The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-12-23
OXFORD UNIVERSITY.
How It Differs from and Compares
with American Universities.

From the Review of Reviews.
The college enrols the student; feeds
him; provides his bed: assigns to him
q tutor as his special advisor; opens its
gates for him in the morning and
closes them for him at night; asks him
to worship in it's chapel, play in it's
cricket matches, wear it's colors, and
row in it's boat: watches over him, re-
| ceiveS most of his fees, and provides
| within it's walls considerable portion
Of his teaching.
| The university assists in matricu-
lating the student, provides part of his
| teaching, examines him, and graduates
| him. The facilities for study offered
by it, as distinct from those offered by
the colleges, are the lectures of it's I'M
iversity professors, it's galleries, mus
Gums, and libraries. To the student,
however, it will be known mainly as a
great, grim, and terrible examining
board--for the university system Of
England differs from the American in
that the students scholarship, instead
of being passed upon piecemeal by half
a hundred professors at the conclusion
Of as many courses, Is determined by
the result of three great examination
| tests All the instruction given-by
the colleges, by private tutors, or by
the university-leads toward these
three examinations. They are the key
to the whole educational system, and
must be passed, in one or other of the
authorized forms, before a degree can
be had.
The examinations are held in the
Schools" building in which $500 stu
dents can be examined at one time.
There are no freshmen, sophomore,
junior and senior classes, though some
times student who has not yet taken
his second examination may be spoken
of as junior. and one who has taken
it, but not the final, as IL senior Yet
since students can enter college at the
beginning of any term. and can be
| graduated at the close of any semester
there is in Oxford no ranking by years
of residence, Students are grouped by
colleges, and not by classes. The three
sets of examinations roughly divide the
students educational life into three
parts, and are taken, successfully, at
or near the beginning of his career, to-
ward the middle, and at its close. The
first, or entrance examination, corre-
spends quite closely with the entrance
examination at an American college,
with the exception that the candidate
does not necessarily pass it before he
is entered upon the books as a stu
dent. He very likely will not pass It
till his fourth term. This is the ordeal
known in college slang as "SInalls"
and in official language as "Iiespon-
sions." This examination may fairly
be said TO be about equal in severity
to the similar test at Harvard or at
Yale. AS at American colleges, Also
under some circumstances, certificates
are accepted, and it is quite possible
that the educational tests which may
be instituted for the Rhodes scholar
ships by the trustees of the fund may
be accepted as part, at least of this
examination requirement. The second
examination may be passed by any stu
dent after his fourth term, or at the
end OF his first year; and usually Is
passed before he has completed his
eighth term, or second year,