Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-12-30
MbeeIins Rsstster
THE STATE UNIVERSITY.
soHe Pertinent Suggestions worthy Of
Consideration,


Consideration.
Ode EsaOr Of LAe Register.
RosE LAWN, w. Va, December 26.-The
rtmoysl Of the University from Morgan
town to Wheeling having been again sug-
gested by correspondent ofthe RgalsTER
q few days ago, beg to submit some sug-
gestions in reference 10 the general policy
which has governed the Regents Of that
institution. With hequestion Of the proper
location of the buildings, i have now moth
ing to co, as, in common with the great
majority Of the people OF the State interest
ed in the progress Of State education, am
more anxious for complete and thorough
organization of an academic faculty than
for 8 location in any particular place or
ssCton.
The school law of West Virginia contsm-
plates system OF education rising from
the primary schools through the high schools
to the finishing process IN q Stare college
called University We have the primary
schools reasonably well organized, thong h
much needs to be done to,,perfect them. Be
tween them and the University there is
great gulf fixed. What the State needs In
order to sustain the University is system
of high schools where young men may be
educated in all preparatory studies without
being compelled, as many Of them are, to
go to the University and enter the prepare
tory department In fact the existence of
preparatory department at the University
is tscit Acknowledgement that there is
lacking q link in the chain to counecs the
primary schools with the other end of the
system.
Il has always been my conviction that
the University has been greatly crippled by
false policy of the Regents in undertake
ing, with the limited means at their dis
posal, TO establish 3 full Aedged University
With professional schools The vast pro-
greSs OF knowledge in the last twenty-five
or thirty years, especially III the depart
ments Of physical science, have led to the
establishment of scientific schools in con-
neetion with all the leading colleges of the
country, which are entirely distinct trOm
the regular academic course and amply ca
dowed for purposes of original invesuga-
ton. Such schools are very expensive be-
cause Of the necessity, In many depart
ments, of specimens and models, lsbora-
tories and other instruments OF inyestiga-
ton which must be provided if anything
more than mere theory is to De taught as TO
physics.
Medical schools are established in all the
leading cities of the country, furnished with
museums of specimens and illustrations OF
diseases and other matters connected with
medical education, and also with labora-
tories for chemical analysis which is now
growing 10 be q necessary part OF the educa-
J ton Of the skilled physician. In the depart
meut OF law there is necessity for good
Jaw library accessible to students to verify
-eferences and read up leading cases Illus
.ratiye of theories There are excel
bnt law schools sll over the country
which are abundsntly able to sup
~ all the demand for legal educa
Dn. There are theological seminsries in
a. parts of the country and under the con,
trpl Of every denomination, 80 that there
viii never be any demand for theology as a
scpnce at the University and if there were
theattempt to teach it would lead to wal
Of sects which would ruin the institution.
liking these facts into consideration aud
alsothe limited means at the disposal Of the
Regnts how futile is the attempt to es-
tabGh a university which will afford such
taciliies in all departments as Harvard
Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell and
otherimllar institutions which count their
euGoments by millions Of dollars. The
competition is too much for US. We have no
raisOni'etre In establishing educational
institutions, as in the actual work ofinstruc
ton. ID only safe rule is 10 undertake only
what cn be thoroughly done with the ma.
terial 1 command. With the Unite
means the disposal of the Board they can
never nike a successful university.
What hen is TO be done2 Organize a
thorough equipped academic course an
call YOU institution by its right name, a
college. There. is no parsllelism between
the Germn universities and the so-csllei
AmericanIniversity The Johns Hopkins
university I Baltimore is almost the only
American institution which can be COM
pared viii the German system. The
American ollege and the German gymns.
stun are analogous in their functions. The
German university is in reality profession
al school Mere men, after they have fin.
ished their asdemic and collegiate educa.
ton, 90 10 study some special branch
Of acknowledgement are never questioned or
examined exCpt for their degree, and are
under no sort restraint.
Let Us do ANY with these names which
mean nothing, nd give our highest State
institution nme which will express its
real function, mich ought to be to finish
the scholastic evelopment Of her citizen
youth, leaving Lm afterward to seek such
further specific Cd professional knowledge
as they may desh at one Of the many in
situations slresd. thoroughly equipped for
that work. Let le energies OF the Board
of Regents and othe State Superintendent
be directed to enlFing our people in the
cause of high seools and academies in
various sections ofhe State sndms them
.. the feeders Of the tate college at Morgan
| town, so that tina institution may be de-
voted exclusively al entirely to the higher
: education OF those who come under the
. shadow of its wall am satisfied from
! nv experience in thdegislature few years
| AGO that one of the rssons for the want OF
interest in the Univeity is the fact that it
I is undertaking too mch and is doing moth
. ing thoroughly.
/. Let us cut off law al medicine, increase
, | the salary of the Proksor in the academic
. DEPARTMENT so as to ken the best men and
I induce the coming of oter best men, enlarge
T the fetching force and ,oroughly equip the
various departments it'll the apparatus
!. necessary for teaching. Let it be known
that a Young man ca get as thorough a
COLLEGIATE education theras at Yale, Prince
= ton, University Of Virgin or anywhere else
in the country. and then our State college