professor in Princeton University ■.f. WAV 1 b 192b THE AMERICAN COLLEGE Reprint of a Monograph prepared for the Educational Exhibit of the United States Government at the Paris Exposition of 1900 By ANDREW F. WEST Professor in Princeton University Copyright by J. B. LYON COMPANY 1899 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE I ITS PLACE AND IMPORTANCE The American college has no exact counterpart in the educational system of any other country. The elements which compose it are derived, it is true, from European sys- tems, and in particular from Great Britain. But the form under which these elements have been finally compounded is a form suggested and almost compelled by the needs of our national life. Of course it is far from true to say that Ameri-- can colleges have been uninfluenced in their organization by European tradition. On the contrary, the primary form of organization found in our earliest colleges, such as Har- vard, Yale and Princeton, is inherited from the collegiate life of the University of Cambridge. But it was subjected to modification at the very beginning, in order to adapt the infant college to its community, and progressively modified from time to time in order to keep in close sympathy with the civil, ecclesiastical and social character of the growing American nation. The outcome of all this has been an institution which, while deriving by inheritance the elements of its composition, and in some sense its form, has managed to develop for itself a form of organization which notably differs from the old-world schools. Moreover the college, as might be expected from the fore- going considerations, occupies the place of central importance in the historic outworking of American higher education, and remains to-day the one repository and shelter of liberal education as distinguished from technical or commercial training, the only available foundation for the erection of universities containing faculties devoted to the maintenance of pure learning, and the only institution which can furnish the preparation which is always desired, even though it is not 4 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [2IO yet generally exacted, by the better professional schools. Singularly enough, but not unnaturally, the relation of direc- tive influence sustained to-day by our colleges to the univer- sity problem is not unlike the relation held in the middle ages by the inferior faculty of arts at the University of Paris to the affairs of the university as a whole.' The points of resemblance are marked and are of a generic character. In both cases the college, or faculty of arts, appears as the preliminary instructor in the essentials of liberal education. In both cases this earlier education is recognized as the proper prerequisite for later study in the professional facul- ties. In both cases the inferior faculty, even if still undevel- oped or but partially developed, contains the germ of the higher university faculty of pure learning, the faculty of arts, sciences and philosophy. In this there is much that is remarkable, but nothing novel. For the American college in this respect merely perpetuates and develops a funda- mental tradition of liberal learning, which found its way from Paris through Oxford to Cambridge, and then from Cambridge to our shores. The parallel of our college his- tory with the old-world history holds good in other impor- tant respects, and would be most interesting to trace. Still, in order to understand the precise nature and unique influ- ence of the college in American education, it is not neces- sary here to trace step by step the story of its development, for in its various forms of present organization it reveals not only the normal type which has been evolved, but also sur- vivals of past stages of development, instances of variation and even of degeneration from the type, and interesting present experiments which may to some extent foreshadow the future. 11 THE OLD FASHIONED COLLEGE The three commonly accepted divisions of education into the primary, secondary and higher stages, while fully recog- nized in America, are not followed rigorously in our organi- ' Rashdall : Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. Chap. I, p. 318. 2ll] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 5 zation. The primary education is more clearly separable from the secondary than is the secondary from the higher or university stage. The chief cause for this partial blend- ing, or perhaps confusion, of the secondary and higher stages is the college. However illogical and even practi- cally indefensible such a mixture may appear in the eyes of some very able critics, it is still true that the historical out- working of this partial blending of two different things, commonly and wisely separated in other systems, has been compelled by the exigencies of our history and has at the same time been fruitful in good results. Let us then take as the starting point of our inquiry the fact that the American college, as contrasted with European schools, is a composite thing — partly secondary and partly higher in its organization. It consists regularly of a four- year course of study leading to the bachelor's degree. Up to the close of the civil war (1861-1865) it was mainly an institution of secondary education, with some anticipations of university studies toward the end of the course. But even these embryonic university studies were usually taught as rounding out the course of disciplinary education, rather than as subjects of free investigation. Boys entered college when they were fifteen or sixteen years of age. The average age of graduation did not exceed twenty years. The usual course of preparation in the best secondary schools occupied four years, but many students took only three or even two years. In the better schools they studied Latin and Greek grammar, four books of Caesar, six books of Virgil's i^neid, six orations of Cicero, three books of Xenophon's Anabasis and two of Homer's Iliad, together with arithmetic, plane geometry (not always complete) and algebra to, or at most through, quadratic equations. There were variations from this standard, but in general it may be safely asserted that the Latin, Greek and mathematics specified above consti- tuted as much as the stronger colleges required for entrance ; while many weaker ones with younger students and lower standards were compelled to teach some of these prepara- 6 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [2 12 tory studies in the first year or the first two years of the college course. With but few and unimportant exceptions the four-year course consisted of prescribed studies. They were English literature and rhetoric, Latin, Greek, mathe- matics, natural philosophy, chemistry, the elements of deduc- tive logic, moral philosopy, and political economy, and often a little psychology and metaphysics. Perhaps some ancient or general history was added. French and German were sometimes taught, but not to an important degree. At grad- uation the student received the degree of bachelor of arts, and then entered on the study of law, medicine or theology at some professional school, or went into business or into teach- ing in the primary or secondary schools. Such was, in barest outline, the scheme of college education a generation ago. Ill THE COLLEGE OF TO-DAY ; PROPOSALS TO SHORTEN THE COURSE At the present time things are very different. With the vast growth of the country in wealth and population since the civil war there has come a manifold development. The old four-year course, consisting entirely of a single set of prescribed studies leading to the one degree of bachelor of arts, has grown and branched in many ways. It has been modified from below, from above and from within. The better preparation now given in thousands of schools has enabled colleges to ask for somewhat higher entrance requirements and, what is more important, to exact them with greater firmness. The age of entrance has increased, until at the older and stronger colleges the average is now about eighteen and a half years. A four-year course leading to a bachelor's degree remains, although in some quarters the increasing age of the students is creating a tendency to shorten the course to three years, in order that young men may not be kept back too long from entering upon their professional studies. It was an easy thing a generation ago for young men to graduate at twenty, and a bright man could do it earlier without difficulty. After two or 213] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 7 three years spent in studying law or medicine he was ready to practice his profession, and then began to earn his living at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three. This was within his reach. But to-day a college student is twenty-two years old at graduation — as old as his father or grand- father were when they had finished their professional studies. If he follows in their steps, he must wait until he is twenty- five to begin earning his living. Accordingly boys are now passing in considerable numbers directly from secondary schools, which do not really complete their secondary educa- tion, to the professional schools, thus omitting college alto- gether. If this continues the effect both on colleges and pro- fessional schools will be discouraging. The problem is an eco- nomic one, and it is affecting college courses of study. One solution, as suggested above, is to shorten the course to three years. This has been advocated by President Eliot of Har- vard. Three years is the length of the course in the under- graduate college established in connection with the Johns Hopkins university. Another proposal is to keep the four- year course and allow professional in place of liberal studies in the last year, thus enabling the student to save one year in the professional school. This experiment is being tried at Columbia. A third proposal is to keep the college course absolutely free from professional studies, but to give abun- dant opportunities in the last year or even the last two years to pursue the liberal courses which most clearly underlie professional training, thus saving a year of professional study. That is, teach jurisprudence and history, but not technical law, or teach chemistry and biology, but not techni- cal medicine, or teach Greek, oriental languages, history and philosophy, but not technical theology. This seems to be the trend of recent experiments in Yale and Princeton. The one common consideration in favor of all these pro- posals is that a year is saved. Against the three-year course, however, it is argued that there is no need to abolish the four-year course in order to save a yean Against the admission of professional studies it is argued that work done 8 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [2 1 4 in a professional school ought not to count at the same time toward two degrees representing two radically different things. Against the proposal to allow the liberal studies which most closely underlie the professions, it is argued that this is a half-way measure, after all. Nevertheless for the present, and probably for a long time in most colleges, the four-year course is assured. IV ALTERATIONS IN THE CONTENT OF THE COURSE AND IN THE MEANING OF THE BACHELOr's DEGREE The four-year course, however, no longer leads solely to the degree of bachelor of arts, nor has this old