The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-07-12
HiADiCApp1NG STUDENTS.

The Galveston News says: 1.-The
| Texas papers complain of the long
terms imposed on the students vi the
university in order TO obtain degree,
+ and refer to the relation of such Old
arbitrary rules elsewhere" 1t begins
to appear that there is an element,
and unfortunately it controls, in the
management of the university, which
| has no conception of what first
class university is. There are uni
verSitieS" in name and there are uni
verSities in practice. The first exist,
and have existed in this country for
many years, enjoying name to
which they are in no manner entitled,
being in reality only colleges. 1t is the
college which the controlling element
has based its conception upon, not a
university, and especially not one of
the first class" as contemplated In the
states organic law requiring the es-
Establishment. A university of the
first class has apparently but one pat
tern in the Southern states. This is
the Universit, of Virginia, and yet
because of its paucity of means under
the political strains to which the Old
Dominion has been subjected, it lacks
much of being such an institution.
But so far as it does go it is OF the
first class. Its schools are organized
on the basis of perfection, and it en-
plOys the best educational talent.
Like the advanced universities of the
world, it has adopted the elective
system of study, and the student is
compelled to study nothing he does
not desire to study. The college
course" can by no means be applied
to the well regulated university. OF
course, to be entitled to proficiency or
to diplomas in any of the schools of a
university a course is necessary, and
the standard of proficiency must be
fixed and unvarying, but the college
routine cannot properly be applied.
A -four years course" has the odor of
freshman, sophomore, ETC., attached
to it. There is nothing elect
i've here. The already accom-
plished scholar, or the brilliant
and never-tiring student mustrun his
course with the novice and the plod-
der or dullard: The -four years
course" means the old beaten path by |
which all alike enter and end together. |
One who has the ability to acquire
degree in two or three years must be |
held back with the other wkO can
hardly win one in four or six years.
Here is the great injustice in the
plan which the preliminary an
presents. From this it
appears that the course is fixed, and
the time and period of pursuing it to
win a degree is also fixed. The already
student. entering the
with the purpose of taking
Il degree, cannot pursue more studies
ut the same time than one poorly adj
and both must move on to-
gether towards the final goal. So in
the various schools the time
course must be pursued. If there
be two classes in one schoOl-junior
and senior-the student capable of
pursuing both at the same time, and
Of reaching proficiency in one year,
must be held to the time-course; and
he and another student, laboring I'M
Ter the disadvantage of no past in
formation in the studies presented,
shall move on together for two
years. The student entering the uni
versity should select his course and
pursue it as rapidly as he may see fit.
Take A. and b., for instance. They both
enter to win the degree of A. B. A.
mas already pursued course at
some college, but covets a university
legree; he is quite proficient in all
the studies required to win the degree
at the university; B. has not been so
advanced, but is barely able to enter
the lowest classes. Under the course
system, as set forth in the an
A. and B. must
both pursue the time-course and
graduate on time, not alone on ability
and proficiency. A. might be able to
pursue the entire course of study in
half the time as B., but A. must bow
to the time-course, and world be
to study in the same plod-
ding manner as B. There must be
of these rules, applying
to courses, or the university will be
closing it's doors against advanced
students. Were the class hours so
as to permit student to
attend, in one year, all the schools
necessary for a degree. he should be
permitted to do so. Ability to study
and proficiency should not be handi-
capped with inability and ,lon-pro-
ficiency. At least such is not the
province of a first-class university.