New-York tribune., 1899-12-23
EDUCATIONAL AFFAIRS.
NEWS OF THE COLLEGEs-NOTES of
INTEREST.
THE FEDERATION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS
REPRESENTATIVE FROM TWENTY
FOUR INSTITUTIONS TO MEET Al
COLUMBIA NEXT WEEK.


COLUMBIA NEXT WEEK
II is an interesting fact that the great prosres'
mads IN educational methods during the last guar
49,. :, .hts oarturv has affected chiefly the two ex-
,roues IN the educational system OF the couh'y'
primary instruction has undergone compiete
transformation kindergartens have oeeh eS'a
lIshed I'm nearly every town and the chliu NM
has been studied scientifically so that u may 70
rronerv trained At the other end of the scale the
graduate department and even the grauua.o u''
versity. has come into being. The question ol
urinary schools is often before the public; graduate
work on the other hand. from It's very chara0'e,'
is seldom brought into prominence ana "ha' elau
uate students are accomplishing is not suhcieh'i'
recognized and appreciated
1,f,y vears ago advanced students sought higher
training in the German universities. and, RETURNING
n America brought back with them the spirit Vi
research and scholarly investigation. Hence arose
the graduate departments. The nrst uoC'0i Va
philosophy degree conferred In America was ei'
by Yale in 1861, and though the hgures lot 'rv
graduate students Excluding tho proiession',
schools) then resident at American colleges anu
universities are not available. IT may he safely sau
that they numbered less than one hundred. In 1888
tho twentv-four institutions represented IN the
Federation OF Graduate Students reported to'a'
number OF graduate students amounting 10 "ea' -
thirty-nvc hundred In other words IN every UNI
yoreitv there Is at present graduate school often
q
mart of whose students are pursuing three years
course for their doctors degrees To mention mere
ly the five largest graduate schools, the University
Of Chicago has S7 graduate students; Coluihoit'
S42: Harvard S29 Yale. 2S3. and Johns Hopkins -lo.
Students in the undergraduate departments OF u'i-
ferent universities drawn together IN many
ways-by their debates, by their athletic contests
but the graduate students seem be Isolated. con-
fined 10 their own universities. and It to remedy
this that the Federation OF Graduate Students was
organized.
The federation formed In 1885. Its main
object was TO bring the leading graduate schools
together once a year for the purpose Of discussing
questions OF graduate work, and also TO publish
handbook, giving information az to the courses
offered by each school. Every university In the
federation was represented by delegates, each nav
ing one delegate at large and one for every nun
drd students fraction over nifty. Ihis methou
OF representation still prevails. the University OF
Chicago being at present entitled TO ten delegates
Yale. Harvard and Columbia, to four EACH Cornell
Johns HOPKINS and the universities Of California
Minnesota PENNSYLVANIA and New-York. to three
each. and Princeton, Leland Stanford and the Uni,
versity OF Wisconsin, to two each. IL VIII De seen
ttat from the small meeting held in 1895, at which
six universities were represented. the fedeI44uoh
goh goins as far west as the Pachc slope. and many
of the smaller ones. Admttance 70 tme E%eru
tIvee Committee and a vote of the delegates the
qualifications for admission being resuId'S ~ "a
OF scholarly work. This condition Is rigioly ao-
hered TO- and admission is frequently re ~
hardly necessary to say that no dlstlncuo - iiaga9
i'm the federation between universities anu coiee''
for and women. - ,,h,sbos a
At present the federation no longer puDnsH,e ,a
handbook OF graduate courses Inc nllle s .h
which il now brings out yearly Is a report oI ~
pa pers presented at its annual meeting ana ilst
of the theses presented for graduate degrees s
the year THE Graduate Handbook Is VaIuap,e
educational publication and indicates very pialHy
the quality of work that the students IN graduate
schools are doing. But the most important oDJect
of the federation to-day is TO make the grapiua.e
This can hardly be done in the undergraduate
world. where the traditions OF each college hold so
strongly. But graduate students have more IN COM
mon. and II migration from one university 10 an
other during the three years OF graduate work Is
encouraged this solidarity will be assured. Fur
thermore the federation Is doing a splendid work
In insisting upon a high standard for the doctors
degree by bringing pressure TO bear upon those IN
stitutions which confer II too easily. II was time
for such step. since the degree was being cheap
ened and In some even given as an honorary
one. A movement from the students themselves
the most satisfactory work has been done is sig
nihcant.
The federation holds its annual meeting this year
at Columbia University. December 26-2S. Addresses
will he given by President Low Professor Brander
Matthews and others. and the delegates then
with graduate work Among the topics are THE
Migration OF Graduate Students" THE Status Of
American Students in Foreign Universities" THE
Prevention Of Conflict in Thesis Subjects" The
Lecture System in Graduate instruction" and The
Relation OF Graduate and Undergraduate Courses" "
NJ. Strong. OF Yale. president and Elizabeth Faux
er. Of Chicago. corresponding secretary.