The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-06-27
REPORT OF PRES. HADLEy.
CHANGES IN COURSES OF STUDY RFOR THE PAST FEAR RETIEWED.

Fixed Curriculum Given Up -HeaIthfu
 Change Reported in tho University
 Secret societies-SvnIter Camps New
 Position as Athletic Leader and Mem
 Der of the CouncfI-Yaie's Materia
 Improvement.
 The annual report of President Had
 ley was made yesterday afternoon. I
 reviews especially the curriculum
 changes of the past year. President
 Hadley said in his recommendation tC
 the university corporation:
 The reform in the course of study
 in the academic department as far as
 it affects the last three years, has
 been carried to its logical conclusion
 The old principle of fixed curriculum
 has been entirely abandoned
 Tt must not be supposed however,
 that the system as thus arranged now
 allows mere haphazard choice of the | studies which may prove easiest ol ! most agreeable. On the contrary, the l new rule requires a certain range of
 choice and a certain quantity of ad-
 vanced work as we'll as of elementary
 work. By the former restriction the student is prevented from concentrat- 1 ing all his studies upon one line and ! becoming a purely one-sided scholar
 instead of a we'll trained citizen. By
 the latter restriction he is debarred | from scattering his work over an in- definite number of easy and popular courses.
 |
 In some of the announcements of
 this change which were first brought before the public 1t was represented as
 being a step toward a three years
 course. This is an error. It is true that
 the change will make a shortening of the college course possible for those men who enter freshman year so ex- ceptlonally well prepared in certain subjects that they can with advantage antlclpate part of the work of that year by actual examination, and be- come associated at once with higher classes in the subjects in question. But these men form only a small percen- tage of the whole. Nor is it likely that all of them will choose to avail them selves of the new facilities for early graduation. It seems probable, on the other hand that the very same quali- ties and circumstances which have led them to do more than the required amount of work in their preparatory courses, will lead them to take the full four years of college life. and utilize them with exceptional advantage.
 For men who do not thus enter with advanced attanments in certain sub 1ects, three years course is practical ly impossible. In comparing the prob- able effect of the new regulations at Yale with the somewhat similar ones at Harvard, 1t must be remembered that the number of hours of work re- quired of the student here is very much greater than there; so that a shortening which is easy and frequent at Harvard is likely to prove difficult and exceptional at Yale.
 But while the reform may not re- suit in shortening the college course it. self, it is earnestly hoped that it will enable the students, during their four years of academic study, so far to lay the foundation of their professional studies that their subsequent period of technical training may be correspond ngly diminished.
 It will be noted that no considerable change has been made in the studies of freshman year-except so far as they are affected by the regulation which allows a man to relieve himself by an examination from any particular course which he has already pursued during his school life. This conserva- tism is due to two causes. Tn the first l place, there is a strong feeling that it | is a good thing for those who are just upon their college life to be associat ted with their fellow students | mon pursuits; and that any evil effect in the failure to meet individual tastes Is more than made up by the good which results in the formation of col lective ideas But there is another cause which works side by side with these to retard radical action. Any | change in freshman year in the aca- lemic department means practical abolition of the required study of Greek. For If boy is not compelled to lse Greek in his freshman year it is neither logical nor possible to require Jim to furnish it in his entrance exam nation; and the abandonment of this iemand would mean a radical change n the whole course of study in many if our preparatory schools. This change nay in the long run be inevitable. Some good judges think that it is. But t is one which is not to be undertaken ightly-not even if the great majority # the other colleges entered into it without us. For while there is a con- iderable group of boys who at present esire to be rid of Greek for good and wise reasons, the real reason for most f the dislike is the fact that it is hard. 10 far as this is the ground on which : hange is sought, the college that re- ists this change will gain in quality ] lore than 1t loses in numbers. It will e a place for workers; and a college { 'ith a relatively small number of hard l iorkers lay the foundation for more $ olid success than one with two or three l ines the number of idlers and dlet- ( anti. l For those who are anxious to en- ! 1r into professional life as soon as s ossible, and who can obtain in their l olegiate studies the stimulus which | reparation for such life gives the ( heffield scientific school furnishes an g dmira ble choice of courses. For s nose. on the other hand, who desire c , delay rather than hasten their en- I 'ance into active life, the academic t