The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1902-08-14
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
WHAT THIS OLD SEAT OF LEARN
ING Is LIKE,

Cecil Rhode.'s Bold Plan OF Furnishing
Scholarships 10 Students from the Uni
ted States, the British Colonies and
Germany Makes This Article Timely.
Cecil Rhodes bold plan-provided
for in his will, as recently chronlcled
to send each year to Oxford. Univer-
sity number of select students from
the United States, the British colon
les and Germany, with scholarship
provision of $500 each for expenses
this far-reaching beneyolence has nat
u:ally called forth much discussion;
and the occasion is ripe for asking
what one of these scholarships at Illus
trious Oxford is to mean.
First then, the details as to no"
the candidates are to be chosen, Wnat
is to be required of them, etc.-all
this is still undetermined. The mat
ter will be worked out with dellbera'
ton by boards of administrators yet
to be chosen. Rhodes never concerned
himself with ways; all he did was to
supply the means of doing things.
His scholarship endowment plan IN
wolves many difficulties in practice ana
it will take time to asSimllate a
scheme of procedure.
The University of Oxford diners
from any educational institution IN
this country. It. is not a single, COM
pact university, like Harvard or Yale,
but collection of Independent col
leges under a form of confederacy
somewhat analo gous to that by which
the various states of the Union are
bound. 1t is sort of e pluribus anum.
But in Oxford the power and influence
of the colleges predominant over the
university. - @ -
Cambridge Uniyersity, in England,
is the only otter school that is like
Oxford. The ether English uniyersi-
ties and the German and French uni
versities are more like ours, though
there are of course radical differences
between such Institutions in the differ.
ent countries.
It would take years of residence at
the university 10 understand the pecu-
liar relations which exist at Oxford.
| The institution is the growth OF six
or eight centuries of time, and it's his
tory is as complicated: as that OF
nation. Yet little inquiry will show
| us its distinctive characteristics
| tie understood as they generally are
by the average. American.
Oxford University was not turned
out virtually complete at one opera
ton like Stanford. From the earliest
| times the place was seat of learning.
! There was nunnery there as early!
as the eighth century, and Pope Mar.
tin II in SO2 spoke of the town as an
educational center. Vacarius lectured
there in Latin, on law, in 1149. There
were by that time a number of mon
| asteries and other religious houses
there. to some OF which schools were
attached, where students were bred
up fer the church.
In course of time the teachers: OF
| the various schcolsNcame to Smeetsto-
:gether in sort of "institute," !" to- dis
] seuss methods and adopt general rules.
| From this association, distinct from
I and Of higher authority than any par
ticular school, the University Of OK
ford sprang. The word university"
(universitas) was first applied in a
!! statute of King John, in 1901.
Walter Merton. in 1864, first gave
The institution the character it was
destined to develop. He founded Mer-
Ion college; and from time to time
| during 400 years other similar colleges
we're founded until there were Fl in
! all. These exist today, and beside
! them there are some collateral schools
also, sustaining special relations to
the university.
The original purpose in founding the
separate colleges was to give the
friends and townspeople of the found
e. a place to live and study together.
The various colleges are by no means
uniform. Each has it's own character,
it own customs and rules, it's own sup
porters.
Originally the students lived where
they pleased in the town of Oxford,
but under the college system they
were required to take up their resi-
dence in the college buildings called
inns, hotels or halls-somewhat as
our college fraternities have their own
ouarters-where they lived in common
the meals and the rooms being
called commons"
Out Of the college funds certain
sums were laid aside to pay for the
support of a limited number of poor.
er undergraduate students, and these
provisions were called scholarships.
Then other funds were established
for the support of postgraduate stu
dents, called fellowships, and the pos
SCISSOR of one of them yas fellow"
There are now-not including the
Rhodes scholarships-several hun
dred scholarships, worth $400 to $500
each, and about 80 fellowships worth
about $500 each. The bequests of
| $500 a year each will therefore put
the Rhodes scholars on footing, fl
nancially, with the most honored class
of residents at the university.
When a young man goes to Oxford
he is not as at our American colleges,
assigned to classes where he has to
study textbooks. recite, listen to lee.
lures, and take frequent examinations.
There is no university examination at
entrane, but all the best colleges have
an entrance examination, varying in
standard with the college.
The colleges do the teaching, what
there is of it, but always with a view
to the honors and degrees conferred
By the university The university it.
self provides certain lectures, notably
in science, law and theology though
science is not put to the front at Ok.
ford But as rule the university lee.
m IL