degree itself remained unmodified. With the founding of schools of science, aiming to give a modern form of liberal education based mainly on the physical and natural sciences, and yet only too often giving under this name a technological course, or a somewhat incongruous mixture of technical and liberal studies, the degree of bachelor of science came into use as a college degree. Then intermediate courses were consti- tuted, resting on Latin, the modern languages, history, philosophy, mathematics and science, and thus the degree of bachelor of letters or bacheJor of philosophy came into use. Sometimes the various courses in civil, mechanical, mining or electrical engineering were made four-year undergradu- ate courses with their corresponding engineering degrees virtually rated as bachelor's degrees. Still other degrees of lesser importance came into vogue and obtained a foot- ing here and there a.: proper degrees to mark the comple- tion of a four-year college course. The dispersing pressure of the newer studies and the imperious practical demands of American life proved too strong either to be held in form or to be kept out by the barriers of the old course of purely liberal studies with its single and definite bachelor of arts degree. New degrees were accordingly added to represent the attempted organization of the newer tendencies in courses of study accordinj;^ to their various types. The organiza- tion of such courses was naturally embarrassed by grave 21 5] THE AMERICAN" COLLEGE difficulties which are as yet only partially overcome. Com- pared with the old course they lacked and still lack defi- niteness of structure. They aimed to realize new and imperfectly understood conceptions of education, and were composed of studies whose inner content was changing rap- idly, as in the case of the sciences, or else were "half-and- half " forms of education, difficult to arrange in a system that promised stability, as in the case of studies leading to the bachelor of letters or bachelor of philosophy. A graver source of trouble, in view of the too fierce practicality of American life, was the admission of various engineering and other technical studies as parallel undergraduate courses, thus tending to confuse in the minds of young students the radical distinction between liberal and utilitarian ideals in education, and tending furthermore, by reason of the attrac- tiveness of the "bread-and-butter" courses, to diminish the strength of the liberal studies. When in addition it is remembered that the newer courses, whether liberal, semi- liberal or technical, which found a footing of presumed equality alongside of the old bachelor of arts course, exacted less from preparatory schools in actual quantity of school work necessary for entrance into college, it will be seen that the level of preparation for college was really lowered. The present drift of opinion and action in colleges which offer more than one bachelor's degree is more reassuring than it was some twenty years ago. There is a noticeable tendency, growing stronger each year, to draw a sharp line between liberal and technical education and to retain under- graduate college education in liberal studies as the best foundation for technical studies, thus elevating the latter to a professsional dignity comparable with law. medicine and divinity. The more this conception prevails, the more will college courses in engineering be converted into graduate, or at least partially graduate courses. No doubt most inde- pendent schools will continue to offer their courses to young students of college age, but where such schools have been associated as parts of colleges or universities the tendency lO THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [2 I 6 to a clearer separation of technical from liberal studies in the manner indicated above seems likely to prevail. If this happy result can be considered assured, then the under- graduate college course, the sole guarantee of American liberal culture, will have a good chance to organize itself in accordance with its own high ideals, however imperfectly it may have realized these ideals in the past. Another hopeful tendency which is gradually gathering strength is to give the various bachelor's degrees more defi- nite significance by making them stand for distinct types of liberal or semi-liberal education. Three such types or forms are now slowly evolving out of the mass of studies with increasing logical consistency. First comes the historical academic course, attempting to realize the idea of a general liberal education, and consisting of the classical and modern literatures, mathematics and science, with historical, polit- ical and philosophical studies added, and leading to the bachelor of arts degree. The second is the course which aims to represent a strictly modern culture predominantly scientific in character, and culminating in the degree of bachelor of science. As this course originated in the demand for knowledge of the applied sciences in the arts and industries of modern life, the ideal of a purely modern lib- eral culture, predominantly scientific in spirit, was not easy to maintain. On the contrary, the technical aspects of the sciences taught tended more and more to create a demand for strictly technological instruction to the exclusion of the theoretical and non-technical aspects. It is this cause more than any other which has tended to restrict the energies of schools of science to the production of experts in the various mechanical and chemical arts and industries and has caused them to do so little for the advancement of pure science. Conscious of this difficulty, many schools of science have been giving larger place in the curriculum to some of the more available humanistic studies. Fuller courses in French and German have been provided for and the study of Eng- lish has been insisted upon with sharper emphasis. Eco- 2 17] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE II nomics, modern history and even the elements of philosophy have found place. Some improvement has also been effected by increasing the entrance requirements in quantity of school work. But in spite of all these efforts the course still suffers from an inner antagonism between technical and liberal impulses, and until the bachelor of science course finally set- tles into a strictly technical form, or else comes to represent a strictly modern liberal culture, its stability cannot be regarded as assured. In the independent scientific schools, unassociated with colleges, it seems probable the course will keep or assume a highly technical form, but Avherever it exists side by side with other bachelor's courses as a proposed rep- resentative of some form of liberal education, it does seem inevitable that the bachelor of science course will tend to conform to the ideal of a modern culture mainly scientific In character. But even if this result be achieved, the pro- cess of achievement promises to be slow and difficult. Few American colleges are strong enough financially to make the experiment, which it must be admitted involves considerable financial risk, and even where the risk may be safely assumed there still remains a serious theoretical difficulty in realizing this form of liberal education. The antagonism between the technical and liberal impulses in the course seems very difficult to eliminate completely. ¥or if the question be asked, Why should an American college student seek as his liberal education the studies which represent a purely mod- ern culture rather than pursue the bachelor of arts course, which professes to stand for a more general culture? the preference of most students will be found to rest upon their instinct for something useful and immediately available, rather than on a desire for things intellectual. This con- stantly militates against devotion to the intellectual value of their modern studies and tends more and more to drag them toward technical standards. The third aspirant to be considered a type of liberal col- lege education is the course intermediate in character between the two already discussed. It is labeled with the 12 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [2 I 8 degree of bachelor of letters or bachelor of philosophy. It differs from the other two courses mainly in its treatment of the classical languages. In its desire to placate the practical spirit it drops Greek, but retains Latin both as an aid to general culture and as a strong practical help in learning the modern languages. Notwithstanding its indeterminate and intermediate character, it is serving a valuable end by pro- viding thousands of students, who do not care for the clas- sical languages in their entirety, with a sufficiently liberal form of education to be of great service to them. It is by no means technical in spirit. Judged from the standpoint of the historical bachelor of arts course, it is a less gen- eral but still valuable culture. Judged from the standpoint of the bachelor of science course, it appears to escape the unhappy conflict between the technical and liberal impulses and anchors the student somewhat more firmly to funda- mental conceptions of general culture. These three are the principal forms of undergraduate col- lege education which in any degree profess to stand as types of liberal culture in this country at the present time, and they are usually labeled with three different degrees, as already indicated. But some colleges, following the example of Harvard, have dealt with the bachelor's degree very differently. The degree has been retained as the sole symbol of liberal col- lege education, but the meaning of the degree has been radically altered in order to make it sufficiently elastic to represent the free selections and combinations made by the students themselves out of the whole range of liberal studies. In these colleges it therefore no longer stands for the completion of a definite curriculum composed of a few clearly-related central studies constituting a positive type. What it does stand for is not quite so easy to define, because of the variation of practice in different col- leges and the wide diversity in the choice of studies exer- cised by individual students in any one college. But, gen- erally speaking, it means that the student is free to choose 219] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 1 3 his own studies. In the undergraduate college connected with the Johns Hopkins university at Baltimore choice is regulated by prescribing moderately elastic groups of cog- nate studies, the student being required to say which group he will choose. In Harvard college the range of choice is restricted in no such way. The student is allowed to choose what he prefers, subject to such limitations as the priority of elementary to advanced courses in any subject, and the necessary exclusions compelled by the physical necessity of placing many exercises at the same time, in order to accom- modate the hundreds of courses offered within the limits of the weekly schedule. In Columbia college the degree is still different in respect to the mode of the student's freedom of choice, and especially in the admission of professional studies in the last year of the course. A Columbia student in his senior year may be pursuing his first year's course in law or medicine, and at the same time receiving double credit for this work, both toward the degree of bachelor of arts and toward