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

meeting OF the executive committee OF
the South Carolina University was
he'd to night to prepare the plans Of
reorganization Of the University. The
special committee, consisting Of Presi-
dent Mcbride and Superintendent Of
Education Mayfield, prepared and SUBJ
mitted the following:
OUTLINES OF THE PLAN Or STUDIES
AND METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.
III 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 and approval 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 practica! application
in 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
feand 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 affording, 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.
4. Each such course should be differ
entiated by masked predominance of
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 ditferentia; in another English
studies; in another the modern Ian
guages; in 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
J 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 (by 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.
s. \ certain unit of disciplinary
study, combined of literary, classical,
and scientific elements, will naturally
| belong in 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
ciplinary 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 az
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 intelligently in the
higher classics the studies best suited
] to the needs of each individual student.
In the junior class about one-half, and
the senior years at least two-thirds of
the studies should be opened, under
proper restrictions indicated above, to
individual choice.
:. 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 SnOulu Oe
| illustrated and enforced by special
kinds Of drill adapted to the character
| of the several departments. Such drill
can be found in 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
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