The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-27
COLLEGE MEN MEET
State Association Holds Sessions
and Listens to Papers.
President Coulter Delivers the Annual
Address and Brings Out Some Per-
tinent POintS-Other Papers.

The members of the Indiana College AS
| ISOLATION had a general and interesting dis
cuSSiOn at its opening session at the Den
! ison yesterday afternoon on the relative
merits of the German gymnasia and the
American colleges. President John N.
| Coulter. of Lake Forest University. pre-
sided, about forty of the college profess
sors being in the room when he called the
meeting TO order. The paper read by
Prof David w. Dennis, of Earlham, on the
! German gymnasium was unusually good'
! and contained flashes of wit.
The German gymnasium course compares
| in scope somewhat TO the Indiana high
| school and the Indiana college course COM
| bined Pupils can enter at the age of nine
| years, and nine years of study is prescribed.
| The course, it is claimed, is much more
| thorough than the courses in the American
| schools and colleges. Professor Dennis IL
| Illustrated his paper with charts showing
| the comparative time given TO the different
| branches of study in the gymnasia- Latin
| is given much attention, more, in fact, than
| is given to mathematics and a study of
| the mother tongue. An advantage or the
| system is that there no breaks in the
| studies continuity of work being the CEN
trail idea of the system. The Professor
| spoke satirically of the time the American
| student devotes to literary societies, foot
ball, prayer meetings, ETC., to the exclusion
| of good college work. Not that he adVo-
| Gated the abstinence from religious work.
! but rather he thought the meetings every
| night took the students mind too much
| away from the work he expected to
| accomplish in the college. In Germany ne
said, the boys attend the gymnasia, not to
| organize but to be organized. In the study
| of Latin in these foreign schools the stu
dent is compelled to lodge his vocabulary
| in his head, the books not being provided
| with vocabularies in the back part like they
| are in the books in use by American COZ,
| leges Religion is taught by minister's and
| this rule of having the teachers experts IN
| their lines is carried out very fully and TO
| much advantage. Students are praised and
| rewarded for effective work ana Tor ex-
| cellence. They are seated according to
fheir ranking onG in their studle
| a proper knowledge of mathematics and
| English in the American courses was an
| insuperable obstacle to the acquisition Oh a
| university education. The catalogues or
| American colleges show a series or begin
| nings.
ten spoke in defense of some OF
the good features of the German
| system. He said there was no unde-
| sirable rivalry among the schools like that
| among many of the American colleges. He
thought the Germans had done more
| towards drawing valuable conclusions from
| the details to which it had been claimed
| they confined themselves with much per-
sistence. The teachers are not selected on
| the spur of the moment is done too
| frequently in this country. A man grows
to the position in Germany. Professors
| Lewis of Moores Hill: Stevens and STAN
| ley Coulter. of Purdue; Burton, of Butler;
Stott, of Franklin; Waldo, of DePauw;
| Merrill, of the State University; President
| Mills, of Earlham and President Fisher.
of Hanover, also took part in the discus
sion.
Prof. Glenn CuIbertson of Hanover. read
| a paper on Education in Siam and the Far
East that was well received. Prof. Hugh
Tn. Miller, of Butler, read paper on The
but there were not enough or those pres
ent familiar with the subject TO evoke
much of a discussion. Professor Miller dis
cussed at some length the theories as to
the origin of this race and the merging OF
the language into others. He held that
these invaders of Europe came from the
steppes of southern Russia, where they
were q pastoral people.
THE EVENING SESSION.
President John NJ Coulter read his an
nual address at the evening session of the
association. 1t fairly bristled with those
good points which Professor Coulter is ca
pable of bringing. out. THE Organization
| of College Work. was the subject He
spoke of practical matters of college ad-
ministration and laid particular stress on
| the duties of the president of a college, the
| faculty and the board of trustees. Each
college las it's own problem, he insisted,
but the same general principles of admins
tration underly the management of all col
leges. He deplored the fact that some COL
| leges put the most incompetent people in
the most important positions. A president,
he said, should have peculiar qualifications,
| for no position has so changed in it's de-
mands as this position has within the last
| quarter or a century. The president must
| be primarily an educator. There are so
miny diverse systems of education that II
| all A
| president should be able to know which is
the best for the institution he has in charge.
Where q college was on a canal formerly.
so to speak, it is now the high sea and
| every college must choose it's own pilot.
No more Is there che straight path. The
school fer the presidency for a man chosen
mi st be in proper touch with college work
and college methods
| The president must be an orranizer
where one man has an idea he can find ten
men who can carry 1t out. Formerly it
was considered that the first desiderat ,lm
was to secure an organizer. Now the first
point to consider is a mans capacity as
an educator. Professor Coulter also said
that a president must be a specialist There
Is no position that demands culture more
1 tnan college presidency but specialist
Is not 14eterred from being an all-round
man: Besides his special knowledge he
must be broad He must be a man with a
special training to investigate and bring
into position such powers of analysis as
are needed in searching for the good in the
mass of college rubbish. Again, he must
pc Judge of men. a college is measured
by it's faculty and the strength of its fac
ulty. The president should be able i'm Sc
Letting a professor to distinguish between
the show and the substance. He should
be expected to outline educational pol
Icy, the details of which to be wisely left
TO the faculty for execution. The outline
or this policy must be taken on faith by
the board of trustees. Attention was called
in the paper to the need of perfect freedom
in making appointments There is usually
a very heavy pressure on the trustees by
applicants for positions, and too often the
president is robbed of his right to select
the men to help him in making the admin
istratfon of a college a success. He himself
has had an experience of this sort recently.
he had reviewed voluminous recommenda-
lions in behalf of certain candidate from
ministers and politicians and a whole host
OF other people who knew nothing what
ever or the applicants fitness for the posi-
ton that was vacant.
1t was best he continued, that the presi-
dent should have the apportionment Of the
funds for the various departments. A
college must be developed symetrically and
not in a lopsided manner. If any depart
ment should be allowed to drag behind il
should be allowed to drop out all together.
| 1t was impossible for the trustees to make
equitable distributions of funds
In considering the faculty of a college
| Professor Coulter said that the man in
charge of "a department should be the best
in gEFlNs 49,