the professional degree of doctor of medi- cine or bachelor of laws. These examples are sufficient to indicate the variety of meaning found in colleges which have changed the historical significance of the bachelor of arts degree. V OTHER PHASES OF CHANGE Up to this point we have looked at the American college mainly from the outside. We observed in the college of a generation ago an institution of liberal education providing a single four-year course, consisting entirely of prescribed studies for young men from sixteen to twenty years of age, and culminating in one bachelor's degree of fairly uniform intentional meaning. We observe in the college of to-day the developed successor of the earlier college, providing a four-year course consisting generally of a mixture of pre- scribed and elective studies in widely varying proportions. The average age of the students has increased at least two years, and at the end of the course there is a multiform instead of a uniform bachelor's degree, or in some instances 14 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [220 a single bachelor's degree of multiform meaning. To some extent the undergraduate collegian has become a university student. To what extent ? is the real question around which a controversy of vital importance is raging. The profound change indicated by these external symp- toms, a change so full of peril in the directions of disintegra- tion and confusion, and yet so full of promise if rationally organized, has been in progress since the civil war, and is still steadily and somewhat blindly working along towards its consummation. An exact estimate of such a state of affairs, a diagnosis which shall at the same time have the value of a prognosis for all colleges, is manifestly impossible at the present time. The difficult thing in any such attempt is not merely to understand the change from a uniform to a multiform mode of life and organization, but to understand what it really is that is changing. This something that is changing is the old-fashioned American college. It seems simple enough to understand what this was, but at the same time it needs to be remembered that the old-fashioned col- leges, while aiming to follow out a single course of study ending in a single degree of single meaning, nevertheless did not succeed in exhibiting- such close individual resem- blance to each other as is to be found, let us say, among the lycees of France, the public schools of England or the gym- nasia of Germany. Many so-called colleges really served as preparatory schools for larger and stronger colleges, and many so-called universities did not attain and in fact do not yet attain to the real, though less pretentious dignity of the better colleges. In fact "university," as President Oilman observes, is only too often a " majestic synonym " for " col- lege." To aid in giving as much simplicity and consequent clearness to our view as is necessary to disclose the leading features of the situation, neglecting all the others, we may therefore at once discard from our consideration all except the better colleges which, when taken together, exhibit the dominant tendency. How, then, have these better colleges changed? Speak- 22 1] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 15 ing generally, they have changed in a way which reflects the diversified progress of the country, and yet in some sense they have had an important influence in leading and organ- izing the national progress itself. Then, too, the change is not merely a change of form, but of spirit. In the older days scarcely any college had as many as four or five hundred students, and the range of studies, even if important, was limited. The faculty of the college exercised a strong paternal anxiety and oversight on behalf of the morals and religion, as well as over the studies of the students. The authority of the president was almost patriarchal in charac- ter. Not highly developed insight into the problems of edu- cation, but plain common sense in governing students was the condition of a successful presidency. The life of the students was mildly democratic, being tempered by the gen- erally beneficent absolutism of the president and the faculty, which in turn was itself tempered by occasional student outbreaks. According to the last report of the United States commissioner of education (1896-97) there are now 472 colleges,' excluding those for women only. Seventy- seven of these enroll more than 200 undergraduate stu- dents, and of these seventy-seven colleges twenty-four enroll over 500, and eight over 1,000. The range of studies, as already mentioned, has increased. With the strengthening of preparatory courses, the school preparation of students has improved, and at the same time their average age at entrance has risen. The number of professors has niultiplied. The old-fashioned college professor, the man of moderate general scholarship and of austere yet kindly interest in the personal welfare of those he taught, still remains ; but at his side has appeared more and more fre- quently the newer type of American college professor, the man of high special learning in some one subject or branch of that subject, who considers it his primary duty to investi- gate, his next duty to teach, and his least duty to exercise a 'That is. 472 " colleges and universities." As almost every university, real or nominal, contains a college, the total of 472 colleges is approximately correct. l6 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [222 personal care for the individual students. Perhaps the old type will be replaced by the new. Such a result, however, would not be an unmixed gain, and it is indeed fortunate that our finest college professors to-day endeavor to combine high special attainments as scholars with deep interest in the personal well-being of their students. The authority of the faculty is still sufficient, but is exercised differently. Stu- dent self-government is the order of the day, and the more this prevails the less is exercise of faculty authority found to be necessary. With student self-government there has naturally come an Increase of intensity in the democratic character of student life. The presidents of our larger col- leges, and even of many of the smaller, are becoming more and more administrative officers and less and less teachers. It is no doubt something of a loss that the students should not have the intimate personal acquaintance with the presi- dent enjoyed by students a generation ago, but this can- not be avoided in places where a thousand undergradu-> ates are enrolled. Out-door sports have also entered to modify and improve the spirit of our academic life. They have developed their own evils, but at the same time have done wonders for the physical health of the students, the diminution of student disorders and the fostering of an intense espi'it de coi'ps. In the reaction from the asceticism of our early college life there is little doubt our athletics have gone too far ; so far as to diveft in a noticeable degree the student's attention from his studies. But it is gratifying to notice that the abuses of college athletics can be corrected, and that they are to some extent self-correcting. It must not be forgotten that unlike his father or grandfather, whose college life was so largely spent indoors, the American stu- dent of to-day lives outdoors as much as possible. The moral and religious spirit of the college of to-day is inher- ited from the old college. Nearly all our colleges are avowedly or impliedly Chris- tian. A respectable minority of them are Roman Catholic. The large majority are under Protestant influences, some- 223J I'HE AMERICAN COLLEGE 1 7 times denominational, but generally of an unsectarian char- acter even in the church colleges. In most of them the stu- dent is expected to attend certain religious exercises, such as morning prayers ; in many, however, all such attendance is voluntary. The voluntary religious life of the under- graduates finds its expression in various societies, which endeavor to promote the Christian fellowship and life of their members. While moral and religious convictions are freer and sometimes laxer than of old the Christian life in our colleges is real and pervasive. As a rule the student is so absorbed by the scholastic, athletic and miscellaneous activities of his college that he sees little outside social life. This is particularly true in colleges which enjoy truly academic seclusion amid rural' surroundings, for here more than anywhere else is to be seen the natural unperturbed outworking of the undergraduate spirit. It is the old spirit enlarged and liberalized, — the spirit which finds its delight in a free, democratic, self-respect- ino- enjoyment of the four years which are so often looked back upon as the happiest four years of life. VI INCREASED FREEDOM IN STUDIES. DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTIVE COURSES Such are some of the non-scholastic aspects of our present college life. They are important in that they give tone to the whole picture, but they do not account for what, after all, is the great transformation which has been wrought, for that transformation is distinctly scholastic. It is caused by the increase of students, their better preparation and their greater age. The studies which by common consent made up the curriculum leading to the old bachelor of arts degree are now being completed before the end, sometimes by the middle of the college course. There is to-day no reason why a young man of twenty should not know as much as his father knew at twenty. But at twenty his father had gradu- ated with the bachelor of arts degree, whereas at twenty the son is only half way through his college course. In other 1 8 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [224 words, he has passed the time of prescription and entered upon the time of his freedom. As this fact forced itself more and more upon the older and stronger colleges, experi- ments wfere made in granting a limited amount of elective freedom to students in the latter part of their course ; first in the senior year and then in the junior year, until in some instances the whole four-year course is now elective. The solid block of four years' prescribed study has been cleft downward, part of the way at least, by the " elective " wedge, thin at its entering edge, but widening above the more it enters and descends. To-day the problem of the relation of prescribed to elective studies is a question of con- stant interest and perpetual readjustment. On the whole, the area of elective opportunity is extending downward, but whether this downward extension is being accomplished by injuring the foundations of liberal education, is to-day as grave a question as any we have to meet. In some colleges a student may obtain the bachelor of arts degree without studying any science, or he may omit his classics, or he may know nothing of philosophy. The solutions offered for this perplexing problem are many. The first proposal, which has now scarcely an advocate, except possibly some laudatores tetnporis acti, is plainly an impossible one. It is to insist on the old-fashioned f.our-year prescribed course. But the old-fashioned course is gone. It cannot be restored, because it no longer suits our age. Young men will not go to college and remain there until the age of twenty-two years without some opportunity to exercise freedom