Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1899-09-29


work in English throughout the first
three years of the course; yet the stu
dents in Harvard University have the
best preparation, especially in English
that can be had anywhere 1t is
therefore almost with amaZement that
we hear thatunder the new regulations
when a student enters the freshman
class of the West Virginia University
he may select any course or courses he
chooses and that his own sweet will
shall determine whether the most of
his work shall consist of asnap
courses" or of the more serious studies
that go to make up thorough edu
cation. We should not object so seri-
ously 60 this if the boys aud girls who
enter the freshman class of our State
University were as thoroughly pre-
pared as are the students in the New
England colleges, but they are not
and cannot possibly be until we have
the high schools and academies of
New England in which to prepare
them.
If the president of the University
had stopped when he made the col
lege work elective the alumni and
friends of the University might have
remained silent. But now we have
the startling announcement that the
West Virginia University has made
all the preparatory work elective.
The mode of electing or selecting this
preparatory work is as follows: To
gain admission to the freshman class
a student must have completed in an
accredited school. or must pass an
examination in, thirtynine courses,
course being study that runs for
one term Of twelve weeks with five
recitations week. Under the new
regulations he may select these thirty
nine courses out of seventy two
courses. OF these seventy two courses
thirty-six are in Latin, Greek, Ger
man, French and English. Conse-
quently student may elect thifty-six
courses, all but three of the requisite
thirty-nine, without taking any Ian
guage. These thirty-six courses, to-
gether with one course term for
three terms, or one year, in Latin, for
instance. would satisfy all the require
ments for admission.to the freshman
class, and as all the work in the col
lege department is elective the stu
dent Iced not devote any more time
to the study OF language; yet If he
has done the required number of
courses, at the end of four years, he
will receive his diploma and the de-
gree of Bachelor of Arts, without hay-
ing devoted one hour to the study Of
Greek, French, German, or English,
and with only one year in Latin.
And yet this is said to be the way
things are done at Harvard. The
catalogue of that institution does not
Justify such a statement. In the
statement of the admission require
ments, it is clearly set forth that no
one can enter Harvard unless he passes
examination in at least one ancient
and one modern language, and that ii
he does not take two ancient and two
modern languages, he must take, in
place of either language, two advance
ed studies such as trigonometry, an
alytic geometry, or chemistry.
When the president of the West
Virginia University was mentioned
in connection with the presidency of
the University of Iowa, a committee
of the Board of Regents appointed to
enquire into his fitness Tor the posi-
tion, reported that he was ''faddish,
impractical and extravaganza. Even
il other proof were wanting the col
lege men Of the State will now agree
that the charge, at least in part, was
we'll founded. That the conditions
of admission" were adopted by COM
mittee and not by the president of
the University, cannot be offered as
defense. The president appointed
committee, majority of the members
of which he knew he could control.
On this committee were: First, a
graduate of the University Of Cam
bridge, England, who has been in
America only one year, and at Nor
gan town two months, and who knows
absolutely nothing about the condi-
tions that obtain in this State; sec
ond, the Dean of the Law School,
who, so far as We are able TO learn,
was never student in any college,
except law school, and whom not
even his best friends would accuse of
knowing anything about college
courses or about the educational
movements of this generation. The
third member of the committee was
once acting president of the Univer-
sity and would doubtless have been
made president had he not aroused
the opposition Of the friends Of true
education hv his endaavnrs Ia shnrtan