The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-02-05
UNIVERSITY REORGANIZATION
The Plan of Studies as Prepared by the
Committee and to be Submitted
to the Trustees.

y
meeting of the executive committee OF
the South Carolina University was
held to night to prepare the plans of
reorganization of the University. The
special committee: consisting of Presi-
dent Mcbride and Superintendent of
Education Mayfeld, prepared and sub
mitted the following:
OUTLINES OF THE PLAN OF STUDIES
AND METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.
In view of all the circumstances at
tending the reorganization Of the Uni
versity Of South Carolina it is highly
desirable that the board of trustees
should explicitly indicate the principles
! that are to direct and the methods that
! are to be pursued in the future admin
! istration Of the South Carolina College.
The following general positions or
principles, having direct bearing upon
the practical questions OF reorganiza-
ton, are, therefore, submitted for the
consideration ndapproval ofthe board
l. The best educational experience
OF our day has concluded that liberal
education, both for culture and train
ing, may now be attained through many
and divergent course of study. This
conclusion finds practical application
n the almost universal custom in col
leges of offering as great plumber Of
courses as their facilities and outfits
Will warrant. 1T is worthy OF note that
students seek those Institutions which
give the widest choice among courses.
,. The object of the reorganized South
Carolina College is to afford this liberal
education in the highest modern ac-
ceptation of that term to class of pat
ronage embracing all grades of social
life and personal ability, seeking general
education along many lines of modern
intellectual development.
3. The demands, therefore, of our
times and of our patrons can be met
only by afording, instead of the old
time single curriculum, many and
varied courses leading to the same de-
gree or to degrees of equal value; and
by such further provisions for shorter
courses as the needs Of irregular stu
dents may require.
i. Each such course should be differ
entiated by a masked predominance CT
certain kindred studies, and all the
media of modern liberal education
should find place, as far as possible, in
these varying Combinations: in one the
ancient languages should constitute
the difterentia; in another English
studies; in another the modern Ian
guages; III another history and the
economical and mental sciences; in
another the mathematical and physical
sciences; in another the natural sciences
and so on to the fullest extent of the
practical possibility Of differentiation.
). The college as reorganized should
include no chair that cannot be classed
among the agencies of liberal educa-
ton, but every department so admitted
must take rank with every other on
entirely equal footing and be granted
equal opportunities with all others in
the community of collegiate instruc-
ton. In entire accordance with this
view the terms Of the recent act of re-
organization dlsptinctly place "theo-
retical sciences 10y which are clearly
meant the pure sciences, as dictin-
guished from the applied sciences)
literature and the classics on exactly
the same footing Of perfect equality.
&. A certain unit of disciplinary
study, combined of literary, classical,
and scientific elements, will naturally
belong III common to all the courses.
This common unit almost exclusively
pertains to the work of the first two
years of the college course and should
therefore offer but little choice for the
option of the student. But this dis
clpllnary period passed, the largest
liberty, compatible with the mainten-
ance of distinctive courses Of study
should be granted the student among
groups OF elective studies carefully al
ranged with reference to the purposes
Of the respective courses. Collegiate
instruction will certainly fall short of
its opportunity should it fail to fit its
students to choose iutelligently in the
higher classics the studies best suited
to the needs Of each Individual student.
In the junior class about one-half and
in the senior years at least two-thirds Of
the studies should be opened, under
proper restrictions indicated above, to
individual choice.
I. In every department of collegiate
study, work outside and additional to
| classroom duties should be exacted of
the student and required of the profess
sor. The theories and principles enun-
ciated in the lecture or lesson should be
illustrated and enforced by special
kinds Of drill adapted to the character
of the several departments. Such drill
can be found III the testing and handling
of chemicals, in the examination Or
analysis of living and dead forms, in
the solution of mathematical, physical,
logical and psychological problems, in
the writing of outside exercises for the
teachers, private correction in ancient
and modern languages, and inI the
preparation of compositions and essays
in the English branches for like propo-
sition. In higher classes especially, of
all departments, elaborate and careful
ly prepared essays should be required