of choice in their studies. The second proposal is to constitute the undergraduate course entirely, or almost entirely, of elective studies. It is argued that when a young man is eighteen or nineteen years of age, he is old enough to choose his liberal studies, and that his own choice will be better for him individually than any prescription the wisest college faculty may make. The advocates of this view admit its dangers. They see the perils of incoherency and discontinuity in the choice of 225J THE ami: RICA. V COLLEGE Ig studies. They see that many students are influenced, not by the intrinsic vahie of the studies, but by their Hking for this or that instructor, or the companionship of certain stu- dents, or for the easiness of those crowded courses which in college slang are called " softs " or " snaps " or " cinches." Yet they argue that the college student must be free at some time, that his sense of responsibility will be developed the sooner he is compelled to choose for himself, and that he will have the stimulating and sobering consciousness that what he does is his own act and not the prescription of others for him. Those who oppose this view argue that the academic free- dom here proposed belongs to university rather than to col- lege students ; that the American freshman is not a university student in the sense in which that term has been commonly understood in the educated world. He has not spent eight, nine or ten years in secondary' studies, as is the case in France, England or Germany. On the contrary, he has usually spent not more than four years in such secondary studies — occasionally a year or so more. At eighteen or nineteen years of age, he, therefore, comes to college with less training and mental maturity than the French, English or German youth possesses on entering his university. If, therefore, he is to be as well educated as they are, some of his time in college, the first two years at least, should be spent in perfecting his properly secondary edu- cation before entering upon that elective freedom which, as is generally conceded, has a place and a large place in our present undergraduate courses. The arguing on this ques- tion has been interminable, and almost every intellectual interest of our colleges is bound up in its proper solution. A third proposal is a conservative modification of the one just mentioned. It is to prescribe groups of cognate studies with the object of concentrating attention on related subjects in that field which the student may prefer, as, for example, physical science or ancient literature or philosoph)-. Of course the advantage claimed for this mode is that it allows the student to choose the field of study he likes, and then 20 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [226 safeguards him against incoherency by requiring him to pur- sue a group of well-related courses in that field. Or he may elect the "old-fashioned college course," if he likes. The advocates of wider freedom object to this as fettering spon- taneity of choice, as not recognizing the fact that there are many students for whom it is advantageous to choose a study here and there at will, as a piece of side work outside the chosen field of their activity. The objectors to this plan of restricted groups and also to the plan of practically unre- stricted freedom, assert that the fundamental difficulty in basing any college course on a single group of cognate studies within some one field is that it offers temptations to premature specialization at the expense of liberal education. Still another proposal remains to be considered. It is the proposal of those who believe that the best type of liberal education is to be found in the historic bachelor of arts course, which has been the center and strength of Ameri- can college life. They concede, however, that the other bachelor's courses which have been established will pfive a valuable education to many, provided these courses are consistently organized according to their own ideals. They hold that it is possible to ascertain with sufficient exactness just what studies ought to be prescribed as integral parts of these courses, and that it is the preliminary training given in these prescribed studies which develops maturity in the young student and enables him to choose intelligently his later elective studies. At the present time, in their view, it is not wise to introduce elective studies until about the middle of the college course. These studies, once intro- duced, should themselves be organized and related in a sys- tem, and connected with the underlying system of prescribed studies. The principle of freedom should be introduced gradually, not suddenly. A form of this view which finds a good deal of support is that elective studies should be introduced first of all in the form of extensions of subjects already studied by the student, in order that he may make his first experiment of choice in an area where he is most 2 2 7] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 2 1 familiar. According to this view the second stage of elec- tive studies should be the introduction of large general courses in leading subjects, accompanied or flanked by special courses for students of exceptional ability in special direc- tions, and finally leading to as high a degree of specializa- tion as the resources of the colleofe will allow. But in this region the American college merges itself into the university, and it may be fairly asserted that in the last year and in some colleges in the last two years the student is really a university student. In these various ways we are to-day experimenting in order to find a form under which to organize the rapidly-increasing mass of elective studies. VII MODES OF INSTRUCTION. ACADEMIC HONORS Instruction is still mainly conducted by recitation and lec- ture, the recitation finding its chief place in the earlier and the lecture in the later part of the course. For purposes of recitation the classes are divided into sections of twenty-five or thirty students, and the exercise is usually based on a definitely allotted portion of some standard text-book. Much has been done to improve the character of this exer- cise. The attempt is made to make it something more vital than the mere listening to students as they recite what they have learned. The correction of mistakes, the attempt to lead the student along so as to discover for himself the cause of his mistakes, the endeavor to teach the entire class through the performance of each individual, to carry the whole group along as one man and thus conduct them through a stimulating and pleasant hour, is the aim of the more skilful instructors. Variety and consequent freshen- ing of attention and effort are added by setting collateral topics of special interest to this or that student, for him to look up somewhat independently. And it must be confessed that the professors most skilled in the art of conducting recitations, rather than those who depend wholly on lectures, leave the most abiding impression. The old-fashioned reci- tation too often put the student into a laborious treadmill. 22 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [228 and monotony was the result. But the best recitations in our colleges to-day are fine examples of dialectic play between instructor and student, and the best moments of such exercises are remembered with enthusiasm. While instruction by recitation continues with effectiveness in the latter part of the course, especially with smaller groups of students, yet instruction by lecture is the rule. The lec- turer may have to face a class which enrolls as many students as the whole college contained a generation ago. Two or three hundred may assemble to hear him. He delivers his lecture, while those before him take notes or sometimes, as they listen, read the outline of his discourse in a printed syllabus prepared for the use of the class, and add such jottings as may seem desirable. In many lecture courses the recitation is employed as an effective auxiliary. But other forms of instruction find place. In all except the elementary courses in science the laboratory plays a most important part, and even in the lectures in the introductory courses in physics, chemistry or biology full experimental illustration is the rule. Then, too, the library serves as a sort of laboratory for the humanistic studies. Students are encouraged to learn the use of the college library as auxiliary to the regular exercises of the curriculum. Certain books are appointed as collateral reading, and the written exami- nation at the end of the term often takes account of this outside reading. But American students read too little. That prolonged reading, which gives such wide and assur- ing acquaintance with the important literature of any sub- ject, is as yet unattempted in a really adequate degree. The academic year is divided into two, and sometimes into three terms. At the end of each term the student is required to pass a fairly rigorous set of written examina- tions. Oral examinations have largely disappeared. Some- times a high record of attainment in recitations during the term entitles a student to exemption from examination, but this is not common. In awarding honors for scholarly pro- ficiency the old academic college confined itself almost 229] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE • 23 entirely to general honors for eminence in the whole round of studies. The " first honor-man " in older days was the hero and pride of his class. At graduation he usually deliv- ered the valedictory or else the Latin salutatory. Honors for general eminence still remain in most colleges. The rank list of the class at graduation either arranges the stu- dents in ordinal position (in which case the first honor-man still appears) or else divides the class into a series of groups arranged in order of general scholarly merit. In such cases the old first honor-man is one of the select few who consti- tute the highest group in the class. But special honors in particular studies, while not unknown in the past, are really a development of our time. Undoubtedly they have tended to increase the interest of abler students in their favorite studies. A student trying for special honors is, of course, specializing in some sense, though he is not ordinarily pur- suing original research. He is rather enlarging and deepen- ing his acquaintance with some one important subject, such as history or mathematics. But sometimes he is beginning independent investigation, and thus passes beyond the col- legiate sphere of study. VIII STUDENT LIFE Let us try to picture the career of a young American of the usual type at one of our older eastern colleges to-day. At eighteen years of age he has completed a four-year course in some secondary school, let us say at a private academy in the middle states, or some flourishing western high school. He does not need to make the long journey to his future college in order to be examined for entrance, but finds in the distant town where he lives, or at least in some neigbor- ing city, a local entrance examination conducted by a repre- sentative of his intended college. The days and exact hours of examination and the examination papers are the same as for the examination held at the collej^e. His answers are sent on to be marked and estimated. In a week or two he receives notice of his admission to the freshman class. 