The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-06-08
Tho Proposed Curtailment OF tho Har-
ward Course.

ratio In the manifestations OF lts power
Tho Proposed Curtailment OF tho Har
ward Course.
It Is proposed by President ELIOT OF Har
ward College that it shall hereafter DO op'
tional with an undergraduate to obtain the
degree Of Bachelor OF Arts, after passing ir
sixteen so-called courses or branches OF
study: an amount OF work which, 1t is ex-
pected, can be accomplished In three years
This proposal has met with the approval OF
majorities In the Faculty, the Academical
Council and the Corporation, and. in order
to be adopted, 1t needs only to be sanctioned
by the Board Of Overseere. The last-named
body represents the alumni. and its men,
bers will naturally wish to ascertain the
views Of graduates regarding the change
which Is now mooted.
The ground on which the change is advo-
Gated is that the average age for graduation
at Harvard Is now %, and that, in view Of
| the additional time needed for professional
! training, this age Is too advanced for those
who will have to depend solely on their own
exertions for livelihood. 1t compels them
to start too late in professional or business
career. We concede that the average age OF
graduating should not be above 81, but 1t
should be possible to bring about such
state OF things without reducing the guam
tum OF requirement at present demanded for
a Harvard degree Of Bachelor OF Arts. There
is nothing in the present requirements for
admission to the freshman class at Harvard
which should ovcrtax the powers OF
an intelligent and Woodworking lad
of IL, or o! II at tho farthest; and
II he IL not, as n matter OF fact, enabled to
master them Mt that age by the existing
preparatory schools. these establishments
do not perform their duties. At present an
inordinate amount of time Is expended in
the preparation of a boy for college, and it
is here that reform should be begun by those
who reasonably enough desire to lower the
graduating age. 1t would even be better
that Harvard should follow the example OF
West Point, and fix maximum age say IT,
for admission to the freshman class, than
that she should lessen the significance and
value OF her degree Of Bachelor of Arts by
cutting down the amount OF requirement
needed to obtain it.
There is, OF course. no valid objection to
an arrangement which would make it op-
tional with an undergraduate to obtain de-
gree in three years instead Of four, provided
he could satisfy the examiners that he had
done all the work prescribed for four years
term. What concerns US is the question,
not Of time, but OF accomplishment. 1t Is
true that universities exercise moral and
aesthetic influences as well as educational
functions, but 1t should be permissible
for the student to say whether he can
afford to profit by the former advantages
for more than three years. That is as long
as most Englishmen enjoy the atmosphere
Of culture supposed to be evolved by |
The pass'men who constitute |
the great majority OF the undergraduates
at Oxford and Cambridge. spend on the
average but three years in the work pre-
scribed for obtaining B. A. degree. The
same thing may be said OF Glasgow and
Aberdeen and st. Andrews uni
Moreover, 1t has long been posi-
Die at Harvard to gain degree with only
three years study at the college. For that
purpose 1t was merely necessary to enter
;he sophomore instead of the freshman class,
The applicant. OF course, passing the Har-
yard examinations imposed on freshmen at
he end OF their academical year Every
Harvard man can remember classmates who
obtained a degree with only three years
'csidence at the university, and rightly
20, because they had convinced the
college authorities that they had done
our years work. There IL no reason
Why this principle should not be extended
urther to permitting an undergraduate who
las entered In the freshman year to take
icgrec ut the end OF three years, or, for that
ma ter, at the end Of two, If he can pass ex-
limitations proving the possession OF all the
Ittainmcnts required for diploma. Under
lch circumstances the prestige and value
# degr, would not be in the least I'M
aired. No residence at all Is needed for a
lcgree at the London University and yet
lie diplomas OF that institution are very
lighly priced.
II President Eliot simply contemplated
flowing II clever aud Industrious lad to OBJ
ain degree in three wears instead of four !
n condition of his doing all tho work pre-
crbed for quadTennial term, We do no,
hink that the alumni and their representa-. b
ives the OversCers, would refuse to ratify .
he change. But that Is not his proposal.
he quantum of requirements at pres I
mt eXacted for a degree is slightly above Il
lghteen courses, 80 called, Tho Pres-
ent wishes to- reduce the quantum
o sixteen courses, on the plea that r
his might be accomplished by hard +
Iorking student in three years. From the
lew point of the value and prestige OF p
Harvard diploma this Is obviously n step d
ackward. For long time The alumni have a
with satisfaction persistent and b
uccessfu effort to increase the significance o
a degree. At present Harvard diploma a
means materially more than 1t did twenty d
ears ago. II the change now mooted is Of b
eGtad. O deRrea will mAan cnnsidArahlu lAaa