The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
STUDENT LIFE AT OXFORD.
A Subject of Especial Interest ON Ac-
count OF Rhodes's Request.

count OF Rhodes's Request.
Francis Hovey Stoddard. in the American
Monthly Review of Reviews.
AS regards the student the functions of
the university and of the college are quite
unlike. The college enroTls the student;
feeds him; provides his bed; assigns 10
him a tutor as his special adviser; opens
its gates for him I'm the morning and closes
them for him at night; asks him to Worship
in its chapel. play in its cricket matches.
wear its colors and row in its boats;
watches over him, receives most Of his fees
and provides within its walls considerable
portion of his teaching. The university as
sists in matriculating 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 its uni
versity professors. its galleries. museums
and libraries To the student. however. it
will be known mainly a great, grim and
terrible examining board-for the university
system of England differs from the Amer
lean in that the students scholarship,
instead of being passed upon piecemeal by
half 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 were held in the
schools building Of which have spoken,
which was erected for that sole purpose,
and which is, therefore, strictly a univer-
sity building. In IL fifteen hundred stu
dents can be examined at one time. There
are no freshmen, sophomore. junior and
times student who has not yet taken his
second examination may be spoken OF as
a junior, and one who has taken il, but not
the final, as a 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 rank
ing by years of residence, as in America
Students are grouped by colleges, and not
by classes. The three sets of examinations
roughly divide the students educational
lie into three parts, and are taken, sue
cesSiVely, at or near the beginning of his
career. toward the middle and at its close.
The first, or entrance, examination CORE
spends quite closely with the entrance ex-
animation at an American college, with
the exception that the candidate does not
necessarily pass ii before he is entered
upon the books as a student. He very
likely will not pass it till his fourth term.
This is the ordeal known in college slang
as "Smalls' and in official language as
TNSSpOnSlOnS. InlS 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 IL is quite possible that the educa-
tional tests which may be instituted for
the Rhodes scholarships by the trustees
of the fund may be accepted as part, al
least, of this examination requirement.
The second examination may be passed by
any student after his fourth term, a.
the end OF his first year; and usually is
,.1 IrfD I'd .ferfaN h
term, or second year. Legally and officially
in Oxford there are four terms in each
year, though in practice there are but
three since the spring and summer terms
are kept in one session without vacation.
Every student must pass this second eX-
animation. II, however, has two forms,
and in the possibility of these two forms
of examination exists an essential differ
ence between university life in England
and that in the United States.
In undergraduate life at Oxford the stu
dent from America will find many interest
ing features. He will no doubt, be as
signed to a, college rather than be allowed
expresses the desire that the scholars
holding the scholarships shall be distrib
uted among the colleges of the University
of Oxford, and not resort in undue num-
bers to one or more colleges only" There
are twenty-five colleges in the university.
all of which, educationally considered, are
equal. Reasons of rank in life, of parental
or local associations of wealth. of religious
tendencies, rather than reasons of purely
academic nature, lead an English boy 10
choose one or another Of these colleges.
The colleges differ in externals. Some of
them are rich, others poor; some of them
are comparatively large-300 or 400 stu
dentS-OtherS very SMALL some are eXpen-
sively carried on. others inexpensiVely;
some are pass" others are reading col
leges; some have high residence fees, 9TH
ers low; some have no graduate students.
and one, All Souls, no undergraduate stu
dents; some have superb buildings. others
palmer; and one, the Noncollegiate. has no
buildings at all, and hardly any faculty,
being governed by the university through
tached students" But any one of these
colleges will be a worthy foster mother 10
the undergraduate. The student will pay
his fees to the college and will be watched
over by 1t throughout his whole course.
He Will not get all OF his instruction in its
lecture rooms, for the community of in
terest idea has penetrated modern Oxford,
and for certain subjects the resident stu
dent Will be apt 10 go TO another college,
but his student life will be mainly within
the college walls.
have a room on one of the 'staircases,
will be served by the scout, who will
bring him his breakfast. will dine in state
in the hall every evening, Will worship IN
the college chapel and will shorten his
walks abroad so that he can get within the
college gates before they close for the
night. He will row in the college boat, or
play on the college cricket team, and will
have a special advisor, a college tutor. to
whom he will look back with gratitude and
respect all the days of his life. He will
find Oxford as expensive as Harvard or
Yale His strictly college expenses. for
tuition, board and daily living, exclusive of
books, clothing, societies, sports and lux
urieS, will vary from minimum or 5000
year to a maximum difficult to estimate,
OF the colleges, Keble, Jesus. New College
and Worcester make special effort TO aid
the student in economy; Christ Church,
University, Magdalen and Balliol are the
most expensive; Brasenose. St. Johns,
Exeter. Oriel and Trinity stand in an inter-
mediate position. The student will have to
be fairly economical at the average college
TO keep his total expenses within the $500
yearly suggested in the will as the income