24 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [23O When the long summer vacation is over he sets out for his college. Having passed his entrance examinations, he is now- entitled to secure rooms in one of the dormitories, or else to find quarters outside the college campus in town. His name is duly enrolled in the matriculation book and his student career begins. He usually comes with an earnest purpose to study, or at least to be regular in all his attendance. His newness and strangeness naturally pick him. out for a good deal of notice on the part of the older students, especi- ally those of the sophomore class. He is subjected to some good-natured chaffing and guying, and perhaps to little indignities. If he takes it good-naturedly, the annoyance soon ceases. If, however, he shows himself bumptious or opinionated or vain or " very fresh," his troubles are apt to continue. Unfortunately it is not impossible they will cul- minate in some act of mean bullying, known in college par- lance as " hazing." The entering freshman is too often like the newly-arrived slave mentioned in Tacitus, — conservis ludibrio est ; and it would be little comfort for him to know that in this respect he is also a lineal successor of the bejaunus, the freshman " fledgeling " among the students of medieval Paris. But the daily round of college exercises demands his attention, and in the class room he begins to pass through a process of attrition more beneficent in its spirit. Under the steady measuring gaze of the instructor, and the unuttered but very real judgment of his classmates who sit about him, he begins to measure himself and to be measured by college standards. Probably for the first time in his life he is compelled to recognize that he must stand solely on his merits. The helps and consolations of home and of the limited circle in which his boyhood was fostered and sheltered are far away. He is learning something not down in the books ! and what he is thus discovering is well pictured in the words of Professor Hibben : "There is a fair field to all and no favor. Wealth does not make for a man nor the lack of it ao-ainst him. The students live their lives upon one social level. There is a deep-seated intoler- 231] THF. AMKRTCAX COLLEGE 25 ance of all snobbishness and pretension. The dictum of the varsity field, ' No grand-stand playing ! ' obtains in all quarters of the undergraduate life. It signifies no cant in religion ; no pedantry in scholarship ; no affectation in manners ; no pretence in friendship. This is the first and enduring lesson which the freshman must learn. He learns and he forgets many other lessons, but this must be held in lively remembrance until it has become a second nature." But he has many encouragements. He is passing out of callow youth toward manhood, and his classmates are in the same situation with him. Here is the impulse which sud- denly sweeps the whole entering class together in intimate comradeship. And so he starts out with his companions on the ups and downs of his four-year journey. No wonder so many college graduates say freshman year was the most valuable of all; — it was surely the hardest. His college comradeship continues and constitutes his social world. Day after day, term after term, they are thrown together in all the relationships of student life. In the classroom, at the " eating clubs," at the athletic games, in the musical, literary and religious societies, in scenes of exuberant jollification and careless disorder, and in endless criticism of the faculty or of the various courses of study, how their frank and unconventional ways constantly surprise and bewilder the common-place American philistine ! You may pass across the lawns of many a campus at any hour of the day and almost any hour of the night in term-time, and rarely is there a time when some student life is not astir. vSome are thronging toward the lecture hall to the punctual ringing of the college bell, meeting returning throngs whose exercises are just finished. They are walking by twos or threes, smoking or chatting or mildly " playing horse " in some very pleasant way, unmindful and probably unaware of Lord Chesterfield's horrified injunction to his son : " No horse- play, I beseech of you." Or they are thronging to fill the "bleachers" at a baseball or football game that is about to be played on the college grounds. The different varieties 26 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [232 of the college cheer startle the air, and afford some color of excuse to the ingenious hypothesis that our student cheers are derived from Indian war whoops. Or else when they are assembled in Sunday chapel, a decorous but not always solemn audience, their capacity for " simultaneous emotion " appears in their spirited singing of a favorite hymn, or per- haps shows itself in the sudden sensation that sweeps across the chapel like a lightly rustling breeze in response to an inopportune remark of some inexperienced visiting clergy- man. Or in the moonlit evenings of October, the time when the trees are turning red and yellow, their long processions pass to and fro, singing college songs. Truly the American collegian is brimful of the "gregarious instinct." In addition to this ever-present gregarious comradeship which environs and inspires him, our entering freshman finds the deeper intimacies of close individual friendship. As a matter of course he has some one most intimate friend, generally his room-mate or "chum." Side by side they mingle with their fellows. They stand together and, it may be, they fall together, and then rise together. And thus the class is paired off, and yet not to the lessening of the deep class fellowship. Here indeed is a form of communism, temporary and local, but most intense. They freely use things in common, not excepting the property of the college. The distinction between victim and tintin does not hold rigorously. Td rm^ (piAwy y.ov^d Said the ancient poet, and so say they. Accordingly a desirable hat or scarf or some article of athletic costume changes ownership again and again, with nothing sought in return. They are welcome to enter each others' rooms at pleasure and use their friends' tobacco and stationery, or to borrow such articles of furniture and bric-a- brac as will brighten their own rooms for some special occasion. The doors of their apartments are commonly left open ; sometimes a latch-string is ingeniously arranged so the door can be opened from the outside. Money, however, stands on a different basis from other valuables, It is freely loaned for an indefinite time, but is strictly repaid. A 2331 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 27 Student who lends his fellow money at interest cannot live in a college community. Our student, unless he is an unusual recluse, takes some part in athletics. If he is not able to win a place on the football team or baseball nine or crew, which represents his alma mater in intercollegiate contests, he is very likely to be found playing ball in some organization improvised for the day, or trying his hand at tennis or golf. The bicycle is a necessity of his life, and on it he rides to recitations and lectures, to his meals and to the athletic field. He has still other interests outside the curriculum. He may be a member of the voluntary religious society of the students. Perhaps he gets a place on the glee club or dramatic club. He may become one of the editors of the daily college paper or of the monthly literary magazine. Perhaps he is manager or assistant business manager for one or another undergraduate organization. Then there are the whist clubs and time-consuming chess clubs. There are also circles for outside reading and discussion springing up around the course of study, as well as the societies which train in speaking and debating. Perhaps he may win the distinction of representing his college in an intercollegiate debate, and success in intercollegiate debating is highly coveted. The contestants are greatly honored, for debat- ing and athletics form the principal bond of union between the different colleges and give to their participants intercol- legiate distinction. Until the student passes out of freshman year, he is not always free to choose what kind of clothes he will wear. A freshman wearing a tall hat and carrying a walking-stick is an offense to the other classes. In some colleges fresh- men are not allowed to wear the colors, except on rare occa- sions. But as soon as he becomes a sophomore he is free to do as he likes. Then he and his classmates may suddenly appear wearing various hats, picturesque and often grotesque in appearance, and revel particularly in golfing suits. Toward the close of the course their daily dress becomes more con- 28 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [234 ventional, though the universal interest in athletics continues to affect the student mode all the way to the end. He has other amusements besides athletics, and these again are found in the student circle. His briarwood pipe goes with him almost everywhere. He smokes as he studies; he smokes at the games. Seated side by side with thousands of other students and alumni at the great intercollegiate matches, he helps form the fragrant cloud of blue incense that rises from the "bleachersj' and drifts over the field. In the evening, when the work of the scholastic day is done, he sits with his comrades at an unconventional " smoker," or else they may gather round the table of some restaurant with pipe and *' stein ; " for the American student who drinks at all prefers beer to either wine or whisky. At such evening sessions the different phases of student politics are discussed again and again. College songs are sung, the air being carried in that sonorous baritone which is the dominant sound in all our student music. Tales and jests fill out the hour. At the end the college cheer is given as the men start stroll- ing homeward, singing as they go. Arrived on the campus they disperse, and their good-night calls echo from the doors and windows of the different dormitories. And so the day ends where it began ; within that closed circle where every student lives in " shouting distance " of the others. Our former freshman is getting on bravely tovv^ard the end of his course. He is now a free, familiar, established deni- zen of his college. He "owns " it. New freshmen, unpleas- antly raw and needing to be taught their place, — new fresh- men so different from what he is and yet so like what he once was, are crowding in at the bottom of the course. They look up to him and his compeers in the senior class with no r *^le awe and hope. What he is, they may become. In . m they "see their finish." In them he reluctantly recalls his beginnings. The closing months of senior year pass swiftly His class procession is preparing to march out into the world, and there take its place as a higher order of fresh- men in the long file of the classes of alumni advancing with 235] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 2^ their thinning ranks toward middle manhood and beyond, — - and when commencement is over his undergraduate Hfe is ended. What has he acquired in the four years ? At least some insight into the terms and commonplaces of liberal learning and some discipline in the central categories of knowledge, some moral training acquired in the punctual performance of perhaps unwelcome daily duty and some reverence