The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-07-07
PROBLEMS OF OUR COLLEGES.

tN. 4. fOst. "
The steady growth OF our educational
institutions Is the feature Of the com
mencement season which most strongly
impressss one who glances over tho mass
of reports from all parts of the country.
The size of the graduating class in-
creases, the endowment fund swells. the
curriculum becomes more varied. the
range of opportunities widsns. All these
are hopeful signs. But there is one thing
which is still moro encouraging. 1t is
the fact that our college presidents are
not satisfied with the situation; that they
confess the existence of grave problems
which press for solution, and that they
are trying to solve them.
By an interesting coinoideEcs~ there
have just appeared. almost Simultaneous
iy. two presidents reports which are
notable for theig discussion OF such
problems-one from the veteran head Of
Yale Univezity, who today retires from
the great institution where he was
grsa'usted fifty years ago; the other from
Zone of the younger generation of educa-
tors, who presides over one Of the smaller
colleges in New England. Writing In
dependently in Brunswick and in New
Haven, and summarizing oh, 9 ,yntiors
made under very different conditions. Ii
is an Impressive fact that President
Dwight of Yale and President Hyde of
Bowdoin find some of the same defects in
the methods which have developed in
both colleges, and agree, broadly speak
ing, as to the. mature of the changes which
are demanded.
The distinguishing feature of the
typical American college In its earlier
days was the personal influence OF the in
structor upon the student. The professor
knew the young men who came into his
classroom as the teacher in small school
knows his pupils. He became familiar
with their peculiAri3ies of mind and
character; he understood their special
needs; he exerted, in many cases, an ex-
ceedingly strong personal influence over
dozens of new students each year. Speak
ing of the period Of 1850 in New Haven,
then town of but moderate size. DIR.
Dwight says that it was the almost uni
versal rule that the insti uotors met the
entire company of students, and that not
inffequently, during the course. With
the great increase in the number of
students, with the scattering of instruc-
tors residences over city of 100, 900 peo-
pie, and with the development of the
elective system, attended as 1t Is by the
separation of students and teachers In
their work, there is no such universal
acquaintance between the two bodies pos
aihla aa WAS ChaTQOt arisftc of tho forp,a-
period"
Even In the far smaller college ocm-
munity at Brunswick the same ten
denotes exist. "The growth of our col
leges in numbers. says DIR. Hyde,
sbrings great temptation to resort to
mechanical methods of dealing with the
students In the mass, and to neglect the
individual factor" Discussing the
development Of individuality, the Presi-
dent of the Maine institution says:
when college has taught the regular
classes at the hours required in the
schedule. 1t has done only half its work.
Sons of well-to-do New England parents,
who have never been Obliged to work at
anything, who have begun to go into
society.t who lind college life crowded with
competing athletic and fraGernal in
terests, need much more than the regular
routine of reoitatiOns If they are to ac-
quire any vital interest In scholarly pur-
suits. The attitude of the Individual
student is a much more important factor
than the contents of textbook or lecture. !"
Something must he done to prevent the
modern college from becoming, as DIR.
Hyde. puts it, ''unwieldy and intellectual
ly impotent; a respectable loafing place
for throng of young fellows who are
pleasantly passing away their time until
serious professional training or actual
business life shall rouse them to response.
biiity." Both presidents have infinite
remedies to suggest for the admitted evil
DIR. Dwight declares that sthe call of
the present and the coming time upon our
professors and teachers is an impressive
and earnest cali to enter into as close
relations as possible with the indiyiual
students who are under their personal in
struotion"; and he does not hesitate TO
say that "no professor or instructor full
fills his duty TO his pupils who sees them
only in the lecture ROOM" Summing up
the conclusions of his long observations,
and putting them in practical form, he
lays dawn the principle thar every profess
sor and every instructor should have GER
tain hours In every week, IL not a certain
hour of every day, In which students can
meet him on or near the university
grounds for conference on their studies
and on other subjects of common or per-
sonal interest connected with their daily
work or with the wants and aspirations
Of their intellectual life ~
President Hyde's idea Is that the only
way to guard againt the threatening evils
Is to "appeal strenuously and attractive
ly to the individual student; give him
work that he must do hims elf, and for
which he must be individually respon-
sible; offer him interests in which he can
freely and enjoyably engage" Bowdoin
College endeavors to meet these RESPONSE
bilities In more than one way. A plan
of individual instruction, supplementary
to the regular class work in languages,
was Instituted two OF three years ago,
and Ia working eScellently. During the
opening term last tall the freshman class
was divided into groups of six men, each
OF which groups, besides attending the
ordinary reciraitons spent with the in
structor weekly half hour in Latin and
the same time in Greek. Inc students
were prompt in attendance, and have
shown anu espresso ed their interest in the
work. The scheme of individual instruo.
tion in this way is pronounced an assured
success.
Another development Of individual
work at Brunswick is the formation, by
members of the faculty, of clubs, COM
posed of members of their GLASSES. for the