The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-24
THE FAREWELL REPORT
BY YALE'S RETIRING PR RESIDENT
 TO THE UNIVERSTTY.

ntttOn Of fato DemOcrRcy-Crttiet
 of Electives, Lectures, and Written
 Examinations-Last Words for tho
 University Iden-The Year's Gifts.
 The annual report of President
 Dwight of Yale university, given out
 yesterday consists of two parts--one re-
 ferring to the university year ending
 December 31 189S and supplementary and farewell report covering the period
 from January to June, 1899. The first part is especially noteworthy as embody-
 ing the views of the president on certain
 important clements in the Yale curricu- | lum, notably the elective system, in-
 struction by lectures and the plan of
 written examinations, which are all
 criticised with considerable positiveness. The report, particularly in the parts re-
 ferred to- is written in a much more definite vein than previous ones, and l with far more use than usual of the indicative as distinguished from the subjunctive mood. As being somewhat reactionary, in the view of many edu- l cators, at the points named, the report | is sure to attract wide attention.
 After personal tributes to the dead
 members of the corporation, the Rev.
 George Bushnell and F. G. Mason, the
 president reviews briefly the part of the
 praises the work of Treasurer Farnam,
 who, he says, has so well managed the
 funds of the university that the average income received is now more than per
 cent.-a condition of things, however,
 which cannot long remain, in view of
 the decrease of the rate of interest on
 sound investments. That decrease sug
 gests the necessity for a large increase
 of endowments. The sum of $7S,346 had
 been paid In to the alumni fund during
 the year 1S97-'9S, and the number of
 contributors was larger by 570 than
 that of the preceding year. The decis- ion in the tax suit against the univer- sity is reviewed approvingly, and atten-
 tion is called to the fact that four or five large dormitories are still needed for the academic department alone.
 Taking up the subject of the new buildings and larger expenditures in their rela ton to Vale democracy" the president argues strongly against the theory that they are dangerous to the democratic spirit of the university He refers to the absurdity of erecting in these days buildings of the style of the old brick row. emphasizes the eduCat'on al influence of a building of the archi- tectural type of Vanderbilt hall and says that the idea that comfort and beauty In homes are injurious is in con- tradiction of the advance in civilization. Yale democracy, he ayers, does not de- pend upon equality in expenditures, in books, in accommodations, or in per sonal privileges in all respects. He de- clares the Yale democratic spirit mo such weak, sickly, worthless and inn practicable thing as this and that if 1t is of such a character, the sooner 1t dies absolutely and gives way to some thing nobler and more worthy of the name of an intelligent, scholarly, Chris tian democracy the better for the uni versity and the cause of education" The real democratic Yale spirit, he as- serts, is the spirit which estimates a man according to what he is, and not according to what he has, and does not demand that the man of wealth should make no use of it for his own culture and refinement beyond the man who has it not. He quotes the scriptu- ral phrase. "A mans life does not con- | sist in the abundance of his possessions | and expresses astonishment that richer men more comforts and better build ings should be regarded as a menace to | the Yale spirit.
 On the ma ter of college discipline the president renews his suggestion m TOT mer report that it should be relesated to special groups of members of the fac- ultv who are in touch and sympathy with the students, and adds that disci- nline should be founded on common | sense and the theory of wise prevention ra ther than remorseless penalty He next calls attention to the fact that the elective system has separated stu dents from teachers in their work, as with former years, and that there is an urgent call for the instruc- tors to enter into as close personal re- Iations as possible with the individual students "No professor or instructor fulfils his duty to his pupils who sees them only in the lecture room,' and he should appoint certain hours for meet ng them. The elective system cannot sustain itself permanently unless it is ,eceptive of the idea and practice of a personal relation. He argues also that he selection of teachers in the universi- " must not be limited to research schol- IT'S and that the tendency to sacrifice he power of instruction to research is attended "by dangers and evils as re- ated to the best education of the com ng time" Research scholars and schol- ITS with the gift of teaching should be II separate groups, and the university s warned that the true education of it's tudents must be secured by men gifted IS teachers and selected for that req on.
 As between the elective and recita- ion system in the scholastic results, f he president expresses his doubts and riticises the lecture method in connec- ion with the mere popular and crowd q electives. Those electives compel written examinations which are imper- Cnal, mechanical, too strict, and give he instructor no opportunity for men, al analysis of the student examined or or judgment of the knowledge of the I-