for things intellectual and spiritual. He is not only a very different man from what he was when he entered, but very different from what he could have become had he not entered. He is wiser socially. He is becoming cosmopol- itan. Awkwardness, personal eccentricity, conceit, diffidence, and all that is callow or forward or perverse have been taken from him, so far as the ceaseless attrition of his fellow- students and professors has touched him. He has been unconsciously developed into the genuine collegian. He is still frank and unconventional. But he has become more tolerant, better balanced, more cultivated and more open- minded, and thus better able to direct himself and others. This is the priceless service his college has rendered him. It is little wonder his student affiliations last. As he goes out to take his place among the thousands of his fellow alumni it is natural that his and their filial devotion to their academic mother should last through life. He will return with his class at their annual or triennial or decennial or later pilgrimages to the old place. No matter what univer- sity he may subsequently attend, here or abroad, his college allegiance remains unshaken. It is this which explains the active interest shown by our alumni. In the best sense they advertise their college to the public, and it is to their exer- tions the recent rapid advancement of many of our colleges is largely due. IX ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. STUDENT EXPENSES The form of government is simple. A college corpora- tion, legally considered, consists of a body of men who have 30 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [236 obtained the charter and who hold and administer the prop- erty. Where a particular state has established a college or even a university, which regularly includes a college, the members of the corporation are commonly styled regents, and are appointed by the state to hold office for a limited term of years. But most colleges have been established as private corporations. In this case the title is vested in a board of trustees, sometimes composed of members who hold office for life, or else composed of these associated with others who are elected for a term of years. Boards of trus- tees holding office for life usually constitute a close corpo- ration, electing their own successors as vacancies occur. The two chief functions of such governing bodies, whether known as regents or trustees or by any other name, are to safeguard the intent of the charter and to manage the prop- erty. They give stability to our college system. To carry out the main purpose for which the charter was obtained they create a faculty of professors and instructors and entrust the general headship to a president. The president and professors usually hold office for life. In some places provision is beginning to be made for the retirement of pro- fessors on pensions as they grow old. Instructors and some- times assistant professors are appointed for a limited time, such appointments being subject to renewal or promotion. In the larger colleges the president is assisted in his admin- istrative work by one or more deans. By immemorial tradi- tion the president and faculty are charged with the conduct of the entire instruction and discipline. They have the power to admit and dismiss students. The conferring of degrees belongs to the corporation, but this power is almost invari- ably exercised according to recommendations made by the faculty. Honorary degrees, however, are sometimes given by the trustees or regents on their own initiative. In state colleges the income is derived from taxation ; in others from endowments, often supplemented by annual sub- scriptions for special purposes. The increase of income of a college founded by a state depends on the increase of the 237] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 31 wealth of the state and the liberality of disposition shown by the legislature. State colleges receive few private gifts. But the private colleges are cut off from dependence on the state, and have to rely on private gifts. This stream of pri- vate liberality flows almost unceasingly. The fact that many colleges are integral parts of real or so-called universities makes it difficult to say how much the specifically collegiate endowments and incomes amount to. But a few significant facts may be mentioned. No college president, unless he is at the same time the president of a university, receives as high a salary as ten thousand dollars annually. He is more likely to receive four, five or six thousand dollars. Two thousand dollars is considered a good professor's salary in small col- leges ; three thousand is a usual salary in the larger colleges, while few professors receive more than four thousand. The expenses of individual students vary greatly. In some places there is no charge for tuition ; in others they must pay as much as one hundred or one hundred and fifty dollars. In little country colleges the total cost for a year often falls within three hundred dollars ; in the larger old eastern colleges, drawing patronage from all parts of the land, the student who must pay all his bills and receives no aid in the form of a scholarship can hardly get along with less than six or seven hundred dollars, exclusive of his expenses in the summer vacation. The average expenses in some of the oldest colleges, according to tables prepared by succes- sive senior classes, is higher than this, running up to eight or nine hundred dollars, or even more. But these institu- tions afford the student of limited means multiplied oppor- tunities for self-help. There are many instances where bright boys have been able to win their way through, standing high in their classes and at the same time supporting themselves entirely by their own exertions. Moreover many colleges possess scholarships which are open to able students who need temporary pecuniary help. The young American of narrow means, if he be of fair ability and industry, can almost always manage to find his way through college 32 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [238 X THE COLLEGE IS AMERICAN The college lies very close to the people. Distinctions of caste may manifest themselves occasionally, and yet the col- lege is stoutly and we believe permanently democratic. Its relation to the better side of our national life has been pro- foundly intimate from the beginning. The graduates of Harvard and Yale in New England, of Princeton and Colum- bia in the middle states, and of the College of William and Mary in Virginia contributed powerfully to the formation of our republic. Edmund Burke attributed the "intractable spirit " of the Americans to " their education," and by this he meant the college education. " The colleges," wrote President Stiles of Yale shortly after the revolution, "have been of signal advantage in the present day. When Britain withdrew all her wisdom from America this revolution found above two thousand in New England only, who had been educated in the colonies, intermingling with the people and communicating knowledge among them." John Adams of Harvard delighted to find in President Witherspoon of Princeton " as high a son of liberty as any in America." Hampden-Sidney college in Virginia, founded about the time of the revolution, incorporated in its charter the follow- ing clause : " In order to preserve in the minds of the stu- dents that sacred love and attachment which they should ever bear to the principles of the ever-glorious revolution, the greatest care and caution shall be used in selecting such professors and masters, to the end that no person shall be so elected unless the uniform tenor of his conduct manifest to the world his sincere affection for the liberty and inde- pendence of the United States of America." And from that day to this the collegiate spirit and the national spirit have been at one. Rightly, indeed, did our appreciative French visitor. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, perceive that the place to find " the true Americans" is in our collei>-e halls; '' les vrais Ameincaiyis, la base de la nation, Vespoir de ravenirT Scarcely one in a hundred of our white male youth of college 239] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 33 age has gone to college. But this scanty contingent has furnished one-half of all the presidents of the United States, most of the justices of the supreme court, not far from one- half of the cabinet and of the national senate, and almost a third of the house of representatives. No other single class of equal numbers has been so potent in our national life. FIRST NOTE A FEW STATISTICS In the reports of the United States commissioner of education, colleges, universities, schools of technology and professional schools are classed under the general heading of " Institutions for Higher Education." The latest report is for the academic year ending July first, 1897. The statis- tics for colleges are to be found in chapter XXXVI (pp. 1648-1755). A study of the tables given discloses clearly the difficulty of separating the whole body of collegiate facts by themselves and the further difficulty of distinguish- ing between the really substantial and the nominal institu- tions. " One of the most discouraging features in our system of higher education," says the commissioner in his report (p. 1647), "is the lack of any definite, or, in fact, in a large number of states the lack of any requirements or conditions exacted of institutions when they are chartered and author- ized to confer degrees. This condition of affairs is largely, if not entirely, responsible for the large number of weak, so-called colleges and universities scattered throughout our country, institutions that are no better than high schools, and in a large number of cases do not furnish as good an education as may be obtained in good secondary schools." It is not an exaggeration to say that more than half of our professed colleges are not worthy of the name. Accord- ingly since it is impossible to separate and evaluate in an exact way the purely collegiate statistics, especially in short limits, this paper has been devoted to general char- acterization and description. We are still far from having a complete account of the history and present condition of our colleges. While good special histories exist for some '34 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [24O of the older institutions, no comprehensive and detailed general account of adequate character has yet been written. In view of the limited means at its command, the bureau of education in Washington from year to year has done all that could be asked in its reports. But it is greatly to be desired that congress shall furnish the commissioner of edu- cation with the means necessary to institute an elaborate and searching investigation, which shall bring to light the real status, the exact inner condition of all the colleges. In the report mentioned, statistics for universities and colleges are at times necessarily given together. Every uni- versity, with hardly an exception, contains a college. The whole number of professedly collegiate students enrolled in universities and colleges for men and for both sexes and for women is 84,955 (P- 1654). The male students number 52,439 (p. 1670). The estimated population of the United States in 1896 was 70,595,321, or one college student to 831 of the