The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-10-19

course as a fixed curriculum for all. anC
gave an opportunity for the selection o.
groups of studies adapted to the vary
ing needs of the several students.
The introduction of these methods oil
university education necessary as il
was, has been nevertheless attended
with serious dangers and evils.
In the first place, there is apt to be a
| change in the mode of instruction
which, while good for the best students
runs the risk of proving bad for the or
binary ones. The old method of hand
ling large classes in fixed course OF
study under the recitation system re-
quired all the students to do a modicum
| of work, and enabled the teacher to see
whether they were doing 1t or not. The
| divisions were adjusted and could be
constantly readjusted with that end in
view The time of the instructors was
so far economical by the narrow range
of subjects taught that their attention
could be properly concentrated on this
one point of keeping the students up to
their work by a daily oral examination.
| But with the increasing number of
| things to be taught, the variation in the
! size of classes, and the demands which
the best students now make for really
advanced teaching, this supervision and
concentration is no longer possible.
I The Instructor who is teacling small
gro,ps of selected men who have Il
lartit ilar interest in MS SUBJECT, is
fcrcea TO col tent himself with what is
little more than lecture in teaching
the larger groups of ordinary men to
whom the subject has only n general
interest. A lecture system Of this kind
IS bes ct with perils. Il ii something of
which we have to make Use, hecause
there are not enough first-rata uen III
tHe country to teach all the subjecIs Of
stl Gy which this generation demands,
in classes of size small enough to adapt
themselves to the recitation system.
The choice in many lines of study lies
between having recitations with fourth
rate men or lectures from first-rate
ones. | never met a good teacher who
really approved of the lecture system,
or who did not prefer small classes to
large ones. But these really good
teachers are just the men that we wish
to bring in contact with as many stu
dents as possible. If we refuse to let
them lecture, we either confine the ben
eft of their instructions to few, or in
crease their hours beyond the POSSIBLE
ity of human endurance,
Another evil connected With the cleo
tive system is the loss of esprit de
corps In a college like West Point or
Annapolis, where a homogeneous body
of men is pursuing a common scheme
Of studies, with a common end in view,
and with rigorous requirements as to
the work which must be done by each
individual, this spirit is seen at its
strongest. The place sets its character
stamp upon every one; sometimes per-
haps for evil but in the vast majority
of cases for good An approximation
to this state of things was seen in our
early American colleges. In many OF
them it is still maintained to consider
able degree. But the forces which
maintain it are far less potent to-day
than they were fifty years ago The
community of interests IS less, the
community of hard work is very much
less. If this college spirit once passes
away. the whole group of qualities
which we have known by the name of
ing also For the increase of wealth in
the outside world is perpetual menace
to old-fashioned democratic equality
If we have within the college life not
only differences in things studied, but
In enjoyment between rich
and poor, we are at once in danger of
a development of social dis
tinctions and class interests which shall
sweep away the thing which was most
chara cteristic and most valuable in the
earlier education of our colleges. Not
the intellectual life only, nor the social
life only, but the whole religious and
moral atmosphere suffers deterioration
If q place becomes known either as a
rich mans college; or worse yet, as a
college where rich and poor meet on
footings. What shall it profit
us if we gain the whole world and lose
our own soul if we develop the intelec-
tual and material side of our education,
and lose the traditional spirit of de-
and loyalty and Christianity?
That there will be an advance in
of preparation for TIE
special lines of work which our stu
tents are to undertake is thing of |
which we may safely rest assured |
That there shall be a similar advance |
n the general training for citizenship |
n the United States is an obligation for |
whose fulflment cur universities are |
The Yale of the future
must count for even more than the
Yale of the past in the work of city,
ptate and nation. 1t must come into
loser touch with our political life, and |
,e larger part of that life. To this
nd it is not enough for her to train ex-
,erts competent to deal with the finan-
ial and legal problems which are be-
ore us. Side by side with this training,
he must evoke in the whole body of
Ter students and alumni that wider
ense of their obligation as members of
j.. free commonwealth which the Amer
ca of the twentieth century requires
The central problem which we all
ave to face, and about which all other
roblems group themselves, is this
low shall we make our educational
ystem meet the worlds demands for
rogress on the intellectual side, with
ut endangering the growth of that
ihch has proved most valuable on the
1oral side? And it is the latter part
hitch demands the most immediate at
antion from college president, not
ecesSarily because it is more impor-
ant in ifcplf--fOr where two tbit,oc ara