The times., 1897-12-05


numerous works, than any other writer.
His last work is The American College
in American Life II is bool, Jf
large scope nnd proportionate scholarship.
| The pages contain extensive stIdies in the
,, relation OF colleges To life, the conditions,
the aids and hindrances the influences ana
resultants Of modern collegiate education
in tie utiliteriam light. Precedent to an
/ under standing OF these discussions anc
must have an acquaintance with the growth
| and the influences bearing on the growth
OF American colleges.
This Or. Thwing irnparts in an intro
ductory photograph full OF research, com
| parative study and interestineTy-stated con
! clusions.
The history OF college education in Amer
ica he divides into three periods. The first
began with tie foundation uf Harvard III
! 1886; the second was colncident with the
| close of the Revolutionary war, and tie
! third EeEau two generations ago with the
/ beginning of the second quarter Of tliis
| century, and is still in progress. These di-
visions are governed by the Influences
which were dominant aud character st!c
of each. The first period is called the &C.
! clesiaSt!caI period, the second the p)-
litical, the third the human: and he de-
scribcs each period ~ respect To the source
whence certain OF its stronger influences
arose; the first as the English; he se-ond
as the French; the third as the German.
The English or ecclesiastical period pro
duced the oder universities in which iii.
vinity was the principal study, as in the
! English models. Not only was ;hc col
lcge governed by the clergy. but In the
lseventeenti. century 81 per cent OF the
| graduates OF Harvard entered the minis
try, and OF the first thirtycieht graduates
OF Yale twenty five, or - per cent, en-
tered the ministry In the eighteenth cen
tury 20 per cent OF Harvard graduates and
10 per cent Of Yale graduates became min
listers.
With the close ofthe Revolutionary war
the allegiance ana sy,lpathy OF this coEn-
try With England were entirely cut off.
France hao been our warnest ally, ard
the close relations tetween the TWO conn
tries were especially conspicuous in the
impress Which French Influences ind on
college life. Though the sequence 81 ems
TO have been inevitable, it was rot henefi
cent. The records show, according 10
our authors researches, that there never
was lime when the principles and vices
which arc frequently denoIninated French
ing of the present century. The students
OF that time Were defiant OF authority, in
conduct immoral, and in religion skepdcal
Certain students of Yale at this tine called
themselves ty the names Of conspicuous fr &c
thinkers Of France.
The reaction came with the burning out
OF the first flames of French flamboyanoy
There began at the termination of the first
quarter of the century, period not Yet
closed, which deserves An epithet no less
broad than the Word human. The college
has become IT. this period an agency for
preparing its students for life. It's purpose
is 80 less than the fitting of a man TO
achieve all the purposes which he may
worthily set before himself. A boy who
comes to college comes not so much 20 fit
himself for a profession as 10 become Il
large and complete man.
Perhaps THIS is true OF portion of the
present period, but the growth during
the last fifteen years has undoubt edl y
been toward specialization. Courses are
largely elective now, and a young man
makes up his mind generally before tie
enters college what profession or trii.le
he wishes 10 fit himself for. and he finds
in well equipped seats Of learning specific
opportunity for fitting him for specific
lines of study. The college IL the group
ing Of its advantages presents the possibiI-
ity OF d complete man, but it is approached
by students who seek only portions Of
its adyaI tages.
German influence, through philosophy
and science, has been the most impressive
factor in this country's history OF col
legiate expansion. Not before this pc
riod do we find that Americans went IL
Germany 10 study. In 1895 four Am ri
! cans were registered III German uniyer
+ sites; IT, 1891, the number was 446 1t
is at present about 600. Edward Everett
, | George Bancroft, Joseph CogsweU, Robert
Patton, George Ticknor, ana Henry "
! Longfelow went to, Gottingen. and these
and others brought hack and diSseninat ed
/ / ideas and influences which have been, and
still are, great. Men Of German educa tfon
, are found prominent in all our colleges.
> Not only has the German ascendancy
been the work of our own students abroad
but German scholars, Obliged 10 leave then
native land or coming voluntarily, as the
| elder Agassiz Charles Theodore Zollern
and Beck. have had large influence on
higher education.
Lord Kelvin has said that nothing can
be clearly understood until we can express
| it in figures, = and DIR. Thwing adduces
some figures TO oonrovert the fear Otter
expressed thatthe materialism and com.nyr
cialism OF the time are causing the college
for things Of the mind, to lose influen e
| One is surprised to learn that among ;he
81 600 people who, between 162Oand $40
came TO New England, and among their
descendants for the following fifty years,
J there Were as many college gra aduates as
| could be found in any population of sim
liar size in the mother country.
At one time in Massachusetts and Con
Decticut every group Of $50 people nac
, one graduate Of Old Cambridge. In addi
ton there were several OF Oxford Bu
figures of later periods are involved all
questionable. As a basis of comparison
the years 1880 and 1890 are taken.
The former date represents a great
, awakening in American education. /
, marks the beginning of decade in whicl
more colleges We're founded than wer
founded in all the previous decades Of on
, educational progress. At that time th
United States had forty-six colleges,
total population of nearly thirteen millions
!, and student body Of 1900. There were
! therefore, abou- thirty-two hundred person
I'm the entire population for each student
!. In the colleges which now make a Sepor
;. to the Bureau Of Education are nearl
= $4,000 students.
:, The population, according to the las
census, was e2. .622, $50 persons. There are
;, therefore, now 1,347 persons to each col
lege student. That is to say the population
= OF the country was four and one-half Ime
aslargein 1890 as in 1880, but the numbe