population. The states which enroll the greatest number of students attending college are : Massachusetts 8 in New York 7 257 Pennsylvania 6 527 Ohio 5 257 IlHnois 5 692 College students are found in greatest numbers in the belt beginning in New England, passing southwestward through the middle states, and thence extending broadly across the middle west. These northeastern and north- central portions contain 70 per cent of the college students and 63 per cent of the population of the whole country ; 114 colleges, exclusive of colleges for women, enrolling 31,941 students and generally possessing the largest endow- ments, are under no ecclesiastical control ; 59 colleges, enrolling 5,954, are Roman Catholic ; 284 are under the control of various Protestant denominations and enroll 29,104. It thus appears that the division of student enroll- ment between non-sectarian and sectarian colleges is not 24 I J THE A.MKRICAN COLLEGE 35 very uneven, but the non-sectarian colleges show an average enrollment of nearly three hundred and the church colleges of about one hundred. The number of professors and instructors in all colleges, except colleges for women only, is 7,228; 749 of these are women. So far as reported there were 31,762 students pur- suing the course for the degree of bachelor of arts ; 1 1,812 the courses leading to the degrees of bachelor of letters and bachelor of philosophy; 12,711 the course leading to the degree of bachelor of science, and 4,190 the courses leading to various other first degrees of minor importance. The total is 60,475. These figures indicate that a little more than half our collegiate undergraduates, who seek any degree, are studying for the degree of bachelor of arts, which still generally means, with some important exceptions, that they have had a classical education. The figures for the bachelor of letters and the bachelor of philosophy may be properly associated in one total as representing the intermediate type, which enrolls a little more than one-third of the number study- ing for the bachelor of arts. The figures for the bachelor of science, as will be observed, do not materially differ from the total for the bachelor of philosophy and bachelor of letters. Turning to the table on page 1673 it appears that the pro- portion of students who received the degree of bachelor of arts at graduation in 1897, as compared with other bachelor's degrees, is very nearly the same as the proportion indicated by the figures which represent undergraduate enrollment. SECOND note: LIST OF AMERICAN COLLEGES ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER As has been explained, it is impossible at present to effect a perfect statistical separation between colleges and univer- sities. The list given below embraces all colleges and uni- versities reported up to July first, 1897, excepting those for women only. It is primarily a college list, although the universities of the country appear in it. As a matter of fact the older real universities have usually grown up around 36 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [242 colleges, and strong universities of recent establishment, such as Johns Hopkins and Chicago, regularly contain colleges. Clark university in Massachusetts is the only significant exception ; it has no undergraduate department. The names of many of the older colleges have changed. Harvard col- lege is now the center of Harvard university and Yale col- lege of Yale university. Princeton university originated under the name of the college of New Jersey, and Colum- bia university was Kings college. The most important common feature in the entire list is the corporate right to grant the bachelor's degree. The list is classified under five periods. The first includes eleven colleges founded before the American revolution. They form a distinct class by themselves, representing the colonial and revolutionary influences. It will be noticed that they all lie along the narrow strip of Atlantic coast, extend- ing southwestward from Massachusetts to Virginia. The second group is composed of twelve colleges founded imme- diately after the revolution. They likewise form a sepa- rable class. In spirit they were repetitions of the earlier colleges, and were planted here and there in the newer parts of the country. The third class consists of thirty-three col- leges founded between the years 1800 and 1830. The latter date is somewhat arbitrary ; but the thirty years are taken to include the first marked development of the United States previous to the wave of European immigration which set in strongly after 1830. The fourth class contains one hun- dred and eighty colleges. They were founded in a period when the country was rapidly settling and developing. A great wave of immigration was flowing in, and the railroad and telegraph were facilitating the westward distribution of the new population. The period was naturally brought to an end by the civil war. The fifth class extends from the close of the civil war in 1865 to the present time. The interrupted national development enters energetically on a new period and is represented on this list by the foundation of two hun- dred and thirty-six colleges, — just one-half of the entire list. 243] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 0/ I Before the American Revolution (ii) 1636 Harvard University, Massachu- setts 1693 College of William and Mary, Virginia 1701 Yale University, Connecticut 1746 Princeton University, New Jer- sey 1749 Washington and Lee University, Virginia 1800 1800 1801 1802 1802 1804 1805 1807 1808 t8l2 1817 1818 1819 1819 1819 (819 1751 University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania 1754 Columbia University, New York 1764 Brown University, Rhode Island 1766 Rutgers College, New Jersey 1770 Dartmouth College, New Hamp- shire 1776 Hampden-Sidney College, Vir- ginia // From the American Revolution to 1800 (12) 1783 Dickinson College, Pennsylvania 1783 Washington College, Maryland 1785 College of Charleston, South Carolina 1785 University of Nashville, Ten- nessee 1789 St. John's College, Maryland 1791 Georgetown University, District of Columbia 1793 Williams College, Massachusetts 1794 Greenville and Tusculum Col- lege, Tennessee 1794 University of Tennessee, Ten- nessee 1795 Union College, New York 1795 University of North Carolina, North Carolina 1795 Washington College, Tennessee /// From 1800 to j8jo (33) Middlebury College, Vermont University of Vermont, Vermont University of Georgia, Georgia Bowdoin College, Maine Washington and Jefferson Col- lege, Pennsylvania Ohio University, Ohio South Carolina College, South Carolina Moravian College, Pennsylvania Mount St. Mary's College, Mary- land Hamilton College, New York Allegheny College, Pennsylvania Colby University, Maine Center College, Kentucky Colgate University, New York Maryville College, Tennessee Western University of Pennsyl- vania, Pennsylvania of 1820 Gonzaga College, District Columbia 1820 Indiana University, Indiana 1820 St. Mary's College, Kentucky 1821 Amherst College, Massachusetts 1S21 Columbian University, District of Columbia 1822 Hobart College, New York 1824 Miami University, Ohio 1824 Trinity College, Connecticut 1825 P'ranklin College, Ohio 1825 Kenyon College, Ohio 1825 University of Virginia, Virginia 1826 Western Reserve University, Ohio 1827 Shurtleff College, Illinois 1828 McKendree College, Illinois 1829 (jeorgetown College, Kentucky 1829 Illinois College, Illinois 1829 St, Louis University, Missouri IV From i8jo to i86s (180) X830 Spring Hill College, Alabama 1831 Dennison University, Ohio 1831 New ^ork University, New York 1831 University of Alabama, Alabama 1831 Wesleyan University. Connecti- cut 3^ THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [244 1832 Hanover College, Indiana 1843 1832 Lafayette College, Pennsylvania 1843 1832 Pennsylvania College, Pennsyl- 1844 vania 1844 1832 Randolph Macon College, Vir- 1844 ginia 1844 1532 Richmond College, Virginia 1845 1832 Wabash College, Indiana 1845 1833 Haverford College, Pennsylvania 1846 1533 Oberlin College, Ohio 1846 1834 Delaware College, Delaware 1834 Franklin College, Indiana 1846 1834 Tulane University, Louisiana 1846 1834 Wake Forest College, North 1846 Carolina 1835 Marietta College, Ohio 1847 1835 Richmond College, Ohio 1847 1836 Alfred University, New York 1847 1836 Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania 1847 1836 Kentucky University, Kentucky 1837 Central High School, Pennsyl- 1S47 vania 1837 Davidson College, North Caro- 1847 lina 1847 1837 De Pauw University, Indiana 1837 Emory College, Georgia 1847 1837 Guilford College, North Carolina 1848 1837 Knox College, Illinois 1848 1837 Mercer University, Georgia 1848 1837 Muskingum College, Ohio 1848 1837 University of Michigan, Michi- 1848 gan 1838 Emory and Henry College, Vir- 1849 ginia 1849 1839 Erskine College, South Carolina 1849 1839 Concordia College, Indiana 1849 1840 St. Xavier College, Ohio 1841 Bethany College, West Virginia 1849 1841 Centenary College of Louisiana, Louisiana 1849 1841 Howard College, Alabama 1842 Cumberland University, Ten- 1850 nessee 1850 1842 University of Notre Dame, Indi- 1850 ana 1S50 1842 University of the State of Miss- 1850 ouri, Missouri 1850 1842 Villanova College, Pennsylvania 1843 Albion College, Michigan 1850 1843 College of the Holy Cross, Mas- sachusetts 1850 New Windsor College, Maryland St. Vincent's College, Missouri Iowa Wesleyan University, Iowa Milton College, Wisconsin Ohio Wesleyan University, Ohio Willamette University, Oregon Baylor University, Texas Wittenberg College, Ohio Baldwin University, Ohio Bucknell University, Pennsyl- vania Mount Union College, Ohio St. John's College, New York St. Vincent's College, Pennsyl- vania Beloit College, Wisconsin Earlham College, Indiana College of the City of New York, New York College of the Immaculate Con- ception, Louisiana College of St. Francis Xavier, New York Otterbein University, Ohio Southwestern Baptist University, Tennessee Taylor University, Indiana Burritt College, Tennessee Iowa College, Iowa Pacific University, Oregon St. Charles College, Maryland University of Mississippi, Mis- sissippi Geneva College, Pennsylvania Hiwasse College, Tennessee Lawrence University, Wisconsin South Kentucky College, Ken- tucky William Jewell College, Mis- souri University of Wisconsin, Wis- consin Austin College, Texas Bethel College, Tennessee Capital University, Ohio Heidelberg University, Ohio Hiram College, Ohio Illinois Wesleyan University, Illinois University of Rochester, New York University of Utah, Utah 245] i85i 1851 1851 1851 1851 1851 1852 1852 1852 1852 1852 1852 1853 1853 1853 1853 1853 1853 1854 1854 1854 1854 1854 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1855 1856 1S56 1S56 1856 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 39 Carson and Newman College, 1856 Tennessee 1856 Catawba College, North Carolina Christian Brothers College, Mis- 1856 souri 1856 Santa Clara College, California 1856 Trinity College, North Carolina 1856 University of the Pacific, Cali- 1857 fornia 1857 Antioch College, Ohio 1857 Furman University, South Caro- 1857 lina 1857 Lombard University, Illinois 1857 Loyola College, Maryland Mississippi College, Mississippi 1857 Westminster College, Pennsyl- 1857 vania 1858 Central University of Iowa, Iowa 1858 Hedding College, Iowa Ripon College, Wisconsin 1858 Roanoke College, Virginia 1858 Rutherford College, North Caro- lina 