New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-11-11
Observation-Disclosures
PRESIDENT THOMAS OF BRYN MAWR
SCORES DIR. NIGHTINGALE, ASSIST
ANT SUPERINTENDENT OF CHI
CAGO HIGH SCHOOLS.

The closing sessions of the Association OF Col
legiate Alumne held yesterday at Barnard
College Theatre. The general topic at the morn
ing meeting. which began at 10 o'clock, Professor
Leach being in the chair. was college Entrance
Requirements" President NJ Carey Thomas of Bryn
Mawr the first speaker, and began by calling
attention to article that subject by DR..
Nightingale. Assistant superintendent of High
Schools in Chicago, in educational magazine
His sentiments she characterized 'mischievous
and pernicious." and quoted him saying: THE
public schools the hope Of the country. The
private schools foster aristocratc traditions their
social excusiveness, being restricted to the chill
dren of wealth"
What is that but Organism in education arous-
ing feeling Of class distinction and class
hatredT' asked Miss Thomas Or Nightingale
voiced the demand of the West" she said that
college requirements should not exceed the
preparation given In four years of study at any
high school. Reduced to its simplest FORM he
asserts that colleges have right to insist any
special studies, all studies are of equal i'm
portance His only attempt at argument is when
he quotes President Eliot OF Harvard"
A gentle ripple OF laughter stirred the air when
the speaker said: President Eliot is quoted I'm
matters OF education much as the Bible is in mat
tiers of religion. In his thirty years as president
he has been so tften right that 1t is difficult to
think him so wrong he is in pushing the elective
system to extremes. 1t has always been pet
theory of his. announced in his speech on assum-
ing the presidency of Harvard In 1862 that the
youth OF eighteen. nineteen or twenty years age
knew his powers and intellectual bent and could
select for himself better than any faculty could as
by that time any gift he possessed would have de-
veloped II he had had the necessary experience I'm
study With this view l cannot concur 1 cannot
conceive how President Eliot be serious In saw
Ing that the natural gifts shown at eighteen
DR. Nightingale speaks Of a boys choosing
biology when in the grammar school. continuing 1t
In the secondary school and pursuing It in college
as being likely to prove a second Darwin l p!ct-
ure little monster. unfit to live" Her experience
during fifteen years as dean and president has
convinced President Thomas that philosophy Greek
and Latin give more intellectual help more mental
training. than the difficult courses possible IN
FRENCH German or English. She thought it
natural that young students should elect the easier
courses, and therefore the COLLEGES must REQUIRE
those that give the best training. She recon-
mended strongly that If the Joint Examination
Board for Colleges became a permanent institution
the women's colleges should come In on the same
basis
Professor Emma NJ. Perkins of Western Reserve
University. made the next address, Education has
been called of the chief Industries OF the United
stntes. she said. over fourteen thousand women
hold the b. A. degree from the colleges repre-
sented in this association which is a larger num-
Der than any other country.
From close examination OF the educational sys-
TEN have consulted that the time wasted IS be-
low the High School There is an oyercrowdinR
OF subjects in the grammar schools. Hours are
nlIed with useless dry facts IN grammar arith-
metic that will never enter Into later life Nature
study is thrust into tho Ist often with teachers
strength are wasted In various ways The ideal
results will not be gained until grammar schools
Under wise methods the years spent In study could
be shortened. and best so In the grammar grades
Offering in the ideal high school TO the pupil lib
erty to study what he wants. as much he