1858 Westiaiustcr College, Missouri 1858 Bethel College, Kentucky Hamline University, Minnesota 1858 Lincoln University. Pennsyl- vania 1859 St. Mary's University, Texas 1859 Wofford College, South Carolina 1859 Amity College, Iowa 1859 Berea College, Kentucky 1859 Butler College, Indiana Central Pennsylvania College, 1859 Pennsylvania 1859 Christian University, Missouri Eureka College, Illinois 1859 Hillsdale College, Michigan Kalamazoo College, Michigan '859 Northwestern University, Uli- 1859 nois 1859 Polytechnic Institute of Brook- 1859 lyn. New V'ork Southwestern Presbyterian Uni- i860 versity, Tennessee i860 St. Ignatius College, California Tufts College, Massachusetts i860 Keachie College, Louisiana Mars Hill College, North Caro- i860 lina Monmouth College, Illinois i860 Mourcs Hill College, In-linna i860 Niagara University, New York Seminary of St. Francis of Sales, Wisconsin State University of Iowa, Iowa Western College, Iowa Wilberforce University, Ohio Setcn Hall College, New Jersey Bowdon College, Georgia Central College, Missouri Cornell College, Iowa Highland University, Kansas Rock Hill College, Maryland Seminary West of the Suwanee River, Florida St. Meinrad College, Indiana Upper Iowa University, Iowa Baker University, Kansas Grand River Christian Union College, Missouri Legrange College, Missouri Newberry College, South Caro- lina St. Benedict's College, Kansas St. Lawrence University, New York Susquehanna University, Penn- sylvania Adrian College, Michigan Lenox College, Iowa McMinnville College, Oregon Mission House, Wisconsin North Carolina College, North Carolina Olivet College, Michigan Pennsylvania State College, Pennsylvania St. Bonaventure's College, New York St. Francis College, New York Southern University, Alabama Union Christian College, Indiana Washington University, Mis- souri Augustana College, Illinois Louisiana State University, Lou- isiana Kentucky Wesleyan College, Kentucky St. Francis Solanus College, Illi- nois St. Stephen's College, New York Wheaton College, Illinois 40 i86i 1861 1861 1861 1862 1862 1862 1862 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [246 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1865 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1866 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 1867 Blackburn University, Illinois ' 1862 Luther College, Iowa Northwestern College, Illinois 1863 Pacific Methodist College, Cali- 1863 fornia 1863 GustavusAdolphus College, Min- 1863 nesota Oskaloosa College, Iowa 1864 Pennsylvania Military College, 1864 Pennsylvania St. Joseph's Diocesan College, 1864 Illinois 1864 University of Washington, Wash- ington Bates College, Maine Boston College, Massachusetts Manhattan College, New York Roger Williams University, Ten- nessee Central Wesleyan College, Mo. Gallaudet College, District of Columbia German Wallace College, Ohio University of Denver, Colorado V From 186^ to the Present Time (236) Des Moines College, Iowa Hope College, Michigan Jefferson College, Louisiana Lane University, Kansas Northwestern University, Wis- consin Northern Illinois College, Illi- nois Ottawa University, Kansas Shaw University, North Carolina St. Vincent's College, California University Institute, Mississippi Washburn College, Kansas Westfield College, Illinois Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, Ken- tucky Central Tennessee College, Ten- nessee Fisk University, Tennessee Lebanon Valley College, Penn- sylvania Lehigh University, Pennsylvania Lincoln University, Illinois Pritchett College, Missouri Scio College, Ohio University of Kansas, Kansas Tabor College, Iowa Whitman College, Washington Ewing College, Illinois Howard University, District of Columbia King College, Tennessee LaSalle College, Pennsylvania Muhlenberg College, Pennsyl- vania Philomath College, Oregon 1867 Ridgeville College, Indiana 1867 Simpson CoLege, Iowa 1867 St. John's University, Minnesota 1867 U. S. Grant University, Ten- nessee 1867 West Virginia University, West Virginia i868 Avalon College, Missouri 1868 Biddle University, North Caro- lina 1868 Clark University, Georgia 1868 Cornell University, New York 1868 St. Benedict's College, New Jer- sey. 1868 St. Viateur's College, Illinois 1868 University of Illinois, Illinois 1868 University of Minnesota, Minne- sota 1868 University of the South, Ten- nessee 1868 Wartburg College, Iowa 1868 Western Maryland College, Maryland i86g Atlanta University, Georgia 1869 Augsburg Seminary, Minnesota i86g Claflin University, South Caro- lina i86g Rust University, Mississippi 1869 St. Ignatius' College, Illinois 1869 St. Mary's College, KansaS 1869 Straight University, Louisiana 1869 Swarthmore College, Pennsyl- vania 1869 Trinity University, Texas 1869 University of California, Cali- fornia 1870 California College, California 247] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 41 1870 Carleton College, Minnesota 1876 1870 Carthage College, Illinois 1870 Canisius College, New York 1876 1870 Leland University, Louisiana 1876 1870 Ohio State University, Ohio 1876 1870 St. John's College, New York 1876 1870 Thiel College, Pennsylvania 1876 1870 University of Wooster, Ohio 1877 1870 Ursinus College, Pennsylvania 1877 1870 Wilmington College, Ohio 1877 1871 Christian Brothers College, Ten- nessee 1877 1871 Evangelical Proseminary, Illi- 1878 nois 1871 Syracuse University, New York 1878 1871 University of Nebraska, Neb- 1878 raska 1878 1872 Arkansas College, Arkansas 1878 1872 Arkansas Industrial University, 1878 Arkansas 1872 Boston University, Massachu- 1878 setts 1872 Buchtel College, Ohio 1880 1872 Doane College, Nebraska 1880 1872 Morrisville College, Missouri 1880 1872 St. Joseph's College, Ohio 1873 Add-Ran University, Texas 1880 1873 Drury College, Missouri 1873 German College, Iowa 1880 1873 New Orleans University, Louisi- 1880 ana 1873 North Georgia Agricultural Col- i88r lege, Georgia 1881 1873 Penn College, Iowa 1881 1873 Southwestern University, Texas 1881 1873 University of Cincinnati, Ohio 1S81 1873 Weaverville College, North Caro- 1882 lina 1882 1873 Wiley University, Texas 1882 1874 Battle Creek College, Michigan 1882 1874 Central University, Kentucky 1882 1874 Colorado College, Colorado 18S2 1874 Sweetwater College, Tennessee 1875 Knoxville College, Tennessee 1882 1875 Liberty College, Kentucky 1882 1875 Park College, Missouri 1882 1875 St. Olaf College, Minnesota 1875 Vanderbilt University, Tennes- 1883 see 1883 1876 College of the Sacred Heart, 1883 Colorado 1883 1876 Chaddock College, Illinois Johns Hopkins University, Mary- land Lake Forest University, Illinois Morgan College, Maryland Parsons College, Iowa Rio Grande College, Ohio University of Oregon, Oregon rJetroit College, Michigan Ogden College, Kentucky Philander Smith College, Arkan- sas University of Colorado, Colorado Alabama Baptist Colored Univer- sity, Alabama Brigham Young College, Utah College of Montana, Montana Creighton College, Nebraska Holy Ghost College, Pennsylvania Southwest Baptist College, Mis- souri St. Mary's College, North Caro- lina Allen University, South Carolina Drake University, Iowa Indian University, Indian Ter- ritory Presbyterian College of South Carolina, South Carolina University of Omaha, Nebraska University of Southern Califor- nia, California Bethany College, Kansas Fort Worth University, Texas Marquette College, Wisconsin Paul Quinn College, Texas St. Edward's College, Texas Bridgewater College, Virginia Campbell University, Kansas Coe College, Iowa Gates College, Nebraska Hastings College, Nebraska Livingstone College, North Caro- lina Milligan College, Tennessee Pike College, Missouri University of South Dakota, South Dakota University of Texas, Texas Yankton College, South Dakota College of Emporia, Kansas John B. Stetson University, Florida 42 THE AMERICAN COLLEGE [248 1883 Missouri Wesleyau College, Mis- 1888 souri 1888 1883 Tarkio College, Missouri 1888 1883 Pierre University, South Dakota 1884 Fairfield College, Nebraska 1889 1884 Florida State Agricultural Col- lege, Florida 1889 1884 Grove City College, Pennsylvania 1884 Hendrix College, Arkansas 1889 1884 University of North Dakota, 1889 North Dakota 1885 Colfax College, Washington 1890 1885 Dakota College, South Dakota 18S5 Defiance College, Ohio 1890 1885 French American College, Massa- 1890 chusetts 1885 Lafayette College, Alabama 1890 1885 Macalester College, Minnesota 1890 1885 Morris Brown College, Georgia i8go 1885 Young L. G. Harris College, 1890 Georgia 1890 1886 Findlay College, Ohio 1886 Florida Conference College, i8go Florida 1890 1886 Kansas Wesleyan University, Kansas 1890 1886 Ouachita Baptist College, Arkan- 1890 sas 1890 1886 Rollins College, Florida 1886 Searcy College, Arkansas 1890 1886 Southwest Kansas College, Kan- 1891 sas 1886 St. Ignatius College, Ohio 1891 1886 State University of Nevada, 1891 Nevada 1891 1886 Union College, Kentucky 1891 1887 Alma College, Michigan 1891 1887 Cooper Memorial College, Kan- 1891 sas 1891 1887 Fargo College, North Dakota 1887 Gonzaga College, Washington 1891 1887 Midland College, Kansas 1891 1887 Occidental College, California 1891 1887 University of Wyoming, Wyo- 1891 ming 1891 1888 Barboursville College, West Vir- ginia 1891 1888 Cotner University, Nebraska 1891 1888 Nannie Lou Warthen College. 1892 Georgia 1888 Nebraska Wesleyan University, 1892 Nebraska 1892 Parker College, Minnesota Pomona College, California Scarritt Collegiate Institute, Missouri Catholic University of America, District of Columbia (Clark University, Massachu- setts) Lafayette Seminary, Oregon Missouri Valley College, Mis- souri Arkadelphia Methodist College, Arkansas Benzonia College, Michigan Black Hills College, South Da- kota Blount College, Alabama Elon College, North Carolina Howard Payne College, Texas Lineville College, Alabama Montana Wesleyan University, Montana Morningside College, Iowa Puget Sound University, Wash- ington St. Leo Military College, Florida Volant College, Pennsylvania Whitworth College, Washing- ton York College, Nebraska Arkansas Cumberland College Arkansas Austin College, Illinois Buena Vista College, Iowa Charles City College, Iowa Duquesne College, Pennsylvania Greer College, Illinois Lenoir College, North Carolina Leland Stanford Junior Univer- sity, California Pacific College, Oregon Polytechnic College, Texas Portland University, Oregon St. Bede College, Illinois Throop Polytechnic Institute, California Union College, Nebiaska University of Arizona, Arizona Central Christian College, .Mis- souri Fairmount College, Kansas Henry College, Texas 249] THE AMERICAN COLLEGE 43 1892 Millsaps College, Mississippi 1893 1892 Northwest Missouri College, Mis- 1893 souri 1893 1892 Red River Valley University, North Dakota 1893 1892 St. Bernard College, Alabama 1893 1892 University of Chicago, Illinois 1892 University of Idaho, Idaho 1894 1892 University of Oklahoma, Okla- 1894 homa 1892 Vashon College, Washington 1894 1892 Walla Walla College, Washing- 1895 ton 1896 1893 American Temperance Univer- 1897 sity, Tennessee Fredericksburg College, Virginia Lima College, Ohio Mountain Home Baptist College, Arkansas Soule College, Kansas St. John's Lutheran College, Kansas Cedarville College, Ohio Henry Kendall College, Indian Territory St. Louis College, Texas University of Montana, Montana Adelphi College, New York Atlanta Baptist College, Georgia ( Date Due ■ - -. 1 f) ] U226.W513 ^f-e American college. Pr, m/r«uI.'r,?'°9'«'Se^, ,"^,7-SPeer Library ^ ^012 00064 7455 I